Hunting for Hibiscus

 It all started during one of our evening walks.

I've seen the yellow hibiscus. Apparently it is Hawaii's state flower. And true, I've seen the orange one a lot too. But I'd never seen anything like the purple, red, orange one on the right. It was just sticking out of a fence!

So then it got me wondering how many different hibiscus I might find around our town.

The white one was taken by our photographer friend, Dave, but these others were just all around our neighborhood.

I really like the double red petaled flower. The yellow and pink had those curly edges which was fun to see.

I found that double petaled yellowish orange hibiscus when we were on the Big Island.

And I have one neighbor who has several different hibiscus in their front yard. I think I've taken photos of all of them. Maybe. But I'll keep my eyes open if something different pops up.

When Did That Bromance End?

My writing blog posts has been rather spotty this year since we had those two long trips and then our son and family came to stay with us and then catching up all the things that needed catching up.

So I didn't get to show this photo that I thought was rather funny at the time. We were on the road when I noticed something hilarious about this car in front of us.

Our friend has a Tesla so I know Tesla owners are very happy to own their electric cars. 

But then Elon Musk and Trump had developed that Bromance and Elon was put in charge of DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) in November, 2024. 

That's when Tesla owners were not thrilled. There were even protests at Tesla dealerships. Some Tesla cars were being damaged.

I took this photo in March of this year when I noticed that there was something missing from the back of that car. I could swear it was supposed to proudly have that T in the back. Sooo... I looked it up just in case.

Yup. There it is. The owner of that Tesla must have removed the T. I can't imagine it just falling off.

Anyway.... The bromance ended in May of this year and Musk no longer loves Trump. So if you'd like to have a Tesla, it's safe again.

POSTSCRIPT:

I saw in the news that it looked like they made up at the Charlie Kirk memorial. I have a feeling it’s because Trump could hurt Musk’s business empire.

Waste Not, Want Not... I Think

I've mentioned before how Art just hates to waste things, just hates throwing away things that might be usable. Unfortunately, he'll even put little packages of ketchup or soy sauce that are put in carry-out food bags into the refrigerator where they can stay forever.

Well... I decided to just pour them into a bottle so it will have more chance of being used.

Uh oh... I need a bigger bottle.

But the ketchup packages. Hmmm....🤔

Just Like a Care Home

We had the bathrooms downstairs remodeled for my mom last year. The tub just wasn't safe for her anymore. So we bit the bullet and started the remodel. And we were glad we did. But mom is almost 96 now and needed more assistance. 

Having the shower stall instead of a tub was now just not good enough. Getting up from the toilet was sometimes difficult because she's so tiny.

We added the bench and plastic mat for safety in the shower stall. We had a stool before but it just wasn't sturdy enough. The bench was a lot more stable.  

We then got this KMINA Toilet Safety Rail. It was rather pricey at $149.99 + tax. There were a TON of toilet support choices with some being foldable so you could tuck it away. But we wanted something super sturdy. We had to do a lot of measuring and figuring out what would work with the TOTO bidet in that small space. But yes, we're satisfied.

My brother and I took mom to her geriatric doctor at Kaiser the other day and were told that she is doing very well health wise for her age. Mom told the doctor she is always happy.

And that made us happy.

Father and Son Hospital Stays

On their way to another country after their stay in Hawaii with us, my son Keola and family had several lay-overs. At one of their lay-overs before leaving the country, grandson JK suddenly started to feel ill. I imagine he was probably in pain too. The day before their flight, they decided to have him checked out at the hospital. 

Would you believe he had appendicitis? They had to postpone their flight so JK could have the emergency appendectomy. 

My daughter-in-law tells me that JK was brave throughout and of course, we are all so very proud of him.

Art said he had an appendectomy at around the same age and had to be hospitalized for 2 weeks. 

But incredibly, JK's appendectomy was done laparoscopically. He was able to go back to the hotel after just a few hours. Thank goodness for the advances made by modern medicine.

I couldn't believe it! 

And in just a few days after that, he was able to board the plane for the long flight to their next stop.

All this brought back my memories of Keola. He was 6 years old and Art was in D.C. for meetings. I got a call from his Illinois summer school saying Keola had fallen from the monkey bars. 

