The Marathon Maniac 2010

Well, he's done it again.

He's signed up to run in the 2010 Honolulu Marathon in December.

I was hoping he wouldn't. I just think everything in moderation is good. Running 26 miles and 385 yards in hot sun just can't be good for you. He's now in training trying to eat carbs and putting himself on a schedule. He ran 10 miles today.

Yes, I know his blood pressure is under control now. The doctor says he doesn't even have to take meds. No pills! Nothing. His cholesterol, glucose, everything is just fine.

But still... I worry every time he goes out to run. Well... he'd probably snitch on me and tell you that I'm sleeping when he goes out anyway.

His dad had his 1st heart attack in his 40's and Art is trying his best to keep his health at its optimum.

On the other hand... I should, I should, I should do a better job myself.

Right now I'm just sitting on my duff all day scanning all our old photos. The Hawaiian weather is just murder on color photos. The black and whites are doing better but the colors are fading. And gracious, the photos I took in the beginning were really not good. When I scanned them I could see they were actually blurry. It wasn't until 1979 that Art bought me a new camera and the photos improved.

This photo of Tif and Jon in 1980 after a day at Disneyland with my sister-in-law, Kay (Art's sister... yup, her name is Kay, too)in the back seat of the car (Oh Wow! No seat belts!), just brought back sweet memories. I just want to reach in and hug them again.



Ah well... what I meant to say is that I'll have to pull myself away from this project and get some walking in! Really... I mean it! I will...

Modern Motherhood?

Tiffany is an excellent mother. Granted, sometimes I felt she was too soft with KC. Tif says KC tends to be stubborn at times (Tif says she comes by that naturally) so she has found the best way to deal with it is to give her choices. Instead of saying, "Wear your shoes," (before leaving the house)she'll say, "Would you like to wear your blue shoes or your yellow ones?" It's good to empower your child, but sometimes I think your child needs to know you're the grown-up and has to follow your directions. However, Tif is the mother and she knows her child best.

That's why it surprised me that she was upset the other day because a friend has been constantly telling her that she is too strict with KC. True, Tif has rules, but they're definitely appropriate from all I've seen. She is firm about the rules, but clear and loving. KC knows the rules but whenever this friend comes to visit with her child, Tif has to later undo all that KC has picked up from this other child. KC has asked, Why does she get to do this and I can't?"

It's quite a dilemma.

I've been to restaurants and seen children running amok. I've seen children climb up furniture and grab at things in another person's house with parents who merely ignored it because, "Kids will be kids."

Tif says she stopped KC from rolling around the floor (during a class) and pulling up her dress hem over her head. Her friend saw this and told her that 3 1/2 year old KC is just a baby so she should chill out.

When Tif and Jon were kids, they were taught how to behave in public. If they misbehaved we discretely escorted them to a private area and read them the riot act. I remember a lot of people coming by our table and telling us how well they behaved in restaurants. They did, but they had to be taught until it became second nature.

Has parenting changed in the last 30 years? Well, I'm glad Tif is sticking to her guns (I mean rules) because it teaches KC how to be more agreeable and likable. I really do believe that children need to be taught. But then again, I suppose, once a teacher, always a teacher.

A Whopper of Calories!

I was looking through my Boy Scout Makahiki Book and found a coupon for a Free Whopper with Purchase of a Sandwich Value Meal. We decided to go to Burger King and get it just for fun since we hadn't gone fast food in quite awhile. Art said he could use the calories since he's been training for the Honolulu Marathon again.

It was quite tasty and we enjoyed it. However, as we were leaving the place I happened to notice a big poster listing all the calories, fat, etc. in each item being sold. The Whopper had 660 calories. The medium fries had 400 calories. I don't remember what the unsweetened ice tea had. Probably not much, I would think.

Art said running a mile would burn 100 calories. Since he's probably run 10 miles he's OK. Let's see. I walked a couple blocks. Sigh... Not good.

Wait... wait... I did clean two bathrooms yesterday. I wonder how many calories that burned.

Sigh... I guess it's going to be another good long while before we do fast food again!

