Illinois Governor Pritzker Stands Up to Trump

One of my cousins here in Hawaii sent me this YouTube with excerpts of Governor Pritzker's State of the State Speech in Springfield, Illinois.

He speaks of the time in 1978 when Nazis were applying for a permit to march in Skokie where there were many Nazi concentration camp survivors living there. However, it was a Jewish lawyer for the ACLU who defended their right to march because of the Freedom of Speech 1st Amendment in our constitution. We were living in Illinois at the time and remember the agony and outrage.

The Nazis did march but not in Skokie because of the public outrage. They opted to march in Chicago instead...all 25 of them. 

But there were 2,000 who came in opposition to the Nazis. I don't recall hearing about them after that.

I guess this is a lesson in not being quiet when you see something wrong happening.

Governor Pritzker also addressed all the pain and difficulty suffered by those in need who were impacted when programs like Meals on Wheels experienced cuts. Art volunteers for them. I'm wondering what will happen in Hawaii. 

There are so many drastic cuts happening now impacting millions of people who are most in need.

POSTSCRIPT:

When I sent Gov. Pritzker's video to my friend, Myra she texted how much she liked the Governor saying:

"Tyranny requires your fear, your silence, and your compliance."

"Democracy requires your courage."

Losing Friends

Mom used to tell me how sad she was that she'd lost her friends. At 95, she's sadly lost all her closest friends and now even the sisters in Hawaii. She does still have a sister and brother in Japan because they are quite a bit younger than she is. However, she's happy now that she's found more friends at her day care.

But anyway... I just figured it was an unavoidable and sad thing about living to be 95.

But good grief! I've lost too many friends in the last few years now and we were all about the same age. I still can't believe they're gone. I think they'll all be with me forever.

We met Jean and her husband in June, 2007 on a biking (Art's idea) cruise in the Netherlands and Belgium. They were from California living quite close to Art's sister's house. 

Jean was a very loving, caring speech teacher. Maybe that's why we were drawn to each other. 

When she learned I hadn't been on a bike in 30 years, she watched over me like a mother hen, especially when Art was put in a faster paced biking group.

Since she and her husband lived near my sister-in-law we visited with them also whenever we were in California to see Art's family.

Jean and I texted each other often keeping up with what we were doing. 

Her husband called me in June, 2020 when Jean was stricken with uterine cancer. She died in the fall. We were all heartbroken. I still have a framed photo of us all together that she framed and sent me.

I met Ann in 1977 after moving into our Chicagoland neighborhood. There was a tightknit group of us who all became good friends. Our children all became playmates. Ann's daughter was Tiffany's maid of honor. Ann was a nurse and our families spent a lot of our holidays together.

I can't remember what caused Ann's death in 2021. I got news that she was in the hospital and a month later, she was gone. I was in shock and could hardly understand it.

And then there's Peggy. We became best friends in 1975 when we both moved into the neighborhood almost right next door to each other. She drove me everywhere since I didn't drive and then helped me get my drivers license so I could join the preschool carpool. Learning to drive enabled me to go back to college to get a few courses so I could teach in Illinois. I also went back to work teaching. We told each other everything. She and her husband drove from Ohio to Illinois to attend Tiffany's wedding.

I knew Peggy had cancer as a child. But I thought it was gone for good. It came back as leukemia. She died in 2023. Her husband told me she was talking to her late mother and brother when she was dying. We went to her funeral of course. I still have the little wall hangings she gave me decorating my office.

And now Terry. 

Terry and her husband were and are very close friends. Art met them at EPA and they became part of our family.

They were Auntie and Uncle to Tiffany and Keola and came to all their milestone events from preschool on to high school and then to Tiffany's wedding.

Years later, here's Terry with our granddaughter, KC.

Since their wedding anniversary and ours along with another couple were all in January, we had a standing date to go out to a movie and dinner every year in January. 

We were with them last year in May. Terry was fine then. But without warning, she was diagnosed with some rare blood cancer the month after we left.

We were told last month that she'd passed away and I can't quite wrap my brain around it. How? Why?

I just can't believe they're all gone and I'm still devastated and grieving when I think about it. However, I'm also very grateful for all they were to our family. I'm grateful for how they enriched our lives...my life. 

And now... I'm grateful for all the friends and relatives (and blog friends) I have now who continue to enrich and add so much love, fun, knowledge and friendship for me and my family.

Unscientific Cough Drops Survey

My friend, Myra introduced me to Vick's VapoCOOL cough drops recently. I was surprised at the burst of menthol when I tried it. The effect lasted about 15 minutes but felt effective. 

Art tried it because he does cough quite often, but he wanted Sugarfree. We found some at Walmart and he agreed that it really was effective. 

