Propping the Old Lemon Tree

I've often mentioned how mom has her own special way of trimming the lemon tree.  The branches are a confusing tangle of limbs going this way and that.  Since the blossoms are at the new growth, mom doesn't cut those.  She cuts branches that poke her or have black or white flies on them.  Therefore some branches keep growing longer and longer until they touch the ground every time the wind blows.

Art had to devise a method to prop up the lemon branch which will get heavier and heavier as the fruit grows larger and ripens.  I'm also snipping off any further flowers that pop up on that branch so we can cut the branch off later.

And here's a branch that escaped mom's pruning and is pouring out onto the street.  I imagine somebody passing by might decide they feel like a little lemonade is in order.

I hope they enjoy it.

It might be perfect for today as we celebrate our Independence Day!

Happy 4th, everybody!

What States Are Famous For?

Our good friend, Ron sent me this list of what the states were known for.  I think I knew about life expenctancy in Hawaii where I was born, raised and retired to.  I'm also not surprised at what Illinois is famous for since we lived there for 35 years.  I would prefer that Illinois be famous for having the first steel frame skyscraper.  It was the Home Insurance Building (originally 10 stories with a height of 42 m or 138 ft) in Chicago, Illinois in 1885. 

ALABAMA .....Was the first state to have 9-1-1, started 1968.
ALASKA .........One out of every 64 people has a pilot's license.
ARIZONA...........Is the only state in the continental U.S. That does not follow Daylight Savings Time.
ARKANSAS...........Has the only active diamond mine in the U.S.
CALIFORNIA.....Its economy is so large that if it were a country, it would rank seventh in the entire world.
COLORADO..........In 1976 it became the only state to turn down the Olympics.
CONNECTICUT............The Frisbee was invented here at Yale University

DELAWARE...........Has more scientists and engineers than any other state.
FLORIDA............At 874.3 square miles, Jacksonville is the largest City in the U.S.
GEORGIA.......It was here, in 1886, that pharmacist John Pemberton made the first vat of Coca Cola.
HAWAII............Hawaiians live, on average, five years longer than residents of any other state.

Hawaii is the most isolated populated group of islands on earth - 2,390 miles from California and 3,850 miles from Japan.

Hawaii is the only state that grows coffee.

Hawaii has no billboards, rabies, snakes or seagulls.

Hawaii has its own time zone. It does not observe daylight savings time.

The southern most point of the United States is located in Hawaii - South Point on the Big Island of Hawaii.

About 200 of the 680 types of fish in Hawaiian waters can be found nowhere else in the world.

The Hawaiian alphabet consists of only twelve letters. The five vowels are A,E,I,O,U. The seven consonants are H,K,L,M,N,P,W.

There are no racial or ethnic majorities in Hawaii. About 30% of Hawaii's residents are Caucasian. Asians make up about 40%. Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders make up about 9% of the population.

The coral reefs in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands make up about 70 percent of all the reefs in the USA.

Despite what you saw on Hawaii Five-0, there is no state police force in Hawaii.

Hawaii is the largest consumer of Spam in the United States.

Hawaii is one of only two states that has interstate highways without actually bordering on another state.

Hawaii was originally called the Sandwich Isles. Captain James C. Cook so named the islands in 1778 in honor of his patron the Earl of Sandwich. 

IDAHO...........TV was invented in Rigby, Idaho, in 1922.
ILLINOIS..........Has a Governor in jail, one pending jail, and is the MOST corrupt state in the union!  

I want to also add: 
*  The Chicago Public Library is the world's largest public library with a collection of more than 2 million books. 

*  The ice cream "sundae" was named in Evanston. The piety of the town resented the dissipating influences of the soda fountain on Sunday and the good town fathers, yielding to this churchly influence, passed an ordinance prohibiting the retailing of ice cream sodas on Sunday. Ingenious confectioners and drug store operators obeying the law, served ice cream with the syrup of your choice without the soda. Objections then was made to christening a dish after the Sabbath. So the spelling of "sunday" was changed. It became an established dish and an established word and finally the "sundae"                       -- 50 States.com

INDIANA........Home to Santa Claus, Indiana, which gets a half million letters for Santa every year.
IOWA.........Winnebago R.V.s get their name from Winnebago County. Also, it is the only state name that begins with 2 vowels.
KANSAS............Liberal, Kansas has an exact replica of the house in "The Wizard of Oz".
KENTUCKY............Has more than $6 billion in gold underneath Fort Knox.
LOUISIANA......Has parishes instead of counties because they were originally Spanish church units.
MAINE.......It is so large that it covers as many square miles as the other five New England States combined.
MARYLAND............The Ouija board was created in Baltimore in 1892.......Bet you didn't know that!
MASSACHUSETTS.......The Fig Newton is named after Newton, Massachusetts.
MICHIGAN............Fremont, home to Gerber, is the baby food capital of the world.

MINNESOTA.....Bloomington's Mall of America is so big, that if you spent 10 minutes in each store, you'd be there almost four days.
MISSISSIPPI.....President Teddy Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear here...that's how the teddy bear got its name.

MISSOURI............Is the birthplace of the ice cream cone.
MONTANA ........A sapphire from Montana is in the Crown Jewels of England.
NEBRASKA............More triplets are born here than in any other state.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.........Birthplace of Tupperware, invented in 1938 by Earl Tupper.
NEW JERSEY............Has the most shopping malls in one area in the world.

