Plastic Pollution

We live on the Leeward side of the island and decided to drive out to the rainier Windward side. I always feel like I'm venturing into another world when we go there.

It was interesting to see how some trees had been uprooted and fallen due to high winds.

On the other side of the fallen trees is the small basalt islet that locals call Chinaman's Hat. The Hawaiian name if Mokoli'i. (I got the following from Wikipedia.)

Mokoliʻi translates from Hawaiian as "little lizard." According to Hawaiian mythology, the island is the remains of a giant lizard's or dragon's tail that was chopped off and tossed into the ocean by the goddess Hi'iaka. The common name of Chinaman's Hat derives from its likeness to the Asian conical hat.

There were many beautiful beaches on this side of the island.

We were loving the scenery and appreciating the colors and energy of the ocean waves.

And then we saw this!

The storm had  pushed miles of plastic on the beaches. I was a little nervous walking near it. I can't recall seeing anything quite like this before.

It's disturbing and disheartening.

Backing Up the Back Ups

I'm thinking it's going to take me months to sort out our family photos and organizing the files on my computer and external drives.

Just when I thought I'd finished scanning photos, I found these. These boxes contain photos I'd sent my parents and Art's parents for a couple of decades. I used to take at least three photos of different occasions so I could send them to California and Hawaii.

So even though I've scanned similar photos, I had to go through these that I'd sent away to make sure I had them.

I found myself scanning many of these because even though the situation was the same, there was a slight change of expression or moment that I couldn't part with.

Then I had to throw them away.

It was hard... really hard.

In the digital age, we might take 10 photos of the same moment so it's not difficult to delete them.

In the past, the roll of camera film was either 24 or 36 exposures. Therefore, each one was precious.

Each hard copy photo seems imbued with the spirit of that moment.

This is going to take me the whole year to do.

And then I'm saving all the photo files onto these flash drives and giving them to my kids. It's a back up of my back ups.

I feel good about this. It really is a work of love.

A Little Traffic Humor

We were on the road when we noticed something that had us chuckling.

Whoever was driving was doing a fine job, by the way.

Helpful Hint from Myrtle

My good friend, Myrtle sent me this helpful hint a long time ago and I've used it many times.

There have been several times that I seemed to have lost connection, but by turning my cellphone to Airplane Mode and then turning it back on I was able to get connected again.

Big Reason to Love Japan: Toilets

One of the things I love about Japan is their clean toilets. Whenever I've talked to people who have gone to Japan they'll mention that one of their favorite things about Japan (after the food) is the convenient FREE toilets you can find just about everywhere.

The toilet seat cleaner is such a great idea. You get a little toilet paper, spray the disinfectant on it and then wipe the toilet seat before sitting down. Yes, I know guys don't have to worry about this as much as the ladies.

Not all toilets are quite as equipped as this, but I'm guessing 99 percent of them come with a bidet washlet.

At many places we saw mini urinals in the women's bathroom as well as a sink lowered to child size use.

And another reason why people love going to Japan... courtesy.  Coming from Hawaii where people tend to smile a lot and treat others kindly most of the time, we find it comfortable going to Japan where visitors are welcomed politely.

Another of Art's YouTube Fix

Our dearest friend in Japan, "Sam" died very suddenly last year. We still feel the loss. Six of his family will be coming to Hawaii soon, and we are planning to take them to places we'd gone to with their husband/father/grandfather.

My concern was the air conditioner in our 20 year old Honda Odyssey.

We bought the van in 1999 when our nephews were coming to visit in Chicago, and we wanted to take them cross country to the East coast and Canada.

You can see me waving from our then new van in a Toronto parking lot.

In 2008, we drove the van cross country to Long Beach where we shipped it to Hawaii.

The van has only about 60,000 miles on it even though we've driven it cross country several times.

In all that time the air conditioning has somehow been dying.

I told Art we NEEDED to take it in to the  car repair shop to have the air conditioning fixed for our friends from Japan.

Hmmmm....

A few days later, I saw him checking out YouTube.

"It's not hard," he said quite confidently. "I'm pretty sure I can do it."

He said the YouTube video advised getting some kind of gauge to determine how much refrigerant you needed to add and when you should stop.