I wrote a post about this in January and Rian said she likes Luden's Cherry cough drops. DrumMajor said she likes Hall's Cherry cough drops. I couldn't find the cherry flavor but we got the menthol.

Art tried them all and said he preferred the VapoCOOL.

And then... just for fun I thought I'd ask a few friends I was seeing in the next couple of days what they thought. OK, this is totally unscientific so you don't have to believe us. 

The consensus appears to be VapoCOOL.

(Ono is Hawaiian for good tasting.)

However, another friend who did not give me her chart back said she'd buy the Ludens for taste, but not to suppress any cough. She felt the VapoCOOL might make her cough more. However, she always buys Halls because that's the one that goes on sale.  😂

And then there's my brother, Dennis who couldn't make up his mind and had two 2s, but he likes their flavor. My sister-in-law followed my rules and said she only likes the VapoCOOL.

So there you have it. My unscientific poll is completed.

What? Mom? She used to buy bags and bags of Ricola cough drops and eat them like candy, cough or no cough. 😏

Sigh... And Now It's the Wrist

OK, I know it's silly, but I didn't feel like I was getting older...before.

I find time is catching up with me now though. Names and words don't come quickly to me or at all. Mom started her sad progression to dementia about 2-3 years ago. She's 95. I feel like I'm starting early. 

My energy level is going down too. Granted, Art is 5 years older and has twice the energy level I do. Sigh... He also remembers things a lot better.

Anyway... here's the latest darn irritating thing.

My left wrist started hurting right up into my baby finger. I can't wear my watch on my left wrist anymore. I'm using it on my right wrist which isn't as practical because it gets wet more and banged as I'm doing chores around the house. 

I remembered my sister-in-law wearing a brace on her right wrist when she was doing a lot of Braille work for my nephew and ended up with carpal tunnel several years back.

So... I wondered if a brace could help me even though you don't get carpal tunnel on your baby finger. I saw this on the AI Overview: 

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) usually affects the thumb, index, middle, and half of the ring finger, and doesn't affect the little finger. If the little finger is affected, it could be due to ulnar tunnel syndrome, which compresses the ulnar nerve in the wrist. 

If it's that Ulnar Tunnel Syndrome, wrist support could help supposedly.  So anyway, I bought a brace and wearing it now for several days. It does seem to help. I think. I looked at reviews and some people commented that there was some rough irritation on the inside of the brace. I couldn't detect it at first but eventually found that the bottom of the brace toward the elbow was irritating me. Sigh... old skin? Sigh...

Sooo... I got an old sock, cut the toes off and put it on under the brace. 😄

It's quite comfortable now. 

I wonder how long I should wear the brace. 😏 

And I wonder what else is going to go wrong? 😬

Fighting to Save Our Democracy

I'd vaguely heard about the February 5th protest against Trump's attack on democracy. 

This is from NPR:

These demonstrations are being organized by the 50501 Movement, which stands for "50 protests. 50 states. 1 movement." The protests are a response to what organizers describe as "the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration." This marks the second nationwide protest by the group, following an event held on Feb. 5.

And then I read too late that there would be another protest on Monday, President's Day.

I wrote a blog post on April 24, 2017 titled Marching for Science. It was about the cuts that were being made to the U.S.E.P.A. where Art spent more than a couple decades to protect our environment. 

That protest march was better organized and publicized at the time and there were a LOT more people we marched alongside. 

And now... here we are again. Fighting the same fight along with all the other horrible cuts and changes Trump is making to our government and our democracy.

We couldn't march this time. Art had his Meals on Wheels run to do around noon on President's Day and this time, we also have mom to care for.

This was at noon on Monday. The son of a good friend of mine took this photo from his condo. He said he could hear a lot of car honking and cheering. It's not as big a crowd as 2017. But I imagine it will grow with each protest as more people learn about it. My niece later told me she drove by also and saw lots of people protesting.

I signed up with 50501 to be notified when there's another protest march so we can perhaps make arrangements to join the call to stop this madness. I don't know if it would help, but I KNOW nothing will help if we do nothing.

POSTSCRIPT:

This was the front page of yesterday's Star Advertiser. I was happy to see there was a decent turnout here on Oahu and on Maui.

I need to start thinking of a sign to prepare for the next protest that I hope we can attend and perhaps we can bring mom along too.

Even though mom has dementia, she still remembers knowing the evil that Trump is.

POSTSCRIPT:

One of my teacher buddies shared this with our group.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1346550029703841

This is the U.S. representative from New Mexico, Melanie Stansbury. It was awesome to hear her telling off her Republican colleagues. 

Magic Eraser

I've written before about Google Photos app's Magic Eraser being able to remove distracting people from your photo backgrounds.

I just did it here with a photo of my nephew and his wife.

