No... No... Not More Needles!

When I was asked if I had any pain during my last check-up at Tripler, I did mention my sore shoulder.

My nurse practitioner, Kathy sent me for X-rays, an MRI and physical therapy.

I didn't really want to go because I don't like X-rays, and I don't much care to be put in a tube for almost half and hour and besides... the pain would probably go away on its own without the PT.  Right?

Kathy sent me immediately to Radiology for the X-rays and then I was called to get the MRI and I got the letter to get myself over for physical therapy.

Sigh....

It's a good thing I like Bert or I'd be an unhappy camper and besides I figured my aches were just part of the ahem... aging process.  Isn't that what they always say?

Sigh...

I just got a call from Kathy.  My MRI results had come in and no, it's not nothing.

1. Supraspinatus tendinopathy and partial thickness tear.
2. Subacromial subdeltoid bursitis.

So now Kathy says I need to go get a shot for the bursitis.

Sigh...

Light or Dark

Art and I don't see eye to eye on a few issues and sometimes it has to be dealt with compromise, understanding and a dollop of humor.

I like the windows open when we go to bed.  He likes them closed.  We sleep with the windows open a crack on my side unless there's a gale storm.  Then I close the windows lest he blows away.

He likes food UNsalted. (He does have blood pressure problems.) I like mine salted.  Mom prepares food mildly salted or unsalted and I salt my food after it's cooked.  It's not as good, but I know it's better for all of us that way.

He's an avid exerciser.  I'm... well... lazy.  He runs in the morning before I wake up.  We walk in the evening.  I do my Zumba and we do Tai Chi together.

He likes vanilla.  I like chocolate.  What the heck!  More for me.

He totally AVOIDS wasting energy or any kind.  I like having air conditioning, LIGHT, whatever.

This brings us to a problem we've had to really compromise on Big Time.  I like having night lights.  I don't like stumbling in the dark.  He thinks I can see just fine because he can.

Motion detector night lights was the answer to my problem.  Unfortunately they kept going off all the time in the daylight because we don't have a place to put them where I need them where it isn't dark in the daytime hours too.

The answer?  I've stuck a Post-It note in the center where the motion detector is.

My problem?  I keep forgetting to take off the Post-It note at night.

Sheesh!

An Elementary Coincidence

One morning a couple of days ago, Art and I did the Super Quiz in the Star Advertiser.  You had to identify the poem from its first line.  There are three levels of difficulty, the Freshmen Level, Graduate Level and Ph.D. Level.  In the Graduate Level was the line, "Whose woods these are I think I know."

I knew the answer instantly and yelled out, "Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening". 

I'm not sure why that poem has always stayed with me.  I read it either in high school or college and could imagine Robert Frost sitting on his wagon, looking into the dark and lovely woods with snow falling all around him.

Later in the evening we watched Elementary on television about a modern day Sherlock Holmes.  At the end of the show Dr. Joan Watson gives Sherlock a  gift of a framed plaque that reads:

 The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
 But I have promises to keep,
 And miles to go before I sleep,
 And miles to go before I sleep.

 "Wow!"  I told Art.  "We began our day with the beginning line of the poem and have ended our day with the ending stanza.

"You should blog about it," said Art.

So I did.

Adhesive Capsulitis, Bursitis, Tendinitis?

I have weak shoulders.  Coincidentally, so does my brother.  We've both had adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder) and bursitis or was it tendinitis?  It's a pain in the shoulder and no fun at all.  At one time a frozen shoulder had gotten to the point where I couldn't raise my arms above my shoulder height.  That happened while I was teaching and I had great difficulty writing on the chalk board.  It's amazing how much your life can be affected when you can't do something you'd taken for granted.

With pain starting again, I was sent for Physical Therapy with Bert.  Every time I go in I'm to do various exercises using bicycle inner tubes, giant rubber bands, balls and some sort of stationary (torture) machine for rotating my arms. 

I'm also learning a lot about my shoulders from Bert and how to strengthen and protect them.

He suggests that I continue to avoid weights during my Zumba toning if I'm only doing it once a week because I'm apt to hurt myself.

He recommends that I stop using my walking sticks because my shoulders are not really strong enough for it.  I've decided to take off the rubber tips and use it only for hiking instead... for now.

