Walking Life's Tightrope

Sometimes Life feels like a tightrope. We could be walking confidently, balancing everything in our lives, happily thinking we'll get to the other end without a problem.

Then suddenly, there's a wobble, you lose your footing and have to focus everything you have in you to find balance again.

We went to visit one of my favorite cousins the other day at the hospital. OK, all my cousins are my favorites, but Walt is my brilliant, always generous,  kind, loving and fun cuz. He's made me laugh with his sometimes irreverent comments on my blog posts.

Several years ago, he had a bout with cancer, but it seemed that everything was removed and he was back to normal. He was watching his diet and doing all he could to maintain his health for his beautiful family.

He was a coffee connoisseur and used to roast his own beans which he would share with us. He'd tell us exactly where the beans came from, the temperature it was roasted at and the length of time he roasted it.

When we went to see him at the hospital, he looked better than I expected despite the fact that I knew cancer was ravaging his body. We are hopeful that chemo and radiation will work a miracle.

What really made an impression on me was his strength and courage. He smiled and laughed with us in an effort to cheer us as we were trying to cheer him somehow. He didn't try to hide anything, but he worked hard to smile for our benefit. Ganbatte is a Japanese word that means to persevere and to try your best. Walt is the epitome of that word.

I woke up the following morning remembering a dream I had. I was trying to stabilize a tower of blocks. No matter how hard I tried, the tower kept falling. Art came along and together we tried to attach velcro to the blocks to stick them together and make them stay up. I woke up before I found out if it worked.

Mom always told me that with Buddhism, I must understand that I cannot pray to change things. What will be, will be. What I can pray for is strength and peace. Well, I can pray for those things for Walt, but he seems to have more strength than I do.

I'm just going to try to balance my life now and do what we can to support Walt and his family, but if any of you can pray for a miracle, I'd sure appreciate it.

Social Security Scam

For several days, we kept getting a phone call from somebody in Washington, D.C. It was an automated call saying it was the Social Security office. They wanted to inform me that there was some kind of breach and my social security number had been stolen.

I  was to press #1 to speak to someone. I almost did. Then I thought I'd look online first and this is what I found.

There was a message from the Office of the Inspector General of the Social Security Administration.

"The Inspector General of Social Security, Gail S. Ennis, is warning citizens about a caller-ID “spoofing” scheme misusing the Social Security Administration (SSA) Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) Fraud Hotline phone number. The OIG has received recent reports of phone calls displaying the Fraud Hotline number on a caller-ID screen. This is a scam; OIG employees do not place outgoing calls from the Fraud Hotline 800 number. Citizens should not engage with these calls or provide personal information."

There was also this message from the Federal Trade Commission.

So yup! It was another scam. I guess we picked up the call because it appeared to be from Washington, D.C. and I thought it could be my son.

Ah well...

Be careful, everybody.



And to all of you in the U.S. I'd like to wish you a very Happy Independence Day.

POSTSCRIPT:

We've now gotten several calls saying they're from Apple Support with a recording telling us our iCloud account has been breached. We are instructed to press #1 to speak to someone.

Sigh...

So many scams out there!!!

Painting Our House: Step One and Two

Step One was choosing a painter. I asked friends and relatives for recommendations, met with three painters, got their bids, checked references, made a decision. Would you believe one painter cost twice as much as the other two? However, he seemed to really know his stuff and explained the thoroughness with which he would complete the job. And yet... he's twice as much and more... Sigh...

Don't believe Art if he tells you that I  chose Shacky's Painting because he is also a Waipahu High School alumni.

The hardest part was telling the other two painters that we would not be going with them. They returned such lovely texts saying they were happy I let them know.

Now came Step Two which is choosing the color.

We weren't given much of a choice 13 years ago when the renovation was done. The painter gave us a flyer with matching colors and we chose what we thought would be gray with white trim.

Turned out the colors were so close you hardly noticed the trim. The house looks like a gray elephant. Still, the painters were nice and the paint job has lasted longer than people expected.

We didn't want to make that same color mistake again. We looked through a paint fan deck from Sherwin Williams to choose the color we wanted. There were a gazillion colors.

We decided on a couple of grays. (Does that say something about our personality that we just can't seem to change our preferences once we've set them?)

We showed the colors to Shacky and told him we were worried the gray and white colors might be too close again. That white paper is actually painted Extra White.

On the other hand choosing a dark color in Hawaii would make it fade faster.

The other problem is looking at chips indoor vs. under electric lights vs. sunlight is very different.

Shacky advised us to buy sample paints and paint a swatch of the colors on the house to check it out in sunlight.

So that's what we did.

This was very interesting to see. For one thing, the colors, when painted didn't look exactly like the color on the fan deck. On the other hand, we painted opposite sides of the house and the colors looked different then too. They also looked different when painted on masonry as opposed to wood.

