Shoes and Hawaii

While on the East coast we happened to be walking to something called Edfest where we would learn about all the educational options in Washington, D.C. for our grandson.

Since it was a rather cold, snowy day, I decided to wear my Born shoes that I thought could withstand the cold and wet weather instead of my Merrell Jungle Mocs.

Parking was tight, so we did have to walk a distance.

I thought my shoes were holding up well.

However, when we got into the building, I noticed pieces of black rubber was littering the floor around me.

What the heck?

The entire front sole had just crumbled off! And the sole of the other shoe was cracking also!

This was supposed to be a good shoe. I had to sit on a chair and wait while everybody else got to walk around and see what was available. One fellow stopped by, took pity on me and actually offered to get me some Starbucks coffee. Oh my!

When they were done, I had to cover my foot with plastic grocery bags so I could walk out again. Art and Keola got the car and drove it to the entrance so I wouldn't have to walk far.

I was embarrassed about walking around with a plastic grocery bag around my shoes, but no one seemed to notice... at least they pretended not to.

I was tempted to buy another shoe but decided against it since it would sit in my closet in Hawaii deteriorating away again.

I thought my Merrell shoe was fabulous since I've had it for at least 8 years and have worn it everywhere we traveled. However, at the airport on the way home to Hawaii, I looked down and noticed the front of my shoe coming off.

Arrrghhh!

That's OK. I think I can fix this with Shoe Goo.  At least I hope that's all it will need. I'm just grateful it held on until I returned to Hawaii.

Life Saver Down Coat

I thought I'd be OK in Maryland with a lined windbreaker that I wore to Japan in October. I soon learned that a windbreaker (even lined) just didn't keep me warm enough on the East coast in winter. What was I thinking? The windbreaker also wasn't roomy enough for me to layer appropriately.

When we were with Keola and Sarah, I was noticing his very light weight down jacket. He said it really worked great in cold weather and could be squashed down to a small size for packing too.

It just so happened that on our trip to Costco to pick up diapers and other supplies, I happened to come across this wonderful hooded down jacket. It was the last one and it was just $19.99! Perfect! I couldn't believe it! And I could fit a fleece jacket under it too.

When Keola saw me in it, he quirked his eyebrows and said, "Mom, you know that's a man's coat right? A woman's coat should be fitted."

Well, I don't care. It may not be flattering to a figure, but it's warm and I can squash it into a gallon freezer bag. Perfect!

Woo hoo!

Your Last Meal?

While waiting for our grandson to be born, we told our daughter-in-law, Sarah that we should go out to a restaurant so she could enjoy a final meal out since it would be too difficult to do so for a while after the baby was born.

She thought and thought about it and decided on an Indian restaurant called Chutney.

We all enjoyed it.

Keola and Sarah have been around the world since their Peace Corps days in Mali, West Africa. They have a very wide palate.

All this got us talking about what we would ask for our last meal. I think we were talking about death row or something like that. They have a wide variety of topics to talk about too.

I think Keola said he would choose ribs.

Sarah said she would choose sushi!

I had to laugh remembering how mom warned me that I should marry an Asian person when she learned I had dated a Caucasian fellow in college. She warned that when I grew old I would crave fish, but a Caucasian fellow would want beef. She insisted it had something to do with our digestive tract. So you see she doesn't know everything.

I'll bet she didn't say anything to my brother when he married my Irish-American sister-in-law.

And no, I didn't marry Art just so we could eat fish contentedly together. As a matter of fact, I love the baby back ribs at Chilis. I don't know how old I have to be before my craving for fish will set in. Art prefers fish though.

My last meal? Alaskan King crab legs or ribs? Hmm... I don't know. Just give me a dipped cone and I'll be happy.

Art? He'd order a bouillabaisse or some other type of seafood stew with watermelon for dessert.

I know mom would order some type of Asian noodle. And she'd follow it up with ice cream and maybe some plum wine.