I've also now learned what to watch for as I work on my computer.  I'm glad I have my ergonomic keyboard to rest my hands and that I can keep pretty good posture when I'm working.  Bert wasn't too thrilled about my standing because of my shoulders, but we'll compromise by dividing my sitting and standing times.

I brought in my rubber bands from my previous physical therapy in Chicago and Bert gave me some exercises to do at home.

Art watched to make sure I'd do them correctly because you KNOW how easily I forget things.

Bert also taught me how to improve my posture which has been bad for quite a while.  Art has often tried to encourage me to correct it, but it took Bert to show me the proper method.  He's told me to do it gradually or I'll hurt myself.

I wonder if Art cued him in on the fact that the way I hurt my shoulders the last time was by trying to carry 7 pound weights on each arm when my arms weren't ready for it and carelessly overdoing it.

What I've liked about Bert is that he's not just telling me how to do the exercises, but why.  It really helps to know the whys.

The sessions end with a massage of my shoulder and shoulder blade which I'm very thankful for. 

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started the therapy but I'm grateful to Bert for all I'm learning and for his patience and laughter as I groan and complain.

The Real Culprit!

In mid March we planted a bed of impatiens under our lemon tree.  They flourished quickly and became a carpet of fuchsia flowers.  We loved seeing them every morning.

And then....

Aggravation!

It was alarming to see that leaves were disappearing and then flowers quickly following suit.

Every morning showed more disastrous results.

"It's the bulbuls!" said mom.  The birds had been eating all the buds from her orchids and are her sworn enemies along with the mynahs.

I was dubious because I've never seen birds near the impatiens.  Yes, they do go after her orchid buds, but impatiens didn't really seem to be part of their diet.

My prime suspect was slugs, but mom refused to believe it.

Tonight the moon was full and Art suggested that I go check on the remains of the impatiens plants.

 There it was!  This lone slug was munching on the last few leaves and flowers on my poor plants.  No wonder it was so fat and sluggish!

I just hope the rest of his tribe doesn't take his place thinking his territory is now up for grabs.
 

Where to Find the Worst Germs?

I've heard before that your kitchen holds more germs than your bathroom which was a big shock to me.

There was an article in the Star Advertiser (reprinted from the Chicago Tribune) a couple of days ago listing different places where germs are found in abundance.  It stated that shopping carts carry 115 times more germs than a toilet seat.  Your kitchen dish sponge carries about 775,460, 560 bacteria per square inch.  I've been putting our sponges in the dishwasher, but they advise against it because it just spreads the bacteria to your dishes.  Really?  Apparently the better thing to do is to put it in the microwave and zap it for 30 seconds.

Your kitchen faucet carries 228,854 germs per square inch.  To be honest I hadn't thought about the faucet. 

I clean all around it and spray bleach cleaner into the sink, but I haven't made a conscious effort to actually clean the faucet.  It makes sense since that's what we handle the most.

Then there's the keyboard, the remote, the phone.... arrrrghhhhhh....

Then again, if we're too clean, are we weakening our bodies by not allowing it to build immunities?

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Baby (Senior) Proofing the House

When KC was a toddler, we had to baby proof the house, putting little bumper guards on the corners of the furniture.  We couldn't protect her from everything, but it gave us comfort to know that if she took a fall, having the bumper guards would prevent too serious a damage.

Recently, on a couple of occasions when I was making the bed I actually banged my leg on the corner and broke skin.  I've noticed as I've gotten older than my skin is thinner and can be injured more easily.

After the second bruise on my leg Art took the extra bumper guards that our daughter, Tiffany had sent us a few years ago after KC was much more stable on her feet and attached them to the bed frame corners.

I'm finding myself tripping over nothing more often and bruising myself on things that would have never been a problem before.

Thank goodness Art installed grab bars in the showers and tubs because I have most certainly used them.

I really think that going to Zumba and Tai Chi have been good for my balance and confidence.

It's funny that sometimes, Tiffany's concerns and admonitions sound similar to how she speaks to KC.  Oops!  And I guess that's how I speak to my mother too.

At least mom hasn't needed any bumper guards in her rooms.

Shhhhh....

Shhhh... I think I've learned a secret and I don't want the library to find out that I know. 

