Craigslist Buy in Hawaii Kai: Happy Father's Day

I've been staring at Art's office and I wince every time I see his hoosier (antique kitchen cabinet) that he uses for a desk. He has papers filed on every horizontal surface. So for Father's Day I decided to get him an oak file cabinet on Craigslist that could maybe help him organize his Very Important Papers.

This time we didn't have to go out to Kailua. Instead, we headed toward Hawaii Kai where you can see lots of big estates. Karen was selling her file cabinet because she's moving to Arizona. She says her home sold in 3 days! That's incredible!


I'm so busy chatting that I didn't look close enough to see the big stain on one side. I knew there were the 4 holes but I figured we could deal with it. The stain is problematic. Still... for $30.00, I'm OK with it.


We were going to put the file cabinet on the right side but decided to stick it on the left to hide the imperfections. The cabinet can hold legal or letter size folders. I'm thinking it's pretty darn wonderful.


Happy Father's Day, Art!

And a fantastic and fun Father's Day to all the fabulous fathers out there!

Going with a "Green" Car

We've known for a year that we needed a smaller car because we always feel like we're guzzling gas with our van when it's just the two of us going places. We do need to still keep our van for our house construction but for everyday... what to buy? We tossed it back and forth like we usually do and decided to go with a Honda Fit. It's such a cute little car. I thought it was great!

Then our son reminded us that we needed to be conscious of our environment and think about getting a hybrid. We test drove a 2010 Toyota Prius today.

Our salesperson, Rocky who coincidentally lives rather close to us took us to a hill to see how the engine would charge the batteries when we were going down and in effect be getting a 100 miles a gallon... or was it a thousand? I don't remember.


There was a white Prius in the showroom which for some reason costs more than the silver. We decided against getting white because everybody in Hawaii seems to get white to reflect the strong sunlight. However, I'd never be able to find it in a parking lot with all the small white cars around. That's why I loved my lavender Camry. I could always spot it and nobody...NOBODY wanted to steal it. :-) We gave that car to our macho firefighter son who is NOT enamored of the color.



So there you have it! We've done our part for the environment and the economy although it's cost us a lot of green by going green.

Hawaiian Pot Luck

Sunday was a delightful epicurean day for us. We went from the very elegant table with beautifully prepared dishes for lunch at Gigi's to a Hawaiian pot luck for dinner. Our friends Dave and Diane invited us to a family pot luck. It was so much fun seeing all of their relatives who now feel like family to us. Everybody brought their favorite dishes and we gorged ourselves on one delicious morsel after another.


On the mainland, we often used to set a table and worked our tails off to have an appetizer, main course, salad, cooked veggie and dessert. I was always a bit stressed except with close friends who didn't care what I did. Here in Hawaii you can have a bunch of people over and not stress. You just have to make sure there's a LOT of food. It doesn't matter what, just a LOT of it.



Hmmmm... I guess that's why a lot of people here in Hawaii have two refrigerators.

Craigslist Buy in Kailua

There's this weird thing about the Windward side of the island. Whenever you go there you feel like you're going to the other side of the rainbow into another dimension. The Windward side is the wetter more lush side of the island. I live on the Leeward side about 20 miles away. It's dryer and hotter. Sigh... However, all my friends and relatives live on the Leeward side. It's rather a strange thing about Oahu.


You go through this long tunnel that's cut into the mountain and when you come out, it's like you're in another world.


I think it's the prettier side of the island. I hope nobody on the Leeward side gets mad at me for saying this.


I was actually taking a quick look on Craigslist this morning to see if they had some taller nightstands. Instead, a 6 feet x 4 feet magnetic whiteboard caught my eye. They were asking only $45.00 but it was in Kailua... the other side of the world. Art, always kind to limping people said he would take me to look at it.


When I saw the white board, I was disappointed. It was bent and dirty even though they advertised it as hardly used. However, they were right that magnetic whiteboards are expensive. I'd looked for one a long time ago and large boards cost several hundred dollars. Art looked at it and said I should give it a try.



