Not Just a Breakfast Anymore

I was eating the my breakfast this morning and noticed a bit more of an interesting crunch.

It was pleasant and then I looked at what I was eating and wondered what Art was putting into our breakfast oatmeal. Unh hunh... I recognize the bananas and cranberries, but what's the other stuff?

Art's sister has sent us different kinds of grains and seeds that she thought was healthy. Art researched it and added it to our diet. I asked him this morning to show me what he's been adding to his concoction. Good gracious!

And if this wasn't enough, we got a text from our daughter, Tiffany saying she was sending Art something called teff or tef. I found the following from Wikipedia:

Eragrostis tef has an attractive nutrition profile, being high in dietary fiber and iron and providing protein and calcium. It is similar to millet and quinoa in cooking, but the seed is much smaller and cooks faster, thus using less fuel.

 Someday my cereal bowl is not going to be big enough!

Missing the Grandkids

I was walking up the steps and saw a smudge on the hall mirror.

I'd forgotten that I didn't have the heart to wipe off the hand print that my one and a half year old grandson, JD had left behind before they returned to Maryland in January.

When he gets older, perhaps he'll leave behind messages like the sort 10 year old, KC left when she returned to Illinois. The top message was on my office whiteboard.  The ones below was in the kitchen. As you can see, I hadn't erased the message she wrote in the summer of 2015 so she left a new message above it last year.

I can't wait to see them again in a few months.

Learning How to Pose for the Camera

Jalna of Photos By Jalna shared this video on her blog and I thought it was great.

Granted, I can't say I'll do everything she says, but it's good to know. I have a few friends who say they won't pose or smile and then complain about how their photos turn out. I think it's good to just be aware of these pointers so you won't be disappointed with how your photos turn out. And how the heck do I pull my ears back? Hmmm....

Thank you, Jalna.

Sneaky Scam

Art got this in the mail the other day. It seemed pretty urgent and demanding our attention.

It had his name all over the paper and our address. At first glance it seemed to be something to do with our car warranty expiring.

Then we noticed that it doesn't state what kind of car we have or any other pertinent information.

I wondered how many people have gotten tricked into calling this number.

And by the way, another of those door to door salespeople stopped by our house asking to vacuum clean our house yesterday. Art pointed at our NO SOLICITATION sign outside our door and they insisted they just wanted to clean our house.

Sigh... I've already had some friends taken in by different kinds of scams such as these. It's a tricky world out there. Beware!

Marching for Science

I missed the Woman's March. I missed the Tax March. When I saw the March for Science notice on Saturday, I felt it was time to take a stand.

Art was leery about going. He was worried about the traffic. He was worried about the crowds. He was really worried about the parking.

The call was going out to scientists, environmentalists, educators, anybody who believed in science and FACTS.

Art worked for the EPA. He and all his EPA friends have been appalled at what's been going on with the environment due to the policies of the current administration. I was a teacher.

He found his EPA t-shirt and I found my environmental t-shirt that I'd gotten in Canada about 30 years ago.

The march was to be held at the University of Hawaii, Manoa campus.

Traffic was really not bad at all and I found the perfect parking space.

Signs were already available on the lawn.

Booths from many organizations were set up.

There were so many clever signs. I wish I'd gotten the sign that said, "Girls Just Wanna Have FUNding for research."

 This has nothing to do with the march, but I noticed this Cannonball tree close by and had to take a photo of it. It was fun to be back on the campus again after quite a few decades.

Art was in the Air Force while I was attending sit-ins during the 60s. This was his first protest march and he found it very interesting. I loved this poor dinosaur who also didn't believe in climate change until it was too late!

Music and speeches started at 3:00. Most of the speeches were very impassioned and a rally cry to mobilize and get our country back on track to environmental and scientific progress. Art is very worried about #45's efforts to kill the EPA.

The march began around 4:30. We marched down University Avenue and across King Street before returning to campus.

It was awesome!

People honked their support along the way and waved at us.

I'm sorry this top photo is a bit too tiny for you to see the LONG line of marchers along King Street. It seemed to go on forever.

We stopped at Chili's on the way home and had the absolute nicest server. She recommended I try the Honey Chipotle baby back ribs. It was a bit spicy, but I really liked it.

