Lucky Friday the 13th

We had planned another outing with my aunt and uncle to go to Honolulu's Foster Botanical Gardens. My aunt asked if it was really a great idea to travel on Friday the 13th. Well... seeing as Art, his sister and our son are all born on the 13th, we figured we'd give it a try. However, all week there were flash flood warnings and last night the forecasters said it was going to rain. So we postponed the outing.


This morning, Friday the 13th skies begged us to reconsider. We called both my aunts (my mother's sisters) and everyone wanted to take a chance.


The first tree that greeted us was listed as the Bo tree. I always thought it was called the Bodhi tree. According to the tour guide flyer, "Buddha was enlightened while sitting under a Bo tree. This tree is actually a descendant of that very tree in India!"


It was quite impressive.


Doesn't this look like a sweet pea?
Kavita has just told me that this flower is called Aparajita and used in religious ceremonies in India. Thanks, Kavita.


Foster Gardens is right in busy Honolulu and is a smaller Botanical Garden but there weren't as many mosquitoes (besides the bugs seemed to find Art the most delicious of all of us) or ants as in Wahiawa's garden. It was also a bit windy but that just helped to keep the bugs from landing. All right... all right... correction. They did land... on Art.


I love seeing the three sisters together. Along with their youngest sister in Japan, they all love plants and found every tree, bush and flower mesmerizing.


I rather liked this orchid. No, I don't know what kind it is. I kept forgetting to check the identification tag.


Have you any idea why they call this a nipple fruit? LOL


The lipstick tree blossom was lovely.


Apparently the seeds were used to color foods.


My aunt loved this huge palm.


This red crested cardinal was feeding on fallen seeds.


We thought this large bloom was quite impressive.


This bird suddenly flew by us and landed on a branch. Art won the shot. I concede. His shot was better than mine... slightly, that is.


Sorry there are so many photos. We took so many that I just couldn't seem to delete as much as I should have. I can already see my son shaking his head and laughing at me.


This South American tree, the Cedro Espino had a trunk and branches covered with these nasty thorns.


I loved the pastel color of this Chinese hibiscus.


Another orchid


Here's mom with her sister and my uncle. We lost my other aunt who was so excited about all the trees that she disappeared half way through our walk. It reminded me of my first grade field trips where I was constantly counting noses.


I loved the trunk of this Central American Kapok tree.


This Talipot Palm from Sri Lanka and India was striking. It can live 75 years before it flowers and fruits just once and then dies.


Coming around the bend we saw this tree.


Do you see why it's called a Cannonball Tree? There were signs posted warning everyone of falling cannonballs.


The cannonball blossoms looked like orchids. The flowers and fruits sprout right from the trunk.


And still... not a drop of rain, much less a flood.


This Caribbean Royal palm tree took our breath away. It's among the world's tallest trees. I believe it!


It went up straight as a flag pole.


At first I thought these were all dried leaves and then they moved. If you click to enlarge this photo you'll see the tiny finches.


We found my aunt and she showed us this unusual tree. She was picking up the fruit strewn around the tree and I read the tree label to her. Fish poison tree!


The trees were so large that they dwarfed us.


What a glorious day! It was truly a gift to cherish. We took one aunt back to her house since she lives in Honolulu and preferred to relax and have her lunch at home.


We took my other aunt and uncle to Shiro's where we had bowls of hot saimin noodles. Despite the fact that my aunt and uncle live quite close by they had never been to that restaurant.


It really hit the spot. We then returned my uncle and aunt to their house, went home and I know we all took a nap.

And still no rain.

My New Niece

We had a family dinner last night to celebrate my nephew's birthday and something made me smile. My nephew married a woman from Japan last year and she has really made a wonderful difference for our family get togethers.

My new niece takes the time to really speak to my mother, always making eye contact with love, interest and respect in her voice. I've heard her telling mom how delicious each dish is and how much she appreciates the hard work in preparation time that is involved in making them. This is all music to my ears because I know how very much it means to my mother. My niece also offers to bring something she prepared as well and then takes over the clean up. What a joy! My nephew deserves a lot of credit for choosing such a wonderful wife but then again, he's always been such a sweetie that I should have expected nothing less from him.

