Keeping Busy

My cousin, Walt is a brilliant, talented person in a number of fields. He also has precision wit and piercing insight that sometimes eludes me until moments later. I share lemons with him which is easy for us because it doesn't require a ton of talent. He shares gourmet coffee with us that he roasts from beans he collects from around the world.

I emailed him recently about how busy I'd been lately and how my daughter laughed and said, "You're retired, mom. You're just making yourself busy." I was so impressed with what he emailed back to me that I had to share it with you. His mom was my mom's sister, Auntie Grace who we are all missing since she passed away last year.

This is what Walt wrote:

"Be as busy as you want! Honestly, life wouldn't be fun without challenges. We see them as tedious only when they become mundane and rote. But I wouldn't call making a cup of coffee mundane, even though I have to do it every morning; but its all in how you look at it.  Blake said it best; "to see a world in a grain of sand, and heaven in a wildflower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour."  when we have no more challenges to overcome, then by definition that's either failure or death. There are plenty of challenges in front of you, cousin!

I really really miss my mom too. I find myself thinking of her often, and missing her little mannerisms and observations. She had the most cutting vision; and by that I don't mean her eyesight, it was her perspective on life and what she could see in those around her that was significant. A very wise woman. Her garden, and the things she loved; they weren't challenges to her, she surrounded herself with them, and wove them into her life and was grateful for all the growing, good things that made her happy."

Walt's letter struck me because that busy-ness I realize is what perhaps can help you feel alive. When we tried to take over a lot of chores for mom when we moved to Hawaii, she was very upset. She said it was necessary for her to do all she does. We conceded and let her have her way. It does have its benefits.

I wonder what she's cooking tonight.

Mom and the Chili Dog

We were watching TV the other night and there was a Burger King commercial for a chili dog. I happen to know that mom isn't fond of my chili. However, the commercial somehow made that chili dog look really appetizing. She said she couldn't remember the last time she'd had a hot dog. We know it's not healthy food, but since she's nearing her 87th birthday we figured we'd take her if she wanted to try it.

I was rather surprised when she said she really did.

So here she is eating a chili dog with fries and a soft drink. It's so totally different from her usual healthy diet.

She did pronounce it quite tasty, but hasn't asked to try it again.

So you see, the commercials do work to draw in customers. It doesn't promise that they'll come back though.

What Kind of Butterfly Is This?

I've mentioned before that Art is an early morning person.

He was out walking along Pearl Harbor and saw a beautiful morning sky.








 



He was also startled by this bright yellow butterfly.

We tried to find out what kind of butterfly it was but couldn't come up with an identification.

We thought it looked like a Cloudless Sulphur or a Tree Yellow.

Do you know what it is?

Free Smoke Detectors for Seniors?

Dear friends of ours mentioned that they got a free inspection from the Red Cross and free smoke detectors because they were seniors. We had to have our smoke detectors installed according to Hawaii building codes when we did our home renovations, but I thought it would be a good idea to call anyway about the inspection.

I spoke to Carole at the Red Cross who told me that she was not actually the correct person to speak to. She said I should call 739-8111.

 I told Carole that we probably didn't need new smoke detectors because we just had them installed about eight years ago. She said she advises people to change them after five years because of the rust problem in Hawaii. She said the telltale sign is when the plastic cover of the smoke detector turns yellow.

Carole also told me that our town had already been done, so the next session would probably be around February. She signed us up and said that yes, smoke detectors would be installed free for seniors. We would also have a home inspection and a little training on what to do in case of a fire.

I'm thinking they must have similar Red Cross programs in other states. Don't you think this might be a good idea to check out?

Dishwasher Solution

Mom gets up a couple of hours before we do and always empties the dishwasher. We run the dishwasher about every 2-3 days. There have been several occasions when she's emptied the dishwasher although I hadn't turned it on the night before. Because we rinse the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, it's not always easy to tell if they've been washed or not. Her eyesight is also not very good. Therefore, I have to try to remember what was in the dishwasher so I can find it and put it back in.

When we were in Illinois this summer Tiffany found a nifty magnet for the dishwasher that seemed like the perfect solution.

You could stick the magnet on the dishwasher so people would know if the dishes are clean or not. I guess we're not the only people with this problem.