NEW MEXICO............Smokey the Bear was rescued from a 1950 forest  fire here.
NEW YORK.......Is home to the nation's oldest cattle ranch, started in 1747 in Montauk.......Surprised?
NORTH CAROLINA........Home of the first Krispy Kreme doughnut.
NORTH DAKOTA........... Rigby, North Dakota, is the exact geographic Center of North America .
OHIO............The hot dog was invented here in 1900.
OKLAHOMA............The grounds of the state capital are covered by operating oil wells.
OREGON............Has the most ghost towns in the country.
PENNSYLVANIA.......The smiley : ) was first used in 1980 by computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon University.
RHODE ISLAND........The nation's oldest bar, the White Horse Tavern, opened here in 1673.
SOUTH CAROLINA.........Sumter County is home to the world's largest gingko farm.
SOUTH DAKOTA...........Is the only state that's never had an earthquake.
TENNESSEE......Nashville's Grand Ole Opry is the longest running live radio show in the world.
TEXAS.....Dr. Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885. The hamburger was invented in Arlington in 1906.
UTAH...........The first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant opened here in 1952.
VERMONT..........Montpelier is the only state capital without a McDonald's.
VIRGINIA..........Home of the world's largest office building, The Pentagon.
WASHINGTON............Seattle has twice as many college graduates as any other state.
WASHINGTON D.C.........Is the first planned capital in the world
WEST VIRGINIA.......Had the world's first brick paved street,Summers Street, laid in Charleston in 1870.
WISCONSIN.....The ice cream sundae was invented here in 1881 to get around Blue Laws prohibiting ice cream from being sold on Sunday.  Also, the American Water Spaniel was created there and is the state dog.
WYOMING.........Was the first state to allow women to vote.

So..... what should your state or country be known for?

Book Recommendation

DJan of DJan-ity recommended a book a while back titled The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Swedish author Jonas Jonasson.

I was able to upload it to my Kindle from our public library and really enjoyed it.  It reminded me of Forrest Gump.

And yes, it's about a 100 year old man who climbs out the window of his retirement home and has a lot of adventures.

The book has sold over 6 million copies worldwide and DJan says they're in the process of making a movie about it.  I wonder which actor would play the 100 year old man.

I recommended the book to Art and he's suddenly become so engrossed, he can't seem to put it down.

It's not my usual sort of book, but I had fun reading it.  You might too.  Have you read any books that you would recommend?

Another Trip

Post written on June 7, 2014

By the time you read this, we'll have just returned from Hokkaido and our daughter, Tiffany and family will have joined us for a 70th birthday celebration for Art.

2008 Hokkaido

We just got through creating our photobooks for Southeast Asia and we're now preparing to leave for Hokkaido, Japan in two weeks.  This is the first time that we'll be taking a tour to Japan.  Our six previous trips have been on our own, but we thought it might be easier for mom if we went with a tour this time.  Whether it really is easier remains to be seen.

We chose Air and Sea Travel even though they specialize more in Chinese tours because we really enjoyed our trip to China with them last year.  They are very well organized, use headsets to communicate with tour members so they don't have to shout, and seem to really try to make sure they take care of their group every step of the way.

It's called a 9 day tour, but after taking away travel time, is only about 7 days. 

Why are we going back to Hokkaido?  Well... Mom and I want to see the lavender fields.  Since this is called a Yummy Yummy tour, I think my brother is looking forward to the food.  Art would like to see if this guided tour is better than what he plans for us.

POSTSCRIPT on Monday, June 30th:  We just got back safely yesterday from our Hokkaido trip and I've still got posts scheduled for the next several days.  I'm not sure if I'll have to take a blog hiatus this time because with our daughter and her family here and our son and Sarah coming in at the end of the week, there is just not enough time to get to the computer.  I'll look forward to catching up with all of you once our lives are more settled again.  Until then, I'm sending you lots of aloha and sunshine.

Too Beautiful Not to Share

My friend, Myrtle forwarded this Thai Youtube video to me and it touched me too much not to share.

This is a lovely way to start the week, reminding us that kindness has its own reward.

 Have a wonderful week everyone and I thank you for all the friendship you bless me with everyday.

Fell-Down Cake

Yes, I've had baking disasters before, but I don't think I've quite hit this level of failure before.

No, I didn't make it for us.  I know it's bad for me.  I just thought I'd bake this mint chocolate bundt cake to share AND have a little for our dessert.

Yes, I put some Baker's spray on the bundt pan to prevent it from sticking.  I cooled it before turning it upside down to remove the cake from the pan.  I've done this before without a problem.  Is it because I left it to cool too long?

Sigh...

The bottom half fell out first and then I scraped the edges off the top part and  plopped it on top of the bottom and got the ugliest cake you've ever seen.

Mom asked our neighbors and aunt if they'd like some.  Nobody refused.  It made for a funny story.

I'm sure they were laughing WITH me, not at me.  Then again....

(It did taste good, no matter what it looked like.)

My Favorite Comfort Food

I know it's not the best thing for me.  It's carbs and I am pre-diabetic.  Still, it makes me feel good.  It's fabulous on a cold day and still wonderful on a hot day.