The lady at the auto shop said you didn't need the gauge, you could just stick your hand at the vent and stop adding the refrigerant when your hand felt the cool air.

And guess what? Dang! It worked!

The air conditioning is working again. I'm glad to know our visiting friends will be comfortable under the hot Hawaiian sun.

A Nurse With Experience

I wasn't able to walk during the Great Aloha Run last month because I wrenched my foot the day before and endured a sleepless night in pain which caused me to make the decision to abort my joining Art in the walk.

I've injured my foot and ankle quite a number of times at home and on trips. Art however, has been incredibly impervious to foot aggravations... until yesterday.

Last month I iced, wrapped, elevated and tried to stay off my foot so that I'd be able to walk the next morning. When it hurt like the dickens during the night, I considered taking an Advil but didn't because I knew you shouldn't take an Ibuprofen without food. It hurt so much I couldn't walk downstairs to get milk to coat my stomach by myself and I didn't want to wake Art who I knew would have to get up at 3:30 to prepare for the Run.

Well... last evening... his foot looked a little swollen, discolored and was starting to ache.

So I elevated his foot, iced and wrapped it with an Ace bandage. After all, I'm an experienced foot patient.

We went to bed.

When he needed to go to the bathroom, he couldn't stand on his foot. He's not one to complain (like me) but he said the pain was excruciating.

I had to have him sit on his rolling office chair and wheel him across to the toilet. (We don't have our wheelchair anymore because we gave it to my aunt.)

He seriously considered going to the Tripler ER, but I told him we should wait until morning.

I gave him an Advil instead and went downstairs to get him a cup of milk to take with it.

The pill worked like magic. He said the pain subsided substantially.

But now it had me wondering.

I've done the whole icing, elevating, Ace bandage thing now several times and it hasn't helped. Did it make it worse? Should we just skip it and go straight to Advil?

So I looked it up.

According to the Harvard Medical School, you have to do the RICE treatment.

* Rest the joint.
* Ice the injured area to reduce swelling.
* Compress the swelling with elastic bandage.
* Elevate the injured area.

OK... OK... We'll continue to do all that. However, I'm going to make sure I've got Ibuprofen and some milk on hand if this happens again.

Crazy Jeans

I was at Ross recently and found this pair of great jeans shorts for $13.99.  I loved it because the waist band wasn’t at the upper hip which causes that ugly bulge (maybe it's just me). And the best thing about this pair of shorts was the STRETCH!

However, what I don’t like about it are the striations on the front. I guess it’s supposed to look like worn marks when you sit. It doesn’t look natural though.

I also saw a bunch of shorts that had holes by the pockets or sides. Why? I didn’t think it even looked like natural holes. Do people actually buy jeans with holes? Is it to give the impression that they are extremely active when they’re actually couch potatoes?

Sigh... I must be showing my age.

By the way, have you ever wondered why they say "pair of pants"?

I found this answer from Encyclopaedia Britannica:

According to some, the phrase “pair of pants” harkens back to the days when what constituted pants—or pantaloons, as they were originally known—consisted of two separate items, one for each leg. They were put on one at a time and then secured around the waist. Calling them a pair of pantaloons, or pants, as they were eventually known, made sense when there were two components. The phrasing was retained even after pants were made into one complete garment.  However, there doesn’t seem to be much evidence in reference sources to support this theory.

So, I guess now we know the rest of the story. Perhaps.

Bubble Awe

OK, I know this is a silly post, but what the heck!

I love to start my morning with an iced mocha. I drink it with a reusable straw that I wash after each breakfast.

One morning I pushed the straw into my water bottle and this is what happened.

I know it's rather silly of us, but Art and I stood there marveling at how pretty that bubble was.

And then we both grabbed our cellphones to take a photo and sent it to our granddaughter.

Hmmmm... KC must be thinking grandpa and grandma don't have enough to do.

Amazon Packing!

I ordered a new 12 quart Calphalon stock pot to make soup, boil peanuts, etc. from Amazon. I hoped it wouldn't come dented. I did buy it because it promised a lifetime guarantee.

The pot arrived several days before promised in a rather large box.

By the time I finally got to the pot which did come in excellent condition, I must say, I'd gone through 4 boxes!

A couple of years ago I ordered a hat and it came in a box also. In fact, it came in two boxes!