Sigh...

So we'll go with the darker color although we worry that it will fade faster. Mom thinks it will make the house hotter (although she likes the darker color better). On the other hand, the trim work will be seen better. On the other hand....oh... I don't know.

Thinking Like a Little Boy

We were walking through the mall the other day and I saw that a new store was going to be opened. It was called Pups of War. I saw some soldiers standing outside looking in, but I didn't know what it was about.

There were a lot of plastic toy guns, rifles, machine guns and other weapons displayed in the window.

The store opened recently and I saw children playing inside.

I looked on the store website and saw that it was a miniature town where children could shoot each other with those weapons that had Nerf ball ammunition.

Ummmmm....

Seriously?

I'm a retired teacher.

I don't like what they were imprinting on little children's minds.

The rule is your child has to be three years old to play with an accompanying adult.

Three?

Seriously?

Art was quiet.

He played with BB guns when he was a kid. He was in the Air Force. He had to learn how to handle a weapon even though he worked as a spy satellite engineer.

He gave a rueful smile and said, "It looks like a lot of fun for a kid."

"What?!" I glared at him.  "Do you know what you're teaching a kid as he runs around the toy town shooting at everybody?"

"But I'm anti-NRA and all for gun control now," he answered. "Playing with toy guns as a child didn't influence me. You have to think like a little boy."

Seriously?

I'm not taking my grandsons anywhere near that place.

Then again, that's just me.

I wonder what my son would say.

One Way to Eat Tofu

I'm not a great cook. And since my sense of taste isn't that great either, I like more flavor in my food so I can appreciate it.

Tofu is very bland. I used to scramble it with eggs to stretch the meal. I even added it to meatloaf when the kids were little. I don't think they appreciated it.

We all like eating it here in Hawaii. Mom likes the firm. I definitely prefer the soft, silkier texture. Mom insists the firm tofu has more vitamins. We compromise and take turns getting the firm and soft.

This is how we're enjoying it now.

I grate fresh ginger into a bowl and add shoyu (soy sauce).

Very simple.

Then I drizzle the ginger-soy sauce mixture over the tofu. I really like it. I even dip the kamaboko into it. Kamaboko is fish cake. We use it in Hawaii as a garnish in saimin (noodle soup), fried noodles, whatever.

As you can see I'm all about simple recipes.

Democratic Presidential Debate

We have watched both presidential debates and found them riveting. Believe it or not, I'm not truly knowledgeable about politics. My son majored in political science and my daughter-in-law worked as sort of a government watchdog. And of course, my husband reads the paper cover to cover to always keep abreast of everything. However, with the advent of the current president, I've been aghast, mortified and angered by what he has been doing.

Therefore, I was very interested to see which candidate I would really want to vote for. It's hard. I've always been an admirer of Elizabeth Warren. And then I was really impressed with Pete Buttigieg. They're both so smart and have great plans. But Cory Booker looked great too. Sigh... And so did Kamala Harris.

One question stood out for me. The moderator asked (I forgot the exact words), "What is the first priority on Day 1 when you become president?"

Would it be climate change, education, immigration, etc.?

I told Art mine would be gun control. Surprisingly, he agreed that it would be his top priority too. Since he worked for E.P.A. I thought he'd choose climate change, but he said that would be a long term goal that definitely needs to be addressed.

What would your top priority be? And do you have a favorite candidate yet?

Preparing for a Hurricane Season: Butane vs. Propane Stove

I've been pretty nervous whenever we head into the hurricane season. I'm wanting to get the extra canned goods, water, etc. Art on the other hand hasn't been quite as frantic as me.

However, with climate change happening and more violent weather possible (not to mention that Hurricane Preparedness workshop we attended), he's agreeing with me that we need to take a few more precautions.

He's always said that if we ever experience a catastrophe where we need to cook something, he can use the charcoal grill. Well, I can't see us using the charcoal grill every time we need to boil some water.

So like he always does, he started researching options. I was telling him we needed to get a propane stove. He felt butane would be better. But I thought everybody was buying propane.

Well... Long's Drugs (CVS with the long receipts) had a sale. The $33 stove was down to $17.99. The Butane canisters were on sale for $1.29. Pretty good. Apparently the canisters are good for 5-7 years.

I just looked up the differences and found this on the Natgaz website.

 DIFFERENCES

• Propane has a lower boiling point than butane so it will continue to convert from a liquid to a gas even in very cold conditions, down to -45ºC. When stored as a liquid in a tank, it exerts a greater pressure than Butane at the same temperature. So Propane, as an LPG, is most suitable for exterior storage and use. Its ability to operate in low temperatures makes it the most suitable LPG for many applications. Propane is widely used as a fuel source for domestic and commercial heating, hot water and cooking. It also has a wide range of uses in industry and agriculture. When the fuel needs to be stored for a long time, propane is a better choice than butane. When people need to go camping, hiking or mountain climbing, especially in cold weather, propane is preferred over butane as a fuel for cooking.
•  Butane has the lower vapor pressure at equivalent temperatures and is suitable for interior use or outside during the summer. Butane is a very common fuel among leisure users and owners of portable heaters and is known to be cheaper than Propane.

