Moanalua Garden Feathered Friends

Art and I had a day of errands today driving into Waikiki to bring some things for my son-in-law who is here on business and then a bunch of this and thats. In between the morning this and the afternoon thats we decided to have a little picnic lunch at the Moanalua Gardens.

The monkeypod trees there are absolutely beautiful and we were glad we took the time to stroll about the park and just enjoy the respite.


That's when we noticed the beautiful koi pond with a flock of ducks swimming and meandering about. I hadn't seen ducks in Hawaii much so I couldn't help but take a bunch of pictures.



I was crouched down taking a photo when suddenly this little cherub came up behind me and actually stood on my feet and pressed her cheek almost against mine to see what I was taking a photo of. She chattered away asking and telling me what was on her mind. It reminded me so much of KC that I wanted to give her a hug but instead I just spoke to her as a teacher and made sure her parents knew where she was.


I loved watching the ducks swimming lazily over the gigantic, colorful koi right beneath them. They seemed completely oblivious to the huge fish directly below them.


After a while the ducks got into a row and marched about before climbing right back into the pond again at which time we had to continue on our way...

What's In My Back Pack?

I was visiting Peggy of Meggie's Musings and saw this meme. I figure.... Hey, why not?

Here are the rules of the meme.

1.Post a picture of whatever bag you are carrying as of late. No you can't go into your closet and pull out your favorite purse. We want to know what you carried today or the last time you left the house.
2.List how much it cost. And this is not to judge. This is for entertainment purposes only. So spill it. And if there is a story to go along with how you obtained it,we'd love to hear it.
3. Tag some chicks and link to this page so people know why the heck you're showing everyone your bag or just tag yourself!

#1 Here's the only bag I carry now for everyday and for trips:


#2 I bought my very lightweight (good for travel) synthetic bag at the Samsonite Outlet store in Kenosha. Wisconsin. They were having this knock your socks of sale where I could buy the bag for (ARRRGGHHHH! I can't remember!) maybe $20.00, and get the 2nd one for 1 cents. So I've got two of these bags. The nice thing is there's a small pocket in front for my calendar, notebook, mints, pen, and tissues but the opening for the bag is really next to my back on the other side so that it makes it a bit more tricky for a thief to get into when it's on my back.

#3 I won't tag anybody but if anybody would like to have fun with this please go ahead.

Explanation of my contents:
1. nylon reusable shopping bags
2. calendar with photo of my family
3. hand wipes
4. coupon/gift card holder
5. purse
6. all kinds of cards (library, etc.)
7. camera
8. purse hook so I don't have to leave my bag on the floor at restaurants
9. cloth pencil case made for me by my crafty friend, Mavis
10. keys
11. folding scissors
12. mini flashlight
13. glasses
14. special wipes for glasses and camera lens
15. notebook
16. mints
17. medicine sack (aspirin, Purell hand wash, band-aids, safety pins, chapstick)
18. safe check writing pen, highlighter, thin point Sharpie
19. measuring tape
20. I don't have a picture of it but I do carry my cellphone.

And there you have it. You might see why I don't change bags all the time.

How Safe is This?

Now really... Don't you wonder how they allow this in Hawaii? There's a strict Click It or Ticket law here but darn if you can't have kids ride in the back of trucks totally unrestrained. We've seen quite a number of kids (grown-ups, too) riding happily in the back of trucks on the freeways and nobody thinks anything of it.

But dogs? Oh yes, they must be strapped in some way to the back of the truck. Does this make sense? I suppose some people would prefer there not being too many laws but this seems to be disaster waiting to happen.

I wonder if other states allow it, too.

UPDATE from Yesterday's GREAT ALOHA RUN:
Would you believe it? The race results were just posted and I added it to yesterday's post but I'm posting it here to make sure my son sees it.
Art's time: 1:22:22
Kay's time: 2:56:12
(Note for my son, Jon: What do you think of that, hunh? You were chuckling (or was that out and out laughter?) when I told you that my time was 3 hours and 13 minutes yesterday. You kidded me that marathoners often finished in less than 3 hours. Well, there you have it! My "racing" chip has recorded my time as UNDER 3 hours. Woohoo!)