The photo is of my mother with my nephew and niece at their wedding last year.

Remembering Our Veterans

We were at the Navy BX yesterday and saw that a Christmas Tree was already on display. As I looked at the tree I noticed the flag flying at half mast for our fallen soldiers of Fort Hood, Texas.

We owe such a debt to the men and women who serve our countries. They bravely put themselves in harm's way knowing that they may have to give the ultimate sacrifice for the rest of us. When we're at Tripler Army Hospital or the Illinois Great Lakes Hospital, all the men and women are so polite, kind and utterly respectful saying, "Yes, ma'am" or "May I help you, sir?" They hold themselves with pride and determination to do their best.

To all our servicemen and veterans I would just like to say, Thank You.

KC Goes to Disneyland

Tiffany called on Skype a couple of days ago so we could make it clear to KC that even though she would be riding on an airplane for a long time, she would not be coming to see us. She would actually be seeing her great Aunt Kay (Art's sister) and Great Uncle in California and go to Disneyland for the first time. That's right. Art's sister's name is Kay also. Remember how I told you that Art had three dogs named Finnegan #1, #2, #3? (No, not at the same time.) Well, he went from a sister to a wife with the same name also.

KC was just raking leaves a couple of cool days ago. I imagine it will startle her to suddenly be in warm L.A.

I wish we could be there, too.

I remember the first time we took Tiffany and Jonathan to Disneyland. My sister-in-law had gotten us a good deal. We were able to buy a ticket good for 5 days for the price of one. Well, we went to Disneyland every single day. We should have just set up a tent there. Yes, we're crazy!


Tif had such a great time running from character to character and wanting to experience everything over and over again. I hope KC will catch the magic also.

Doing the Right Thing

Abe Lincoln of Pick a Peck of Pixels wrote a post on Sunday about how some Americans thought it was a good thing to kill off all Native American men, women and children in 1867.

When I've mentioned atrocities that happened in the past some people have excused it saying, "It was just the times. That was how it was back then. They couldn't help but believe that way."

I couldn't believe that but could it be true? Slave owners and their families were OK because they really felt it was fine with God for them to do this? European immigrants coming to America could kill Native Americans in horrific ways because they were clearing the country for Christianity? Citizens didn't really know what was going on during the Holocaust and if they did it was still OK because they were clearing the world of Judaism?

Really?

And yet there were people in those times who fought against the injustices. I was reading about John Brown in the Smithsonian Magazine. His strategy was extreme but he was a religious man fighting the extreme evil of slavery. During the Holocaust there were diplomats and citizens who tried to save as many people as they could.

I'm not sure why but thinking of this opened up memories of kindnesses from so many people we met while away from Hawaii. I'd heard terrible stories of prejudice on the Mainland. I feared it and steeled myself for it. Yes, I saw a bit of it but there were far more people who were extraordinarily kind.

Thirty five years ago we were newly arrived in Chicago from Hawaii and moved into a two flat owned by an older German landlord who told us he fought under the Kaiser. He became our surrogate grandfather giving drills to train me to not open doors so freely as I did in Hawaii. He would cook sweet and sour meatballs and share them with us. I know he cared deeply about us and was upset when we bought a home and had to move out. He came to inspect our home later to make sure we'd made a good choice and we visited him whenever we could.

We moved into an older subdivision populated mostly by Catholics in a predominantly Jewish town. We didn't know any of this when we bought the place. In fact, we moved in the winter and Art heard from somebody on the train going to work that they were surprised we lived there because they thought it was a very segregated community. We had no idea! What a shock! They told us our community was even nicknamed "The island of gentiles in the sea of Jerusalem." From being in the majority in Hawaii, it was rather disconcerting to be a minority and it took some getting used to.

Anyway, one day I was talking to my neighbor who was into Lithuanian dances and she was scolding me for not knowing any Japanese dances. Dick, a veteran of WWII (Pacific theater) and a retired reporter was riding by on his bicycle....slowly. He overheard part of our conversation, stopped and proceeded to quite sternly chide my neighbor saying, "Why do you expect her to know Japanese dances? She is American!" I stood there with my mouth agape.

