Reduce, Reuse, Recyle!

We've always been disappointed about Hawaii not having a more robust recycling program. Our Chicagoland neighborhood accepted almost everything. Our Hawaii recycling program only collects newsprint and cardboard for its paper products. The Honolulu Star Advertiser reported on this Hagadone recycling place. Sounds pretty good. Now we have a place to drop off all our telephone books, magazines and glossy paper. Yae!

Drive-Up. Drop-Off
As a service to the community of Honolulu, we also accept telephone books for recycling. The drop-off location is our plant at 274 Puuhale Road. Look for the “Drive-up, Drop-off” banner during business hours, 8am to 5pm (please call ahead at 847-5310 to let us know you’re coming), or the 2nd Saturday of every month from 8am to 12-noon. Your phone books will be shredded, baled and shipped back to the mill, where your old books will be re-purposed into new paper.

Note: Businesses and Government Agencies will be charged $50 per ton for shredding and recycling drop-offs.

We accept glossy magazines, catalogs, brochures, mailers, and phone books.

IMPORTANT, please remove:
• Magnets on Phones Books • Hardback Covers • Rubberbands • Metal & Spiral Bindings
• Carbon paper • Photographs • Blueprints • Shrink Wrap • Adhesives (labels, post-its, stamps, tape).
Staples are OK, but all other metals must be removed to avoid shredder jamming.

Day Time
Monday 8am to 5pm
Tuesday 8am to 5pm
Wednesday 8am to 5pm
Thursday 8am to 5pm
Friday 8am to 5pm
Second Saturday of each Month 8am to Noon

Or, drop-off at any Lex Brodie’s (during regular business hours):
Location Address
Honolulu 701 Queen St., Honolulu 96813
Pearlridge 98-115 Kamehameha Hwy, Aiea 96701
Waipahu 94-169 Farrington Hwy. Waipahu 96797
Kalihi 333 Kalihi St., Honolulu 96819
Kaneohe 46-158 Malina Pl., Kaneohe 96744

I understand the GOP is dismantling ex House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's composting program. Unfortunately that program wasn't working out too well according to the article.

Still, it was sad when Jimmy Carter set up solar panels to heat water at the White House and Ronald Reagan dismantling it because it wasn't classy looking. I understand that President Obama is being encouraged to install solar panels again as a commitment to renewable energy. The latest I've heard is that they will go up this year.

I really feel the U.S. needs to work toward Reducing, Reusing and Recycling!!!

KC, a Chip Off her Dad's Techie Block; Sendai Update

We got a Skype call from our daughter, Tiffany and 4 year old granddaughter KC this morning. It just amazed us that she's using the mouse now to select emoticons (and pictures) and knows how to left click to send it to us.

"Look, Grandpa," she'd call out excitedly, "I'm sending you lots of coffee." Then we'd see photos of mugs of coffee appear on our Skype screen.

I remember a time when I'd have to limit the calls I made to Hawaii from Chicago because of the expense. Now we can see and talk to KC and Tif whenever we want for FREE. We can even have a three way conversation with Tif in Chicago and her husband Ed (wherever he is on business) so he can advise us on some computer glitch. It just boggles my mind every time.

UPDATE on Sendai:
I was able to place another call to Sendai yesterday so my mother could speak to her sister, Atsuko. Mom told Aunt Atsuko that we were concerned about what we were seeing on TV about the radiation levels in Fukushima as well as all the shortages.

My aunt said they're still doing OK. My cousin's husband's family has a business that was not affected too greatly by the earthquake. They have been selling out on quite a few of their household items such as containers (to hold water, etc.), small gas stoves, etc. Profit is very small because they have to drive very far to Niigata to keep their shelves somewhat stocked and the cost in fuel to transport products is expensive. When they travel to Niigata, they're able to get water for my aunt's family. Aunt Atsuko says they are much luckier than many others in the area. She says her new grandson is keeping their spirits up with his smiles and happy squeals.

