We're Baaackkk....

I wrote this following post just before we left for our Viking Scandinavian Cruise. I scheduled posts to go up while we were gone because we don't like people knowing we're not at home. 

We returned a few days ago and I am thoroughly jet lagged having passed through 12 time zones. I'm told it will take 12 days to recover. Therefore, I won't be posting about the trip until after that. Meanwhile, I have posts I wrote just before we left still scheduled for the interim.

So here we were a few days away from going on our cruise. I was extremely nervous. I'm NOT a good traveler. I worry. I worry even on trips that are planned carefully without COVID lurking in the airplane cabin or onboard ships. I worry even when there are no disruptions like Russia invading Ukraine. 

We were traveling with two other couples. We'd been looking forward to doing this together for three years before COVID hit. 

Because of COVID and Russia's terrible invasion of Ukraine, our stop in St. Petersburg had been cancelled. Changes to our cruise schedule seemed to be a daily thing. The United flight from Hawaii to San Francisco was changed to a smaller plane and United willy nilly moved people to different flights without telling Viking, our travel agent or us. And this effectively had us missing all our connecting flights. Changes were made to seats that were less than ideal. I did complain to United and got a letter back basically saying, "Oops! Sorry. We'll do better next time." 

And so it went from changing flights to excursions being removed and others put in and a constant refund/new payment schedule with us required to just trust whatever they were doing. It was NOT reassuring.

But now here we were just a few days away from this ocean cruise of the Scandinavian countries and our tour friend sent a text saying, "They're sending us to Venice?" 

Uuuuummmm..... 🙄 Seriously?

I know it's just a mistake. You can't do an ocean voyage from Norway to Venice.

So am I worried?

Sighhhhh.....

Almost Scammed!

I recently got an email from a close teacher friend in Illinois that surprised me. 

The weird thing was that it had her picture (probably from my address book) indicating it must have come from her. And the first part of her email address seemed to be correct. I didn't see that there was # 1 added to the "Jane". Also, instead of @gmail.com, it was @hotmail.com which I didn't even notice until much later.

What I puzzled over was why she would ask me to buy her a Google play gift card. I don't even know what that is. Also she says she's out of town. OK.... well, I'm in Hawaii. So how out of town is she? She didn't say she was out of country.

I finally just asked the teacher chat group that she and I belonged to if they knew anything about this. Another teacher said they'd gotten the same email and Jane told her it was a scam. 

(I’ve received a number of emails from a cousin who passed away several years ago. Now that felt really weird.) 

What I'm wondering is.... if I was still in Illinois and if I knew what a Google play gift card is, would I have been fooled? 

Nah……... I think.

POSTSCRIPT: 

Yikes, I just looked in my Spam box and found this:

Jane did change her email password and did a bunch of fixes so I hope that was after this was sent to friends. I heard on the news that unfortunately seniors were being targeted right now for this kind of scam.

Trying to Remember

Quite a long while ago, someone sent this picture to me and I tried to remember WHAT our old phone number used to be when I was growing up.

I showed it to Art and he said that's why he used to choose his old phone number for some of his passwords.

I can never remember any of my passwords, especially because I've changed several of them. I tried to remember my childhood phone # and couldn't remember that either!!! Arrghhh!!! 😖 I could remember two of my high school friends' numbers though.

So I decided to ask my baby brother and he texted right away saying, "67- 8739." 

"Wait," I said. "Wasn't it 677?" I thought I had him there. 

He answered, "No. They added the extra 7 in the 60's." 

Like I said... my memory is very, very faulty. It's becoming more and more difficult to write these posts because the right word just won't come to me (I think they call it word retrieval.).... 

......until the next day (maybe).

Farewell Journey

We got sudden news in March from our son, Keola that they would be moving in July to Sri Lanka for a few years due to my daughter-in-law's job. Yes, it's true he'd mentioned before that something like this could happen, but I didn't really think it would. Not really.

I was upset because we hadn't seen them in person in two years due to COVID. We used to go to Maryland for our grandsons' birthdays every year. Sigh...