Personal Palm Pineapple

Art's cousin, Kazu used to work for Dole Pineapple. He's retired now but hasn't stopped working. Every so often he brings us the sweetest pineapples ever. I suppose it could be because he gets it freshly picked, but it's fantastic.

We decided to take the crowns and grow them in our garden. The fruits are never as big as the original. However the last one we got was really miniature.



I remember taking some relatives around the island once and they were shocked to see the pineapple plants. For some reason they thought pineapples grew from trees.

Now then... what to do with this pineapple?

LATER: My brother stopped by and we showed the pineapple to him. He thought it was rather cute and happily said he would love to have it. He said the other pineapples we gave him from our garden were surprisingly sweet.

You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby

My son asked me to scan our old family photos because photos tend to deteriorate in Hawaii. This is going to take quite a while since we've taken a lot of photos in the last 30 years. However, I have to laugh because we took more digital photos of KC in the first month of her life than we did for the 6 years of our kids' young lives.

I came across this photo of Tif and had to chuckle. I hope she doesn't get mad at me for posting this. If she does, this post will disappear immediately.

My first born, the delivery was pretty rough and she came out looking rather banged up. The hospital offered photos taken of newborns. We didn't buy one. As the days passed, she didn't improve a whole lot.


Everybody kept asking us what our son's name was.


We dressed her in LOTS of PINK and LACE. It didn't help, but we only loved her more.


And then suddenly one day, people stopped asking us. In fact, people would stop us in restaurants to tell us what a cute little daughter we had.


And then, like a butterfly she emerged into a beautiful woman. More than beautiful, she is kind, loving, caring and responsible.

This brings to mind the song, "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby." It's not necessarily so. I don't think you can tell for sure how a baby will turn out. I do think life shapes you and that people will consider you beautiful for the character you show.

This also brings to mind something I read in a book. I wish I could remember which one it was. It said that every woman has one time in her life when she is stunningly beautiful; it could be when she's a baby, or a young woman or an older woman with silvered hair. I never forgot that thought. Every so often I'll look at a woman, young or old and think, Ahhhh... she's in her prime. I'm sure this holds true for men, too.

However, again... I do think a person's character shapes their faces, too. I've seen so many woman over 80 look serenely beautiful. I've seen some rather haughty 20 somethings who look shallow and unattractive no matter how regular and unlined their features are.

I'll be looking forward to seeing how KC will grow, inside and out.

Taking a Shower Together

Yes, we do live in the tropics so we should expect lots of fauna here and there... BUT not in my shower, for goodness sake!

I'm using the guest bathroom for the duration of my illness. Last night, it was quite late because I'm into another project. My son, Jon asked me to digitalize our family photos. Well, we have a ton of them so it'll probably take me a couple of months to do. Actually it might take me several months because I'm still working on my mother's family history. Anyway, I got so involved with scanning photos that it was about 11:00 by the time I went to take a shower.

Taking the shower part was OK so yes, I'm clean. However, when I started squeegeeing (How the heck do you spell that?) the walls, this gecko jumped down at me. I would have screamed if I didn't know that it would terrify the neighbors.

It scrambled right over my toes! No, I still didn't scream.


When I went to bed, Art opened one eye to say good night so I told him about the gecko.

"How big was it?" he asked.

I spread my fingers to about 5 inches and he opened both eyes.

"I didn't hear you scream," he smiled knowingly. "I have a feeling you're exaggerating the size. Why didn't you take it outside?"

Riiiiight...

I went to the bathroom this morning and he (the gecko) wasn't there. Maybe I'll move back to our master bathroom now.

Healthy Meals

We're pretty lucky because my mom does most of the cooking for us and she enjoys it. We enjoy it even more. She makes a concerted effort to keep our meals healthy because she's got to watch her carb intake as well as salt. She's also pre-diabetic and has high blood pressure, not to mention high cholesterol. She tries to manage this with her diet and exercise as much as she can.


Last night, I noticed that the nishime dinner was really an example of how she manages our diet. Nishime is Art's FAVORITE dish but it is extremely labor intensive. My mother has to start preparation the night before and then work at it all day. She loves to make it for him because he's her favorite son-in-law... OK... only son-in-law. When you get right down to it, the ingredients are quite healthy for you.