I must say, I'm really pleased. It cleaned up beautifully after Art straightened it and it filled up the huge blank wall. I can now play with it all I like adding my magnet collection from our travels and moving around our family photos. It's been a happy Monday!

Luncheon at Gigi's Place (Gigi-Hawaii)

I've always been a little nervous about meeting a blogger friend in person because anonymity is sometimes a shield you can hide behind as you reveal every little intimate detail about yourself (sort of) on-line. However, I was looking forward to meeting Gigi of Gigi-Hawaii and her wonderful David. I feel like I'd gotten to know her pretty well online. Well, it was great from the first hug.



We were totally blown away by the elegant table Gigi had set. She really is a master chef. Everything was stupendous! She also presented me with her three published books which now has a very special place on my shelf. I can't wait to start reading them.


Gigi made a fabulous salad, chown mein with char siu and cilantro, scrumptious baked salmon, olives and mango sorbet. We talked about anything and everything and the hours sped by quickly. What fun! OK... I'm ready to go have lunch at any other blogger's house now. Let's see, shall we try, Australia or Ireland or India? Hmmm...

My Computer Got Infected! But We're Not Contagious!

Holey Moley! How many different ways can I get infected or mal-infected or bug infected or whatever.

My poor brother!

First, he had to come over to help us with our termite door and drippy faucet and then last night I got malwared! I've never even heard of malware.

All of a sudden a window on my computer came out and said it was my security system and started to scan my files telling me I was loaded with worms, Trojans and whatnots. It asked if I wanted to remove them. I clicked OK. (Seemed like a good thing to do.) Then it asked what credit card I wanted to use and gave me a Master Card or Visa option to click. Uh oh... my techie son-in-law, Ed had told me before not to open unknown files or click on strange things. I know, I know... OK, I was suspicious then and tried to close it but it wouldn't let me. Eventually all my programs refused to work. I had hot sweats and cold chills go up and down my back.

I called Dennis this morning and he said, "Arrrghhh! No, don't click on stuff like that." He said it was an evil Malware that popped up disguised as a security system and the more I clicked on it, the more it infected my computer. It was a good thing I didn't give my credit card number to remove the problem it had created. That would have potentially caused even more problems.

Dennis managed to somehow isolate whatever it was for now and added another Malware Prevention thing and has admonished me to religiously scan using the Ad-Aware, Malware, Virus check and Updates, etc.

Sheesh!

But.... I'm up and running again... for now.

And to those creepy, nasty, horrible, no good, very bad guys who are making these infections, there is a special hot place just waiting for you...

The Legend of the Naupaka, Termite Wars continued and Leaks

It's Kamehameha Day today which is a state holiday. I'm sure we're missing a parade somewhere in Hawaii. King Kamehameha was the Hawaiian king who united the Hawaiian islands under one rule.

Our first order of business was to go to Aloha Termite in Wahiawa to pick up the door we left to be fumigated. The first thing we noticed was this beautiful naupaka. I love the story of the mountain and ocean naupaka. Click on the word and read the legend of Pele, the goddess of fire and volcanoes, and why the naupaka appears to be half of a flower.


Back to the termites. We brought our 2 doors in to be fumigated a couple of days ago. They were placed in this shed to have the termites massacred.


The doors are carefully locked because the poison is lethal. We heard of cases where a home was being tented and burglars went into the tenting area to steal while the owners were gone. The bodies were discovered the next morning.


Art was a little leery of walking into the shed to collect our doors. This helper struck terror in our hearts by informing us that the warm summer months are the times that termites swarm, find mates and look for wood to eat. Arrrghhhh!


We brought the doors home where my brother, Dennis met us. He works for the police department and got the day off because of the Kamehameha Day holiday. (They also have Prince Kuhio Day and Statehood Day off.) Oh well, they don't get Casimir Pulaski Day like we did in Illinois.

