Preparing for the New Year

Our holiday season was rather somber with memories of this year's losses of beloved family members and friends. These last two months of the year were a little shrouded with a memorial service and funerals.

We didn't even put up a Christmas tree. I just didn't have the energy and since I'm usually the one who initiates the decorating at our house, the tree remained in the box. My sister-in-law, Nancy was rather surprised not to see the tree in its usual corner.

A couple of days ago, Art's good friend and classmate, Morris dropped by with a smile and a kadomatsu for the new year. I've written about this custom many times before, but Kadomatsu for Mom probably explains it best.

Funny thing about that kadomatsu from Morris...

Every time I pass it in the living room it reminds me of the promise of the new year. It reminds me that I need to get up and start cleaning the house and getting ready for our new year party which will be on the 4th since that's the first date where everyone can get together.

It reminds me that there are adventures waiting, children and grandchildren to visit, friends to hang out with and life to be lived. Oh yes! It's going to be a great 2016!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I looked out the window a couple of days ago and saw this rainbow hanging low over the mountain.

No, we don't have white Christmases here in Hawaii and it's not cold. But it's a lovely day in its own colorful way and we shall be enjoying the feeling of warmth and love.

From our house to yours, we wish you all a most beautiful, most happy Christmas!

Entertaining Santa

Santa made a little "surprise" visit to see my granddaughter last week. She's been a good girl all year so I'm sure Santa was very happy with her.

Apparently Santa noticed the piano and asked if she could play something for him. She played Hark! the Herald Angels Sing.

I know KC's Christmas will be merry and bright.

From our house, to yours...

We wish you all a very merry Christmas and a wonderful new year!

Getting Bugged Again

I thought it was only termites I had to worry about in Hawaii. Nope! Apparently there are other wood boring insects around. Sigh...

We've seen these little bugs flying around the house and thought they were just flour beetles.

I couldn't understand it because I keep my flour in the freezer now. We looked around the kitchen and didn't find the bugs in any of the food.



Then we found droppings under the rear wooden leg of the loveseat in the living room.

When I called Aloha Termite Control they said it was probably powder post beetles which would cost us more than twice the cost to poison in their furniture truck.

We looked up the beetle online and it really didn't look like our bugs.

Alvin Fukuyama of State Termite and Pest Control is who we called next. He's a very wonderful fellow we met at a wedding a long time ago who gave us very helpful advice about three years ago when we found termite droppings by our screen doors.

We showed him the droppings and the bugs and larva that we also found.

He advised us to take the wooden part of the furniture that appeared to be infested and spray it with Term-Out. He also said we should put the smaller wooden part into the freezer for about a week to make sure any eggs or larva are killed.

Alvin also assured me that our house would not be crumbling around me from zillions of wood eating bugs nibbling away at all the wood. And no, we don't need our house tented for termites.

As for our bug, we found a similar insect online called the cigarette or tobacco beetle. This beetle will eat through cardboard to get to flour or other food products. So why would it be in the furniture?

Sigh....

On the plus side, Alvin said they eat slowly.... I hope.

Making My Mocha

One of my vices is a morning mocha with my cereal or oatmeal breakfast. I just add a little chocolate milk to my coffee that Art always keeps ready for me in a coffee jug in the fridge.

Unfortunately, I goofed and didn't use up the chocolate milk fast enough this time. I did this once before and froze it in an ice cube tray to keep it from going bad. I then added the chocolate milk cubes to my coffee. It didn't work well. When the chocolate milk melted, it seemed to have separated and didn't look appetizing. It also wouldn't melt fast enough for me to have my mocha.

This time, I wondered what would happen if I put the coffee and chocolate milk ice cubes into the NutriBullet to make it into a mocha smoothie.

Although there was a bit too much foam this time, it was really great. Yay!

Pretty Ribbons

Tiffany has been encouraging our nine year old granddaughter, KC to enjoy swimming with her friends. Both Tiffany and her brother were excellent swimmers in high school and did well in their swim meets. What Tiffany especially enjoyed was the camaraderie with her teammates who supported each other and became good friends throughout high school. And yes, there was also the wonderful feeling of accomplishment when she bettered her times.

When we were in Illinois, we watched KC swim. She brought back memories of Tiffany. Her strokes were strong, elegant and efficient. It made us smile to watch her. Still, KC did not want to race because she was afraid of losing.

Tiffany wanted her to race so that she could learn how to lose and win graciously and accept that life would be full of both experiences.

A beginners race was being held where there would be four swimmers per race and each child would get a ribbon.  KC agreed to take part.

My daughter and son-in-law watched her swim and were proud of the effort she put into each race. She won a first place blue ribbon in free style and then a third place in the back stroke. When it came time for the breast stroke which is her strongest stroke, just like her mother, she was doing very well and then seemed to slow down to look at the other swimmers. She came in third.

KC was still very happy. Her parents were elated that she'd enjoyed the experience. KC proudly held up the ribbons so they could text a photo to us.