We also have brown rice and a bowl of miso soup which she makes almost every night. She prefers making it from scratch to avoid the salt that most mixes have too much of. We used to make miso soup with the mix occasionally when we lived in Chicago but we would dilute it.

She also made stir fried pak choy which we really enjoyed. On many nights, I'll also add a green salad. Our desserts which we do have is usually fruit or a smoothie. During the day, if we feel hungry and need a snack, we always have nuts available to munch on. Art's nut's are NO salt. I'm sorry but I need a little salt with mine but it is reduced. Our drinks are either tea or water. I've gotten mom seltzer water at times which she really gets a kick out of. She says it's like drinking soda.

Therefore, all in all we eat pretty healthy and it helps to keep our weight down. We also use a smaller plate. It's a Corelle 10" size. I've heard that most dinner plates these days are 12" in diameter.

The only problem I have is that I still have a bit of a pot (belly) that I can't get rid of. Art doesn't have that problem but I'm not going to start running to get rid of it. I have my limits. I'll have to start walking again soon as soon as I get rid of this irritating, annoying cough/cold/whatever it is.

Civil Unions, Separation of Church and State?

I saw the front page of the Star*Advertiser yesterday and it got me thinking. I don't usually think on political lines because I don't feel like I have a thorough grasp on the situations. However, it also brought to mind something I saw on TV the day before.

People were protesting the building of a mosque somewhere. An angry woman spit out that America was built by founding fathers who believed the country would be based on the one true God. I don't even want to go there. OK... one true God. Would that be the Catholic God? the Jewish God? the Muslim God? The Mormon God? The Protestant God? Therefore we shouldn't allow a Muslim mosque to be built?


Then I saw the article about our Governor Lingle trying to decide whether or not to veto the Civil Unions bill. It's passed the Hawaii Legislature and waiting for her signature to turn it into law.

Governor Lingle says she does not want this bill to be her legacy. To be honest, I'm thinking her legacy for me is her taking time to campaign heavily for Sarah Palin and then saying she was too busy to meet with the newly elected President Obama who was meeting with all the nation's governors. Never mind that President Obama is a local guy. OK... I'll stop that rant.

Anyway... as I said, I may not have the full grasp of the situation. However, wasn't part of the foundation of our country built with the cement of religious freedom? Separation of church and state? A civil union, whether for gays or for heterosexuals would be a state sanctioned union, wouldn't it? Couples who don't want to belong to a church or is not allowed in a church can have a state recognized civil union with rights and benefits, thereof? Shouldn't the churches, temples or mosques just stay out of this?

At first I told Art, "Shouldn't they just let the people vote?"

Art said, "If they let people in the Southern states vote on the Civil Rights Bill for their state, would it have passed?"

But then I just saw a poll that indicated the majority of the people of Hawaii are for the Civil Union bill to be passed.

So why not just pass it already?

And Governor Lingle's Legacy? It's also under her watch that 17 furlough days were taken from Hawaii's school children whose school system was already struggling to meet the nation's educational standards.

Presents in the Mail

We have begun the week on a fun note. We received two flat rate packages from Tif, Ed and KC. They wanted to thank us for our visit and what we helped them with when we were in Chicago.


Art was thrilled to see this Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup Championship t-shirt! They also sent a TON of different kinds of nuts and a couple of bags of our favorite veggie chips.


I was excited to see two special glass mugs/steins. I have a collection of three mugs. I decided to start a collection that would be hard to find so it wouldn't grow too quickly. Whenever we're on a trip, I look for a larger clear glass stein. I looked for one in Chicago and in New Mexico and failed. Tif mailed two glass steins with KC's picture on it. I couldn't believe it!

It sure is a nice start to the week!

LATER: Gigi asked where Tif got the mug. I looked at the package and it says Kodak Gallery. She got it on-line. However, I do have to warn you that the inside of the stein has a matte finish. I'm hesitant to put ice tea or mocha in it because I think it will stain. I'll just use it for clear liquids.