I love saimin.  I'm sure you can get it in Las Vegas, but I don't know if you can get real honest to goodness saimin anywhere else on the mainland.  I know because I've looked.

It's different from ramen or udon or soba or somen.  I won't even try to explain the differences here.

It's a noodle soup with veggies, some char siu and other garnishes.  My favorite right now is Zippy's saimin with extra garnish.

What's your favorite comfort food?

The Man Who Can't Throw Anything Away

Art has thin wrists and has a hard time finding wrist watches that don't look weird when he wears them.  He's also very particular in that he expects his watches to time his runs (ahem... walks!), check his heart rate, determine his route and distance... and oh... tell the time too (probably in every country on earth). 

This was Art's first Timex timing watch and he was dismayed to learn that after about 30 years, the rubber had deteriorated and was just breaking off.

But is he throwing it away?  Heck no!

He spent an hour taking off the rubber wrist band and filing down the metal, leaving him with just the face.

He says he's now got a nifty pocket watch.  Don't you need  a fob for that?

Dreams of Her Father

While we were having our lunch at Gyotaku after the memorial service for one of her dearest friends, mom recounted an incident that had me in tears.

"I've been having so many dreams lately of all the dearest friends that I have lost and of my parents,"  said mom.  "It feels like they're right there talking to me.

1971, a year before grandfather's passing

Remember when my father was dying of colon cancer?  I went back to Japan after over 20 years to be with him again.  As much as I wanted to stay with him a while longer, I wanted desperately to be back in Hawaii to see you graduate from the university.  It was everything I'd worked for, dreamed about, cared about and I needed to see it fulfilled.

Anyway, there I was at the hospital watching my father sleep all night.  I'd sat on that chair just being with him and remembering.  Eventually, I must have dozed.

Suddenly I awoke to find him lying there just staring at me.  We just stared at each other a long, long time.  He knew it would be the last time he'd be seeing me.  I knew it was our farewell.

Lately, I keep seeing his face looking at me in my dreams.

I returned for your graduation and was so proud.  You never knew how much it meant to me."

It's true.  I didn't.  She never expressed these thoughts to me so many decades ago.

My grandfather died a month later.  Somehow, I feel he was there at the graduation in spirit and I do believe he must have been content.

Remembering a Friend

Mom's friend, Asako passed away 7 years ago.  She had no children of her own and mom says she doted on Dennis and me.  Whenever we came back to Hawaii, we'd take mom to see her old friend and bring some delicacy for her to sample.  When we were not there, Dennis would take mom to visit her friend.

Asako did have a wonderful nephew who came around regularly to check on his aunt.  He handled the funeral services and the management of her estate after her death.  Mom was surprised to find that Asako had left a sweet and generous farewell gift in her will saying that she wanted mom to do some traveling while she could.

Although Asako's nephew handled the funeral and 1 year service, he's not maintained the rest of the Buddhist memorial service traditions.  I understand he's not been in good health.

As the daughter of a priest, mom cannot let that go.  She ordered the 3rd year memorial service.  Here's a short explanation of that funeral tradition from Wikipedia.

Memorial services depend on local customs. Usually, there are a number of memorial services following the death - for example, daily for the first seven days, or a number of services within the first 49 days, or on the 7th, 49th and 100th day, depending on the local custom. After that, there is a memorial service on the Obon festival in honor of the dead. The festival may be held in the 1st year, sometimes in the 3rd and 5th, 7th and 13th years, and a number of times afterwards up to either the 39th or the 50th year.   -- Wikipedia

When the 7th year came around the corner, mom became agitated.  She called the priest of her temple who told her to wait since the family might do something.  Nothing happened so mom again did the preparations... buying flowers, mochi, paying the temple and the priest, etc.

Mom had been having dreams for several days worrying about everything being just perfect.  Now the day was here.  We dressed for the service.  I thought I was dressed just fine, but mom asked me to go and change into something nicer.

I felt a little sad when the priest asked, "Is everyone here?"

There was just the three of us.  Dennis would have come if he wasn't working.

After the service, Art and I treated mom to a luncheon at Gyotaku restaurant which she enjoyed very much.  She was so relieved and ecstatic that her friend had been remembered properly.

The priest had said in his sermon that Asako's next memorial service would be in 6 years and hoped we would all be around.

You do understand that mom is preparing us for what she wants us to do after she's gone.  I just hope she doesn't make us go through all this for a long, long, long time.

The Evolution of our Trip Photo Albums

Creating our photo albums after we take one of our trips used to be a lot easier before when I would just put the developed photos into an album and tape on a few notes so we knew where we were at the time.  There weren't as many photos because the film camera came in rolls of 24 or 36.  It cost more to develop all the photos, good and bad.

Then came digital technology and suddenly things weren't so easy.

This was one of our pages in 2003.

Doing our albums on the computer gave us more options.  We could now record a LOT of information and add a LOT more photos.  We could now take hundreds of photos.

When we showed this album to our kids, both Tiffany and Keola said, "You guys are putting too many postage sized photos in the book.  You need to make them bigger."  Keola said, "Think National Geographic format."

Then we moved to Hawaii and my brother said, "Be careful to line up your photos."

OK.

I tried to do that.

With all these things to remember, things got trickier.