Since there wasn't any bleeding, I thought it would be a simple fracture that they could put a cast on and we could go home from the naval base hospital in North Chicago.

Imagine my shock when they said there were multiple breaks, his elbow was floating and he could even lose his arm. Keola didn't cry, but his big sister, Tiffany did when she saw him lying in the bed.

I won't go into all the details. The surgeon was able to save his arm though Keola has a huge scar to show for it and he was just as brave as his son. 

I'm just so glad Keola and family were still in the U.S. for J.K.'s emergency medical care. I'm proud and relieved for both of them.

It Was the Back, Now it's the Butt

It's Art's fault.

He's the one who showed me this article which was titled How Healthy Are You Aging? Take These 4 Fitness Tests to Find Out  

https://www.health.com/aging-well-fitness-tests-8668645

He thought it would be fun to try doing it. I said I would do it first.

30-Second Chair Stand

This assessment measures lower-body strength and endurance, and it can help identify adults at risk of falling. It may also be predictive of mortality—research has found that performing fewer than four stands in 30 seconds is linked to a threefold increase in risk of death among people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Höglund J, Boström C, Sundh J. Six-minute walking test and 30 seconds chair-stand-test as predictors of mortality in COPD—a cohort study. Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. 2022;17:2461-2469. doi:10.2147/COPD.S373272

How to perform: 

1. Set a stopwatch for 30 seconds, or have a friend time you.
2. Sit in the middle of a chair.
3. Cross your arms and place your hands on opposite shoulders.
4. Keep your feet flat on the floor, your back straight, and your arms against your chest.
5. Begin timing.
6. Rise to a full standing position, then sit back down again.
7. Repeat as many times as you can within 30 seconds.
   

According to the CDC, a below-average score may indicate a heightened risk of falling. For those aged 60 to 64, the average score is 14 for men and 12 for women. 

OK, I did great with this one. In fact, Art said I could stop before the 30 seconds because I was not having any problem at all with this.

So then he suggested I try the one about getting up from the floor. 

                                                                 Sitting-Rising

One reliable way to test balance, strength, and range of motion—the extent to which a body part can move freely—is the sitting-rising test, which gauges how well you can sit down on the floor and rise back up without assistance. 

How to perform:

1. Stand barefoot on a non-slip surface, such as a thin mat.
2. Without worrying about speed, try to sit on the floor using as little assistance as possible.
3. From the seated position, rise back up to standing—again, using the least amount of assistance needed.

To determine your score, start with a maximum of five points for sitting and five for rising. Deduct one point if you use any body part, such as a knee or hand, for support. Any unsteadiness or loss of balance during the test knocks off a half point (crossing your legs at any point is fine, as long as you don’t use the sides of your feet for support). 

A recent study found that middle-aged and older adults who scored below 7.5 had a significantly higher risk of dying from natural causes within 12 years compared to those who scored a perfect 10.

I couldn't believe it. I don't know what I was doing wrong. I may have had my legs crossed but 

I pushed myself up and suddenly fell backwards. I fell on my tailbone to excruciating pain. 

Even worse, I felt so dumb. Art was in shock. 

He told our daughter about it and the first thing she asked me was, "So your back isn't even totally healed but you decided to try this?" And then I got a lecture. 

I'm kind of getting used to my daughter scolding reminding me to be careful. 😳

Oh... there's two more tests, but I guess I'll wait until my back (and my butt) heals. 😕

POSTSCRIPT:

My daughter then did some research and sent Art out to a nearby CVS to get this pillow for my butt.

And you know what? It's a lot easier to sit down now. I'm even taking it to the car to use when we have to go somewhere.

Fixing a Hole

After avoiding writing about our political situation for such a long time, I wrote a post for today about the leader of our country. 

However, I mentioned it to our kids during a group video chat this weekend and they advised me not to put it online. “This is a crazy, scary time,” they said. “You don’t know what unhinged people can do to you.” 

“But they can’t find me,” I said. 

“Yes, they can,” they said. 

Anyway… in the end, to appease their worries, I had to kill that post. Really? Is this what our country has come to? 

Soooooo…. Here’s another post I’d written for a future date. (And we are in a Hellish hole right now, I think.)

