Spam Comments That Are Not Spam

I do periodically check my Blogger Spam box and often see legitimate blogger friends' comments placed there for inexplicable reasons. 

Spam is really annoying. If I do spot it in my regular feed, I try to quickly mark them as Spam. Several of the ones I'm hit with often are from: Aaliyah, Sport-KH, footballandcasinoufa, Emma, Emily, Escort Service in Gurgaon, ufa88cambodia, Rajani Rehana, okbet13, Achima, Mary,  Anna.... and so on and so forth. 

Recently, I decided to look way back in my spam file and saw a number of comments that went to the Spam box that were from regular blogger friends.

I'm finding that these comments had only 1 or 2 words.

So...

Then I'm wondering if Spammers had at one time confiscated identifies and thrown in these 1 word comments or did friends happen to actually write 1 word comments which were then thrown by Blogspot-bot into the Spam box.

Sheesh! 

I don't know.

Whatever the case, I really need to check my Spam box more often.

And just in case, I'll be sure to comment with at least 5 word sentences.

You never know...

Thoughts and Prayers?

 I saw this cartoon last month on the editorial page.

It's funny because right after that awful Maine mass shooting tragedy, I heard another politician say he was offering "thoughts and prayers" to everyone.

I wince every time I hear that phrase "thoughts and prayers." It's become so trite and for me almost uncaring. I know that's weird, but it's used so often that it feels meaningless.

I guess it's easier to offer thoughts and prayers instead of working on gun control. 

And then there's that Maine U.S. representative, Jared Golden (Democrat, no less) who now seeks "forgiveness" for his past opposition to gun control.

What?!?

You were opposing gun control despite all those other mass shootings going on around our country? BUT when it's in your own hometown, THEN you change your mind?

I don't know what else to say. I'm so %^&** off.

Pandemic Project Completed At Last

It all started out as a pandemic project. I decided to go through all our scanned family photos and make books detailing what happened each year. I've kept a journal since our children were born so I could fill in explanations for the photos.

I had been using Costco to print our books, but during the pandemic, Costco stopped printing books and turned all our accounts over to Shutterfly where books cost a LOT more. 

There was also a steep learning curve for me. Costco always listed their books as 8.5"x11". Shutterfly's books are listed as 8" x ll". However, when I made that 1/2" adjustment, my photo pages got cut off at the top and sides. Arrghh...

It turned out that although Shutterfly lists their books as 8"x11", it's actually the same as Costco. 

Arrrghhh...

When I got to Book 2, I discovered that Shutterfly was printing my photos much too dark. Luckily, they allowed me to redo my pages and they printed it again. 

When I got to Book 3, I learned that they also periodically offer deals which give you free pages. Since my books have 100 pages, it's really expensive. So Books 3 and 4 cost half as much as Books 1 and 2. Arrrghhh! 

So finally, finally.... I got done with Book 5 a couple of months ago and it was finally, finally perfect. 🙄

Sigh... I hope my kids and grandkids are happy.

POSTSCRIPT: 

And now it's the holidays. I know it's a time of happiness and all that... but gosh... right now... it's rather stressful thinking of all I have to do.

Do You Know Your State's Nickname?

Last month I wrote a post about all the evergreen trees at our daughter, Tiffany's home in Illinois. Margaret and DJan reminded me that their state of Washington is nicknamed the Evergreen State.

On that same day, Art and I were having lunch and testing ourselves with the Super Quiz in the Star Advertiser.

The Subject was Potpourri.

The question that really stumped us was #7.

Which state is  "The Land of Steady Habits"?

Really?

We thought and thought and really couldn't even come up with a guess.

When we looked at the answers, we discovered it was CONNECTICUT.

Seriously?

Connecticut?

When I looked it up at 50 States.com, I saw that Connecticut is actually called the Constitution State.

But when I looked under Connecticut's Nicknames, I discovered they had FOUR nicknames!!!

The Constitution State, The Nutmeg State, The Provisions State and yup...The Land of Steady Habits.

What? Couldn't they decide on just one?

I've lived in Illinois and now in Hawaii. We have only one nickname for each state.

The Aloha State and the Prairie State

Hmmmm...

Granted, I've also heard Illinois being called The Land of Lincoln.

So anyway...

Do you know your state's nickname or nicknames? 

And how about the Canadians? Do you have nicknames for your provinces or territories?

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! 

As for us, we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving next week due to scheduling difficulties with family members. But it doesn't matter. We'll enjoy the family celebration next week with just as much fun and joy at being together again. I hope my Canadian blogger buddies had a glorious time last month celebrating your Thanksgiving get-togethers also.

Another Banana Twin

Last year, I posted a photo of a twin banana we found in the hand of apple bananas that we'd bought. We like apple bananas better than Cavendish because they don't all ripen faster than you can eat them.

We thought this pair of twin bananas was pretty cool.

Well, believe it or not, we found another one. But this time the twin bananas did not have its own peel separating them. They were truly stuck together.

OK... so it's not a billion dollar lottery ticket, but we thought it was pretty neat.