Sometimes, creating these books can cause a little tension in our marriage so we have to step away.

We both care what goes into the books because the trips are important to both of us, but in different ways.  It's the people I meet that I love the most whereas it's the scenery and history that are especially important to Art.  So I want those people in the book while Art wants mostly scenery.  I like speech bubbles, he doesn't.  However, people have told us that they just read the speech bubbles, so he concedes I can continue to put them in.

But the kids said our photos were still too small.

So we're still working on trying to add more pages with bigger photos.  It's hard because we have so many!  Our latest album was the biggest project yet since it covered four countries.

Art also likes more historical information.  I like putting in photos of the hotels where we stayed and the transportation that we took.  We both like to remember the food.  That's about the only thing we agree on.

You can see now why doing these albums are such a headache.  And yet, when it's all done with, we're really happy with what we've managed to record for our failing memories.  And we're really relieved that our marriage was able to weather the compromises.... again.

We've got another trip in fall covering a bunch of European countries.  You can bet I'm putting in more people photos and Art.....  OK fine, we'll add some large photos of historical ruins too.

And Now the Paper White

I love my Kindle 3.  I really do.  Art wasn't all that enthused about my getting it at first in January 2011, but he soon saw the benefits and ended up getting a Kindle Fire for himself.  He likes the Fire just fine, but it is a teeny bit heavier than my Kindle 3. 

When we go places and bring them both, neither are very light, mostly because of the covers.  I needed a cover with a light so it was heavier.  I bought the 3G capability which brought my Kindle price to $189.00.  The cover cost $59.00! So together, it wasn't cheap.  Still, I never regretted it and loved having all those books at my fingertips.

Then I heard about the Kindle Paper White.  No way!  I didn't need another e-reader!  But then Linda from Linda Letters bought one which made me curious.  The next time I was at the store, I looked for the Paper White.  It looked so much smaller.  I thought the reading area was smaller, but it's not.  It's the same.

The Fire is on the left.  My Kindle 3 or 4 is in the middle and the Paper White is on the right.

The Paper White is only about an ounce lighter, I believe.  But it feels a lot lighter.  I think it's because the cover is so much lighter. 

They were having a sale and I just couldn't resist getting it.  There were only pink covers, but I can live with it. (Art is not thrilled.)  I would have preferred purple. Ah well.

The Paper White battery is supposed to go a maximum of 2 months on a single charge so that's twice what my Kindle 3 does.  The Paper White is also a touch screen so I'm getting used to it.  There's a lot to love about the Paper White and I'm definitely going to bring it on trips.  Art says he's leaving the Fire at home.

And Art says he doesn't think he'll be reading any of his books on my Paper White with that hot pink cover calling too much attention either.  Ah well, he can always put a macho magazine in front of it.

And my old Kindle?  My granddaughter will be visiting soon and I'm adding some Magic Treehouse books so that she can read them while she's in Hawaii.  I love it!

Omiyage

Omiyage is the serious business of gift giving in Japan and was brought to Hawaii with the early immigrants who came here to work. Once the tradition is ingrained in you, it's very difficult to not do it.

Whenever you go to visit someone far way (even to another island) you need to bring some kind of gift from your corner of the world. The last time we went to Japan, one suitcase was filled with gifts for our loved ones there.  And yet, we ended up feeling we didn't bring enough to make up for all the care and expense that was showered on us.

This tradition of omiyage has translated into other facets of local Hawaii culture.   I've had to learn the nuances of local gift giving and it hasn't been super easy after being away for 35 years.  When you attend a party of friends, oftentimes little bags of prettily wrapped gifts are given to everybody.  They're not necessarily expensive things, but it's fun or delicious.  When you go on a trip, you often bring things back for friends.  I'll bet Trader Joes makes a ton of money from people returning to Hawaii.  These kitchen cloths are a favorite item for me to bring back because it's light and a really great cloth.

I confess I've gotten to enjoy the custom, though it taxes my brain to think of what to bring back from a trip for friends, neighbors, relatives.  There's nothing more frustrating than taking a trip to Japan and bringing back things in your suitcase that you later find sold at the neighborhood Asian market.

Taking this one step further, I've noticed local people sometime bringing little gifts like pens, candy, cookies to give to local guides and personnel when we're on a group tour.  We did bring a bunch of tiny packets of chocolate macadamia nuts when we went to South East Asia recently.  We gave them away just to bring a smile to anyone who helped us. 

Though at times, omiyage giving can become a burden, the nice feeling it produces is well worth the effort.

If you were doing this tradition, what would you bring from your part of the country?

My Blender Died

My Cuisinart blender that I loved died.  I've had it for six years and it worked great although I made it work very hard to make my smoothies.  I did often use a lot of frozen fruits which caused it to struggle.

Since everybody still likes having smoothies, we decided to splurge and buy a rather pricey one.  We knew the Vitamix blender would cost about $400 + at Costco.  Sigh... I know.  I know.  My excuse is that our kids and precious granddaughter are coming this month and I knew I'd be making a lot of smoothies.

We were walking around the Navy Exchange (store) and a lady was doing a demonstration on how to make a smoothie.  Right off, she showed me what I'd been doing wrong all these years which is probably why I killed my other blender.