Unfortunately, when we got home to Hawaii we discovered that because our dishwasher has a stainless steel front, the magnet wouldn't stick.

Sooooo.... after thinking about it, I hot glued the magnet onto a block of wood and set it on the counter.

Worked like a charm. No more dirty dishes being put away. Now all I have to do is remember to turn on the dishwasher.

Is Snail Mail Better?

Mom and her sister in Sendai have kept a steady stream of correspondence in the 68 years that they've been apart.

We've taken mom to see her sister every time we've toured Japan. Here they are serving sukiyaki together.

Mom is very methodical in what she writes. She first writes notes on what she wishes to share, then reviews copies of previous letters she's written so she doesn't repeat herself. Then she'll sit for a couple of days writing a letter with very beautiful, elegant, rather flawless looking characters. It amazes me every time I see her tiny writing. It's got to be difficult with her limited vision.

I've told mom that I should just scan her letters and send them to Sendai by email. My cousins or uncle could then print them and give them to her sister. Seemed like a perfectly good idea to me because then Auntie could get them much faster instead of waiting about a week for the letter to arrive.

However, Auntie said she likes getting mail in the mailbox so would prefer the snail mail method instead.

Mom said she needed to write longer letters so it couldn't be done by email. I had to explain that she could write an encyclopedia (yes, I exaggerated) and I could scan it and send it with the computer without a problem.

Still... the other day mom needed a letter sent right away so I scanned it and emailed it to Sendai where it was printed and shown to Auntie. Hmmm... I wonder what she'll say. Will she like the speed or will she not like having an empty mailbox?

Saying Goodbye to Another Friend

A long, long while back my brother, Dennis and his wife, Nancy took a trip to the East coast and brought back a glass mug from Cheers (the Boston pub) for mom. Mom didn't use it because it was a bit big and heavy for her. When we moved back to Hawaii, I fell in love with it.

It was the perfect size for my morning mocha.

I even wrote a post using a photo of the mug on this blog.

Sigh...

The other morning Art noticed something awful. I think I've mentioned before that I'm farsighted, while he's near sighted. He can see these things.

There was a crack in the mug! Argghh! How can that be? I took such good care of it. It doesn't even go in the dishwasher. The crack circled almost 75% of the way around the bottom of the mug.

On the positive side.... I guess...
We could take a trip to Boston and get another one someday or I can find another mug about the same size on one of our trips. It's always fun to search for something.

Hmmm... I wonder if our granddaughter, KC has seen Boston yet. There's a lot of important, interesting, wonderful places to see there. Hmmmm....

Exploring Chinatown

We were invited by long time, wonderful friends, Diane and Dave to explore Chinatown with them. I've known Diane since kindergarten and Dave grew up in Chinatown. We haven't really walked around Chinatown since...

I couldn't remember so I had to go back to my photo files and discovered we were there in 1980! Keola was almost three and Tiffany was five.

The photos are very blurry and there were only a few. Mom used to work close by at the Hawaii Times Ltd. newspaper before they went out of business.



















Well, Chinatown has certainly changed in about 36 years. We followed Dave past a row of lei shops and entered the Chinatown Cultural Plaza where a lot of celebrations and shows are held.

The River Street Mall used to have a roofed area where people would come to play chess or checkers.

Apparently it eventually got taken over by drug dealers/users so the roof covering was removed to make it a less desirable area for illicit activities.

Facing River Street was the Royal Kitchen that had the most amazing menu of char siu baos.

Char siu is a kind of Chinese roasted pork. I looked up bao and it says it means 'take away food'.

In Hawaii, we also call it manapua. I looked that word up on Wikipedia too and it said,
"Its name is a shortening of the Hawaiian mea ʻono puaʻa, meaning, "delicious pork thing."

Dave suggested getting a sample of baos from different establishments so we could taste the variety. The Royal Kitchen is a very popular shop in Chinatown.

Look at all the fillings you can have in your baos. There was Portuguese sausage, lup chong, hot dog, kalua port, vegetarian, etc.

We were startled when we tried this baked bao. It was the airiest, lightest bao we've ever, ever, ever tasted.

This is baked char siu bao. Bao comes in baked (brown) or steamed (white). We've always preferred baked because it didn't seem as heavy as the steamed white buns.

