Meeting Christine

I received a message from Christine of Christine's Blog several months ago that she and her family were coming to Hawaii from Canada.  I could hardly believe it.  Thank goodness they were arriving between our overseas trips as well as family arriving in Hawaii.

Still, we did have our bonsai, tai chi (and teacher's birthday party), Zumba classes as well as doctor's appointments, Meals on Wheels, Mother's Day parties with family, etc. during that same week.  This has been a crazy spring.

Our only option was to see Christine and her family right after our bonsai class in Kailua on Saturday which is on the other side of the island from Waikiki where their hotel was.

We thought about places we might take them before we had to drop them off at Pier 2 to catch their cruise ship.  Our options in town were Iolani Palace, Tantalus, the State Capitol...

When we got to their hotel, I rushed in to make it just at our appointed time.  As soon as I saw Christine, it felt like I already knew her.  She felt like my friend.  Amazing!  We met her beautiful family and we became friends right away.  Art was amazed at how comfortable it was to talk to them all.

We discovered then that the tour they took the day before had already passed by the places we considered taking them.  Instead, they were hoping to try some shave ice.  It's called shave ice on Oahu, not ice shave (Big Island) or shaved ice and certainly not snow cones (mainland US).  Unfortunately we know the best place in our area, but not in town.  The hotel doorman helped me out saying Waiola Shave Ice was the place to go.

We'd never been there but had heard about it.  The ice was indeed very fine and it was good, but we're still partial to the stand we go to at Waikele.

Our next stop was Ala Moana Shopping Center which now caters more to high end stores.  I wish we had more time because we could have taken them to Waikele Outlet Mall.  Aha... more reason for them to return.  We walked around the shopping center, just enjoying our time together.  It was fabulous!

Too soon, it was time to part.  We drove them to Pier 2 where a gigantic cruise ship awaited them.

Christine gave me the original art for the painting she did of the rose I once posted on my blog.  I love it.  I couldn't wait to frame and hang it up in my office to enjoy and remember meeting such a lovely blog friend.
 

Not Again!

I can't believe I did it again!  What is it about my feet?  I missed my Monday Zumba class because I went to the Lantern Floating.  I was counting on joining my Zumba group for our Wednesday class followed by our weekly girl talk type lunch.  However, it was not to be.

I was walking out of the supermarket on Tuesday afternoon going from grass to sidewalk.  Suddenly my foot just turned and I fell.  Why?

Art couldn't believe it.  He was right behind me and saw it happen.  He said he just happened to be looking down and saw my foot twist which made me fall.   My foot seemed OK, but we iced it just to be sure when we got home. 

I refused to miss my Zumba outing at first because there wasn't awful pain, but by evening, my ankle was tender to walk on.

So why did this happen to me?

I looked at the Crocs slippers I was wearing.  It has worried me a little before that the heel is angled inward so the stepping surface is smaller.  It gives it a better look, but it isn't as stable.  Still, I've been fine with it until now.

I guess I'll go back to wearing my more stable FitFlops or my gym shoes. 

They tell you that falling is one of the hazards when you get older.

Sigh...

I guess I'm older now.  Then again I've always been a bit of a klutz.  Now I'm an older klutz.

Sigh...

POSTSCRIPT:  On Tuesday night, the pain was awful after all.  I couldn't sleep.  I had to hop around looking for something to ease the pain. (Art was sound asleep.)  I found some Tylenol PM in my travel supply which really did the trick.  I was able to sleep.  

I researched what to do about sprains.  It said to ice first to keep the swelling down and then to rest and elevate the foot for a couple of days.  Last night I couldn't put any weight on it. 

Wednesday morning the foot was much better, but it hurt a bit to walk on it.  That's when I remembered that I still had the foot brace from when I broke my foot the last time.  It's even the same foot.

So I'm taking it easy today. 

Hmmm... what about my Thursday tai chi?  Would it look funny to do tai chi with the foot brace?  We shall see.

Let It Go

There's a section in the Honolulu Star Advertiser called "5 Things I Love".  One of the things someone mentioned was a Youtube video of Frozen's "Let It Go" sung in 25 languages.  I couldn't resist.  I had to look it up and loved it enough that I wanted to share it with you.

If you'd rather see it with the cartoon version instead of the singers, here's another video.

Isn't this fun?

