Lighting Agony

OK, we got the fan/light fixture up, but now came the hard decision of what to replace the fluorescent fixtures with in Mom's all-purpose room.

The old fans had adjustable speeds, but you needed to pull on these long strings to adjust the speed.

The new fans have a remote control and lights as well.

Now we had to tackle the lights. That's what needed to be changed in the first place because the florescent lights were flickering and you needed to turn the switch on and off in order and get them all to turn on.

Art and I agreed on the fan, but we differed on the lights.

He wanted oblong or square. I wanted round to echo the light on the fan.

I called our mediator.

Our daughter, Tiffany agreed with her mother that round sounded like a better option.

"Sorry, Dad..." she said consolingly.

At 16,000 lumens, it's about two 75 watts of light per fixture.

Art had looked up LED light colors and determined that 4000 K (Kelvin) is what we would want. We do both prefer a more daylight color, but not too harsh. I found a chart on Seesmart website.

Climbing that tall ladder was not my cup of tea. I had my 6 + foot tall nephew on standby to take over for me if I felt I couldn't do it.

Happily, I was able to handle the height and we got all the fixtures hung safely. Mom is very happy. The fan lights provide a dimmer light for watching TV and exercising. The four round LED lights give a bright daylight illumination for writing letters, reading or whatever else she wants to do.

We're patting our backs right now. I'm just happy to get down from the ladder.

Phew!

Wind and Light

Mom told us that the old fluorescent lights in her family/exercise/TV room was flickering and she would sometimes have to turn it off and on a few times to get it to stay on.

We'd been meaning to change the light/fan fixtures in her room so we visited Home Depot, Lowe's and City Mill to see what they had to offer.

We decided to start with replacing the fans. They were very old, rusted and you needed to pull a long string to change the fan speed because the ceiling is rather high and pitched.

We couldn't find a plain fan but found this lovely option at Home Depot. It had an LED light with a remote control. No more pulling on strings to change the fan speed.

Very rarely are these projects glitch free. When we removed the old fan, we discovered that the electrical plate was too small.  We had to go back to Home Depot to get a larger one. Once that was accomplished we checked carefully to see if the pitch of the ceiling would be a problem.

Sure enough, this particular fan was too short and the blades would be too close to the ceiling so we had to make a trip to Lowe's this time to buy two 12" extension poles. Home Depot did not have any in white.

We finally finished, but were so tired we decided to tackle the other fan the following day.







We hoped it would be easier since we'd already done it once.

When we started the project the following morning we were frustrated to find the second extension pole from Lowe's would not fit the fan/light.  Arrrrghhh!  Back to Lowe's to return it.

I called City Mill who said they had the extension poles. Woohoo!!! We brought it home to find it almost fit. Art had to file it down with a tool he'd bought at the (100 yen-Dollar) Daiso store in Japan last year.

 No, I wasn't just sitting around. Honest. You do notice there are two ladders? It took both of us to get the fan/light installed.

We are quite pleased with ourselves. Mom says the LED lights on the fan actually provides enough light for her. I do like these fan/light fixtures a lot better than the old fans.

Now I'd like to look for some smaller LED lights to replace the four garage type fluorescent bulb fixture that are up there now.

Back to Home Depot or Lowe's or City Mill or...

Mall Walking With Zumba Buddies

Zumba is on a summer hiatus for half of June and into July. Our recreation center is being used for summer school.

This presented a problem for the Zumba Buddies. We all felt that we needed to keep exercising, but didn't want to get up before sunrise to walk outside. Besides, one of the motivating factors for our exercising is being able to spend time together and we don't live close by.

After much discussion, we decided to try mall walking at 7:30 in the morning before the shops were open. Believe it or not, walking briskly for an hour had us sweating, but we never felt bored.

It was interesting to see quite a few other seniors who were doing the same thing.  However, there were about nine of us and we were the biggest group. There was much conversation, much laughter and much fun.

I must admit that after the exercise we did stop at Starbucks and put some calories back on. We then spent another hour or more just chatting at the food court.

Final conclusion: We're going to make this a weekly outing.

Hearing Test at Sam's Club

We were at a Senior Fitness Fair in Waipahu and received a notice for a FREE hearing test at Sam's Club in Pearl City from Tuesday until Saturday (10AM-6PM).