Two Guys on a Safari

When Art mentioned going on a safari in Tanzania, I really wasn't interested. It's been a very busy traveling year. I'm willing to go on one distant travel a year. This year, we went to the British Isles in April. That was wonderful! But then, we had another trip in June to celebrate our 50th anniversary in Tokyo with the kids and grandkids. I thought that was a LOT of travel. I thought it was ENOUGH travel for one year.

But then Art had mentioned earlier that he and our good friend, Dave were planning to go on a Tanzanian safari in August too. It was a trip that had been postponed for 3 years  because of the pandemic. He wondered if I'd like to go along. Dave's wife, Diane is my classmate and childhood friend. She and I said, "No way." I was tired. Diane is not for long, long, long plane rides.

Keola joined the Peace Corps in 2001. He was assigned to Mali where he valued all the experiences he had there. In February, 2002, Art had retired and decided to visit Keola and explore some of Africa. I was still teaching at the time.

Father and son had a fabulous time climbing to the peak of Kilimanjaro, joining a safari in Tanzania and trekking through Kenya with rather rustic accommodations.

So now...here was an opportunity to visit the area again with some nice upgrades.

Diane and I were happy that Art and Dave would be able to have this adventure together.

They wanted to see the wildebeest migration crossing over rivers and grassy plains. They also wanted to see lions and warthogs and elephants, oh my! Dave is a professional photographer and looked forward to taking a lot of photos. (I will write about some of their adventures at a later date. Art is still trying to organize his photos and creating a photobook to document what they experienced.)

Hoooowever... at their first stop, they were given a room with one bed.

When they notified their safari leader, the beds were separated.

The following day, the same thing happened.

When it happened again on the 3rd day, they began to suspect that it was assumed they were a couple. 😂

Diane and I laughed about this when they texted us from Tanzania about their chagrin.

Well... I'm glad the guys had a great time. And I wondered if the safari folks would make the same assumption if two women were traveling together.

Uuumm... And do you know what Art just told me a couple of days ago? He said Antarctica was on his bucket list and wouldn't I like to go because Dave was interested. I don't think Diane likes the cold. Hmmm... I do have a down coat I can loan her. 😁

Goodbye Again

Our son-in-law, Ed returned from his job related travel for our last three days in Chicago. It was wonderful to be able to spend even this short time with him.

I always tell him he's my favorite techie. "Only your favorite techie?" he laughed.

I also tell him he's my favorite son-in-law. OK, it's true he's my only son-in-law. But the important thing is he's my favorite. 😄

I told him about the problems I was having receiving calls from Tripler Hospital that were going straight to voice mail. Arrghhh... I'd missed some important calls. 

He fixed it. I can't remember what he did but he somehow did it.

Then I told him that my Line app had stopped giving me notifications when someone texts me.

I'd looked online for solutions and even mirrored all the settings from Art's phone and still, my iPhone refused to give me any notifications.

Yup. He fixed that too. I don't know how. But he did. 

He and Tif then said we needed to learn how to use the Uber app so he set that up on my iPhone for our trip to the airport.

It really wasn't very hard once he explained it. I don't know when we'd use it again, but it sure is nice to have this option. Our Uber driver came right on time and off we went. 

It was sad to once again look out the car window and wave goodbye to our daughter and son-in-law. KC was already at school.

On the way to O'Hare, the Uber website gave a status report on my iphone telling me the time we'd arrive at the airport.

And yes, I did do the online check-in again. The bag drop shortcut was a lot more convenient than the one in Honolulu.

And before you knew it, we were on the United flight which incredibly left on time.

We got to watch Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny which was fun.

And wonder of wonders, we arrived in Hawaii on time too. 

Our luggage was one of the first to come out and my brother came to pick us up and bring us home.

This was the shortest trip we've ever taken to Chicago but just about the smoothest we've ever had.

Fingers crossed it will be the same when we return next year.

And so we're back and here I am again.

Fall Colors At Last

Living in Hawaii, we haven't been able to enjoy fall colors unless we travel to the mainland, Asia or Europe.

So here we were in Illinois in October, but the colors weren't quite at its peak. It was two days before we were to leave and we'd been getting mostly cloudy, drizzly weather.

But then suddenly... the sun came out. 

"Let's go to the woods," said Tif. "This is probably going to be your last chance to get a good day even though there might not be much color yet."

And so off we went. The reds weren't really on display yet, but it was still beautiful.

I loved the comfortably cool weather knowing that we would be returning to hot and humid in a couple of days.

We were warned by friends in Hawaii to expect it upon our return. 

And then suddenly we heard what sounded like thundering hooves. We looked to the left and saw the biggest deer with giant antlers that I've ever seen in the wild go thundering along the riverbank. That was quite a sight. 

It was a truly wonderful day even though Tif texted a week later that we missed the reds by just a week. 

Ahhh well... we'll be back. 

Too Good to Go?

The day after we arrived in Chicago, our daughter, Tiffany said she needed to go out to get her bag of unknown pastry goodies from the Great Harvest Bread Company. She explained that the bakery would give out assorted day-old bread or pastries for just $6.00 to prevent food waste.

I thought that was a really fun idea. Tif liked the mystery of never knowing for sure what you'd get and yes, you sure can't beat the price.