It was such fun to see all the different shops.

We saw this statue of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen.

I got this from Wikipedia:

"Sun Yat-sen (12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925) was a Chinese revolutionary, first president and founding father of the Republic of China, and medical practitioner. As the foremost pioneer of the Republic of China, Sun is referred to as the "Father of the Nation"in the Republic of China (ROC), and the "forerunner of democratic revolution" in the People's Republic of China (PRC)."

I didn't know he was actually educated in Honolulu and went to Oahu College which is now Punahou School (where President Obama graduated from).

Only buses can now pass through Hotel Street. No cars allowed.

Dave says Cindy's Lei & Flower Shoppe is one of the most popular places to go to for flower leis.

My cousin, Larry recommended Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery and Dave knew just where it was. The place was packed and there was a huge assortment of Chinese baked goods. We were going to bring home some baked char siu baos to have with mom, but they were all out of it.

We tried the steamed char siu baos and really liked it so we brought those home for dinner. We've always loved the wedding cakes so we bought those to bring home for dessert too.

And for a little more history on Chinatown, I got this from Wikipedia:

Two major fires destroyed many buildings in 1886 and 1900. The 1900 fire was started in an attempt to destroy a building infected with Bubonic Plague, which had been confirmed December 12, 1899. Schools were closed and 7000 residents of the area were put under quarantine. After 13 people died, the Board of Health ordered structures suspected of being infected to be burned. Residents were evacuated, and a few buildings were successfully destroyed while the Honolulu Fire Department stood by. However, on January 20, 1900 the fire got out of control after winds shifted, and destroyed most of the neighborhood instead. Many of the buildings date from 1901. Very few were over four stories tall.

We went through several market areas and saw a lot of delicacies that we've seen when we traveled abroad. Dave couldn't tell me how chicken feet (which we saw everywhere) was to be prepared. I'm thinking it must be used for broth.

It was such a warm and humid day that Dave went ahead to reserve a space at a restaurant close by while our purchases were being prepared. He knew we were already too stuffed to eat a lot more, but he wanted us to sample some delicious dim sum.

Oh my! What a day! There's nothing like exploring a place with someone who grew up in the area. Outings with Dave and Diane are always fabulously interesting and delicious experiences. Diane and I grew up in Waipahu, but that town is so changed that the places we frequented are no longer there.

When our children return to Hawaii, we shall have to bring them to the places Dave and Diane introduced us. And now our grandchildren can see it too!

Oh My Gosh!

While traveling between Chicago and Washington, D.C. this summer I heard my daughter use the expression, "Awesomesauce!" when she saw something that amazed her. I thought it was something she just made up, but no... I looked it up on the Urban Dictionary and found the definition was "more awesome than awesome."

Then as I was walking around Hershey, Pennsylvania, I saw a man wearing a t-shirt that said, "Holy Todelo!" OK I've heard that one before. I think Danny Thomas used to say it all the time.

We started to think of other phrases used to express amazement.

Here's some we use:
Holy cow! Wow! Dang! Holy Smokes! Good grief! Holy mackerel! Oh my! Gosh! Hot damn! By golly! Far out! Son-of-a-gun! Whoa!

Slangs We Use in Hawaii
For Real? No kidding? You sure? Aue! (pronounced a'we)

 I can't think of anymore. What do you say when you see something amazing?

Butterflies on the East Coast

I just wanted to share with you some butterflies we saw while traveling through the East Coast. I never see swallowtails in Hawaii and there was a whole bunch of them loving the coneflowers in this garden.

I didn't know there were different kinds of swallowtail butterflies, but these were just gorgeous.

Sigh...

I'm not seeing a lot of butterflies in Hawaii these days.

So Do Opposites Attract?

Art and I were having lunch and started talking (again) about how different we were. As we laughed, the list grew and grew. It would almost make you wonder what brought us together.

So here's our list and it keeps growing:

* He hates to write. I enjoy it and do most of our correspondence.
* He likes math and was an engineer. I don't.
* He's very near sighted and can read all the fine print for me. I'm very far sighted.
* He has Asian flush and shouldn't drink alcohol. My family doesn't have that problem.
* He remembers things. Sigh... I don't.
* He has a refined sense of taste and smell. Sadly, it seems I've lost most of it. Mom doesn't even ask me to taste anything she's cooking anymore.
* He likes the windows closed at night. I like it open.
* He likes it warm. I like it cool.

