Antique Technology?

Mom was very upset this afternoon when the VCR player started eating up her tapes.  We checked and yes, that's what it was doing.

Mom's sister, Auntie Grace records a LOT of videos that she tapes for her sister.  My cousin is very generous with his mother getting her a rather pricey cable service to a Japanese station.  I don't know how it works.  I just know she tapes a lot of the informative programs for mom. 

The problem is that it's all on VCR tapes.  And now the machine was broken.

We were dubious that we could find another VCR player.  We even left behind about three of them in Chicago when we moved to Hawaii four years ago since we weren't watching VCR tapes anymore.

We went to Walmart and had to ask a salesperson if they carried one.  The look on the young person's face was hilarious.  I wish I could have taken a photo of it.

"Why?" he asked completely dumbfounded.

No, they didn't have any although when we looked on the back shelves, we did find some DVD/VCR players.  They weren't very cheap and would be a waste since mom doesn't watch DVDs.

We finally went to Don Quijote and found a DVD/VCR combo player on sale for $99.99.  We decided to get it since it was about half the price of the one at Walmart.

We set it up and Art tried to show her how to use it.  She would need three remotes to operate everything.

She got so confused that I scanned the remotes and had her write the instructions down in Japanese.

One remote is for the DVD/VCR player.  One is for the TV and the last one is for the analog to digital converter since the TV is an older model.

So here is mom still working with VCR technology although I imagine DVDs will soon become antiques as well.  I've got so many things stored on DVDs right now.  I'm cringing wondering how soon this will happen with things like the Cloud which I still don't understand looming on the horizon.

Gutters, Downspouts and Rain Barrel, Oh My!

We've had a problem area on the roof of the house where the rain just flows off like a waterfall.  We've had gutter people here who tried to solve the problem, but it only made it worse so they had to remove the flashing contraption they put on.

Mom put buckets under that area to catch the rain water which she uses to water the plants.

Art has decided to try and solve this problem.  He says he's going to attach a gutter on the roof and then install a downspout that would flow out toward the street and into this rain barrel we bought at Home Depot.  The rain barrel wasn't cheap at $125, but we thought it looked like it matched the area.

He'll start this project the day after tomorrow.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it works.

Another Home Maintenance Project

One side of the house was showing quite a bit of wood damage from the elements so I thought it would be a good idea to give it a good caulking.  I used some almond colored caulking I happened to have.  Unfortunately it freaked mom out the following morning.  She thought something had gone drastically wrong with the house.

This caulk is supposed to last 50 years.  I guess I won't be around to know if it's really true.  I hope I didn't just caulk termites into the wood panels.

Luckily I had left over house paint from 5 years ago which worked very well.  When the paint dried, you couldn't tell where I'd painted.

Working on this side of the house gave Art another idea for a house project.  Gutters, downspouts and a rain barrel!  We'll see.

A New World of Education

I've been hearing a lot about Khan Academy.  Someone told me that they were not good with math and science, but after discovering Khan Academy, their outlook changed.  They feel they can now handle those once too difficult subjects and were enjoying it.  This is so amazing!

I remember many, many years ago when computers were first getting into the school system, researchers came to interview our first grade team to ask what was important for learning.  They were going to use this knowledge to make computers more efficient.

We didn't have a good understanding of the concept and frankly took issue with it. How could a computer take over a teacher's job?  How could a computer sense a child's moods?  How could a computer give a child a reassuring hug?  With only two to four computers in a class, how could you expect to teach the whole class?

How times have changed.  Now every child is sometimes issued a laptop or iPad.  There are also computer labs where students can have time to learn at their own pace.  The idea is that teachers would now be more of a coach and cheer leader. They would no longer spend so much time lecturing.  I've seen my own granddaughter master concepts more efficiently on her own laptop.

My concern here is that not every child is motivated to learn a concept.  Children don't all learn in the same way.  I just hope they remember this and make sure that there is a way for all children to learn.