Father's Day Monday

We chose to avoid the crowds and celebrate Father's Day today with Mom at Gyotaku restaurant in Pearl City. We happened to have a Boy Scout Makahiki coupon (50% off the 2nd entree) that we bought a long time ago.


Gyotaku means fish rubbing. The restaurant is decorated with them.


I wished we had KC here so we could come for a free Keiki (Hawaiian for Kids) meal on Monday and Tuesday evenings.


I had the Gyotaku California Delight lunch box for $8.95. Art and Mom had the regular lunch box for $9.95 which had more sashimi in it. I'm not a HUGE fan of raw fish.

There was a whole lot to this meal. Art had to finish mine for me. Mom didn't have much trouble with hers... just scarfed it up perfectly happily.


While we were eating, Art gave me a surreptitious smile and told Mom that we would be planning another trip back to Japan in 2012 to view the southern islands where we've never gone to. We've already got a trip planned for 2011 to Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks.

I was stunned to see Mom smile cheerfully at this. For the last few years she has been adamant about never, EVER, EVER traveling again. She was afraid of the long ride, the bathrooms, the possible cold, having proper clothes, leaving her house, leaving the plants, organizing presents to give, etc., ETC. This time she was actually excited about the prospect. She wondered what would happen if she wasn't in good health. We told her we've got the wheelchair ready. Yes, she said, let's definitely bring the wheelchair.

Wow! What a change of heart! I love it! This gives her something to be healthy for and she's looking forward already to seeing some places she's already thinking about.

Wow! This is so great! I guess she really enjoyed the trip in March-April and is now not afraid to travel anymore.

Wow!

LATER: Art's friend invited him to lunch at the Pearl City Gyotaku Restaurant a few days later and the server would not accept the same coupon (we had two) which Art presented to help his friend with the bill. It bothered me enough that I put in a call to tell the restaurant that the coupon does not specify that it won't cover the luncheon special he ordered. The person on the line was apologetic and said it should have been accepted, and would talk to the person in charge about it.

A Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful fathers out there! I hope you're having a fabulous day.

We decided to go to the McKinley High School, Friends of the Library annual book sale today. It was absolutely loads of fun! We took my brother, Dennis since his family would be celebrating Father's Day later and his morning was free. It was a good thing we went early because it started to steadily get rather packed as the morning progressed. It was interesting to see which authors were popular. I saw a ton of Robert Ludlum, Mary Higgins Clark, Nora Roberts and Dan Brown. I also got Michael Crichton's State of Fear (hardback) for $2.00. Even better, it was large print.


Then we went out to lunch at the New Eagle Restaurant (a Hawaiian version of Bakers Square) and had loco moco and saimin (bowl of noodles). Art had never had loco moco so he decided to give it a try.


The loco moco is a bowl of (brown) rice with hamburger and gravy topped with a couple of eggs. He said it was OK... Art says he's going to run this evening to work off the calories.

The saimin was OK...







 
The best part of the day was a call from KC and Tif (She pooped in the potty! Yae!) and a Skype call from our son, Jon. Tif told Art to expect a package from them tomorrow. Mom says she will make a huge pot of nishime (Japanese stew) on Tuesday for Art since it's his favorite dish. All in all, a very nice day to be sure.

Rainbow Showers

Cloudia of Comfort Spiral mentioned seeing shower trees around town. I've been stuck indoors for most of over two weeks because of my nasty cold so I haven't been outside to see much. I did go out today with Art and my brother to do a little shopping and saw some Rainbow Shower trees.

My brother, Dennis helped me get the best angle to photograph these beautiful trees.




This evening we went to a service for the husband of Art's cousin, Sarah who was lost to us several months ago. It was a beautiful Buddhist service. The minister's sermon was meaningful and loving.

During the refreshments afterwards I mentioned a memory I had of Cousin Robert to Cousin Sarah's daughters.

Tif came with her Korean-American husband, Ed to Hawaii one summer for the first time and we had a little party to welcome them. I have a feeling, Ed may have felt a little out of place surrounded by a family of mostly Japanese-American islanders, himself being a Midwesterner brought up in a first generation Korean family. Cousin Robert perhaps saw it and somehow remembering (he served during the Korean War) all the lyrics to Arirang, one of the most famous Korean songs, said he wanted to sing it for Ed. I believe Ed was very touched and I know Tiffany definitely was.

