Halloween Long Ago

Almost 20 years ago, this was my class at Halloween in Illinois. I wonder where those kids are...

I'm also wondering where those present day Trick or Treaters are. A few years ago I'd have to buy 8 or 9 bags of candy. I bought 6 bags this year but I'm not seeing any kids. It's 6:30 PM. My mother says Trick or Treaters in Hawaii come after 6:00 here in Hawaii.

In Illinois they came after school. We would have fun tallying how many children we'd get coming to our house. My daughter tells me that even with Indian Summer weather, there were very few children there. I hope I don't end up with 6 bags of candy. Sheesh!

Where are they? Did you get a lot of Trick or Treaters?

MUCH LATER:
Oh nuts! I have to take it all back. The kids just came later here in Hawaii. We had about 50 kids. I'm glad they're still enjoying the fun evening. Hmmmm... I still have 2 BIG bags left though...

And I shouldn't have but I did have a Baby Ruth. :-)

Another Craig's List Find!

You know how strangely funny some things are that it just feels like it was meant to be? I wanted a desk or table in my home office that had to fit in this particular space. I'd looked at stores but it was hard to find the exact size. I needed it to be between 50 and 52 inches wide, light wood (preferably oak to match the other two), relatively sturdy and reasonably priced. I found a maple desk listed on Craig's List before we left for Japan more than a month ago but we didn't have time to investigate it so we let it go.



Well, two nights ago I was looking at old listings on Craig's List and I saw the desk still there. She had it listed for $150.00 which was more than I wanted to pay so I left a message asking if she'd consider $75.00. She called and said I could have it for that price if I came before Saturday. We went today and picked it up and I couldn't believe it fit our space perfectly. Not only that but the wood turned out to be not maple but solid oak. Also, Gloria, who sold it to me is from the Chicagoland area and went to Northwestern University in Evanston 5 minutes from where I lived.

Some things are just meant to be. I'm so excited and now my office feels complete! I now have a writing desk, a computer desk and a sewing table. Yahoo!

Does anybody have any advice on what brand of sewing machine I should get? I'm not a great sewer. I need something that will sew jeans hems.

Sky Watch Friday: Tokyo

While in Japan last month my uncle took us to the 52nd floor observation deck of Roppongi Hills Mori Tower (Tokyo City View) to see Tokyo spread out below us. We watched the sun go down but was startled suddenly to see three suns. I guess we must have been passing a corner of the glass windows which refracted the sunlight giving us this illusion.

For more Sky Watch photos please join us at http://skyley.blogspot.com/

The Japanese Two Fingered V sign

We took this photo of the train going by in Hiroshima and saw later that the girls on the train were flashing us a happy two fingered V sign.



We were very curious as to why younger Japanese people would flash the V sign that we in America consider either Victory as in Winston Churchill or V for Peace. I guess a lot of other people wondered too. I posed the question in Wikipedia and here's an explanation that sounded plausible.

"Japan and the V sign in Photographs
During the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, figure skater Janet Lynn stumbled into Japanese pop culture when she fell during a free-skate period—but continued to smile even as she sat on the ice. Though she placed only third in the actual competition, her cheerful diligence and indefatigability resonated with many Japanese viewers, making her an overnight celebrity in Japan. Afterwards, Lynn (a peace activist) was repeatedly seen flashing the V sign in the Japanese media. Though the V sign was known of in Japan prior to Lynn's use of it there (from the post-WWII Allied occupation of Japan), she is credited by some Japanese for having popularized its use in amateur photographs.[23] According to the other theory (actually present in the Japanese version of this entry), the V sign was popularized by the actor and singer Jun Inoue, who showed it in the Conica photo camera commercial in 1972."

So now I know and now you know, too.

My Tuesday

It's been a rather full Tuesday. Here's what I've been up to.



Woke up at 5:30 and got ourselves over to the Open Market. That's Hawaii's term for Farmer's Market. The produce always seems fresher than what we see at the supermarket.



Came home and Art worked on the doors again. He has put up the folding doors for the linen closet and we worked all afternoon yesterday to get the guest bathroom door up. It's still a work in progress. So he tweaked it some more. (We've got about 12 doors that need to be put up.)



We made a special stop at Costco to get gas. It cost around $3.37 everywhere else on the island but was $2.66 at Costco and well worth the trip. I don't know when I saw gas under $3.00. WOW!

We still decided to do all our errands in one trip to Honolulu to conserve gas.



It's another voggy day. We could not even see the Koolau mountain range that is usually crystal clear. The sun was barely able to break through. That volcanic smoke from the Big Island is no fun at all.