What would you order?

Staying at an Airbnb For the First Time

We were in Maryland this past fall waiting for our tardy grandson to be born. He arrived two weeks later than we thought he would so we had to stay in Maryland for a little over three weeks.

This could have been horribly expensive, but our son-in-law helped us find an Airbnb home about 12 minutes away that was a lifesaver for us. Jeanne is the friendly, helpful homeowner.

The home is located in a very pleasant residential area and sort of on a hill so the top level is where Jeanne lives and the entire bottom floor is for Airbnb.

We weren't sure what to expect and was very surprised and happy to see this beautiful set of rooms when we entered the door.

The kitchen had a full sized fridge, stove, microwave, toaster oven, Keurig coffee maker and dishwasher!

The bathroom was small, but had shelves and racks that made it convenient.

There was even an office with a wall of shelving that made it perfect for us to organize our things.

The bedroom was lovely; the bed was comfy and I slept very well!

And here's what we really loved! A walk in closet and a washer/dryer!

When Art stepped in dog poop while walking our granddog, Mungo, Jeanne provided us with a bucket and toothbrush to clean Art's shoes. It took a long time to clean the shoe, but it was wearable once it dried.

And here's Jeanne, our hostess with the mostest! Whenever we're in Maryland again, her house is definitely where we would stay!

Scrubbers With Memories Galore!

This Christmas one of our neighbors gave us these beautiful scrubbers made of the Korean microfiber yarn that is so popular in Hawaii right now. They do work great!

This was in addition to all the cookies, little cakes, and poinsettia plant they also gave us.

They explained to us once that it was in gratitude for our forbearance of their parking their 5 or 6 cars in and around our street, mostly in front of our house.

It can't be helped. Parking is not always easy in Hawaii.

Anyway, I added the scrubbers to our collection.

I rather like looking at them. They all have a memory. The green and yellow flower is from Irene. The squares with diagonal stripes are from Auntie Gladys. The blue and yellow is from the lady I bumped into in Japan. The red strawberry is from Naomi. The pink flower is from Terry. Ummm... where did that yellow and purple square and orange one come from? Doggone it! I forgot. So much for my memory!

Maybe I should stop using our dishwasher and do it by hand.

Tying It Properly in Japan

One of the interesting things we learned this past fall from Reiko, our Japanese tour guide was the art of giving monetary gifts in Japan.

She explained that the mizuhiki knots on the envelopes all had a significance. I had no idea.

A wedding envelope should have a very complicated knot that is seemingly impossible to untie. This is to signify that the marriage will never be undone.

With that in mind, you should never give an amount that is easily divisible.

The usual gift, according to Reiko is 30,000 ($300) or 50,000 Yen ($500), never 20,000 Yen. If you can only afford 20,000 Yen (ummm... that's about $200, mind you), you can give a 10,000 Yen bill plus two 5,000 Yen bills. I hope I have that right. Those zeros always confuse me. I guess it's all symbolic because it's quite easy to divide $300 into $150. Ah well... never mind.

However, a monetary birthday gift should have a simple knot to represent the receiver being able to untie and retie the happy experience many times.


Reiko also explained that black calligraphy is used for happy occasions and gray for funerals to connote the tears that diluted the ink.

Funeral money is called koden. It's a custom that's carried over to Hawaii.

We've always tried to make sure crisp bills are added to our sympathy card, but in Japan it's the opposite. A crisp bill might indicate that you were expecting that person to die and planned ahead with a crisp bill. Therefore people enclose older money or if it's too crisp, will fold it to show a crease.

The mizuhiki (knots) for koden envelopes are supposed to be black and white with the ends facing upwards.

I did find a website called Taiken Japan which explained a bit more about the mizuhiki envelopes. For one thing, the envelopes are  called Noshibukuro. They also noted that Mizuhiki is a Japanese art form in which washi paper strands are used to make knots of various shapes and colors.