She said I should ALWAYS put in liquid first.  One third of the smoothie should be liquid as in juice, grapes, oranges, milk, yogurt or whatever.  Then I could add in my apples, bananas or whatever I wanted to put in and then add the frozen things last.

I'd been doing it wrong all these years!  The Vitamix has a 7 year guarantee.  It should last longer since my Cuisinart died after 6 years of my mistreatment.

So now you know!  Put the liquid in first!  Is there something else I should know?

Frugality to the Extreme

Please know that we provide mom with whatever she needs.  On top of that, she does have a bit of social security which provides her a little left over money after giving birthday and holiday cash to her children and grandchildren.  She could spend money on herself.

Mom has always been proud of the fact that she sent both of her children to college and then bought their own home with money she'd carefully managed for decades.

OK... I know that.  But this is the time to spend a little on herself, for goodness sakes!   She doesn't even buy face cream because she waits for her favorite (and only) granddaughter to send some for her. 

So imagine my surprise when mom tells me this morning before going out to do her gardening that she's going to throw her slippers away.  Actually, it's my slippers.  She started borrowing it until it became hers because she didn't want to use brand new ones that she's got packed away somewhere for someday.

"What's wrong with them?"  I asked.

"There's a little hole and every time I walk on rocks and gravel, it hurts my heel." 

I went out to look at it and was aghast.  There was a hole about 3/4 inch long.  Of course, it hurt her.

I threw it into the garbage and she began using another one of my slippers. 

I've told her to use all the nice blouses that Tiffany bought her the last time they visited Hawaii, but she insists they're too nice and she'd use them only when she's going out somewhere.  Aggravation!

"What happens if something happens to you?" I asked.  "It will be a waste!"

"No," she smiled. "Then you can give them to my sisters who will love wearing them."

Arrrrghhhhhhh!

POSTSCRIPT:  Oops!  Art just reminded me that those broken slippers were originally hand me downs from my daughter because I liked them so much. 

Putting Southeast Asia to Bed

Art and I have been totally consumed with putting together our photobooks of our trip to Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Bangladesh.  We were gone for 25 days!  We had three cameras, four if you count my iPhone.  We took nearly 9,000 photos!

We had to use my journal, his notes (in teeny handwriting on a couple of sheets of paper), and research places online because we were often unsure of what we took photos of.

We then went through the painful photo selection process with each of us partial to our own snapshots.  Then came the formatting and editing.  Costco has a maximum of 100 pages for their books so we had to break up our trip into two albums.  That's right!  We ended up with nearly 200 pages.

We finally finished and Art sent it off to Costco. 

Within a short time the books were available for pick up.  Even though they were both nearly 100 pages (50 sheets), the books were quite thin.  It's a much better solution to our albums than our bigger binders that take up too much room on our shelves. You can see how filled our shelves are.

With each book that we do, we're gaining more understanding on how to make the books better.

I think I'm pleased with the last page of our albums best.  I took the photo, Art found the quote.  That's our son, Keola at the bottom left hand corner taking a photo while we were having a last evening walk on the Sundarbans in Bangladesh. 

Where There's a Will, There's a Way

It was raining last Friday so I had to use my favorite purple umbrella to walk to Zumba down the street.  When I got there, I didn't want to put my wet umbrella on the ground so I thought I'd set it on what looked like a stack of wooden slats.  Someone else had already hung their umbrella on a protruding slat.  You can imagine my shock when my umbrella fell right over into an abyss and disappeared.

Oh nooooo.....

I had to tip toe to look into what I then realized was a strange square something with a hole in the middle.  I have no idea what it was.  I tried to stick my hand through the slats but there was no way it could fit.

My zumba friend, Naomi who is also a retired teacher asked what was wrong.  I explained the situation and in a resigned voice said I'd just have to buy another one.

"Wait.  We'll figure a way to reach it," she said.

"No," I insisted.  "I tried.  There is NO way."

"We just have to think about this," coaxed Naomi.

She walked around and found a Zumba lady with a long umbrella that had a hooked handle.

"Try this," prodded Naomi.  "Don't give up."

I stood on a chair, leaned over and tried to reach it but the borrowed umbrella was still not long enough and the hook was too fat to grasp the strap on my umbrella.  I was glad I could at least tell Naomi I tried and she would give up. Nope.  Off she went to look for another alternative.

"Honest, Naomi.  It's impossible.  Let's forget about it," I called out to her.  I KNEW the umbrella was a lost cause and that there was truly no hope.

The custodian's supply room door was open and Naomi found a leaf rake.

I went back up on the chair as I heard Pat call out, "She just hurt her foot last week.  She shouldn't be doing this."  

Still... I could see that this solution might possibly work. 

Doing this reminded me of those claw machines with the stuffed animals that you had to manipulate the claw to grab.

Amazingly, I was able to do it!  The tine of the leaf rake was able to hook onto the strap loop and I could lift the umbrella out.

Jubilation!!!

If I'm ever lost in a forest or desert island or any sort of seemingly hopeless situation, I'm going to hope Naomi is with me because I know she'll never give up.

I learned today to not accept defeat, but to take more time to solve a problem creatively because the answer could be close at hand... just like a leaf rake.

Itadakimasu

I wrote earlier about our zazen (meditation) lesson at the Soto Zen Mission in Nuuanu.  It was  followed by a shojin ryori, a Buddhist vegan type meal which had to be eaten in silence.