I found the Japanese version so mom could see and understand all of it.  She loved it!  She said the Japanese words were beautiful and would teach children some good lessons in life.  She was also fascinated with the 25 languages version.  It's amazing how all the different voices sound so similar and seamlessly blend one to another.  What do you think?  Have you seen Frozen? 

Lantern Floating Day of Remembrance

I've always told Art that we should go into town and take part in the Floating Lantern Event at Ala Moana Beach Park.  He's always been hesitant because of the crowds and traffic.  His cousin, Renee is a member of the Shinnyo-en Buddhist Temple that has been active in organizing this event.  Although it began as a Buddhist tradition, the event is now embraced by everyone.

I found this explanation for the origins of Lantern Floating on Wikipedia: 

 Toro Nagashi is a Japanese ceremony in which participants float paper lanterns (chōchin) down a river; toro is traditionally another word for lantern, while nagashi means "cruise, flow". This is primarily done on the last evening of the Bon Festival based on the belief that this guides the spirits of the departed back to the other world.

Art and I decided that this Memorial Day, we would finally participate. 

Sunday was a torrential downpour with thunder and lightning across the islands, the likes of which I've not seen in a long time.  It was reported that they might postpone this year's lantern floating.

However, when we woke up the following day, the skies were blue and the winds were calm.

Art and I had to consider the logistics.  They were expecting 40,000 people!  How would so many people fit on that beach?  There would only be 6,000 lanterns.


We left the house at noon, but discovered that we really didn't have to go so early.  We were directed to a comfortable area to compose our message.

The lanterns have three sides on which people are able to write messages of remembrance to or about their loved ones who have passed on. 

Art wanted his to be a message to his parents.  We would save the third side for his sister in California who called us with the message she wanted written. 

We then decided to spend the afternoon at Ala Moana shopping center until it was time to find a space on the beach for the ceremony.

While walking there we saw this bird with a predicament.

He seemed to have caught too big a fish to swallow and struggled to get it in the right position.  At one point the fish fell and flopped around the grass.

The bird was finally able to pick up the fish again and swallow it whole in one gulp.  I think you can see the fish still in the neck.

We grabbed a quick lunch, ice cream cones and a leisurely couple of hours window shopping before we returned to the beach.


We met Art's cousin, Renee and showed her the t-shirt she gave me that had the Floating Lantern theme, "MANY RIVERS - ONE OCEAN"

We decided not to assemble our lantern boats until it was time to float it.

The beach began filling up quickly with a steady stream of people.

We found a quiet spot in the shade of the first aid tent.

The kanji on Art's t-shirt (that my Aunt in Japan gave him) means "harmony".

It seemed at first that it would rain again but it soon cleared.


While we sat there who should show up but CBS/NBC's Guy Hagi, the local weather forecaster.  I couldn't believe it!

I told him it was fun to actually see him in person since I watch him on TV every night!

Here's our lantern boat all assembled.  It was very easy.

You can see the candle inside.

On one panel I wrote the names of all the beautiful people who have touched and enriched our lives.

And then the ceremonies began.  What fun it was to see this monk taking photos with an iPad!













The blessing was done by the Shinnyo-en head priest, Shinso Ito.

As the sun set, we could see the beach area completely crowded with people.

We had to weave our way to the ocean with our lantern.

Once we got to the water, a volunteer lit our candle.










There were so many people and they were far out in deep water which meant everybody would have to go far to set out their lanterns.

I was wearing capris and since I'm shorter, I would have to wade out almost to my waist to be with Art.  My pants was already wet up to the tops of my thighs.

I took his backpack and had him go out to the deep water without me.

The sun had pretty much set by the time Art was able to launch his lantern.












It was beautiful!

Art took this photo of our lantern before heading back to shallow water again.

It was a wonderful experience and the best part was remembering the people who added so much to our lives.

We liked being able to say, "Thank you."  We liked being able to say we loved them and hadn't forgotten.

POSTSCRIPT:

This is so exciting!  Cloudia of Comfort Spiral just sent this photo to me that she took from her apartment.  What a view!

Preserving Fading Overseas Memories

We bought a photo from the Maetmann Elephant Camp in Thailand which was already framed (in an elephant dung frame) and quite expensive as I recall.

When we got back from Southeast Asia, I immediately scanned photos that we'd bought so I could put them in our Trip Album.

What a surprise when I looked at the photo the other day to see that it was fading horribly in just a little over a month.  It wasn't in direct sunlight.  I have other color photos from many years ago right next to it on our dresser that haven't faded noticeably in years.