We Did It!!! I Can't Believe It!

I'm still rather queasy after my unpleasant bout of stomach flu but there was no way I could not participate in the 25th Annual 8.15 mile Aloha Run which helps to fund 150 island charities. 20,000 people had signed up. My childhood friend, Diane and her husband, Dave and their kids had agreed to do the walk with us. Diane has a bad back and is not in the best of shape. She said that we could just walk until we felt we'd rather quit and then she'd call her son, Brandon to pick us up along the way. I asked her how long she felt her back would be able to last before hurting. She said, "An hour." Sounded like an easy day for me!


I asked my mom to take a photo of us as we prepared to leave the house. Hmmm... Considering the fact that my brother and I take tons of photos, my mother hasn't so it was quite funny to see her totally unable to figure out how to hold the camera to take the photo. This is the 3rd attempt.



One of the drawbacks to the race is that it starts at 7:00 AM. We had to drive to the Aloha Stadium and catch a bus into Honolulu by 6:00 AM. This meant we'd have to start out from our home by 5:00 which meant we'd have to wake up at 4:15 AM.

Here's a photo of Diane and Dave's family with a teacher friend of her daughter, Kristin.


The military jogged by us singing out their marching chants and got lots of applause and cheers.


The starting gate was a welcome sight. We felt like we walked an additional 3 miles to get from the parking lot to the stadium, to the bus and then to the starting place.


We ran, I mean walked past Honolulu Harbor.


We were surprised to see porta poddies so early in the race. No water. Just porta poddies with long lines.


Radio stations had set up cheering tents along the way. I'm not sure if they were broadcasting.


Very soon, we were at the 3 mile marker. I'm thinking Diane is bound to call Brandon any minute now but her cellphone is still in her pouch. My tummy is a little queasy but I'm doing fine. The weather is unbelievably in our favor.


At this point we began our walk under the H1 (Interstate Highway 1). Yes, it's called the Interstate but that's a whole 'nother story.

We were thrilled to be under the shade of the highway! And Diane is still looking good. Her back and feet are aching but she's not quitting. Well, if she's not quitting, how can I? My kids would never let me forget it.


It was fun to see the high school bands performing for us as we walked by!


And then.... unbelievably we came up to the 7 mile marker and the stadium was actually in view! We bumped into Claire who is the sister-in-law to another friend of mine. You can't do a big event like this in Hawaii and not bump into somebody you know.


And then...THERE it was! The stadium! Art was waiting for us in the stands. He'd run the entire way with a happy time of 1:22:22. We were very proud of our time which was 2:56:12!



The Finish Line was a very BEAUTIFUL sight! However the walk was not over.

I swear there was another mile added as they directed us toward a route to get our bananas, donuts, water and "Finisher" t-shirts.


We FINISHED!
Yahoo!








(I added a few more photos that Dave, who happens to be a fabulous professional photographer took for me while we walked together on the race. He just e-mailed the additional photos to me this Tuesday morning.)

Epilogue:
I was very sad to see this piece of news this morning.

HALAWA, Hawaii - A man who completed the Great Aloha Run on Monday died shortly after, event officials said.

The man was one of about 20,500 people who woke up early on Presidents Day to participate in the 25th Annual Great Aloha Run.

The man was sitting down in the parking lot with his eyes closed, spokeswoman Donna Fouts said. A "spotter," volunteer trained to spot participants in distress, walked over to the man and checked on him. He did not respond, the representative said.

Stomach Flu Blues

When we arrived in Chicago last month, KC was as sick as could be. I didn't catch her cold even though I often carried her. I haven't been sick in 4 years since I retired from teaching.

My son-in-law, Ed arrived from California for a computer job earlier in the week and was suffering from what he thought was food poisoning. I was suspecting it was more than that and sure enough, I ended up with the same MISERY on Friday!