Fixing a Hole

No, I'm not writing about the Beatles. Uuummm... Do you remember this song from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band? 

Actually I was just going to write about fixing a hole in my watering hose for the garden.

I think it started as a little dribble and then whoa! It was a gusher.

I told Art we needed to buy a new hose. 

But... nope.

He said he could fix it. So he got duct tape and wrapped the hole as tight as he could.

But nope... it started leaking again right away.

"We need a new hose," I said.

Well... he looked online and then decided to drive down to City Mill and bought this kit.

And guess what. He did fix the hole after all. 

And yes, he's smiling... or smirking? 😏

Things are Popping Here

Art and his sister keep in touch every Saturday. He has one older sister named Kay and I have one younger brother whose name is not Art. It's rather funny because on one of our first dates, he smiled and asked what my brother's name was.

On one of those calls with this sister, Kay (the other Kay) mentioned how they now have a silicon popcorn popper for the microwave. We were rather surprised. You can microwave popcorn without the bag or the pot?!? Art loves popcorn, but hasn't made it in a while just because of the bother.

I looked it up on Amazon and found some very cheap silicon popcorn poppers.

The ring on the inside of the popper indicated you could put approximately up to 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels in the bottom. You could also add 1 to 2 Tbsp. of oil, but that was up to you.

He then put the popper in the microwave and used the Popcorn setting. That's the first time we've ever used that setting.

And yes, they turned out beautifully. They were very light and crispy. 

Art added pepper to his portion and I added salt. My doctor is concerned that my sodium and chloride levels have been too low for a while.

We were really surprised and excited with this new toy. It also collapses to make it easier to store.

Art wondered how many of the kernels had not popped.

Uuuummm... quite a few.

So he stuck it back in the microwave until he could smell a little burning. It was for a very short time.

However, they almost all popped! 

The little black dots you see is the black pepper he put on the popcorn.

Well, Art is very happy with this new toy he has... I mean kitchen equipment. 😄

And I'm looking forward to more popcorn with my lunch sandwiches. 

Sigh.... Now It's the Back.

Getting older is not always fun. For one thing, there's more aches and pains. Sigh...not to mention all the other things that wear out. 

When we were younger, we'd smile to hear the older generation seeming to do nothing but talk about what was hurting or ailing them.

But sigh... now I'm the older generation. First my left knee started to hurt. I went for physical therapy and did better. But then it started hurting again so since I saw a number of people using a knee brace, I thought I'd try it too.

I ended up with two different kinds but settled on that gray one. And then I got two more of the same in black. I also did some of the exercises that were taught to me at PT.

And you know what? My knee is feeling better right now and I'm not using the braces anymore. I have to be careful not to squat when I'm at tai chi though.

And then...just when I thought I was fine, my left wrist started to hurt. Arrrghhh!

So I ordered this wrist brace. I have a very skinny wrist. 

And since I could no longer use my heavier Apple Watch, I passed it on to my granddaughter who somehow damaged her Apple Watch when she had it on during a swimming unit in her high school PE class.

I was so happy that she could use it. I switched instead to using a much smaller, lighter Fitbit.

So now.. you'd think I'm OK right?

What the heck! 

Would you believe I woke up one morning with a serious lower back pain? Aggravation! I mentioned it to my doctor and he said to go to the ER. 

Well... nah...

I decided to see if it would get better. My daughter's good friend is a doctor and when Tiffany had a similar back problem she was advised to take ibuprofen and not strain her back further.

So OK. I did that and it did start to get better after about 3 days. I also ordered a back brace on Amazon that was delayed for several days so that I was almost healed by the time it finally arrived.

But I tried it anyway and I don't really think it did a whole lot of good because it's my lower back that hurt. The back brace sits higher up. It did act as a reminder not to strain myself though.

Have you dealt with any of these kinds of problems? What did you do?

The Almost Immortal Orchid

My nephew, Cody stopped by last year to give us an orchid plant. He said he really couldn't take care of it at their apartment and he knew grandma liked orchids. She does and has loved watching the flowers bloom.

It was just a small pot with a few orchid leaves and I was dubious about whether it would produce any flowers.

What a surprise when it produced not one, but TWO spikes of buds! When they started to bloom I sent them back to him so they could enjoy it.