I still feel that students especially need to know that there is a teacher who cares what and how they learn.  They also need that occasional hug.

Rainbows Again!

When we lived in Illinois, I think we may have seen a rainbow perhaps two or three times in the 35 years that we lived there. 

Here in Hawaii I can usually spot one every couple of days.  Oahu is having a drought problem like many other parts of the U.S.  However, we do get quite a few showers up on our mountain which produce gorgeous rainbows.

You'd think I'd get tired of them, but no...  They still fill me with awe.  I guess it's like the cherry blossoms in Japan.  They are here for such brief periods.  Sometimes, in the few moments I run to get my camera, they're gone. 

Like our lives, we have to enjoy all the moments of wonder while we can.

The Scoop on Poop

A friend from my zumba class sent me this YouTube video about squat toilets and I found it quite interesting.

The premise is that squatting is the natural, easier way to poop.  Since we're not getting rid of our toilets, you can get these stools that would raise your legs to the natural position.  I tried seeing how it would feel and think you'd need a padded toilet.  It still wouldn't be exactly the same as squatting, but maybe it really would help.

I gave birth to my son in a wheelchair, in an elevator on the way to the maternity ward.  It was very easy.  I've learned that it is a more natural way.  I think the Japanese even did it standing up in the distant past.  Don't quote me on this. 

The only problem I see with really squatting is that the older you get the harder it is on the knees.  On the other hand we did get taller toilets when we renovated because they said that it was better for seniors, making it easier to stand.  The problem is that because I'm not very tall, my legs can sort of dangle which isn't comfortable either.  Ah well, that's the poop on this topic.

Unknown Caller

It really drives me crazy when I get Unknown Caller on my caller ID.   Sometimes I can't stand the suspense and I'll pick it up to find out it was a political or market survey or solicitation of some sort.  We don't do phone donations.  I've already put our phone number on the No Call list, but people do still get through.

Then there are those times when there's just a phone number and no name.  What to do?  What to do?

Art has told me that I should just let the answering machine pick it up.  If it's all that important, the person should leave a message.

I've been told that if it says Unknown Caller, it means the person purposely programed his phone to be anonymous.

So I'm assuming if it was somebody trying to contact me to tell me I won that Zippy's (restaurant) trip to Vegas, it would definitely say Zippy's on my caller ID, right?

Peace Corps Letter

My son, Jon served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali, West Africa in 2002.   Our lives centered on waiting for each of his letters for the 27 months that he lived in a small, isolated, rural village called Koro Bada.  

Jon knows my aversion to spiders and wrote the following for me:

…Oh yeah, mom I promised that I would write about the spiders.  Cekoroba yayoroba (spelling?) is a lean spider about 3 inches long with large stiff front legs.  Cekoroba is a respectful term used for elderly men, it literally means stiff or set in their ways.  The front legs give them an ungraceful walk which doesn’t enable them to go fast.  The cekoroba on the other hand is all about speed and deception.  

For about 3 nights when it was raining I had to sleep inside.  For some reason they were particularly active that day.  I found one running across my wall so I got out my field lamp and fly swatter and we fought back and forth for half an hour. 

Once I went to whack him while he was on the wall and he jumped a good 2 feet off the wall and scared the shit out of me.  Other times he chased me or hid under the bed/sofa making darting attacks. 

Finally after expending much of my energy, I got him with the fly swatter and smacked him ruthlessly.  I was relieved and began to sweep him towards the door.  That crazy spider was playing dead, jumped up and ran under a chair.  I traded the fly swatter (key word “fly”) for  a good stick and commenced pummeling the cekoroba till he was pretty much pulp.  The others heard about this and continued to torture me for the rest of the night.