Most of the reasoning for butane over propane was because we don't have to worry about cold weather and we can then store the canisters in the house.

Next time we get a hurricane alert, I'll go buy more canisters of butane and yes, a few more cans of spam. (I should tell you we rarely eat spam. Once the hurricane season is over, we donate a lot of the food to the food bank.)

Crazy CVS Receipts

We go to Long's Drugs quite often. Long's Drugs is now owned by CVS, but was allowed to keep its name since islanders have always been used to having Long's Drugs around everywhere.

Well...

For quite some time now they've been giving out these ridiculously long receipts with coupons attached.

Isn't it crazy?

At first it wasn't too bad, but I measured this one and it was about 5 feet long for just 3 items.

It's rather a comedy routine to see the cashier stand there as these super long receipts start spilling out of the cash register.

And those coupons? We haven't used one yet. I wonder about the CEO who came up with this wasteful idea.

Looks like Ellen has already thought about this.

Can you imagine how often the CVS cashier has to change her paper rolls?

It's Hurricane Season

Yes, there is climate change. And yes, climate change and warming ocean waters are making us more vulnerable to hurricanes in Hawaii.

Therefore, when AARP  (American Association of Retired Persons) sent us a postcard saying there would be a workshop about Hurricane Preparedness at the library, we decided to attend. We've often heard warnings and read about what to do in case of such a disaster, but this would be a 3 hour workshop with hopefully more detailed information.  It surprised us to see more than 50 people there.

We were told that if our homes were built before 1988 when new building codes were put in place, we should have our homes assessed for hurricane wind resistance. Hurricane clips/straps/ties should be installed to prevent roofs from being blown off.

• Windows should be protected. DON'T open windows during a hurricane. It's a myth that you should do so to equalize pressure.
• Make sure your important people know where you are.
• Important papers should be scanned and given to TRUSTED relatives.
• Check your insurance to see what is covered.
• Set up a 14 day supply of NON perishable food which require little cooking.
• You should make sure you have a gallon of water PER PERSON for 14 days.
• Butane/propane stove or charcoal grill should be available.
• Make sure you have a manual can opener.
• Have your important medication packed and ready.

A longer list of what is needed was supplied.

We were also told that it would be a lot more comfortable to stay at home than to go to a shelter because you have to bring everything you need to a shelter including toilet paper. Shelters would not provide you with emergency supplies.

We were warned that although Oahu hasn't been hit hard by a hurricanes like Kauai, Maui and the Big Island, it's just a matter of time. There are more hurricanes out there now and one of them could easily hit us. When it does, it will be even more catastrophic because of our population density.

It's good for us to be reminded of all this because to be perfectly honest, we get pretty complacent after a while. Art and I have lived on the mainland for 35 years and missed Hurricane Iniki. Local people who lived here KNOW hurricanes are always a threat.

This workshop was a valuable reminder that we needed to take the threat very seriously.

We've been keeping water in our spare unused bathroom and saving our empty vinegar bottles to also store water.

One of the informative presenters, Dennis Hwang of the Sea Grant program also suggested getting the waterBOB to store up to 100 gallons of water.

It is a one time use thick plastic container so we'll fill it only when we know the hurricane is imminent.

We were lucky that City Mill had it on sale for $29.99 instead of $39.99. It's available on Amazon for $34.95.

We were also told that if we are in a super danger zone and knew someone who lives above the 4th floor of a tall building, we could be safe there.

I've already told my brother and sister-in-law to expect us if things get bad.

We can bring water... and some cans of spam too.... and frosted Pop Tarts!

POSTSCRIPT:
For homeowners in Hawaii, University of Hawaii's Sea Grant Program has a special Homeowner's Handbook to Prepare for Natural Hazzards written by Dennis J. Hwang and Darren K. Okimoto available online.

Honesty in Japan

When we were in Europe on a spring Viking tour last year, we were one of the last ones to get off the tour bus and I found a rolled up wad of Euros worth about $50. I gave it to our tour director who forgot to mention it to the tour group like he promised and put it in the tip jar for the Viking staff.

In the fall, we were on another tour in Japan when I found 11,000 yen which is about $100. Our tour guide immediately raced back to where I found it and called the police.

I wondered if anybody would claim it since there was no identification, but in Japan you just don't know. People just expect honesty and someone might very well come and report it.

