Kupuna Fun Walk

We mall walk with our friends, Dave and Diane occasionally and it's always fun to catch up on our lives. Recently, Diane mentioned that there was going to be a Kupuna Walk. Kupuna in Hawaiian means grandparent, ancestor or honored elder. There were going to be booths set up with information for senior citizens AND a scavenger hunt. 

Diane's brother was going to work there so of course, we needed to go.

Oh my gosh! I couldn't believe how crowded it was!

There must be a LOT of kupuna on the island and they were all there collecting information and little fun items or candy treats.

We got this Scavenger Hunt card which required us to go around the mall searching for answers.

OK, you know it was all to entice us to visit these shops.

But you know what? 

It was fun! 

One of the best things we experienced was Art and me getting to see one of his cousins who we hadn't seen in a long time. She was giving out information about Project Dana which is a group to support kupuna and caregivers. I'd already heard about this from a blog buddy, but how awesome to hear about it again from Art's cousin.

Granted, the prize for completing the card was just a bottle of water, a cooling towel and this strange folding cloth screen which we're not sure what to do with. 

But it doesn't matter. 😄 The real prize was the fun we had and the exercise we got!

Opting Out of Unwanted Charity Mail

We've been concerned about all the charity mail we've been getting over the years. We knew some organizations must be selling our name and address because we've never donated to them before. We know so many are doing good work and wasting their resources by sending mail that would go straight into the trash or recycling bin.

Our first idea was to write a blanket letter and send it in the prepaid return envelopes that they often include with their requests.

It didn't work. We were still getting countless charity envelopes everyday.

So then I wondered if I could look online and find a way to actually send a message to the organizations directly to take us off their mailing list. 

I was surprised that it WORKED! Many of them replied to me right away saying they would take us off their mailing list and thanked us for our past support (if we had) of their organization.

Those that have not responded in May are the charities that Art said he did not reach out to online but had returned their requests by mail.

If we get snail mail requests from them again, I will find their address online and send an email.

And look at our mailbox the other day!

It's been like this for several days now.

I'm relieved. I really hated to see all that postage and paper waste.

Yay! 😀

POSTSCRIPT 1:

Aside from charity, we get tons of brochures from travel companies, some we've never heard of.

We have traveled on Viking and they often send very fancy booklets, brochures, etc. We don't need them so I wrote them too. 

And this is the reply I got from them the following day.:

Dear Kay, 

Thank you for your recent online inquiry. 

We confirm that your request has been received and we have removed you from our marketing communications. 

As we pre-print our marketing materials, you may continue to receive additional brochures that were already in route. Please allow up to 6-8 weeks for the cycle to complete. 

If we can be of further assistance at this time, please contact our Customer Service Department at (888) 663-8454 to speak to any specialized service agent.

Wow!

Awesome!

POSTSCRIPT 2: 

Ah well... We just got three more charity mail yesterday. I'm sure our name is being sold or something. But I'm not giving up. I can be quite persistent. I'll just keep writing to opt out of unwanted mail. 😏 We can help save our environment one brochure at a time.

POSTSCRIPT 3: 

I just got this message from Earth Justice. He wrote a very nice letter.

"Thank you for reaching out and letting us know. It looks like we may have sent you an introductory piece of mail from a list shared with us by another organization, which means you are not on our regular mailing lists. I have added you to our suppression list so that even if another organization shares your information with us again, we will not send mail to you."

I've now modified the emails I'm sending to all organizations to include taking me off their mailing list, not  to share my name and address and to put my name on their SUPPRESSION LIST. I'm determined to help save our planet one unwanted piece of mail at a time. 😁

By the way, I just added 7 more charities and travel companies to the list.

Retiring With a Water Cannon

When we left for Chicago in July, we were part of a retirement ceremony for a United Airlines pilot who had been flying for 40 years. There were lovely little speeches by several people in the waiting area just before we boarded our flight.

It reminded me of the time when my cousin, Arnold retired from Hawaiian Airlines about 10 years ago. My aunt and his sister, Joan were alive then. Auntie Grace was mom's younger sister. Mom still thinks about her and has a hard time accepting that she's gone. I can't believe my cousin, Joan is also gone. She passed away about a month before her mom. It was a very sad time.