* He likes a dimly lit bathroom. I like my daylight bulbs on full. He installed a dimmer in our bathroom so he can lower the lights when he uses it.
* He can drive anywhere. I don't.
* He doesn't gain weight. Sigh.... sigh... sigh... I do.
* He likes to exercise all the time. I don't. I should. But I have to be pushed into it.
* He doesn't much care for sweets or chocolates. I love them. I shouldn't, but I do.
* He loves planning for trips. I don't.
* He's rather disorganized. I love things to be organized!
* He can fall asleep in a minute or sooner. It takes me a while.
* He's a morning person. I think best in the evening.
* He can follow printed instructions and fix things. I don't fix anything.
* He looks at details. I look at the whole picture.
* He snores. I don't. He says he's caught me snoring, but don't believe him.
* He reads the paper very carefully and knows a lot of the ins and outs of politics. I just know we're doomed if Trump becomes president.
* He's a concept cook. I need a detailed recipe. (First you get the pot, then the spoon, 1/16 tsp salt, 1/20 tsp pepper, etc.)
* He enjoys sports. I only watch the Olympics and halftime Super Bowl shows.
* He likes vanilla, I'm all chocolate.

We've been married 43 years so I guess we've managed to complement each other rather than fall apart which is a good thing. I guess the main thing is you have to know how to laugh.

I think I'll open the windows once he falls asleep tonight.

Peeling Dasheen Without Irritation

Art loves mom's nishime. Nishime is a Japanese stew made with vegetables, seaweed, dasheen, chicken or pork.

There's a lot of names for dasheen. Mom calls it araimo, but it's also called satoimo or taro root. Mom says it MUST be included in the nishime. Unfortunately, it has a slimy liquid when it's raw. It gets on your hands when you're peeling it and leaves your fingers itchy and irritated for quite a while. For that reason, mom used to buy it frozen even though she doesn't like to buy food packaged in China.

This summer, Tiffany brought these vinyl gloves for us that we could use for food preparation or whatever. I haven't used them until I had to peel some dasheen for mom. I wondered if it would be too slippery, but no... they worked perfectly!

The best part: no itchy hands. Yay!

Rehabs Not Made Alike

I've had physical therapy in Chicago and here in Hawaii. In Chicago it was for adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder) and bursitis. It was extremely helpful. It took a while but with careful attention, my shoulder was unfrozen. The therapists were always by my side watching everything I did with some additional massage to help the pain.

Here in Hawaii I had tendinitis a few years ago and had to have more therapy on my shoulder. I liked the therapist who took care of me a lot, but I didn't much care for the way therapy was handled. You were taught how to use some machines and do some exercises. For the following sessions, you were given a stop watch and told to do an exercise while the therapist spot checked you occasionally.

In June, I hurt my back. It was the worst pain I'd ever had on my back and I wasn't even doing anything out of the ordinary.

By the time I had my appointment to see my nurse practitioner and physical therapy was approved, the pain had gone away after I spent four days in bed.

I couldn't have therapy in July because we were on the mainland so I went to Rehab at Aiea in August.

What a difference! This was more like Chicago. Stephanie was my therapist and she stayed by my side throughout my sessions. I had just four sessions spread out over two weeks to teach me some strengthening exercises. Stephanie carefully instructed me on each move, correcting me when I wasn't doing it properly. She also gave me hints on how to protect my back.

Ummm... crunches and sit-ups were recommended to help my back as well, but ummmm.... I couldn't do a single one. Sigh... I kept thinking I could, but alas... no. Stephanie kept encouraging me saying, "a little more, a little more...". But no. Sigh...

As I left my last session Stephanie smiled and said, "It would be lovely to see you again, but I hope I don't have to."

Me too... but I have a feeling physical therapy is not over for me.

Back in Hawaii

Although I'm missing my children, grandchildren and friends on the mainland, life here in Hawaii soon came to the rescue. Dinner with our friends in our tai chi class had been scheduled before we left for the mainland.