As we sat in the temple, I could see Cousin Robert's spirit standing there smiling at Ed and singing that beautiful song in his welcome to the family.


I guess it's been a rainbow shower of memories of Cousin Robert who nearing retirement wrote an essay with a bucket list of goals he wanted to accomplish before he died. He wanted to travel and see the world, wanted to be more outgoing, helping and loving not just his family but everybody around him who wanted or needed it, wanted to help his temple and community, and more. When he lay dying, Sarah read those goals to him and gloried in the knowledge that he had done everything on his list.

Cousin Robert died peacefully. All of us who were touched by him are blessed.

A Gift for Father's Day

Art says he doesn't want anything for Father's Day from me. Instead, we'll be going out for lunch with my mother on Monday to avoid the crowds.

He's always been that way. He never really wants anything for himself, but wants to get something for everybody else dear to him. During our travels, his eyes are always open for something that Tiffany might smile at or Jon might get a chuckle from.

In the old Asian way, he doesn't say the words, "I love you," easily. It's just not the way we were raised. However, our children know. How can they not?

Hmmm... but just in case they don't, let me tell them that they have always been their dad's greatest joy and brightest wonder. To Tif and Jon: Your Dad loves you more than words can possibly express.

From the time the kids were born, Art immediately set up a savings plan to automatically take money out from every paycheck for their college education. He made sure he was home for every doctor's appointment, every teacher's meeting, every sports meet. When he came home from work, he left work at work and spent the time listening to the Tif and Jon. If they needed him for anything, he would break his neck trying to be there.


I think they've come to expect that their father will always be there to bargain with the Fates to make sure his children are making the right choices, are happy, and being good people. He has detoured from his path a million times to smooth their way through every bump they've suffered. He's given them the gift of appreciating the delight and discovery they enjoy from travel and their sense of confidence that they can do what they want to do. I've always been fearful of leaving home. Art takes all our hands and shows us how to do it.

I still can't do it without Art, but the kids can. He's made sure of that from the time they were born, and knowing that they can and are two of the most kind, generous, capable children we could ever have hoped for is probably the greatest gift he receives every Father's Day.

Apologizing to BP???

I just saw this item in Yahoo news about the representative from Texas, Joe Barton.

"Well, that was fast.

Barely 10 minutes into Thursday's landmark congressional testimony — where BP CEO Tony Hayward and other leading company executives are revisiting the Gulf Coast oil spill before a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee — the first controversial statement has entered the record.

[The latest coverage of the hearings, updated continuously throughout the day, is available from the Associated Press and from Reuters.]

And no, it didn't come from the gaffe-prone BP brass. Instead, GOP Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, the ranking member on the House Energy Committee, made a decisive splash in his opening remarks (from which Republican leaders immediately began distancing themselves). A staunch conservative who has a long record of backing oil industry interests, Barton apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward for the "shakedown" the Obama White House pulled on the company. (Barton has received more than $1.5 million in campaign donations from the oil industry, according to Open Secrets, a nonpartisan watchdog group.)"

And here's what else he said:

"I'm not speaking for anybody in the House of Representatives but myself," Barton explained, "but I'm ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday. I think it is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown. In this case a $20 billion shakedown."
Wrapping up, Barton said: "I apologize. I do not want to live in a country where any time a citizen or a corporation does something that is legitimately wrong, is subject to some sort of political pressure that is, again, in my words — amounts to a shakedown, so I apologize."


Has this man not been watching the news? Does he not see the devastation caused by BP in the Gulf? Does he not see how the environment and its wildlife are being destroyed with no end in sight? Has he not heard about all the businesses that are going under? Has he not heard how BP cut costs to build their well? Has he not heard that people are not being compensated because BP has not been paying people for what they've done? Does he not know what the consequences are from this disaster?

First they criticize President Obama because he's not showing enough emotion or doesn't appear to be doing enough and now this??? What the heck! Damned if you do, damned if you don't!