I wanted to go because the loud music in Zumba class bothers me and high pitches of sound have almost hurt. I use ear plugs when I go to Zumba.

I wanted Art to go because he NEVER hears the dishwasher downstairs beep when the dishes are done. I have to trudge down and up all the time to turn off the beeping thing.  Yes. Yes. It could be selective hearing, but I wanted to know for sure.

We'd also been to the First Hawaiian Bank Health and Finance management type seminar where a speaker talked about how hearing impairment can affect the brain and contribute to dementia.

I was expecting a long line of people at Sam's Club, but no one was there at the hearing center.

We met Taryn who was the very knowledgeable, professional, kind audiologist.

She used some kind of scope that looked at our ear canal. I didn't know there were so many hairs in the ear canal. She said I had a small canal and Art had a medium. (Now I know which size of ear buds I should be using.)

She gave us another hand-out explaining the connection between hearing loss and possible dementia.

There was no strong sales pitch to buy hearing aids. However, it was confirmed that he should get them. Taryn suggested we look into our military benefits to see about getting them for free.

Art got to try on some hearing aids, but he said it made the background sound too loud. Taryn explained that his brain would have to adjust to the sound. She also said newer hearing aids would be able to target the sound that is in front of you.

Taryn sent us home with a diagram to show how we scored as well as some reading material and a bunch of freebies which I love.

I discovered that my hearing is actually very good except for the very high pitches. She said those are the reasons probably contributing to my discomfort of the loud Zumba music. 

As for Art... yes... he should get hearing aids. I'll be asking at Tripler about it for him because he is strangely reticent about getting them.

I have a feeling he then won't have an excuse about not hearing the dishwasher beeping.

And Now the Duvet Covers

OK... So far so good.

We had the light weight comforter and the 15" bed skirt from Target. The 14" did not have the embroidered edging that I liked. The 15" should have been barely OK. It wasn't.

No problem. I sewed a 2" seam down the center and it worked out fine.

Now came the hard part... choosing the duvet cover.

Art and I don't always agree on things. Our daughter, Tiffany often has to be the deciding arbitrator. Our son stays out of it.

We soon discovered that duvet covers are quite expensive! Sheesh!

Then I found several duvet covers at Ikea (online) that were only $19 for twins. Unfortunately they are a little smaller (width wise) than the American duvets. Why do they make American mattresses so thick???

I decided to get the Queen/Full at Ikea which was $29 and cut it down to size.

Art liked this nature inspired duvet set in an English wildflower style.

I liked it, but wanted something bolder to add color to the room and echo colors on the wall.

I called Tiffany.

She apologized to Art and said she'd have to go along with my choice. Within a couple of weeks, Tiffany had bought and mailed the duvet covers to us in a flat rate box. There are no Ikea stores in Hawaii.

And here it is!

I like how it brings out the reds from the shadow boxes with our kids' baby clothes.

We called Tif on Facetime and showed her the beds. She said it might not work on the mainland because they were so loud but looked good for Hawaii.

She then showed the beds to our 8 year old granddaughter, KC who said, "I like it, grandma."

"I'm so glad, KC," I said. "You'll get to sleep on it when you visit us."

"I like the black bats on them," said KC.

Bats? Bats? What bats? I'm sure they could hear Art chuckling in the background.

I was waiting for him to say, "You should have gone with my English garden." But he didn't. Smart man.

Targeting a Good Price

Yes, the Ditherers were at it again. We needed new bed covers for two of the twin beds in our guest room. We were using VERY old, shabby bedspreads that my mother had bought probably over a couple of decades ago, maybe more.

However, when we began looking for twin bedspreads, the styles were more for young children. What to do? What to do?

We decided to be a little more modern and get comforters and duvet covers with bedskirts. We found these light weight comforters and bedskirts at Target.com. 

$19.99 was very reasonable for the light weight comforters.

$24.99 for the bed skirts was a little more than I was going to pay, but I decided to go with it.

We were tired of going to stores and changing our minds constantly.

We went to Target (the store) and found that the prices were quite different. Instead of $19.99, the comforters were $23.99.  The bedskirts were $29.99 instead of $24.99.

Then I remembered something like this happening a couple of years ago and called the store. I was told that if I went in and mentioned the online price, they would honor it.

Sounded good to me. It would be a savings of $18 for both beds.

Now we just had to find a duvet cover that we both liked.

Sigh...