When we were returning to Hawaii in April of this year, we had to spend several hours at Narita Airport waiting for our flight.

When Art decided to pay for our sushi lunch with his remaining yens, he discovered that his coin purse was missing.

He realized that he must have left it at the airport post office when he went to buy stamps for a couple of postcards he wanted to send the grandkids.

He explained to mom what he wanted her to ask the postal workers.

They, in turn pointed us to the Information counter.

The service people at the counter asked for a description of the missing coin purse.

Mom told them it was a small, blue, plastic coin container.

I think my eyebrows went up when they asked if he knew how much was in the coin purse. I mean, really, wasn't that description enough?

I think there was an equivalent of about $3.

Whatever the case, they had it!

Art had to fill out a bunch of paperwork to get it back.

It blew my mind that someone had turned it in.

I'm happy to say the grandkids got their postcards over a week after we returned.

I just remembered something that happened on the same trip. When we were boarding the train to go to Sendai with a case of Hawaiian Kona coffee for the relatives, Art discovered that he'd left the case on a counter when he was purchasing the train tickets.

We hurriedly got off the train and went to the Information center. Yup. Someone had turned it in.

I guess this is why so many islanders love going to Japan.

Losing a Sense

Sigh...

So if it's not one thing, it's another.

I mentioned to my primary care doctor that I thought I had lost some of my ability to smell and taste.

She said she wanted me to see an ENT (Ears Nose Throat doctor) and a neurologist as well. Sigh... She also mentioned something about my frontal lobe. Double sigh...

I had my appointment with the very kind ENT doctor.

He gave me blasts of numbing Lidocaine right into my nose which he said would be bitter.

I told him I couldn't taste it... which was good, and yet quite bad.

He then put a scope down my nose to look into my sinus cavity which he said looked fine.

That's good.

Then he gave me four booklets with 10 pages of scratch and sniff rectangles in each.

I was told to scratch the brown rectangles with my pencil, smell it and then mark the circle. I was to mark whatever I thought it was even if I wasn't sure.

I really worked hard at it while Art tried smelling them too.

The doctor was very concerned.

He said I scored 6%. I probably could have done better if I just marked all the As or Bs on all 4 books.

I told him they all smelled the same and asked if there was a cure.

Sadly, he said there is no cure and because smell is tied closely to taste, that's why I couldn't taste things easily.

The doctor was awfully kind, but that sad look on his face made me nervous. He wants me to get a CT scan of my sinus cavities and the front of my brain.

Sigh...

Aladdin

We recently went to see Aladdin with good friends on a Tuesday because... let's face it... it's when the seats are cheapest.

To be honest, it's not my favorite fairy tale or animated feature. However, I wanted to see Will Smith as the genie.

And here's what I think.

The music and lyrics were so so. The singers were so so. It started out a little slow, but once the genie appeared, it was a lot of fun.

I thought Will Smith was great. (I got this cartoon off of Will Smith's Twitter account.)

There had been comparisons between Will Smith and Robin Williams' animated version with Will Smith coming up short.

Well, it's hard to compare an animated version with a real person version. Granted, Will Smith didn't look all that real for most of the movie.

Whatever the case, we really enjoyed it along with the popcorn.

Have you seen it? What do you think?

Computer Spring Cleaning

I took a photo of the back of my computer to text to my son-in-law in Illinois to ask him something about a purchase I wanted to make.

That's when I noticed all the dust that was clogging the back screen of my computer.

My computer sits right next to my window where it can collect more dust, I guess.

I mentioned it to my brother when he stopped by and he said it would be a good idea to do a little spring cleaning. He advised us to clean the fan inside the computer.

We got out the vacuum cleaner and cleaned the outside back vent. Art then removed the side cover and carefully cleaned the fans, making sure not to touch any of the internal organs of my trusty companion.

I then sent these photos to my brother and son-in-law who I hope were proud of our efforts.

Hopefully, my computer is happy and humming again.

Dishwasher Woes

Our Bosch dishwasher is about 10 years old and it's suddenly started taking about 3 and half hours to wash a load of dishes. We looked on line to see what the problem could be. It said that the dishwasher is able to detect the heat of the water and will run longer if the water is not hot enough. Granted 10 years seems to be about the life of a dishwasher these days. Sheesh!

However, Art never gives up without a fight. He decided to check our water heater to make sure everything was OK.

Our water heater has a timer on it so that the heater turns off between 10:00 PM to 8:00 AM. It's to conserve energy.

However....

With all the power failures we've had, the timing had shifted a lot.

He corrected it.

Then I did a load of dishes.

Nope.

Same problem. The dishwasher still ran over 3 hours long. And the water temperature didn't seem any hotter.

OK...

Although it says that raising the heat above 125 degrees could cause severe scalding, we did it.

We shall see if it works.

So then the question is...

