Keiki Swap Meet

My husband, Art happened to be looking in the morning newspaper and saw an announcement that there would be a Keiki (Hawaiian for children) toy and clothing sale at Kakaako Park in Honolulu. Local children were bringing their own toys and clothes to sell. We thought it might be fun to check it out to see what we could find to stock our closet for that granddaughter we're missing so much and any other little one that would be visiting us.

We didn't expect to have as much fun as we did. That teacher instinct in me bloomed again when I saw that kids were really encouraged to be in charge of their own sales. Parents were using the opportunity to teach their children why math is definitely important in their everyday lives.

We got a bit carried away and bought quite a bit more than we intended. Still, we actually spent only $20.00 for all of this.

P.S. Thank you so much for visiting Peggy and leaving her your kind and beautiful comments full of encouragement and advice. You are the best blogging buddies ever!

My Friend, Peggy

When I first moved to Illinois from Hawaii in 1974, I was truly wet behind the ears. I grew up in a rather idyllic landscape where we often left our doors open and parents didn't worry constantly about stranger danger. Everyone in our sugar plantation town also looked somewhat like me. Caucasians were either the "luna" (Hawaiian for manager) or on TV and the movies.

My husband, Art went to school in Peoria and was an officer in the Air Force for many years so he'd already been accustomed to a heterogeneous society. For me, however, it was an uncomfortable awakening when we traveled by car from Hawaii (California actually) to Illinois so that he could accept a job with the U.S.E.P.A. There were some towns where people openly stared. "Don't worry," he said "People are the same no matter where you go."

At E.P.A. Art met many new friends who became my friends as well and are still friends today. Beautiful people work hard to try to protect the environment.

Then we moved into a suburb north of Chicago and I came face to face with some prejudice and racism that sometimes threatened to send me scurrying back to Hawaii. However, there were so many incredible people I met who were as welcoming and loving as ever I could have hoped for. I actually have a lot of stories about those people.

Then I met Peggy. She and her husband moved in within 6 months of the time we moved into our little neighborhood. We became immediate friends. Some things are just meant to be. I don't know who called who first but I remember it getting dark and my not noticing as we talked and talked about anything and everything. Peggy was sunshine and still is. She is optimistic and open to everybody. Her third child and my second were born within nine days of each other. She was the one who encouraged me to learn how to drive and then took me to get my license. Peggy was also the one who drove my son and me to the hospital when he broke his arm. We babysat each other's children and bolstered each other through any of life's tribulations. I thought we would be neighbors until we were old and gray.

But life doesn't always stay the same. I went back to work teaching and then, when I least expected it, she and her family moved to California. However, we never lost contact. I knew what she was doing and though there were lapses at times, we could easily pick up where we left off.

Now after living in several places, she's moved back to Illinois and I have suddenly moved back to Hawaii. Life can be so ironic!

Now I've learned that she has leukemia. I didn't want to mention it in my post until I knew that she had informed her children. Now I can, and I would like to ask you all to visit Peggy at Musings of Meggie to hold her hand and help her through this hurdle as all of you and she kept my spirits up as I went through my thyroid cancer scare. She is not able to post very much just because she has a lot on her plate now but I know she checks her site and loves anything that anybody writes.

Here I am now after so many years of living in Illinois and I see that I've grown a bit more comfortable in my own skin. I no longer see the differences in people as something unfathomable or disconcerting but as a beautiful, intriguing part of our world to be enjoyed, understood and cherished. Actually, the differences I notice most now are how people treat other people. I've got a lot more growing to do but Peggy gave me a good start.

Thankful Surprises

We've had a few unexpected surprises these last few days. One afternoon we came home and there was a bag full of oranges and tangerines. No note. We eventually found out our neighbors across the street had taken a trip to the neighboring island of Kauai and brought some fruit back to share.

The following day, the doorbell rang and it was an old college friend of my husband, Art. They had not seen each other since they graduated from college. Through the miracle of Internet, Clyde had managed to locate Art. They had a lovely afternoon reminiscing about the "old days."