A Happy Father

Art had a very happy Father's Day weekend.

He decided to celebrate Father's Day on Saturday instead of Sunday and chose a restaurant we'd never been to.

Thai Lao has Thai, Laos and Vietnamese food.

We enjoyed their spring lettuce rolls with noodles, cucumber and mint.

We also ordered a tofu and eggplant dish along with steamed basa stir fried Chinese style and the ever favorite Pad Thai.

It was all lovely.

We then went home, took a nap and finished a house project.

In the evening cousin Arnold arrived for dinner with a cornucopia of malasadas, turnovers and coco puffs. (Photo from Liliha Bakery website)

 Mom was thrilled to see so many desserts. It will be doled out carefully. (Never mind that she ate two right on the spot. I won't tell her doctor.)

Art awoke on Sunday to photo texts, Skype calls, presents, and cards from our son, daughter and family.

In the evening we went to our friend's house for a fabulous Father's Day potluck.

All in all, it was a very lovely way to spend two days of our Father's Day weekend. We hope your day was wonderful too.

Five Happy Things

I read somewhere that if you kept a journal of five happy things daily for a month it would raise your spirits.

I actually did that in 2005 from May through November. I just read through some of it and it made me smile just to read it and remember.

This was written on Sunday, October 25, 2005.

1. The White Sox won their 2nd game in the World Series. What excitement! I wish Keola were here.

2. We spent a great day in Chicago with Tif and Ed. They gave Art a wonderful Patagonia vest for our trip to Turkey and a new carry-on luggage for both of us.

3. We walked around Chicago looking at the giant White Sox caps on the Picasso statue and the lions in front of the Art Museum. Everyone is loving baseball right now.

4. Art made us the most delicious salmon dinner with a great green salad. He let me take a nap while he cooked-- so lovely.

5. Everywhere we looked today, we could see fall colors. The maples are a bright crimson. It's glorious!

And yes, the White Sox did win.  We're actually Cubs fans, but that year we were all White Sox fans also.


You know what? Not only does it feel good to write down five happy things that happened. It feels good to read about it ten years later too.

What's your five happy things today?

An Act of Kindess

My friend, Ron sent the following forwarded mail to me.  It was a lovely, amazing story but I was not sure of the veracity of its facts.

A grandson of slaves, a boy was born in a poor neighborhood of New Orleans known as the "Back of Town." 

His father abandoned the family when the child was an infant, His mother became a prostitute and the boy and his sister had to live with their grandmother. Early in life he proved to be gifted for music and with three other kids he sang in the streets of New Orleans. His first gains were the coins that were thrown to them. 

A Jewish family, Karnofsky, who had immigrated from Lithuania to the USA had pity for the 7-year-old boy and brought him into their home. 

Initially giving 'work' in the house, to feed this hungry child. There he remained and slept in this Jewish family's home where, for the first time in his life he was treated with kindness and tenderness. When he went to bed, Mrs. Karnofsky sang him a Russian Lullaby that he would sing with her. 

Later, he learned to sing and play several Russian and Jewish songs. Over time, this boy became the adopted son of this family. The Karnofskys gave him money to buy his first musical instrument; as was the custom in the Jewish families. They sincerely admired his musical talent. Later, when he became a professional musician and composer, he used these Jewish melodies in compositions, such as St. James Infirmary and Go Down Moses.

The little black child grew up and wrote a book about this Jewish family who had adopted him in 1907. In memory of this family and until the end of his life, he wore a star of David and said that in this family he had learned "how to live real life and determination." 

You might recognize his name. This little boy was called Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong. Louis Armstrong proudly spoke fluent Yiddish! 

I have to admit that I was skeptical of this story because so many of these forwarded stories turn out to be false. I checked Wikipedia which verified most of the facts. The Jewish Journal had this article about Louis Armstrong and the Karnofskys. (I'm sorry about the weird font. I copied it directly from the forwarded mail I was sent and it came out strange on Blogger.)

I really enjoyed reading about this act of love and kindness. At a time when we keep hearing about such terrible things happening around the world, this story made me smile.

Hyrdroflask vs. Thermos

Since I didn't have anything to do and didn't have anything to blog about, I thought I would finally do the cold test with our Hydroflask and Thermos water bottles. They are both stainless steel. The Hydroflask holds about 2 ozs more liquid than the Thermos.