Before eating, the priest asked for the meaning of "Itadakimasu."  Someone offered that it meant "We shall receive (this food)."  I thought the priest would elaborate further on that, but he didn't.  I suspect his English vocabulary wasn't extensive enough to do so.

Still... as I reflected on that word, I couldn't come up with adequate words either.  My mother always says "Itadakimasu" before she eats and "Ogochiso sama deshita" after she eats.  Itadakimasu is a phrase that expresses gratitude and acknowledgement for the meal you are humbly about to partake.  Gochiso sama is said later and it states your thankfulness for the delicious meal.

Then Art remembered seeing a sign last year on my daughter's kitchen bulletin board in Chicago.  My granddaughter had been going to a Japanese school once a week and was learning these very phrases from her sensei (teacher) Naomi.

This reminded Art and me of the poem by Kahil Gibran called On Eating and Drinking.  I can't reproduce it here because of  U.S. copyright laws.

His poem says that since we must eat, we need to do it with gratitude and respect.  Since we have to kill to eat or take a mother's milk from an animal, we should do it as an act of reverence.  

When you eat an apple you have to feel that the act will enable its spirit to bloom in your heart.  When you drink wine, you should remember the songs of autumn when the grapes were harvested.

Our shojin ryori had to be eaten in silence.  As uncomfortable as that was at first, it made you respect the work that went into creating each dish.  You began to pay more attention to what you were eating and savoring the flavor and texture.

This photo was taken during our trip to Japan in 2010 when we stayed at Eiheiji Temple.  Mom and Auntie grew up in a Buddhist Temple so it was probably very nostalgic for them.


I've been known to inhale a Big Mac without thought, but an animal had to give its life for me to eat it.  Many people worked hard to produce the meal... and yet, I don't often think about it, except worry about the calories.


Perhaps I won't say the actual word Itadakimasu out loud when I'm out, but I'll sure make an effort to think it.  And when I'm done, I'll be sure to say Ogochisosama deshita in my heart as well.

Eatery in Paradise

We had to go to Jiffy Lube (to get our yearly car inspection), bank, supermarket, post office this morning.  While waiting for our safety check to be done on our van, Art suggested grabbing a quick bite somewhere close by.

We tend to eat the same thing at the same places.  If we go to Maguro-ya in Kaimuki, we all order the miso butterfish.  If we go to Zippy's we get a small saimin with extra garnish.  At Yummy's we buy the mini barbecued chicken with choi sum, seaweed or bean sprouts and share it.  At Panda Express, it's the chicken and green beans and eggplant with tofu.  At Taco Bell, Art orders the Cantina Bowl and I get the 3 crunchy tacos.  And on and on...

Since we had time to decide where to go, Art checked YELP on the iPhone and saw a one $ (cheap eats) place close to Jiffy Lube at the Pearl Kai shopping area.  It was called Eatery in Paradise.  The reviewers all mentioned how friendly the guys there were and the eatery got a 4.5 star rating (out of 5).

This was a carry-out place.  You had to sit on the table outside to eat or take the food with you.  The first thing we noticed was that the fellow taking the order was indeed very friendly. You just had to smile.  Midway through the meal, he stuck his head out the window and asked how we were enjoying everything.  As we left they called out to ask us to please come back again.

That mini teriyaki barbecue chicken with rice and macaroni salad was $5.75.  The fried saimin (noodles) was $7.25 and full of char siu, spam and other delicious morsels.  The food itself was very good.  Art especially liked it because it wasn't as salty as other places.

As we enjoyed the cool breezes, relaxed and looked around us, Art asked "Doesn't it feel like we're on vacation?  Isn't it strange?"

It really did.  I don't know why.  Could it be because we don't usually eat outside like this?  Is it because it's some place we've never tried before?  Whatever it was, we left feeling pretty mellow and cheerful.

In fact, our children and their families will be coming in July.  We'll bring them all over there!

My Neighbor's Bird Feeder

We've suffered a losing battle to the birds who have attacked our papaya tree mercilessly for a couple of years.  Two of the trees eventually had to be cut down because they were too tall.  Our remaining one is finally starting to bear fruit after a long wait.

Our neighbor's tree has been bountiful and they'd been generously sharing some with us.  However, I was aghast yesterday to see from my window that their tree had become a bird feeder for non-indigenous birds.

The first bird I was able to capture with my camera was this red-crested cardinal.

Then came the voracious bulbuls.  I remember being surprised to see these birds kept in cages in Vietnam.  I think they were pets.  I can't imagine anyone wanting to do that here in Hawaii.  There are too many of them.  They are pretty birds although they are forever taunting mom and snapping off her orchid buds. 

I wasn't sure what this was until his head was revealed.  It was the mynah bandit.  I then saw mejiros (rice birds), mourning doves, etc.  The procession was endless!

Art just went outside to pick our almost ripe papaya on our tree while the birds were all distracted next door.

Thank goodness these birds don't attack pineapples!

Learning About Silence

My cousin, Larry sent an email inviting me to a zazen (meditation) lesson at the Nuuanu Soto Mission temple.

Art and I had taken my mother and aunt to Eiheiji, one of the two main Zen temples in Japan four years ago and did learn some basics about zazen from some young priests who we still remember fondly.