After a few weeks, one of the spikes was in full bloom so my sister-in-law cut off a spike and sent the plant back to us so we could enjoy the other blooms.

And yes, they bloomed a long time. When some of the early blooms started to die, the spike sent out more buds!!!

I could not believe how long that spike of orchids continued to bloom, even after the early flowers died and fell off.

And then... in June, the orchid plant sent up another spike!!!

Wow!  I was figuring on seeing orchid blooms till the end of the year.

And in July that tender spike was showing a lot of promise. That last orchid on the original spike just refused to give up though.

And then early last month...!!!

A bulbul stopped by and decided to eat just that teeny little tip. And without that little tip, it looks like the rest of the spike will not produce any buds. What the heck!!!

Sigh...

A Series of Unfortunate (and Fortunate) Events (Apologies to Lemony Snicket)

Tuesday was a day full of UPs and DOWNs. But the DOWNS were a lot more serious and upsetting. 

Art and I were out shopping hoping but unsuccessful to find something to send our grandsons at Ross and then at Lowes to pick up some wires. Our next stop was to be the Navy Exchange and Commissary.

On the way there, the manager at Mom's day care called to say she'd fallen and torn the skin on her arm and banged her knee. She sent me photos of her bandaged arm and abrasion on her knee and told me we didn't need to come and take mom home immediately.

That was a relief. Apparently mom had tripped on her cane during their exercise walk in the building. Sigh...

We continued on to the Navy Exchange and happily found Hawaiian t-shirts for the grandsons. 😄 Then when we were at the check-out I happened to look out toward the exit and saw a large cellphone. It was rather surprising that someone could drop something that large and not notice. I picked it up and showed it to the cashier who said it was probably from her previous customer. We turned it in to the attendant.

Art however, who is a lot more observant than me said he did see (from a distance) an elderly couple who'd been there before us. He just knew the woman had silvery white hair and was Caucasian. 

As we left the Navy Exchange and got on the escalator to go down to the commissary, Art saw the silver haired woman. We went up to them and Art told them what happened. The fellow checked his belt pocket and was in shock that the cellphone wasn't there. He was totally disoriented. Art explained where he needed to go to retrieve it. His wife stopped, turned with a huge smile and gratefully thanked us for finding them and letting them know. It really made our day. Or so we thought... 

But there was more to come.

Art was checking his email and discovered he'd gotten two emails saying purchases had been made on his Amazon account that he hadn't made. When I checked his Amazon account on my iPad, it did NOT show those purchases. And then the Amazon website made me change his password to access his account. 

And then... what the heck, my iPad went crazy saying over and over with a rolling icon that it had to reboot the Amazon app. 

And then... Art checked his credit card that was attached to his Amazon account and discovered purchases recorded and pending! Yikes! He called the credit card company immediately and they said it was caught just in time. They could see that there was one purchase made prior that was obviously "phishing" followed by another order. The credit card company terminated that card and is issuing him another one. 

And then (yup... another And then) when I checked MY Amazon account it stated in order to open it they would send a code to my email. I put the code in BUT it said it would send another pass code to my phone also. But what they listed was NOT my phone number. Arrghh! So now my Amazon account is inaccessible. 

Anyway, I'm thinking I'll open another account with a different email someday. Someday. 

I'm too freaked out right now.

I then went to my Walmart account and removed the credit cards I had stored there. I'm now trying to remember where else I might have credit card information stored because I'm going to remove those also. Aggravation! My daughter told us she does not keep credit card information on any website. Sigh... more things to worry about.

My brother picked mom up at the daycare and brought her home to our house a few hours later.

I removed the band aid and discovered that they'd just covered the wound. I hope it wasn't too late. I washed it with a saline solution, unfurled the skin and used wound closures to seal the wound.

And that was Tuesday. 

On Wednesday, my doctor wrote to say he didn't like all my repeated blood counts and wants to send me to a nephrologist. 

As the famous actress, Bette Davis once said, ""Old age ain't no place for sissies"

Recycling Garden/Kitchen Waste

Art worked for the US Environmental Protection Agency in Chicago and really, really took his work seriously. We Recycle everything allowed, Reduce our garbage as much as we can and Reuse plastic bags, containers, plates for our family pot luck parties.

