EXTREMELY Fancy Auto Paint Job

We were out marketing early one morning when I saw an astonishing sight. 

OK, I've seen some fun or weird paint jobs on cars and trucks but this one astonished me.

It was so striking that I did a double take. When I walked around the car I saw that the other side was equally rather amazing. And yes, I had to take a photo in case I wanted to show it to you.

I just blew up this photo and saw the writing on the girl's chest. Goodsmile Racing? What the heck is that? 

So of course, I looked it up online. You can find anything online. Sure enough. I found a website called Good Smile Racing:

Good Smile Company, also known as GSC or Good Smile, is a Japanese manufacturer of hobby products such as the Nendoroid and figma product lines, as well as scale figures. In addition to production and manufacturing, our business includes design, marketing and distribution. Our products are usually based on anime, manga or games that are popular in Japan, China, and the USA.

OK, now I know.  

A Japanese Christmas

The Star Advertiser had an article about how Christmas is celebrated in different countries. We had to laugh when it stated that it had become a custom for people in Japan to get Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas.

Apparently, since the 1980s, life-size statues of Colonel Sanders dressed as Santa Claus were displayed outside the eateries. It somehow caught on.

We know this because we remember talking to a dear friend of ours in Tokyo a decade ago and he told us he was getting Kentucky Fried chicken for Christmas. 

We thought it was hilarious.

But when you think about it, why not? 

What would you want for Christmas (if you celebrate the holiday, that is)? And yes, we do in a secular sort of way. 😁

Art is saying, "Heeey... we should try that."

POSTSCRIPT:

Commenter Craig mentioned that the Japanese also enjoy Strawberry Shortcake along with the Kentucky Fried Chicken. I'd never heard of that so I asked my Japanese relatives and got a reply right away.

“Yes that's true!!!!!! Strawberry shortcake and KFC are Japanese way for Christmas. LOL”

Advent Puzzle?

Never let it be said that our family does not have a sense of humor (or hilarity) (or a spot of craziness).

Our daughter Tiffany and family sent us a flat rate box full of goodies. However, in that box was also another box that was decorated by our granddaughter, KC.

KC spent a lot of time decorating all sides of the box. They also called to warn us not to open the box until December 1st.

We knew something was up from the sound of their giggles.

December 1st came and Art was dying of curiosity.

When he opened the box, we discovered PUZZLE PIECES in 24 little snack bags!

In case you don't remember, our son sent Art a 3,000 piece Beatles puzzle which he is still working on (since March). I will show you eventually when he gets done with that massive puzzle.

Apparently, this is an Advent  Puzzle. We're supposed to open one bag a day.

We've been working on each bag after lunch each day.

Tiffany told us that someone else had done this for their parents which she thought was a FUN idea. It's a 1,000 piece puzzle that Tif bought, put together and then divided into 24 sections, putting one section in each bag for us to open every day until Christmas. We're keeping each section separate and will put them together on Christmas.

Like I said before, never let it be told that we don't have fun children and grandchildren.

Oh... wait...

And do you know what they gave their grandmother?

Yup, Mom is loving it!!!

Sainthood for Brother Dutton

I've written before about mom's father who was a Zen Buddhist priest. He and my grandmother came to the island of Molokai in 1928 to minister to the Buddhist victims of Hansen's Disease (leprosy) at Kalaupapa. That's where my mother and two aunts were born. They were there for about 7 years.

Father Damien tended to Christian victims for 16 years at Kalaupapa and died on April 15, 1889 after contracting the disease himself. He attained sainthood in 2009.

Brother Joseph Dutton came to Molokai in 1886 to assist Father Damien who was already dying and stayed on for 44 years. 

I've also mentioned before how I'd gone to Japan for the first time in 1970 and spent three weeks at my grandfather's temple, getting to know my mother's family for the first time.

I asked my grandfather what he thought the best religion was. His answer... which bears repeating was, "There is no best religion. It's what a person does with his religion that makes it the best." He then went on to tell me about meeting and working with Brother Dutton and how much he admired him. This man, he said was an example of a truly extraordinary Christian.

When Brother Dutton died on March 26, 1931, my grandfather along with some other men went to pay their respects to the great man.

We were thrilled recently to learn on Hawaii News Now that, "In November, the US Conference of Bishops advanced the cause of beatification and canonization of Brother Joseph Dutton."

My grandfather was not catholic, but I'll bet he would have been happy to hear this.

The Navy is Poisoning Our Water

For several years now, the community has voiced strong concerns about the leaking underground fuel storage tanks at Pearl Harbor. The problem is Hawaii gets its water from aquifers under each island.