Yesterday, Art's cousin brought over a box of fresh (very fresh) pineapples. His cousin used to work for Dole so he's able to get wonderful, super sweet, freshly picked pineapples for us to share. I used to work for Dole as a pineapple trimmer for several summers while in high school. Even if I'm cold now, I get a trickle of sweat at my brow line when I eat fresh pineapple. I don't normally care for pineapple. However, these super sweet pineapples are just amazing. They're so sweet I never get that forehead sweat. Lovely! We were able to share some pineapples with our neighbor who gave us the citrus and another neighbor who gave us a bag of guavas from his tree.

Last night, I went out to dinner with some of my high school buddies and had a great time. It reminded me of going out with my teacher friends in Illinois but this is another part of my life. Now these friends are suggesting we go line dancing. I'm rather shy about doing this but I guess I'm being swept up in their enthusiasm. They say it'll improve my memory. Hmmmm.... that I do need to do.

I am thankful for so much!

Thanksgiving Memories

It's a different Thanksgiving this year. When we moved to Illinois we had no family close by. Our family was all in Hawaii and California. New Chicago friends warmly included us in their festivities. Moving into our first house we met our neighbors Peggy and Jim and they made us part of their family. I was heartbroken when they moved away.

Another family moved into the same house and we again became part of a calabash family. Bill and Caroline are anthropologists in African Studies and for a couple of decades we alternated Thanksgivings in each other's houses. They often invited interesting, world aware guests who added a lot of spice and knowledge to our full Thanksgiving table.

But now it's our turn to have moved away and I understand that Bill and Caroline and their children are all in different locations around the country and our two children are in the Midwest and Southwest and we are here in Hawaii.

However, for the first time we've got my mother, brother, sister-in-law and nephews for the holidays and that is something I'm looking forward to. I'm missing Bill and Caroline, Peggy and Jim and all their children but I guess life brings changes. This Thanksgiving I'm thankful for the friendships we've had even though we have to sustain them from far away and I'm thankful for our family and friends here who are opening up their lives to welcome us in. If the airfares go down far enough maybe someday some of those friends and Tif and Jon could come for Thanksgiving and we could have a Thanksgiving of our old and new lives brought together. Now that would be something indeed!

Get Rid of Guns!

I just read about the following story in the paper this morning. This 3rd grader shot and killed his father and the father's friend in their home. It's not in this article but the Honolulu Advertiser reports the grandmother saying the rifle belonged to the boy.

In the end, it doesn't just rile me that the loaded gun belonged to the elementary school child but that there was a gun in the house at all.

Why? Why do we need guns? Why do we need guns that are even more powerful than what the police use? I've been hearing how people have been snapping up high powered, automatic guns from the gun stores because Obama will be in office and he is advocating better gun laws. Gun advocates will tell you that knives kill people, too so why not ban them? For one thing, you can't shoot a bunch of knives from a far distance now can you? For 10 SIMPLE reasons to ban guns go to this site. http://www.escape-co.com/ban_guns.htm
Everytime there is a school shooting or someone is accidentally or not accidentally killed we get a tiny bit of uproar about needing better gun laws. Then people forget or some lobby squelches it. It's so infuriating! You get so mad you want to shoot off a gun.

See what I mean?

..............................................................
(AP) Police in this small eastern Arizona community are looking into the possibility that an 8-year-old boy who is charged with killing his father and another man with a rifle had been abused, the police chief said Saturday.

The boy, who faces two counts of premeditated murder, did not act on the spur of the moment, Police Chief Roy Melnick said.

"I'm not accusing anybody of anything at this point," he said Saturday. "But we're certainly going to look at the abuse part of this. He's 8 years old. He just doesn't decide one day that he's going to shoot his father and shoot his father's friend for no reason. Something led up to this."

A judge determined Friday that there was probable cause to show the boy fatally shot his father, Vincent Romero, 29, and Timothy Romans, 39, of San Carlos, with a .22-caliber rifle.

Under Arizona law, charges can be filed against anyone 8 or older. The judge ordered a psychological evaluation.

The boy had no record of complaints with Arizona Child Protective Services, said Apache County Attorney Brad Carlyon.