We've always liked the Thermos (left) and Art did not want to get the Hydroflask (right) because he felt it was all media hype that was making it so popular in the islands.

I decided to do an experiment. Art said I needed to be scientific about this and precise.

Right... sure...

At 8:00 AM I put 10 ice cubes in each bottle. Then I added a cup of water which brought the water level almost to the top.

At 4:00 I opened the bottles and emptied them in these identical bowls.

They looked about the same.








So then I strained out the water and looked at the ice.

They looked the same too.

I went upstairs and told Art it was a tie.

To which he asked, "Did you measure how much water had melted?"

Arrrrrrghhhhh!

Got Belly Fat?

Art saw an article in the Star Advertiser about the best way to cut belly fat.

The article stated that most belly fat is visceral or deep fat which is different from subcutaneous fat which is right under the skin.

I checked all this out in the Harvard Medical School Health Publication and it supported what the article stated.

That deep visceral fat is what is bad for us and increases the risk of type 2 diabetes and breast cancer.

The good news is that visceral fat can be reduced with exercise and diet. They suggest 30 minutes a day.  According to Gary R. Hunter, professor of human studies at the University of Alabama, "Exercise disproportionately targets visceral fat."

What I liked reading is that it isn't clear whether some exercises are better than others for reducing your waistline.

What I REALLY liked reading though is that sit-ups won't spot reduce your tummy. It's better if you just go for a walk.  Woo hoo! I hate sit-ups!

Loving Our Mango Season!

Friends and relatives have heard our sighs or read my blog and decided to satisfy our cravings for mango. Yes, it's mango season in Hawaii right now.

The season began with trees laden with blossoms. Sadly, most of those blossoms were blown away by the strong winds. However, some did hang on to the branches and produced gorgeous, delicious, wonderful fruit. I've tried mangoes in Illinois that came from Mexico and it just didn't live up to the Hawaiian fruit. For Art and me, Hayden is the gold standard of mangoes. Mom likes anything.

Yesterday we were talking to our son on the East coast when the doorbell rang and our wonderful, true blue friend presented us with these beautiful, luscious Hayden treasures.

A few days ago, Art's classmate dropped off some mango too.

The week before, my uncle, aunt and cousin dropped off Pirie and Haydens.

Oh yes, yes, yes! It's wonderful to live in Hawaii, especially during mango season!

Of course, if we were still living in Illinois it would almost be blueberry season wouldn't it?

Sigh...

Danger in National Parks

We were reading the Sunday newspaper and saw an article about two tourists at Yellowstone who'd been gored by bison.

The first incident was on May 15th when a 16 year old Taiwanese student got too close while posing for a photo. The second incident was June 3rd when a 62 year old Australian man joined a crowd around a bison who was lying down and then tried to take a photo.

This reminded me of our 1995 Yellowstone trip with our son.

We were on a fenced walkway when along with other tourists saw some bison nearby. (You can see the edge of the fence in the bottom photo.)

We were busy taking photos when suddenly one of the bison sauntered right up to us. Art didn't even notice him at first because he was looking through his video camera.

The three of us remained very still and tried to stay as silent as we could.

Suddenly a man on the other side of us saw the bison and started heckling the bison and trying to get its attention.

I remember turning slowly and giving the man a signal to be quiet.

Although it's easy to be transfixed by the amazing wild animals, it really boggles my mind how stupid some tourists can be.

In 2011 we had another close encounter with wild animals when we saw these bears on the way to Cameron Lake in Waterton-Glacier National Park.

Our window was open to take photos as we watched the bears traveling slowly along until KC suddenly leaned forward for a better look. (This page is from our 2011 photo album.)

That's when Tiffany jolted some awareness into us and told us to quickly close the windows.

The animals were cute and slow moving, but they are wild creatures.

You need to be very cautious... very, very cautious.

You need to not be stupid.

Drooling Over the Neighbor's Fruit Trees

Our neighbor, Wini dropped off some lichee for us the other day. We were so excited. We love lichee! If you get your lichee from a can let me tell you that the fruit that comes from the tree is so much better.

Actually, another neighbor had given the lichee to Wini, but she was given so much of it that she wanted to share it with us.

That's one thing I love about Hawaii. We share fruits and veggies all the time when we have too much and know a neighbor, friend or relative might enjoy it.

I wish we had neighbors with Hayden mango trees too. We're so grateful for our cousins who share their bounty with us.