However, we haven't done much here in Hawaii so we thought it would be interesting to try zazen again.  Besides, Larry said his wife was now a fabulous vegan chef and would be helping to serve a vegan Buddhist meal afterwards.

When we got there, it felt a little surreal because this is where Art and I were married some 41 years ago. That's us at the top of the stairs after the ceremony.

In fact while my grandfather was serving as a priest in Kaunakakai on the island of Molokai, he brought my grandmother to this temple so she could safely give birth for the first time.

This is mom on the steps of the temple a few days after her birth in 1929.  I think that's my grandmother in the center. 

I was looking at that 85 year old photo of mom and wondered why the temple looked different.  I looked online and found these photos.  I discovered the temple was rebuilt in 1953.  It's amazing what you can find on the web.

Well... I was only going to write about the zazen session and my mind started wandering which might show you how difficult I find this exercise.

With my foot still recovering, I asked for a chair to do the zazen.  I asked for a chair for Art also since he is NOT flexible and I didn't want him to be in too much pain.  Normally, zazen requires you to sit in a lotus position with your legs crossed.

Twenty minutes of sitting quietly and trying to empty your thoughts is not easy, but we (sort of) managed it.

We then went down for the Shojin Ryori (vegetarian meal).  I was stunned.  I did not expect such a beautiful meal waiting for us.

Except for the rice with corn kernels and miso soup, I wasn't positive what everything was.  It looked so beautiful.

Dinner is at the top, dessert is at the bottom.

We had to eat in silence which was definitely different.  You began to appreciate every bite, be conscious of each morsel's taste and texture.

Again, this wasn't easy for me because I was dying to make a comment about each dish.

The shojin ryori was prepared by Veganista Hawaii which explained how very professional the meal looked and tasted.

I'm now trying to convince mom and the aunties to try this.  Mom said no, but I've got Auntie Grace half way convinced to going.  We'll see.

I can always ask for chairs for them, too.

Movies, Movies, Movies

While stuck on all those flights to Southeast Asia we saw an incredible number of movies.  I just can't sleep on airplanes.  I try and try, but just can't seem to sleep sitting up.  Maybe it's not a good idea, but I even took Benedryl to try to help me sleep.  Nope, didn't work.

Hawaii to Bangkok

12 Years a Slave (I closed my eyes for the squeamish parts.)
Philomena  (I love watching Judi Dench.)
Frozen  (I'll bet my granddaughter loved this, too.)
Captain Phillips  (I can see why Barkhad Abdi was nominated for the Academy Awards.)
Enders Game (Art saw this one.  It's science fiction and he said it was good.)

Dhaka to Bangkok to Hawaii

Saving Mr. Banks  (They couldn't have made P.L. Travers, author of Mary Poppins into a more irritating lady.  Walt Disney was an angel, of course.)
Hunger Games 2:  Catching Fire  (Pretty good)
The Odd Life of Timothy Green  (The perfect sort of son, even though he's a plant.)
Perks of Being a Wallflower  (I found this really interesting and the actors did a great job.)
The Hobbit:  The Desolation of Smaug  (Poor Art didn't get to see the end of this because the plane landed.  I told him it didn't matter because the end left you hanging anyway.)
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Art watched this.)

I found all the movies wonderful, but you know what I found entertaining on our never-ending flights?  I really enjoyed Frozen.  Was it the music?  The Odd Life of Timothy Green didn't get good reviews and was far fetched and rather a silly idea perhaps, but I liked it and so did Art.

I can tell you one thing.  I think I saw every movie I'd been planning to see in 2013 and never got around to seeing.  Now I know why these flights are sometimes called Red-Eye flights.

What was your favorite movie last year or even this year so far?

Bonsai Update

I'm writing this post ahead of time because I'm so wrapped up in completing our Vietnam-Cambodia-Thailand-Bangladesh Trip photo book.  I know I won't be able to lift my head from the tour album project now that it's my turn to do the finishing touches.

We went to our Bonsai class on May 24th and was surprised to see the growth our first bonsai made.

This is what our Chinese Elm looked like after we'd trimmed and wired it on April 26th.  It was pretty pathetic looking.

This is what it looked like on May 24th, after a month.  It needs another trim.

Here's our Fukien Tea tree on May 10th.

And here's our Fukien Tea tree on May 24th after about two weeks.   OK, maybe not a whole lot of growth, but I was surprised anyway.

Mom is voicing her concern.

"Your trees require a lot of care.  How do you plan to do that when you're away on your trips?"

We smiled at her.

"Ohhh..." she said.  "Did you know my mother was an expert in bonsai?"

"You'll be a great bonsai plant sitter," we told her.

She rolled her eyes and sighed.

Another Cool Solution

It's always bothered Art that the router and modem gets quite hot.  It's hot enough that when you lift it up, the wood below is really heated.

Last week, I saw this mat for your hot iron being sold at the Navy Exchange store.

We bought it and cut it in half.

I used the front half for the router.

And the back half for the modem.

Voila!  It worked.  It's keeping the machines cooler and we don't have to worry about the wood below being damaged in any way.

Yae!  I love easy fixes.