Dennis helped us to pound termite poop out of the door and patch the rather larger holes than we expected. Then... since we had his help available, my favorite brother helped us fix our leaky plumbing in our bathroom. Doggone it! We've had such bad luck with Moen and then the plumber we had during our construction said to get Delta. We got Delta and BOTH of the faucets in the tubs are leaking! Now somebody said we should get Kohler and even better, Groehe. Ah well... the leak is fixed for now.


Tomorrow, we'll have the front door stoop to work on...

When Did I Stop?

My childhood friend, Joanne called and asked me last night if I would sing a song at her mother's funeral. After I got off the floor, I sputtered, "Whaaat?"

"I noticed you still had your guitar in your office. (I guess she didn't notice the dust.) I can still hear your voice in my head when you sang with Diane," she coaxed. Diane is another childhood friend. "Can you learn a song in a week?"

OK.... now she was scaring me.

The only song I've sung lately is "Eensy Weensy Spider" to KC.

But it got me thinking.

There was a time when music was so important to all of us. We copied lyrics and practiced our guitars all the time. We SANG all the time.

"You and Diane even sang at a wedding," Joanne tried to jog my memory.


Diane and Joanne were both my college roommates at different times. Another roommate, Gail even got a few of us together to form a little singing group at one time and we performed on a campus radio station. OK... it was probably around midnight but hey, we were on the air for 5 minutes. You have to understand that Gail now teaches music and can make anybody who's got vocal chords sing.

So what happened?

Somewhere in time, I learned that I can't really sing well... so I stopped. I used to love to paint but somewhere along the line, I realized that I couldn't really paint as well as I wanted to... so I stopped. I wrote poetry, too... but I stopped.

And I'm thinking now. So what? Maybe I should just go ahead and try doing those things again. What have I been teaching all my students all these years and not done myself?

I think I'll just go ahead and dust off that ol' guitar. I'm going to sing some of those oldies but goodies to KC when she comes next month.

P.S. That's me on the far right with the dopey look.

The Termite Wars

One of the first signs of termites in the house are the termite poop. Just seeing them sends a chill up your spine. Whenever I hear my mother's scream, "Kay, Art, come look!" I hold my breath.

This time she found the poop at our back door. Sorry the photo is blurry. My macro is not the best.

We found poop by this door last year and Art took it down and shot termite poison into it. However, because the door was so heavy, we didn't take it down to patch it. We were going to but got caught up with other things.


We called our favorite termite inspector and consultant, Alvin of State Termite (486-7378) and he came to give us his assessment of our situation. He said we didn't need to tent the house if we keep on top of things. He also said that a new door would probably cost us $700.00+ to have installed. Instead of doing that, he suggested we take the door to Aloha Termite who could gas just the door for perhaps $75.00. Then we could patch and paint the door and put it back up.


My brother came over yesterday since it's difficult for me, and helped Art remove the door. They then screwed on a plywood sheet to prevent burglars and mosquitoes from entering the house.


Then Dennis and Art loaded the door into the car for us to bring to Aloha Termite to have fumigated. I'm thinking we should also bring our other folding door that we also found termites in last month.


On the way out the front door, Alvin also found termite poop on the old front screen door. So Art removed it and bought a metal screen door to install. He's struggling right now to make that metal door fit onto the old frame style of this house. There's a 4" gap at the bottom of the door which means we'll need to come up with some kind of step or threshold.

If we're putting a step in, we need to see if there's something else we'd prefer doing to the stoop. And then, if we're going to do that, what about the door by the kitchen. How soon before the termites attack there while we're distracted?

Alvin says I need to walk around the house and patch any needle head sized holes I see to prevent termites from entering to make a home. He says I can stop them with one foot (stomp on them). Ha! Ha!

I told Art we'd better go buy a crate of caulking because we have holes and spaces everywhere.

Other than this, our electrician, Mariano is stopping by this morning to fix our suicidal electrical outlet in the kitchen.

Home maintenance is so much fun! (How do I show sarcasm dripping from those words?)