Still, my mother let them know that our house is always open to them if they can get themselves over here. They know about the radiation risk, but so far feel they are safe.

Since the train lines were down, the only method of transportation is the bus. My Aunt Suzuko in Tokyo offered to bring milk, diapers or whatever they needed by bus, but Aunt Atsuko told her it was still unnecessary.

There is a word in Japanese that is a common philosophy. It's called enryo. This link gives you a more thorough meaning, but basically it means to defer your own needs for others. Somebody might offer you a delectable treat and you may enryo and not accept it so they can enjoy it instead.

In that way, I fear our relatives would enryo rather than impose on us. Heavy sigh...

Bracing the Leaning Tree of Papaya

Remember the storm that caused our papaya tree to tilt precariously?

Most people would probably just give up and chop down the tree. Not Art.


He and my mother prize this tree because it's been providing us with some very sweet papayas.

To think I threatened to chop it down when it didn't bear fruit for over a couple of years.

After staring at it for several days, Art decided to design a crutch for it.


I had to pad the crutch so it wouldn't dig into the tree trunk. Then he wanted to make sure the wind wouldn't blow it in another direction as well as into the neighbor's fence which isn't exactly sturdy.


It's not the most attractive look, but what the heck! Our kids will tell you that their dad will go to extraordinary lengths to save a living thing.

Maybe it's part of his Buddhist upbringing?

Dueling Chopsticks

We went to a 3rd year memorial service for Art's uncle at the temple over the weekend.


Art's aunt treated all of us to a luncheon at the Waimalu Chop Suey Restaurant. While we waited for our food, Art's cousin, Tsugi laughingly boasted that he could hold chopsticks on both hands since he was ambidextrous.

That's when Art noticed that Tsugi held his chopsticks using three fingers to manipulate the top chopstick. Art tried to show him that the proper way was to hold the top chopsticks with two fingers.


Tsugi's brother, Kazu chuckled and told us that he's always been embarrassed about not learning to hold chopsticks correctly. We all raised our eyebrows and (sorry to admit) burst out laughing uproariously when we saw that he held his chopsticks crossed! How does he ever hold his food?


And there was a lot of food! This is my plate and I certainly didn't finish it. We ate my leftovers for dinner.


That's when we got into the chopsticks wars. I told Art he was NOT holding his chopsticks properly.

My mother took Art's side. Wouldn't you know it? As a matter of fact, she holds it like Art. What the heck?

"NO", I said. "You're supposed to hold the top chopstick with three fingers and brace the bottom one on your ring finger." After all, how can you catch a fly like Mr. Miyagi in Karate Kid, if you're not able to control that top chopstick better?

My brother agreed with me later. He told Art he needs the strength of that third finger so he can lift heavier food to his mouth...hence (he laughed) his size compared to Art's.

When we went to my aunt's house, she agreed with my mother. She said the two fingered approach was much more graceful. However, my cousin who happened to be there agreed with me.

Well... I looked online and proved to my mother that I was right. She didn't like that. She said just because it says so online doesn't make it so. I don't think I want to admit to her OR Art that I found another website that said (maybe) they were right.

Ah well... should we discuss how we hold our forks?

Happy St. Patrick's Day everybody. And nope, I wouldn't use chopsticks for corned beef and cabbage. Knife and fork all the way!

Happy Surprise!

I just got this e-mail from my cousin, Kanako in Tokyo.

"This morning, my mother received a phone call from our aunt in Sendai.
(I hope you have already talked with them.) They came back to their house and started using electric power, getting warm, having temporary water supply.
I believe the situation is getting better."

Since Kanako said phone calls were possible I decided to try contacting Sendai again. Incredibly, after many attempts I was able to get through. My mother, in near tears spoke to her baby sister. I could hardly believe it! My aunt and family are truly fine...for now.

They have a good emergency supply of food and told us not to worry. Their shortages at this point was in diapers and milk for their grandson and WATER. Lack of water is always such a problem.