By the way, the lichee was really, really fabulous! Yum!

The Rest of the Story?

There was so much wrong at the Texas pool party that became another example of police brutality.

#1  There was no excuse for that police officer to slam the defenseless15 year old bikini clad girl onto the ground, face down with his knee on her back or to wave his gun at the teens.

#2  However... I've also read on CNN:

"...The invite to the party had earlier caught fire on Twitter and social media. Craig Ranch's strict homeowners' association rules prohibit bringing more than two guests to the pool. So when crowds of teenagers showed up, huddling by the gate and shouting to let them in, things got out of hand. Some kids jumped over the fence, Embry said. A security guard tried to get them to leave but was outnumbered, so the guard called police..."

 #3  However... I then found this account on The Washington Post:

"...A black woman identified as Tatiana Rhodes, 19, said that she and some friends had organized the party and were enjoying themselves at the Craig Ranch North Community Pool on June 5 when the conflict with a white neighbor broke out.

“This lady was saying racial slurs to some friends that came to the cookout. She was saying such things as ‘black effer’ and ‘that’s why you live in Section 8 homes,'” Rhodes told E. Johnson IV, a photographer who recorded the conversation and uploaded it online.

More insults were traded. One neighbor said “go back to your Section 8 home,” Rhodes said, referring to a form of federal housing assistance for low-income people...."

 Apparently the white neighbor also slapped someone which started the altercation.

There's so much that was not reported on the TV news. Is it because there wasn't enough time? When I looked it up on line to get more of the story, it was still hard to pick out what really happened.

So that leads to #4: All the facts should be stated and I don't think it has been.

And yet...

What it all boils down to is that the officer was totally out of control. What he did was horrible and wrong! Would you want your young daughter treated that way? Would you want your son to have a gun waved at him by a police officer at a pool party? That I believe, is the bottom line.

POSTSCRIPT: I just heard on the news that the police officer who reacted so inappropriately has resigned from the force.

Hope of Satsuma Spring

We bought our Satsuma tangerine tree in March of 2013 from Home Depot. I chose it because it was full of tangerine blossoms and miniscule fruits. Unfortunately all the flowers fell off and the teeny fruits soon followed after we planted the tree. I read later that growers are able to force young trees to blossom so they will sell.

After two years, the tiny tree has grown. However, we've never seen any indication that it would flower again. I've been pretty darn discouraged.

Our neighbor also bought a small Satsuma tangerine tree that produced five large tangerines. Then a few months later the tree died.

I was figuring we had an ornamental Satsuma.

But this morning Art asked me to step out of the house to see this little surprise.

No kidding!

A tiny, very tiny bud! Will it fall off too?

I don't know.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

POSTSCRIPT:

Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!

I went out to check on the single Satsuma tangerine bud this morning and was stunned to find this tiny branch toward the bottom of the tree with several buds on it. One was blooming!

Wouldn't you think the tree would be smarter and sprout the buds on a bigger branch?

Celebrating 5 Years of Zumba

Our Zumba Gold teacher, Stephanie has been leading our exercise sessions for five years and decided to commemorate the years with a pot luck celebration. I was introduced to this class by Art's cousin, Renee a little over three years ago.

It has been one of the best things I've ever done. I met some really fabulous women who became friends I look forward to seeing three times a week. They motivate me to show up for class and exert myself. We sometimes go out to lunch together and just have fun!

I was planning to take photos of all the amazing food that everybody brought. I really was.

Would you believe I forgot?

Stephanie had put together a fun silent auction, fruit booths, and provided "door" prizes.

I was having too much fun to remember to take photos.

It's a good thing I'm exercising. It will hopefully improve my memory.

Your Worst Subject in School

What was your worst subject in school and is it still a challenge?

I hate to sound like a stereotype, but it was math. I hated algebra. I hated geometry. When I got my math requirements out of the way in college, it was heaven.

I thought it was funny when I taught math as a teacher and showed my students all the time how much fun it was. Granted that was first grade. Once I was done with algebra in high school, I was done!

So what did I do after that? I married an engineer.  He loves math. He loves algebra. He loves geometry and whatever has numbers. He says it's logical.

What does he hate? Spelling! He says he was always the first to sit down for spelling bees.

So what did he do? He married me.