Art had the bottomless soup and salad.

It felt like a date night.

I'm so glad we marched. All we'd been able to do lately is read the paper, get depressed and complain.

Marching somehow allowed us to feel like we did something.

We hoped the rest of the world would understand that most U.S. citizens stand with them and are concerned for the world, not just selfishly thinking of themselves.

POSTSCRIPT 1:
The Star Advertiser relegated the march to only the 2nd page of the local section of the Sunday paper which was really irritating since they've often put the most trifling articles on the front page which makes us shake our heads. However, my friend, Dave sent me this link which shows marches around the world. And my friend Dina of Jerusalem Hills Daily Photo sent me this link showing some of the best signs from around the world.

POSTSCRIPT 2: 
Art recorded three TV news broadcasts on Saturday night to see how they covered the event. We were happy to see that it had been covered thoroughly by all the TV news channels, even if the print news didn't give it much space.

POSTSCRIPT 3:
And here's our favorite photo of the day that Art's EPA buddy sent of his daughter who marched in NY!
 

Taking a Cellphone Screen Shot

I wanted to take a screen shot on my iPhone 6 the other day and wondered if there was a way to do it. I looked it up online and discovered that YES there is a way!

Art has a Samsung cellphone and apparently you can do the same thing (pressing simultaneously) on his phone too. On some Adroid phones, you can press the power button and the down volume button to take a screen shot.

I know there's still too much that I don't know how to do on the cellphone. Aren't they talking about an iPhone 8 now?  I'll stick to my 6 because I don't think my brain can handle more things to learn right now.

Coveting Fiestaware

When our neighbor's wonderful wife passed away in Illinois about 30 years ago, he gave us their set of four yellow Fiestaware plates and mugs before he moved away. They were so bright and colorful that I loved them.  I believe my son has them now. It's quite apropos because before she passed away, two year old Keola, who wouldn't let her hold him when she was well, walked over to her as she lay on the couch four months before her death and threw his arms around her neck to give her a hug while we all stared open mouthed. I remember her saying with tears in her voice, "Now I can die content."

Anyway, I loved using those yellow Fiesta plates but never bought more. Instead, we went for practical, plain white Corelle or Corningware plates.

Whenever we were in a department store I'd look at all the different colors and covet those Fiesta plates.

My daughter used to say, "For goodness sakes, Mom! If you want them, get them."

However, for our uses, Fiestware just isn't as practical in Hawaii. They're a little heavier than what we would like and I don't have any more room in our cabinets.

Instead, I discovered something else. It's these Corelle divided dishes. They're lighter weight, durable and the sections are perfect to keep the shoyu (soy sauce) in its own area. They also keep my portion sizes under control.

Still, I sure would love it if Corelle could start coloring their plates in different bright colors. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Keeping Cool

About three months ago, our 9-year old refrigerator stopped cooling. It was such a gradual thing that we didn't pay attention to it for a while. I looked online and saw that refrigerators live only for 10-12 years. Hmmm... I just looked again and another site said 14-17 years. We started looking for another refrigerator until our friends told us that it might be the intake vent toward the bottom of the fridge.

We followed their directions and used a hair dryer to melt the ice that had frozen solid covering the vent. (I wrote a blog post about it.)

This was a relief.

Now our 2nd refrigerator was on the blink.

Yes, it's true. We have two refrigerators. Almost everybody I know in Hawaii has two refrigerators. Some people have an additional freezer. We refrigerate everything in Hawaii!

Now this refrigerator had also stopped cooling and it was only a couple years old.

I was going to look for our warranty.

I was going to look into refrigerator repairmen.

Art checked the intake vent and poked a chop stick in. No, the vent was not iced over.

I headed for the computer to look up a repair person.

And then Art saw the package of dried cuttlefish that I had leaning against the side of the fridge.

Ummmmm....

He realized that I was covering the cold air supply vent at the top of the refrigerator.

Jeepers! I didn't know that's what it was.

We took the bag of cuttlefish away and... VOILA! The refrigerator started cooling again!

We never had these problems when we were living in Illinois. Now we've had two fridge problems within months of each other.

What else could go wrong?