They all sleep together in the room closest to the front door in case of another earthquake.

The days are full of ups and downs.

For us, the news have gotten a bit better. We're keeping our fingers crossed. They were one of the lucky ones, but it's not over yet.

This photo is of my Hawaii aunt and my mom with their baby sister at her Sendai home in spring of last year.

It seems like such a long time ago.

POSTSCRIPT: I just told Art that we need to get our disaster supply organized. (This is the link to FEMA's disaster supply list.) I'm going to make sure we have enough water!

POSTSCRIPT 2: Margaret commented about our donation decision. After a lot of thought, we've decided to send our contribution to Direct Relief International. Thank you for this recommendation, Nancy.

The Where to Donate Quandry

I'm trying to decide where to send my donation toward the relief efforts. Everywhere I look, I'm seeing us steered toward the American Red Cross. Art said I should check the Charity Navigator. They do give you lots of helpful charity advice. I do believe I will wait a tiny bit first to see what the charities' plan of action is before I decide where to send my money. Right now they're evaluating what and where aid should be directed toward. Some charities are directed toward short term aid and other toward long term assistance. You should also make sure your donation is going specifically toward the Japan Earthquake Relief.

I just saw this interesting information which is great.

March 14, 2011 02:03 PM Eastern Daylight Time
MasterCard Worldwide Provides Support for Japanese Relief Efforts
PURCHASE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MasterCard Worldwide announced that it will provide support for the Japanese relief efforts following the tragic earthquake and tsunami. Interchange fees on Japanese relief donations that are made using U.S. issued MasterCard cards to the following organizations will be waived: American Red Cross, AmeriCares, Doctors Without Borders, International Rescue Committee, Save the Children and World Vision.

In Canada, interchange fees on Japanese relief donations that are made using Canadian issued MasterCard cards to the following organizations will be waived: Canada Helps, Canadian Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, International Rescue Committee, Save the Children and World Vision.


I'm leaning toward the IRC (International Rescue Committee), Doctors Without Borders or perhaps the American Red Cross. My cousin in Hawaii told me that several Hawaiian banks have established funds that will go toward the Red Cross efforts in Japan. We'll keep monitoring the situation and make our decision in the next couple of days.

(Art just showed me a news article warning people to be cautious of scams that have suddenly popped up. The article said to be wary of online solicitations, watch for phony names, examine web addresses, don't pay in cash, check with the charity, resist pushy demands and do your homework.)

By the way, isn't it incredible how there hasn't been any cases of looting going on? Everybody seems willing to wait patiently for hours in lines that stretch to eternity for food and water, sharing whatever they have. I wish every disaster could be met with the same determination and desire to survive together.

POSTSCRIPT: My friend, Nancy just sent me an e-mail suggesting Direct Relief International. It does indeed sound like another great place to send donations.

Sad

I had a lighter story ready to go for today, but I just couldn't post it. I'm hearing numbers like 10,000 people estimated dead from the earthquake, nuclear reactors at risk of exploding, shortages of food, water, protection from the cold.

We haven't been able to contact my aunt, uncle and cousins since that one very brief phone call that incredibly went through. I imagine they aren't able to stay at their house since my aunt said it showed a lot of cracks in the walls and damage. They were also worried about more aftershocks bringing the house down on them.

Our dear friend in Tokyo who we lovingly call Sam has offered to do everything in his power to help my relatives in Sendai with food, clothing or whatever they need. However, we don't even know where our relatives are now.

Life goes on here in Hawaii. We're going about our everyday activities which I will post tomorrow, but not today. My heart is just too heavy.

POSTSCRIPT:
I just got an e-mail from one of my cousins in Tokyo this morning:

"Yesterday, we received cellphone-mail from Tomoko (Sendai cousin).
Communication lines are not stable.

Tomochan said that her family is fine in car still now, though they cannot use electric nor gas nor water.

We are informed that we cannot personally deliver any goods to Miyagi now. (Many of the roads are closed.)
The thing we can do is donation and economize on electric power."