We couldn't go to see them in April because we had so many doctors' appointments lined up. We couldn't see them in May because we'd be preparing and leaving for our European Cruise. We couldn't afford to get sick.

We couldn't go in June because of our long awaited visit from our daughter and her family. 

Sigh...

They had a farewell driving trip all the way to the Midwest in April to visit with my daughter-in-law's family in Michigan and then to Chicago to visit with Tiffany, Ed and our granddaughter, KC.

They posted many, many photos so we could journey with them vicariously. One place they stopped at was the 9/11 Memorial to Flight #93 in Pennsylvania.

"A common field one day. A field of honor forever."

I could feel the sadness of the memorial as I saw the photos of my grandsons walking to the overlook where the plane went down. They walked along the walls where the names of the people who perished on that terrible flight were etched.

I was surprised to see these photos from Cleveland.

That giant stamp said FREE on the other side.

They also visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Looks like the boys loved making music on the drums.

They finally arrived in Chicago and I loved seeing these familiar places. They got to eat Chicago style pizza at Gino's East. They played at Millennium Park and ate gyros at Hubs. They even watched pitas being made through a window and was given one to try by a worker.

Best of all, they got to see their cousin, KC, Auntie Tif and Uncle Eddie. Tif had planned an elaborate Easter egg hunt in the house and yard. Tif is a brilliant, amazing planner. Each treasure trove of eggs contained one egg that was numbered with a clue inside leading you to the next hiding place. Did the boys love it? Absolutely. And we loved hearing about every minute of it.

We're very sad that we're not able to see them in person for now... but would you believe Keola has already sent Art a travel book on Sri Lanka shoooould we wish to visit? 

Another Colonoscopy

Before our doctor retired in December, she ordered a bunch of procedures she wanted Art and me to have done. Sigh… We really loved her and was really sad to see her go. I think she was just burnt out with COVID and with the military lacking funding for medical care.

Anyway, she ordered colonoscopies for Art and me. Oh crap! Not another colonoscopy?!? I told her I had one three years ago. However, she felt that Asians tend to get more colon cancer and since my grandfather died of colon/rectal cancer I should get it done. Arrrghhh… I told her the doctor who did my colonoscopy 3 years ago didn’t think I needed another one for 10 years. Woo Hoo!

She did not agree.

Ah well… So we got signed up for the colonoscopy. Art handled the Dulcolax pills and MiraLAX just fine. His procedure was on a Thursday and mine was on Friday. He was even praised for having a super clean colon. He rather loved that they were so amazed. Art was also feeling totally fine after it was done and ready for a big lunch.

Then came my turn the next day. The MiraLAX did something awful to me. I didn’t have as much trouble with the gallon of Colyte but the MiraLAX had me losing control of my bowels. Arrrghhhh… I was not a happy camper.

On the day of my procedure, I was pretty darn cleaned out too. Everybody at the Pacific Endoscopy Center were wonderful. The nurses and technicians were all very friendly and accommodating to make the procedure as (pleasant?) as possible. They made sure I had two warm blankets and that the incline of my gurney was OK.  I met my gastroenterologist, Dr. Wong and liked him a lot. 

I griped about how I didn’t think I needed this. He agreed that a “2nd degree” connection for colon cancer was no longer considered a risk factor. Ahh well, I told him before I was knocked out, “I’m glad you can put it in the notes that I don’t need this anymore.”

When I woke up the technician explained that a polyp was found and removed. It would be sent to the lab for testing. There was also a spot of diverticulum. 

But…. But…. But… 

“We’ll have to see what the test results are to see when you’d have to come back again,” he said.

Sigh….

POSTSCRIPT: Yay! The tests on the polyp were negative, but I noticed the doctor forgot to write that I don't need to have this again for 10 years. Sigh...