Off she went and returned with this assortment of interesting items.

We tasted the Monkey Bread which reminded us of their Apple Scrapple which we used to love when the kids were growing up.

I asked if they sold these bags every day and she said there was an app called Too Good to Go that would post when things would be available.

Well....

I wondered if Hawaii had a Great Harvest Bread Co. and WOW! We do have one in Kahala and one in Kailua.

However their menus are very different. There's no Monkey Bread or Apple Scrapple in Hawaii.

Ah well...

We'll wait until we're back in Chicago again.

Then again, I'll bet Art would like to try that kulolo muffin.

A Million Roses? Seriously?!?

I noticed this rather eye-catching floral display on my daughter's coffee table but it wasn't until much later that I asked how she'd gotten it. Tif told us that Ed had bought it last September to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary. 

Wow! 20 Years already!

 I remarked that they looked really real.

"They are," said Tif. "It's called a Million Roses."

I touched it and yes, it did feel real. But how is that possible?

I looked it up and yes, I guess it's true. It's... uuummm... pricey, but perhaps my son-in-law was able to find a discounted price. 

Whatever the case, I do love knowing how sweet, thoughtful and generous he is.

POSTSCRIPT:

I just looked up how long a Million Roses last. They say it will keep for up to 3 years. It’s not forever.

A Time of Pride and Happiness

Although our sudden trip to Chicago was for a very sad reason, it also just happened to coincide with a celebration. Our granddaughter, KC belongs to a dance studio. She is also part of a high school dance group and was asked to audition for a special fall show written, performed, choreographed by students with a teacher advisor. We'd never been to one of these performances.

They told me that all 7 shows were completely sold out. Tiffany put out a call to her friend who she knew had purchased several tickets and asked if they would be willing to sacrifice a couple of their tickets so we'd be able to see it in the week we'd be there.

It's been almost 4 years since we'd been back to Chicago. We hadn't seen any of KC's performances except on video links that Tif emailed us of websites that showed all the dance competitions.

I was therefore thrilled that we'd be able to see an actual performance in person. Art suggested that I make a candy lei for KC since we certainly couldn't bring a flower lei with us. (Yes, I added a little cash. I wonder which KC liked more.😂)

We had such a short time to pack for this trip that I had to make the candy-money lei in Chicago the day before the performance.

KC was worried that we might be shocked at the more revealing costumes they would be wearing as well as the topics the skits would be covering.

Puh..leease... 

We're much more broad minded than that.

Indeed, the costumes were a bit tighter and slightly more revealing than 4 years ago, but it was all OK for their older age group. 

There were skits about vaping, killer blackbirds?, a little sex, AI, human-like androids, etc.

I can't remember it all because I was focused on the 6 dance sequences that KC was in.

And was she absolutely awesome and the best dancer there? Definitely! And am I biased? Of course! I'm her grandma, for goodness sakes!

However, later... Tif asked me if I caught all the references to people like the Kardashians, etc. Really? Oops! Missed it! 

Still.... It was all wonderful and a ton of fun. KC is attending the same high school her uncle and mom attended so it was nostalgic for us to be back there again.

And yes, we were filled with pride and happiness.

Saying Goodbye

The day after flying in from Hawaii and arriving in Chicago, we went to visit Peggy's family. We were able to spend time with her husband and two sons. We talked about her last days and the gift she was to everybody in her life. We talked about the times our families spent together since the kids were very little.

One of her sons went into her bedroom and brought out a framed photo of all of us together when they came for Tiffany and Ed's wedding so many years ago.

Peggy's funeral a couple of days later was very small. It was mostly family and the few friends they notified.

There was a slideshow being played of her life, many I recognized as photos we'd taken. 

When we entered the funeral home, there were two women who were watching the slide show. When they turned around and saw us, they walked over quickly and identified themselves.

Oh my gosh! Ann was a neighbor from perhaps almost 40 years ago. She'd left our village and moved to Florida with a new husband. Diane reminded me that she was the mother of our son, Keola's best pre-school buddy. 

Uuuummm... Seeing as we were the only Asians there, I imagine we were easy to pick out. 

I asked Diane what her son was doing now since our son was living overseas with his family. She told me her son had passed away 6 years ago. 

I could not believe it.

So young.

This is a photo of the two of them from the first of their pre-school days together.

I felt her loss as Diane tried to hold back tears. I was in shock.

We then spent time with Peggy's husband and three sons. After more hugs and a sad farewell, we returned home.

It was a sad, nostalgic, loving time and I was glad Art had made the decision to fly to Illinois so I could say good-bye. 

Backing Up Your Blog

It's always been a worry that my blog will suddenly disappear into the cyber nether-regions. I've written 4,010 blog posts since 2008 and that's 15 years where I've recorded everything I could possibly remember. 

I even tried copying what I write here on Blogspot to Wordpress but that eventually got to be too much of a chore.

So I looked up how I could back up my blog.

You are supposed to go to Settings and under Manage Blog, click Back up content.

I did it and got this wave thing which I saved to my computer. I hope this is how you're supposed to do it. But the thing is, it's only 187 MB.

Will that really work? I sure hope so.