We have so much room left over every week that our neighbor often adds their garbage to our bin.

This is why it bothered Art that we couldn't add kitchen peelings and other green waste into our green landscape recycling bin. I even called a couple of years ago and asked the department if we could add things like vegetable peelings and such to the green waste and they said you could only add landscape materials. 

Uuummm.... So if a banana or mango fall off your tree, you can add it to the bin, but not if it's from the kitchen? 😏

Well, I just looked it up again before writing this post and found this with AI. It was also reported on the KHON news.

In the City and County of Honolulu, it is acceptable to put kitchen vegetable peelings and other food scraps in the green landscape recycling bin, but this is a new policy that only became effective in April 2025. The expansion of the program was signed into law in November 2023.  

I've been drying out the kitchen waste a bit before adding it to the bin just to prevent it from getting too yucky.

And Art? He's very happy.

POSTSCRIPT 1: However, I decided to check out this information before I posted it on my blog. I looked it up online at opala.org and that's not what it says. What the heck?!?

So I sent an email to their Refuse Division.

POSTSCRIPT 2:

Wow! I got a response from the City and County within half an hour.

Aloha Kay,

 Thank you for your message. The City and County of Honolulu is not accepting food waste in the green bins quite yet. Due to permitting and construction delays, we had to push back our plans. Currently, we are only accepting yard waste in the green bins. 

We are currently working towards incorporating food waste into the curbside collection. Right now, we are projecting to start the pilot program in certain areas on Oahu in April 2026. 

Mahalo,

The Refuse Division

AU

I guess this is a lesson where you need to remember that AI is not always correct.

July Fun with Our Son and Family: Part 2

Art wanted to take the family to the Big Island where he grew up. They're changing the Big Island name to Hawaii Island. I hear news broadcasters calling it Hawaii Island. However locals still refer to our biggest, youngest island as the Big Island.

We landed in Hilo, visited relatives, had Loco Moco at Cafe 100 and then went to Rainbow Falls. Everybody goes to Rainbow Falls when they go to Hilo. The grandsons managed to find this HUGE banyan tree that Art says he'd never known about. And yes, just like their dad would have done when he was little, they shimmied up the tree while holding on to the aerial prop roots.

We spent the night at the Kilauea Military Camp in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. 

In the morning, Keola and family went hiking at Kilauea Crater while Art and I relaxed.

When they returned, we headed out to Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park which used to be called City of Refuge. 

This is from the Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park website:

"Imagine you had just broken the sacred laws, the kapu, and the only punishment was death. Your only chance of survival is to elude your pursuers and reach the Puʻuhonua, a place of refuge. The Puʻuhonua protected the kapu breaker, defeated warriors, as well as civilians during the time of battle. No physical harm could come to those who reached the boundaries of the Puʻuhonua."

We also visited Black Sands Beach. The boys loved seeing the sea turtles there.

When we returned to Oahu, we had a pot luck party so Keola and family could spend time with their uncle, aunt and cousins. I ordered this 1/2 sheet of Dream cake which was really too big, but froze amazingly well. 

Do you remember the song, "Happy Together" by the Turtles? I thought this was appropriate for our party. I have a feeling it was lost on the younger members of our family though.

Throughout their stay in Hawaii, they tried to spend time at every beach on the island and there are many.

They enjoyed going to Byodo-In Temple in Kaneohe and ringing the giant bell.

For our grandson, JK's birthday, friends recommended Wai Kai in Ewa Beach. It's a water park along the ocean front. They had a glorious time. Our daughter-in-law kindly rented a cabana for Art and me to be comfortable out of the sun.

I'm sorry I had to laugh because RK developed this fascination for burrs that are annoyingly all over the place as the weeds proliferate easily. We gave him a little plastic bottle so he could collect those sharp burrs that stick to your socks and shoes. He was a little disappointed that it wouldn't be a good idea for him to bring it to the next country where they would be living. 

One of the things JK asked of me was to teach him how to make a teriyaki marinade. This is RK helping his brother grate a ginger root. JK then soaked the chicken in the marinade for about 5-6 hours and placed it on a pan to broil. It would taste even better if they had grilled it. But it was still delicious and we had a wonderful dinner.