We made a quick stop to drop off some lettuce we got for our sister-in-law, Nancy at their apartment. I know she must think I'm crazy when I told her I was blogging this.



And off we were again. We went to Tripler Army Hospital where I dropped off my hemocult slides (you know, poop slides?) and some of my blood. Why they painted a military hospital pink, I have no idea.

Then to the post office. I hope you all know the benefits of the FLAT RATE box. That is a wonderful thing, especially in the islands.



The next stop was lunch with Art's cousins at Gyotaku restaurant in Honolulu. Reminded us of Japan again. Yummm...



Our afternoon had a bright moment when we talked to our daughter and granddaughter on web cam. She's talking now. She says, "Bappa" for Grandpa. But "Um huh" for me. Hmmm... Who, me? Jealous? Nah... I'm still the one she wants to sing Eeensy Weensy Spider.

And the day's not over yet.

Blogging Friend Forever Award

Kelly of Geneva Daily Photo just awarded me with the Blogging Friend Forever Award. I am truly honored and have added it to my side bar. If you click on the award, it will take you directly to Kelly's wonderful blog. She is an incredible photographer who captures exquisite photos of Geneva in Illinois, a state that we both love since I lived there for 34 years before moving back to Hawaii.

I think I mentioned before that I just can't choose who to give awards to anymore from all my blogging friends. Oh my gosh! I love all of you! I'm in awe of all you photograph and write. Therefore, I've added the Blogging Friends Award icon above. The rule is to pass it along to five other bloggers, four of whom have to be regular, dedicated followers of your blog, and one of whom should be a newcomer, who lives in another part of the world.

I think everybody should blog, it really opens up the world doesn't it? I think it also promotes understanding and hopefully civility. Granted I'm just judging from the people who comment on my blog. Like I said, you guys are the BEST!

Margaret and Helen

Bobbie from Almost There recommended a blog that I checked in on and absolutely loved. It's called Margaret and Helen and written by Helen. They are two wise, funny and brilliant ladies who have been around a long time and been friends for 60 years. Helen's grandson got her started blogging because he thought she had a lot to say. She does... and it's worth reading.

To my son, Jon: Do check this site out. You WILL like it. Trust your mama on this.

Not Dentures...Yet

My jaw clicks. Yup. I rather knew that.

However when my tooth chipped at the base, my dentist said it was because my bite was funny and I was probably grinding my teeth. I don't think I do but I do chomp down hard. She said it could be the crowns that were put in or a myriad other reasons and sent me to see a prosthodontist. I never even knew there was such a doctor as a prosthodontist. I suppose as we age I get to learn about all kinds of different doctors that I never knew existed.

Well, my prosthodonist's name is Dr. Kevin Loo and he is the nicest person. I love his hygenist, too. He's fitted me out in a mouth splint. He says I'll have to use it for the "rest of my life."

Something about him saying , "the rest of your life" that was a little unnerving. He says he wears one, too. But I wonder if he's going to wear it for the rest of his life because he looks half my age.

Whatever the case, he's monitoring to see if my jaw aligns itself better. My mother thought it was hilarious that I have to wear this at night and soak it in Polident or Efferdent in the daytime just like she does her dentures in the evening.

I wonder what else will go off kilter as I age. It's a little annoying at times but I guess you have to try to laugh about it and get on with it. Art thinks it's funny when he can't understand me sometimes when I have it in.

Hope you all had a great weekend. I'm going to go get my splint on now.

My Mother's Dream

I found my mother standing alone in the darkened kitchen this morning pondering while it drizzled outside preventing her from doing her laundry. I asked what the matter was and here's what she said.

"I had the strangest, clearest dream I'd ever had last night. I don't understand. Could it have been because we've just returned from our trip to Japan?

I was going to go on a trip to Hokkaido. I was in my 40's and Dennis (my brother) was in his 30's. That's not possible but it's what I dreamed. I was expecting my father to go with us. We were waiting at the pier for our ship to take us to Hokkaido. We waited and waited and waited but we caught no sign of my father. The ship was appearing in the horizon.

Then suddenly, there he was coming from a distance. He had a look of zazen (meditation)on his face and he was walking toward us slowly in a very peaceful, otherworldly stride. I called out frantically to him shouting, 'Father! Father! The boat is coming. Hurry!'

He looked up at us and said, 'So it is. I'll have to get ready.'

And then I awoke. What could all this mean?

My grandfather was a Buddhist priest who my mother idolized and we've just returned from seeing Hokkaido. I could see lots of subconscious reasons for her dream but she's still trying to have it all make sense. I know we'll talk about this later when she's had time to process it all.

Who Needs Doors? Floors?

