Unite and Unite,
and let us all unite,
For Summer's a-comin' today
And whither we are going we all will unite
In the merry morning of May

Women:

I warn you, young men,
Every one,
For Summer's a-comin' today
To go to the Greenwood and fetch you May home
In the merry morning of May

Men:
O rise up, Our Queen
All in your gown of silk,
For Summer's a-comin' today
And all your body under's as white as any milk
In the merry morning of May

Women:

O rise up, Our King,
And joy you betide
For summer's a-comin' today
And bright is the Bride that sits by Your side
In the merry morning of May

All:

Now fare you well
We bid you all good cheer
For Summer's a-comin' today
and whither we are going we all will unite
in the merry morning of May

I awakened to this song in my head this morning, and thought of the Berkeley Morris dancing up the Sun in the wee hours of this morning at Berkeley's Tilden Park.

I thought of my friends from two years ago who joined me in a Maypole Dance in Honolulu's Kapi'olani Park. Kelly was the May King - don't you love her cloak billowing in the breeze?




I also think of Anna Applegate, the May Queen of Kapi'olani, when we danced together around the pole and posed for this picture:




As I remember, it was very windy that day, and keeping the May Pole (a 30 foot freshly cut bamboo stalk) stationary was quite a feat:




A picture our Maypole revelers as we tied the pole and weaved our upcoming summer dreams into it:




Afterwards, the cameraman caught me in a happy moment before sunset:


But we did it - we ushered in the traditional first day of summer on the windy Sunday afternoon of April 30, 2006.

2009 in Tilden Park, Berkeley!

Thank you, cameraman Frank, for the great photos!

Too funny!

Readers near and far--

You may have heard about a spike in Kilauea Volcano's activity in the past month or so.

Though I live in Honolulu, I have a house in the Puna District of the Big Island in Leilani Estates, and underlined in green on the PDF map below.

This USGS/County of Hawaii pdf shows the current breakout (in yellow). Though it doesn't look like much, if our brisk tradewinds stop, many people could be affected by the hydrogen sulfide, choking ash, and much worse - not so much lava inundation, but other serious problems.

Once you load the map into your browser, you can blow it up to view things more closely.

Stay tuned.

Aaah, another attempt to map the fascinating, secretive brain of the feline...

My friend Macha NightMare just tagged me with a this meme.

Here are the rules:

The meme:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book TO page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

Here was MY result:

"Pumaia keeps back one favorite pig which he has vowed shall die a natural death. Kuali'i sends messengers to demand this last hog, but Pumaia kills each messenger until none are left. Finally, Kuali'i catches, binds, and kills Pumaia and throws his bones into the pit with others."

From Martha Beckwith's "Hawaiian Mythology" University of Hawaii Press, 1970. (It's very dangerous to tag a librarian sitting at a reference desk!)

I hereby tag Michael C, Adam, Eric, Pam, and Victoria.

See memes from Anne,  Cosette,  Pandora, and Chas. Oh, and Moonroot too.

Amazing story! Unfortunately, it's not captioned for the deaf or hard-of-hearing. It's a visual masterpiece nevertheless.

The Kane'ohe Marine Base here on O'ahu sponsors the Swamp Romp, an annual run in the mud obstacle course. This year 300 teams of 6 persons each ran the course on Saturday February 23, 7am.

I can't run, of course - darn total hip replacements. Frank was filling in for a fellow who came down with the flu two days before the race. Since six people make up the team, if one can't make it, the rest cannot run.

I didn't want Frank to go alone, so I tagged along and took pictures. Little did I know that I was to become the team photographer for the Swamp Pigs and Piglets that comprised four teams.

Photos are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kmroddy/

Go to Sets ----> Swamp Romp 2008 to see an organized set of photos. I'm still fidgeting with the raw photos on the site - you're welcome to view those two.

Below is perhaps my favorite picture of all - of Allen, this year's organizer of runners:

Meet Dewey the cat.

I found this video over at my friend Geo's site. It's captioned for the hearing-impaired. It's one of the few rap songs I can tolerate because the topic is...CATS!

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I never thought I would feature a Super Bowl commercial here on my Web site, but this one is too remarkable to pass up. Based on an old familiar joke in the Deaf community.

Enjoy.