If they know that I know, they may try to tighten up and correct this little quirk in their digital borrowing.

Art was trying to finish his science fiction book on his Kindle Fire when the three week borrowing time expired.  He was disappointed.

However when I checked my regular Kindle, the book was still there.

So we switched readers.  He finished his book on my Kindle and I started reading my book on his Fire.

I figured it could possibly be because I never turn the WiFi on with my Kindle.  That way the battery lasts a lot longer.  I'd noticed that several books whose time had already expired were still on my Kindle reader even though I returned it earlier from my Manage Your Kindle site.

After Art had finished reading his book, I decided to experiment.  I turned on the WiFi on my Kindle reader and voila!  All the overdue library books disappeared.

Now that I know this, I'm feeling the pressure ease a bit.  If I don't finish a book, I can just make sure I don't turn on my WiFi and I should be fine. Art just turned off the WiFi on his Fire too. 

Now you know the secret.  Please don't tell the library I found out.  It's made my life a lot easier.

POSTSCRIPT 1:  From the comments I've received so far, it surprised me that some people thought others on the library waiting list would not be able to read the book if I didn't turn on my wifi and let the book disappear from my Kindle.  That never occurred to me because when I looked into my Manage Your Kindle, it showed that the book loan had expired.  I figured that meant the next person was able to read it.  I've also returned books early as soon as I finished them.  I did not know until this week that the book itself was still there.  I looked on line and found many, many people had discovered this little glitch and were divided as to whether or not it really meant the book could not be read by others if you didn't turn on your wifi to truly return it.  Some felt it was the principle of the thing that you should turn on your wifi to return a book because that's the rule you agreed to.

We do need the USB connection to borrow books.  I wonder why overdue books don't just disappear when you connect by the USB.

POSTSCRIPT 2:  I've been researching a bit more on this topic and also learned that this is an Amazon glitch and not a public library glitch. They felt that Amazon would soon discover this and correct it.

Flat Stella Travels Across Oahu

My high school buddy and university roommate, Joanne asked me if I'd come along with her to help with a project for her niece's young daughter, Kara.  Kara's school was doing a Flat Stella geography project and she was asking her Grand Auntie Joanne to take Flat Stella around Oahu and photograph some fun places.  Joanne had done a similar thing a couple of years ago for Kara's older sister, Krista who is now in the fourth grade.

The year after I retired, the PTA at the school I taught asked for a photo of Art and me with suitcases in front of us.  They used the photo of us to create a Flat Mr. and Mrs. for children to take wherever they were traveling over spring break.  They invited me to come and see the bulletin board with all the photos the children had taken with us everywhere they went and the stories they'd written.  That was the first time I'd heard of Flat Stanley.

This reminded me of the time we went to Florence (Firenze) and did a similar thing.  We asked Jon what he wanted us to bring for him.

He said we should just bring a cheap little souvenir that we saw everybody buying that was representative of Florence.

Jon has always told us not to worry about bringing gifts for him because he'd rather we spend the time enjoying what we see rather than shopping.

Since Michelangelo's David was present everywhere we went in Florence, that's what we bought him.

Then we walked around Florence and took photos of David everywhere we went.

It was a fun project!  When we gave Jon the David and showed him the photos, he laughed and said, "You had to bring me David?  You couldn't give me Venus?"

With all these wonderful memories, I was more than ready to join Joanne in this fun project to help Kara.  Did I mention that Joanne is a teacher also?  Teachers love to do stuff like this.

Joanne had already spent a lot of time taking photos of Stella at various Oahu highlights, but wanted to be sure she did as much for Kara as she did for Krista.

We first went to Pearl Harbor where we took photos of Flat Stella next to the WWII submarine, U.S.S. Bowfin and the Arizona Memorial.  Then it was on to the Aloha Stadium.

Here is Flat Stella next to the Sumida Watercress Farm.

It was beginning to rain and was so cloudy that there wasn't a lot more places we could go to. 

Later in the evening I remembered something my brother, Dennis had just taught me.  He'd shown me how to take part of a photo and copy it onto another. 

Aha.... That was a light bulb moment.

I do have quite a few photos I've taken for my blog so I was able to copy Flat Stella from the watercress farm and paste her onto places around Oahu.