Aquifer (from Wikipedia): An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock, rock fractures or unconsolidated materials. Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. 

I got this photo from an Environmental Science website: 

There is an aquifer underground each of the Hawaiian islands where everybody gets their water.

Those old storage tanks were built during WWII and are leaking. They belong to the Navy who has been downplaying the problem for a long time. In fact, a friend of mine wrote a letter to the Star Advertiser Editor a while ago and a retired Navy officer actually looked her up to scold her.

Well... now it's come out because a lot of people in the military housing units started complaining of the petroleum smell in the water, getting nauseous, breaking out in rashes, having headaches, etc. Several schools in the area also detected the odor and had to be closed.

The Honolulu Water Department checked the water and what do you know? There's petroleum in the water. The Navy finally shut down the well from which it draws its water. They'd initially said they didn't detect any petroleum in the water they tested.

The problem here is that even if they shut down their well, the leak can go down into the ground water and into the island aquifer. By coincidence, Art's Master's thesis was about protecting the ground water/aquifer which is the only reason I know a teeny bit about the concern. It's not just a concern. It is darn scary. This could be catastrophic for the island.

We saw a Hawaii state water official (I forget who he was) on TV news who appeared to be choking back tears in his frustration and anger at the Navy on the news. 

Art just saw an article in the Star Advertiser. That expert I mentioned is Ernest Lau (Honolulu Board of Water Supply manager and chief engineer).

The Star Advertiser Editorial stated:

"What is remarkable about his tour as a manager for several government agencies is that he has been willing to take a stand and go up against the Navy in its foot-dragging acceptance of the danger posed by its fuel storage system."

POSTSCRIPT:

This was in yesterday's paper.

Someone needs to be held accountable for the lying and misinformation passed on to the public by the Navy.

This is bad, this is criminal.

Is it a Camouflage Frog or Toad?

Art was walking in front of the house when he spotted a movement. It was so tiny that he wasn't sure what it was at first.

It's very tiny.

How do you know if it's a frog or a toad? 

Way back in September, 2001 when we were living in Illinois we were shocked to find what we were sure was a teeny frog on our 2nd floor. (We didn't live near a pond or lake.)

Is there a herpetologist out there who can tell us?

Letter to the Editor

As I sift through photos and memories, I came across this Letter to the Editor I wrote that was printed on December 2, 2006 in the Chicago Tribune. They titled it The best greeting.

In response to the many letters concerning stores changing their holiday greetings this year I’d like to add my perspective.  

I am a retired 1^st grade teacher who worked hard at including all holidays in December. I preferred introducing my students to Christmas, Hanukkah, Diwali and Kwanzaa, and most important, to respect each celebration. I was glad when stores switched to Happy Holidays because I felt it was inclusive to everyone.  

A Holiday Committee was formed at our school a long time ago to decide how we should handle the placement of Christmas Trees, Santa Claus and other Christmas decorations. I was surprised when several Christian teachers felt that Christmas Trees and Santa Claus were secular and therefore could be allowed placement in the halls and classrooms for enjoyment by children of all religions.  One teacher was surprised when I asked how Santa Claus could be entirely secular if another name he goes by is St. Nicholas.   

I think that much of the problems with the world today occur when people are so ethnocentric that they are unable to see the point of view of those around them. Lately, I’m feeling that many people in this country are not even trying anymore. 

If you could have seen the bright smiles on the faces of the children whose religious holidays were also acknowledged in the classroom, you would understand why I am saddened by those who are insisting that holiday salutations need to be Merry Christmas.  

In fond remembrance of the December Holidays of Lights unit that I hope is still being taught in our district, I’d like to wish everyone a Happy Holiday!

You know what? I think all this is still relevant today. We need to come together, appreciate and be kind to each other.

SPAM, SPAM and more SPAM! (The Bad Kind, Not the One in the Can)

I've been getting spammed quite a bit lately which has been irritating as heck. This is a Blogspot thing. I don't know how Wordpress handles it.

If you know you've got a SPAM comment, you should click on Design and go to Comments. Then find the spam comment and click on the stop sign with the exclamation point in the middle which says "Mark this comment as spam." 

And this is where I get confused. I also tried clicking on the stop sign with the X in the middle "Remove content of this comment," which removed the comment saying it was removed by me, BUT kept the name of the spam commenter there.

If I click on the trash can icon it erased the comment and the spammer's name. Does this then not alert Blogspot to the Spam?