It was wonderful to hear something. Not knowing and not being able to do anything is just the worst thing!

Aspivenin?

I just saw an article in the Honolulu Star Advertiser 5 Things We Love section. Number 1 was Aspivenin.

Since my brother and I both have blood that mosquitoes love, I would like to get one. I'd rather not send for it from France because I imagine the shipping alone would be terribly expensive. I looked online and found somebody who said it's sold in Canada.

Therefore, this question is for my Canadian bloggers. Have you seen this product sold in Canada? Is it sold at any of the pharmacies? Since we're planning to make a trip to Canada this spring, I'd love to buy one if it's available.

I wish they'd sell this in Hawaii! Then again, does anybody know if it really works? I want to believe.

Cherishing the Ordinary Day

In May of 2008, I posted an essay by Mary Jean Irion called Let Me Hold You While I May.

It began:
"The day is over; now I will sleep. It has been a normal sort of day, common like a rock along the path. Nothing about it would make one exclaim over it, as one might do with a shell or a glistening piece of quartz. It was just a rock, lying there along my way. But now, knowing that it is about to go from me forever, I hold it in my hand curiously, turning it this way and that, marking its shape and texture, weighing it on my palm. What was it really, this normal day?"...

The essay speaks of cherishing that ordinary day because someday it could be taken from you.

I'm looking around me today and seeing Art's smile, tasting my mom's dishes, talking to my children on the cellphone, doing some shopping and seeing some relatives. They are common everyday things. With all the tragedies so far away happening to those dear to us and everyone around them, it's made me acutely grateful for what we have now.

I'm going to take the time today to appreciate how lucky we are, to notice the wonderful people and things around me and treasure it.

A Relieved Update

It's been a time of anxiety and fear. We've tried to contact our relatives, but the phone lines were down in Sendai last night.

Phone calls were racing back and forth last night and this morning between the three sisters here in Hawaii trying to impart any news they'd heard about the situation in Sendai and Tokyo.

We've also been concerned about a dear friend of ours and his family in Tokyo and my (Hawaii) cousin's husband who was visiting his family in Fukushima which is located between Sendai and Tokyo. My nephew's wife, Miho's family also lives in Tokyo. Miho reassured Mom that her family is doing well although they are staying at a shelter right now.

This morning, my aunt in Hawaii called with exciting news. She was able to get through at last to their sister in Sendai.

Apparently, my aunt, uncle and cousin were sleeping in their car because it was too dangerous to stay in their house which though still standing is unstable and in shambles. My aunt needed to use the bathroom so she ran into the house quickly just when my Hawaii aunt placed her call. She was able to reassure us that they were very badly shaken but fine. The call was short because my uncle was frantically calling for her to get out of the house.

This is a photo of us with my aunt and cousin during our 2008 trip. It was such a peaceful, happy, lovely day.

This is a photo of my mother with her brother in Tokyo, also from 2008 when we went there with my brother, Dennis.

This afternoon, I placed a call for her to Tokyo. My uncle and his family live in a relatively new home built with the latest earthquake proof specifications. They incurred no damage at all. In fact, he'd been desperately and unsuccessfully trying to call Sendai to find out how their sister fared. He laughed realizing that he was getting news about Japan from his sister living in Hawaii.

The latest call from my aunt here in Hawaii reassured us that her daughter's husband had called to say he was at Narita Airport getting ready to board a plane to return to Hawaii.

Oahu incurred very little damage from the reports I've heard recently. However, I know many of the boats in the marina sustained some damage. All the public and many private schools on the island were closed today. My brother was sent home from work as well. The tsunami alert is down to just an advisory right now.

Although we are relieved that our family seems to be alright for now, we are still reeling from the tragic loss of life and devastation all around northern Japan. Each new piece of information is more horrible than the one before.

Our hearts are very heavy. I'm looking outside at the sunshine and bright skies, but everything looks different. The day is different.