It was Craig and Terry's turn to choose the restaurant this time.

They chose Hot Pot Heaven at the Pearl Kai shopping center. None of us had been there, but a coupon for "Buy 1, Get 1 BROTH FREE" lured us there.

Since one broth cost about $10, it was helpful.

I wasn't sure at all what to expect.

OK...

The instructions had us choosing our broth first. Art chose the Mushroom, while I decided to be a bit daring and chose the Seafood which is supposed to be a bit (Cajun) spicy.

Next, we chose our meat. You can do vegetarian too, of course.

Then we went to the refrigerator and chose what we wanted to put into the broth. Plates were color coded by price. The price of your dinner could go up pretty quickly if you went too crazy with the ingredients.

Then you added it to a divided cooking pot. Art liked his mushroom broth. He thought my seafood broth was too spicy. It was still good. I just borrowed some of his mushroom broth and added it to mine.

It wasn't super expensive, but even with the coupon our bill (with tax and 20% tip) was $39.08. And it was worth it. We had a fabulous evening. They never rushed us, even though the place was packed on a Thursday evening.

So yes, we're missing our mainland life, but friends sure do make the separations less painful.

Not Enough Time

There was not enough time to see all the precious friends we'd been blessed with over the 35 years we lived in Chicago. We're just grateful they haven't forgotten us. There are friends from Art's job at EPA and my teacher friends as well as long time neighbors.

We had only a week and a half this time before we were to return to Hawaii.

However, as you all must experience yourselves, once you get together it's like time had not passed. We could easily take off from where we left off.

And then came that always sad day when I look behind at O'Hare Airport to see my daughter and granddaughter waving goodbye from the car.

The nice thing is.... technology! As soon as we got into the airport there were loving messages waiting for us by text and email.

Good-byes don't have to hurt quite as much so long as you have your cellphone.

Not Quite Ready Cicada

It was hard leaving our son and his family in Maryland, but it was time to return to Chicago. While there we were doing some yard work when Art called and told me to get my camera.

He'd been surprised to see this cicada who seemed to have died coming out of its shell. I'd never seen this before so I took a bunch of photos. That's when I thought I saw one of its legs shaking.

Good grief! It had just been resting. Eventually, it freed itself and walked into the bushes and disappeared.

Pretty darn amazing!

Climbing the Walls!

Once back in Maryland, we got to spend a lot of quality time with our son, his wife and our precious grandson. It was extra special because it was the first time that KC had actually met her new cousin. It was special for Tiffany to cuddle her brother's son for the first time. To everyone's delight we found that little JD loved KC. He was fascinated by her and she was the one who could always make him smile and laugh.

One of Keola and Sarah's passions is wall climbing. KC had tried it before, but hadn't been able to get to the top. It was too frightening. Tiffany was amazed at what a great teacher her brother was. He instructed KC on safety and proper climbing techniques. She was soon scaling the walls with confidence and actually made it to the top 6 times!

And yes! Of course Art wanted to try it too!

He went up 3 times  and was exhilarated and exhausted.

Tiffany and me? Ummmm... We watched JD. Besides, I was recovering from a back injury. That's my excuse and I stand by it.

Washington, D.C. - Day #2

Day #2 in Washington, D.C. was promising to be just as hot and humid as the day before. We decided to be even more careful to avoid heat exhaustion again.

There's so much to see in our nation's capital, but we just didn't have time to see it all. We wanted to spend more time with our 1 year old grandson.

We had an early breakfast at the Fairfield Inn and began our walk to the Cannon House Office Building to meet the staff of Mark Takai's office.

We had not gotten the news that Mark Takai had passed away from pancreatic cancer while we were onflight to Chicago. Soon after that Hurricane Darby was due to hit the islands so we didn't know he had suddenly passed away until we reached Maryland.

We were scheduled to be at the Cannon House at 9:30 AM and didn't know what to expect. It was a longer walk to get there than we'd anticipated and my ShedRain solar umbrella suddenly broke. You couldn't close it.

Once at the Cannon House, we left our broken umbrella with security (they couldn't close it either) and walked through the silent hall to Mark Takai's office.

It was awesome to see the offices of other state representatives.