JK's birthday is a few days before mine and they'd already celebrated it happily with a lei and balloon. JK passed the lei and balloon on to me for my birthday. We managed to celebrate several birthdays during their stay.

And then it was time for them to leave. The time had absolutely flown by and it was difficult to see them off at the airport again.

But then our daughter, Tiffany texted us a couple of weeks ago saying that they'd be coming to visit us in January.

Yay!!! 😀 

POSTSCRIPT: Would you believe that balloon is still flying over our dining table?  I smile whenever I look at it.

July Fun with Our Son and Family: Part 1

We could hardly believe it when our son, Keola told us they'd be staying with us for a month in July.  They were leaving one country and were now assigned to another so they had a month free. 

It's been a truly busy year for us with our trip to Japan in April and then Chicago to see our granddaughter graduate from high school in May and then our son's visit in late June to July. Things are finally settling down a bit. I've finished my photobook for Japan and almost done with the photobook for the grandsons.

I'm now documenting their visit on my blog since this is where I come to every time my memory falters which is a LOT!

Mom just loved seeing Jon's new hairstyle. It's not exactly new. He's had it a long while.

She couldn't stop laughing saying he now definitely looked like a samurai with his chonmage.

This is from Wikipedia:

The chonmage (丁髷) is a type of traditional Japanese topknot haircut worn by men. It is most commonly associated with the Edo period (1603–1868) and samurai, and in recent times with sumo wrestlers.

In the one month they were here, they managed to squeeze in every bit of fun they could. Art told them they could crush all the drink cans we were accumulating and take them to the recycling truck. They loved it and also loved the money they got after turning in the bag of cans.

We'd been growing a poha plant for a year and saving the berries in the freezer. Poha berries are physalis peruviana, also known as golden berries, Cape gooseberries, and ground cherries. Art had always loved poha jam having grown up with the treat on the Big Island.

And now he had such fun making the jam with his grandsons. We also gave some small jars of the jam to our friends who gave a group of us the poha plantings. Our grandsons loved the jam like their grandfather.

Keola and family also went to the Dole Plantation. They even went through the Dole maze. Art and I have never done it, but the boys had a great time. I think they liked the Dole Whip even more though.

Several friends and relatives recommended Keiki Kingdom for Keola and Sarah to take the boys. And yes, they had a fabulous time!

But you know what? I was happy to see that one of their most favorite places to explore was our library. They could have stayed there for hours.

They also piled an armload of books to bring home and enjoy and could occupy themselves happily just reading.

As a retired teacher, I loved it!

Getting Ready for Hurricane Kiko

It's Hurricane Season again and we were warned last week that the approaching Hurricane Kiko was a category 4 storm with 145 mph winds and very scary. We get these warnings a lot. 

According to AI:

"Hurricane season in Hawaii runs annually from June 1 to November 30, with peak activity often occurring in August and September. While the entire period is designated as hurricane season, storms are more likely to occur during the mid-summer and early fall months."

We're told that we should:

 Stock at least 14 days of supplies:

• This includes non-perishable food, water (one gallon per person per day), medications, and hygiene items. 
• Include essential tools:

  Your kit should also contain a first-aid kit, a battery-operated radio, a flashlight, extra batteries, and a can opener. 
• Add other important items:

  Consider including cash, personal documents, chargers for your devices, and baby supplies if needed.

Hurricane Kiko was going to hit us yesterday. Happily, it veered north of us and we'll just get some high surf (maybe) and some rain (maybe). It's easy to be complacent since we get these warnings a lot. However, I'm remembering when Hurricane Iniki hit Kauai in 1992. 6 people died and there was billions of dollars in damage. We were living in Chicago at the time, but friends and relatives wrote to tell me how badly their homes were damaged.

So although you might compare the weather warnings to crying wolf, you don't want to get eaten by the destruction the hurricane can cause. We did get hurricane barriers for all our windows created just in case in 2019. 

And hmmm.... I'm looking at my hurricane supply, just in case. And yes, we have water in another closet.

Uh oh... my case of Vienna sausages are expiring.

OK, maybe this isn't enough for 2 weeks. 

We'll go shopping when we get the next hurricane warning.