I told my mom about all your love and prayers from around the world. She was amazed, so very touched and asked me to thank you with all her heart. It meant more to us than I can adequately express.

It's truly a time to hold each other and be grateful for all we have at this moment. In just a few awful seconds, life can change so much. I am sending you all our love and gratitude for your kind words, prayers and thoughts.

Worry

My brother called to tell us a few minutes ago that Japan has been hit by an 8.9 magnitude earthquake.

I'd just made a call to Japan earlier in the day so that Mom could speak to her sister. Mom asked her about the earlier earthquake. My aunt said it caused no damage. We were all very relieved and the two sisters had a lovely chat to catch up on their lives. This photo is of our family temple in Sendai where my grandfather was the priest.

And now this.

My post was about the happiest person in America yesterday. It was a frivolus post. I was happy.

And now this.

My fingers are shaking as I type this. I've just read that Sendai where my mother's sister and family are has been hit badly. There was a 13 foot tsunami. Tokyo has also been damaged. We have more family and dear friends there.

We tried to call my aunt and uncle, but the phones are overburdened and we couldn't get through.

We're sitting here... not knowing.

It's such an awful feeling.

Good grief! The Hawaii tsunami siren is going off! We're supposed to be hit by a tsunami at 2:30 AM or something like that. What in the world is going on?

The Happiest Person in America Lives in Hawaii

A couple days ago it was in the news that the New York Times found the happiest person in America. He's right here on Oahu.

"The New York Times asked Gallup to come up with a statistical composite for the happiest person in America, based on the characteristics that most closely correlated with happiness in 2010. Men, for example, tend to be happier than women, older people are happier than middle-aged people, and so on.


Gallup’s answer: he’s a tall, Asian-American, observant Jew who is at least 65 and married, has children, lives in Hawaii, runs his own business and has a household income of more than $120,000 a year. A few phone calls later and ...

Meet Alvin Wong. He is a 5-foot-10, 69-year-old, Chinese-American, Kosher-observing Jew, who’s married with children and lives in Honolulu. He runs his own health care management business and earns more than $120,000 a year."

Okeedokee. I have the Asian part going for me. I'm married and have two children AND I live in Hawaii. I thought I was, but I guess I'm not the happiest person in America. The Star Advertiser said there are only a handful of men who are Asian and of the Jewish faith.

What strikes me as interesting is that for all the pain and suffering Jewish people have had to face, people belonging to that faith are considered the happiest. My mother has always repeated that to know great joy, you have to know what is great pain.

Art wouldn't approve of me having a sex change operation but in a few years I'll be over 65 and have one more thing going for me. Hmmm... I wonder what kind of business I should start...

The Saga of the Dyson Vacuum Cleaner

Our ancient (30+ year) canister vacuum cleaner is not efficient about keeping dust from spewing out at me. We decided it was time to buy a new one.

While at Sears (department store) we noticed a Dyson DC23 Animal Canister Vacuum Cleaner. We'd seen Dyson advertised on TV so we decided to see what it was like. The salesperson, Suzette was very helpful showing us how it didn't need a bag or replacement filter. Lovely! It was on sale from $549.00 down to $439.20. That's still pretty expensive for a vacuum cleaner. She said it would be on sale for two days and that Sears would conveniently handle the Dyson 5 year service guarantee. (If you want to buy a vacuum cleaner at the Pearlridge Sears store, go see Suzette. She's great!)

We really wanted to buy it but decided to check online to see what critics thought of the machine. Besides you KNOW we can never make up our minds that quickly.

We then stopped at the Base Exchange and discovered that they didn't have the model we wanted, but they had the cheaper model for about $50.00 MORE than Sears had it on sale for. Strange.

Our next stop was Target. They had the model we wanted. It was over $500.00!!! What the heck!

We stopped at a Vacuum Repair place and the very nice fellow said he can't fix Dyson because he can't get the parts. Hmmmm....

