Mark Twain's "N-Word"

Art saw an article in the Star Advertiser about Mark Twain's use of the N-word in Huckleberry Finn. It's from Red-Blue America about whether the word used 219 times should be removed, the book itself being removed from high school reading lists or if the book should be read as is in high school.

Mark Twain himself wanted his books to be uncensored and strove to write the truth. Many teachers consider the book a "teachable moment".

I love Mark Twain's work.
This was in the Washington Post:
"He was profoundly a Victorian gentleman, or tried to be," says Twain biographer Ron Powers. "It mattered to him if his wife approved of what he wrote and he was eager to please the public. But there were categories, like race, before which he was intrepid. In San Francisco before the Civil War, he was run out of town because he was criticizing the police for beating up Chinese people."

I'm inclined to say students these days, more than ever need to be taught to recognize bigotry. I don't think high school is too early. However, I'm saying this as a person who is not directly affected by reading those hateful words. I'd need to hear how African-Americans feel about the topic. What do you think?

I'm a Crab!

Good grief! The horoscopes have changed.

I've always liked being a lion (Leo). Now I'm a crab (Cancer)! According to the Times News Feed:

"The field of astrology, which is concerned with horoscopes and the like, felt a major disruption from astronomers, who are concerned with actual stars and planets. The astronomers from the Minnesota Planetarium Society found that because of the moon's gravitational pull on Earth, the alignment of the stars was pushed by about a month."

So here's the new Zodiac:


Capricorn - Jan 20 to Feb 16
Aquarius - Feb 16 to Mar 11
Pisces - Mar 11 to Apr 18
Aries - Apr 18 to May 13
Taurus - May 13 to Jun 21
Gemini - Jun 21 to Jul 20
Cancer - Jul 20 to Aug 10
Leo - Aug 10 to Sep 16
Virgo - Sep 16 to Oct 30
Libra - Oct 30 to Nov 23
Scorpius - Nov 23 to Nov 29
Ophiuchus - Nov 29 to Dec 17
Sagittarius - Dec 17 to Jan 20

I don't know. This is going to take some getting used to.

Too Lazy to Wear Reading Glasses When You Blog?

I've been using this wonderful feature on my computer and wanted to share it even though I'll bet 99.9% of you already know about it or have better glasses or eyesight than me.

I can magnify the fonts on the websites I visit by clicking on that teeny magnifying glass with the plus sign in the middle, on the right hand corner of my screen. When I go to your blogs, I always use 125% or 150% to read what you write more easily. I love it. I don't need my glasses at all.

OK... that's all.

If even one person sees this and says, "Whoa, this is helpful!" I'm happy.

Fits Him To a T

One of the reasons Art liked moving to Hawaii is that he didn't have to keep spring/fall or winter clothes. He also happens to like t-shirts. For every trip and special event, he likes getting a t-shirt. Here are HIS t-shirts. And no, that's not all his t-shirts. He has archived some of them in his cedar chest.

Just for fun (and I needed some fun on this cloudy, rainy day) I'm sharing some of his shirts with you.


Art doesn't like garish, busy t-shirts. He prefers just a little logo on the right hand side of the shirt and nothing on the back. It's often hard to find, but this shirt from New Zealand fit the bill.


The Australians were not outdone. They also met Art's criteria.


This is the back of the t-shirt from Eiheiji (the temple) where we stayed overnight in Fukui, Japan last spring. He couldn't find a t-shirt that matched his specifications but he liked this anyway.


This shirt from Paris wasn't perfect either, but the large embroidery was subtle.


We looked high and low and found a t-shirt that was just what he was looking for in Turkey.


We love Canada and Canadians! We took our little nephews to Quebec and had a great time.


Nova Scotia was one of our favorite Canadian trips. There are so many amazing places to see in Canada.


We also made a side trip to Prince Edward Island (Anne of Green Gables). As I recall we discovered something called dulse there and brought it home for my brother who became addicted to it for a while. Isn't it funny to think you can fall in love with seaweed?


Seeing all of Ansel Adams' favorite places to photograph at Yosemite was an unforgettable experience.