I am signed up to do the charity Aloha Run tomorrow. Art is going to run the 8 miles. My friend, Diane, her husband, Dave and I plan to walk. Diane has a bad back and I feel as weak as a kitten.

Ah well... it'll be interesting to see who peters out first, Diane or me. I can almost make a sure bet.

Rust on Martha Stewart

Isn't this the pits? We bought this Martha Stewart STAINLESS STEEL dish rack just over a year ago from Macy's and used it on our second small sink. It's hardly ever used and LOOK at the rust! Arrrghhhh!

This was not a cheap dish rack!
I thought I'd give you all a head's up on Martha Stewart products. I looked on-line and I guess quite a number of people are upset about many of her products.

I guess I'll be thinking twice now before I buy her houseware stuff. Sheesh!

It may not look as nice but we went to the drug store and picked up a plastic dish rack today. Ah well...

This and That and Tornadoes, too!

Ironically, after only a couple of days, my son-in-law happened to have a computer job assignment on the island of Maui. He had a connecting flight through Honolulu so we were able to grab a leisurely lunch at Sam Sneads with him before he met his partner and continued on to Maui. He'll be back on Oahu on Saturday and we'll see him again for dinner. This is his colleague's first time in Hawaii so it'll be even more special.

When we returned home, my mother said a tornado had touched down in Kapolei. A tornado? I could hardly believe her. There were NEVER tornadoes when I was growing up. I thought that was a Midwest thing. Well... not that I doubted her but here's what I found on the Honolulu Advertiser website. Sheesh!


KAPOLEI — A tornado that stretched several hundred feet into the air touched down and ripped through a section of the Kapolei Golf Course yesterday afternoon, sending a course employee to the hospital and damaging the facility.

I'm still jet lagged. I get tired every night when I usually do my blogging and fall asleep before I can get very far. Sigh.

KC NEWS: Remember how she refused to call me Grandma? We tried everything but she wouldn't do it. The day after we left, Tif was on webcam with our son, Jon and KC pointed to a photo of me and said, "Grandma." How did she know I was really getting pretty partial to Gobby. I started to actually like the original sound of it. Now she won't call me "Gobby." Art is still "Papa." She's only two years old but I swear she's getting the best of me.

Return to Our Other World

Our farewells in Illinois were difficult. Neighbors and friends stopped by and called to wish us a safe journey, but amidst the sad hugs and smiles I focused toward the time when we would return for our next visit.



I walked around our house and said my goodbyes on Saturday but the evening was the hardest. I've told everyone that Tif would be fine but she wasn't. Seeing silent tears spilling over from her large sad eyes tore me apart. KC sensed the import of the occasion. I don't know how much she understood but she understood something. She threw herself into my arms and nuzzled her face into mine, smiling her happy, questioning smile. She reached for "Pappa" and wrapped her arms around his neck. Tucked away safely in her car seat, I could see her still waving frantically as their car drove off. "Bye bye, Gobby!" "Bye bye, Pappa!" I can still hear her.

Our flights to Salt Lake City, Utah and then connecting on to Honolulu International Airport on Delta Airlines was on time and pretty easy. When we got home, it felt strange and disorienting. The temperatures were 36 degrees F when we left our home at 5:30 AM. Landing in Hawaii, it was in the 70's. There was no snow. Everything was green! My turtleneck top became stifling.

My brother, Dennis picked us up at the airport and we got ready for our birthday celebration for my sister-in-law, Nancy. It was wonderful to see everybody again. My mother had prepared some of our favorite dishes and was happy to have us back again. Miho, a fabulous cook also prepared a tasty dish for us to all enjoy.


(This is a photo of Art, Dennis, Nancy and my nephews Cody and Barry with his wife Miho. My mother is seated next to Nancy.)

