The Joy of Memories

Mom has a lot of memories from her teenage years of fear, deprivation and loss. However, she says she's happy because having known the depths of despair, her joys are that much greater today.

I've read somewhere that objects can't give you lasting happiness. Therefore buying a lot of things won't give you continuing pleasure. However, happy experiences are the treasured memories that will give you precious lasting contentment.

Ever since mom lost her beloved sister, Grace a few years ago, she looks back at the photo albums we made for her to relive the happy times we shared during our travels.

We took mom to Seattle and Canada twice. She even got to meet bloggers, DJan and Linda!

I've written before how mom loves to look at the photo books of the many travels we've done together. I think it's what made her decide to take one more trip to Japan last year to celebrate her 90th year.

Looking at the books and remembering the details of the fun times always makes her smile. She likes to remind us of things we might have forgotten.

I truly believe keeping these happy memories alive keeps her in a joyful frame of mind. I also know it's what makes me work so hard to preserve these memories in photo books. Some day Art and I will be looking at these books to remember our joyful times.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

I wrote a blog post a while ago about how my granddaughter, KC had way too many stuffed animals and decided to donate most of them to a classroom.

Because she wanted to remember them, KC took their photos listing who gave them to her and what she named them. She even wrote the names showing their personalities.

Well, I was looking through some old photos and came across this.

These were Tiffany's stuffed animals. Yup. KC's mom was also a fan of stuffed animals. Oh my! See that giant Harcourt Brace koala? I won that at a teacher's workshop. No, I didn't have to do anything amazing to get it. They gave the stuffed koala to the teacher who had the closest birthday to the day of the workshop or something like that.

Gee... I wonder if Tif still has that koala. I wonder what she did with all her stuffed animals. I wish she'd done what KC did so she could remember them too.

Daiso Chopstick/Straw Keepers

While we were looking for those Petit Blocks at Daiso the other day, I happened to run across this black and blue chopstick keeper.

Hawaii has passed a law that will forbid one time use plastic items like straws and styrofoam cups or plates by July, 2021.

Yes, I confess I felt guilty about using a straw but I was never quite confident that all the workers who handed me the soft drink cups had washed their hands carefully.

Therefore, I started carrying my own straws with me. There's two because Art and I often share a drink and use two straws.

The clear plastic straw holder once contained traveling chopsticks which we don't use.

It's not easy to find the shorter straws, but I found these years ago at Bed Bath and Beyond.

Anyway, I found that these chopstick keepers from Daiso also fit my plastic straws.

I'm thinking of asking my daughter if she'd like to carry them too.

A couple of times now, people have asked me where I got my straw container. I wish I could tell them about the Daiso straw/chopstick keepers.

Don't you think some company will come up with convenient straw keepers soon? I do see a lot of different kinds of straws at Ross or TJ Maxx but no straw keepers to carry with you. Hmmmm... and what about small forks and knives too?  Hmmmm...

POSTSCRIPT 1:
Darn! I bought that set of 6 reusable plastic straws above from Bed Bath & Beyond years ago. They no longer sell them. I checked.



Most of the reusable straws now being sold are too long for my chopstick holder. I was planning to give a set to my daughter. They need to be 9" long.

Those that are 9" long have a that circular knob which makes it too big to put into the straw container.

Sigh...

Back to the ol' drawing board.

POSTSCRIPT 2:
Double darn! That Daiso chopstick holder also doesn't stay shut. It slides open whenever you tilt it so it isn't convenient to keep in your bag. Like I said before, "Back to the ol' drawing board.

POSTSCRIPT 3:
And then I was really excited to find exactly 9" long plastic straws at Walmart that was just what I wanted. 24 of them for under $4! HOWEVER, when I was washing them, they felt rather sticky. Weird, slimy sticky? What the heck! I returned them.

POSTSCRIPT 4:
I found 8" bamboo straws that are supposed to be biodegradable, sanitary, etc., etc. So I'm giving these a try. We shall see.

Omiyage Quandry

Omiyage is a way of life in Hawaii. It's a tradition brought over from Japan. Whenever a group gets together, almost everyone will bring a little gift happily wrapped. You never know what someone will bring and it can be a lot of fun. It can also cause a bit (or more) of pressure when you're trying to figure out what to bring.

When my Zumba group used to meet for holiday parties or just once a month get-togethers, we would be inundated with gifts. I have to admit I rather enjoyed it, buuuut....  we finally decided it really wasn't necessary and it put too much pressure on everyone.

