Transport Chair... Just in Case

Two days before we were to leave for Japan with my mother and aunt about 10 years ago, mom somehow hurt her knee on the stairs. The ER visit showed nothing was broken, but muscles had been badly strained and it seemed she'd made some kind of strong impact on her knee.

Mom wanted to cancel the trip, but too many special arrangements had already been planned so we made a quick trip to pick up a transport chair.

The chair wasn't the lightest thing around, but sturdy and worked perfectly for the trip. It was lucky the store was open on a Sunday.

We were amazed at all the help we received in Japan as soon as they saw mom in a wheelchair. It was as easy as could be to travel everywhere. Mom laughed and said it was easier.

After several years the chair was stored away and not used.

When mom's other sister became immobile, we loaned the transport chair to my cousins.

However, now that mom is going to be 90, we're finding she is having more instances where she's taken a fall or somehow hurting her leg again.

We didn't want to ask my cousins to return the transport chair and besides, we decided to get an even lighter chair that would be easier to carry or load into the car.

I wondered if a walker like this would fill a double purpose. Mom could walk with it, sit on it and maybe we could even push her in it. We tried it out at the store with me sitting on it, but Art said it was too difficult to maneuver.

This Medline transport chair was very light, about 15 pounds, but quite a bit more expensive.

We liked the fact that the footrests fold in. Our other transport chair required you to remove it and store it separately.

Ummmm... and this one had a cup holder too.

I decided to look online.

The red one was $136.62, but Art felt we should pay a little more in case he has to sit in it. So yes, we paid $155 for the silver one even though I rather liked that red color. Juuust kidding.

When I checked further on Amazon, I found it was free shipping to Hawaii, BUT no free returns if we didn't like it. It's one of the problems of living in the middle of the Pacific ocean.

Fingers crossed that we like it.

POSTSCRIPT:

The transport chair arrived a week early. That was a surprise.

However, unlike other things we bought on Amazon. This was very, very lightly packed in a cardboard box that wasn't all that sturdy and thin bubble wrap.

Since there are no free returns from Hawaii and the damage wasn't quite that horrible we decided to keep it. There were scratches on the metal and scuff marks that can't be wiped out.

It wouldn't be tremendously comfortable for long periods (the seat is not soft), but it will do.

Hurricane Clips

Earlier this summer, we attended an AARP seminar on hurricane preparedness. They warned us of forecasts saying we would be getting more hurricanes in Hawaii.

Then I saw on a weather news clip that because we're out of the El Nino weather pattern, we should experience less hurricanes.

Then I saw another forecast saying we'd be having more hurricanes.

Arrrghhh!

Ah well, we'd hired a company to come and add more hurricane clips to the older part of the house anyway.

Art thought he could install them himself but after seeing the professional nailing gun the installer was using, we're happy we hired them to do it.

The hurricane clips are under 50  cents a piece, so you're pretty much paying for labor.

It took them half the day to install the clips.

What a surprise that the primed clips were the exact gray color we had our house painted earlier this summer.

We're quite pleased that it's done.

We have hurricane barriers we've also signed up for.

And I've got a whole bunch of Cup Noodles, canned veggies, pudding cups, water and I forget what else in storage.

Hurricane season in Hawaii runs from June 1st until November 30th.

Fingers crossed that we won't need all this preparation.

Goodbye Notes From KC

After such a wonderful summer reunion, it was sad to say goodbye to everyone again. When we returned to the house after dropping off our daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter, KC at the airport we looked at our empty rooms and was feeling a little melancholy. Our son and his family had left the week before.

I went to my computer and was surprised to find this note on my mouse.

KC had left a few notes for us last year and I'd kept some of them in place until they returned. I didn't expect her to do this again. I guess she wanted to make sure we would not be sad missing them.

Then I saw this on my nightstand. I texted KC since I knew she hadn't boarded the plane yet. "There's lots more," she texted back.