When a Historical Catastrophe Becomes Personal

You often hear stories in the news of catastrophes around the world and it feels unreal. Yet my family felt the tragedy of the devastating tsunami in Japan more powerfully since my mother's sister and family live there and suffered through the hardships. Having the connection makes you identify with the horror.

Here in Hawaii, I'd heard about the 1946 and 1960 tsunamis on the Big Island. I was still in grade school on Oahu so the 1960 devastation wasn't in my sphere of awareness. I'd heard about the 1946 tsunami from Art's mom and could vaguely imagine how tragic it had to have been.

About 30 years ago, my college roommate, Gail's parents from Laupahoehoe came to stay a few days with us in Illinois. Her dad told me about how his 14 year old brother had gone to school early and was swept away by the tsunami.

When we went to the Pacific Tsunami Museum in Hilo last month, we saw his name on the remembrance quilt and it brought back memories of the pain his family had felt. I wrote about it on my blog last week.

A couple of days after that blog posted, I got an email from my friend, Kris who I'd met on a tour of Vietnam and Cambodia. It was such a wonderful surprise to learn we'd graduated from the same high school and that she was the older sister of a classmate of mine. Her father was also a science resource teacher for our elementary school and her stepmother was our high school secretary. Reading my blog post must have jolted some memories from her.

I was stunned when I read her email. Here are excerpts from her letter.

"Did you remember seeing 4 names (on the quilt) whose last name was __? This was my mom and 2 sisters and a brother who also were swept out to sea on that day.  Only my dad and I survived.  My sisters were aged 4 and 2, my brother was 3 months old.  My dad and mom were both teachers at Laupahoehoe School and we lived in the teachers' cottages that were located along the shore. Our house was second from the left.

In my case, a bachelor teacher always had breakfast with us. When the wave hit, he picked me up; my dad had my 2 sisters, and my mom had my brother. My father's  hand got stuck on a rock so he wasn't swept out. Not sure how my savior survived but as the wave receded, I remember he was walking toward shore holding me under his arm with my head bobbing in the water.

I often wonder how a 32 year old man who lost his wife and 3 children could go on. Maybe he had to go on since he had me to take care of. A man of great resolve and perseverance!"...

..."After my dad got released from the hospital, we moved to Oahu to live with his parents and siblings.  Then the following school year, he and Frank (my savior) started teaching at Waipahu High School."

Kris was just 6 years old at the time of the disaster. 159 people died in Hawaii during that April 1st, 1946 tsunami.

Before I learned the stories of how Gail's uncle and Kris' mother, sisters and brother had perished, those were just dates and numbers in Hawaiian history. Now the horror of that awful day was almost palpable. For several days, Art and I kept thinking and talking about it.

Kris' dad eventually remarried, and his second wife gave birth many years later to the son who would become my classmate. I remember Kris' dad as a kind, serious teacher.

As I look out my window and stare at the calm ocean and peaceful skies, I think how blessed we are and how quickly that can change.

We're always reminded to cherish each happy day. I do.

Big Island: Day #4

We were pleasantly surprised at the lovely complimentary breakfast that the Kamuela Inn provided. There was cereal, all kinds of fruits, pastries, coffee, juice, etc.

After breakfast, we had mom rest and get ready for the day ahead while Art and I went to the Farmers Market to pick up some flowers to bring to Honokaa.

We then tidied up the room and left for Honokaa.

We convinced mom to come on this trip by telling her it was time to pay our respects to Art's parents who passed away three decades ago. I can't believe so much time has passed because I remember them so well. We stopped first at the temple to leave anthiriums at his parents' columbarium. We then visited the family grave site to present more flowers for ancestors.

Our next stop was the Honokaa Heritage Center where we met the coordinator and gave her some information about Art's parents.

It was fun to see a lot of memorabilia that we were quite familiar with.

We then drove through Honokaa and made our obligatory stop at Tex Drive In where we had a beef teriyaki burger and their famous square malasadas (with filling).

It was a one hour drive back into Hilo to visit the Queen Liliuokalani gardens.

We loved seeing the giant banyan and mokeypod trees.

We were surprised to see huge fern plants growing on the mokeypod branches.