HOWEVER, if I click on the "Remove content of this comment," (stop sign with X in middle) I notice that you can still mark the commenter as a spam.

Arrghhh.... What to do? Does it matter? I don't know and I can't find the answer.

And then the other day I saw that the spammer suddenly appeared as a Follower. Now what? I don't know how to remove that spammer.

Sigh.........

POSTSCRIPT:

When I looked online. Their advice was to not open your comments to everybody.

But I have some commenters I really enjoy who are not bloggers and don't have google accounts.

Sigh......😕

POSTSCRIPT:

I did it! I found out how to delete the SPAM Follower.

I went to Stats and clicked on followers. I found that annoying UFA88KH and 2 other probable spammers and blocked them. Hooray! It doesn't mean they can't still get to me, but it makes it a little harder. 🤞

Thanksgiving 2021

We dithered over what to do for Thanksgiving this year. However, once again it was just the three of us. We have young family members who are not vaccinated as well as family who have to go out into the world to work. I'm hoping this is the last holiday that we have to exercise so much caution. 

So then... do we get a turkey? Do we go through the bother of brining and roasting the turkey, making stuffing and baking that pumpkin pie? 

There was the option of just buying everything done for you at Zippy's. But we don't really eat mashed potatoes. We like our own stuffing. We don't eat rolls. And Art does like to bake his own pumpkin pie. And that looked like way too much food for just the three of us.

I considered just grilling some teriyaki chicken.

But in the end....

Yup. Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, macaroni salad, pumpkin pie and a lot of yummy selections a good friend kindly shared with us. And yup, there was too much food, BUT we froze a whole lot of it to have next month so it's all good. 

And you know what? We are not spring turkeys chickens anymore. All this cooking totally wore us out. (Then again, we don't have to cook for a couple of days so it was worth it.)

I hope you all had a happy day as well.

You Know You’re In Hawaii If…

While reminiscing with one of my fun friends, it brought to mind a post I blogged in 2008. It was just something funny about local people in Hawaii. The funny thing is that much of this is still true. I did update it... just a little.

YOU KNOW YOU’RE IN HAWAII IF:

• nobody knows where north is. (It’s true. Local people say mauka or makai (mountain or ocean, toward Ewa or toward town, etc.)
• on the street where you live, every refrigerator has a bottle of shoyu (soy sauce) in it. (Yup. We have low salt and regular.) 😃 
• your cousin is Japanese-Chinese-French-Filipino-Korean-Scottish-Portuguese-Hawaiian plus some stuff too manini (little) to mention. (My nephews are Japanese-Irish.)
• to go out on Saturday night and impress the girl, you wear your bestest shorts. (I wear shorts or capris ALL the time. I never wear dresses or long pants.)
• the most important thing to know about a person is where they went to high school. (So very true.)
• the second most important thing to know about a person is the year they wen' grad (they graduated).
  
• birds walk more often than they fly. (Those darn pigeons are walking and pooping all over our solar panels. Arrrghhh!)
• you're nobody until somebody says you're part of the ohana (family).
• the legislature is a daycare for troubled adults.
• nobody knows where the "fast lane" is on the freeway.
• the best cooks all use lots of Best Foods mayonnaise.
• an approaching hurricane means only one thing...."Surf's up brah!"
• Las Vegas is Mecca. (It’s called the 9th island.)

• White rice and macaroni salad is served with every plate lunch.
• Spam is everywhere.
• Beans (azuki) are the perfect condiment for ice cream or shave ice.
• the ukulele is a classical music instrument.
• the weather report says "mauka showers".
• you take your shoes off before you enter a house.
• children call all their family friends "Uncle" or "Auntie." Hawaii children have a lot of ohana.
• formal dinnerware are paper plates and plastic forks.
• you don't honk at anybody in traffic because it could be your cousin.
• when there's a light rain, you look around for the rainbow.

I’m sure my local friends can come up with many more.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everybody!

It's Good to Complain (Suggest?)

For several years, we'd noticed a constant, annoying leak in a huge water pipe in front of a school when we take our long walks. 

At a time when we're told we need to conserve our water I couldn't understand it. Oahu has a huge water demand because of our tourist industry. Hotels use a LOT of water. And this leak had been going on for a long, long time.

I finally got irritated concerned enough that I decided to write to the Board of Water Supply. It's wonderful that you can actually send emails now to companies. I told them where it was and sent them photos. 

Would you believe? No kidding! A few weeks later.... Yay! It got fixed!!!

I could hardly believe it. I sent them an email again commending them for the good job. And would you believe they actually wrote back?

"Aloha,

We appreciate this, thank you very much!