One incident; while lying on the bed I looked over at the wall and saw a medium sized cekoroba on the wall.  I rolled off my bed to grab my lantern and right next to the lantern was another one waiting to ambush me.  Yes, diversionary tactics and predation.  They are smart, fast and not the least bit dangerous.  Or maybe that’s what they want you to think…"

I find it even funnier that his tale of the spiders which I really dislike should be one of my favorites that we received from him.  When I checked on line, I found that a lot of Peace Corps volunteers have written about the wily cekoroba.

Great Aloha Run?

Art likes to do races.  I don't.  I'm just not into walking long distances.  If you add getting up at ungodly hours to do so and then sun... maybe rain, you'll find I'm even less excited.  On top of all this, if you ask me to walk it alone, it just won't happen.

This past February, my friends, Diane and Dave weren't able to walk with me.  Art's cousin, Renee was going to, but her knees were injured at the last minute.  My brother, Dennis agreed to fill in for her.  I had all kinds of conditions and back up plans in case either of us didn't feel we could finish.  He has occasional gout attacks.  I sometimes have knee aches.

Dennis and I did train ahead of time walking longer and longer distances to make sure we could at least make a good showing on the day of the Great Aloha Run (Walk).

Incredibly, we finished.

I told Art then that this coming year, I wouldn't be doing it.  Doing the run four times was ample.  I'd done my duty.  I can relax.  My muscles can be free to age as much they want.

Nope.  Art talked to Dennis last night and asked him if he'd walk with me again.  My brother said yes.

No way.  Are you kidding?  I guess now that he's had his Kanreki, his life clock has been reset so that he's got more energy.  It's like childbirth.  He's forgotten the effort it took to do the 8+ mile race.

Art wants the three of us to stay in shape and not let our bodies fall into sloth.  Actually, I'll bet he just wants to get those Training and Finisher t-shirts.  And maybe Dennis liked the bananas and cookies we got at the end of the race.

Or maybe he just wants to keep us healthy too.

Celebrating My Brother's 60th Kanreki Birthday

My brother, Dennis has reached his milestone 60th year.

Since returning to Hawaii some 4 years ago, I'm learning a lot about the Japanese celebrations that I didn't know about.  One of them is the Kanreki.

Apparently, when a man turns 60 his life clock is reset.  The birthday guy is supposed to wear a red chanchanko (sleeveless red kimono) for a long, healthy life.  Kan means return and reki means calendar.  Mom says the red is symbolic because Akachan means baby.  (It literally translates to red baby.)  And notice how Dennis forgot to wear red like I told him to.

When Art researched the tradition on line he said there was something about how at 60 a man returns to the Chinese zodiac sign under which he was born.  It means he's been around the Chinese zodiac with its 12 animal years 5 times:
12 X 5 = 60.

We looked everywhere in the house and tried to find something that had a dragon (Dennis' animal sign), but couldn't find anything until we checked my granddaughter, KC's toy closet.  You can see KC's dragon by Dennis' right hand.

We also put KC's little baby plate, bowls and utensils for his place setting. 

 

We set the table with a bunch of KC's little toys for a little added fun.

Since this was a special celebration for her only son, Mom went all out preparing his favorite dishes.  

She made her signature lemon chicken recipe that I have no idea how to make.  I suppose I should watch her make it someday.  I have no desire to really learn it because it's a rather exhausting recipe.  It takes her all afternoon to prepare it.

She also made her cucumber namasu (pickles) and set out fresh tofu and rice.

I spent the afternoon making my soba salad which is exhausting also, but he's the only baby brother I've got.

My sister-in-law, Nancy didn't realize that her son, Barry and his wife, Miho were bringing the birthday cake, so she brought two more desserts.

Nobody was complaining.

That pyramid cake was unbelievable!  It came with instructions on how to cut it.  Barry and Miho always come up with the most original desserts.

Miho said she searched for a red chanchanko, but couldn't locate one even on line.  It was so nice of her to try.



Here's almost the whole of Dennis' clan.  We missed our third nephew, Shawn who is now living in California with his family, but he called to wish his father a happy celebration.