Craigslist: Buyer Beware

I’ve gotten several lovely buys from Craig’s List but I have to tell you that you’ve got to be very careful. I recently saw a lamp that was touted as an Ikea desk lamp for $40.00. Well, I’m not sure people in Hawaii realize that Ikea is known for their low prices and good but not necessarily great quality. We have a desk lamp just like the one being sold that we bought in Chicago at the Ikea store for about $13.00. I’ve seen other items going for very high prices that make me wonder if people really get anywhere near the prices they are asking. I guess with these tough economic times people are just trying to get the most that they can. But then again, why even bother to try to sell $4,000.00 pieces of furniture on Craig’s List? People go to Craig’s List for bargains. Then there are those people who try to sell their things without a photo. Oh dear! Would you even think to consider something without seeing what it looks like?

And speaking of bargains, have you noticed Macy's slashing prices on a number of their merchandise? It's been helpful for me since I'm trying to replace the things I did not bring with me when we moved to Hawaii a few months ago... silly things like muffin pans, cookie sheets, stock pot, etc. I've told my husband that I need to go out there and spend just to help the economy. He's not buying that though.

Out Smarting the Bird Brains

We've had an ongoing battle of wills and superior intelligence with the bulbuls and mynahs and we still don't know who is winning. The bulbuls are birds that keep eating all, and I mean ALL the blossoms off the lemon tree and the baby buds off my mother's prized orchid plants. I don't know where we got the idea but we decided to hang up used data disks and so far the sparkling, moving disks seem to keep the birds away.



We were feeling downright clever, but was surprised to see these disks in Miyajima, Japan when we were traveling there last month.



I'm not sure how long these disks will work before the birds figure out they've been had. Being called a bird brain isn't necessarily an insult as far as I'm concerned because it's really hard to get the better of these bird brains.

I Love Flat Rate Boxes!

I love flat rate boxes! They are the greatest idea since Portuguese sweet bread for island folks. The U.S. Postal department have three shapes of these flat rate boxes that can be sent anywhere in the U.S. for a flat rate. The two smaller sizes go for $9.80 ($9.30 on-line) and $12.95 ($12.50 on-line) for the larger size. You are allowed to fill the box up to 70 pounds which is pretty hard to do unless you’re mailing gold bullions, but I still try. You can look up more information about flat rate boxes on www.usps.com. I just read that 40% of the packages being sent these days are flat rate boxes. However, you have to be careful that your box is not too light because you may get a better deal just paying your postage the regular way without using the flat rate box.

The only problem for us now is to figure out what kind of holiday gifts can fit into a flat rate box. Still…you know the old adage that the best gifts might come in small packages.

(For my kids:) Actually, I was hoping somebody would send me cookie sheets but they're too big for the flat rate boxes. However, that new 20X zoom, 10 megapixel Canon point and shoot would fit...

Juuuust kidding...

Sky Watch Friday: Miyajima, Japan

Here's another incredible Miyajima, Japan photo. This time, it was taken by my brother. I was, still groggy and not awake enough to get myself downstairs to walk to the pier to take the photos. That's OK. Dennis and Art took enough to make up for what I never got around to doing myself. The funny thing is, the following morning I woke early to make sure I got a great sunrise shot, too, but there were no clouds in the sky. In fact, a whole bunch of other photographers with extremely high powered cameras with tripods were out there but sigh... we were not so lucky.

For other amazing skies from around the world, click on over to Sky Watch Friday.

Being Prepared

I've had a blogger's block for the past few days. It feels so weird. I can have days when I'll have two or three things I want to write about but restrain myself and yet lately I have nothing.

We did have a full day today. We try to save up our errands and do all our driving at once.
Here's what we managed to accomplish.
1. We went to my aunt's house to pick up a special newspaper she'd been saving for my mother.
2. Next stop, the recycling bins at one of the schools to drop off all the glass and newspapers we'd been saving.
3. Office Depot for binders and printer ink so I can complete our Japan Trip photo album. I also ran off copies of our holiday newsletter.
4. City Mill, to look for orchid bark for my mother's orchid babies.
5. Macy's! You wouldn't think there was a recession going on. The place was packed! They were having a one day sale. I couldn't help myself. I ended up buying more pots and pans for my mom. Did I (I mean she) need it? Probably not. But the set was $100.00 down to $39.00 plus another $10.00 off with the newspaper coupon. Granted the set wasn't that great a quality but it's decent. Art is just shaking his head.
6. Grocery shopping. Bought too much again. I'm thinking Thanksgiving here. There's so much I don't have yet since we moved to Hawaii or could it just be that we were hungry because we were shopping at lunch time?
7. Very bad. We ended up just eating Whoppers (no fries) at Burger King. My mom, who almost never eats fast food said, "Hmmm... this is very tasty."