However, if somebody still wanted to share something really badly, they were welcome to do it with no expectation on anybody else to do the same. It took awhile for us to all be comfortable with this.

However, whenever we go to visit friends/family in Japan or on the mainland, we would feel naked if we didn't bring something to share. It's just ingrained in our nature, in our very DNA.

All this brings us to poor Art and his high school buddy, Maurice who meet with their other alumni once every few months.

For a while neither of them wanted to meet up with their classmates because they couldn't figure out what to bring. Usually, the other classmates (mostly women) would bring homemade cookies, candies, crocheted items, handcrafts, etc. I ended up baking cupcakes or boiling peanuts for Art to share with the others.

Art got the word that there was another meeting coming up and I imagine he and Maurice probably groaned together trying to figure out what to bring.

Art decided to bring these little mini Lego-like Petite blocks that my granddaughter, KC loves. We used to buy them at Daiso in Japan which is a 100 yen store. However, now that Daiso has opened in Hawaii, they cost about $1.50 for almost everything in the store. Art figured his classmates could give the blocks to their grandchildren.

I told Art he can't just hand out the Petit Block packages. It's all in the presentation. So we got some chocolates and added it to these little gift bags I happened to have along with the Petit Blocks.

I'm confident now that he can hold his head up high when he meets up with his classmates.

Trip Advisor’s 10 Most Popular Attractions in the World

Art wanted to share this Trip Advisor website with me because he said we’ve managed to almost see all the attractions listed as the 10 most popular in the world.

The #1 spot was Rome’s Colosseum. 
Our first overseas family trip was to England. We played it safe by going to an English speaking country. We then decided to go to Rome in 1993. We were absolutely awed by the Colosseum and the mechanisms underneath that created incredible spectacles for the citizens. We loved the food and all the famous sites from the ancient past. The Roman Forum contained the exact spot where Caesar was stabbed to death. I loved the Galleria Borghese which had the most amazing statue done by Bernini of Apollo and Daphe.

#2 Louvre Museum, Paris
Art and I went to Paris during my 1997 school winter break. I recall catching a cold, but still enjoying... again... the incredibly delicious dishes we sampled. It was such a thrill to see artwork that we'd only seen in books. I was surprised that the Mona Lisa was not very big. That Mona Lisa behind me must have been a poster, because it really was much smaller. I wasn't all that much a fan of the I.M. Pei pyramid. It just seemed incongruous in that setting. I was sorry the kids weren't with us. It was the first time we traveled without them.

#3 Vatican Museum, Rome, Italy
This was the same winter trip to Rome in 1993. We loved seeing the nativity scene outside the Vatican. The La Pieta by Michelangelo was breathtaking at St. Peter's Basilica. The Vatican Museum was extremely impressive. We were amazed at the colossal statue of Father Nile.

#4 Statue of Liberty, New York
Spring break in 1991 found us taking an East coast trip with the kids. As I recall, we had to wait in line for almost 2 hours before being able to climb up the statue. It's sad to see the Twin Towers behind us.

#5 Eiffel Tower, Paris
This was the same 1997 winter break trip to Paris. And yes, of course we went up the Eiffel Tower also.

#6 Basilica of the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain
We first went to Spain in 2000 and saw Antoni Gaudi's famous Roman Catholic basilica. We saw lots of areas in the basilica where work was still going on. Construction began in 1882. At the time of Gaudi's death in 1926 only a quarter of the building was completed.

When we went back 14 years later we were amazed a see a lot of progress on the gargantuan place of worship. The basilica is about as unique a place of worship as you're likely to see anywhere in the world and we were captivated by it.

#7 French Quarter, New Orleans
We went to New Orleans during another of my school winter breaks and found it charming and interesting. Art tried their jambalaya and oyster on a half shell. I had the best catfish I'd ever eaten.

We visited the Destrehan Plantation and saw how people in the 1700's lived. Yes, there was definitely slavery. However, everyone was so nice to us at the plantation that I commented to one of the workers who happened to be African American how surprising it was to find such courtesy. He told me that was because I was in a tourist area and that it would be different once I left the grounds. I wonder.

And yes, we definitely tried their beignets which were just like the Portuguese malasadas in Hawaii.