We're looking forward to taking my mother, aunt, daughter and granddaughter to Glacier National Park this spring. I'm sure Art will consider upgrading his t-shirt.


I don't think he had a whole lot of choices on t-shirts when he climbed up Kilimanjaro with our son, Jon. No, I didn't go. I was teaching, but then again, would I go if I wasn't working? I don't think so. I don't even like hiking up Diamond Head, thank you.


Now here's the funny thing. Art says he thinks he bought this in the Netherlands. He was looking for a t-shirt there, but couldn't find one (that met his criteria) so he ended up getting this (probably at one of the little pub type places during the bike ride). Since I was riding with the SLOW group, I wouldn't know where he picked it up.


Whoa, here's an old one from 1991. We timed our visit to Hawaii to coincide with the total solar eclipse. Hmmm... I should do a post on this experience someday. I think Art bought MORE than one t-shirt on this trip...plus a mug... etc.


Egypt and Jordan were very memorable trips! He wasn't able to find a t-shirt in Egypt he liked so he bought some papyrus art instead. Do you know the traffic in Egypt is crazy?


Loved Barcelona!


Loved Portugal!

I'm being equal here because we detected a bit of rivalry between Spain and Portugal.

That's a small sampling of Art's t-shirts. He also saves coins (stamps? art?) from different countries, but I won't go there. As you can see, he's a pack rat. I'm not. That's why we both need our own offices. He doesn't quite trust me, you see?

Do you bring home souvenirs from your travels, other than good memories?

How to Train Your Dragon

I haven't recommended a lot of movies, but we really enjoyed How to Train Your Dragon. My brother and sister-in-law recommended it to us and now I'd like to recommend it to you. It's an animation about a Viking teenager who is supposed to fight dragons but ends up befriending one.

I'm not sure why we liked it so much. I think the animation of the dragon was so endearing that you were drawn to it. I'd like to recommend it for my four year old granddaughter, but I'm not positive that some of the fight sequences won't frighten her.

Art and I really liked it though. If you have Netflix or Blockbuster, we'd highly recommend it.

Perhaps in this terrible time of grief and anger, the movie echoed a hope for peace, civility, dialogue and friendship. It's what President Obama eloquently asked of us in his Arizona speech yesterday.

It would be nice to have friendship between dragons and people or donkeys and elephants.

Dinner at Our House

After all the holiday feasting and lack of exercise, I was surprised that I hadn't gained any weight.

As we ate dinner tonight I realized that it's probably due to the meals we usually eat. I was also eating smaller portions while I was ill before December.

Art is thinner than the rest of us because of all his running. He also limits the unhealthy calories that's sometimes before him. I don't know how he does it. I can waggle a blueberry pie in front of him, but he'll just eat one slice. If he eats two, he'll run extra long the next day.



I don't run, but I'm trying to walk again and I've got the stairs that I do climb every day whether I like it or not.

My mother makes miso soup almost every night and likes to stir fry pak choy or choi sum. We eat brown rice and more than half our meal is usually some kind of vegetable. Tofu cubes in soy sauce and grated ginger is very tasty and provides lots of protein. Art stir fried the sardines and sweet onions in a teriyaki sauce which my mom loves.

Notice I'm not counting the two (or was it three?) cubes of truffles I had or the fruit smoothie I made for dessert. I'll try to walk a few more feet tomorrow.

E-Books

I'm hearing a lot about how people are loving their Kindle.


They're now quite inexpensive, about $129.00 I think, but I believe the books cost about $10. Yes, it's true. I'm cheap. I prefer borrowing books from the library. Then again, I've heard you can get free books, too. Also, I like the idea of being able to read in bed without a night reading light that sometimes (rarely) bothers Art.

I just read in the Honolulu Star Advertiser that you can upload e-book selections (thanks to Project Gutenberg) from the Hawaii library system. It's through something called the Overdrive website.

Apparently you can upload books on readers like "Sony Reader, Barnes and Noble Nook and Kobo eReader, but not on Kindle which does not work with Overdrive."