Sunset Skies

Art came into my office and said that Guy Hagi (the KGMB Weather guy)forecasted a fabulous sunset because of the cloud cover over the Waianae Range.


I looked out my window and saw this.


I should look out my window more often. The neighbor's plumeria (also known as frangipani elsewhere) tree is in full bloom next door. So that's what I've been smelling! Barely... I still have this annoying, aggravating cold so I don't think my senses are in full operating order. Maybe I need to go play in dirt.

Still, every time the breeze comes through my window I do get this heavenly fragrance.



Within seconds, the skies caught fire, but now it's dark and from my hill I can see that lights around the city have blinked on.

Getting Smart and Dirty

I just saw this article in the Star*Advertiser that we got this morning. It's written by Brian Nearing of the Albany Times Union. Here are some excerpts from the article:

"Playing in the dirt is actually good for you, with brain boosting effects caused by naturally occurring bacteria in the soil, according to recent research from the Sage Colleges.

By studying how quickly mice negotiate a maze, associate biology professor Dorothy Matthews found that mice did better and showed less stress after eating snacks containing the bacteria, which earlier research shows can increase levels of serotonin, a brain chemical linked in humans with increased learning ability and mood...."

The article closes with:

"And being too clean by disinfecting everything a person comes in contact with could reduce or eliminate exposure to helpful bacteria, and it might be actually making people feel worse, not better, Matthews said."

I find this all so interesting because I remember my mother telling me a long time ago that she'd read in her Japanese research magazines that children should play in dirt to remain healthy and smart. Therefore, she made sure my brother, Dennis and I always played in the dirt everyday...not too hard to do in old Hawaii.

With my older daughter, Tiffany, we cleaned everything she used as a baby. We disinfected and boiled everything. Not to say we were fanatical about it... well... maybe. We were first time parents. We didn't even know how to diaper a baby since Tif was born early, and we'd never completed our Red Cross Child Care course we were taking. We attended the conception part, but gosh, we already knew how to do that. We may not have been experts at diapering, but we knew how to keep her clean and we did!

By the time Jon was born, we were pretty darn relaxed. When his pacifier fell out of his mouth, we dusted it off and gave it back to him. If he fell in the dirt, ah well, dust him off, too.

Today, Tif has a ton of allergies... dust, pollen, all melons, tomatoes. Jon, not much. He's even lived in the poorest villages of Mali, West Africa for over two years without a problem. (Ummm... he did get malaria, but that wasn't from dirt.)

I've seen Tif keeping KC clean all the time much as I did her. Now that I've read this article, it's made me see that... hmmmmmmm... maybe my mother was right after all.

Should I tell her?

MUCH LATER: OK, OK... I told my mom and she did laugh and say, "I read and knew about this 60 years ago!" (Is this the same thing as I told you so?)

New Yorkers Must be Smarter!

With the consolidation of the Star Bulletin and the Honolulu Advertiser some things had to go to remake the two newspapers into the Star-Advertiser. The more popular Advertiser had the Tribune crossword and the Star Bulletin had the New York Times crosswords.

The Chicago Tribune used to carry both. We could only complete the Trib (all week) and maybe the Monday or Tuesday of the New York Times. Forget the rest of the week! Sheesh! Who the heck does those New York Times puzzles after Tuesday?

OK fine, sometimes I don't even look at it after Monday! What can I say? I don't have my PhD.

Anyway, imagine our disappointment to see that the Star-Advertiser decided to print only a GIGANTIC version of the New York Times crossword. As if making it bigger would make it easier!?!

I'm glad to see we weren't the only unhappy crossword campers. After a week, they are now printing a smaller version of both just like the Chicago Tribune.

So then? Are the New Yorkers just smarter than the rest of us? Is there anybody out there who can actually finish the Friday New York Times puzzle?

Ummmm... Now then... I wonder if they'd be willing to make the Tribune puzzle just a little bit bigger for me?

And another thing: After four phone calls, talking to a live person, leaving an e-mail with the circulation director, yada yada yada, we're still getting two newspapers (We used to subscribe to both). But you know what? I don't care. They say we're not being charged for it and now there's no fighting over who hogs the paper.