This sure was a LOT of fun.  I hope my little granddaughter, KC has a project like this too because I am so ready for it!!!

Tabebuia Gold in Hawaii

We were walking in a parking lot and saw several of these golden trees.  They were a startling yellow color and we couldn't take our eyes off it.  They seemed to sparkle like gold.

I do know they are called Tabebuia.  We've seen the pink version in Waipahu that some people mistook for a cherry blossom tree.  The Tabebuia has sometimes been called the Trumpet tree because of the shape of the flowers.

You can spot these trees from a far distance all around Oahu because the color is so intense.

We found this tree at the Pearl City Highlands Shopping Center.  Art took this photo of me with our iPhone while I was taking the following photos.

I was using my small Canon PowerShot SD850 IS.

I do miss the cherry, crab apples, pear and other gorgeous spring blossoms on the mainland, but I guess we do have our own varieties of beauty all around us.  We just have to pay attention.

More Myer Melodrama

I've written many times about my quest to find that California Meyer in Hawaii.

I could never understand what all the hype was about Meyer lemons in Hawaii because they just tasted like regular lemons, but a whole lot bigger and juicier.... not sweeter.

Then we went to California and I got to taste my sister-in-law's Meyer lemons.  They were flatter, a little smaller and had a nipple at the end.  They were also so sweet that you didn't need any sweetener.

I was determined to find out the secret.  I talked to everyone I could about the Meyer lemons in Hawaii and they said their lemons were all large, juicy, but not all that sweet.

My sister-in-law sent me some seeds so I decided I would grow them.  I put them on a wet paper towel and kept them moist.  The seeds began to mold.

A very kind commenter, Grace told me about Jalna's blog, Photos By Jalna.  Jalna said seeds should be hulled and put into a plastic bag.

I removed the moldy hulls and put the insides of the seeds into a plastic bag with a wet paper towel as she instructed.

Woo hoo!   After a week and a half they began to germinate.

I was so excited!

I put the rest of seeds into an egg carton without hulling them.  It took more like three weeks, but they began to germinate also.

Now I had ten little seedlings growing.

My neighbor told me that actually she'd heard that if you plant it from a seed instead of grafting them, you could never be sure of what kind of fruit you'd be getting.

Uh oh...

Then my sister-in-law sent me an article that was printed in a California newspaper about their Meyer lemon trees.

The article advised getting as big a tree as you could from a nursery because if you planted it from a seed, it would take about TEN years to fruit.

Arrrrghhhhh......

Oh well... Maybe we should just stick to our pineapple plants.  At least they're bearing fruit.

More Life Tragedies

A few days ago I stopped to tell a neighbor about the robbery that had happened in our neighborhood.  I wanted to make sure everyone around us was more vigilant.  Then I went off to go to my Zumba class.

When I neared where our classes are held I saw about five squad cars across the street with about seven or eight policemen standing outside the house. There was also a strange awful odor. 

One of my Zumba friends told me that a decaying body had been found in the house.  It must have been someone who died of natural causes since nothing was mentioned in the news about a murder.  Isn't it sad to have died without anyone realizing you'd been gone for quite a while?

I called my brother at the police station to tell him about this.  Dennis said this wasn't all that uncommon an occurrence.  A lot of these things are not reported in the news.  That shook me up.  I wondered what else was going on that we didn't know about.

First a robbery and now this.  I thought we lived in a quiet, sleepy neighborhood, but lately I'm feeling more and more unsettled. 

I'm rather melancholy right now.

Korean Lunch

After Art's hearing test in Aiea, we decided to try a different place for lunch.  Art looked on Yelp and found a place called Young's Kal Bee. 

Aiea Town Square
99-084 Kauhale St, Ste A2
Aiea, HI 96701

(808) 488-0251

We were there around noon and the place was already pretty packed.  We figured it must be a good place.

We got there a little late because we had the hardest time finding it going round and round the parking lot where several restaurants and other establishments are grouped in a maze like area.

The restaurant resembles a hole in the wall eatery.

We ordered the Lunch Special: BBQ chicken, Meat Jun, Fried Man Doo, 3 vegetables, rice and kim chee $10.55

This seaweed soup arrived first and we figured it would be a comfortable light meal with smaller serving sizes.

Ummmmmm......