However, Arnold's retirement party was a very, very happy time to remember as we all celebrated this special day with all his friends, family and co-workers.

I'm pretty sure a water cannon was mentioned at the time, but I really didn't have a good idea what that must be like. 

Therefore, when we were told we'd be greeted with a water cannon at O'Hare Airport in Chicago, I was really curious and excited.

I got this photo online on reddit of another Hawaiian Airlines retirement.

When we touched down in Chicago, it was announced that the Chicago Fire Department would be doing the water cannon for our United Airlines pilot. I was sorry I didn't have a window seat but Art got this photo from across the aisle.

I'm glad cousin Arnold got to enjoy this fun retirement celebration from his seat in the cockpit so long ago.

Yay! I'm Done With Another Photobook!

Another thing that kept me busy and away from my blog was creating another photobook for Art, me, our kids and grandkids. It actually encompasses our son and his family's travels, our 2 trips to Illinois and our all coming together in July. 

There were 84 pages. But then I had to come up with a cover which I always, always have a hard time with. I finally thought this cover with oak leaves at the top might work since we had an oak tree in back of our portrait. 

I showed it to my brother and he reassured me that it was very nice. Hmmm... I texted him asking if he was just saying that so he wouldn't have to improve it. My brother is a really talented graphic artist. He said my sister-in-law asked him the same thing.

I reminded him that he's my favorite (OK, only) brother.

So a bit later, he sent this to me. 😁 Yup. Perfect! I like it.

Then I remembered a deal Shutterfly had sent in the mail a while back. I have 84 pages so this is perfect! And 40% off on top of that? Doesn't get any better than this, especially when I have to order 3 books since I have to send one to Illinois and one to South Asia.

It's Art's job to upload the pages I created so I reminded him to TAKE OFF the Costco discount. If you keep the Costco discount, you can't use the Shutterfly Discount. 

Isn't it amazing?

When Costco first turned over their photo account to Shutterfly, we made the mistake of not taking their discount off which prevented our being able to use the Shutterfly offers. We know better now.

POSTSCRIPT 1: We'd gotten the notice that the books were going to arrive on September 13th so I was happily waiting for it. It did not come and we got another notice that it would be delayed until the 17th.

POSTSCRIPT 2: And then it was the 19th and it still hadn't arrived. Apparently, the photobooks were handed over to UPS and then transferred to USPS and somehow they couldn't deliver it in over a week. Aggravation!

POSTSCRIPT 3: WHAT?!? Delayed again! Now USPS is saying it'll come on the 25th! Something fishy is going on here.

POSTSCRIPT 4: Art decided to write to them and got the message that it's been delayed long enough that they'll send another shipment. 😀 Fingers crossed it comes this time.

ZEVO?

Our friend, Dave told us months ago about a bug catcher called Zevo. He showed us how many bugs his Zevo had caught and we were very impressed.

We therefore ordered a couple of them from Amazon and plugged one in the kitchen where we do get plagued by flies or whatever at times. I'm always leery of mosquitoes in the evening because I used to get a number of bites. I'm thinking now that it wasn't mosquitoes but bird mites because once we stopped pigeons from living under our solar panels, I haven't gotten tons of bites.

This is what the Zevo looks like in the daytime and at night. I don't think they work as well in the daytime so we just turn them on at night.

At first, there weren't very many bugs at all, but when I checked a couple of days ago, this is what I saw.

Yay! It caught one mosquito in the bedroom and a lot of ant drones in the kitchen. I don't know what those other teeny bugs are. I don't see any flies though.

And you know what though? I haven't had mosquito or bird mite bites in months while in the house. Uuummm... I'm knocking on wood. I hope I haven't cursed myself.

Cat Cafe!

We enjoy mall walking with our friends occasionally. As we were completing a rotation, I noticed some interesting people that were entering the mall along with one focused person who seemed to be heading to something important.

After a few minutes we saw a gathering around what looked like a cat cafe.

Oh right... There's a sign above that should have alerted me right away. 

The fellow we saw entering the mall appeared to be either someone giving a blessing for the start of a business or maybe a pep talk.

We then saw a huge crowd that had formed in front of the cafe. By the time we made yet another mall rotation many of the customers had gone in and others were waiting. 