Mahalo,

Customer Care

The Honolulu Board of Water Supply

(808) 748-5000

Customerservice@hbws.org"

Wow! I guess the squeaky wheel does get the grease. Or should I say leaky?

Doggone Daylight Savings!!! (and Partial Eclipse)

Last week Wednesday was crazy because I decided to do my bi-monthly blueberry muffin baking even though I needed to get it done by 9:30 because my grandson, JD calls between 9:30 and 10:00 to FaceTime with me for about an hour and a half.

So I rushed at breakneck speed to get it done and just managed it. Then I sat down (a little winded but) all prepared and waited… and waited… and waited.

Finally, I called my son and left a message asking if something was wrong. He called back 5 minutes later to say he hadn’t even picked JD up from school yet.

Hunh?

Oh nuts! There’s now only 5 hours difference instead of 6 between Hawaii and the East Coast. Arrrggghhh! Hawaii does not do Daylight Savings and every spring and fall… sigh… I forget. And I now have to remember that it is 4 hours difference between us and Illinois where my daughter lives.

Ah well… I got to take a rest after the hectic morning and be really ready for my grandson who FaceTimed me just before 11:00. But then I needed a quick snack because it was close to my lunchtime. 😄 

Since JD had just returned from school, he had a more substantial snack while I read him a book. He then showed me his homework which he did quite happily while telling me what he was doing. We then played with counting money, telling time and talked about word families, favorite stories, story problems, etc.

JD said Hawaii must be the hottest place on the planet. I was puzzled and said it was actually cooler now than in the summer. I just realized looking at this photo why he said that since I'm in tank tops and shorts and it must be very chilly in Maryland. My daughter did text me a video of snow in Chicago.

Even though we still don’t feel safe enough to travel, it’s really remarkable how technology has enabled us to laugh, love and learn together.

But seriously, do we really need Daylight Savings?

POSTSCRIPT 1:

OK, yes. I did stay up until 9:30 PM hoping I'd see the reddish moon. I just couldn't make it until 11:02 PM.

I got the start of the eclipse, but I'm sorry I just had to go to sleep. Besides that, I swear there were mosquitoes biting me. I never saw that red color. Maybe I'll see it when there's a full eclipse next year.

POSTSCRIPT 2: 

OK again, then Art got up a half hour later and said I should look again so out the door we went again.

When the clouds covered the moon, you could see the shadow side of the moon. 

OK, now I'm really going to go to sleep.

Partial Lunar Eclipse on November 19 (Unless You're in Hawaii)

My daughter sent me a link to an article in her town that informed people of an important partial (almost full) lunar eclipse that was happening on Friday.

According to Forbes Magazine:

"North America is perfectly placed to see this global event, which will happen at exactly the same time for everyone on the night-side of Earth. However, the local time it will happen where you are depends on where you live. So get the exact celestial schedule for your location and consult an interactive map of the event."

Again, according to Forbes Magazine:

"The partial lunar eclipse will last three hours 28 minutes and 23 seconds making it the longest partial lunar eclipse between 2001 and 2100 according to NASA. It’s also the longest partial lunar eclipse for 580 years."

So anyway, for the mainland U.S. everybody will see it on Friday morning. Here in Hawaii, we'll have to stay up until 11:02 PM on Thursday night. (Our weather forecasters were calling it the Beaver Moon.)

Hmmm... 

This is almost a challenge. 

I wonder if it'll rain.

Are you going to watch for it?

 

 

It's Safer Now to Eat at a Restaurant

The ohana (Hawaiian for family) really gifted an outpouring of birthday excitement for mom so we didn't take her out for a celebratory luncheon like we usually do every year on her special day.

We decided to do it last week because there are now COVID rules in place that make eating out a lot safer for us. Gyotaku is mom's favorite Japanese restaurant.

You have to produce proof of vaccination or a negative test result. After showing our vaccination cards and IDs, we had our temperature checked and sterilized our hands.

When we sat down, we could see tall barriers between tables that were spaced 6 ft. apart.

Soy sauce (shoyu) was placed in a little bowl instead of bottles. 

We ordered our favorite luncheon specials.

I always order the California Delight. Mom and Art get the Gyotaku Lunch Box.

I do watch my carbs since I am technically a diabetic so I ate only 2 sushi. 

Before starting my lunch, I asked our server for a carry-out container so I could pack away the rest of the sushi to bring home (and to make sure I don't eat it).

Art got to eat my tempura eggplant. 😊 Tempura raises my glucose levels. 😕

All in all, it was a wonderful first time out in a long, long time. The servers and all the other wait staff were as friendly and helpful as could be. 