For all my tour friends who are reading this post, I would suggest you scan any photo you bought overseas too.  I have no idea how permanent your photos will be.

This is Memorial Day in the U.S.  I'd like to wish everyone the world over a peaceful day, a happy day, a loving day of Remembrance.

Hair Today... Gone to ...

My daughter, Tiffany was growing her hair so long that I was wondering why she wasn't having it cut.  I finally asked her a while ago and she said she had to grow it long enough so she could donate 10 inches of it to an organization that uses the donated hair to create wigs for cancer patients.

She sent these photos to me through her iPhone that her stylist took for her.  Tif says her head feels super light and wonderful. She was able to have 12 inches cut off.

There is a down side.  Tif has her father's hair.  It's thick and curly.  She calls it frizzy.  I do have to cut Art's hair often or it looks messy.  (Oh wait!  Now that I'm older, I'm having that same problem.)  When Tif's hair is long, the weight keeps her hair straight.  When it's short, it needs to be straightened and is a bit of a bother.  Funny, how I don't remember this when she was little.

Ah well... I hope somebody, somewhere will enjoy using a wig made with her hair and that their recovery will be successful and quick.

Bonsai for Beginners

Art has always loved trees.  He was a Tree-Keeper in Chicago after taking a series of workshops on caring for trees.  He was notorious for constantly planting trees in our yard wherever there was a space calling for one.... and even where I said it wasn't.

Imagine his dismay to find our yard here in Hawaii just can't fit a large tree.  In fact, people in Hawaii avoid having big trees because of the maintenance problem.

Well if he can't get a big tree, he decided he'd go for small.

I like trees just fine, especially in a forest where they won't fall on my house.

Anyway.... Art decided he wanted to join a bonsai club and take bonsai lessons.

We know next to nothing about  bonsai so Art convinced me to take this class with him.

After several sessions explaining the different shapes of bonsai, soil, fertilizer, pots, etc., we were each given a tree to work on.  Mine is on the left.

Larry volunteered to help me since I kept staring at my tree wondering what the heck I was supposed to do.  I was ready to cut the entire top off and go to the store to buy a ready made one.

Larry studied my tree very carefully.  We had to choose what would be the front.  I chose one side and he chose another, explaining why.  He was right, of course.

Then we started trimming.  We had no tools, so he let us use his.

Then he worked with Art and left me to stare at my tree.

I rather like it.  Our sensei (teacher) Keith said our trees would look like Charlie Brown trees.

I believe mine qualifies.

"I can't wait to see how nice it will look next week," I told Larry.

"Ummm.... You'll probably have to wait five years," he smiled.

Then I got the wires and started wiring it.  Hmmm... Five years, hunh?

Here's Art's plant, I mean TREE.

See how much better it looks with wires?

No?

Well, just wait five years and you'll see.

And Now the Cool Roof...

We tried to get our family room roof replaced a couple of years ago.  Art called three companies that were supposed to be reputable.  They came out and measured, promised to get back to us, but never did, even when Art called them a couple of times.  We've talked to other people who have had similar problems in Hawaii.   We suspect that because we weren't having the whole house done, the job was not lucrative enough.  We don't know.

The family room is actually mom's all purpose room.  That's where she has her treadmill, watches TV and does her reading and letter writing.  It's also quite hot there.  I'm thinking it could be because the roof is old and blackened from mold and dirt.  Other roof areas were also needing to be changed.  I wanted to put a white silicone coating on the roof to cool down the room.

At January's BIA (Building Industry Association) we also got several choices for roofers.  This time, incredibly... they all showed up and then presented estimates!  After listening carefully to each salesperson we decided to go with Cool Roof because Brenden Clement sounded so honest.  He gave us the option that seemed the best choice for the type of roof we had and he didn't suggest the most expensive. He worked to keep the cost down for us.  I really liked him a lot. 

I wanted to put some GACO reflective silicone coating on the entire roof, but Brenden said the slope of the roof made it unfeasible.   GACO should only be put on relatively flat surfaces.

We went with CertainTeed's Solaris shingles for the sloped area.  The shingles are also reflective and is supposed to keep the family room cool.  I hope so.

When we returned from Bangladesh we got the call from Cool Roof right away saying they were ready to start.  I don't think we were quite over the jet lag yet.