Do we have to replace the water heater or the dishwasher?

Sigh...

POSTSCRIPT:
Did more research online as well as checking our Consumer Reports at the library.

They're saying the newer dishwashers do run longer, over 2 hours. Granted we're at around 3 and a half, but still they say the dishwasher doesn't use as much energy as we think nor as much water. I wonder.

Favorite Character in Les Miserables

In order to encourage me to read when I was in grade school, mom told me she loved reading Les Miserables when she was in the 4th grade. She says she loved Victor Hugo as well as many Russian novelists.

That didn't encourage me at all. I looked at how fat a book War and Peace was and thought it was crazy. There was no way I was going to read such a fat book.

Uh oh... I'm going off on a tangent. That wasn't what I was going to write about. Sorry about that.

Anyway, decades later I saw the musical Les Miserables and totally LOVED it!

When we mentioned it to our friend, Sam in Tokyo, he offered to get it for us so mom could listen to the music in Japanese too.

Ummmm.... I think it ended up costing us almost $50, but I was happy she got to hear it.

Yesterday, I was playing it for her again and I remembered something interesting.

When we first took the kids to see the musical in Chicago I remember being surprised that our son's favorite character was Inspector Javert who is the antagonist obsessed with pursuing and capturing the noble Jean Valjean who had been sent to prison for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister's children.

Our son felt that Inspector Javert was consumed with honesty, order, self denial and complete adherence to the law. When Jean Valjean spares his life and then he himself allows Jean Valjean to go free, he realizes that the law is not infallible and he is unable to live with that torment. His final song, Stars (sung here by Philip Quast) before drowning himself is one of the show's moving moments.

Art's favorite character was Jean Valjean who turns his life around after leaving prison and raising Fantine's (a prostitute who had tragically fallen on hard times) child while becoming a well-loved mayor. Art LOVED Bring Him Home. I wanted to post Josh Groban's version but Colm Wilkinson was the original Jean Valjean. This video was done at the 10th anniversary.

I thought my daughter's favorite character would be Eponine whose tearful song On My Own is so very poignant. This is Lea Salonga singing that song of longing.

But no... Tiffany said her favorite character is Fantine, the same as me. I guess we love the song, I Dreamed a Dream. Here is Ruthie Henshall singing the song at the 10 Anniversary. It makes me tear up every time I hear it.

Do you have a favorite character?

And no... I still haven't read War and Peace nor Les Miserables. Well, I did read the Classic Comics version.

Father's Day Memories

I don't usually post on the weekends, but I just had to this time.

Even before they were born, Art planned our moving to Chicago from Hawaii because it would be difficult for me to stay home when the children were young. Hawaii was an expensive place to live back then as well.

After each child arrived, he set up a portion of his pay to go directly into a Savings Bond program to make sure their college education would be paid even while we counted our pennies.

I should also note again that Art did deliver Keola himself when we didn't make it to the delivery room on time.

Art was there for all their activities, driving to far locations for swim meets, coaching Keola's baseball team, volunteering with the PTA, etc.

He taught the kids to cherish and protect the environment. (Art did work for the E.P.A) He took them traveling to broaden the scope of their understanding of places and people, first around the U.S. and then to Europe and Japan.

He flew to Africa to visit Keola when he joined the Peace Corps and climbed Kilimanjaro with him.

Art wrote letters to Keola every day while he was in Mali. I was pretty amazed since Art does not really like to write letters.

When he walked Tiffany down the aisle, it was actually quite difficult for him to let go because he felt nobody could come close to deserving his precious daughter. Luckily, as he got to know our son-in-law, he agreed that as always, our daughter had made the best decision.

From the time they were born, Art has watched their every step with happiness and pride, sometimes pain at their sad moments, chagrin at their missteps, but always, always with love.

And they know. They know their father will drop everything to help if they need it. They know he'll always be there in spirit if not in presence.

So to all you fabulous fathers out there, here's wishing you a truly memorable day with thanks for your devotion and above all, love.

How Clean is Too Clean?

I have to make it understood that my super research sample is based on just two kids. However, it got me thinking.

I know a friend of mine has a first born daughter who has a LOT of allergies and has to take shots for them. I know my friend is like me and kept everything super clean for her first born.

I still remember when my daughter's pacifier dropped on the ground, I put it in water I had boiled to sanitize it. It melted. When my son was born three years later and dropped his pacifier I dusted it off on my pants and gave it back to him. Let's just say, I was a LOT more relaxed with the 2nd child.

My son grew up to join the Peace Corps and live in a dusty African village eating heaven knows what and aside from malaria, did not seem to have developed any allergies.

My daughter, on the other hand is having to get allergy shots every month.

I've heard that other developing countries rarely have peanut allergies. At one time, wasn't there a rule about not giving anything with peanuts to children under a year or something like that? I can't remember.