A Child, A Balloon and a Mother

We were behind a mother and child today at the supermarket.  The little girl was holding on to a huge mylar balloon and using it for an exercise ball.  She smashed it by throwing herself on top and sitting hard on it.  The child was about four years old so not super heavy, but I was convinced she'd pop it.  Art and I watched wide eyed as the girl did her best to do just that.  Her mother was oblivious to it all as she did the self check-out.

Art whispered to me that the mom would probably have to pay for a popped balloon.  They soon left and we moved to the vacated check-out machine.

A moment later we were surprised to see the child running back and giving the balloon back to one of the cashiers.

That balloon came from the entrance of the store.  That means the child was holding and playing with it all that time before the mother had her return the balloon back to the store clerk.  The clerk returned the large balloon to the display.

I hope whoever actually buys that balloon does not have a leak starting.

So here I sit pondering what that mother was teaching her child and I shake my head.

Meeting Christine

I received a message from Christine of Christine's Blog several months ago that she and her family were coming to Hawaii from Canada.  I could hardly believe it.  Thank goodness they were arriving between our overseas trips as well as family arriving in Hawaii.

Still, we did have our bonsai, tai chi (and teacher's birthday party), Zumba classes as well as doctor's appointments, Meals on Wheels, Mother's Day parties with family, etc. during that same week.  This has been a crazy spring.

Our only option was to see Christine and her family right after our bonsai class in Kailua on Saturday which is on the other side of the island from Waikiki where their hotel was.

We thought about places we might take them before we had to drop them off at Pier 2 to catch their cruise ship.  Our options in town were Iolani Palace, Tantalus, the State Capitol...

When we got to their hotel, I rushed in to make it just at our appointed time.  As soon as I saw Christine, it felt like I already knew her.  She felt like my friend.  Amazing!  We met her beautiful family and we became friends right away.  Art was amazed at how comfortable it was to talk to them all.

We discovered then that the tour they took the day before had already passed by the places we considered taking them.  Instead, they were hoping to try some shave ice.  It's called shave ice on Oahu, not ice shave (Big Island) or shaved ice and certainly not snow cones (mainland US).  Unfortunately we know the best place in our area, but not in town.  The hotel doorman helped me out saying Waiola Shave Ice was the place to go.

We'd never been there but had heard about it.  The ice was indeed very fine and it was good, but we're still partial to the stand we go to at Waikele.

Our next stop was Ala Moana Shopping Center which now caters more to high end stores.  I wish we had more time because we could have taken them to Waikele Outlet Mall.  Aha... more reason for them to return.  We walked around the shopping center, just enjoying our time together.  It was fabulous!

Too soon, it was time to part.  We drove them to Pier 2 where a gigantic cruise ship awaited them.

Christine gave me the original art for the painting she did of the rose I once posted on my blog.  I love it.  I couldn't wait to frame and hang it up in my office to enjoy and remember meeting such a lovely blog friend.
 

Not Again!

I can't believe I did it again!  What is it about my feet?  I missed my Monday Zumba class because I went to the Lantern Floating.  I was counting on joining my Zumba group for our Wednesday class followed by our weekly girl talk type lunch.  However, it was not to be.

I was walking out of the supermarket on Tuesday afternoon going from grass to sidewalk.  Suddenly my foot just turned and I fell.  Why?

Art couldn't believe it.  He was right behind me and saw it happen.  He said he just happened to be looking down and saw my foot twist which made me fall.   My foot seemed OK, but we iced it just to be sure when we got home. 

I refused to miss my Zumba outing at first because there wasn't awful pain, but by evening, my ankle was tender to walk on.

So why did this happen to me?

I looked at the Crocs slippers I was wearing.  It has worried me a little before that the heel is angled inward so the stepping surface is smaller.  It gives it a better look, but it isn't as stable.  Still, I've been fine with it until now.

I guess I'll go back to wearing my more stable FitFlops or my gym shoes. 

They tell you that falling is one of the hazards when you get older.

Sigh...

I guess I'm older now.  Then again I've always been a bit of a klutz.  Now I'm an older klutz.

Sigh...

POSTSCRIPT:  On Tuesday night, the pain was awful after all.  I couldn't sleep.  I had to hop around looking for something to ease the pain. (Art was sound asleep.)  I found some Tylenol PM in my travel supply which really did the trick.  I was able to sleep.  

I researched what to do about sprains.  It said to ice first to keep the swelling down and then to rest and elevate the foot for a couple of days.  Last night I couldn't put any weight on it. 

Wednesday morning the foot was much better, but it hurt a bit to walk on it.  That's when I remembered that I still had the foot brace from when I broke my foot the last time.  It's even the same foot.

So I'm taking it easy today. 

Hmmm... what about my Thursday tai chi?  Would it look funny to do tai chi with the foot brace?  We shall see.

Let It Go

There's a section in the Honolulu Star Advertiser called "5 Things I Love".  One of the things someone mentioned was a Youtube video of Frozen's "Let It Go" sung in 25 languages.  I couldn't resist.  I had to look it up and loved it enough that I wanted to share it with you.

If you'd rather see it with the cartoon version instead of the singers, here's another video.

Isn't this fun?

I found the Japanese version so mom could see and understand all of it.  She loved it!  She said the Japanese words were beautiful and would teach children some good lessons in life.  She was also fascinated with the 25 languages version.  It's amazing how all the different voices sound so similar and seamlessly blend one to another.  What do you think?  Have you seen Frozen?