Two roofers came and removed the old shingles.  They were probably over 20 years old (the shingles, I mean).  High winds kept blowing the shingles at the edge off for the last few years and Art kept having to climb up to replace them.

The roofers then installed a felt sheet to make sure the roof would be watertight.  This is good since we also get a LOT of rain.

More workers came and spray washed the flat area where the GACO silicone coating would be applied.

Meanwhile, the Certainteed shingles were being hammered in.

They said the edge of the old roofing was actually not done properly because it wasn't finished off with a drip edge flashing.

All the crevices were carefully sealed.  A reinforcing fabric was wrapped around all the perimeters and a drip edge metal as well.

We were very pleased with the wonderful job they did.  They cleaned up after themselves and tried very hard to make sure no debris was left behind.

We figured they were done.  Nope.

Would you believe they sent out a PRE-inspector to check over the work before the "boss" came to OK the job they did?

The PRE- inspector took photos and wrote notes.

He sent out the crew again who fixed what was noted.

Then Kevin McCallum came.  He's the Boss (owner).  He found a few more little things he wanted done.

Now, I'm really impressed.  He's sending out the crew again.  Cool Roof Hawaii has been in business for about seven years now.  They're working hard to establish themselves.  From what we've seen, I do believe they'll be in business for a long time.

Call

Send SMS

Add to Skype

You'll need Skype CreditFree via Skype

Fighting Rust in Hawaii

Yes, we do like living in Hawaii.  However, you KNOW it does have it's drawbacks.  We like having a screen door so we can let in some cool air.  It's also a good safety barrier when you open your main door to a stranger.  However, the screens do rust on the screen doors.  The frames on our window screens also rust, but that's an ongoing story.  Our mailbox kept rusting too until we went with an aluminum one.

After trying to seal the rust with Loctite Extend and then repainting the door only to have it start rusting again after less than a year, Art threw in the towel.

We went to the BIA (Building Industry Association) Home Show in January to talk to some salespeople about stainless steel doors.

After much investigation, checking out references and "biting the bullet", we decided to go ahead and buy the aluminum framed, marine grade and epoxy coated stainless steel screen door.  We went with Firstline Security Screens and spoke to Berry Yamashita.

After we returned from Bangladesh, Berry said he could install our door for us.

He did a fabulous job!

We had a doorway tile problem that Art had still not figured out and Berry found the solution for it.  Not only that, he fixed it!

He also gave us a cleaning/conditioning solution that we could wipe down the screen with 3-4 times a year to keep it in good condition.

We were surprised to discover that Berry is actually an architect whose family has the franchise to Majestec Premium Security Doors.

The door is sturdy.  It would be extremely difficult to cut through the screen.

The locks are very heavy duty.  In fact it's so heavy duty that it took mom several (many) tries before she was comfortable with operating it. 

We loved Berry.  We love the door.

Ask me in a couple of years to see if this was the right choice.

We're pretty comfortable with our decision because every referral we spoke to told us that if there was ever a concern, Berry would correct it right away.

We're just glad to have this nagging problem out of the way.

And now the roof!

Call

Send SMS

Add to Skype

You'll need Skype CreditFree via Skype

A Little Knowledge Can Be a Dangerous Thing

OK, maybe not dangerous... but not so good?

I don't know if you read what I posted about wiring our tangerine tree to force the branches into growing where I wanted them to be.

Art and I are now taking a bonsai class and just starting to learn the fundamentals of creating bonsai art.

It's not easy.

I saw how branches are wired to pull branches into graceful shapes.

Soooo.... before we left on our month long trip to southeast Asia I wired the Satsuma tangerine tree to point where I wanted it to grow.





 

I have no idea what mom did.  Is it just that plants love her that much?

She was the one in charge of our tree when we were gone.

One of the first things my smiling (laughing?) brother asked me when we returned was, "Did you see your tree?"

He said we would be shocked at the growth.

We were only gone a month, for goodness sakes!

The tree had suddenly grown so much that the loose wires I had wrapped around the branches had dug into the bark.  Sheesh!  What the heck?

I wish I took a photo of the tree before we cut off a bunch of bushy branches, but I was busy with our trip posts and forgot to do it.

We have such strong winds that the tree branches were leaning to the left.  So I had this other idea.  No wires around the branches this time.  I thought I'd wire the leaning branch to a rock on the ground instead with a loop that I sewed from some strong material. 