And that night, mom and Art were really happy to have my sushi left overs.

Hmmm.... Where shall we go next?

Why 666, 88 or Brandon?

The idea for this post began at our breakfast table when we were discussing a segment we'd seen on the Netflix series, Lucifer. I was wondering how 666 is supposed to represent the Devil. As it turns out, it was actually referring to Nero Caesar (the guy who supposedly fiddled while Rome burned). I'm not going to try to explain the code. It's all clearly explained in this video.

Then Art mentioned how he'd seen an article that stated there's now a White Supremacist code for 88 that they are starting to emblazon on their clothing and even in tattoos. 

"88 is a white supremacist numerical code for "Heil Hitler." H is the eighth letter of the alphabet, so 88 = HH = Heil Hitler. One of the most common white supremacist symbols, 88 is used throughout the entire white supremacist movement, not just neo-Nazis. One can find it as a tattoo or graphic symbol; as part of the name of a group, publication or website; or as part of a screenname or e-mail address. It is even sometimes used as a greeting or sign-off (particularly in messages on social networking websites).
The number is frequently combined with another white supremacist numeric code, 14 (shorthand for the so-called "14 Words" slogan: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children") in the form of 1488, 14/88, 14-88, or 8814."

And now this morning I saw that conservative right wingers are using "Let's go, Brandon" as a nasty epithet against President Biden. It stands for "F*** Joe Biden." Yup. And that crude epithet has even been used on the floor of the House by Republican representatives which shows the vulgarity that has invaded even the halls of Congress.

https://abc7ny.com/what-does-lets-go-brandon-mean-is-joe-biden-insult-origin/11183230/

"It started at an Oct. 2 NASCAR race at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Brandon Brown, a 28-year-old driver, had won his first Xfinity Series and was being interviewed by an NBC Sports reporter. The crowd behind him was chanting something at first difficult to make out. The reporter suggested they were chanting "Let's go, Brandon" to cheer the driver. But it became increasingly clear they were saying: "F-- Joe Biden."

This is how it started and now has spread in conservative circles. It was bad enough when Karen was used to represent racist white women. I have friends named Karen, for goodness sakes! Now it's Brandon. And yes, I have friends named Brandon who would really hate their names being used in this derogatory way.

I know some Americans are blaming President Biden for not fixing the polarization in our country. But how can you fix this kind of evil in just a few months that seems to have taken root from seeds that were already there and just waiting to sprout with the right conditions? The question is... how do you stop its growth?

POSTSCRIPT:

My friend, Linda in California just told me that 88 is actually a good luck number in some Asian cultures. I looked it up and yes! In the Chinese culture it's definitely true. This is what it says on Wikipedia:

"Number 88 symbolizes fortune and good luck in Chinese culture, since the word 8 sounds similar to the word fā (發, which implies 發財, or wealth, in Mandarin or Cantonese). The number 8 is considered to be the luckiest number in Chinese culture, and prices in Chinese supermarkets often contain many 8s. The shape of the Chinese character for 8 (八) implies that a person will have a great, wide future as the character starts narrow and gets wider toward the bottom."

Linda also mentioned that we have a t-shirt company named 88-Tees here in Hawaii... and yup. I guess we do. I had no idea. What a shame that White Supremacists have appropriated that number for their own evil identity.

Header Explanation

Hi everybody,

Mage of Postcards gave me the "heads up" that it was safe to change my header photo so I did. However, now I don't know how to add the explanation for the photo. I used to be able to do that easily, but now... sigh...

Several people asked me about the header so I thought I'd let you know what it was about today instead of putting it in the comments where people might not know to look.

Art and I go to the Open Market (Farmers Market in Hawaii) every Tuesday. It starts at 6:25 AM. We love seeing our favorite vendors there. In the summer, the sun is already up but in fall and winter, it's a bit dark.

This week, the skies were ablaze and Art wanted to show our kids so he took several photos and I used one of them for my header.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to bring a flashlight to see the vegetables for the next several months. On the other hand, the weather is cooler which I love. 😄

To all our wonderful Veterans, thank you so much for your service to our country.

Mom's Scary Arm Wound Update

I wrote about mom scraping the skin off her arm a week and a half ago. I washed, applied petroleum jelly and covered it with a non-stick pad and paper tape which is gentler than other types of tape. I contacted her doctor and spoke to an Advice Nurse. 