Art found this on his computer desk.

When I went downstairs, this was next to the Echo dot. KC had been making sure we answered the Question of Day from "Alexa" everyday.

I found this note in the drawer of my nightstand.

What a surprise when I reached in to get toothpaste from the medicine cabinet!

Several day later, I went to Zumba with my friend, Diane and found this:

It was inside my workout bag!

When I turned the page to my desktop planner a few days later I found this note laying in wait for me.

This made me laugh out loud! I wasn't sure where else she might have hidden more notes.

In fact, when I looked into the linen closet a week after they left, I found this sitting on top of the towels.

I even found one in the vegetable bin of the refrigerator.

I think all of her notes have been discovered by now... but then again, I'm not 100% positive. I have a very smart granddaughter. I have a most wonderful, loving granddaughter.

Slippas Here, Gone Tomorrow

Lots of people wear slippers and sandals in Hawaii because they are easier to remove when entering a house.

Be aware if you come to Hawaii that you will be expected to remove your footwear before entering a home.

While living in Illinois, we always took off our shoes when entering our house and expected others to do so also. All of our friends just understood what they probably felt was our quirkiness and didn't hold it against us.

When the kids were here there were a whole lot of slippers outside our door. I lined them up neatly here. Usually, they were scattered here and there. The shoe cabinet beside the door was also full of footwear not to mention a rack on the other side.

Now there's just the few that Art, mom and I use.

I was looking at them today and remembering with a smile what fun it was to see the jumbled assortment that made walking into the house a mess sometimes... but it was a happy mess.

An Apple for My Birthday

My children and their families surprised me with an Apple watch for my birthday. Art had kept it a secret for many, many months which must have been difficult.

I've loved my Fitbit for such a long time. I had no intention of getting an Apple watch.

For one thing, the Apple watch is quite a bit bigger and stands out a bit on my skinny wrist. Mind you, that's the only skinny part on me.

But then I began seeing some of the benefits of the watch. I could see texts coming in and answer them as well with just my watch. I could check the temperature. I could make a call. I was feeling like Dick Tracey. I can also set my iPhone up somewhere and take a photo from several feet away. I love it!

I still preferred the Fitbit's activity and sleep monitor,  but this would do.

One of the nicest things though is the phone finder.

When you press that iPhone icon, my iPhone will ding wherever it is. Since I'm forever leaving it around, it's perfect for me.

There's still so much to learn, and it's keeping my brain active which is a good thing.

Macadamia Nut Farm

Our next stop after the Byodo-In Temple in Kaneohe was the Tropical Farms Macadamia Nut Outlet.

This place had been recommended to Tif because they said KC would enjoy cracking her own macadamia nuts which has a very hard shell.

We saw many, many tour buses lined up in the parking lot. It's not a very large place, but is a place for tourists to sample Hawaiian coffees and different flavors of macadamia nut coatings.

There were chickens roaming around the back where people could try cracking their own nuts.

I could see why.

It wasn't easy. They had rounded stones that you could use to pound the shell to get to the nut meat inside.

More often than not, you might pound it too hard and the shell and nut meat would go flying where the chickens were waiting.

OK... That was rather fun.

I told Tiffany she could get macadamia nuts a lot cheaper elsewhere on Oahu, but she bought these anyway as gifts since it was packaged so prettily.

I'm sure that's what the farm counted on.

All in all, a lovely day and time to return to our side of the island.

Byodo-In Temple

I live on the small island of Oahu. Whenever visitors come here, we usually have to take them to the same places over and over.

However, when our daughter, Tiffany asked if we'd like to join her and our granddaughter to see the Byodo-In temple on the other side of the island we were happy to go. Our son-in-law could not go. When they come to Hawaii he has to close himself off in our office with his computer and headphones to stay on mainland time and work.

Tiffany drove on the H3 through the Tetsuo Harano tunnel into what looked like another world.