#8 Anne Frank House, Amsterdam, Netherlands
We went to Amsterdam in 2007 because Art wanted to try the riverboat biking tour. I had not been on a bike in 30 years, and I must tell you it was a challenge. We spent a few extra days before and after the tour in Amsterdam and visited a number of interesting places. We had to wait in a long, long line to see the Anne Frank House. It was strange to walk through the areas that Anne once walked, wrote and dreamed of a better day.

#9 Skydeck- Willis Tower, Chicago
It's rather hilarious to know that though we lived in Chicago and have been to the 103rd floor of the Willis Tower (which we still call the Sears Tower) we haven't been on the Ledge. The ledges are glass boxes that jut out of the building that you can step into and hope you don't suffer from acrophobia.

#10  Piazza San Marco, Venice
We were in Venice in 2014 and saw a bit of the flooding that was already going on. It's hard to imagine what it must be like to have flood waters rising to your hip. Wow!

OK... It was interesting to hear what Trip Advisor thinks, but I think there are other places that are just as interesting.

What places would you vote for?

Our 47th Wedding Anniversary

I remember being married for 5 years and thinking that Art's sister having been married 10 years was such a long time.

It's rather amazing for me to think that we're nearing our 50th wedding anniversary. Where have the years gone?

We got married in January, 1973, less than a year and a half after we met. This top photo was taken the morning of our wedding.

Art was always pretty confident about us. In fact, he proposed on January 1st which was about 4 months after we met.

When I called to tell mom the following day that I would be getting married she asked, "What? To who?"

She was ecstatic and said she was hoping I would end up with him, but didn't want to put any pressure on me for fear I'd do the opposite.

As the years passed I realize how very lucky I've been. Whenever there was a problem, he was the one who strategized a solution. When I was afraid, he was the one to encourage me to face my fears.

And when mom asked us to come home to Hawaii to be with her after my father passed away, Art was the one who took the steps to make it all possible.

After all these years, you can see why mom was so happy about Art and I getting married because he's certainly come through for her in her later years.

We celebrated our wedding anniversary with mom at a Korean restaurant and marveled at all that has happened in our decades together.

Art says he's coming up with plans for what we'll do on our 50th.

An adventure he says...

Hoo boy!

Biscoff and Speculoos are the Same Cookie?????

My son-in-law really likes the Lotus Biscoff cookies they give out on air flights. Therefore, I would always take it and save it in my backpack to give it to him in Illinois.

Well, on a recent flight, I got so hungry that I ate it even though it wasn't chocolate.

Sorry Eddie... Anyway, I rather liked it. Maybe it's because I was hungry.

Anyway, this Christmas our neighbor gave us Trader Joes' Speculoos cookies and I discovered that they tasted about the same.

Hmmmm....

I decided to look this up online and found this on Wikipedia:

"In Europe, Lotus Speculoos is the most recognized brand. In the United States and United Kingdom, the same company is branded as Lotus Biscoff. Several chains of supermarkets have started their own product under their generic name. Speculaas is often produced under local bakeries' brand names as well."

No kidding?

I wonder if my son-in-law knows this. He probably didn't want to tell me thinking it might hurt my feelings since I've been so diligently collecting the Biscoff for him thinking they were something special.

Ah well... I think I'm going to have some for dessert tomorrow.

Fixing the Fan

The ceiling fan in our bedroom has not been working properly for a long time. Art hasn't worried about it because we usually have a lot of wonderful cross ventilation which keeps the room cool at night.

The ceiling fan used to have 3 speeds (slow, medium, hurricane force). It was now only giving us a hurricane speed if we turned it on.

I told Art we needed to replace the fan. Period. We've had one of the hottest summers on record in Hawaii and I wanted/needed that fan. Yes, there's an air conditioner also, but Art doesn't like having the air conditioner on. I'm sure I've mentioned before that we're opposites in so many ways.

Well, once I made that decision and started looking at fans, Art started looking on YouTube again.

He determined that there was a possibility the receiver thingamabob was not responding to the remote.

He checked this out by changing the code on the other identical fan in the guest room and using our remote to turn that fan on. It worked.

Soooo.... he found the part he needed for about $25 and ordered it online, keeping his fingers crossed that he was guessing correctly.

We reinstalled the fan, and voila! It worked.

He also changed the lightbulb to an LED so we have a brighter light now.

He does amaze me at times.

But now it's winter in Hawaii and pleasantly cool. I don't need the fan anymore, but I'll be ready for next summer.

Note to Art: I really feel we need a new refrigerator.

Uniforms

We were watching Magnum P.I. when I commented that it was interesting Thomas Magnum and Steve McGarrett of Hawaii 5-0 are supposed to have been in the Navy. Their uniforms looked familiar to me.