As interesting as all this was, I was glad I lived in the U.S. where we're not expected to shell out $300 or $500 for every wedding we attend. Good grief! We'd be broke in no time. Then again, you might make it up when you pass away, but you won't be able to enjoy it. Sigh...

Another False Alert?

There seems to be endless coverage about the fallout from the false missile alert. The person who made the mistake has been getting death threats. Governor Ige has been criticized and some are thinking it will impact his re-election campaign. Seems to me that in the end there's been some benefits from all this. People have the time now to think what they could do in the event of a real threat. First Hawaiian Bank and Walmart workers are being educated on trying to help people instead of turning them away from their establishments in a crisis. Failsafes are being activated.

Anyway, with all this going on I was surprised yesterday to get this.

What?

It was about 7:00 AM and we certainly hadn't gone to McDonalds.

So was this a real alert?

We were dubious. We're not trusting anything anymore. So Art called the credit card company. They said someone had bought something at McDonalds yesterday morning before I was even awake. They'd also gone to KFC twice a few days ago.

Then we found out that these purchases were being made in Virginia!

So it's a real alert! It's real! Arrrghh! The credit card was cancelled and a new one was issued to us.

Aggravation!

OK... We're going to be paying more attention to these alerts now. Siren or no siren.

Credit Card Question

We were getting ready for our trip to Japan last fall and I had to call to let our credit card company know that we would be overseas.

There were a lot of identification questions that a sweet fellow named Shane asked which I answered. He warned me that even though I'd told them that we'd be out of town they might still deny the card purchase because of the Equifax high alert right now.

If there was a questionable purchase that raised alarms, he said they would send me a text on my cellphone.

I told him I won't have cell coverage when I'm in Japan. So he said I could just call them if something is denied.

O..... K......

Now Shane was a very sweet and friendly young guy. Otherwise his following question might not have made me happy. He asked, "Your husband's last name is Japanese, isn't it?

I told him it was.

He then said, "I just wondered because he's got a Japanese last name, but his first name...Arthur is very English. I just wondered why a Japanese person would have an English name."

Gosh... That took me aback. Since he was very nice, I told him we were third generation Americans. Actually, that's not entirely correct since we're sansei which means 3rd generation in Japanese, but in English we'd be 2nd generation since our grandparents came here from Japan.

 Hmmm... I suppose if he saw this photo of my handsome nephew who also has a Japanese last name and an Irish first name he'd really be stymied.

Does he expect every person with a non-English surname to have a matching ethnic name?

Sigh...

I thought we were beyond this already.

False Alarm!

Art and I were calmly eating our Saturday breakfast and reading the paper when our cellphones went off with a loud, harsh buzz. Then came a warning of an imminent missile attack.

My first thought was... Doggone it! I got a spam on my cellphone or virus or whatever. Then again, why does Art's cellphone also have the same message?

I listened to hear if there was any sort of siren. Nope. Nada. Nothing. My neighbor was hanging her wash outside. The sun was shining. Everything seemed peaceful enough.

What to do?

I turned on the TV. There was only college basketball.  (I heard later that there was an alert notice on TV but I didn't see it when I turned it on. Besides, would they keep playing basketball if something like this was actually happening?)

Nobody was running out of their houses or into it.

So what did I do next?

I texted my kids on the mainland. My son told me it was all over the Tweets.

Hmmmm... Now what?

Mom walked in and I told her what was happening. She laughed and said, "That can't be true. North Korea is saying they're going to take part in the Olympics. They wouldn't launch a bomb if they're planning to go to the Olympics. That's silly."

Art went out and asked our neighbor if he'd gotten the warning. Our neighbor said he turned off warnings on his cellphone.

Art then texted his friend, Gary who said they'd evacuated the KCC Farmers Market and ended up with a traffic jam.

My friend texted me from a closet. Apparently, (according to the news) lots of people went into closets. I asked why she was in the closet and she replied, "To stay away from windows."