Living on the over populated, leeward side of the island which doesn't get as much rain, the windward side is lush and green.

When you come out of the tunnel, it truly is like stepping into another world.

And there it was!

This is from Wikipedia:

The Byodo-In Temple (平等院 Byōdōin) is a non-denominational Buddhist temple located on the island of Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi in Valley of the Temples Memorial Park. It was dedicated in August 1968 to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the first Japanese immigrants to Hawaiʻi. 

The temple is a replica of a 900-year-old Buddhist temple at Uji in Kyoto Prefecture of Japan. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a functioning Buddhist temple in the proper sense as it does not host a resident monastic community nor an active congregation. 

Inside the Byodo-In Temple is a 18 ft statue of the Lotus Buddha, a wooden image depicting Amitābha. It is covered in gold and lacquer. Outside is a three-ton, brass peace bell. Surrounding the temple are large koi ponds that cover a total of 2 acres (0.81 ha). 

Around those ponds are lush Japanese gardens set against a backdrop of towering cliffs of the Koʻolau Range. The gardens are home to sparrows and peafowl. The temple covers 11,000 sq ft.

We enjoyed walking around the grounds and admiring the black swans who strolled through the gardens.

However, our time on this side of the island was not over. Tiffany's friend had mentioned a macadamia nut farm we should visit. 

Art laughed since he grew up on the Big Island where there are acres and acres of macadamia nut farms. Oahu isn't known for macadamia nuts.

Still, it turned out to be rather interesting anyway, but that will be tomorrow's post.

Skinny Wallet

For a couple of years now, my trusty wallet had been slowly deteriorating.

It's rather large and perhaps a little heavy. And it's stuffed with cards and too much change.

The edges of the wallet had started to peel off. Gee, I thought it was all leather. I guess not.

Then I saw this teal wallet on Amazon called the Big Skinny earlier this summer. The write up assured readers that the skinny wallet could hold everything our normal wallets contained.

My son-in-law looked at my old wallet and then the skinny wallet when it arrived and said, "No way."

And there it is! It actually did all fit into the skinny wallet although I took out some of the accumulated change from my old wallet which I didn't need.

I'm amazed and very pleased. My bag is lighter and flatter now. Yay!

I just checked Amazon and see that the price has gone up. I bought this teal one on sale for $17.97 a couple months ago. It's now all $26.95. Good grief!

Ah well... Fingers crossed that this wallet will last a long, long time.

Crying Over a Dog

Earlier this summer, Arkansas Patti of The New Sixty wrote a blog post called Need to Talk to Callie. Callie is Patti's dog. If you haven't visited Patti before, you should. She is an amazing, funny, witty writer.

Patti wrote a post about The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. It was published in 2008 and was a New York Times best seller for 156 weeks. The movie came out earlier this summer.

107 critics pretty much dumped on it giving it a score of 42% Rotten Tomatoes for being mawkish and manipulating audience emotions. However 5,444 of the actual viewing audience on the Rotten Tomatoes website gave it 96%!

This synopsis was from Rotten Tomatoes.

"THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN is a heartfelt tale narrated by a witty and philosophical dog named Enzo (voiced by Kevin Costner). Through his bond with his owner, Denny Swift (Milo Ventimiglia), an aspiring Formula One race car driver, Enzo has gained tremendous insight into the human condition and understands that the techniques needed on the racetrack can also be used to successfully navigate the journey of life."

To be honest, I skimmed over the parts about racing. Garth Stein apparently once raced cars himself until he had an accident so he's put all his knowledge into the book. 

I must tell you that the only dogs our family ever owned were two dogs named Oahu and Jimmy when I was about 5 years old. Since that time, I've never truly had much experience with dogs or been completely comfortable with them. Dogs know this and will usually come and try to get my attention.

I remember one dinner party at Art's college professor's house. The house was full of college students. However the professor's poodle would not leave my side. At one point, as we sat down to dinner, that dog went under the table and dropped his food bowl on my foot.