We were really surprised when this HUGE plate of food arrived.  Art and I could have just shared one plate.  It was very tasty and I ate so much I was feeling pretty bloated and uncomfortable.

We brought home what we couldn't finish and there were still left over after dinner for tomorrow's lunch!

I can't wait for my son-in-law (who happens to be Korean American) to come some day.  We're already planning to take him there almost as soon as the plane lands.

Whaaaat?

Whenever the dishwasher buzzes to indicate the dishes are done, for some reason Art does not hear it.  I have to be the one to get up and go to the kitchen to turn it off.

Sometimes when I ask Art something, he doesn't answer.  When I call him from my office, he often doesn't hear me.  I hear him just fine. (And should I mention that he can get irritated if I don't answer?)

When our nurse practitioner, Kathy asked him if he had any problems Art told her that he did have tinnitus which is a high pitched ringing in his ear.  He's had it for about 30 years.  One out of five people have it.  It can be due to age, an ear injury, circulatory problem, etc. 

Note to my children:  Remember when I used to tell you that you had your music turned on too loud?  Remember me saying you should protect your ears from loud sounds at concerts and such?

I remember swim meets where there was one coach who used to whistle so loud my ears hurt.  I had to stuff tissue in my ears because it was so irritating.  I'll bet he damaged a few ears. It didn't bother Art as much as me.

Art went to get his ears tested and yes, he does have pretty significant hearing loss in one ear and some loss in the other.  He's not able to hear the high pitched sounds and may need a hearing aid some day.

So... OK... 
That might excuse him for not hearing the dishwasher buzzer.

But not hearing me calling from the other room?  Not hearing me when I'm asking him about a chore?  That's rather dubious...

Continuing Home Renovation Project: Baseboards

Art has always told everyone and reminded me intermittently that finishing our home renovation was a RETIREMENT project.  This meant he'd be working on it slooooowly, whenever the notion hits him, or me.

We're now into Year #5 since we've back to Hawaii and the baseboards are still not done.

Art decided this would be the year he'd work on it.

First he researched on the Internet about how to do it.

He's actually done this before but he needed a refresher since the last time he worked on baseboard trims was a couple of decades ago.

We figured the closet would be the best place to start since he can make all his beginning mistakes there and nobody would see it.

We went to Home Depot and bought the baseboards and quarter rounds.  Sheesh!  You have to pay by linear foot.  We could see this was not going to be cheap.

He carefully measured, sawed and placed the baseboard against the wall.  Then he painted them and hammered them in.

"Do you really think we need quarter rounds?" he asked hopefully.

I really think the quarter rounds give it a more finished look.

OK... The master closet is done and I LOVE it!  Now there's just the rest of the house.

A Not So Big Controversy in the State of Hawaii

Art is from the biggest island in the Hawaiian Islands chain.  That island is called Hawaii which leads to a little bit of confusion since our state is Hawaii.  What we've always done is to call that island the Big Island.  It's been the Big Island for as long as either Art or I have been around.

We were surprised when we were traveling through Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and saw t-shirts sold that said The Big Island.  My first question was, "Why are they selling Hawaiian t-shirts in Canada?"  Then I realized they were referring to an island in that area. Unfortunately I can't remember which island they were referring to.  I'm surprised Art didn't buy a t-shirt there.

Well now for some reason they're starting to refer to the Big Island as Hawaii Island.  What the heck?  Why the change?

Keahi Tucker, a newcaster was on the Big Island and he surveyed as many people as he could while covering the Merrie Monarch Hula contest.  The count was Big Island (137 votes) Hawaii Island (120 votes).  Now there's also another group of people who want it called The Island of Hawaii.

Sheesh!  Couldn't we please leave well enough alone?

I still can't get used to Burma being called Myanmar.

Word Verification

Now that I'm having to put up the Word Verification thing for a bit, I thought I'd really look at how it works.

I've noticed several times that even if I miss a letter on other blogs, my comment will still get published.

Now Cloudia of Comfort Spiral has told me that even if you leave off the numbers, it will still work.  I tried it and it's true. No kidding!

Another thing that's good to remember is that if the set of letters is too difficult to read, just click on that circular icon next to it and it will give you a different set of letters.  I've done that and it makes it a lot easier and less aggravating.