When Dick passed away, I wanted to attend the funeral. I planned to sit at the back and be unobtrusive. However, when I walked in, somebody must have noticed. I suppose I stood out a bit. Dick's grieving wife walked down that long aisle, thanked me for coming, took my hand and insisted I come up front to sit with them.

I've never forgotten that.

The Travels of Father and Son

I do believe that one of Art's favorite trips was without me. It's true. It was in January of 2002. My son, Jon was in Mali as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Art was retired and wanting to see and experience the adventures that our son wrote about. I was teaching and couldn't leave for a month to go off to Africa. Granted, I wasn't exactly needing to go once I heard about the toilets being a hole in the ground, about mosquitoes carrying malaria, and the joy of roughing it. The most I want to rough it is Motel 6, thank you.

Instead, while Art was gone, I tackled below zero weather in the Midwest with record snowfalls. The neighbors had to push my car out into the street so that I could get to school. OK... never mind. That's another story.


Jon met Art in Mali's capital city of Bamako and then took him to his home village near Koutiala. Art loved every single minute and enjoyed meeting the people of the village as well as the other Peace Corps Volunteers when Jon threw a fete for him.

On one memorable outing Jon took Art for a boat trip on the river. Art was amazed at all the birds he saw around him and tried to take some photos from the leaking boat.





Don't these look like pigeons?


Back at the village they saw a few of these guinea hens. They're not pets. They're food.


After a few days they traveled to Tanzania to climb Kilimanjaro (Remember what I said about Motel 6?) and go on a safari where they saw this golden crowned crane.


I do believe these must be ostriches.


Nope, no idea what this is.


Jon chided me later for not coming another time when school was not in session. I do think they had a much better time without me holding them back. In this instance, it was a good trip for father and son.

What theWorld Needs Now

What's the matter with me? Suddenly I don't know what to write about. My mind's a blank.

So... Hmmmm... I think I'll just write about somebody I happen to know.

Gene is a Presbyterian minister. He is the husband of Art's college friend. When I first learned that we were going to visit with Sharon and Gene at a 3 day house party I figured we may have some evenings of prayer or religious discussions.

To my surprise I discovered that devout, pious and knowledgeable as Gene is, he did not try to ram his religion down anybody's throat. He and Sharon had amassed a great collection of Asian art and religious artifacts. I discovered that Gene was very knowledgeable in Buddhism and many other world religions. Even more important, he respected everybody's right to believe as they do so long as they did no harm. He also believed as Sharon and her parents did that the world is a family of friends who must be respected, understood and given aid where needed.

From the start, I know Gene tried to understand me. He asked a lot of questions regarding prejudice, religion, etc. and he presented his views with warmth and friendship. He used to laugh and tell me that I must forgive him if he ever sounded like a pompous old fellow because he was working on that part of his character.

When Sharon passed away suddenly I was amazed at the strength of his beliefs that he was able to conduct much of the service for her funeral himself.

I've known quite a few people who are so sure that their religion is the only way, not just for themselves but everybody that they will look down on and even condemn how others believe. And then they think that their way is the only way to Peace.

I remember being at a Teacher's meeting a long time ago where everybody stood up and had a group Christian prayer before we did something. I stood with the others even though I knew a few people in the group were Jewish. It was just assumed that everybody was Christian. Art says he had similar situations at E.P.A. Art and I are fine with it. We just do our own meditation within our hearts.

I'm pleased to say that all the friends I have of every faith ARE understanding and respectful of each other and me. I remember Dina of Jerusalem Hills Daily Photo encouraging me to study and be more active with my Buddhist faith but lovingly included my family in many of her family's Jewish traditions. My neighbors in Illinois encouraged us to send our children to their Catholic pre-school. We did, and the kids made a lot of friends there.

What does this world need? Loving understanding and respect for each other's belief systems. Perhaps then we could take a step toward peace.

Brothers and Sisters

My little granddaughter is nearing her 3rd birthday and I'm thinking she needs a brother or sister, preferably a brother JUST BECAUSE that's what Art and I had and we wanted the same thing for Tiffany when she was born.