We were ready to go back to Sears and just buy the darn thing. However, I really wanted to check online so we went home instead.

Back at home I read the reviews. Apparently tall people complained that the wand was too short. Gee... I'm short... sort of. So no problem.

Checked Best Buy (online) to see if they had a better price...just in case. By golly! They had it on sale for $399.00! (No shipping charge! Just pick it up at the store.) Woo hoo! But what about the guarantee? How would Best Buy handle that?

I called Dyson and asked about their 5 year warranty if we bought their vacuum cleaner from some place other than Sears. What would happen if my machine broke? The very nice lady said Sears handles the guarantee no matter where you buy their machine. If the machine stops working, you call Dyson, get a work number and take your machine into Sears where they are supposed to repair it.

Cool!

Called Best Buy in Aiea. The nice lady said they were all out, but their computer listed two Dysons available. She gave me the number to the Honolulu store.

Called the Honolulu store. Put on hold forever and a day! Finally a woman answered the hold I was put on to say they had NO machines in stock and none back ordered or available for purchase.

What?

Went back online to the Best Buy site and bought the Dyson on sale. It stated that it was ready to be picked up at Best Buy Honolulu now!

What?

I called Best Buy Honolulu back and talked to a rather not so friendly fellow which meant I had to resort to my teacher voice. He said they do have the Dyson ready for pick up. I asked him why the woman I talked to earlier said they didn't have any and wouldn't have any in the near future. He said she probably didn't know that it was in the storeroom (even though it's listed on their computer inventory, mind you).


I looked at the rating for Best Buy Honolulu. They got 1.5 out of 5 stars from 64 customer reviewers and I can see why. The Aiea store got a better rating but they don't have the vacuum cleaner available there.

Wouldn't you think that if a store had such terrible customer service ratings from so many people that they would do something about it? When I mentioned this to my brother, he burst out laughing saying he makes it a point not to go there.

Can you believe we made this decision in ONE DAY? That's a record! Now let's see if we really like it.


POSTSCRIPT 1: We went to Best Buy Honolulu to pick up our Dyson Animal Canister vacuum cleaner. I'm happy to report that the pick up counter person was very friendly and helpful. We brought the cleaner home, quickly assembled it and tried it out on our rather clean looking 4 X 6 feet oriental carpet. We could NOT believe how much dust it picked up!

Needless to say, we are quite happy and satisfied.

POSTSCRIPT 2: Uh oh! I just talked to my friend, Diane last night. She said their school had a Dyson and it broke within a year. Sigh...

Well... thank goodness for the 5 year parts and labor garantee.

Making a Difference

As a retired teacher I often wonder how my students are doing. Since I taught 1st grade, I figured most would forget me. I assume that children tend to remember their middle school or high school teachers more than a teacher from their younger days.

As an educator you sometimes wonder if you made a difference.

Therefore you can imagine my delight when one of my students actually found me and then my blog. She sent me an e-mail yesterday updating me on what was going on with her life.

"...How are you doing in Hawaii? You sound great from what I've seen in your blog. The weather here is terrible! I could use a trip to Hawaii. Hopefully spring is on the horizon.

I don't even know where to start with this update, but here goes. I'm a sophomore now. My freshman year was great and I absolutely love the school. I'm actually taking Japanese now! I still remember the day when you brought in items of your Hawaiian and Japanese heritage in 1st grade. And when we talked to your son by speakerphone and learned all about Mali. Both of those things, as little as they were, actually left a really big impact on me. For example, I know Peace Corps is a huge leap, but I am definitely interested in looking into it for the future. And I have loved taking Japanese! I'm hosting a student from Japan in a few weeks and I'm super excited..."

All my students showed golden promise. Many excelled even though they had too many burdens placed on them. There were also those special students who you knew would blossom and fly off into the world gifted with determination and talent. Art used to volunteer (editing my students' writing with them one on one) the year this beautiful girl was in my class.

We knew back then that here was a child who could and would do anything she set her mind to and that she would make a difference in this world.