It actually makes me feel guilty to know what this must be doing to the environment.

I hope the recycling program is efficient.

Sigh...

Keiki Swap Meet

It's always fun to go to the Keiki (Children) Swap Meet in Kakaako. We were told that our grandsons really had enough cars and trucks so what we went looking for was a high chair since they'd be visiting this summer and RK will be just 18 months and not the neatest of eaters.

There weren't as many sellers this year, but there were still a lot of booths set up where children were selling their no longer needed treasures and clothing. 

Unfortunately, there wasn't a high chair to be found.

However, we did find these giant dinosaurs, dinosaur transformers, and a dinosaur puzzle. We got them all for $15 and made some children and moms very happy.

Yes, our grandsons love dinosaurs. I hope these don't give them nightmares though.

Now about those dinosaur transformers...

I'm thinking you need a PhD. to figure out how to change them to whatever they're supposed to change into.

We got this Melissa and Doug floor puzzle for $2. It's meant for a 3 year old. I decided to put it together when we got home so we'd know if all the pieces were there.

It's meant for a 3 year old. My grandson, JD is 3 years old. I am much older. However, Art was noticing that I wasn't putting it together very swiftly so he decided I needed help.

A good friend of mine told me her granddaughters are putting together puzzles with 500 pieces or was it 1,000 pieces? Sigh... Whatever the case, I guess they wouldn't want me to help them.

Escalator Courtesy

Whenever we go to Japan I'm always impressed with the courtesy the Japanese people display toward others.

I've marveled at how people at the stations always make room for those needing to rush up the escalator to get to their trains on time.

I don't think you'll find this in the U.S.

However, Art saw an article in the paper a couple of months ago that the railway company was now advising everyone not to do that. Apparently there were 1,475 accidents in 2013-2014 where people were riding the escalators improperly (probably running to catch their trains). They are now asking everybody to stand on both sides of the escalators to prevent more accidents.

Hmmmm.... I wonder if they'll be able to change the habit of decades of polite standing on one side.

I shall have to check this out the next time we're in Japan.

White Noise to Drown Out Neighbor Noise (I Hope)

We love our neighborhood because on the whole everyone is friendly, respectful and quiet.

One of the mistakes we made when we did the renovation on our house before moving back to Hawaii was to have our master bedroom facing the street. Since we don't have much traffic here, we didn't think it would be a problem.

As I said, the neighbors are really wonderful.... buuuut... we do have one neighbor almost across from us with young people who sometimes (not often) throw parties late into the night. It wouldn't be bad if  they had their party inside the house, but they always have them outside under their carport, probably because it gets hot in the house or because they have young children that might not be able to sleep. And yes, we do close ALL our windows when they have their parties.

A couple of weeks ago, they had a party last until 2:30 in the morning. In my delirium, I almost threw on a robe to go out and ask them if they could keep the noise down. Would you believe Art slept through the whole thing? There have been times, it's kept him awake, but not that night. If their conversation was a low consistent rumble it wouldn't affect us (I think). But it's the occasional loud laughter that would jar us awake.

Art was planning to go over and ask the parents if they could plan on ending the parties before midnight.

Then we remembered how our kids had white noise machines at their homes for our grandkids.

We decided to try this one. I thought the ocean waves would be soothing, but it has too much dead space where laughter could come through. There was wind but that might remind me of hurricanes. I haven't heard the stream yet. The bird tweets didn't quite soothe me. Neither did the camp fire. (I might feel like I have  to stay awake to make sure it doesn't spread.) So I settled on rain. We get lots of rain in our area so that might do it.

We'll see. (I wonder if it'll mask snoring... not that anyone I know snores a lot...)

What would you choose?

POSTSCRIPT: Well, it happened again. The neighbors' kids were having a talk fest out under their carport last night. I turned on the white noise machine. It didn't drown them out completely, but it garbled their conversation and laughter amidst a white noise rainstorm.

We fell asleep. 

Computer Going Nuts?

Art has been complaining that his desktop computer suddenly started losing its mind.

The computer would be fine for a minute or two and then suddenly start flickering and moving across his monitor in a frenzy.

I texted my son-in-law, Ed, and told him we needed to buy a new computer and that we should probably buy a better one for Art.