So I'm wondering...

Is there a reason why I should do Kindle still? On the other hand, I think Kindle is more reasonably priced.

Oh no... another decision!

Sarah Palin's "Targeted" List

The Arizona shooting on Saturday scares me to no end. I've always been a supporter of gun control, more so now than ever. I don't think it would stop these murders, but perhaps they would make it a little harder to do.

I was reading Sunday's Star Advertiser and here's some of what it said:

"When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous," he (the Arizona sheriff) said. "And unfortunately, Arizona, I think has become the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry."

Giffords expressed similar concern, even before the shooting. In an interview after her office was vandalized, she referred to the animosity against her by conservatives, including Sarah Palin's decision to list Giffords' seat as one of the top "targets" in the midterm elections.

"For example, we're on Sarah Palin's targeted list, but the thing is, that the way she has it depicted has the cross hairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they have to realize that there are consequences to that action," Giffords said in an interview with MSNBC." (Giffords was on Palin's Facebook target list because of her support of Health Care Reform and yes, cross hairs were used in the visual depiction of who/where to target.)

Six people are dead now after that shooting at the Arizona mall and nineteen people wounded. Sarah Palin makes it a chic, wonderful thing to use a rifle. I don't understand how she can feel this direction is the best route to take America. I don't understand how there are some people in this country who feel she could be president. I don't understand how some people in this country think the Republicans will take us in a better direction when they got us in the mess in the first place. I don't understand why some people don't want better health care for ALL Americans.

I try not to do too many political posts on my blog and I try to be understanding; I try to be fair. But there are really too many unbalanced, downright crazy people out there. I'm sorry, but this needs to stop!

POSTSCRIPT: I was watching Dateline and saw that there were several people who stepped in during the horror, despite the danger to themselves to stop the gunman and help the injured and dying. That is the one positive thing I've heard that gives me hope. Even in all this evil, there are angels who will rush in to stop it.

Cheap Chocolates

The holidays are over now and the sparkle of tinsels blinding my better judgement are gone. I kept one box of that French Chocmod Truffles (Truffettes de France) to try and gave a whole bunch away as gifts. It was listed as one of the four (or was it five?) things you SHOULD buy at Costco during the holiday season. I believed it all.

I opened the box today. I really should have tried it first before I bought it for several people on my gift list.

I was surprised at how many chocolates were in that box. A LOT!

I was unimpressed with the first taste. The cocoa dusting was not sweet. It's not supposed to be since it's just cocoa powder. The first bite was not super sweet either. It was different. Since I'm one for cheap chocolate (Halloween candy), I guess I wasn't used to fancy French chocolate.

Art said he liked the fact that it wasn't very sweet. My mom's first impression was that it was different. Then she said, "It's good. I like it."


Then I read the nutrition facts. Oops!

The ingredients are: Vegetable oil (palm), sugar, low fat cocoa, whey powder, cocoa powder, emulsifier, soy lecithin, natural vanilla flavor.

Palm oil! 85% Saturated fat!

I guard my carb intake pretty carefully since I am pre-diabetic. So is Mom. I try to make all my carbs count. To be honest though, from now on, I'm sticking to Kit Kats.... or Ghirardelli or Hersheys or Doves or Fanny May or Sees or ...

Just kidding!

POSTSCRIPT: I take it back! I've had a few more and my tongue has adjusted itself. This is actually quite good. Art said to be sure to add his, "I told you so."

Peeling Garlic Made Easy

My daughter, Tiffany gave me a garlic peeler for Christmas. She said I would love it and that it takes off the garlic skin like magic. I was dubious.


It's just a rubber tube, but by golly it works! You stick the garlic cloves into the tube and roll it with a little pressure. The skin actually does come off. I even did more than one at a time.


I make my teriyaki sauce in the Korean style with LOTS of garlic and sesame seed oil. This peeler made my life so much easier.

I love it!

Postscript: Lin and Melissa mentioned in their comments that they use a garlic press. I definitely do, too. However, I like to peel the garlic before I stick it in the press. Now my life is made so much simpler. I hope people don't complain that I use too much garlic now.