A couple of days later, it was looking really, really gooey yukky so I decided to tent the non-stick pad over it and not wash it for a day. Then I sent the photo to the Advice Nurse and asked them again if that was OK.

She said I needed to wash it out every day and continue to apply Vaseline so that night I did as she said.

However, I have to tell you that I think a day of air drying helped because it did look better.

Then I found we had some petroleum jelly in a tube and decided to try that. 

I don't know if it's my imagination but the tube version seemed easier to apply than the jelly in the jar and seemed more sanitary.

I also didn't realize that Vaseline is just a brand. We had the generic version of petroleum jelly.

Since we got that $5 off of $20 coupon (for getting our boosters at CVS) I bought a good back up supply of non-stick pads and paper tape.

I'm thinking this won't be the last time we'll need first aid supplies. (Art did also get a scratch from thorns on our lemon tree.)

All I can say is, I'm glad mom seems to heal well.

POSTSCRIPT: 

I just had to add this last photo. It looks quite healed now after 2 weeks. There's some raised keloid, but I'm thinking it will settle down after a while.

Reducing My Posts and Love You Forever

OK... Looks like it's happening to me too. My brain is getting fogged out. I'm stuck at home with no adventures and finding it hard to come up with a topic that I haven't already written about.

Therefore, I'll now be reducing my posts to three times a week. I guess Monday, Wednesday, Friday sounds like a good number.

Thank you to all the wonderful friends who have been trying to give me ideas so I could keep up the Monday-Friday pace. You know who you are. 

For today, I'd like to share this video with you. When I was teaching 1st grade (quite a while ago), a new book came out called Love You Forever by Robert Munch. I have a feeling many of my retired teachers will remember this book.

When I read the book so long ago I teared up to the point that I was crying. WHY? WHY? It's actually quite silly. You'll see when you watch this video. But for some unknown reason it makes you cry.

https://youtu.be/70aHBZEbrxo

Several days later I decided I could read this book to my class without any tears at all. Therefore, I confidently began reading it to my students. I was almost through it when suddenly it happened again. Tears!!! Me... tears!!! My class got worried and kept asking what was wrong. I finally managed to tell them it's because there's so much love in it. It's the love their parents all feel for them... what I feel for them too. That reassured my class.

I bought two more copies of the book and gave them to my kids. They were in middle school at the time.

Now they have kids of their own. I wonder if they can read this without tears. I shall have to ask them.

No Joy in DeJoy

I was having my once a week FaceTime meeting with my 6 year old grandson in Maryland. He is a very bright, beautiful child. Am I biased? Naaah... 

Since he's in 1st grade (and I'm a retired 1st grade teacher), my son said I could do some enrichment work with him so we've been working on phonics, fractions, time, adding and subtraction, etc. I also read a lot of books to him which he loves. He's even asked me to hold the book closer so he could read it to me. 😁

Anyway, I was asking JD if he'd gotten the letter I'd sent him with comics I'd cut out from our Star Advertiser quite a while ago.

I burst out laughing when he sadly replied, "No, I didn't get it. The Republicans are slowing the mail."

Why is Louis DeJoy STILL the postmaster general? Unfortunately, President Biden can't fire him. The only people who can is the Board of Governors who were mostly appointed by Trump. Ever since DeJoy has been in that position, mail has suddenly slowed down and become more expensive. He's also a major Republican Party donor and fundraiser and never had any experience in the US postal service.

The USPS has now raised the rates of postal service in time for the holidays and no longer provides mail service to Australia. Really? Why Australia? Thank goodness I don't have relatives there. If I did, I'd be really ticked.

My daughter in Illinois sent me a photo of a card I sent her on September 9th. It had gotten to her on October 25th. You have got to be kidding!

Dang! So I really do have to start getting a flat rate box started for Christmas! Ack!

POSTSCRIPT: 

I just checked what Blogger Ed of Iowa told me. Thank you, Ed! 
https://blog.stamps.com/2021/09/02/usps-service-suspension-to-australia/amp/

So it’s just first class mail to Australia that is suspended. You can still send by priority mail. Not sure of the difference though. And it’s due to COVID? I do really appreciate getting input from bloggers so we all get current and correct information.

Mixing Our Vaccinations

We took mom to get her Pfizer booster at Kaiser last month and the nurse laughed and said she was a tough cookie because she never flinched and was in such great shape. 

So true. Mom is totally calm, cheerful and grateful for any medical treatment she receives. Nurses are always coming out to tell me how happy they are to meet her and want to know her secret.

After getting the booster, her arm felt a little achy the next day, but after that... nothing. She said it was a breeze and she was just happy and relieved to have that extra protection.