Well, we do actually.
A couple of years ago we decided to move back to Hawaii. My dad had passed away and my mom wanted our help and company. Our plan was to buy my mom's house and build on top. We hired an architect and then started to look for a contractor. That's when reality hit. It was going to cost way more than we could afford so we did what we said we'd never ever ever do again. We'd have the contractor build the exterior of the house and Art (with a little of my help) would finish up the inside.

We did the same thing in Illinois over a couple of decades ago but had a ton of friends who were extremely handy with hammer and nails who came and helped throughout the seven years it took to finish it. But it was hard and we thought we'd NEVER have to do it again.



Never say never. Here we are again but this time it's a nice retirement project. Hmmmm? Did I say nice? It's a challenge. However, here in Hawaii I do have a brother who is handy also. He's also an angel with hammer and nails as well as the computer. (He's the one who retrieved Art's deleted memory card photos.) We also have lots and lots of understanding neighbors who are being kind about the noise and dust we might create. They were totally amazing during our construction period bringing food and encouragement throughout the 9 months we were building the outside.



Art is learning how to put up doors again and keeps reading up on it on Internet. He's starting the first set of folding doors for the hallway closet. Hmmmm? Should he have started with the bedroom? Or bathroom? After that, he'll be working on the floors... the trim... the windows.... siiighhhh.........

Sky Watch Friday: Miyajima, Japan

(I just added the extra photo with the boat because Art said this was his favorite. I had chosen the more orange photo.)



This was taken on October 12th when we were in Miyajima, Japan. While I was getting ready in the hotel, Art went outside to see a spectacular sunrise. He must have taken nearly a hundred shots as the sky showed so many different hues of her early morning personality.

Unfortunately, that night I thought I had uploaded all his shots BUT something went terribly wrong. He erased his photo card thinking my uploading had been successful. When we discovered that I had somehow NOT saved his photos I could have crawled under the bed and stayed there. After 35 years of marriage he managed to forgive me. My brother was the live guardian angel who traveled with us. He knew of a program that would recover photos even after they had been deleted.

I have one brother and he is an angel.
I have one husband and he is an angel, too.

This is one of the photos that was recovered from the photo card.
Phew!
Please visit Sky Watch Friday and see more glorious skies around the world. The Sky Watch logo on my sidebar is a link to Sky Watch. Please feel free to click it and join us.

I'm posting this early just because I remembered that I hadn't done Sky Watch in quite a few weeks. It's still 23 hours until we link up with the Sky Watch team.

The Hitachi Tree at the Moanalua Gardens

We had visitors from Japan today who had a list of places they wanted to visit. One of the places they asked to see was the Hitachi Tree at Moanalua Gardens. We were rather puzzled by that since we've passed Moanalua Gardens countless times and never considered stopping there. We also had no idea what the Hitatchi Tree was. Checking on the Internet, we found out that the huge monkeypod tree had been used in a Hitachi commercial for several decades in Japan.



When we got there we were very glad they asked to see it because it was quite impressive. I guess we'd taken it for granted all these years and all that grandeur was right under our nose.



The garden right beside it was also worth the stop to enjoy and appreciate.

Hawaiian Wedding

With the ocean in front of them and his family behind him, my nephew, Barry, affectionately known as Bear was married to Miho yesterday under a glorious Hawaiian sky. It was simple and about as inexpensive as you could make it but it carried a lot of weight, warmth and above all... love.

I can't begin to express what a marvelous person Bear is. From the time he was born, he was warm and cuddly. He puts everyone's needs before his own. I still remember last year when my son, Jon came for a short stay, Bear rushed over through traffic and heat after a tiring day at work to visit with his cousin before he left.

When I heard that he and Miho would be married by a judge in a short ceremony, I wished for something more "special" for him. That was silly of me. As we stood with them in the glowing sunset I could see that this was incredibly special because he and Miho are special. It was the moment that was special. The judge, dressed in his robes with a Hawaiian flavor made sure that the ceremony would have all the grandeur, humor and beauty it deserved.

I've seen a lot of marriages that started with extravagant, expensive weddings fail. I have as much hope, best wishes and expectations for happiness for Bear and Miho as I would if they'd spent a million dollars on their wedding.






The wedding cake was the toasted ice cream specialty of the restaurant. It was as beautiful as any $1,000.00 luxury cake amidst the laughter and friendship surrounding them.

Is there a resemblance?

This is just a silly post. My mom just came running in saying, "Look at this actor. Don't you think he really looks like Jon?"

Takenouchi, Yutaka acted in a Japanese drama that my mom got me sucked into watching a couple of years ago.   I regretted watching it because his character got a raw deal at the end of the show which had me feeling bad just because he looked so much like my son.