Mom insisted she'd never seen a saffron finch before. We have seen them all around Oahu.

This type of hibiscus was a bit different from others I've seen.

When we got to the Two Ladies Kitchen they offered samples from a platter of various scrumptious looking mochi. They are the NICEST ladies! They even let me take one for mom who had to wait in the car because there was no parking.

They had our orders beautifully wrapped and labeled so we could bring them back for our family, neighbor and friend. The strawberry mochi is a bit pricey, but utterly delicious!

When we got home, I was surprised to find that they had added an extra mochi for each box we ordered. Didn't I say they were the NICEST ladies ever?

We couldn't believe our trip was already over.

Mom kept telling us how much she enjoyed herself. "It's so much better to see it for yourself rather than on TV," she laughed.

When we landed on Oahu, it was a surprise to see another rainbow to welcome us back home.

Dinner was at Zippy's and then... for dessert... Two Ladies mochi! It was a sweet way to end our wonderful trip.

Hmmmm... I wonder if mom would like to go to Kauai next, or Maui?

Big Island: Day #3

Our third day on the Big Island began with another big breakfast.

Mom was really enjoying these truck driver type breakfasts.

I loved our Kilauea Military Camp cabin. There were handy grip bars in the bathroom so mom would be safe.

Whenever we leave a hotel room, we always try to leave it neat and orderly.

My Auntie Grace used to work as a hotel maid and when we traveled with her she told us that we should leave a room like a swan leaving the water to fly into the sky. Leave nothing but a little ripple in the water.

We think of mom's beloved sister whenever we travel and try to leave only a ripple in our hotel rooms along with a tip, of course.

Our first stop of the day was the Punalu'u Black Sand Beach. My favorite thing about the beach is the waterlily pond close by.

The black sand is weathered lava. It's always fun to see the honu (sea turtles) sleeping in the sun.

We loved checking out the tide pools too.

We decided to make a short stop at the Greenwell Coffee Farm in Kona because our son-in-law loves their pricey coffee and I don't see it sold anywhere on Oahu.

We always make a stop at the City of Refuge. I got this from Wikipedia:

Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park is a United StatesNational Historical Park located on the west coast of the island of Hawai'i in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The historical park preserves the site where, up until the early 19th century, Hawaiians who broke a kapu(one of the ancient laws) could avoid certain death by fleeing to this place of refuge or puʻuhonua. The offender would be absolved by a priest and freed to leave. Defeated warriors and non-combatants could also find refuge here during times of battle. The grounds just outside the Great Wall that encloses the puʻuhonua were home to several generations of powerful chiefs.

Gourds like these were used for carrying water or for musical instruments by ancient Hawaiians.

Every time I see the naupaka flower below I remember the ancient Hawaiian legend.

This is the beach naupaka, but there's also a mountain naupaka where the fan of petals is on the opposite side.

The legend starts with two lovers who are totally devoted to each other.

One day, the goddess of fire, Pele saw the young man and decided she wanted him. However, he was not interested which enraged Pele. She chased the man into the mountains throwing molten lava at him. In order to save him, Pele's sisters turned him into the mountain naupaka.

Pele then went after the woman and chased her to the ocean where again she was saved by Pele's sisters who turned her into the beach naupaka. Therefore, if you bring the two flowers together from the ocean and the mountain you will once again reunite the lovers.

Lunch was at the Big Island Grill in Kona. This was another restaurant frequented more by local people. Art ordered the Hawaiian plate which was huge!

A tourist entered and ordered the Hawaiian plate too and the waitress had to explain how to eat it. I thought that was very adventurous of him.

Leaving Kona, we drove to the Parker Ranch Historical Homes in Waimea. The first home was built by John Parker in the early 1800s. The manor above was used by the family from 1960 to 1992.

There are very few places to stay in Kamuela which was our next stop.

I found the Kamuela Inn online and was able to get  the kamaaina (local) price. However, the place was extremely hard to find even with GPS.

This sign with the numbers 65 1300 is the only thing to indicate the location of the inn. You had to do a sharp right turn into a small lane to find the inn at the top.

Once there, we found the receptionist extremely friendly and helpful. There was free wifi and a complimentary breakfast. They were heavily booked so we got an unrenovated room that badly needed to be renovated.