You can see why we love our niece-in-law, Miho.  She got right into the kitchen to clean up and load the dishwasher.  My nephews also pitched in.

We gave Dennis a Sodastream soda maker because he's admired ours for quite a while.  Now he won't have to be bothered with so many cans piling up at their apartment.

It was such a happy celebration!

Someday in the not too distant future, Art will have his Koki which is the 70th birthday.  I wonder how you celebrate that one.

His First Love

I wrote a post earlier about how I haven't been able to find photos of old girlfriends in Art's past.  After all, I was 22 when I met Art, but he was five years older with lots of life experiences.  He had already spent five years in the Air Force and been stationed in California's Vandenberg AFB, New Hampshire's Grenier AFB, and Hawaii's Hickam AFB.  His next post would have been Greenland.  He says he left the Air Force because he'd met me, but I think Greenland had a lot to do with it.  The joke was that there was a girl behind every tree in Greenland.  Unfortunately, trees were hard to find in Greenland.

Ah... but I digress.

What I was trying to get at was that I couldn't find any sources of Art's passion... until I came across these photos... LOTS of these photos.

And every so often he still talks wistfully of his Alfa Romeo.  Whenever he sees an Alfa Romeo in a movie, he'll point it out to me.

He'd stored the car in his sister's garage in California and frankly he realized that he couldn't keep it there forever taking up space where his brother in law might want to store his own car.

I remember him taking that trip to California to sell it.  It was sad.  I never met this old flame.  When I met him in Hawaii, Art was driving his practical, down-to-earth, white VW bug which I liked a great deal. 

Still... every so often... I know he still thinks about that first love.

Do You Believe in Ghosts?

A while back there was a Star Advertiser article about a made for TV movie documenting a ghost that's supposed to be haunting the Iao Movie Theater on Maui. Apparently, there's been a number of people who have encountered a ghost named Emma.  They say she is sweet and friendly.  This is wonderful since I'd be crabby if I was stuck in an old movie theater.

I've talked to a number of people who swear they've seen spirits.  My aunt and grandmother were supposed to have been able to see spirits of people who have moved on.

My college dorm friend told me that her Hawaiian grandmother was a clairvoyant.  I can't remember the specifics but it involved her losing her contacts in the lawn and a spirit pointing it out to her.

I've also heard lots of stories of Pele, the goddess of fire and the volcanoes who is known to walk with a white dog on the Big Island.  She's also been known to ask for rides and disappearing from the backseat.

My neighbor told me that she saw my father walking along the street near our home not knowing that he had already passed away.  She said she's been able to see spirits almost all her life and that they are usually people with unresolved issues from life.

Makes sense to me.

No, I'm serious... I think there are things we just can't be sure of.  I'm keeping my mind open.
 

Pineapples Don't Grow on Trees

Art really enjoyed  his time at the U.S.E.P.A. in Chicago and made many good friends.

I was looking at these photos that were given to him after the office celebrated his 40th birthday with a surprise party.

Here he is at his desk while everybody crept up behind him.

Many people wore leis and had aloha shirts or muumuus as well.

Art was really touched with the effort that the office put forth to throw this big party.  I got a kick out of seeing this birthday cake with the Hawaii theme.  Notice the pineapples?

Here is Art and KC picking a pineapple from our garden this summer.

It's surprising how many people think pineapples grow on trees.  We've taken a number of visitors around the island and they are often surprised to see how a pineapple is grown.

Dragon fruit tree, courtesy of Wikipedia

I just recently discovered how a dragon fruit grows when we saw a neighbor's plant.  I didn't even know they grew in Hawaii.  I would never have imagined the odd shape of this plant.

It's a good thing nobody asked me to decorate a cake with a dragon fruit tree.

Crazy Collecting

I'm not sure what it is in our natures that make us want to collect things.  Art and I are both guilty of this little pleasure.  We don't collect expensive things, just things that somehow grab our attention.

I think it was because our son, Jon's college girlfriend was into snow globes that every time we went on a trip, we bought a snow globe for them.  When they broke up, it took us a while to stop.