Art was in the Air Force, but he says he always thought the white uniform of the Navy was nicer.

Well...

Here's an old 1967 photo of Art in dress blues when he was stationed at Vandenberg Air Force base.

And here he is in Boston in 1969 in casual khakis?

In 1987 we were married and living in Illinois where he was working for the Public Health Service. The Public Health Service (like N.O.A. and the Coast Guard) is a commissioned corps that is not part of the Defense Department.

The Public Health Service uses the same uniform as the Navy. They also have dress blues which I think I liked better. I wish I had a photo of him in the blues.

The problem with this Navy/Public Health Service uniform is that it's hard to keep clean. It wasn't fun keeping it ironed either.

Still, he did look quite nice in it.

When he retired, he was able to donate all his uniforms back to the military.

Nowadays, it's all t-shirt and shorts.

POSTSCRIPT:

And while I'm on the topic of uniforms, WHY does the Honolulu police personnel wear dark blue uniforms? I feel so sorry for them when they're out there directing traffic or whatever. Wouldn't light colored clothing like what the police wear in Chicago be so much more comfortable?

Robocalls Aggravation!

A few nights ago, we were startled by a jarring ringing from our landline at about 5:00. It turned out to be a robocall claiming it was originating from the Social Security Office. That was really aggravating and made it hard to get back to sleep.

The following morning we got an even earlier phone call at 4:15 which Art picked up and just hung up again.

My brother who lives in Honolulu says his aggravating robocalls claimed there was a problem with his credit rating and he needed to press #1 to clear it. He said it shook him up because he thought we were calling him about our mom.

I told him we were taking our phone off the hook at night. He said he needed to keep his landline operating in case we had to call him about an emergency with mom. I told him I would just call his cellphone. He said his cell phone was on the "Do Not Disturb" mode at night. Hmmm... So was mine! I decided to look online for a way to solve this problem.

I got this from the New York Times website about when you want to be disturbed written by J.D. Biersdorfer.

She gives the following directions on how to do this with an Apple cellphone.

"The Do Not Disturb feature, found in slightly different variations on Android and iOS devices, mutes calls, notifications and alerts so you can have some peace — but you can adjust the settings to let calls from certain people through the temporary wall of silence. You just need to make sure the people you want to hear from at any hour are on your list of favorite contacts."

"On an iOS device, go to the home screen, open the Settings app and select Do Not Disturb. On the Do Not Disturb screen, scroll down to the Phone area, tap Allow Calls From and select Favorites. If you haven’t designated any favored contacts, open the person’s entry in the Contacts app and tap Add to Favorites. Back on the Do Not Disturb settings screen, you can also tap on the Repeated Calls button to allow a second call from the same person within three minutes.

In later versions of the iOS software, you can let specified numbers through when Do Not Disturb is enabled, even if those contacts are not on your Favorites list. Just open the contact card, tap the Edit button in the upper-right corner, select Ringtone and turn on the button next to Emergency Bypass. Tap Done."

 This is what you do with an Android phone:

"The Android settings vary by version and device, but you can usually get to the Do Not Disturb controls by swiping down from the top of the screen to the Quick Settings box. Tap the Do Not Disturb icon, and then tap More Settings. Select the Priority Only Allows option, and on the next screen tap Calls.

Here, you can choose to allow calls from the people you have “starred” in the Contacts app, like family and close friends. (To add a star to a contact, just open the person’s card in the Contacts app and tap the star icon on the top-right side of the screen.) The Priority settings screen also gives you the option to allow a call to go through if the same person calls twice within 15 minutes."

OK... Now I'm all set. My cell phone will remain silent at night unless a "Favorite" is calling and I can take my landline off the hook.

I tried to call Hawaiiantel (phone company) last night, but there was a 1 hour 40 minute wait. Sheesh!

Here's hoping I get enough sleep tonight.

Snowball Memory

Our time in Maryland seemed far shorter than we would have liked. Saying goodbye when it's time to leave is always so very difficult.

In the past, we would get up at 3:30 AM to give us enough time to drive to Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport for our flight back to Hawaii.

This time, we decided to make a short stop in Illinois and see our daughter and her family for a couple of days before continuing on to Hawaii.

This worked out nicely since we could then leave Baltimore a couple of hours later and also celebrate my son-in-law's birthday in Illinois. I told my daughter that we would bring a Wegmans Ultimate Chocolate Cake for him as a surprise.