My daughter, like me was very careful with our granddaughter and kept everything clean for her. My son, on the other hand is VERY relaxed with his sons. I wonder if anyone will develop allergies. It would be interesting to see.

When my children were little I remember my mother watching me and saying something to the effect that a child ingesting a teaspoon of dirt a day is not a bad thing. She reminded me that I played in the dirt all the time when I was young.

Well....I wouldn't go THAT far... but I'm wondering. Can we be too clean?

The Hawaii Nikkei Legacy

Generations are counted differently in Japan.

Issei are the 1st immigrants to the country and considered the 1st generation.
Nisei are the children of the Issei, the 2nd generation.
Sansei are the 3rd generation. That's Art and me.
Our children are yonsei (4th generation). Our grandchildren are gosei (5th generation).

One of my zumba friends asked us to support an exhibit called the The Hawaii Nikkei Legacy.

I thought they meant Nisei since a lot of what was there centered on the Nisei generation.

I asked mom, who told me that Nikkei means "of Japanese ancestry who live outside Japan."

The minimalist exhibit was in a bare room with poster boards highlighting the experiences and struggles of the Japanese Issei and Nisei in Hawaii and mainland.

There was a small table with artifacts that I was surprised to see I could remember!

I may be sansei, but we used all those things.

It could be because we grew up quite poor on a sugar cane plantation.

I remember my mother having me practice how to write the Japanese alphabet.

I remember those bean bags we made with some kind of Hawaiian seeds. I could juggle three at once.

And yes! Marbles!

My brother was quite good at it. I think I just liked the colors and tried to win those.

Those lunch boxes always had rice and some pickles in them.

My paternal grandmother told me stories of having to work in the sugar cane fields with a baby strapped to her back. She said she often couldn't change the diapers so she had to keep working with that wet diaper on her back.

There were displays of the 100th Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team as well as the MIS (Military Intelligence Service). I have two uncles that served in the 442nd and an uncle that served with the MIS.

When Art and I were in Chicago, we were introduced to a Japanese American jeweler who told us of his experiences with the 100th Battalion. He was one of the group of Japanese American soldiers who had just come back exhausted from a combat mission, but were sent out again immediately to rescue 211 survivors of what is known now as the Lost Battalion (Texas). The 100th/442nd Battalion suffered 800 casualties to save the Texans, but did it all to prove their loyalty to their country despite the fact that their families were behind barbed wires in the states. It was a very sad, shameful time in our history.

There were also posters showing the progress and successes that had been made since then. I believe the aim of the exhibit was to remind everyone of the sacrifices that had to be made in order for the following generations to have a better life.

I found this poster very interesting.

While Hawaii has retained many of the customs and even language of many decades ago when the first immigrants from Japan came, life, language and customs in Japan have evolved separately.

Japanese customs in Hawaii have also joined the Hawaiian melting pot and evolved in its own way.

We were glad we went to see the exhibit and be reminded of what we owe to those brave and determined people whose footsteps we follow.

It's now our duty to do what we can for those who follow us.

Meals and Help on Wheels

Art enjoys delivering meals to seniors one day a week. A retired friend of ours in Chicago told us about his experiences with volunteer work for Meals on Wheels so Art decided to look into it when we moved to Hawaii.

Art was trained on what he is supposed to do when delivering meals to his clients. His job was not just to deliver meals but to check on people who are not able to prepare meals on their own.

He's done this now for 7 years and has enjoyed getting to know his clients and checking to make sure everything is OK.

One day I was growing concerned when he returned home an hour later than he usually does.

It turned out that one of his ladies had fallen and couldn't come to the door to receive her meal.

Art called from the front door and didn't get a response. He went to a side door and heard a weak voice. He looked through a window and saw that the elderly lady had fallen and couldn't get up.

Art called the Meals on Wheels main office asking what to do. They called all the contacts and couldn't get a reply. Art was reluctant to call 911 because he knew what it could cost. So he walked across the street to ask for help. They had a key and were able to assist the poor lady to her feet so she could have her meal.

All this made me evaluate our fail-safes for mom. All our neighbors have my brother and sister-in-law's phone numbers. I let them all know when we're on a trip. We have cameras inside and outside the house. One neighbor checks on her every morning if we're not there. My brother calls her everyday to make sure she is all right. I also have numbers listed of close friends who live nearby who will come over right away if she needs help.

I think everybody should evaluate what they have ready for emergencies.

Hmmmm....

I was wondering.

The Apple Watch comes with Wi-Fi Cellular connectivity. I just checked the Apple information  about this and here's what I found:

"If your watch is connected to a cellular network, but your iPhone isn't nearby, your watch can do the same things that it can when using Wi-Fi."

This is pretty nifty. So if you're home and you have Wi-Fi and wearing an Apple watch you can call someone with your watch if you have an emergency.