Our daughter, Tiffany was into frog things so Art used to bring back some kind of frogs when he had to travel on business.

We bought a printers box and found that thimbles fit perfectly into the little boxes so we started collecting them.  

Every time we take a trip, Art manages to find a little pebble with a surface that he can write the date and place on it.  These are just a few of his little rock collection.

Of course, in all fairness I have to mention my mug collection.  All teachers probably have some kind of mug collection.  This is ... ummm... a few of them.

And here's Art's t-shirts.  He also has a stamp, quarter, foreign coins collection as well... somewhere. 

Moving to Hawaii made us clean out a lot of our things and we are trying very hard NOT to collect anything else.

However, if I see a perfect, beautiful, unique mug... I think there's a teeny bit more room on the shelf.

Do you collect anything?

The Mystery Girlfriend

Considering the fact that Art has a million and one slides that he took before he knew me, I haven't been able to find a photo of a girlfriend.

I've been looking.

Hard.

I happen to know there were several.  I was even warned by one of his friends to not get too attached to him because he was seeing someone else at the same time we had been dating.

Granted at the time that I was warned, we were already engaged but kept it a secret until he could let his parents know.

Then there was that phone call I took with a female voice.  I heard Art telling her that he was in a rather committed relationship now.

Riiiiight....

As I was doing the scanning, I was just curious as to whether an old flame would pop up.  Nope.  In fact, he rarely took photos of people!  He took lots of photos of the Boy Scout troop he and other leaders took on camping trips, etc.  He took gazillions of photos of all the different places he was at.  Would you like to see slide photos of fall leaves, or ice encased branches, or buildings?  Come to me. I have them.

Well... Finally!  I found a photo of him with a woman.  Here it is.  Get ready, Tiffany and Jon.  Here's your father with a female friend.

Well... she is rather cute, don't you think?

The Fish and the Hat

This is another look into the past.

It was 1974.  Since we were going to be leaving Hawaii for Chicago in the fall we decided to take a farewell trip to the Big Island to visit Art's parents. 

Art's dad took a day off from working in their restaurant and we toured the island.

We stopped to visit the volcano lava field with Hualalei mountain in the background.

We thought it was pretty cool to see this hill that the lava flow was not able to destroy.

Our next stop was Spencer Park where we had a delicious lunch.

Spencer Park has a beautiful beach with interesting tide  pools.

Trapped in one of the pools, we saw this incredible fish with the LONGEST fin things we'd ever seen.  How in the world do they not get tangled up in their own whatever-you-call-that-thing-that-drags-behind-their-fins?  I couldn't get a good enough photo of just how strange and amazing that fish was.

We wanted to set the fish free so we looked around for something we could use to scoop it up with.

We all looked at Art's dad.  His hat was somehow able to hold water.   We used it to scoop the fish out and set it free in the ocean where it happily swum away with his fin things flowing gently behind.

When the hat dried, it was ummmm... a bit stiff so his dad couldn't use it anymore.  He was a very good sport about his sacrifice.

Today that hat sits on top of Art's hoosier cabinet that he uses for a desk alongside his mother's orange hat.  They still evoke memories whenever we look at them.  I do think Art feels they are always looking down on him and smiling.

Best Way to Reach Someone? TEXT!

Art was reading Time magazine a while ago and saw this article about technology.  There were all kinds of charts about mobile devices.  An interesting fact was that the average age people felt a child should have a mobile device is 13 years.  Funny thing is I'd go even younger seeing how my granddaughter is able to call us already and she's only 5 years old. Granted, I'd put a lot of limitations on the device first...namely, you can only call your parents or your grandparents.

When surveyed about "Which mobile-device features have affected the way you live your life the most in the U.S., Brazil, China, India, South Korea and U.K",  TEXT messages came in #1.