POST-POST Script: Here's what Tiffany wrote in her comment, "We got it at Wiliams and Sonoma. My Korean sister in law was the one that told me about it...they use A LOT of garlic and it has to be fresh. For them this is such a time saver."

A New Bedroom

When we moved to Illinois 37 years ago, some new friends offered a connection (interior designer) to get us furniture at very, very reasonable prices. We had several styles to choose from and this was the most simple, traditional furniture we could get. We were very grateful because in those days we had only one paycheck.

We may not have cared a whole bunch for the furniture and we added some mismatched pieces, but we were happy there. The kids used to crowd us on the bed and look out the windows at the tall trees in the backyard.


If you compare photos you'll see that we only brought over the reading light and cedar chest from our Illinois bedroom.

When we got to Hawaii, my son said, "Make your bedroom exactly what you want this time. DON'T get it on Craigslist. Get things that match. You've saved your whole life. It's time to enjoy some things."

It did take some doing to get just what we wanted. All the furniture pieces finally arrived after several months. I stood back to look at it and had to smile. It's just what we wanted. We love it.

The only thing missing is our kids.

Belated New Year Party!

Mom exhausted herself cooking for our Christmas family luncheon; so much so that she became ill and was in pain for several days from pushing herself too hard.

Therefore, this time, I put my foot down and told her that she would prepare just two dishes for New Years and I would use the food processor to do the chopping for her. Art and I would take care of the rest.

One of the dishes she chose to make was hasu (lotus root) cooked in teriyaki sauce. It's very crunchy and tasty. The other dish was kazu no ko (fish eggs). It's my brother's favorite new years dish. He's quite welcome to it. Mom was happy that my nephew's wife also enjoys it.


I marinated thinly sliced chicken and beef in teriyaki sauce (Korean version with lots of garlic and sesame seed oil) and skewered them on bamboo sticks.


Art grilled it to perfection outside.


We bought a plate of sushi from Kozo Sushi.

Dennis and Nancy (brother and sister-in-law) arrived with orange chicken and black pepper chicken from Panda Express. They were followed by my nephew, Barry and his wife, Miho who brought nishime from Gyotaku (Japanese stew). This happens to be Art's favorite so he was happy as a clam.

Mom was delighted to see how happy Dennis was with the kazu no ko she prepared. I couldn't remember eating any so he made me try it. I'm now sure that it's quite all right with me if he eats it all. He must have because there were no left overs.


We toasted the New Year of the Rabbit with plum wine. Barry and Miho also brought some Moscato d'Asti which I'd never had before. It was really wonderful. I could have drunk that bottle by myself.

Now that we've had our New Year's Party, we can officially move on through 2011 with confidence and fun, if not a few more pounds to shed.

Today is our 38th Wedding Anniversary and Nancy dropped off malasadas (with yummy filling) from her and Dennis to celebrate! It was seriously delicious and decadent.

Art is making me start my exercise right away. No more procrastinating now!

How Long Can I Keep It UP?

When I was a kid we'd juggle small bean bags and see how long we could keep it going; sometimes with two bean bags and sometimes with three.

It's been a challenge to see how long I can write a post daily. I've been doing it since July, 2010. I think I've missed only a handful of days.


Some days have been hard. My brain just couldn't think of what to say. Some days I'd have 5-6 things I wanted to write about. It's great that you can pre-post things or even post-post things. (I don't know what you call it to post things ahead of time or after the date.) Anyway, I hope you know what I mean.

When I was teaching I always had a whole bunch of goals, schedules and deadlines. I guess I need to have a little bit of pressure to keep me going even though I'm retired. Otherwise, I feel like I'm at loose ends.

Yes, it's true my kids now think I'm a little bonkers or at least somewhat OCD. However, it's nothing they didn't suspect before.

KC's Heart Tree

I have not been blessed with a sense of direction whereas Art seems to almost always know where he is in correlation to the direction of the sun, mountains, oceans, ETC.