It was still dark when we left our son's Maryland home. Keola gave us a hug as we left, but then followed us out into the cold without his jacket for a last goodbye.

It was snowing.

Art used the brush provided by the rental car company to quickly clean the car.

As a playful farewell gesture, Keola lobbed a couple of snowballs at us just before we left.

It took us about a half hour to get to Wegmans.

We found just the right decadent birthday cake for our son-in-law at Wegmans. It's a huge supermarket which we really love. I wish they'd come to Hawaii.

And then surprise!

Art was reaching into his pocket for something and found this. A snowball!!!

It must have slid into his pocket when Keola had thrown it at him.

It was so funny, we took this photo and sent it to everybody.

We don't like to travel in winter, but we sure wouldn't get a shot like this in summer.

Minding Mungo

I've never been a dog person. The last dog we owned was when I was about 4 years old.

Here I am on the tricycle with mom, my brother and our dog, Jimmy. I like dogs, but just not as comfortable with them. Art on the other hand owned three dogs and has always loved them.

After reading The Art of Racing in the Rain about a philosophical dog who loves his master and is sure that he will be reincarnated as a human, I was determined to spend more time talking with my granddog, Mungo.

About 10 years ago, my son, Keola named their new rescued dog Mungo after the Scottish explorer, Mungo Park. Our son and his wife, Sarah were Peace Corps Volunteers in Mali, West Africa.

This is from Wikipedia:

Mungo Park (11 September 1771 – 1806) was a Scottish explorer of West Africa. After an exploration of the upper Niger River around 1796, he wrote a popular and influential travel book titled Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa in which he theorized the Niger and Congo merged to become the same river. He was killed during a second expedition, having successfully traveled about two-thirds of the way down the Niger.

Keola and Sarah adopted Mungo when they were living in New Mexico. These photos were taken when Mungo was about two years old. Mungo had apparently been mistreated by a man, possibly wearing a hat and glasses. We knew this because Mungo would always growl threateningly at any man, particularly a man wearing glasses and a hat. Art could not enter a room without Mungo barking and growling at him. Mungo accepted Keola but loves Sarah with all his heart.

When our grandson, JD was born, Mungo adopted him as part of the family.

I tended to ignore Mungo, but he seemed to feel safe with me, while Art had to bribe him with doggy treats to allow him entry. Mungo would brush against me for attention or look to me to let him out to use the bathroom. If Sarah was not at home, Mungo would grudgingly allow Art to take him out for a walk.

However, after all these years, finally... finally when we arrived in Maryland, Mungo let Art into the house without a treat and without a single growl. He let Art take him out for walks and seemed happy to be with him.

I spent a lot more time sitting and talking to him. I stroked his head and looked into his quizzical eyes. I realized that he was getting quite old and I wondered if he understood that we were also aging like him.

It was soon time for us to leave. We packed our things and got ourselves ready to depart the following morning.

Late that evening, when I went to use the bathroom, I was met by a surprising sight. Mungo always slept between Keola and Sarah's bedroom and the grandsons' bedroom.

But on this, our last night, there was Mungo outside our bedroom. (It was dark, but I lightened the photo so he is visible.)

He looked up at me and I told him goodbye.

Well... maybe I'm still not a real dog person, but I am a Mungo person.

Preventing a Frozen Shoulder!

Whenever we visit our son and his family in Maryland, we like to help out by doing some sort of home maintenance.

This time, we saw that our son had been busy trying to get some walls smoothed and painted.

We thought we could help out by doing some scraping, plastering and sanding.

Art scraped old paint and I did plastering, scraping and sanding in their guest bathroom and dining room.

Unfortunately, the next day my right shoulder started to hurt badly when I tried to raise it. By the second day, I was truly alarmed. It felt like that shoulder was starting to freeze again.

That same shoulder was diagnosed with adhesive capsulitis or frozen shoulder about 15 years ago when I tried to lift weights that were too heavy for me. (It took about 9 months of painful therapy to unfreeze it.) I remember when it started hurting and calling the Nurse Helpline. The nurse told me to immobilize the arm to rest it for a couple of days.

Apparently it was the wrong thing to do.

This time, I was determined not to make that same mistake. I took the maximum dose of Motrin with milk and food and then kept trying to raise my arm. When it didn't seem to improve quickly, I sent a message to my doctor at Tripler who said I could also take Tylenol since it was a different class of drug and see a doctor at Urgent Care.