Yutaka Takenouchi was featured on this magazine cover that mom showed me.

This is our son, Jon. Art says the photo doesn't show the resemblance like we saw in the drama. Oh well. I think my son is cuter anyway.

Japan: Day #24 (October 14, Tuesday)

We had several train transfers to take us from Kabe to Narita Airport in Tokyo. After 23 days of wonderful weather it rained the entire way from Hiroshima to Tokyo. We could barely see the Himeji castle in the cloudy, foggy distance.



It still amazes me that we made all our train connections with only a few minor glitches.



We made it to Narita and picked up our two suitcases that had been delivered and stored there for us for $19.50 a piece. How incredible is that??? It made traveling a lot EASIER for us. We are so grateful to our friend, Osamu who arranged it all for us.



We walked around the airport and the waiting time seemed to zip by.



Using our phone cards that my aunt gave us to use throughout Japan, we called to thank all the people who had helped make our journey so happy and effortless.



It's so true that we could have had something healthy for our last treat from Japan... but what the heck. We got more ice cream instead. We still haven't tried all the flavors. I guess we'll have to go back.



We arrived at Honolulu International Airport and passed through customs in a jiffy.



Dennis' wife, Nancy had a fruit bouquet delivered to our home to welcome us all back. She was grateful that we returned her husband in one piece. We were grateful she let us borrow him for such a long time.

Japan: Day #23 (October 13, 2008 Monday)

Monday was a very important day for us. It was one of the reasons mom needed to come on this trip. She needed to make sure the translations would be accurate for Art who understands very little Japanese.

Several generations ago, Art's grandfather (a second son) left Hiroshima to come to Hawaii. Back in those days, the eldest son inherited the family farm and all the other children needed to find their own way. It's very much like the English system. After several generations nobody in Hawaii knew what happened to the family in Hiroshima or where they even lived. It wasn't until one of Art's cousins researched the genealogy of the family while doing Mormon missionary work in Tokyo that he discovered the long lost relatives. Other cousins had since made contact but Art, as one of the few male members carrying the name had always wanted to see what the family homestead looked like. It was a very moving experience.



We started the day with a gorgeous sunrise over Miyajima.



We had a very nice, not fancy but substantial breakfast at the Coral Hotel.



We took the train to Hiroshima Station and transferred to the Kabe line which is a town on the outskirts of Hiroshima.



One of the first things we did was to pay our respects to the family ancestors at the home altar.



I was surprised to find that they had terrific Internet connection so I could show them my blog! I also have their e-mail so the Hiroshima and Hawaii families can now always reach each other in an instant.



Here is Hiroyuki whose father is the one who inherited the farm comparing cameras with Dennis. Coincidentally, they had the very same camera.



We made a discovery here that the mon (family crest) we always thought was our crest was NOT. Hiroyuki showed us his father's picture proving what is supposed to be the real crest on his kimono.



Hiroyuki showed us where the graves of his family are buried. There are too many stories of discovery here to share at this time.



I spotted this gorgeous rose in front of their house.



When Hiroyuki learned that Art loved persimmons, he picked several from his tree to have Art taste. He said that too many people had persimmon trees in the neighborhood that it was not considered very special. Many people didn't even bother to pick them all. Sigh...



Mayumi and Kayo are Hiroyuki and Setsuko's daughters. Mayumi arrived with gifts for us. We were surprised and extremely touched by her kindness and generosity. She even had gifts for us to give to our friends and relatives in Hawaii. She is a middle school home economics teacher. I already know her students must love her.



Here's a family photo with the translator in the middle.



Here's the family homestead from afar. You can see their forest in the background. Hiroyuki and Setsuko told us that it is filled with deer, monkeys and tanuki that love to raid their garden and are fat, strong, big and healthy unlike the deer at Miyajima.



We bumped into Hiroyuki later working on the rice he'd harvested. He said we would be eating rice he'd harvested last year and these grains would be next year's supply. He was surprised that we wanted to take so many photos of this. We have a new appreciation for rice and the work it takes to grow it.



Chanel is a papilion breed of dog. He is very, very smart and well trained. He wanted desperately to come into the bedroom but knew he wasn't allowed there. He just waited patiently wagging his tail.





Setsuko is a fabulous cook! She spent much of her time in the kitchen creating fabulous dishes. Hiroyuki got to cook the sukiyaki at the table and it was incredible. Setsuko had added matsutake mushrooms from their own forest. We'd seen matsutake mushrooms in Tokyo selling for $90.00 for a couple!!! Seriously!



This was a day we would always remember!