1947-8 Honokaa,(Big Island) Hawaii
Art and his only sibling, Kay (yes, her name is Kay, too) are four years apart. It's worked well for them and they are very close keeping up with each other's lives every Saturday without fail by cellphone, letters and visits.


1953 Kunia, Oahu,Hawaii
My only sibling, Dennis and I are three years apart and I thought that was the best thing ever. I could lord it over him and boss him around. NO... I'm kidding. Honest. He is quite stubborn and will insist on doing things his way no matter what I try to coerce him to do. He's also smarter than I am which makes it hard for me to lord it over him. We were each other's best childhood friends doing almost everything together. I wanted the same for my children.


1984 Chicago, Illinois
When Tif was about two years old I asked the pediatrician what the best age span between children was and he said three. We followed his advice and it worked out extremely well. Just as the pediatrician said, Tif was out of diapers by the time Jon came around but they were close enough to enjoy playing with each other. Throughout their school years, their age span was just close enough that they could understand each each other's music. They are devoted to one another and would do anything for each other. I remember Tif crying over Jon when she saw him in his hospital bed with his shattered arm strapped up after surgery.

And now here's my little granddaughter who needs a sibling soon, not that I'm nagging or anything.

Well there are my mom and her sisters here in Hawaii who are a year apart and it's a lot of fun for them. So maybe it doesn't matter what the age span is.

I'd still like another grandchild. OK... I've got a grand-dog. Yes, yes, I know that. But....

Health Care and Farmers Market Sunrise

Art saw this cartoon this morning in the Honolulu Advertiser and got such a kick out of it that I just had to post it.



Then we got our reusable grocery bags and headed for the Open (Farmers) Market in Waiau. The rain stopped just in time for us and the sky was ablaze to greet the day.


We got a nice selection of vegetables for the week and are now off to start the day with a few errands.

Making the Most Out of Macro

Now that I've read some of the directions in the Instruction Manual for my new camera I've learned that I wasn't doing the macro properly. So my camera isn't really defective. It was me all along. What can I say? It still takes a steady hand though and maybe I need to read the manual more thoroughly but every time I start reading, it puts me to sleep!
I just wandered around our minuscule yard taking macro photos of my mother's flowers. I haven't a clue to the flower's name. It's pretty and a lot of neighbors have it but I don't know what it is. Quilly has just told me that this is a Desert Rose. Thanks, Quilly!


This is an orchid. I have no idea if it's a cymbidium, dendrobium or what. I do know its buds are what bulbuls consider their dessert.

On the plus side, I don't think I'll get insomnia anymore. I just have to pick up the instruction manual. I haven't even begun to tackle the Prius Navigation System manual yet. Gee... It's making me sleepy just to think of it!

Some Sunday Stuff

It's a rather lazy Sunday. Art is busy working on my office closet. Unfortunately, the closet skeleton that the contractors put in is not exactly square so it's taking a bunch of adjustments to create the shelving.

We needed doors for it and when I called around I discovered that, it would cost upwards of $900 to get it custom made. Then one day we were at Home Depot and discovered that they had Build Your Own cabinet doors that we could buy for about $200! Yahoo! However, right now... Art is struggling with how to create the structure to attach the doors. It's all a learning process since it's the first time he's actually had to do this instead of mounting a pre-hung door. I have faith but I'm hearing a lot of sighs and groans over there.

Another fun item going around Hawaii is comedian Frank DeLima's Furlough Day Song which brings attention to the 17 Friday furlough days that Hawaii's children are being deprived of schooling. If you go to this Honolulu Advertiser site and click on Audio: you'll be able to hear the song.

The final fun thing that Art just showed me is a Yahoo Comics website. I do love my comics and miss some of my favorites in the Chicago Tribune. This site gives me a whole new batch to check out as well as those I enjoyed in the Trib. When we're gone on trips, I can catch up on my comics using this website.

Hope you're all having a lazy, happy Sunday. We had only 15 Trick or Treaters last night. Looks like I'll be passing out left over candy to whoever shows up. Kit Kats and Dark Chocolate Hersheys anyone?