Tonight, as I'm folding the grocery plastic bags for later use, the lights went out. The middle corridor of Oahu suddenly lost power. I'd left almost all our candles and candle holders in Chicago. WHY did I not think we'd lose power in Hawaii, too? Luckily, a good friend of mine, Peggy (Musings of Meggie) had sent a house warming gift to me of these battery lit candles. They were the only light we had because we were suddenly plunged into darkness. Soon, Art remembered that he'd bought a hand cranked flash light so we had that and I found a real candle also that our friend, Kathy had given us a long time ago. But we realized then that we were NOT well prepared for an emergency. Our neighbor called up to offer us more candles.
When I called my brother, Dennis, he said, "Don't you have a hurricane kit?"

Sigh......... I guess we'll have to go shopping again tomorrow.

Expecting Aloha from Sales Associates

We were at Sam's Club today and I heard the check out fellow tell the person in front of me that she really could have gotten another bag of pretzels free with the price of one. He asked her if she'd like to go get another bag. She decided to return the bag and come back again another time to get the two bags.

When it was my turn I told him that I thought he was very good at his job and that people appreciate the sort of help he gave. He said he tries his best and gave a warm smile.

As we were eating dinner this evening, out of the blue my mom says, "I noticed you are good at giving nice compliments." I was puzzled and she reminded me of the Sam's Club conversation. "You made that boy very happy and he will probably go home feeling very good."

Mind you, though I like to let people know I appreciate what they're doing, I have also let them know my displeasure. It was also at Sam's Club at their photo center where I was trying to figure out how to upload my photos to a certain size that the young girl at the counter actually rolled her eyes when I came back for further clarification. I stewed about it and when the photos were developed I told her, "I would like to give you a bit of advice. When you rolled your eyes the way you did earlier, you made me feel badly and it really angered me. I would be careful because not everybody would just let you know this as I have." She was all a flutter and told me that she was not rolling her eyes about me but something else all together after which she could not have been nicer.

At another place on another day, Home Depot this time...my husband and I waited 45 minutes for somebody to show up in the window decor area so we could place a rather large order. When she finally showed up, her attitude was brusque because we may have cut short her time with her boyfriend who followed her in. As nice as we tried to be, she was not rude, but decidedly unfriendly. I ended up using my "teacher voice." I know you teachers out there know what I mean. This changed her attitude and she was much better.

But by golly! Why did I need to do that? On the other hand, aside from these two young girls, everybody else we've ever had contact with in the island shops and stores have been just as wonderful and friendly as could be. I guess it's in comparison to all the other beautiful people we see that these two girls stood out as being inconsistent with the aloha spirit which I've come to expect.

I guess it's rather nice that we're living where we expect this.

I Have Met the Enemy and It's Me!

Remember that saying from Pogo? Well, I've been really mindful of when Kapaa, Kauai comes on and it's so exact to when I'm coming on. It occured to me that I could check the option for the tracker not to recognize me. I'd done it before but I think you have to do it all the time. I did it again and I'm watching and Kapaa, Kauai does not come on. Well what do you know? I think it's Me. The tracking station thing must be on Kauai!!! Arrrrghhhhh!

Who Are You, Kapaa, Kauai?

I have that Feedjit blog traffic monitoring thing that tells me where I'm getting a visitor from. I rather enjoy imagining someone in another state or country visiting my blog even if they don't always leave a comment to tell me they're stopped by.

However, I've been noticing for some time that I'm getting somebody from Kapaa, Hawaii visiting all the time and not leaving a comment. How is that possible? I'm up right now at 2:56 AM in the morning with insomnia and this person is up following every site I go to and following the sites I have on my computer. Is it possible for another computer to just do this automatically? I feel like I'm being stalked by a strange Garden Isle computer.

Whoever you are in Kapaa, Kauai, could you identify yourself? Are you my cousin?

You do remember my earlier post how you bump into relatives or friends all the time in Hawaii?

Ah well... we'll see.