I know.  I know.  I don't really know what I'm doing.  The tree is probably wishing I'd leave it alone and let mom take care of him.

My neighbor's little 18 inch Satsuma tangerine tree has FIVE huge tangerines growing on it.  I don't know how it's able to stay upright.  My tree has not had a single blossom since we bought it.

Sheesh!

Maybe I should let mom sing to it.

Day #25 April 4th: Back to Hawaii

The wake-up call was at 5:00 AM.  We checked in at the airport at 5:55.  At 8:25 we flew to Taipei, Taiwan.

We had a 1 hour 40 minute wait at the Taiwan Taoyuan Airport before catching our flight to Tokyo's Narita Airport.  After a short stop at Narita, we boarded our plane for Honolulu International Airport.

During this entire return leg of our journey, I managed to watch Saving Mr. Banks, Hunger Games 2, The Odd Life of Timothy Green and Perks of Being a Wallflower.  I've never watched so many movies during a flight/s.

Returning home exhausted on Friday morning, there was a message from Meals on Wheels that Art volunteers for.  They said they weren't able to find a replacement for him for his route so he'd have to deliver the meals.  Art told them he'd just gotten off of a tiring flight.  Still, there was no recourse.  He had to go out and do the route.

When he returned we found that mom had made his favorite nishime (Japanese stew) for him.  It was a wonderful homecoming.

It was a fabulous trip, but we were glad to be home!

Day #24 April 3 Dhaka to Bangkok

This would be our last day with Keola. 

He made us a huge breakfast and showed us the paper.

Surprisingly, most of the traffic casualties are not from the little CNGs or rickshaws.  It's the pedestrians who are hit.

It's a good thing Art had a second pair of shoes because the sole actually separated from one of shoes. He decided to leave them behind in Dhaka.

Keola had hired a car and driver to take us to the airport.  Seeing him leave was very, very difficult.

I loved it when the female screener who had to take me into a booth to scan over me asked if I'd bought my clothes at Aarong.   She held my orna and asked what I paid for it. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember.

Lunch onboard Thai Airlines was wonderful.

I even got to watch Hobbit, Desolation of Smaug.

Once in Bangkok, a shuttle from Lilac Relax Residence was there to meet us.  This hotel is just 10 minutes away from the airport.

Art found this place through the agoda.com website.  It was only about $60 for the night and had a ton of freebies.  There were snacks, cokes, beer, water, coffee and tea.  I couldn't believe it was all free.

What did we have for dinner?

Pad Thai, of course!

We'd be taking the 5:45 shuttle to the airport the following morning.

I sent a text message to Keola saying we'd arrived safely.  I didn't tell him about the beer I drank just because it was free.

I fell right to sleep!

Day #23 April 2: Dhaka

This would be our last full day with our son.

I think I might have overslept.

While I stayed at the apartment and did a little laundry to tied us over for our return trip to Hawaii, Art and Keola went to get some breakfast.

I put on my new salwar kameez and orna for our walk to get some lunch.  We don't have an A &W Restaurant in Hawaii, but we were able to go there in Dhaka.  (POSTSCRIPT:  A friend has informed me that we actually do have an A&W Restaurant in Mililani.  I had no idea!)

A&W had the usual hamburger along with some regional Bengali food.  It didn't matter that I was wearing a salwar kameez and orna.  I still elicited a lot of stares.

We went out in the evening when it was cooler to enjoy the neighborhood.  The fellow on the right was squeezing sugar cane to sell the juice.

I thought that I wouldn't be such a spectacle if I left my hat at home.

Keola said I still stood out because I had short hair.  Only very young girls have short hair.

A pretty young woman approached me with a shy smile and asked if she could be my house maid.

She was puzzled when I apologized and told her I didn't live there.

This fish market vendor called out to Art and asked him to take his photo.

We climbed up this pedestrian bridge and took this selfie.

I loved seeing this fellow walking along the street selling those red balloons.


There were a lot of neighborhood cricket games being enjoyed by the children.


In fact, a world cricket match was being played in Dhaka while we were there.  It probably added to the congestion in the city.

We went to The Village Restaurant to celebrate the time we spent together.  It was very lovely.

We had four waiters watching over us which was a little unnerving.  Happily, there were forks so we didn't have to use our hands.

The magical lights along the road lifted our spirits.  It was sad to realize that our time with our son was coming to a close.