A few minutes later, Art got this message. I might have gotten it too, but I was washing the dishes.

Sheesh!

Then I started getting messages from friends in Illinois, Kansas, California, Virginia and even Dina in Israel.

Wow!

Isn't it amazing? Within minutes the whole world seemed to know that Hawaii had gotten a False missile alarm.

The fact that Art and I didn't respond quickly (or at all) is not really a good thing. We don't prepare as well as we should for hurricanes either.

I guess it's the whole crying wolf thing. After a while, we get too relaxed about things. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we don't have to worry about the real thing ever. If something like this happens again, I think I'm going to find a bomb shelter and text from there. Then again, where the heck is a bomb shelter anyway?

POSTSCRIPT 1: I just saw this report on CNN quoting Governor Ige. "It was a mistake made during a standard procedure at the change over of a shift, and an employee pushed the wrong button," he said.

I'm feeling really sorry for that poor schmuck who made that goof. I'm also feeling sorry for Governor Ige. Elections are coming up and he's got contenders vying for his job. They might use this to sway voters. We'll see. Whatever the case, this was a good test to see what the problems are should something catastrophic really happen.

POSTSCRIPT 2: Here's our Sunday paper headline.

Losing Sleep Over Buying a Mattress

They say the recommendation for changing your mattress is 5-10 years. Well, we had such a headache with the Vera Wang latex mattress we bought in 2009, that I really wasn't in the mood to look for another one. However, here I am thinking about it again after 8 years and staring at the depressions in the mattress.

I'm now considering just getting the Tuft and Needle mattress online even though it's not exactly loved by side sleepers. Problem is Art is a back sleeper and does well with a firm mattress. I like firmness, but soft mattresses are recommended for side sleepers. Art says he can sleep on anything, but not a hot mattress. Memory foams are known to be hot.

Sigh...

Since I haven't had much luck with any other mattress and Tuft and Needle is the most reasonable mattress online even with the $190 shipping charge to Hawaii...

I'm thinking about it.

Have any of you tried it? Are you a side sleeper? Is there another mattress you would recommend?

Cleaning Your Fridge

I was reading our refrigerator instructions a while ago and saw that I should be cleaning out everything in the refrigerator ONCE A MONTH! Seriously? I don't think my mother ever took everything out of the fridge to clean; at least I never saw her do it while growing up.

This year, I figured I'd do it as part of the belated New Year clean-up. Actually, what really motivated me was Linda Reeder of Linda Letters. Darn if she doesn't have the most energy of anyone I know.

I did check online to see what the recommendation for cleaning out your fridge was. Ummm... it's true. I saw one website insisting on once a month. This Today show website said quarterly. You're supposed to take everything out of shelves and bins and wipe it with a solution of one tablespoon baking soda to one quart warm water.

OK. We did take out everything and wiped the shelving down. Ummmm... I didn't do the baking soda thing though, mainly because I looked all this up AFTER we cleaned the fridges.

I suppose it's a good idea to do this more than once a year or two years. I found mustard that expired in 2015. And good grief! Why do we have 3 boxes of elbow macaronis in the freezer?

For those of you on the mainland, most people in Hawaii do have two refrigerators. We refrigerate or freeze EVERYTHING that could harbor bugs.

And what? I'm supposed to clean out the washer once a month also with vinegar? Aack! I've never done that! Have you?

45 Years Together

Art and I celebrated Anniversary #45 this past Saturday. When I looked back on my posts, I saw that we went to see (Star Wars) Rogue One for our anniversary last year. This year, we'll see The Last Jedi. Will they make another Star War movie for our 46th?

Lunch was at Palazzo Ristorante Italiano. And it was very wonderful indeed. Mom does like Italian food. I think it's just because she loves noodles.

And look what my brother and sister-in-law sent us! Yes, mom loved it!  Well, actually, she would probably have preferred a basket of chocolate covered strawberries instead.