Shrinking Leg

I broke my 5th metatarsal (foot) on May 15th. That's only three weeks ago even though it feels like forever.


I've been rather astonished lately to notice that my right leg is now substantially thinner and softer than my left. The calf has lost a whole lot of muscle tone. It's rather unnerving. How can you lose muscle that quickly?



Well, I suppose this says something about needing to exercise all the time, hunh? So when I'm out of my cast, does that mean I should jump around on my right foot so that I can even out? Hmmmmm....

If I wrap a padded bandage around my tummy for three weeks, could I lose flab there?
Hmmmmmmm....

(U.S.) National Do Not Call Registry (Oops!)

I got this message from a friend a bit ago and thought I'd pass it along. I just registered our home phone and cellphone and it was very quick.

REMEMBER: Cell Phone Numbers Go Public next month.

REMINDER.... all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sale calls.

..... YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS

Even if the message is saved on your phone, you will be charged for the minutes to listen to it.

To prevent this, call the following number from your cell
phone:   888-382-1222 .

You can register home phones too.

It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your
time. It blocks your number for five (5) years. You must call from the
cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a
different phone number.

DOGGONE IT! I just checked Snopes.com as one of my commenters suggested and discovered that it's true that it's FALSE. There's no deadline for getting your phone registered and telemarketers are still blocked from calling cellphones. I'm sorry about this. I should have checked Snopes first before posting this. Sigh... I'm still glad I did the phone block for myself anyway.

Jon (my son), are you my Anonymous commenter?
He usually watches my back for me.

Tour Guides for a Day

After meeting with our termite inspector (I'll have more to post on that lovely topic) we ventured into Honolulu again to pick up our nephew's wife and her sister, Mizuho who is visiting from Japan.



Our first stop was the Bishop Museum. "The Bishop Museum was founded in 1889 by Charles Reed Bishop in honor of his late wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last descendant of the royal Kamehameha family. The Museum was established to house the extensive collection of Hawaiian artifacts and royal family heirlooms of the Princess, and has expanded to include millions of artifacts, documents and photographs about Hawai‘i and other Pacific island cultures."



We saw some beautiful kahilis which were feather standards for many of Hawaii's elite.



We also took the garden tour and learned a lot about the flora of Hawaii. This is a kukui (candlenut) tree. Oil from the kukui nut was used for light by ancient Hawaiians. We now use the nut to make kukui nut leis.



The hala tree (Pandanus)leaves were used to weave mats, toys, hats and other things. We also learned about breadfruit, sweet potato, naupaka and other wonderful plants.



After seeing many other beautiful things, we got to watch a lovely hula demonstration. The male dancer's name was Keola which I loved since we gave that name to our son. It means life in Hawaiian.



It was getting pretty late so we went to Kenny's Restaurant close by to grab a quick lunch. We'd never been there before. It was OK with generous servings and the service was friendly and efficient. Mom and I had a bowl of saimin which is a noodle dish. And no, it wasn't good for my glucose level but I only have it once a month.

Art had the chicken salad.



Miho and Mizuho had the kahlua pork, lomi lomi salmon, chicken long rice and sweet potato. They were adventurous to try the Hawaiian meal but they enjoyed it.



Mizuho was interested in seeing Pearl Harbor so we headed there. We'd heard that the crowds made it very difficult to go out to the Arizona Memorial. However, once we got there, Art was able to secure the last set of 3:00 PM tickets for the movie and boat ride to the memorial.



The Arizona Memorial is a somber beautiful place of remembrance for the sailors who perished there on December 7, 1941. The memorial sits right above where the Arizona sank.



The park ranger told us that there were many sets of brothers or fathers and sons aboard ship because at that time they used to put family members together on ships. Therefore, quite a number of families ended up losing more loved ones on that terrible day.



Art was photographing the aircraft carrier when he noticed that lone sailor.



He loved it when that sailor suddenly waved at him... a friendly farewell as we headed back to shore.