The Life of My Lucky Bamboo Plant

We went on a trip to China in May, 2013. There were only about 15 people in our tour because so many people had cancelled due to bird flu. I asked our son what he thought since he's an epidemiologist and he told us that China is such a big country that we should be safe. He did say to stay away from birds. (Ummm... would you believe we actually were briefly in the Wuhan area. 🙄

However, we had a great time and really bonded with the other members in our tour. We hosted the first After-Tour party at our house. One tour friend gave us this beautiful bamboo plant. I actually wrote about it a couple of years ago as that once lush plant began to slowly die away.

I look at the plant whenever I do the dishes. It's no longer really pretty, but I'm just determined to keep it alive.

A few months ago, I was left with this. The stalk on the right was yellowing and eventually turned completely yellow. I was figuring that shoot on the left was attached to the still green and perhaps healthy stalk on the left. Soooo.... I yanked out the yellow one.

"Dracena sanderiana or Lucky Bamboo is one of the most popular house plants in the world because of its fortuitous symbolism. It is used as a luck symbol in Asia due to its rapid growth and easy propagation. The tall columnar growth habit of D. sanderiana is often mistaken for bamboo but is, in fact, more closely related to garden asparagus."  ...The Botanical Journey

Dang! Would you believe it was attached to the yellow, rather dead looking stalk. However, there seemed to be a teeny tiny root attached to those leaves so I just stuck it back in with the green stalk.

I keep looking at the bamboo leaves and wonder how much longer I can keep it alive.

Sigh...

Here's hoping our luck holds as we venture out into the world again.

Being the Oldest Sister

Mom is the eldest of five siblings. There used to be 7 but a brother died of leukemia at two years of age and a sister died a few months after her birth. A much younger brother and a sister still live in Japan. Two of her sisters were here in Hawaii with her. 

Auntie Grace was about a year and a half younger than mom and seemed to be the strongest of the bunch. Mom was devastated when she passed away in February of 2015. In fact, she told us that Auntie Grace talks to her sometimes in her dreams.

And now Auntie Dorothy is not doing well. She is about three years younger than mom and was also in the best of health until she suffered a stroke a few years ago. She is now bedridden and cared for by my devoted cousins, caregivers and my 102 year old uncle.

It's difficult to see what could await all of us as we age. 

Mom keeps telling us that she can't understand why she is the eldest and still walking around and quite healthy.

On our recent visit to their house, mom spent about an hour talking nonstop in a one way conversation to Auntie Dorothy. We knew auntie could understand by the movement of her eyes even though she couldn't respond.

Mom then spent quite a bit of time massaging her sister's legs to help circulation. My cousins were rather amazed as I was.

Meanwhile Art played Connect 4 with uncle. Would you believe he beat Art 4 out of 5 games? Uncle does have a special place in his heart for Art.

Art and I are concerned about mom's short term memory. It seems to suddenly be getting worse and it's scary.

And yet, we are grateful because she's healthy and able to handle her own personal needs.

I guess life is like a hand of cards. You just don't know what you'll be dealt.

"Mama" or "Auntie"

I had to go to Tripler Hospital for a fasting blood draw to test my glucose levels. We then went for breakfast at the Koa Pancake House. 

Art had me go first to place my order. When I got to the counter, the very friendly middle aged lady asked, "What would you like Mama?" 

Mama? I look old enough to be her "Mama"? What happened to "Auntie?" Auntie sounds younger, right? Well, I'm glad she didn't call me "Grandma." 

Actually, calling patrons Auntie is just the friendly island way of speaking. I've never heard anyone here call me "Sweetie" like they used to on the mainland.

I ordered my Breakfast Plate which came with 2 eggs (I like it easy over or is it over easy?), bacon, 3 pancakes and coffee. It's what I always order because I otherwise NEVER get to eat bacon. I eat one of the pancakes and Art always eats the other two.

Then Art went up and told her he just wanted a side order of 2 eggs and coffee. She burst out laughing. I couldn't figure out what was so funny until later. 🙄

OK, OK, I get it. 

Art did eat two of my three pancakes. Honest! (I had to get the photo above online because it didn't occur to me to take a photo of my food.) I ate only one pancake. Granted, Art ate only one of my bacon strips. 😁

Ah well... I want you to know my A1c was much improved (before the breakfast). Phew! Hmmm... But then... I did have that pancake with syrup, didn't I?