And here's what it looks like now.

(It looks OK if the people are small and in the background. If they're too big and too close to the foreground, it doesn't work well.)

One evening, Art and I saw a beautiful evening sky but there was that annoying, distracting light pole in the way. We tried to take photos of the sky from different angles but couldn't get a good shot. 

The following morning I happened to look at that photo from my Google Photos app.

Can you believe it? It didn't occur to me that I could remove something other than people. You kind of have to spell these things out to me.

And there it is! You have to click on Tools to get the Magic Eraser.

Yes, I could have removed it on Photoshop, but that would have required more effort on my part.

You know what this means, right?

You can't trust photos someone shows you these days. 

More Endless Phishing...

Good grief! 😱

More stuff to worry about. Sheesh! I got this message a week ago. What the heck!

$457.00??? 

Did I click on something without meaning to and buying whatever this is? What is Life Lock? But that first sentence isn't quite grammatically correct, is it? And they spelled remittance with one t.

So I look online and saw this:

You really do have to be more careful these days. 

There are so many phishing emails coming through that my computer isn't able to block. 

This is what phishing means:

Phishing is a cyber attack that involves fake communications to trick people into giving away personal information or money. The goal is to steal money, gain access to sensitive data, or install malware on the victim's device.

I texted my techie son-in-law and asked him about it and he said to check the address where it came from. Hmmm... shirley brian? And something to download? OK. Definitely phishing.

And then there are those phone calls telling you something is wrong with your computer and instructing you to do something to "fix it."

Be careful everybody. Technology can be scary and there are bad people out there using it.

Toilet Paper Facial Tissues

Could it be that our noses run more as we get older? 

It all started when we noticed mom constantly getting up in the middle of dinner to get a tissue for her nose. Mom's trash cans were constantly filled to the brim with used tissues. Her day care even asked us to contribute a box of facial tissues every so many months. We finally decided to buy a case of facial tissues from Sam's Club and donate it to the day care which they really appreciated. 

So then I thought....I often use toilet paper tissues to blow my nose (it's cheaper)... so why not mom?

I put rolls of toilet paper in her room and explained how she could use it. Mom has Alzheimers so she couldn't remember what I told her and she still complained that her "Kleenex" boxes were empty again. 

So then I had another thought. 

A couple of decades ago, Art visited our son in Mali when Keola was serving in the Peace Corps. He brought back 3 of these plastic bowls along with other souvenirs.

Ummm... we haven't used them for much of anything.

Anyway... I had a third thought.

What if I put the toilet paper in the pretty bowls? 

It worked like a charm. Whenever she got up to get some facial tissues in another room while eating dinner, we pointed to the toilet roll in the African bowl which I put in front of her table setting. Eventually, she became perfectly content to use the toilet tissues to quickly wipe her nose. 

Life now is a constant adjustment. Art laughs and says we are providing her with quality day care. We wash and iron her clothes, cook her favorite soft foods, give her daily baths, dispense her medications, take her on walks during the weekends, send her for socialization at day care during the weekdays, take her to the doctors, etc. 

Hmmm... I wonder if it's almost time for us to donate another case of facial tissues to the day care.

POSTSCRIPT:

This is for Rian: Thank you for your comment about the difference in cost. I guess, you also take into account that you are using a bigger tissue compared to smaller squares of toilet paper to wipe your nose. Anyway, I thought I'd check the cost. 

We happened to buy facial tissues to donate to the day care for mom and toilet paper for us because they were on sale at Costco and Sam's Club.

So the 12 small cube boxes of Kleenex facial tissues (85 total tissue count) were regular $21.99-$5.00 off which left us with a total of $16.99 to pay.

The 32 rolls of toilet paper was $27.48- $4.00 off which was $23.48.

And believe me, the toilet paper lasts a long time.

And as for caring whether someone will see them? The only people who would see this is family and they truly understand and don't care. It also makes for less trash going out of our house each week. 😄

A Frozen Pizza We Actually Like

We've been buying a cooked pizza from Sam's Club, bringing it home, layering it with cooked spinach (my optometrist said spinach is good for my eyes) and anchovies (which we love).

Our daughter thinks we're crazy. Anyway, she told us recently that they like Motor City pizza from Costco.

We haven't been thrilled with other frozen pizzas in the past so haven't bought them in a long, long while.

Well, Tif mentioned that they prefer frozen Motor City Pizza Co. from Costco so we looked for it recently and was happy to find it. Our Hawaii Costco doesn't always have what they have in Chicago.

What a surprise! Mom totally loved it. (No, we didn't add spinach or anchovies.) And we really liked it too.

It was interesting that it's supposed to have about 12 servings. There are two trays so each is supposed to have 6 servings.

It actually works OK for us with a green salad, cooked veggies or whatever to add as side dishes. 