Then again, since he now has spell check on the computer, he doesn't need me anymore, does he? Then again, I have a calculator on my iPhone.

What about you? What was your worst subject?

Kahuku's 2015 Graduation Ceremony

My friend, Myrtle sent me a video of Kahuku High School's 2015 awesome graduation ceremony. Kahuku is on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. We just saw in the Star Advertiser morning paper that this video has already scored over 2 million views!

Toward the end of this 10 minute video, you can see the graduating class doing a Maori haka (war dance). I'll bet it was the football team.

I must say my graduation ceremony was nothing like this and certainly neither were my kids' high school graduations. It looks like so much fun! The haka part was on the TV news a couple of nights ago.

If you have 10 minutes to spare, I think this might bring back some high school memories.

Takata Air Bag Recall

Did you hear about the Takata airbag recall? About 33.8 million cars were installed with the Takata airbags. Some of these airbags can deploy explosively which could severely injure someone and in some instances kill them.

TV news said you could go to safercar.gov and type in your car's VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) which is supposed to be located near the windshield wiper. That would tell you if you have a car that needs to have its airbag recalled.

I checked ConsumerReports.org and learned that "The airbags, made by major parts supplier Takata, were installed in cars from model year 2002 through 2008."

Phew! Our Honda van was bought in 1999 and our Prius is 2010.

You might want to check your car if it is a Model Year 2002-2008.  

Good luck!

POSTSCRIPT:
I did hear last night that what Mage said in comments is sadly true:

The truck is too old. Our Toyota, Myrtle, is the right age but not listed yet. Yesterday they announced that everyone who has had their airbag replaced, has to do it again. No one is happy.

http://blog.caranddriver.com/massive-takata-airbag-recall-everything-you-need-to-know-including-full-list-of-affected-vehicles/

Car and driver has this article on the subject. Check the updates. I just keep waiting for Myrtle to be recalled.

Space Station Excitement

Every time the space station goes over Hawaii, Art gets excited. Maybe it's because Art used to be in the Air Force working with spy satellites. Maybe it's because he loves science and space. Whatever the case, we've stood outside once before to see the space station glide across the Hawaiian skies. It's not always easy because we often have clouds overhead.

The first thing I saw was the moon. It was almost full. (Photo was taken with my Canon Powershot SX50HS.)

The space station was supposed to go over at 7:37 PM.

Art has an app for our iPad called SkyView that shows you the stars, planets and constellations overhead if you point the iPad or iPhone at the sky. (There is a free SkyView for Androids also.)

I was surprised at how fast the space station went across the sky. It looked like a tiny star moving from horizon to horizon.





You can see what it looks like on the Skyview app on the photo below.

I have to admit that it was rather fun to watch the space station and imagine what it must be like to be up high.

I wonder if I've already written about the time we stood outside an Illinois cornfield in 1986 trying to catch a glimpse of Haley's comet.

If we had this app then it would have been a lot easier.

100 Year Old Man

When Art and I saw a movie review for The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared we were very excited. When DJan of DJan-ity recommended the book a while go I borrowed the book from our local library for my Kindle and read it. I liked it enough to recommend it to Art who also read it (without falling asleep). He falls asleep easily when he reads unlike me.

I got  this from Wikipedia:

 The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared is a 2013 Swedish comedy film directed by Felix Herngren based on the novel of the same name by Jonas Jonasson. The film was screened in the Berlinale Special Gala section of the 64th Berlin International Film Festival.

The film was a huge success, having been screened in more than 40 countries and grossing more than 50 million US dollar worldwide, making it the third highest grossing Swedish film of all time, only beaten by The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire. There has been talk of a possible sequel but that has yet to be confirmed.

It needs a sequel since the movie covers only the first half of the book.

The story is indeed about the (mis)adventures of a Forrest Gump type person who escapes from a care home when they are about to celebrate his 100th birthday. Much of the book/movie is in flashbacks about the incredible story of his life. 

I thought the movie followed the the story line sort of faithfully. It certainly captured the quirky mood. The dialogue is mostly in Swedish along with English, Russian, French (with subtitles) and I can't remember what else. The narration is in English.

There is violence so you have to be prepared for some of that. I'm also wondering if you can easily follow everything if you haven't read the book. Art says yes. I'm thinking probably.

Did we enjoy it? Yes. Would we go to see the sequel? Yes.

Should you? I don't know.