Here's a line that caught my attention in an article about charity titled Doing Good By Texting by Kate Pickert.  "...consider three facts about text messaging:  it is almost completely spam-free, it's personal, and nearly every message gets read.  Websites, e-mail, paper mail and phone calls don't come anywhere near achieving this trifecta."

I can surely attest to this.  It is most certainly the FASTEST way by far that I can reach my children, grandchild and nephews.  In fact, I will get a reply back in minutes as opposed to in a few days if I use e-mail or any other method. 

The thing is it's quick and takes away all the more time consuming formal salutations.  No more, "Dear so and so, How are you?"   What you'll probably get is something like, "H R U?"  I wouldn't know since even when I text, I spell everything out and add all my punctuations.

You know... even though I don't particularly love some technology, when I hear the ring tone on my iPhone for a text message, I pick up my phone right away and answer it.  Yup.  It's true.  Sigh...

TAFN  (That's all for now.)

Confessions of a Bossy Older Sister

I have a cousin who told me at one time that she was a bossy older sister and she knew she tended to "boss" her brothers around.  I have noticed however that the siblings all get along and are there for each other.

Kunia, Oahu around 1954, I think

I know I'm bossy.  I've probably bossed my brother, Dennis around shamefully throughout our lives.  Luckily, he knows how to ignore me.

We did everything together as children and were rarely apart.  We fought and laughed and learned and had fun.

1971, college years

When Dennis began college he came to live with Art and me for part of his college years before we moved to the mainland.

We did everything together.  Most people thought he was Art's brother since they were always riding bikes or whatever together and looked more alike.

When Art and I moved to the mainland, we each began separate lives although we kept in close contact.

2008, Dennis and me in Japan

I happen to know that Art's sister who also happens to be older probably bossed him around too.  And they are also very close.  They talk to each other once a week to keep tabs on what they are each doing.

My daughter, Tiffany is the older sister and she also is bossy.  (I know you're reading this, Tif.  Don't deny it.)  She bossed her brother around too, but also loved and protected him and made sure she kept in contact with him.

When we were talking one day about siblings not getting along Dennis said, "Maybe they need to  have a bossy oldest sister."

"Are you saying I'm bossy?" I asked.

He just smiled.

Learning to Ride a Bike

When our children were little, it took several days to teach them how to balance and ride their two wheel bikes after we took off the training wheels.  It was not easy and it was a good thing Art and I were in good shape.

We tied a halter strap that I sewed around their arm pits and held on to them over their backs.

Then we ran alongside them so they wouldn't fall while relaxing the strap so they could feel the balance.

It worked very well and the neighbors eventually borrowed our strap to teach their children.

We were therefore a little dubious when our daughter, Tiffany suggested we get KC this European balance bike (here's the link) for her Christmas present.

Someday I suppose KC will find out that the reason she got such great gifts from us is because her mother was always commissioned to get them for us so we wouldn't have to pay the horrible Hawaii to mainland postage fees.

Tif sent us a video this summer of KC on her two wheeler.  Astoundingly, she was able to ride her bike by herself after two passes down the street with her dad running alongside.  I was flabbergasted!  The Europeans are really on to something here!

Washington, D.C. in 1967

On August 23, 2011 an earthquake shook Virginia and damaged the Washington Monument.  It is estimated that it will be closed to visitors until 2014 in order for repairs to be completed.

When we were in Washington in the 70's I don't remember going to the top.

However, since I've scanned Art's slides, I found that he had gone up the monument in 1967 and I can share these with you.

Here's the National Mall with the U.S. Capitol in the distance.

The White House is in the center with the Ellipse in the foreground.

The closest white building is the National Museum of American History.  Next is the National Museum of Natural History and farther down is the National Gallery of Art.

The white building in the middle is the Thomas Jefferson Memorial alongside the Tidal Basin.

Gosh! Despite the fact that I'm not one who loves heights, this would have been fun to see... ESPECIALLY since there is an elevator and I wouldn't have to climb up like the Statue of Liberty!