Packing OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)

My kids think it's hilarious that I start planning what I'm going to pack a month before an overseas trip. They feel that if we're not going to a third world country, I can always buy what I need there. Point taken.

Still... I do obsess over everything that I should bring. I can't help myself.

#1 is a notebook to carry with me whenever we're out and about because let's face it, my memory is NOT good these days.

#2 is my journal into which I write more detailed information at night about what occurred during the day. I use those notes to create photobooks later. Mom looks daily at the photobooks of trips she took with us. We had her write her memories in Japanese so she could read and remember the details for herself. It gives her so much pleasure and as my memories fade, I think it will be the same for me.

Then comes the medication. All the medication I had three years ago for our last trip are now expired which required us to get more. I then packed them separately to save space with the appropriate dosage on each small package. I forgot to do this when we traveled to Turkey a long time ago and it was a good thing we had a pharmacist on our tour group who could advise us as I dispensed meds to some people who didn't bring any.

I have a travel list I use for all my trips that get updated often. I also put my clothing in plastic bags because our suitcases have been checked several times. They leave a little note in your suitcase if they've inspected it. I don't want to seem paranoid, but let's face it. I am. I just don't like the idea of people touching all my things. 

This is an old picture actually. I don't bring my big camera anymore. It's cumbersome and the iPhone photos are good enough.

Oh gosh... and now the clothes. How many blouses, should I bring? How many pants? Raincoat, down coat, fleece jacket? What will the temperatures be like in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Poland and Germany? Arrrghhh.... Will everybody be crowding around the laundry area on the ship?

Don't mind me... I'm just compulsively obsessing over packing. Arrrghhh!

The Aggravation of Lost Luggage

We are going on a trip later and I've already started obsessing about our luggage. I'm a bit of an agoraphobic, but Art has always loved going outside of his comfort zone. After high school, he opted to attend Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois and couldn't afford to return home to Hawaii for 4 years. After that, he was in the Air Force. 

I, on the other hand stayed on Oahu with only a couple of brief trips to Kauai when I was a child and teenager. I did go to Japan on a college trip with friends but stayed at my grandparents' Sendai temple for the three weeks that we were supposed to be on our own. My grandparents, aunt, uncles in Japan and mom did not want me wandering around Japan on my own or even with friends.

If I hadn't married Art, I probably would have stayed on Oahu. However, we did get married and I've tagged along on his adventures. Our children have definitely taken after him.

All this is leading to why I obsess over everything whenever Art decides to take us somewhere.

One thing I worry about is losing our luggage with all our important, comforting belongings. I worry with good reason. They've lost our luggage several times.

It started with our first trip overseas with our children.

We went to England and Wales in 1990. The plan was to collect our luggage at Heathrow and drive toward Oxford and then Woodstock to see Blenheim Palace.

Unfortunately, the airlines lost the kids' luggage for a few days. They couldn't deliver it to us because we would be moving throughout the country immediately after landing. 

Therefore they had to wear our clothes. They were not happy. Nope. Not happy at all.

It was a relief to them when we headed back to explore London and they could do so in their own clothes which had been delivered to our hotel.

In 2007 Art decided to sign up for a bike tour through the Netherlands.

We went several days before meeting up with the canal boat.

But yes, the airlines lost our luggage... again. We don't know if it was American Airlines or Continental that misplaced them at our Newark connection.

They asked us to describe our luggage. It was not easy. You do realize there are tons of black luggage traveling around the world. 

After that, I decided colored luggage would be better.

In 2013 we flew to Las Vegas for a trip to visit various canyon national parks with mom. Hawaiian Airlines asked us at the gate to check in our carryon which held all our chargers, wires, batteries, nightwear, and most of Art's clothing.

We figured they couldn't possibly lose that carryon since they were checking it in at the gate and there are NO STOPS between Hawaii and Las Vegas.