Ed texted back that perhaps we just needed to reinstall Windows.

No, I really thought Art needed a new computer. This one was totally crazy.

Ed asked us to explain exactly what was wrong. We texted this video to him to prove our case.

"Hmmm..." he said. "I think there's something wrong with one of the keys on your keyboard. Can you try replacing the keyboard with the spare one?"

We went to the closet and took out the keyboard that Ed uses when he comes to Hawaii and works from here. We plugged in the spare keyboard to Art's computer.

Ummm.... Would you believe the computer regained its sanity? It suddenly started cooperating.

So I guess Art won't be getting a new computer after all since this one was cured thanks to our awfully smart techie doctor son-in-law. 

Trump Racism

I think most people believe that our president is racist and that he refuses to denounce White Nationalism or racism because a large part of his base support those beliefs.

It's frightening to know that many people, even in another country is using him as "a symbol of renewed white identity."

It appears that Donald Trump is giving the impression that he would condone this kind of extreme, violent racism. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Didn't he also tell his supporters to beat up protesters at one of his rallies? Hasn't he also been reticent about criticizing White Nationalists in our country?

Why don't his supporters care?

I think a third of our country supports him. What don't I understand?

Baggallini Bust

A few years ago, my daughter sent this Baggallini backpack to me as a Christmas gift.

This is not a cheap bag.

I checked online and saw the price.

Well, after a couple of years, I noticed that the leather straps were getting sticky. Weird. I wiped it off.

After another year, I've noticed that the leather skin is flaking! This is so disgusting! It's totally unsightly.

Sigh...

I guess paying more doesn't guarantee a good product.

I see that it's got 4.5 stars, but then again only 3 people have given reviews.

POSTSCRIPT:

I got the following message from Baggalini.

I guess I know which company I shouldn't buy from next time.

Fooling the Christmas Cactus

Mom's Christmas Cactus bloomed on schedule in December.

The flowers were not quite as abundant as they were last year, but they were pretty.

After a few weeks all the flowers fell and it was just green again.

With the cold weather we've been having, I guess the Christmas Cactus thought it was time to bloom again.

There are buds forming all over the plant again and some blossoms are already blooming.

It's a bonus for the cooler weather we've been having. I'm hoping the cooler temperatures last a bit longer.

Almost forgot... the poinsettia is also still looking gorgeous after our neighbors gave it to us in early December. Mom must be praying over it or something.

Fixing a Bad Basket Buy

When I fell going up the stairs last year and broke my humerus, my wonderful Kansas blogger friend suggested I get a stair basket so I could put things in the basket when I walk up or down the stairs. Unfortunately, those stair baskets were pretty pricey. So I looked for plain baskets instead and found one very reasonably priced on Amazon. (Notice how it's holding heavy fruit? You'd think it was strong, right?)

I ordered one and was quite happy with it. I then realized that I needed one for downstairs and one for upstairs so I ordered another one. The reviews seemed pretty good. Granted there were only 15 reviews.

Anyway, after a couple of months or so I was noticing chipping and cracking. (I took this photo after my repair, but you can see where and how it was chipping.)

Aggravation!

The handle on the second basket was also not quite aligned properly, but I let that go.

Well I still liked the size and look of the baskets so...

I bought a can of water based sealer hoping it would strengthen the wood. I glued the cracking and chipping parts with Elmers glue.

Yes, yes, it's true the sealer cost me as much as one of the baskets.

Sigh.

I gave the baskets three coats of sealer.

I'll put one back downstairs and keep one upstairs for when my hands are full. I think they look much prettier now. I just hope they're much stronger. If not, I still have more than half a can of sealer left.

I'm not giving up...

yet.

Fat Tuesday Sweets in Chicago and Hawaii

My daughter is not Christian, but by golly! She celebrates Fat Tuesday. I didn’t even know what Fat Tuesday was before I moved to Chicago.

I looked it up online and got this information from USA Today:

Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday," also called Shrove Tuesday. It is the day before Ash Wednesday, which marks the start of Christian Lent season leading up to Easter. During Lent, many Christians fast, and the name Fat Tuesday refers to the last day of eating richer foods before the leaner days of Lent begin.