Gosh! 45 years! It seems so hard to believe. I remember being awed when I heard of people celebrating 25 years of marriage and now 50 is within our reach.

Incredible.

Playing With Play Doh

For our grandson's 2nd birthday, my brother and sister-in-law sent him Play Doh.

I must admit that when we all saw the Play Doh, everyone's eyebrows went up and our eyes widened... except our 10 year old granddaughter who gave a broad smile.

Play Doh is fun for the kids, but we all know what a mess it can be too.

We even thought we'd hide the box for a while until he was a little older.

But no... The box with the little colored containers intrigued him far too much and he begged to open them until we relented.

Daughter-in-law, Sarah showed him how to roll out the colored dough and use the templates to cut out designs. He very quickly became adept at creating one design after another and loving every minute of it. At 2 years of age, he knew better than to try to eat it.

So in the end, it was the toy he most played with while we were there and I expect he'll want to play with it some more when we visit again.

Late New Year Post

I was looking through my photo file and saw some photos I forgot to post.

New Year in Hawaii is always a raucous affair because of the incredible amounts of illegal fireworks that are set off each year.

The whole tradition of fireworks is explained by the National Geographic News:

"The tradition, which Chinese immigrants brought to the islands in the 19th century, was originally meant to scare off evil spirits."

This tradition is not loved by everyone. The Lung Association worked hard to pass laws to only allow firecrackers WITH a permit because the smoke generated by the fireworks made it very difficult for people with asthma or other lung ailments. Dogs often need sedatives to keep them calm.

Despite the laws in effect, it's amazing to see just how many illegal fireworks are set off each New Year's Eve.

These sky lanterns are particularly dangerous, but each year, I see a few in the sky.

I've seen the illegal aerials in my neighborhood and was surprised when my nephew told me that they're about $140 a piece!!! Talk about money going up in smoke.

Art went to bed very early on New Year's Eve, woke up briefly (15 minutes) to see the fireworks and went right back to sleep so he could wake up at 3:30 AM to check out the Super Moon and King Tides.

In recent years, the King Tides have flooded the area surrounding Pearl Harbor. With the Super Moon also falling on New Year's Day, Art absolutely could not resist the pull of the phenomenon.

Me? Oh no. I was still asleep when he returned.

After all, my resolution for 2018 is to get at least 7 hours of sleep a night!

Using Compound W

Art and I occasionally get these growths by the ball of our feet. I just get them under my feet, he gets huge calluses on his big and little toe. I'm sure it's because he has wide feet. He wears 4E shoes.

I've been applying salicylic acid (Compound W) to his toes and they've worked pretty well. When I got one of those wart like things under my foot, I decided to try it on my foot too. Unfortunately, it really took a lot of the skin off and my foot hurt for quite a while. I had to wear a bandaid to cushion it.

Because there were two or three dots in the middle where the abnormal cells seem to grow, my doctor said she would refer me to a podiatrist. I was supposed to wait for a call to schedule an appointment.

However, while I waited, my foot healed and it's been doing great.

So I decided to just forget about the podiatrist.

Besides, Art's foot is worse than mine.

I'll wait... and see what happens.

And here it is a month later.

Yay! I'm fixed.

Finding Money

I guess this must be a retired seniors sort of thing. Art and a couple of our other friends keep their eyes open for dropped coins.

Art goes a step farther and takes photos of coin/coins and sends them to his friends.... and me.

He found two pennies today. Here's one of them.

Along with many other seniors, Art walks very early in the morning to avoid the blazing sun. He sends me photos which I look at AFTER I wake up.

One morning, this is what he found. It was the craziest thing! A pile of coins sitting on what looks like an electrical box!

It totaled $2.78!

What did he do with it?

He always drops the coins/money he finds (after he washes them) into the charity boxes where he picks up his senior coffee.