Sky Watch Friday: Back to Miyajima, Japan

I actually have enough of these Miyajima photos to keep me supplied with Sky Watch photos for a long, long time. My husband and brother must have taken hundreds of photos on that one morning we were there in Miyajima (10-12-08) and the sky seemed to want to show off every color in its wardrobe. The following morning was not quite as spectacular but it didn't matter because we have enough photos of all the variations which I'm sure I'll post in the weeks to come.

For more spectacular skies around the world, please join us at Sky Watch Friday!

Dull Dogs?

A very good friend asked me to attend an Amway presentation last night and because we’re friends we attended. Whatever the case, something about the meeting stuck out.

One of themes was the idea that you strive for what you need to survive financially in life as a young person but often your dreams are not realized because of the lack of funds. This then led to the discussion that with more money we could have the dreams we once had instead of making reality govern what our life should be.

It’s an interesting thought.

Another component was to tally up our expenses. We were asked approximately how many times we ate out. We had to say almost never since I even blog about those rare events. I had to tell them we have a house cook. (my mother) How often do we go out to the movies? Well, maybe twice a year? We usually rent DVDs if at all, but usually people loan theirs to us. How often do we go to sporting events? Hmmmm… next to never. Art watches it on TV. Art and I finally had to look at each other because we sure sounded like dull dogs to be sure.

And yet we’re happy. Well…. sort of….
The only thing creating sadness for us now is the economy and how it’s hurting our children (all of us) and news of friends and relatives who are experiencing other difficulties presently.

As for our dreams? I think teaching children had been a dream which I enjoyed. Art’s dream was to help the environment and he did what he could within the government although we won’t go into his frustrations there. Material dreams? We have our house which Art is enjoying building. Granted, this could go on for years but he likes the challenge of learning. Traveling? We do, though far from first class... it's still fun.

Having to live within our means? You know… we’re OK with that. We don’t need a Mercedes. We don’t need a mansion. We don’t need to eat out more often.

Amway could be a viable vehicle for somebody else looking for an avenue to create an income, just not us.

So it brings us back to our being dull dogs. Hmmm…. ‘fraid so. But we’re pretty happy dull dogs.

Highway of Heroes

I just saw this tonight on NBC News with Brian Williams and looked up the article about that story. It's so appropriate for Veterans Day. Here in the U.S. the bodies of fallen soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan have been hidden away arriving in the cloak of night so that Americans would not see just how many of our young people were having to give their lives to this war. These soldiers' grieving families did not get to know that their country was feeling for them and grieving with them.

At one time, it was "You're with me or against me." If you're not supporting the war, you're not supporting the soldiers. Well, it's because we are supporting the soldiers that we wanted them to have the best equipment to fight a war they are being sent to. They also need the best medical support when they come home injured. And they needed to be recognized and honored for their sacrifice.

I wish we could do for our soldiers what Canadians have been doing on that stretch of highway in Toronto.

The article about this story is copied below.

Highway of Heroes
Posted: Monday, November 10, 2008

By Kevin Tibbles, NBC News correspondent

It is not often that you witness something for the first time, and find yourself being moved to tears.

But, that is exactly how I responded one day last summer as I was driving down a stretch of highway outside of Toronto.

I noticed a few people on the overpass standing with flags.

On the next bridge, same thing.

Then there was a bridge with a fire truck on it, and more flags, and more people. Essentially I had driven, I dunno...50 or 60 miles...and there were people gathered on every single bridge.

Fire trucks, police cars, ambulances, pickups, sedans...moms, dads, the elderly, kids.

When I finally got to my own mother's house I asked her what was going on. "It's not a holiday? Is there a celebrity coming? What's with all the people on the bridges?".

She told me that stretch of highway 401 is now referred to as 'The Highway of Heroes'.

Each time a Canadian soldier dies in Afghanistan, fighting alongside Americans in the war on terror, people simply gather on the bridges out of respect.

They stand, maybe salute, maybe wave a flag, to show the fallen combatants family they are not alone.

It isn't political. It isn't organized. It doesn't cost a cent. And yet hundreds of ordinary people come to stand and say 'thanks' each time the body of a soldier comes by.

As we prepare to mark Veterans Day, or Remembrance Day as it is called in Canada, here is a grassroots movement that has simply grown out of respect for those who put their lives on the line.... Lest We Forget.