When I was teaching in Chicago I remember someone bringing in a Kings cake for Fat Tuesday. That’s the first time I’d heard of a Kings cake. There was a crown or something inside the cake and you were lucky if you ended up with that piece. (I got this photo courtesy of Wikipedia.)

My daughter lined up with other Chicagoans to buy paczkis for my granddaughter last week. Paczkis are a Polish deep fried dough covered with sugar. I looked wonderful.

I understand paczkis were prepared to use up all the lard, sugar and eggs in preparation for Lent.

I thought it must be a Chicago/New Orleans type of thing.

What a surprise to find that in Hawaii, everybody goes out to buy malasadas which is a Portuguese deep fried dough covered with sugar that is VERY popular here. What’s not to love about it except the calories?

In our case, Art’s friend, Gary gave us some gorgeous andagi which is an Okinawan fried dough, also very popular in Hawaii and also filled with calories.

I can see why it’s called Fat Tuesday.

Are You in a Happy State?

Hawaii has been ranked the happiest state for the 7th year now according to the latest Gallup Poll. The states were all graded on how residents felt about their health, careers, relationships, finances and communities.

I'm a little surprised since there's always the complaint about the cost of living in Hawaii. Home prices are out of reach for most young couples. I've heard Hawaii is one of the states with the most homeless per capita in the U.S.

As for careers, my son-in-law says there aren't enough jobs in Hawaii that pays enough for them to move here.

Hawaii is also #1 for being targeted by cyber-scammers. Sigh...

And sadly... Here are the unhappiest states.

I feel awful for those unhappy states.

I will say this as I've said before, it's a nice feeling here whenever we're out and about. People usually smile at you. When we go shopping and are waiting in line, it's not unusual for someone to just strike up a conversation. Maybe it's because we're seniors so they feel we need more attention.

There are overall more smiles wherever we go than when we travel elsewhere. I don't know. I do exercise (a little) more here than I did on the mainland and I see friends more often too. So perhaps that's a lot to do with our overall contentment. Oh... and then there's the weather. Although I miss the joy of spring, when there's no hurricane threats it's pretty darn wonderful here.

What do you think of these assessments?

Double the News

Something crazy has been happening at our house for the last 2-3 weeks. We take the morning Star Advertiser. We like reading the paper while eating our breakfast.

Art reads the paper cover to cover. I get the comics and then read the latest on my cellphone because... I hate tearing the paper away from my engrossed husband.

One morning, we didn't get the paper. We logged on to the Star Advertiser and an hour later, a paper was delivered.

The next morning, we got TWO newspapers. We called the newspaper.

The next morning we got NO newspapers again. We searched everywhere to see if they'd thrown it to some location not visible to the naked eye. We logged on and had it delivered after our oatmeal was already eaten.

The next morning, TWO newspapers again! We decided to see if this might be a one time thing and waited until the following day.

Yup. TWO newspapers! Arrrghhh!

Wrote to them again...

And yup...next day, NO newspapers. Arrrrrrghhhhhh! So I wrote to them again explaining the ridiculous situation.

This morning.... guess what?

Sigh...........

You don't suppose they're charging us double do you?

POSTSCRIPT:
I wrote to the newspaper again and told them it would be the last time I would inform them of a double newspaper.

This morning?

One newspaper.

A Cockroach Memory

Art and I were at the shopping center a couple of days ago when we both looked up into the bright Hawaiian sky and had the same memory flash across our brains.

We looked at each other and burst out laughing.

Several years ago, our daughter Tiffany was visiting us from Illinois. We were in my parents' tiny Ford Festiva. Tiffany was in the backseat. As we were parking the car, Tiffany suddenly shrieked and said there was a giant bug in the car.

"Of course not," we scoffed.

We all exited the car and Tiffany let out another screech. To our shock, we saw the biggest darn American cockroach we'd ever seen before.

To add to our shock, it scooted out the car, onto the roof and incredibly took flight. We had NO idea it could fly so high!

As we all stood gaping at this amazing sight...

... a mynah bird suddenly appeared out of nowhere and swooped down in midflight to snatch the roach feast before our very eyes! (OK...I'm sorry. I tried to photoshop what occurred but couldn't do the occasion justice.)

Whatever the case, we've never seen this happen again. I guess this is one of those experiences that you had to be there to appreciate its awesomeness. Have you had something like this happen to you?