I'm still grinning... ear to ear.

Sparrows and Doves

We were at Costco on Thursday having our $1.50 hot dog and soda.

There are huge signs asking people to please NOT feed the birds. However, I could see that some people disregard those messages... or perhaps not. Perhaps the hot dogs were just dropped on the ground by some young child not used to eating such a huge meal.

I was surprised that the birds were eating the meat.


Whatever the case, I've been noticing that a lot of the doves have misshapen feet. They are missing claws and are walking clumsily on tottering stubs.

Interestingly, the sparrows feet are just fine. I wonder why. I did notice that doves walk while sparrows hop. Could that be the reason?

It's just really strange.

Caring for Cut Flowers

My cousin, David gave my mother some roses a couple of weeks ago. He apologized that they were actually not in the best condition.

Some of the leaves were a little brittle, but otherwise, they were gorgeous. Each bud looked so perfect that they almost looked artificial. Mom was instantly captivated, but she wanted me to take care of them. She didn't feel confident about caring for such beautiful blooms.



I put them in water, cut the stems in a slant with a sharp knife and removed the broken leaves. I also added a little bit of flower fertilizer to the water that came with some other flowers we bought a long time ago. A few minutes later, the more withered leaves perked right up. The roses looked as fresh as if we'd just picked them.


Every day or two, I cut the stems and changed the water. After a week, the buds opened up a bit more. Some of the petals had edges that were a little blackened. I just pulled it off, removed all the leaves and added some other foliage. I also cut the stems so they got shorter and shorter. I put the roses on mom's table where she could admire them whenever she watched TV. We were all amazed at how long they lasted.

It seems to me that years ago, roses died within a few days of getting them. I now see that with proper care, they can last over a week.

Storm Damage!

We woke up at around 3:30 AM yesterday feeling the house vibrating and rattling. I thought we were having another earthquake. It sounded like a train rolling by. I was sound asleep but our heavy garbage can on the curb falling over must have been what really woke me up.


The storm damage we found in the morning was startling. The hose caddy had been blown away from the side of the house.


A huge branch of the tree in front of our house had broken off.


KC might be sad to see that her heart tree no longer has the shape that she loved.


Our neighbors down the street also lost a big branch from their tree. I called the Facility Maintenance Department for the City and County of Honolulu. They sent a crew out to take care of the branches before the end of the day.

My brother says the screens on their condo windows in Salt Lake blew out and that he saw palm trees bent over with the hurricane like winds. Good grief!


Art and mom were very unhappy about our papaya tree nearly falling over. Art is trying to figure out how to make a crutch to hold the tree up.

As you can see, there are a lot of fruit starting to grow that we are not willing to give up on.

I sure hope that's all (please!) for the winter/spring storms. The weather forecaster was even talking about hail! Doesn't Mother Nature know this is Hawaii?

Not Just for Babies!

A few days ago Gigi-Hawaii mentioned how her grandson who she was babysitting banged his head on the corner of her computer hutch.

I told her that my daughter, Tiffany put corner edge cushions on all her sharp edges at home. Tiffany said you could find them at Target or Babies R Us. I saw them today at City Mill (Hawaii) while we were shopping so I took a photo of it just in case.


Last year when Tif heard that Art and I both bumped our heads on the corners of the shelves in the carport tool closet, she sent those cushions for us and insisted we use them.

Therefore... it's not just for babies anymore.

I'd better not tell her that I tripped yesterday because she might send me a helmet.

Remembering Christchurch

In March of 2005, we spent a little over three weeks in Sydney, Australia and New Zealand. My cousin had offered us vouchers for greatly reduced flights to Down Under. I wasn't sure I wanted to go because it seemed like such a long flight and I was expecting New Zealand to be like Hawaii and Sydney to be like Chicagoland where we were from. However, Art said, "Sure! We'd love to go."