We then went home where my nephew, Barry joined us for some homemade chili (which I served over greens with taco chips) and Zippy's broasted chicken. It was a most wonderful, full day of learning and discovery.

First Hawaiian Bank Free Breakfast

We got an invitation from First Hawaiian Bank to a FREE breakfast at the Hawaiian Village Hotel Coral Ballroom. We threw it away. Then our banker, Rocky called about another matter and asked if we were going since he would be there. We told him we threw the invitation away so he signed us up.

Unfortunately, the bank was short staffed today so Rocky wasn't able to go after all. However, we braved the morning traffic to get to Waikiki at 8:00. My brother and nephew told us that we needed to leave at 6:30 to get there by 8:00. Incredibly, it only took us a half hour to get to the hotel.

Ah well... We met a fellow named Patrick and was having a very friendly talk when suddenly we ran into somebody we knew... Ed (Art's old Air Force Buddy).


Ed came over to us and... what do you know?.... Patrick turned out to be his daughter's father-in-law. That's what it's like in Hawaii. It's a small island. You're bound to run into somebody you know.



We had our breakfast with Patrick and Ed which we very much enjoyed.



Not bad. Remember... It's FREE.

We also learned about dental health. Hey, you guys! Floss! You MUST floss. Everyday! If you don't... heart disease, gum disease, mouth rot, you name it! So floss!

We also learned about wills, trusts, First Hawaiian bank stuff which actually was more helpful than I thought it was going to be.



They told us we had free validated parking until 8:00 this evening so we could walk around Waikiki. Ummmmmm... not with the ball and chain around my foot, no way.

P.S. We got free toothbrushes AND Art won a door prize. Remember, we live in Hawaii. A heating pad!

Roy's in Waikiki

Yesterday was our last day with Sam and Keiko and we wanted to do something special. Our daughter's favorite restaurant in Chicago is Roy's and it was listed as #2 in Hawaii's Favorites listing for their type of fusion food so we decided to go there.

I haven't done many restaurant reviews because we very rarely go out to eat but this is what I thought of this experience.

First off: I looked on the web and found what they call the Prix Fixe Menu. It listed the price as $35.00 a person but when we got there we found that it was really $39.00.

You could get a preset appetizer selection (sparerib, blackened ahi, crispy vegetable spring roll) and choices for entree (Macadamia crusted white fish, grilled salmon or beef short ribs) and dessert (Macadamia torte or Roy's Melting Hot Chocolate Souffle with raspberry coulis and vanilla ice cream). Mom and Keiko chose the white fish. Sam and I had the salmon and Art had the beef.

The salmon and beef were very tender and tasty but got cold quickly with the air conditioning. Can't help that because it was really hot and humid outside. The white fish was incredibly dry! Keiko said it was still quite tasty and she was enjoying it. I think she was just being kind and polite because she only ate half of it. I mentioned it to our server and he took my mother's plate back to the kitchen where they added more sauce to it. They also quickly redid the plate adding more asparagus and potatoes. They really tried to make the customer happy. After that my mom ate all of hers but I know she wasn't impressed.



Despite the disappointing white fish, nothing could diminish the great time we had with our friends who we had fun chatting with because our servers were always cheerful and helpful and the ambiance of the place was quite lovely.



Now then, that said.... and let's completely forget the fact that I'm pre-diabetic. Roy's Melting Hot Chocolate Souffle with raspberry coulis and vanilla ice cream was a huge hit with everyone. It was sinful but we loved every teeny weeny single bite.

Would we go there again? I guess nobody has to worry since we rarely eat at fancy places but I have to say I'd try someplace else first. There are too many other interesting restaurants to try on the island. And the BEST place to eat on the island?... Mom's Kitchen (my mom, that is).

When it rains....it pours....

Doggone it!

When Sam and Keiko were here yesterday, our outlet in the kitchen suddenly died. It's the outlet where our microwave is hooked up.

We called the electrician. He'll be here on Monday.

$$$$

Today, my mother called out frantically that she found termite poop under the back door. My brother came and helped Art take the door down to check it. They agreed it needs to be replaced.