However, for others, perhaps it would be more like 4 servings per tray with 8 servings total per box. 

Whatever the case, yes. We will buy it again. 😁

POSTSCRIPT:

ARRRGGHH!!! 😖 I wrote about Jackson’s Sweet Potato Chips that we discovered in Chicago’s Costco last year and then found here in Hawaii. 

HOWEVER, when we went to Costco here again a few weeks later, they no longer carried it. But yes, Tiffany tells me they can still find it in Chicago.

So now… right after I post about Motor City Pizza Co. they NO LONGER carry it here in Hawaii. 😲 What the heck! This is so irritating. We just went back to Costco this afternoon to pick up a package to freeze and there wasn’t any. We looked up and down the aisle that had lots of other kinds of pizza, but not this pizza from Motor City Pizza Co.

Sigh….

Sweeter in a Red Mug?

I've mentioned before how I have lost almost all my sense of smell and most of my taste. True, it's a bummer, but I've come to accept it. If I'm cooking something, I have to ask Art to check the taste. 

I like having a mug of mocha in the morning. My mocha is just brewed coffee with a bit of chocolate milk. I then stick it in the freezer while I'm getting other things ready to give it a bit of an icy coating at the top. 

Then I read online that having a red mug can make your drinks taste sweeter because we associate red with sweet fruits. Reeeally... So I don't have to rely on what little taste buds I have and can just rely on my brain to make my drinks sweeter? 

Really? Could it be?

So I used the Amazon gift card I was given for Christmas by my wonderful son-in-law and bought a big red mug.

I just had my mocha this morning.

Ummmm... I can't taste a difference. Has my brain forgotten what sweet tastes like? Is it the wrong shade of red? 

Sigh...

Ah well... I like red mugs. Maybe not red hats, but I like my red mug. 

I'll keep trying and maybe stare at the mug more while I'm drinking.

We'll see.

Trashing Trump

One of my very good friends in Illinois added this to our teacher friends' chat line.

I don't like to write about politics because there's too much I really don't know. My son and Art can discourse on politics to the minutia. But like math, it's not something I have in depth understanding on.

I therefore looked this up and I'm finding quite a bit of truth in it. And then I saw this fun picture.

It's bad enough right now that Tulsi Gabbard could become the Director of National Intelligence.

Seriously? Most people in Hawaii where she is from know better just how intelligent she is.

And now there's Robert Kennedy Jr. in line to become the new Health and Human Services Secretary. He's the guy who is against vaccinations. I'm not going into it here.

I was aghast when Trump won the first time. Remember when COVID hit and he suggested pumping bleach into our veins intravenously? 

Is it true that he wants the U.S. to take over Gaza? He wants to change Denali back to Mt. McKinley? He’s dismantling USAID? He’s getting rid of DEI programs?  

It feels even scarier now.

Thank Your Mail Carrier Day?

We were rather sad to lose Wendy, our regular mail carrier last week. But Art met Matt, our new mail carrier and said he was very nice too.

I don't normally post on Tuesdays anymore but wanted to post this today after I saw this Blondie comic strip in the Honolulu Star Advertiser.

And you know what? Just for fun, I left this little bag of treats for Matt. 😄 I wonder if he'll be surprised because I don't think many people know about this special day for them.

The other envelope I'm sending out? It's the Sunday comics that I periodically send my grandsons overseas. 😁

Art's Memorable Moments

OK... I wrote on Friday about memorable moments in my life that I remember. I decided to ask Art what he would say are his special times. This is what he chose.

I can see why he chose the eruption of the Kilauea volcano on the Big Island in 1960. That's his parents in the photo. I can't believe how close they were to the volcano! I've only ever seen an eruption from a far distance.

A significant change in Art's life happened with his decision to leave the islands in 1962 and go to Bradley University in Illinois. He's here with one of his college roommates who happened to be from Maui. 

I guess traveling was in his blood from an early age. To be honest, I'm a homebody. He is the one who loves to pull me along on his travels.

And I guess he loved watermelon even then. 

And yes, like me he said it would be hard not to choose his delivering Keola by himself (with a little help from me) in the elevator at Great Lakes Naval Hospital. 

(He couldn't be with me for Tif's birth three years before because of last minute complications/trauma due to mishandling by obstetrician.)

And then there's the mountain climbing. 

No. There's no way he'll get me climbing a mountain. However, Keola is more than happy to go with him.

And then there were those Marathons.

He looked so tired in 2010 that I made him promise to stick to Half Marathons. 

I'm glad he's settled down more and taking life a little easier these days.

Interestingly, both of our kids take after him doing a lot of sports, running and climbing mountains.

But they want their dad to take it a little easier these days too. 😏

Sigh...