Last week, Art and I decided to get our boosters. We'd heard on the news that mixing your vaccinations might prove beneficial.

We'd gotten Pfizers in January and February so we thought we'd go ahead and try the Moderna. Art had no reaction with either of the Pfizers. I got a little tired for the 2nd shot, but that's it.

The Moderna booster is only a half dose while the Pfizer booster is a full dose. 

Again, Art had no reaction to the booster vaccination. Both our arms ached for a couple of days but he was fine otherwise. Me, on the other hand, not so fine. I got a 99.9 temperature and felt really tired the next day. The following day, however, I was just fine. 

I'm kind of glad I didn't get the Moderna to start off with because I might have gotten a stronger side effect with the full dose. 

All I can say is I'm feeling so much safer now out in public. I wonder how often we'll have to be getting these boosters. 

Did you get any reactions to your vaccinations or the booster?

Hawaiian Words of My Youth

I was just thinking about Hawaii's pidgin English language and the Hawaiian words that became part of our everyday speech when we were little.

If you come to Waikiki, you'll see signs like these. But these aren't the Hawaiian words we'd commonly use growing up on the sugar plantation housing.

We also didn't use the words Kamaaina (local people) and Malihini (non-local people) very much.

We didn't greet each other with aloha or say mahalo for thank you. 

Art and I were having lunch and thought of the Hawaiian words that were laced in our pidgin language that we grew up with.

I'll give you the definition and how it was spoken just for fun.

makule (old person): What that makule guy doing?

mauka and makai (Toward the mountain or the ocean): Where she live? Mauka side or makai?

pio (turn off): No forget to pio the light.

huli (turn over): You like eat some huli huli chicken?

pilikea (trouble): I heard he was in big pilikea for ditching class the other day.

hemo (remove): Who when hemo the cover from the bottle?

pau hana (after work): When pau hana, you like go see a movie?

kau kau (eat): What you like kau kau for lunch today?

pupule (crazy, reckless): That guy pupule for not getting the vaccine.

moemoe (sleep): The baby going moemoe now.

pilau (dirty): Oh my! That some pilau kind stuff.

kapu (forbidden): No go there. Kapu as why.

manini (small): That some manini kind fish she caught.

okole (butt): Get your okole over here or you going get scolding.

ono (delicious): Wow! This manapua really ono!

uku (lice): You no like ukus on your head.

holo holo (go somewhere for fun): You like go holo holo down Waikiki?

Pau (Finished): OK, I'm all pau with this blog post now.  😁

POSTSCRIPT: (To my local Hawaii readers) What Hawaiian words did you grow up with? Art (who grew up on the Big Island) says he used kolohe for bad, but we didn't use it in Waipahu. (I got verification from my brother.)

Life is Ups and Downs

Wouldn’t you know it? Life is full of ups and downs.

After a day of birthday happiness and excitement, the following day, mom said she was rushing and banged her arm on the side of the house.

Good grief! This freaked me out. She didn’t tell me at first... insisting she was able to take care of it herself. Without even washing it, she had applied the juice of the aloe plant on it.

Arrrghhh!

I sent a message (with photos of the injury attached) to her doctor. The Kaiser Permanente Advice nurse called within the hour. She said I should wash my hands (I knew that) and then wash out the wound. (Ack! You mean touch it?) Apply a triple strength antibiotic cream and cover with a non-stick bandage and wrap with gauze strips. She also said I should look for red streaks coming from the wound or spreading redness. (Yikes!)

Hmmm…. I asked the nurse if the triple strength antibiotic was necessary because Tripler doctors always recommend Vaseline petroleum jelly instead. I have non-stick pads (this isn’t her first injury) and asked if I could just use paper tape. 

Yup. She said that was perfectly OK too and asked that I send more photos to the doctor in a couple of days. 

Mom said it hurt when I soaped, washed, rinsed and dried her still fresh and bleeding wound, but said she could handle it. Dang! She is so calm.

At noon the next day, I told her I should wash it out again and replace the non-stick pad. I was afraid to look.

What a surprise! It looked so much better. I swear she heals faster than I do! 

I washed the wound again, applied the Vaseline and covered it once more with the non-stick pad. 

Mom said this time it didn’t hurt at all.

Totally amazing.

POSTSCRIPT:

Two days later, it was bleeding, oozing (and really yukky looking) so I didn't wash or put Vaseline on it and just covered it like a tent with another non-stick pad hoping air drying would work.

I then sent a message to her Kaiser care team.

Darn. They said I need to keep washing, applying Vaseline and covering with the non-stick pad. 