Dinner was at a food court. Not great, but not bad.

It was a lovely day and there was only one more day left to our trip.

Big Island: Day #2

Mom had a good night's rest and was raring to go. We woke early and agreed to go back to the Jaggar Observation Point to check out the eruption again.

Mom thought it was all exciting. She remembered when we took her to the Big Island many years ago and she saw an eruption from a much closer vantage point, the day before they closed the area.

This, she felt, was a much more comfortable distance.

It was helpful to have my Canon with the long zoom.

We watched for a while and headed back to the Kilauea Military Camp for breakfast.

We ordered a breakfast that was much bigger than mom's usual oatmeal and coffee, but she managed to eat most of it without a problem at all.

After breakfast we got in the car and headed toward the coast on the Chain of Craters road just as rain began to fall.

We saw a large Kalij Pheasant on the side of the road. We've never seen one of those on Oahu.

There were also wild orchids and ohia lehua blossoms.

The little cave in the November 1979 lava flow was interesting too.

But the plant that mom was MOST fascinated with was the Sensitive plant.

She LOVED touching the compound leaves and seeing them close up tight as she swept her fingers over them.

Driving over miles and miles of lava fields made it clear that the Big Island is much bigger than Oahu.

From the Holei Sea Arch, you could hike to the location where the lava flow from Kilauea falls into the sea.

No, we didn't hike the 11+ miles to see it.

A short distance away, we saw what looked like a beach pea plant with a flower. We then came to the start of the Pu'uloa Petroglyph site. It was supposed to be a .7 mile walk to see the Hawaiian petroglyphs. We saw photos of a boardwalk so figured it wouldn't be too bad. Ummmm....

Once we started, we found the going not quite as easy as we hoped for an 87 year old senior citizen.

We took breaks and Art and I took both her arms and supported her all the way.

She walked on the narrow trail while Art and I took the rougher lava surface on the sides of the trail. Mom forgot her hat so Art gave her his to wear. (He really needs a better looking hat to wear!)

When we were about half way there I considered going back, but mom wanted to see the petroglyphs. She and her sisters have always been interested in historical/cultural sites.


We realized then that it was .7 miles to the boardwalk (probably as the crow flies).

Once there, mom loved seeing all the petroglyphs that had been carved in the  lava rocks by ancient Hawaiians.

Mom loved seeing the pukas (holes) that had been carved in the lava to hold the piko (umbilical cords) of Hawaiian babies long ago.

We wondered if the long line of pukas belonged to one family.

The hike back to the car was much easier and much faster since we were now going downhill. You can see our rental car in the horizon. It sure felt good to see it.

Unfortunately, the sole of Art's almost new Merrell's shoe came apart. It's a good thing we always bring an extra pair of shoes on trips.

Heading back to our Kilauea cabin, we got a text message that my nephew's wife had given birth two weeks early to a daughter! Mom was now a great grandmother for the third time. Needless to say, we were ecstatic!

By the time we got back to our cabin it was 1:00 and too late to get a lunch at the Crater Rim Cafe. We opted for a hamburger in the snack bar.

Incredibly, mom was still OK to do a little more sightseeing. We figured Devastation Trail would be a good place.

Devastation Trail is the area still recovering from the 1959 Kilauea Iki eruption.

It was fun seeing some native birds in the trees and hearing their songs.

Half of the trail was closed so our walk was easy and short.

We could see the Halemaumau eruption from the Steaming Bluff Overlook. It was a bit eerie to have all this steam wafting around us.

After ordering too much dinner the night before we opted this time to each get the salad bar and share one teriyaki chicken main dish between the three of us which turned out to be perfect!

Art got mom a soft serve with strawberry preserves to which she said, "This is the BEST dessert I've ever had in my life! I can't believe how delicious this is!" We had to laugh.

We were hoping this would be an easier day, but it ended up being more strenuous than we planned. Still, mom was very proud of herself, especially when people complimented her on her stamina during our walks. To be honest, Art and I were getting exhausted just watching over her to make sure she wouldn't fall or trip or become dehydrated or....

It didn't matter. She kept telling us how much she was loving every minute. And now she had a third great grandchild. Life was good!