I don't have an Apple watch and don't plan to get one yet, but someday... I might need something like it. Technology is advancing so quickly, those Medic Alert type necklaces could soon be outmoded.

POSTSCRIPT: Oops! Art just told me that Apple watches are available now with cellular connectivity. You would just have to pay extra for it from your cellular provider.

Does this remind you of Dick Tracy?

Commenting Styles

A while back, another blogger friend wrote a post about commenting styles. I linked that post to this one, but then she thought about it and decided to remove it. My blogger friend had said that she'd read a post from yet another blogger about different commenting styles.

One type of commenter was the "encourager". I have to say I agree that it's always wonderful to have encouraging comments because let's face it, it feels good. I know we all love being cheered on.

Another type of commenter that person mentioned was someone who always brought the post back to their own situation and made it  all about them and their own experiences.

Ummmm.... I guess I want to say something about this.

#1: Like my blogger friend, I love ALL comments... any comments, so long as it's kind and not spam. I think we're all getting hit by those annoying spam.

But I really like it when someone will take my post and relate it to their experiences because I can then feel a connection to that person and gain a bit more understanding. It makes the commenter more real to me.

Yes, it's fabulous to hear a "good job." However, I like it even better if it makes someone remember something that happened in their life and is willing to share it with me.

Do you have a preference?

By the way... I also really love advice!

HTTP vs HTTPS

I had to use Art's computer in the other room tonight because he wanted to watch a TV show and I wanted to work on my computer. When we chose our office space, we didn't plan on this difficulty.

Anyway, that's not what I'm writing about.

When I went onto his computer to access my blog I couldn't get on. I couldn't understand it. My blog address was always www.http//travelerswife.blogspot.com/, but his computer wouldn't recognize it.

I went onto another browser I've used before and suddenly found that my blog address had a slight change. It was now https://travelerswife.blogspot.com/.

Blogger must have added the s.

I found this explanation on Snopes.

The main difference between http:// and https://FIRST, MANY PEOPLE ARE UNAWARE OF
**The main difference between http:// and https:// is it’s all about keeping you secure** 

HTTP stands for HyperText Transport Protocol, which is just a fancy way of saying it’s a protocol (a language, in a manner of speaking) for information to be passed back and forth between web servers and clients. The important thing is the letter S which makes the difference between HTTP and HTTPS. 

The S (big surprise) stands for “Secure”. If you visit a website or webpage, and look at the address in the web browser, it will likely begin with the following: http://.
This means that the website is talking to your browser using the regular ‘unsecure’ language. In other words, it is possible for someone to “eavesdrop” on your computer’s conversation with the website. If you fill out a form on the website, someone might see the information you send to that site. 

This is why you never ever enter your credit card number in an http website! But if the web address begins with https://, that basically means your computer is talking to the website in a secure code that no one can eavesdrop on. 

You understand why this is so important, right?
If a website ever asks you to enter your credit card information, you should automatically look to see if the web address begins with https://. If it doesn’t, there’s no way you’re going to enter sensitive information like a credit card number.
PASS IT ON (You may save someone a lot of grief).

I thought this was important information that people should be aware of.

On the other hand, despite the added s to our web address, I'm still getting a ton of spam. It's so irritating. Not only am I getting that sleazy spam from Mumbai, but I've occasionally gotten some pretty nasty spam from someone with an agenda against boomers. The weird thing is that it's coming in as Anonymous.

I keep notifying Blogger, but nothing happens. I've had to install the Word Verification option again for a few days though I really didn't want to but it hasn't made a difference. We'll see what happens.

POSTSCRIPT:

I'm back on my own computer now and checked my settings. I was curious because I was noticing that some blogs I visited last night said UNSECURED and I saw that their address was http.

I don't remember setting this up this way and I don't know if Blogspot did it. Whatever the case, I guess I'm a secured website.

But I still got those annoying spam last night. Sigh...

Growing a Thai Pepper Plant

Funny that this post should follow yesterday's post about my brown thumb. You'd think I would just give up on gardening and let mom do it all.

But this is what happened.

Mom's tiny chili pepper plant that her late sister, Grace had given her had died a year or so ago. Mom had frozen the hot little peppers to use when she makes her kinpira gobo (teriyaki burdock root). Now she had used up the last of her stock.

Neither Art nor I like super spicy food but my brother (and his family) does. He is my mom's "baby" and she insists on making the gobo with some of the red chili peppers although we'll take some gobo out for Art and me before she adds the peppers.

Now her chili pepper supply was gone.

While Art and I were at Home Depot, I happened to spy upon a Thai pepper plant.

I thought I'd get it for mom for Mother's Day.

I replanted the pepper plant into a nice pot. No, it didn't die this time.