Heeey... maybe we can have a race to see who finishes the Crosswords first? I'll do the Tribune. He can do the New York Times.

DOGGONE IT!: Something is wrong with the Tribune puzzle! Some of the clues are not there and it's harder than the NYT puzzle this morning. What the heck! Granted it is Monday so the NYT is at its easiest level. Still... craaazy!

Sarah's VapoRub on the Feet Cure

Sarah of Brit Gal in the US recommended that I try putting Vick's VapoRub on my feet at bedtime with a sock over it to protect my sheets. She said it would really help stop my coughing at night.

I must tell you that I was dubious that this would work. However, I gave it the good ol' college try.

Wrapping a towel soaked in ginger juice around my neck the night before gave me a red neck all day. However, the redness is now gone. I applied some aloe juice to it but perhaps the redness would have gone away on its own. Still, it DID work. I slept through the night with only a couple of coughs.

Last night I rubbed the bottom of my soles with VapoRub and wore socks so it wouldn't get all over everything. It worked just as well as the ginger. So do the remedies work or was I already on the road to recovery anyway?

Hard to tell... My head is still a little woozy. However, I do feel my energy rising. My cough has really subsided. It could be I'm just trying to avoid my mother's next home remedy... ginger and daikon (radish)juice.

And I am going to keep a jar of VapoRub in my medicine cabinet.

Thank You, Everybody!

Thank you so much, everybody, for your well wishes toward my recovery. I'm not a 100% but am now definitely headed that way. It feels like I've been sick forever.

Art made a huge pot of chicken soup with my directions. He did a great job. I've been having chicken soup for lunch and dinner for over a week. For some reason, every time I get sick I have to get chicken soup. It's the most soothing comfort food. I usually make it myself but this time, I think Art was worried I'd make everybody else sick by making it so he took on the chore.


I tried other cures during my cold and I'm not done trying them yet.

Alka Seltzer Cold Plus: It usually works but this time it didn't do much. I still got up almost every 1.5 hours coughing horribly.

Water: Every time I got up coughing I would sip on water. It was somewhat successful. I think it loosened the cough with so much liquid in me.

Pillows: Propped my head up, but since I keep trying to sleep on my stomach, was only mildly helpful.

Vicks on the Feet: I'm still going to try this. I finally got Vicks yesterday, but my mother insisted I do the cure she'd read about in her Japanese medical journals.

Ginger on the Neck: My mother came up with a small towel soaked in ginger juice. I was quite dubious about this but she'd worked so hard to get the juice that I just had to do it.



But guess what? It worked. I had at least 6 hours uninterrupted sleep last night. The ginger juice actually felt very warm on my neck. That was surprising.

Tonight, I'll try the Vicks on the Feet cure and see what happens. I'm thinking I'm just on the mend now.

Thanks again, everybody!

Annnnndddd... if I'm not better by next week, I promise to go to the doctor. But then, I think I still prefer the ginger cure to an antibiotic that usually gives me diarrhea, etc.

LATER: Oh, oh... I see my neck is red. I hope it fades soon. ALSO, my mother is so excited about the ginger cure working that she wants to make me a ginger-daikon (radish) drink. Hmmmm... the doctor is sounding a little better now.

MUCH LATER: It's been almost 9 hours and my neck is still red. I'm now applying aloe to see if it'll help. Mom is smiling a little sheepishly at me now. I wouldn't recommend this cure.

Still Sick with Two Newspapers

We subscribed to two newspapers in Hawaii, the Honolulu Advertiser and the Star Bulletin. One of the main reasons was because the Star Bulletin was doing so poorly that they started offering incredible subscription prices to just try their paper. We did and just a few months later, the Star Bulletin owner bought out the Advertiser and has consolidated the two newspapers.

Well, they don't have their act completely together so we're getting two newspapers. I've called their circulation department several times and keep getting told that I'm the first caller and my wait time is less than one minute...and I wait and wait and wait. I also left messages. Finally somebody called yesterday and told Art she doesn't understand why this is happening but she would correct it.