My granddog in Maryland, Mungo is somehow afraid of men and barks at Art who happens to LOVE dogs, but is perfectly fine with me even though I tend to ignore him. He'll come to me to ask me to let him out to do his business.

Therefore, I wouldn't have read this book except for Patti's recommendation. I couldn't put the book down and went two nights with little sleep. And then.... oh my gosh... I ended up crying when I finished it. I mean, I was actually crying, not because it was sad, well it was... but it was really beautiful.

Then I went to tell Art about it and started crying again. I rarely cry. Honest. But there I was all weepy. I think Art thought it was rather funny.

Whatever the case, I see why Patti called her post, Need to Talk to Callie because I need to talk to Mungo. When we go to see my son and his family again in Maryland, you can be sure I will be having some heart to heart talks with Mungo. I promise to give him loads of attention. 

Therefore, like Patti, if you like dogs and even if you don't, I would recommend this book.

Remembering 9/11

I remember that dreadful day very clearly.

I was welcoming my 1st graders to our classroom and several students were upset about a plane that had crashed into a tall building in New York. In order to calm them, I said it was probably a small plane that had an accident.

Later in the morning Art (who enjoyed volunteering his time to tutor some of my students) came in with the news. I quietly warned him not to alarm the children.

However, our school secretary then came on the intercom to tell me that my daughter was safe in Chicago (having been evacuated from the tall skyscraper she was working in) and was being sent home from work. Tiffany worked for a financial group and she often talked to people in the Cantor Fitzgerald company in the World Trade Center. Now those people were suddenly all gone.

My class erupted with questions about why Tiffany was going home from work. Then several parents came to pick up their children to take them home.

My son was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mali, West Africa and he says they'd heard the news and were called back to the capital, Bamako to be safe, just in case. He said many Malians stared at them sympathetically as they walked by. My son and daughter-in-law who served at the same time was appalled at the backlash that caused all Muslims to be grouped in the same category as those terrorists.

It was such an awful time. The world would never be the same.

Do you remember what you were doing on that horrible day?

Corned Beef Hash Patties Again... and Again... and Again

I'm not sure why but one of the dishes that my grandchildren love is Hawaiian style corned beef hash patties. I usually make it whenever we visit them in Illinois and Maryland.

I was happy that Tiffany made kim chee fried rice for mom again. It's a very big favorite of mom's and Tif even froze some for her.

This summer broke the record for the number of times I ended up making hash patties. It's rather time consuming and not something I love preparing, BUT (and that's a big BUT) if the kids want it I'm happy to do it.

I think the Hawaiian sugar plantation workers probably started making it to stretch their canned meat. That's just a guess and I stand by it.

Another reason why I was willing to make it so many times this summer is because KC enjoyed working on it with me.

Here's the recipe I blogged in 2017:

Ingredients:

4 large potatoes (I usually use a couple more potatoes)

1 can corned beef

1 medium sized onion

3 eggs (beaten)

flour

corn flake crumbs (I've used bread crumbs when I was desperate.)

Instructions:

Boil potatoes until tender and mash.

Saute diced onions in butter until tender. 

Combine mashed potatoes and sauteed onions with 1 can of corned beef.

Form patties about 3 inches in diameter.

Coat each patty with flour.

Dip the floured patties in the beaten eggs.

Coat them with the corn flake crumbs. 

Fry the patties until golden brown.

We always ended up with almost three pans of hash patties and it never lasted past the second meal. Oh... and it has to be eaten with ketchup. That's what Art says.

Actually, Art tried making it healthier when the kids were younger by not putting on the coating or frying it. He just broiled it naked instead.

Ummmm....

Let me just say he let's me fry it now... with the coating. Besides, I only make it for the grandkids a couple times a year. Well... I guess more times this year.