It's a Small Island But Full of Ohana

When we went out to lunch on Saturday we were shopping beforehand at Macy's for a birthday gift for Art's sister. We heard someone call our names and lo and behold, there is Art's Auntie who we haven't seen in several months. We had a nice chat before we left for the restaurant.

After lunch, we headed to the grocery store and were checking out at the self check-out when someone came by and tapped on our shoulders. It was Art's cousin and his wife. It was such a wonderful surprise!

Today, we were once again out shopping and someone called my name. It was my high school buddy/college roommate, Jo. We had a great time catching up and promising to get together with our other other high school friend, Diane (elementary school/high school/college roommate) in a few days. The funny thing is, since we've moved here, I've hardly seen them so this will be very nice, indeed.

Like my mom said, you can't be rude to anybody you meet in Hawaii because they're likely related or are friends of friends or some kind of calabash cousin. Everybody is sort of Ohana (family).

In fact, here in Hawaii, I am "Auntie" Kay to quite a few grown-up "kids." It's actually rather rude for children to call grown-ups by just their first names here. If it's a friend, you add that "Auntie" or "Uncle" before their names. I had a hard time getting used to little children on the "Mainland" calling me by my first name. It's very much an island culture. And now that I'm back here, I am loving being called "Auntie" again.

Hmmmm.... sort of drifted away from my topic, didn't I? Ah well, what do you expect from a forgetful "Auntie."

Saturday Musings

Just a few thoughts on this interesting Saturday.


We invited my aunt and cousin to lunch at Kyoto Ohsho in Ala Moana Center today. I'd checked out the restaurant on the computer and found that people had given it bad reviews on the food and service. In fact, they said the service was terrible. Surprisingly however, the service was very quick when we went, very friendly and courteous. The food was plentiful, delicious and reasonable. Granted they were slow to give us the check but otherwise, we'd go back there again. I guess this teaches us that you can use the Internet as a guide but use it as a possibly fallible source.



Poor Art...
He was sitting outside a store talking to his sister when suddenly a bird flying overhead dropped a load on his leg. He had to wash it off before our lunch in the restaurant. Then when we returned home, we found this dead bird in our driveway. Art commented, "Is this some kind of message?"

And finally, I'm getting a bunch of thank yous now from loved ones who must have read my blog. I'm feeling a little contrite to have caused them discomfort because I'm suddenly getting thank yous from people I wasn't expecting one from. Still... I have to say, it does feel awfully nice.

Compliments to the Cook

Art, mom and I were eating dinner the other night and we were telling her how much we were enjoying what she had cooked. I think it was grilled mackeral, some coleslaw and miso soup. We love her cooking and tell her so every night. Art was telling her that the miso soup had just the right amount of miso and lightness of taste that we like. The fish was perfection. Her coleslaw is always special and I could eat it as a main dish.

She told us, "You both are always telling me how much you like what I'm cooking. It feels very good to get compliments and I enjoy cooking that much more when I know you enjoy it. I have a friend whose husband never says anything and she is an excellent cook! She is very discouraged to not be appreciated. I am lucky you both always appreciate what I prepare."

She cut her finger yesterday so I had to take over the cooking. I could see today that she was feeling pretty antsy to take her kitchen back. And you know what? I'm glad to give it back!

Sky Watch Friday: Rice

I took rice for granted until our trip to Japan last month. We took this photo in Hiroshima where my husband's relatives actually grew their own rice. It's a LOT of hard work to give you that cup of rice.


Dellgirl asked how I was able to get that angle for the rice. The rice was actually planted on a hill. I just added this extra photo to show what I mean.

For more Sky Watch photos, please join us at Sky Watch Friday.

Hawaii's Own!

It's interesting that so many places and people call President-Elect Obama their own. Hawaii certainly does because Obama grew up and went to school right here on Oahu. Illinois does because he was our senator there. Indonesia does because he went to school there for a few years. Kenya does because his father was from that country and there is still family in his village. African-Americans do because he is half African American. White Americans do because he is half white. People in Kansas do even though the state went red. Minorities (Can we include Asians, as well? They seem to always forget about us.) do because he represents them, too. Young people do because he is younger than most who have run for that office. The world does because they related so much to the message of hope he offered.

I LOVE it!

Thank You, America!