This morning, two newspapers again.


They're working out the kinks yet. A lot of the staff from the Advertiser were let go. That's surprising to me. Why would you let go the staff from the much more popular and successful Advertiser?

Meanwhile... I am still very sick. My mother is convinced I'm deathly ill. She keeps telling me I'm not young anymore. Do I really need to hear that constantly? It's not like I don't know that.

I think this is a cold. It started out with a headache the day I returned from Illinois. The headache lasted about three or four days. Then came a slight cough that became worse on Sunday. By Monday, the cough kept me up at nights. Today, I've got a runny nose that is showing an infection. My voice is sounding pretty horrible and Art is having a hard time understanding me. No, I mean more than usual.

And meanwhile, my mother keeps shaking her head every time she sees me telling me of some other person she knows who wasn't being careful and ended up dying. She wants me to go to the doctor... NOW. I told her people don't go to the doctor when they have a little cold and that I know what a bad cold is since I've been in an emergency room with pleurisy.

Wrong thing to tell her.

Anyway, this is the reason I haven't been able to get on the computer much. I'm going back to bed and see if I can lick this frustrating thing. I'd like to get better without drugs, if possible. I'm going to make another pot of chicken soup and maybe try that Vicks Vaporub on the feet cure that Sarah mentioned in her comment to me yesterday.

Modern Make-Over

When we arrived in Illinois, my daughter warned us that the house we lived in for 34 years would look different and she hoped we wouldn't mind. Well, of course we didn't! We were looking forward to seeing how they'd decorated the house.

Most of our furniture came from house sales and our theme was pretty eclectic. Tif says she'd call it more colonial which was in keeping with the feel of our little community.


My son-in-law and daughter have a more modern taste in furnishings. It gave me a little start every time I came down the stairs to see the new look to the place but I really liked it.

We brought the china cabinet and dining room set with us to Hawaii so even though it may look a little out of place here in the islands, it reminds us of our other home.

As I look at these photos, I'm reminded of our time there and can't help but feel the longing to be back there. It's not the furniture that makes the home, but the people you love.

For now, I'm trying to nurse this cold or flu that I have. It hit like gangbusters starting with a little constant headache to coughing and misery. Art says I'm starting to hum in my sleep... when I am sleeping between coughing fits, that is. I'm thinking of sleeping in my office tonight but he thinks he's strong enough to withstand the onslaught of my germs. He says he finds the humming funny.

Uh oh.... did I just hear him cough?

Sick?

The day we left Illinois, KC came down with a temperature of 102 degrees. This morning she vomited. However, she seems perfectly fine when we've seen her on Skype.

On the day we got back to Hawaii I had a little headache. It's been lingering and I wondered if it could have been due to the fall I took while in Illinois. Then last night Art said he wasn't feeling up to running this morning. Wow! He must be sick!

Now I'm feeling awfully tired, too, and my throat is scratchy as well. Doggone it! I'm going to go to bed early (sort of) tonight. On one side it really is inconvenient to be sick. On the other hand, my headache is probably from the cold so my brain might be OK after all.

Well... OK as it'll ever be, I guess.

A Solution for Wrinkly Knees?

I almost posted a photo of my sagging knees but spared you all. I noticed this happening a few years ago. There were wrinkles sagging over my knee caps. Why doesn't Art have them? He's older than I am.

This is Hawaii. I wear shorts in spring, summer and fall. There's maybe a couple of weeks in winter that I wear long pants. However, I realized that shorts expose my sagging knees for everybody to see.

Tif mentioned capris and bermuda pants to me a while ago but since I'm never really aware of fashion, I didn't take notice. I didn't think capris would keep me cool enough in summer. Tif likes them a lot even though she doesn't have any wrinkled knees to worry about.


During our trip to Illinois, Tif gave me a pair of hers and I'm sold! They're really quite comfortable, cool and keep my knees under wraps.

Now I'm looking around and noticing a lot of women are wearing capris and bermudas. What do you know? Do they have wrinkled knees, too? Now I just have to find some that have waists high enough that they don't fall off my butt.

That's the other thing. What happened to my butt....

Never mind.