Thank you for bearing with me on this.  It is such a lovely thing to not get any more SPAM.

And by the way, if you'd ever like to add a "reply" to a comment that someone else made on one of my posts, please do so (kindly and respectfully as always, of course) because I love it when people have a conversation on any post I write. 

Robbery in Progress

I've always known I would not make a good witness to a crime, but now it's confirmed.

A couple of days ago, Art, Mom and I went shopping.  When we returned, we started opening up our house again.  We lock all the windows and doors before we leave so the house gets a little stuffy.

Suddenly Art called out to have me look out the window at something that looked awfully suspicious.

A man was running down the street carrying a white bag of some sort.  I thought about getting my camera, but he was running too quickly. I thought about calling 911, but thought we needed to see what we could first.  And was this truly a burglar?  The police could never come quickly enough any way.  The man ran down the street where a car came up and he jumped in and sped away.

Art said the man had come running from the backyard of our neighbor's house.  Mom said she noticed nobody was at home there when we returned from shopping because she didn't see any cars, but now there was a car.

Oh no... That sent a shiver up our spines.  We ran across the street and rang the doorbell.  Our neighbor answered the door in shock.  She had returned home while the robber was probably still there.  When the robber heard her enter, he ran out the escape hole where he had removed window jalousie slats to get in.  (This is why we replaced all our windows and doors when we moved here.)

We told our neighbor to call 911 right away.  When the police came, they asked a lot of questions.

Art was able to tell the officer clearly what the burglar was wearing, how tall, how much he approximately weighed, what color and type the escape car was and what that burglar did in that short time we watched what happened from our house.  Totally boggled my mind.  My brain couldn't take it all in.  I was so flustered.  Art said the fellow was stocky.  I thought he was skinny.  Art said the color of the car was a light metallic green.  I couldn't remember what kind of car it was at all. 

Later in the evening we brought over some dinner for our neighbors and learned that the robber had stolen a lot of their bank information.  Luckily our neighbor went right away to the bank where they helped him close accounts and protect them from identity theft.

This has really shaken us up.  We've evaluated again where we put things and have removed anything of worth to the safety security box.  The problem is me remembering where we put things.  I'll have to let our kids know so they can remind us.  One thing the Neighborhood Watch people told us was to NOT put things of value in the Master Bedroom because that's where robbers look first.

What we have especially learned is that we are not safe.

And that just creeps me out.

A Past No Longer There

I grew up in the sugar plantation town of Waipahu on the island of Oahu.  Our homes were provided by the plantation and my parents paid a very low rent.  We called it "the camp".  It was on a sort of flat hill.

We were about two houses away from the sugar cane fields and when they burnt the leaves for harvesting the canes we'd get a black ash shower that would have mom scrambling to get her laundry in.

There were huge mango, avocado, lemon, banana, tangerine, star fruit, plumeria, etc. trees everywhere.  My brother and I had the entire "camp" to play in.  Our parents never worried about us.

This is a photo of mom and Dennis in front of our house and our huge mango tree.

And here's Dennis swinging from the avocado tree in the back yard.

We had so many avocados that it was a chore to get them all given away.

I confess that when I got older, I may have felt a little embarrassed about living there instead of a regular home.  However, now that we're older, my brother and I regret not having taken more photos of the place because it's all gone.

When I was in Chicago, Dennis sent these photos to me to describe how it looked.  The camp had burned down.  He'd taken his sons to see the place he grew up in.

The area was later sold, plowed over and graded so that everything that used to be there was completely obliterated.  It's as though it never was.  There are only stores or new homes there today.  We've tried to drive around the area but can't find any landmarks to tell us where our home might have stood.

It's really a strange feeling.

What's Old is New Again

It's true that I have complained about Art keeping some of his favorite clothes until I can almost tear it off his body.  Hmmm...That does sound rather provocative, doesn't it?

However I must confess that I do have this one cardigan that I got from Lands End decades ago that I wear whenever it's a little nippy here in Hawaii.

It's perfect.  The fabric is not too heavy so that I'd get overheated.  However it's not too thin so that it could tear with many washings and being hung up on the clothes line, buffeted by winds.

Art was appalled when I forgot and wore it to go shopping one day. 