I found a penny yesterday and do you know what he did. Yup. Took a picture and added it to his charity stash.

Keeping Yard Tools Organized

Before we left for the mainland, Art and I decided to organize all the yard rakes and brooms that mom uses every day. When she complains about a rake being old or too big or whatever we buy a new one. Problem is, she doesn't want to throw the old one away. Eventually, the place looks a mess.

So we looked online and found this handy wall mount.

It seemed to work just fine and there was room for all her things.

Then I decided to do this blog post and I took everything off to get the BEFORE shot.

When I hung the rakes and brooms back up, I got this.

What the heck?

How did I end up with two extras?

I also discovered that the little grabby things that hold the rakes and brooms up don't work well or easily. It worked great before we left this summer, but no longer grabs well. Sigh...

POSTSCRIPT:
Never mind. When I told Art I wrote about how it wasn't working anymore, he went out and cleaned the rubber grips, etc. It works again.

Ah well...

Ancient Petroglyphs in Waipahu

When my brother and I were kids, we used to wander about the dirt roads of our plantation camp neighborhood without a care. Our parents never worried about us. They knew that if anything happened, somebody would help us and contact them. It did "take a village to raise a child."

However, I learned much later that my brother, Dennis roamed much farther than I'd ever imagined.

I recently came across this photo.

It was taken in 1963.

Dennis would have been about 10 or 11 years old at the time.

He'd discovered this cliff quite far from our home and climbed down to it.

Good grief!

Ancient Hawaiian petroglyphs!!!

He convinced me to bring a camera to take a photo of it. Yes, I actually scrambled down a cliff. Sheesh!

Art and I drove past the approximate location a while ago and can't figure out where the petroglyphs must have been.

For one thing, developers completely knocked down and graded most portions of the hillside where those rocks were. Once my brother retires, he says we can make an expedition of it and see if we can figure out exactly where that ancient site was.

Somebody knew about it because they had chalked in the figures carefully.

Dennis also led me down to streams that I now have no idea where it might have been. We caught beautiful guppies there and raised them for a while. Considering the fact that I'm the elder by 3 years, he's the one that led us more into adventures and ahem... few mishaps.

Happy New 2018, Everybody!

For the Japanese... well... especially my mother, New Years has always been the more important celebration of the season. We're supposed to get the house cleaned, bills paid and all our loose ends tied up. It's a challenge this year because Art and I were in Maryland waiting for the birth of our grandson.

Mom wanted us to make sure the family was all gathered to have the traditional Japanese foods. We had to have kazunoko which is a kind of fish egg thing which neither Art nor I like, but apparently my brother does.

There's sushi, kanten (agar agar), yokan (red bean jelly), kuromame (black bean), gobo (burdock root), mochi (rice cake) with kinako (soybean powder), noodles and so on and so forth.

Each food item has some sort of significance which I should try to remember since mom keeps reminding me, but I'm sorry to tell you I just can't keep it all straight. I did remember that noodles represent long life though. Oh... I forgot... there's also ozoni which is a savory soup with mochi (rice cake) in it. Since mom never liked it as a child, we don't have to eat it. She does bend the rules as she sees fit.

Another thing you're supposed to have is the kadomatsu. We never had one before we moved back to Hawaii from Illinois, but since we returned, a couple of Art's classmates (and my brother and sister-in-law) have always brought one over for us to display. This year two of his classmates brought one over and one of my friends offered one also!

You're supposed to burn them after 15 days (or was it 19?), but for the last 4 years, we've been a bit lazy about doing that so they sit as decorations around the room. I hope that's not indicative of our putting things off or just showing plain laziness about getting things done.

Ah well... we can just add it to our list of resolutions that we'll start writing once we're done with the things we were supposed to get done before 2018.

Happy New Year, everybody!

POSTSCRIPT:  Would you believe I discovered I'm the only one who didn't like kazunoko? Sheesh! Even Art doesn't mind it.