My daughter takes after Art. If she goes to a department store with me, she'll keep a steady eye on me because she knows it's possible for me to go 'round and 'round and never find my way out again.

When we were all on Maui at a hotel this summer, I started to lead three and a half year old KC to where I thought their hotel room was. She tugged at my hand and said, "Grandma, not that way. We have to go this way."

Art had to stifle a laugh. (My mother and her sister are the same way. I blame them for this defective gene.)

My son, Jon says it's all in my head. He says I'm just not being observant. Well... maybe.
When we went for an afternoon walk before Christmas and were nearing home, Art asked KC, "Do you know which way our house is,KC?"

"It's that way!" shouted KC happily.

We were surprised that she'd figured it out because we'd walked in a circle around the neighborhood and didn't think she knew where we were.

"How did you know?" Art asked her.

"It's my heart tree," said KC.

I didn't even realize the tree had a heart shape... so maybe Jon is right. But then again, maybe it's still a defective gene that makes me not pay attention to these landmarks.

Oh well... thank goodness for GPS!

Hawaiian American Girl Doll

Art says he's going to start charging me for post ideas when I run dry. Therefore, I'm giving him full credit for this one:

One of the big news around Hawaii is the new American Doll of the Year (aside from President Obama enjoying shave ice on the other side of the island). Her name is Kanani and she is supposed to be from Hawaii.

I don't know.

Art says she looks more like a California girl than a Hawaiian girl. I guess I envisioned a Hawaiian doll to look more like this doll I found on YouTube.




Still, I keep in mind that my nephews all look like California dudes if you saw them since they're half Irish on their mother's side. However, they are born and raised in Hawaii. My nephew, Shawn on the right is a professional entertainer in Waikiki (mainland and Japan as well) and sings beautiful Hawaiian songs while playing the ukulele or guitar.

Still, I think I would have liked the Hawaiian American doll to have looked a bit more like a native Hawaiian with black hair and brown eyes rather than light brown hair and hazel eyes.

But that's just me. (umm... and Art, too.)

In With the New, But Keeping the Old

About 10 or more years ago, we were at Kenosha's Outlet Mall in Wisconsin and I saw my perfect (Hedgren Urban) bag at the Samsonite store.

I've always loved backpacks because they leave my hands free. However, I need a backpack that would make it hard for pickpockets when we travel. Therefore, it should open up from the back and yet have a small pocket in front for my notebook or cellphone.

This Urban backpack was just what I was looking for. It was also lightweight and comfortable.

The small, but spacious bag was on a clearance rack. I think it was $20.00. For $1.00 more I could buy a second one. You bet I did! I figured I could always give it away as a gift.

I didn't. You can see the difference in the old, well used and loved bag and the new bag that I have my mother use when we travel.

I think I've carried that bag exclusively for ten years, perhaps more. I know it's dumb, but I want to save that twin backpack. When I looked on line, they were going for $90.00 a bag now. Gracious!

Since it was showing its age, I put another Urban backpack on my wishlist for Christmas as a change of pace, and my daughter, Tiffany bought it for me online.


I'm enjoying my new Urban backpack. It's called Baggalini. But, you know what? I'm looking at my Hedgren and it's hard to put it away no matter how ratty it looks. It's like an old friend who's hugged my back for such a long time.

I'll be using my new backpack in 2011, but I'll keep my old friend to use every so often.

Happy New Year! 1-1-11

The fireworks began early. By 9:00PM the cacophony and flashes of light were steady and everywhere. From our second floor, we could see the fiery flashes of color blossoming from Waikiki to Makakilo. These photos were all taken by Art. Mine were terrible.

Soon the air all around us was filled with smoke and smog from the firecrackers. The problem of photographing fireworks in the distance is we couldn't see much of anything because of the smoke.

Still, we enjoyed the merrymaking of our neighbors and now I can go to sleep. It didn't last half as long as I thought it would. Perhaps everybody ran out of fireworks because they started early?

Ah well... Let's hope the trade winds will blow the smoke away by morning. It's a brand new year! Let's do our best to make it a good one. HAPPY NEW YEAR, Everybody!