We were shown Mark Takai's office. His two staffers said they were shocked at his quick passing as well, but offered to still take us on our tour of the capitol building. It was so sad to see Mr. Takai's empty desk.

 As we passed into the hallway again we saw that you couldn't drink from the water fountains because of lead in the water.

Kayla took us to see the King Kamehameha statue. At over 6 tons, it's the heaviest statue in the capitol building. Next to it was the Statue of Freedom which sits on top of the capitol dome.

Kayla then took us through Statuary Hall. Most states have two statues. We saw the statue of Father Damien which is identical to the one in front of Hawaii's State Capitol building.

We then visited the Crypt. I got this from Wikipedia:

On the ground floor is an area known as the Crypt. It was intended to be the burial place of George Washington, with a ringed balustrade at the center of the Rotunda above looking down to his tomb. However, under the stipulations of his last will, Washington was buried at Mount Vernon. The Crypt houses exhibits on the history of the Capitol. A compass star inlaid in the floor marks the point at which Washington, D.C. is divided into its four quadrants; however, the geographic center of the city lies near the White House.

We were told that only the senators had a special private rail that takes them from their offices to the senate floor. Since the median age of the senators is 76, perhaps they need it more. 76? Wow! That was surprising.

Because the capitol building is under renovation we were not allowed on the rotunda floor. It was another disappointment.

Still, we did get to see the chambers that was once used by the supreme court justices and KC learned a bit more about our government. Once outside we could see the Statue of Freedom from afar. My camera's telephoto lens was able to get a more close-up view.

Our next stop was the National Museum of the American Indian. Since KC had studied several Native American tribes this past year, it was especially interesting. Art and I spent a lot of time at the exhibit for native Hawaiians.

Unfortunately, it was too hot to walk to the White House so we went back to the hotel.

KC had been using my ShedRain solar umbrella, but we finally had to throw it away because there was no way we could fix it.

We got our van and drove back to Maryland to see our little grandson.... oh... and his parents as well.

Washington, D.C. - Day #1

Our granddaughter, KC is almost 10 and hadn't been to Washington, D.C. yet. We decided this would be the perfect opportunity although we hated leaving our grandson, JD.

We've been blessed with good luck on most of our trips. This would not be one of them.

First, the outdoor temperature was 99 degrees F (37.22 C), but the heat index was 112 degrees F (44.44 C).

Tiffany had paid ahead of time for 1PM reservations for the Washington Monument through the park service. Although it's free to go there, you can pay $1.50 a person to guarantee a time.

We'd also arranged for a White House tour through Mark Takai's (Hawaii's representative) office, but was denied by the White House after they changed the way you made reservations a few weeks prior to our visit. You have to make requests directly to the White House now.

Ahhh well...

We spent time cooling off at the Museum of Natural History. KC LOVED seeing all the rocks, minerals and gems. I don't think the Hope Diamond necessarily amazed her though.

However, she was thrilled to see the penny molding machine again. Her collection of pressed pennies was growing!

I wanted to stay in the air conditioning for the rest of the day, but it was soon time to trudge to the Washington monument for our tour.

KC was excited about going up the tall structure.

Would you believe it was CLOSED for maintenance?!?!? Arrrghhh! We'd gotten NO warning in advance. Instead, Tiffany got an email 3 hours later saying the monument was closed and there were no refunds on the processing fee.

We then walked to the Lincoln Monument. We had lots of water and tried to stay in shaded areas on the walk from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln, but the heat was oppressive.

This is when despite my solar umbrella and drinks of water, I was hit by heat exhaustion. I even stepped into the somewhat air conditioned gift shop at the memorial and couldn't stop sweating profusely. I was also feeling a bit light headed.

We did rest a bit and saw the WWII and Vietnam Memorial.

Eventually we made it to the American History Museum where we downed two HUGE glasses of cold drinks and rested.

Seeing the Greensboro Lunch counter where those black students made their brave attempt to focus on race equality was inspiring.


Then seeing Michelle Obama's 2nd inaugural gown made me smile.

We're making gains.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we don't backslide in November.

After a lovely dinner at Daikaya Ramen (KC loves noodles) we went back to the excellent Fairfield Inn and Suites and unwound!

I got over 20,000 steps on my Fitbit that day! But we were all exhausted!