Nope, they lost that very IMPORTANT carryon, too. We got our checked-in suitcases, but we had to spend a day looking for appropriate chargers, wires and clothing for Art. We did not get that carryon back until the end of the trip. 

Hawaiian Airlines did reimburse us for all the things we had to replace for our trip.

And finally there was 2014. We had stopped in Illinois to visit our daughter after leaving our Mediterranean tour and they somehow lost my luggage again.

I'd even painted a giant K on it. 

#1 Hopefully making it undesirable for thieves and...

#2 Making it easier to describe at the Luggage Lost and Found.

They shocked us all by waking us up at 11:45 PM to deliver the suitcase.

So now... here we are getting ready for another trip after nearly 3 pandemic years. 

One thing Art and I have learned to do is to split some of our clothing between the two suitcases. We also try to carry our chargers and other important electronics with us in our backpacks. 

My fingers are crossed for our next trip. Have the airlines ever lost your luggage?

We Got Boosted... Again!

OK. We did it. We got our 2nd booster shots a few weeks ago.

We took Mom to Kaiser and she got her 4th Pfizer shot. She was totally fine with no aftereffects. Mom said the nurse was really wonderful and it didn't hurt at all. The Kaiser staff were super friendly and efficient.

After taking mom home we went to Longs (CVS) and got Moderna boosters. Our first two COVID-19 vaccinations were Pfizer. We wanted to mix it up for the 1st booster and opted for Moderna. Art did not get any reaction, but I was quite tired for a day or two.

Since we're going to be on a trip later, we were very grateful that the CDC approved the 2nd booster for us.

It's interesting that the Moderna booster was readily available at several Longs stores. The Pfizer would require us to travel so we opted to stick with the Moderna half dose.

It all went off nicely. I chose my right arm for the shot this time instead of my usual left. I swear I felt it more. It wasn't very painful and it was quick. However, I think I'll choose my left arm if we do this again in fall.

I've got my fingers and toes crossed that we'll see the back end of COVID this year.

POSTSCRIPT: 

We were exhausted the following day and I had a low grade fever. Art took a nap in the afternoon and felt better. It took me another day to feel normal.

Norwegian Penpals

My three friends, Diane, Mavis and I once wrote to three penpals in Norway when we were young teenagers. My penpal was Kirsten. Diane had Mona and Mavis had Eva. It was fun learning about their country and discovering that many of their teenage feelings were so similar to ours even though the customs may have been different.

I can't remember when the letters stopped or why. I wish I still had some of them, BUT during one of our many moves those letters were lost. My friends tell me they've lost their letters too.

Kirsten also sent me a little Viking doll almost 60 years ago that I cherished. But doggone it! During our move back to Hawaii some 14 years ago, we drastically downsized all our belongings and when I looked back at my Move to Hawaii photos, I saw that the Viking doll was sold during our garage sale.

However, last year... I was emptying my 60 year old piggy bank looking for some $1 American coins to send the grandchildren and found these photos that Kirsten had sent me of the three Norwegian penpals that my friends and I here in Hawaii were writing to.

And now Art and I will be traveling to the Scandinavian countries and be in Norway for a couple of days. I will, at last, see Kirsten, Eva and Mona's country.

I wonder what happened to them. Their names have probably changed by now. 

It's fun to remember the joy of connecting to someone who lived almost on the other side of the world. And it's amazing to think that we can now connect to people around the world through the wonders of Internet. 

And when you think about it, aren't our blogs or commenting on blogs a form of being penpals? I guess we're all cyber pals. 

Did you have a penpal when you were growing up?  

Mask Debris Everywhere

One of the unfortunate things we're seeing around town are masks being discarded here and there by people too lazy to find a waste basket. Seriously? This is so irritating. 

Here are some masks we've seen discarded around town. 

Unfortunately, the bad thing about dropping these used masks on the street is that it gets swept into the ocean. 

It's really irritating to see how lazy people can be. I'm considering bringing a bag and gloves next time and picking these up.

The one place that really had me shaking my head was this.

Seriously? 

Decorating a flowering bougainvillea with a dirty mask?

Sigh...