We looked at this sign and was rather surprised at the price.

$23 for half an hour?

$28 for 60 minutes?

With only a $5 difference, I should think you may as well stay the whole hour. It does include a complimentary drink.

This brought to mind our time in Tokyo last year with our son, daughter and their families to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary.

We stopped at a Cat Cafe in the Harajuku area because our then 4 year old RK LOVES cats. Keola and Sarah don't own a cat. They only had their dog, Mungo who passed away a couple of years ago.

But RK fell in love with cats.

So that's where we went.

Let me explain that RK is a rough and tumble boy.

But when he went into that room full of cats, he became the gentlest, most adoring little man ever. It made us all smile to see how sweet he was with every cat he approached or if a cat wandered near him.

Unfortunately, after a half hour, we saw his face redden and hives break out around his face. His nose started to run but he did not want to leave.

It was a shock to all of us. None of us knew he was allergic to cats. He'd been near cats before but somehow this prolonged time near them caused this terrible reaction.

Sigh....

So we left the cat cafe quickly and a half hour later, fortified with an ice cream cone, RK was back to his normal self.

Whenever they return to Hawaii someday, I guess we will not be frequenting this Cat Cafe MOFF. (I did discover online that this is a Japanese franchise.)

OMG! OMG! 

I just checked my photos from our trip to Tokyo last year.

That Cat Cafe we went to in Tokyo is the same franchise that opened here in Hawaii. (This is me with Keola.)

The cost of entrance in Tokyo was about $7 for 30 minutes buuut... you had to buy a drink. 😄

Ah well... maybe there will be a dog cafe someday too.

Hand Signs Around the World

We were out at a food court with friends when Dave smiled and said, "I have something you could write about on your blog."

He pointed across the food court and asked, "See that sign next to that food stall? It's the Korean sign for love." 

Art and I looked where he was pointing and didn't even notice it at first.

It was a new chicken eatery and it didn't even dawn on us what that lighted sign was about.

We have that two hand sign and the American Sign Language for LOVE. 

I don't know if they still do this in Japan but for the longest time I couldn't understand why the younger Japanese would put up the V sign when taking photos. That's my Japanese cousin with the V sign. 

I've seen all kinds of explanations. One was to make (especially girls faces) appear slimmer. That didn't make sense at all. Another explained that it was the sign for Peace. 

I thought the V was for Victory. So anyway, I still don't know.

When Art and Dave went to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on the way home from Tanzania last year, their guide taught them another sign. I got this from the VoiceMap website:

"That is the three-finger salute made famous by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai. The gesture outlines three letters: a W for win, a V for victory, and an L for love."

Ummm... Art is actually doing it with the wrong hand. 😂

So if you're in another country... it would be a good idea to know what hand signs stand for. In the U.S. this gesture could look like a finger snap which could be taken the wrong way too.😬

The Happiest 75th Birthday Ever!

One of the happiest moments during our trip to Illinois this summer was to stay with our daughter and family in Chicago and be there to spend a week and a half with our son and his family. This was a very rare moment for us since our son and wife work in South Asia. And here we were finally, FINALLY all together except that our daughter-in-law had to leave for meetings in D.C. just before my birthday. She did happily call me though to wish me a happy day.

It was such a happy surprise when I saw that they'd gone specially to get a Portillo's chocolate cake for me. Special too because I know chocolate is not my daughter's favorite. 😆

And then I saw they'd mounted a gigantic candle on top. At least I thought it was a candle. But it didn't stop there.

It slowly began to rotate and spread out petals as it went around and around playing the birthday song. I was totally astonished.

And yes the cake tasted as wonderful as I remembered it.

Granddaughter, KC also added chocolate chips and whipped cream to add even more fun to it.

The funniest thing happened the following day though. The cake had started to collapse. It's a very rich cake, but well... sort of caved in on one side. Not to worry, we loved eating it anyway.

We all laughed and just savored being together. This was such a very rare and precious time.

It was one of the happiest birthdays I've ever had! 

Handi-Van for Mom

Whenever Art takes mom to the day care center which mom always calls "The Senior Club" we have often seen the Handi-Van dropping off riders there.

With Art having just celebrated his 80th birthday, I really felt we should look into those Handi-Van services. 