We made a point of going to bed as late as we could to get ourselves acclimated to Hawaiian time but I still woke up at 3:30 AM this morning. Since we'd been up nearly 24 hours yesterday, I imagine it will take us a bit of time to get back to normal.



It's a new day. There's a lot to do and then.... I'll be looking forward to seeing what you all have been up to!

Last Walk with "Papa"

Wouldn't you know it? The temperatures went above 50 for the first time since December 27th and we're leaving to go home to Hawaii. While I packed and organized our things, Art "Papa" took KC for a walk around the village since the temperatures were finally comfortable enough (for Chicagoans).

Poor Tif and KC. We leave the house to return to Hawaii tomorrow morning at 5:30 AM and Ed leaves for a three week business trip on Monday. Ironically, part of his trip involves being in Hawaii which won't be fun since he'll be up to his ears in work in order to return to Chicago quickly. KC has gotten so used to constant, undivided attention that it will probably be difficult at first.

I'm so busy that I can't think about how painful it will be to say goodbye for the last time. I hold her and kiss the top of her downy head and there's a sharp prick to my heart. But I can't think about this now. That will happen tomorrow...

Is Macy's Going Under?

Yesterday was quite a busy day! We're trying to tie up some loose ends and get the house ready for us to leave on Sunday. We spent part of the day at Macy's because Tif had a gift card she wanted us all to spend. The store is having some deep discounts and on top of that, if you were wearing red, they give you another 20% off! How can they do that? Tif bought a beautiful $60.00 sweater that was 75% off and then they took off another 20% because I was wearing my red sweatshirt. I don't know how they can keep doing these kinds of sales and still stay afloat. Wow!

Last night we were invited to a friend's home for dinner. Jiro is a (Canadian) prof at Northwestern and his wife, Ida (from Albania). I love having friends from different countries. It's always very interesting to get a different perspective on everything. Their adorable daughter Izzie, is a buddy of KC. It was great to see them enjoying Elmo together. I'm still trying to figure out this incredible Elmo fascination.


Today, we had lunch with our favorite Friday Lunch companions. We used to always have Friday lunches with Daisy (from Venezuela) and Alan at the cheapest restaurant we could find. That was our goal. Cheapest and Tastiest! It was our turn to pick this week. We decided on Joy Yee's. Not the cheapest... but a popular place near the Northwestern campus. Pad Thai was so so. My Vietnamese vermicelli egg roll salad dish was better.

Heating System Blues!

Yesterday morning, we were startled awake to KC's crying. When I got up to get her I found the temperature in house had dipped. The outside temperatures were in the single digits and KC was freezing in the cold house. We brought her to our bed and she quickly warmed up and went back to sleep.

We bought this new American Weathermakers system about 4 years ago and it is still not glitch free. At least once a month during the frigid months, the system somehow turns itself off. It's always in the dead of night. They've tried several things and told us to get a dedicated electrical line which we did but it still does this. It's aggravating!


He's coming back today to replace the circuit board. The technician doesn't know if that's the problem but he doesn't know what else it could be. He says these new systems are so sensitive that it could be an uneven power source leading to the house.

Excuse me? We've never had a problem before with the power source before we replaced our old system.

Arrrrghhhh! I feel guilty leaving for Hawaii without this problem fixed completely. Art says we'll just hope that the circuit board will cure the problem.

I'm going to bundle up KC now before the technician comes this morning to work on the heating system. Wish us luck!

Jelly Belly Day!

We set aside today to have an Outlet Shopping Day in Wisconsin just for fun. After all, we have to help keep the economy afloat.

We noticed that the road signs had indeed changed. Rod Blagojevich's name has definitely been removed.


We passed the Welcome to Wisconsin sign on the way to the Pleasant Prairie Outlet Mall but realized that we were about 15 minutes too early. We'd heard that there might be snow this afternoon so we left a little early.


Suddenly we saw a Jelly Belly Factory Tour sign and Tif mentioned that she'd always wanted to see what it looked like. Since we had time to play with, we decided to make a stop.