Sigh... OK...

A Surprise 92nd Birthday!

Since the pandemic began, mom hasn't been able to see her grandchildren, nephews or nieces very much. However, mom's 92nd birthday will go on record as one of the BEST she's ever had.

My brother, sister-in-law, cousins, nieces and nephews, granddaughter and I have a chat group for mom's side of the family. We often wish each other a happy birthday on those special days or tip each other off on bargains or whatever around the island. I mentioned that mom was having a 92nd birthday.

I began getting text messages from everybody wishing mom a Happy Birthday with cute emojis and even some in Japanese, all of which mom was totally tickled by (which was my hope in mentioning it).

But then my cousin, Arnold decided to surprise mom in a BIG way.

He must have bought out the entire Marukai supermarket prepared food section. 

Good gosh!!!

We had tasty treats for lunch and dinner. A lot of it was eaten the next day and a lot of it was frozen. We won't have to cook for quite a while.

My brother and sister-in-law stopped by while we were out (to the dentist) and visited with mom and gave her several bottles of wine and a birthday cake.

More birthday greetings started coming in.

Her grandson, Shawn called from Las Vegas and I could hear mom laughing and loving it all.

Her great grandsons sent a birthday video greeting from Maryland. 

Her granddaughter and family in Illinois sent expensive face creams.

Her grandson, Barry and family arrived in the afternoon with more gifts and spent loving, quality time with her.

But one of the most surprising, most amazing thing to happen was when my cousin Ellen called to say that mom's sister (my aunt Dorothy) would say "Happy Birthday." Aunt Dorothy had a stroke a while ago and can now only answer with one word or repeat something you've said. I put the phone on speaker and had mom ready to listen.

Aunt Dorothy suddenly broke out in song. We were absolutely shocked! Auntie started singing the entire Happy Birthday song. I could see mom's mouth drop and her eyes start to tear. 

Ellen then dropped by with a huge balloon and bouquet of gorgeous flowers. I tied the balloon to her treadmill. 😁

At the end of the day and the following morning, mom was still basking in the glow of happiness from the outpouring of love, generosity, and kindness she was showered with.

And so am I.

And I Love You So

Joared of Along the Way posted about old songs recently which brought to mind a song that was my very favorite a long time ago. I've mentioned it before. It's Perry Como's And I Love You So.

https://youtu.be/SKp1HKM_4TY

I was looking this song up on YouTube so I could post it and saw that Elvis had also recorded this song. That was a surprise.

https://youtu.be/z8MOIs0Dd5g

And you know what? 

I rather like Elvis' version...kinda better.

Because I loved that song so much, our daughter and son-in-law played the song for us at their wedding reception. Good grief! That's almost 20 years ago.

https://youtu.be/BFkTu8Y1KLs

But now that we have grandchildren, my favorite song is Jason Mraz's Have It All.

Have a happy weekend, everybody! I want you to have it all!

Mom's Orchids

Mom loves her orchid plants. One of them that my brother transplanted for her earlier bloomed recently. With the sun streaming down on the flowers and looking so pretty I took some photos of it with my iPhone XR.

A week later, I showed those photos to mom and she asked, "Are those your friends' orchids? Where did you see them?"

And then it occurred to her and she laughed saying, "Oh, they're mine. They look even nicer on your phone."

When I told Art about it, he asked, "Would you like to see my photos?" Yes, it's true he got the upgraded iPhone 12 last year with the better camera. 🙄

I have reduced the file size of both photos before posting them here so perhaps it's affected the clarity, but yes... the photos with his upgraded phone is sharper.

Well... some day I will upgrade my phone and show him my photos too. Then again he'll probably say, it's not the phone, it's the photographer. 🙄🙄🙄

Isn't It a Little Early?

Didn't they use to wait until after Thanksgiving to put up Christmas decorations?

We were at Sam's Club a week or two ago and saw this. I have to smile when I see snowman displays around Hawaii since the only place you see snow in Hawaii is on the Big Island's Mauna Kea.

But sheesh..... 

Christmas?

It wasn't even really close to Halloween yet, not to mention Thanksgiving (unless you're Canadian, that is).

They are warning us that because of the slowdown in mail delivery and/or supply of gift items, people in Hawaii need to start shopping and mailing now.

But gosh... I can't even think about the holidays yet. We're still not comfortable holding a big get together at our house for Thanksgiving and don't love the idea of going shopping. It's probably going to be gift cards and Amazon.

If anything... I'm thinking of next year's holidays. Or is that too soon?