The sleeve and bottom ribbing of the cardigan was worn and tearing.  In fact, I could easily rip it with my fingers.

I was almost going to throw it away, but I kept staring at it and was reluctant to let it go.

So I decided to try something.

Since the body of the cardigan was holding up, I cut off the ribbings and hemmed it up.  The sleeves are now more three quarters length and the bottom is shorter.

Perhaps now it's a little too short, but Art won't have to be embarrassed anymore to be seen walking with me.

I'm still tempted to throw out his gray, worn out shorts though.  

A Letter to Mom

Mom is sifting through her things and trying to organize her belongings.  She says she wants to get rid of things she doesn't need so it doesn't burden us when her time comes to leave us.

She took out a box of all the letters my mother-in-law who lived on the Big Island and I wrote from Chicago.  She said I used to write long letters to her.

She asked me if I wanted to read them.  I didn't think I wanted to.

This letter was written in December, 1974.

For one thing, my writing is pretty sloppy and I figured I'd probably sound very childish.

Mom laughed and read it to me.

I couldn't believe I'd written it.  There were words I no longer know, phrases I don't use.  I couldn't write this letter today if I tried.  It was the weirdest sensation.  I couldn't recall writing the words.  It's like a different person had written them.  I wrote about attending a party where there were people from Japan who spoke only Japanese and poor Art couldn't understand a word.  I mentioned how I was told I would have difficulty conceiving and that I felt I was letting Art's parents down as well as Art.

Tiffany was born in fall of the following year to somebody I feel I don't think I know.

MY APOLOGY to the Commenting Friends I LOVE:
I'm so sorry I'm having to put up the Word Verification spam blocker again intermittently. I've been getting a flood of SPAM comments which are driving me nuts.  I can't take away the Anonymous option because many of my favorite commenters use that method to leave their much appreciated conversation.  Therefore, I'll have to resort to the word verification which I hate with a passion, but just every so often when my blood pressure rises.

Hiking in Makapu'u!

Our friends Dave and Diane suggested a hike up the 2.8 mile Makapu'u Trail on the other side of the island.  It has a 462 feet elevation.  Actually, it is an easy trail because it's paved.  Nevertheless Art recommended I wear my hiking boots since I've sprained my ankles on two previous hiking attempts.

The warning about crumbling cliffs and falling rocks had me raising my eyebrows.

It was fun to see some flora that we don't seem to see on our side of the island.

We do see this flower all over the island.  As a rather curious boy who often did get stung, my brother, Dennis used to wait until honeybees would go into these trumpet flowers and he'd pinch it closed.  Then he'd walk around with the trapped bee buzzing.  Once he let it go, of course... he'd have to run pretty fast to get away.  Maybe that's why he's a faster runner than me.

 

Dandelions used to make Art cringe in Illinois when they would invade our lawns.  However, these flowers were beautiful against the cliff.  They were different from the Illinois dandelions because of their pretty red centers.

These koa shrubs are found everywhere in Hawaii.  They often use the small seeds to make leis.

It wasn't a difficult trail and appeared to be very popular with both locals and tourists.  It was a first time for me.

We saw that people had been scratching their names onto the cacti.

I considered it graffiti.

Why do people need to do this?

These purple flowers were pretty, but I wondered if they are indigenous to Hawaii.

I had a pencil cactus in a hanging planter for about 20 years in Illinois.  I had no idea they could grow this big.

We could easily see which way the wind usually blew because of the formation of the leaning trees.  I had no desire to go and see what was in that hole in the shrubbery.

Although the views were magnificent, the vog (volcanic smog) did not make photography easy.

Woo hoo!

We made it to the TOP!

Dave took this photo.  Notice my nifty hiking shoes? That's Art looking over the guard fence at the following panoramic view that Dave also photographed.

We could see the Moku Islands from up high.  The one on the top right is called Rabbit Island. 

 

And then we saw this dog perched over the lighthouse and we all gasped.

When he looked at us he seemed to be saying, "Who me?  Of course I wouldn't jump."

Going down was a heck of a lot easier and we could see somebody was going to be thrilled to get our parking space.

After burning some calories on the hike, we felt we were entitled to a lovely brunch at Big City Diner.  This Portabella mushroom and spinach Benedict really hit the spot.