What a pleasant surprise! The factory had some fun displays for KC to see. There were a lot of Jelly Belly artwork. This picture of the Art Institute of Chicago is all done in Jelly Bellies. There were also Jelly Belly portraits of Ronald Reagan who put Jelly Bellies in the White House, Princess Diana, Elvis and other famous personalities.


The store was like a little Jelly Belly Disneyland. KC immediately smiled and could hardly contain herself just to see everything that was displayed. We never gave her a Jelly Belly but she loved seeing everything and was soon charging across the store.


You could sample Jelly Bellies at this counter. They said there were 50 flavors. I saw a flavor called Ear Wax at the store and thought of Harry Potter. No, I didn't sample that one!


The train ride was the highlight for KC who got to wear a Jelly Belly hat during the tour.


We weren't planning to buy any jelly beans but we couldn't help ourselves after that tour. Do you know the dark chocolate Jelly Belly really does taste like chocolate?

After this, the Pleasant Prairie Prime 1 Outlet Mall paled in excitement. Still, we did manage to get some nice buys. I bought several plastic pot scrapers. Art got a nice jacket.

Tonight, we've got a good friend bringing dinner over! This will be fun. We don't have to cook! Yahoo!

Busy Start to Our Last Week in Illinois

Our day began early with a trip to see Mrs. H who was Dina's (of Jerusalem Hills Daily Photo) teacher in Chicago. Mrs. H is a very independent woman much beloved by everyone. Message for Dina: We've gotten Mrs. H set up with her e-mail again so she is able to receive e-mails and see our blogs bookmarked in her Favorites now.

Art worked on hooking up her digital converter for her TV. Unfortunately, the signal is weak so her reception is pixelated. I don't know if that's what you call it. I suspect that when the conversion happens there's going to be a lot of unhappy people who will find that the reception might not be great with just an antennae on an old TV. It won't be just snow, the picture will break up. I don't think enough people are really prepared for the problems that could happen.



We enjoyed spending time with Mrs. H and having KC go wild on her rocking chair. KC was also very interested in Mrs. H's dog, Annie.



After a shopping trip at Trader Joes, I was able to spend precious time with my dear teacher friends. We meet once a month at our favorite round table at Ruby Tuesdays. I even got to give a small box of Hawaiian chocolates to our favorite waitress there. We have been like family to each other during our teaching careers and after. Each time we meet, we tell another story from the chapters of our lives.

Tomorrow will be another busy day. I'm storing memories for our return to Hawaii.

Super Super Bowl Sunday Day

We started the day with a delightful brunch with Art's EPA buddy and his wife at the Noyes Street Cafe. That was loads of fun catching up with our family doings. Steve and Linda's daughter once played one of the daughters on the Roseanne shows a long time ago. Maybe it's because Linda was a teacher (high school) that we have always found it easy to chat about anything.


After brunch, we headed to Chicago to have dinner and watch the Super Bowl with Tif, Ed and KC. We were surprised to see that our friends from California, Jean and Mike had sent KC a gorgeous advent calendar wall hanging. I've never seen anything like it! There are adorable buttons for each day, that you remove and slip into buttonholes on the tree. They sent it for KC's next Christmas. Is this thoughtful or what?

We met Jean and Mike when we all took a bike tour through the Netherlands. Jean is also a teacher (for hearing impaired children) and she kept me on my bike all through those days when I would just as soon have jumped into a canal rather than bike another kilometer. Uhhh... this bike trip was definitely Art's idea, not mine. I loved seeing the country and the gorgeous Keukenhof Tulip gardens but...I'd not been on a bike in 30 years and it was a real...uhhhh....challenge. Jean kept me on my bike while Art and Mike went off with the "FAST" group. Jean and I have been e-mail buddies ever since.

Art and Ed are now watching the Super Bowl while Tif does her things and I post this entry. I will now focus my attention on KC who may be feeling a bit neglected. I'm just watching the commercials.

Happy Super Bowl everybody!