I just sent an e-mail to a contractor for a new door.

$$$$

Arrrrrghhhhhhhh!!!!!!

Sam and Keiko

Sam and Keiko arrived safely after a 6.5 hour red eye flight. We picked them up at their Waikiki hotel and Art drove them to the Waikele Outlet Mall about 5 minutes away. Busloads of tourists are often dropped off there.

Before they left Japan. I told Sam there was a Coach Outlet close by. When he mentioned it to his beautiful, fashionable daughters, they were thrilled. It was definitely a place Sam said he and Keiko needed to go to.

While they were gone, my mom and I were busy getting dinner on the table. We had her crab casserole, 6 (3 is not enough for us)bean salad, green salad, ogo (seaweed) salad, grilled vegetables with parmesan cheese, corned beef slices, rice and flan for dessert made with soymilk.

When they returned, we saw that a delighted Keiko had purchased 3 handbags. Her daughters would get to choose from them and she would take what was left over. She marveled at how cheap the prices were. I was doubtful. My mother and I took a look at the price tags and nearly fell over. It was 60% off the regular price but it was still too much for us. Then again, my mom and I are not exactly what you call stylish. I can just picture my daughter nodding her head with resignation. I'm so excited that they were able to find such lovely (because they were very, very lovely bags) gifts to bring back.

They're in Maui today. Gosh! They must be exhausted! My brother is coming for lunch to help us finish some left overs.

Tomorrow we'll take them around Honolulu. We're figuring Iolani Palace? State Capital? Tantalus Lookout? Pali Lookout (Where King Kamehameha sent his enemies down the mountain)? Ala Moana Shopping Center? Walmart? :-)

I hope they'll be able to stay awake.

Guests From Japan

Sam and Keiko are coming this morning. Sam and Art became friends when both were students at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. They met at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Morris who were those very special, incredibly beautiful people who went the extra mile to extend love and understanding in this world. I wish there were more people like them.

I say, "I wish" because I haven't been able to extend myself quite as much as they did either. They took in foreign students from around the world, from Japan, Burma (Myanmar now) to some countries in Africa. Many of those students became lifelong friends with each other and with the Morris'.

The Morris' have since passed away as well as their accomplished, beautiful daughter, Sharon. This fall, we expect Sam, one of the Burmese students and Sharon's husband who is a minister to come and stay with us.

But today, Sam and Keiko will be here and we can hardly wait to see them so that we can show them some Hawaiian aloha. When we were in Japan, Sam bubble wrapped us during our time in Tokyo to make sure there were absolutely NO bumps in our stay. I just hope we can do the same. Unfortunately, we won't be able to provide nice weather. We're stuck with vog (volcanic smog), hot and MUGGY weather. Sigh...

Meanwhile, my mother is busy in the kitchen preparing her secret hospitality weapon, a crab casserole as only she can make it. We know that Sam and Keiko must have landed now and are probably on their way to their hotel. We're waiting for their call and can't wait to see them again.

Honoka'a Boy

Art grew up on the Big Island of Hawaii in a small town called Honokaa. He was a Honokaa boy who grew up with friends and relatives always around. His mom and dad owned the Sweet Shoppe Restaurant. Art says he's washed more dishes than I'll ever see which is probably why he's forever finding what I missed when I wash the dishes. His father also ran the theater which is featured in this book by Leo Yoshida. Art says he helped to operate the projectors as well.

A broken hearted Japanese college student apparently went to live in Honokaa some years ago after Art left and formed a beautiful friendship with an older woman who was the mother of Art's classmate. This fellow then left Honokaa and wrote a book and that book was made into a movie (called Honokaa Boy) in Japan. My mother has read the book and says she's surprised that actual names are in there.

Isn't it amazing that you think your town and your lives were just ordinary stuff of life and suddenly it's made into a movie.

I guess all our lives are really books that could be written. I guess that's why I love reading the chapters of your lives.