Regrets Over My Over Organizing

Ever since friends have been talking about Marie Kondo and organizing our possessions, I've been going through my closet and donating what I haven't used or don't need. I was feeling good about it... until now.

I was going to write a post about dresses that I've worn at important times in my life before I donated the dress itself. I haven't worn that dress since Tiffany's wedding and didn't think I'd ever wear it again so I planned to donate it.

Then I looked for the dress I wore when I gave birth to my son in that Illinois hospital elevator 40 years ago. I'd made that dress myself.

Art even took a photo of me wearing it with Tiffany and her new baby brother.

I couldn't find the dress. I looked everywhere.

Then I remembered. I had put it in the donation pile since I'd not worn it in decades and thought someone else could use it.

But now...

I felt awful. There was a sense of loss. Regret. There was even a hint of tears misting my eyes.

I think I'm going to be a bit more careful now before donating or throwing away anything.

And I guess I'll keep that mother-of-the bride dress after all.

Hawaii Rescue Fees for Illegal Hikers?

There has apparently been a lot of problems with hikers going through private property to get to prohibited hiking trails or to restricted public lands that are clearly marked. There are too many cases of hikers who are tempted by social media to take dangerous risks.

The expense to taxpayers of many thousands of dollars to rescue hikers and the danger it imposes on helicopter pilots who have to make the dangerous flights is immense.

The topic is controversial.

My son, who was once a firefighter for several years felt you can't make the hikers pay because it could delay them calling for help. He felt reckless people need to be rescued despite their irresponsible behavior.

My husband, Art said you have to pay if you call for an ambulance so isn't this similar?

I was thinking you should impose fines for people who are caught trespassing or even need to be rescued, but not charge them the enormous rescue fee.

The question was put out by the Star Advertiser to the public and this is how they responded.

Looks like people are tired of hikers constantly ignoring signs, going onto dangerous trails and needing to be rescued. They're also tired of footing the bill for the rescues.

What do you think?

March 3rd: Girls Day

Yesterday was Girls Day in Japan. March 3rd is Hinamatsuri (Doll's Day or Girls Day). Tango no Sekku is Boys Day on May 5th. They celebrate Girls Day with dolls and Boys Day with flying carp windsocks. Nowadays Japan has Kodomo no Hi (Children's Day) which is on May 5th. Apparently they've consolidated Girls and Boys Day on the day that was originally Boys Day. Hmmm.... I don't know how I like that.

We were at Ala Moana Shopping Center recently and saw this display at a store.

They also had an explanation for Girls Day.

So I guess they do still celebrate Girls Day separately anyway.

This all reminds me of my daughter when she was little. My mother spent quite a bit of their hard earned money to make sure Tiffany had her own Emperor and Empress doll in a glass case. And no, it didn't cost $700+ 30 years ago.

My grandmother in Japan also sent Tiffany a doll which was so elaborate, she never played with it.

The doll I remember most of all was the Cabbage Patch doll.

Tiffany's birthday was coming up and the big craze was the Cabbage Patch doll. We couldn't find one anywhere. They were snapped up as soon as it went on the shelves. To this day, I don't quite know why. I do know all her friends seemed to have one and our poor child was deprived.

Tif's birthday was a couple of weeks away when our friend, Carol called and said she was at K-Mart and saw three Cabbage Patch dolls. Carol asked if we might like her to get one for us.

I still remember clearly that moment when Tiffany opened her gift and tears welled in her eyes. I've never seen her that happy over a gift since.

Now then, our granddaughter? Nope. She does NOT like dolls. Her bed is covered with stuffed animals.

Ah well...

We're just so very blessed to have such thoughtful, beautiful, caring, brilliant children and grandchildren in our family.

Blogaversary #11

Wow! Can you believe it? How did 11 years fly by so quickly? I can hardly believe I've written over  3,100 posts and pretty much chronicled everything we've experienced here in Hawaii and abroad.

I got into blogging just to keep my family informed of our comings and goings and doings and ended up having another family of cyber friends that share their joys and adventures with us.

It's been a magical 11 years and I thank you all so much for being a part of our lives.

I don't know if I could have kept writing if it weren't for your encouraging friendship.

You all are the BEST!