Then I went to Zumba and my friend, Edie mentioned how the bulbuls (aggravating red bottomed birds) love to eat the peppers as soon as they turned red. Bulbuls are really nasty birds. They like to bite off orchid buds before they bloom. Now I'm being told they'll even eat hot peppers. Arrrghhh! She said her husband had to build a cage around the plant.

Poor Art. We went driving around to the hardware stores looking for the BEST, cheapest way to build a cage for the pepper plant.

The cheapest yard wire I could find was about $20.

Hmmmm...

My plant was $7. The yard wire was actually over $20. Hmmm...

How much does a bag of chili peppers cost anyway?

The next time I went to Zumba, Irene had a bag of red peppers which she shared with all of us. I put them in the freezer.

Irene said white flies had totally smothered her pepper plant so she was harvesting all her peppers.

Hmmmm....

So even if I protected the pepper plant with an expensive wire cage, the white flies could get through and kill it?

Edie said her pepper plant was dying too.

Sigh...

Well, we'll see how long my (I mean mom's) pepper plant survives.

Brown Thumb

I now have proof of my brown thumb.

When I was in Illinois a few years ago, I saw that my granddaughter had a Mimosa pudica, better known as sensitive plant. I told her they grew as weeds in Hawaii. I also told her that her pot was too small so I transplanted it for her.

Ummmm... a few days later, it died. My granddaughter did not accuse me of murdering her plant. In fact, she forgave me right away. I love my granddaughter.

Therefore when I saw some sensitive plants growing in the street in our neighborhood, I dug it up and planted it for her to see when she came to Hawaii. This was in November of last year.

I was ecstatic to see it take off right away. It eventually filled my planter with beautiful, lush leaves that would close up when you touched it. I did a blog post about my success. I don't have a photo of when it really took off and overflowed the planter.

My granddaughter is coming back to Hawaii next month so I thought I'd check up on the plant.

No, no, no!

What the heck!!!

I may have to walk the neighborhood and look for another plant.

It's pretty bad when I can't keep a weed alive!

Using a Cane

Planning and preparing to take mom to Japan this spring was a serious undertaking. I had to find appropriate clothing and make sure all her needs were met for travel.

My brother suggested taking a cane with us. Since he had a traveling cane that collapsed to fit in our backpack, we brought it with us.

Although she used it toward the end of our trip, she insisted she didn't need it the rest of the time. This photo was taken at Kagoshima when she was tired and starting to catch a cold.

When we mentioned her use of the cane to our friend here in Hawaii who often uses a cane, he told us that we needed to make sure it was the proper height. That never occurred to us.

I looked it up and here's what I found on the Just Walkers website.

And here is one of the things we bought her for Mother's Day. We measured it to just the right height.

Now... we just have to get her to use it.


POSTSCRIPT:

We decided to leave the cane in the car where she couldn't forget it.

We walked behind her to see how she walked at the grocery store. She seemed to be leaning right toward the cane so we raised the height of the cane a bit and had her walk in front of us again.

What a difference. Her posture was straight and suddenly she was walking too fast so we told her to slow down. Art thinks the cane is just giving her added confidence.

I guess so.

Hose Caddy Dilemma

Mom will be 90 years old this fall. Although she appears spry and energetic, certain things are becoming difficult for her. One of those things was the water hose. She was having difficulty storing the hose after each use in the morning.

We've tried various remedies from an expandable water hose that lasted only about 6 months to a crank caddy which was too hard for her to a light weight rubber hose that developed kinks.

Then Art remembered my daughter's hose caddy in Illinois. It was apparently self winding and sounded like a good solution. He bought one at Costco for about $60.

He hooked it up and read the directions. Apparently, you have to turn on the water, make sure the lever is turned to the right (rest), pull out the hose, water your plants, then stretch out the hose in front of the caddy, leave the water on and turn the lever to the left (rewind). You have to leave your water turned on. When you move the lever, it rolls up your hose for you while gushing out water from another hose. Then you have to remember to move the lever back to reset for the next time you use it.

Sigh...

I explained it all to mom.

First problem, it was too hard for mom to pull out the hose from the caddy to use.  Second problem, she couldn't remember to turn the lever to the left or right. Third problem, she forgot to return the  lever to the right side (rest) for the next time she used it. It was just too complicated (and frustrating) for her.

Giving up on neatness we've just left the hose along the side of the house. Mom is content and we are resigned to let it be.

Port Plug for Your Cellphone ?

I wrote a blog post last week about lint in your cellphone charging port. Who knew that would be a problem?

We go walking with our good friends, Dave and Diane every Wednesday. Dave had read my blog post and had a solution for Art.

He gave Art an extra package of port plugs he had. How awesome is this?

I looked up port plugs online and found these on Amazon for both iphone and Android phones.

I guess you can find almost anything you need online.