We were watching the news late this afternoon and getting ready for a long night. There were a few projections and local news on TV. Then at 6:00 PM, they cut away to National News. And then... suddenly...

That photo of Obama and the words
The new "44th President" or something like that. I think I commented "They're being a bit presumptous, don't you think?" We just closed our polls at 6:00 tonight in Hawaii. How can this be?

And then it sunk in! Oh MY GOSH! Barack Obama has won! There was cheering in Grant Park, Chicago! I wanted to be back there in Illinois with our neighbors who must all be celebrating. We called our daughter in Chicago who was ecstatic! We called our son who said they were only getting local news in Santa Fe yet so he checked and broke out in happy cheers.

We savored every bite of that ice cream!!! I don't think it ever tasted so good. When we travel abroad again, we can hold our heads up proudly that we've elected a President who will use diplomacy and intelligence to guide our country and foster cooperation and friendship with other nations. He's got a tough road ahead but he's given me hope that it will get better.

John McCain gave a very classy and gracious concession speech to move us forward together in a positive way. It was very well done indeed.

What a wonderful day for America!

(Photo is from Yahoo website.)

Waiting for Ice Cream!

Yahoo photo

Art and I walked down to our polling place at 9:30 AM and voted for the first time in Hawaii. There were very few people there. Apparently most people had voted at 7:00 AM or voted early. I thanked all the precinct workers for their hard work. We're hoping that Hawaii's favored son will win and that we'll have the first one time Kamaaina (local person)become president.

The one wonderful thing about living here is that we won't have to stay up too, too late to get the election results.

We went out and bought some triple chocolate ice cream to celebrate Barack's win or to drown our sorrows in. I've got all my fingers and toes crossed. This is historic!

I hope.

Thank You Cards Never Go Out of Style

I was just wondering what I should write about and then my mom mentioned that she had not received a thank you card for a rather sizable monetary gift she gave. She had been happy to give the gift which was rather large considering how small her social security is... which brings me to this post.

As a first grade teacher, aside from teaching children the importance of global understanding and friendship, I did teach each and every child to write a thank you letter. Anytime a speaker came to our classroom, they got a thank you letter. Anytime we went on a field trip, the class wrote thank you letters to the parent volunteers. The lesson for my class was they needed to always show their appreciation for whatever someone did for them. Besides, I warned them...if you don't show your appreciation, that person might think you don't care and won't give you anything the next time, not that that's the reason for writing the note, mind you.

My own children were always encouraged to write notes from the time they were little. My daughter went one step better and even makes her own cards with photos in them. My son, well, I love him dearly but it takes him a little longer to get his done. But he does (even if I have to prod him sometimes)! And he does them beautifully!

I remember one person that we gave a wedding gift to who did not respond in several months. I asked his mom if he'd gotten it. She asked her son and he told her that he had a year to send it. We did receive a card from him in another couple of months that only read, "Thank you for our wedding gift." I was a tad bit flabbergasted, especially since his mom is an incredible writer. I asked my daughter about that and she said that sadly she's had some thank yous like that from her generation.

Well, I don't know about you but I really appreciate a nice thank you note any day, and if not a snail mail note, at least an e-mail.

Tagged and Awarded

I've been Tagged by Caryn of Hollow Thoughts and Awarded the Blogging Makes Us Close Award by Ramblings of a Villas Girl. I've added the Award to my sidebar for anyone to use. Thank you both for thinking of me! You are both very special friends. As you know I truly appreciate the honor but I just can't choose anymore. I love you all!

Want Some Pizza?

Someone I know was over for dinner one night and I'm leaving out all details because I don't want him/her to get in trouble. This person works for a fast food pizza restaurant and was watching while I prepared a green salad with mushroom, cucumbers, etc. He/She picked up one of the mushrooms and said, "Wow! Cool! At the pizza shop where I work all the mushrooms are really slimy and old. I forgot what a fresh mushroom was like. Nobody can tell what they're eating because once it's cooked in all that sauce, you can't tell."

Well.... yuck! That story kind of stuck with me and now I'm rather leery of buying pizza. I remember our school custodian telling me once, "I used to work in a restaurant and let me tell you, I'm not ordering anything that isn't cooked."

Sheesh!

Well... like my mom always says, "Home cooking is best." And since she's the one always cooking these days, I can't agree more.