I also tried to use the wall as a prop and push my arm up gradually. It did not feel good...at all.

Still, by the time I got to Illinois, it started to improve and I could move my arm almost all the way above my head without a wall for support.

Then I got overconfident in Hawaii and went to Zumba. I overdid my arm movements. Arrghh! So now it's achy, but I'm being careful again.

Sigh.... I know. I know. It's all part of aging.

But so annoying.

Saying Goodbye to Our Camry

Back in 1996, our daughter drove our Camry to university and was frighteningly involved in an accident. Because she survived with just a bump on the head even though the car looked awful, we decided to get another Camry.

We went to the showroom, looked at some paint swatches and decided on a silver car.

After a short while, Art called me from the Toyota dealer. He said he had good and bad news. "The good news," he said, "is that our car is here early."

There was a pause.

"The bad news," he continued, "is that it's purple."

"Purple? Purple?" I was incredulous.

Art then related how he told the salesperson he didn't order a purple car. They went back to the order and looked at the paint swatch. Yes, it looked silver in the swatch, but the car itself was purple.

So that's how we got that car color. Since I was the one who drove it to school, Art was resigned to it. The other teachers laughingly called it my Easter egg car.

I was OK with it. I like purple.

When it was time for us to move to Hawaii, we decided to give the Camry to our son. He was very happy to get the car but really unhappy about the color. He was a firefighter at the time and all his buddies seemed to be driving manly black trucks. For a while he said he would park his car a distance from the fire station.

And yet, that Camry was extremely reliable despite the workout our son and then our daughter-in-law gave it. OK... yes, the moonroof did start to leak and the air conditioning was iffy.

Therefore, after 23 years, and someone forgetting to put oil in the car, the purple Camry gave up its last breath.

We saw it on this last trip and said goodbye to my Easter egg car.

I don't know if they'll donate the car or take it to a junkyard, but it does have a lot of memories packed into its trunk.

Dollar Day at Inner Harbor

It just happened to be Dollar Day weekend at Baltimore's Inner Harbor while we were visiting our son and his family in December. On December 7th and 8th many of the attractions cost only $1 to enter.

There were lots of things to see in the area.

It was a somber moment when we passed the memorial to the people of Maryland who perished on 9-11.

The line to the aquarium wound around the block so we decided not to attempt that. We decided instead to explore the U.S.S. Constellation.

Our grandsons had a great time running about the ship.

I got this information from Wikipedia:

USS Constellation is a sloop-of-war, the last sail-only warship designed and built by the United States Navy. She was built in 1854, using a small amount of material salvaged from the frigate USS Constellation,which had been disassembled the year before. Despite being a single-gundeck "sloop," she is actually larger than her namesake frigate, and more powerfully armed with fewer but much more potent shell-firing guns.

Two year old RK didn't really understand what canons were. He just liked looking out through the openings.

The Captain's quarters were quite a bit more comfortable than the crew's.

Art tried out one of the hammocks which is what the rest of the crew slept in.

After leaving the ship we passed by a Christmas Village where RK and JD LOVED dancing to the music of this fiddler. RK displayed a truly remarkable sense of rhythm. Then again, maybe I'm biased.

All in all, it was truly a marvelous day.

We were marveling at the fact that we happened to be in Baltimore on one of the only two days in the year when all the attractions are $1!

How awesome is that?

Fixing a Leak

Our son is a new home owner and has jumped into home repairs despite his heavy work schedule and two young boys to whom they are careful to give lots of attention and unstinting affection.

However a couple of months ago their bathroom shower faucet developed a leak. My son tried to figure out how to fix it, but decided that since we were coming, he could rely on Art to fix it.

So what did Art do? Yup. YouTube. He took the handles apart as directed.

Once he knew what part he needed (sort of) we drove to the closest Lowes but the expert helper there couldn't be sure what was the appropriate part without knowing what the brand was... which we didn't know. These photos were taken from YouTube since Art didn't realize I might write about this on my blog.

The following day, Art and our son took the part itself to Fergusons which is a plumbing store. The salesperson there looked up the part and was able to tell them it was a Delta brand. 

It was this teeny spring and washer that was apparently the source of the leak. Art replaced the springs and washers of both the cold and hot water handles (making sure they were going in the same way they came out) and... Voila! The steady leak stopped.

The following day, I overheard our 4 year old grandson, JD telling his mother. "You know what, mama? Grandpa is really, really smart."