Trump Trash Tweet

I know. It's been in the news constantly which Trump calls fake. Granted, all his lies seem to be gospel to his followers.

This whole hurricane business has me really disturbed though.

It started with him canceling his trip to Poland so he could stay at Camp David in order to monitor Hurricane Dorian's progress. Instead, he flew to his private club in Virgina to play golf. This from the president saying in 2016 that he would be too busy to play golf like President Obama. He has in fact spent 3 more times than Obama playing golf. But, I think everybody has heard this and just accepted it.

OK.... I'm getting diverted. It's too easy.

Trump then goofed and said that Dorian would be hitting Alabama. This was from Time magazine:

The confusion began on the morning of Sept. 1, when the President tweeted that the state, as well as Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia, would “most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated.”

20 minutes after that tweet, Alabama's National Weather Service had to clear up the confusion saying they would not be hit.

It was a mistake. Trump who was supposed to be keeping close watch on the hurricane happened to make a mistake. But he just couldn't admit it. So he continued to tweet that Alabama WAS going to be hit and that it was fake news that was changing the story.

Then came the insane thing where he displayed a 4 day old hurricane projection map doctored with a Sharpie pen to show that Dorian could hit Alabama and he thought everybody would fall for it.

I am shaking my head.

This is scary.

And now I'm hearing that NOAA was backing him up.

I saw this on npr:

"The parent agency of the National Weather Service said late Friday that President Trump was correct when he claimed earlier this week that Hurricane Dorian had threatened the state of Alabama.
The surprise announcement in an unsigned statement by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration essentially endorsed Trump's Sunday tweet saying that Alabama will "most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated."

Notice that the announcement was unsigned. Obviously, they didn't want to be identified. NOAA has since been denounced by previous heads of the agency (both Republican and Democrat) and meteorologists everywhere.

So now.... it's even scarier.

The president can actually force an agency to back up erroneous information that he tweets out at the drop of a hat.

This is not good. This is not good.

(You know.... if he had just said, "I misstweeted," this could all have been a Category 3 blunder and forgotten like all his other misstweets. It's now a Category 5.)

Pinwheels vs. Knockoff

I wrote a blog post a while ago about Pinwheel cookies. I used to love it some 30+ years ago. The kids would buy me a package every so often for special occasions. When I mentioned the cookies to friends in Hawaii, they said they hadn't heard of it.  I tried to find it in Hawaii and couldn't locate it anywhere.

Then my daughter, Tiffany in Illinois said she'd come across it at the Jewel supermarket for $4.99. She brought a package with them to Hawaii.

I couldn't believe it! There it was! It was the real thing! It wasn't so much the taste of it anymore; it was the memories. Art suggested that we all just eat it up together.

You know what?

It was selfish of me that for a while I didn't want to open it. I didn't want to share it. I wanted to keep it intact and just look at it.

Then, shockingly, Tiffany found these cookies at Walmart! Good grief!

Can you believe it? And it's almost half the price!

We did a taste test. Almost everyone said they couldn't tell the difference. One person said they preferred the Pinwheel.

Since I've lost much of my sense of taste, I definitely couldn't tell the difference.

The rest of the cookies stayed in the refrigerator for the longest time. I didn't really want to eat it anymore. 

I realized I couldn't hold on to the past in cookies. Or maybe I was sad I couldn't taste it anymore. Still, I was very happy to recall the memories of those wonderful days of our youth. And that was enough.

Money on the Ground

Whenever Art goes for his walks/jogs he tends to watch the ground for change that people have dropped. It's usually a penny. After about five years he managed to fill his jar.

Granted, he did find $7 once flying across a parking lot, so you knew the jar contained more than that. Yes, there had been the occasional quarter. Whatever the case, my guess was $10.13. Sigh...

What would you have guessed?

Art told everybody there would be a contest to see who could come closest to the total amount.

We got paper rolls at the bank to count the money. KC and JD helped to count it.