Thus on our next trip to visit my mother, we divided our vacation between Hawaii and AUS/NZ. It turned out to be one of our most favorite trips. Not only were the people so very friendly and kind, but the scenery was spectacular, awesome, amazing, fantastic. Someone told me once that driving around NZ would take extra long because you'll forever be wanting to stop the car to take photos. So true!

Art did a little research and learned quickly why Australia is considered a continent. He decided that it would cost too much to fly to different tourist spots in Australia. Instead, he said we'd spend two weeks driving through the North and South Islands of New Zealand and one week in Sydney.

Hotels are very expensive Down Under so we decided to stay in Youth Hostels. We spent two days in Christchurch, New Zealand and stayed at the Rolleston House YHA. We loved it there. We found that we had planned too short a stay in Christchurch because there were so many wonderful things to experience there and we hadn't been able to spend as much time as we wanted at their botanical garden.

That's the Canterbury Museum that we visited and could see across the street from our hostel window. We took the convenient free yellow shuttle to many of the sights in Christchurch (including the Canterbury Brewery).


The devastation we've been seeing on TV after the recent Christchurch earthquake breaks our hearts. We met so many lovely, friendly people in New Zealand and hope they're all OK. This photo was taken at Cathedral Square.

It startled me to see this photo shown on TV and on the web. I'm wondering how all the other places we'd seen fared. It's such a shock!

Oahu just had a 3.6 earthquake on February 24th. That really startled us. The Big Island gets these small quakes every so often because of the live volcanoes, but not us. What is going on with our world?

Peace Corps' 50th Birthday!

When my son, Jon said he wanted to be a Peace Corps Volunteer, Art and I didn't jump up and down with joy. We were more apprehensive about the conditions in which he would be required to live in. Jon grew up in a middle class neighborhood and didn't want for much although he'll tell you we refused to buy the kids those Nintendo type computer games. Oh yes... he was quite deprived.

The Peace Corps sent him to Mali in west Africa where he worked for 27 months. He lived in a mud compound in a village called Koro Bada, cut off from the comforts that he grew up with. He met wonderful, interesting people, learned a new culture and language and grew up. He also nearly died of malaria.

Whereas I couldn't get him to enjoy reading books at home, in Koro Bada he devoured them and read everything he could find. He had lots of time to read with no television. He was rather appalled that I had not read Moby Dick. This photo is the library at the Corps stage house.


Jon saw how people there often ate the same thing day after day, ground up millet called toh.


We sent him things to share with the villagers. The soccer ball we sent was played with until the skin of the ball had completely fallen off. Here Jon is playing Frisbee with some children.

The Peace Corps held an essay contest for teachers where there would be 50 winners around the U.S. Winning teachers would be able to have a Peace Corps Volunteer talk to their class on a speaker phone. Incredibly, I won! My class could not wait to ask Jon a thousand questions.


Jon traveled to a larger town where he would be able to speak to my class. My students still remember that day. They could hardly believe they were speaking to Jon in Africa.

Throughout all the time Jon was in Mali and after his return, all my classes learned more about Africa than I'd ever taught any class before. They also learned more about maps and geography, culture and customs because of the interest he generated.

One of Jon's Malian teacher friends even came to America and taught my class about his country. That was really incredible.

The Peace Corps celebrated their 50th Birthday yesterday. John Kennedy started the program to help improve the lives of impoverished people in other countries. Many volunteers go hoping to do just that. I think it's more than that. Because of Jon's service my 1st grade classes, the entire first grade team as well as several of the other grades learned about Mali. I think the impact of the Peace Corps is a bridge of understanding that goes two ways.

I'd like to wish the Peace Corps a happy birthday with hopes for another 50 years!

3rd Blogaversary!

Phew! I've written 956 posts in the last three years. I said I was going to relax a bit after writing a post a day for 8 months. We'll see about that.

I would like to thank you all very much for being my wonderful cyber friends and family these past three years. I have learned so much from you and have come to care about you just as I do my neighbors who live close by. I'm looking forward to the next three years together!

I love you guys!