The Handi-Van is a public transit service for persons with disabilities who are not able to use the City's bus service.  I figured mom's dementia was a disability and she certainly can't use the regular city bus by herself.

We took her in for an interview and she easily passed the test to qualify for the service. 

I wondered how she could carry her HOLO card to identify and pay for the bus. I found this lanyard on Amazon that would help. She could just wear it and show it to the driver. You can also add on an Apple tag just in case something should go wrong.

I read the instruction booklet that was sent to me and saw that she was also required to carry payment for the driver in case her card did not work. Darn! I can't give her money to carry.

Reading further, I discovered you can buy paper tickets. I could stick that in her lanyard too. We took a trip to the Transit Pass Office and bought some tickets. We just bought a few since we didn't know if the Handi-Van option would work for sure.

OK... I guess we're all set to try this out. I'm allowed to go on the bus with her for free to test it out. But Art would have to pick me up. 

I mentioned this all to mom and she says she's perfectly content to go on the (Handi-Van) bus. This is something she is very familiar with since she rode the city bus early in the morning and late at night to and from the Japanese language newspaper where she worked decades ago. She's thrilled that this bus will pick her up at our home and take her to her "Senior Club." 

Finger crossed that this works. 🤞

Chaotic Last 3 Months

Gosh! It's hard to get back to blogging after being away for such a long time. Friends and relatives have asked what's happened to me.

Well... June through mid July was horrific with the bathroom renovations for mom. Wow! I would never recommend this contractor. So much went wrong although most was resolved as best as could be and then we've had to fix things on our own because we don't trust some of the people who works for this contractor. And yes, he's had good Yelp reviews which makes me doubt Yelp. 

The day after that was over we were in Chicago to see our son, Keola and family who were coming in from South Asia where they are working. Our daughter and her family hosted all of us and it was such a happy time after the exhaustion and stress of the renovation.

We returned in August and worked on doing last minutes fixes on the renovation which we preferred doing ourselves.

But then on August 15th, we were at tai chi and I got bit by a teeny tiny bug. I couldn't tell if it was a mosquito but when I swatted it, there was quite a bit of blood for a tiny bug.

Then a dark redness formed. After a week it turned larger and then purple. It itched (even in the area surrounding the redness), but differently from mosquito bites that I'm used to.

A couple of days later, I started to feel extremely tired and was feverish in the early evening. I started to get night sweats.

I went to Tripler Hospital to see the doctor (not my regular doctor) that was scheduled about numbness under my toes that I was worried could be caused by diabetes. I mentioned how I was not feeling well and showed her the bite and told her about my elevated temperature. However, it was only 99 that morning so she discounted it. 

Well... the fevers in the evening and exhaustion continued so I sent a message to my regular doctor a week later. He sent me in immediately to be tested for a ton of things. It seemed like a lot of blood that was taken. 

All kinds on results started coming in slowly. And then my doctor called me unexpectedly a week later this past Friday and said he was alarmed that my liver function was so bad and wanted me to get back to the lab to take more blood. 

I did and was very happy that much had improved.

But then I saw this.

Seriously? I have Hepatitis A. Seriously? Why??? I was vaccinated in 2006. I've also been vaccinated for Hepatitis B. 

I'm told to expect a call from him today. Sigh...

I still tire easily and not up to full strength. But good grief!

Seriously? 

POSTSCRIPT 1: Hepatitis A is a highly contagious liver infection caused by the hepatitis A virus. The virus is one of several types of hepatitis viruses that cause liver inflammation and affect your liver's ability to function.

You're most likely to get hepatitis A from contaminated food or water or from close contact with a person or object that's infected. Mild cases of hepatitis A don't require treatment. Most people who are infected recover completely with no permanent liver damage.

Practicing good hygiene, including washing hands frequently, can prevent the spread of the virus. The hepatitis A vaccine can protect against hepatitis A.          (Mayo Clinic)

POSTSCRIPT 2: OK, I talked to my doctor. He says the rest of that Abnormal Hep A results (that I can't see) was probably due to my previous Hep A vaccine. He thinks I probably don't have it. Probably. However, he's still very concerned about my abnormal liver so he wants me back at the hospital for a liver scan at Radiology and then more blood tests. Sigh...

I'm feeling drained.