Would you believe the total was $21.05? My son-in-law was just $.42 off!!! Needless to say his daughter who loves cookies was thrilled because this was the prize! Who had the worst guess? Yup. Me.

The money will be donated to the Hawaii Foodbank.

And now Art is once more on the look out for change left on the ground.

This is what he's found so far in the last month. I wonder when we'll have the next money counting guessing contest.

Celebrating Art's 75th Birthday

One of the moments we were able to celebrate was Art's birthday earlier in the summer.  Happily, our daughter and family were here to make it even more special. Our son had given us a gift certificate to Nobu Honolulu. It's a pricey restaurant that we'd never have gone to if Keola hadn't given me that certificate.

It did not have good reviews when I looked online so I was quite pleasantly surprised that the food was good and service was fabulous. They'd asked me earlier if we were celebrating anything. I told them I'd already read that they DON'T give complimentary birthday desserts so we would't be ordering anything.

What a surprise when they brought this sweet, sort of crumbly confection to wish Art a happy birthday anyway.

The cod is pretty much their signature dish and very good.

We did then go across the street to Whole Foods where we bought a giant blueberry shortcake.

Across the street from Nobu was the Anaha Tower. We were shocked to see this huge swimming pool cantilevered over the street. Apparently, this is a luxury condominium and the salt water pool is 75 feet long and 15 feet wide. It's also 75 feet to the sidewalk.

We don't venture into Honolulu much anymore and I can see there are a lot of surprises to be discovered.

Pineapple Peeler/Corer

My summer job when I was a teenager going to high school was trimming pineapples at Dole Cannery. It was hot, grueling work and instilled in me a desire to count my pennies after working 12 hour shifts for $1.25 an hour.

Whatever the case, because of that notable life history, I've always been assigned the job of peeling pineapples whenever it was given to us. I never liked to eat it because just smelling it would make sweat bead at my hairline (even in winter).

I wrote blog posts a few times showing how I peel and cut pineapples.

My daughter, Tiffany sent me this handy dandy pineapple peeler that she insisted was fabulous.

I stored it in my kitchen cupboard, but  didn't use it because it seemed to me that too much of the pineapple would be wasted.

Well, after the family left this summer, Art's friend, Morris brought over another pineapple he said would be super sweet.

I was tired that day and decided we'd just go ahead and try using this contraption. It was quick and easy, just as Tiffany said.

Much as I'm not a fan of eating pineapple, Morris was right. The pineapple was SUPER sweet. I'm sure there was pineapple wasted using this corer/slicer/peeler, but gosh! I loved not having to work hard to prepare it.

Would I use it again? Well, if Morris insists that another one of his pineapples is sweet, I might go back to my old way of cutting it so nothing is wasted. (Besides, since I can't smell it, I don't have to sweat anymore.)

Then again...

Really, Really Busy Summer!

This has been a very memorable, fun-filled summer. Our children and their families all arrived to celebrate my 70th birthday. The house was brimming over with children's laughter, happy voices and smiling faces for about a month. I'd been happily anticipating this for almost a year... and now it's over and we're slowly getting back to our normal schedules again.

The time I've been away from blogging has also been filled with lots of additional doctors' visits and coming to grips with the fact that I have permanently lost my sense of smell and much of my taste as well.

But there's lots to be grateful for and I was reminded of that as I spent precious time with my children and grandchildren.

Our daughter, Tiffany and family arrived first. Granddaughter, KC was such wonderful company and will be a bonafide teenager this year. Good grief! How did that happen?

Tiffany surprised me by bringing lots of party supplies from Illinois to insure a proper birthday celebration.

A week later, our son, Keola and family arrived.

The grandsons were bundles of energy, curiosity and full of constant exploration.

Yes, it's been an amazing summer... but I'm back and will starting writing again. I just have to get my brain in gear.

Have a wonderful, relaxing Labor Day everyone!