On the way home, Tif asked KC why she slowed down during her breast stroke. Apparently, KC had gotten a white ribbon and a blue ribbon and she wanted a second place red ribbon. She therefore slowed down to see where the other swimmers were so she wouldn't come in first since she already had a blue ribbon. Unfortunately, she miscalculated and came in third.

Both Tiffany and my son-in-law were startled at first and then burst out laughing. When they told us the story, we also got a good chuckle and I got a blog post out of it too.

I love it! I'm very proud of my granddaughter. I hope she'll find swimming as much fun as her mother and uncle did.

On the Lighter Side

One of the few things that Art and I disagree on is how much light is necessary for a room.

There are mornings when he'll be reading the newspaper in the kitchen with just the one kitchen sink light on.  I come down later and turn on three more.

We did buy some LED lights during the Black Friday sales and replaced the CFLs in most of our rooms. I've been pleased with the added non flickering light.

However, the wonderfully bright bathroom bothered him even though I was happy.

So what did he do?

He bought a dimmer switch!

Now when he goes to the bathroom, he can turn the light on low.

When I go in, I make it bright.

Yay! Our marriage is saved!

Granted, with bright lights the wrinkles are more visible.

Hmmmm...

Angel Tree

We still haven't around to putting up a Christmas tree this year. Everything just got away from us. However we did make our annual trip to the Angel tree.

This year Art had an 11 year old boy named Keith and I had a 6 year old girl named Elena. They wanted a backpack, a Frozen doll and Playdoh.

We have learned to be a little more selective about which child we choose. We have found the more generic requests easier to fulfill. The mother of a little toddler asked one year for a Fisher Price Learning piggy bank. It's a great toy, but none of the stores we visited had them. Sears, Toys R Us, Walmart, K Mart, Target, etc... nobody. I even called stores on the other side of the island and finally had to sadly give up.

We were able to find things for Keith and Elena easily this year and I think they'll be quite happy.

Although we don't have a tree up this year, we're feeling pretty cheerful and wish you a happy celebration as well.

Shouldn't Trump Ban White Supremacists Instead?

Donald Trump has been in the news saying that Muslims should not be allowed to enter our country and sadly, there are Americans who are agreeing with him. It's rather frightening.

Well look what I saw in the New York Times. Here's the link:

New York Times

"Since Sept. 11, 2001, nearly twice as many people have been killed by white supremacists, antigovernment fanatics and other non-Muslim extremists than by radical Muslims: 48 have been killed by extremists who are not Muslim, including the recent mass killing in Charleston, S.C., compared with 26 by self-proclaimed jihadists, according to a count by New America, a Washington research center."

Since more people have been killed by white supremacists, antigovernment fanatics and other non-Muslim extremists... well... shouldn't they be encouraged to leave our country instead?

I'm just saying...

GOP Candidates Flunking Climate Science?

The Honolulu Star Advertiser printed an AP article claiming that most Republican presidential candidates were flunking climate science.

The article was written by Seth Borenstein of the Associated Press on November 22, 2015. The article is titled: AP FACT CHECK: Most GOP candidates flunk climate science  (Click on this link for the full story.)

The Associated Press requested eight climate and biological scientists to grade the scientific accuracy of what a dozen of the top presidential candidates said during debates, interviews and tweets. To make sure there was no bias, political names were removed from all the statements.

The results were:
Hillary Clinton 94
Martin O'Malley 91
Bernie Sanders 87
Jeb Bush 64
Chris Christie 54
John Kasich 47
Rand Paul 38
Carly Fiorina 28
Marco Rubio 21
Donald Trump 15
Ben Carson 13
Ted Cruz 6



I thought this was rather interesting. Doesn't matter. I suppose Trump supporters will still vote for him. What the heck?

Gyotaku Artist

Art saw a Sears ad in the paper that caught his eye.
 

Perhaps you remember how Art loves his t-shirts, especially since our move back to Hawaii. It's pretty much all he wears.

We eat at a restaurant called Gyotaku which mom explained long ago meant fish prints.

I got this from Wikipedia:

"Gyotaku (Japanese 魚拓, from gyo "fish" + taku "rubbing") is the traditional Japanese method of printing fish, a practice which dates back to the mid-1800s. This form of nature printing may have been used by fishermen to record their catches, but has also become an artform of its own."

We had a memorial service to attend first on Saturday morning but we were still able to make it in time at Pearlridge to look at the t-shirts on sale which had the Gyotaku artwork of Shane Hamamoto.

Shane Hamamoto demonstrated how he did the fish prints with an actual fish.

He first carefully dribbled paint on the fish.














He then pressed special rice paper on top and made sure to make contact with the entire fish.

He then paints in colors to add even more interest to the fish print.

It was really fun to watch.

We bought three t-shirts that Shane autographed for us. Two of them are for our son-in-law and son. The third is for you know who.

We really enjoyed meeting Shane and told him his t-shirts would be traveling to Illinois and Pennsylvania. However, I imagine those shirts won't be worn for another six months.

As for that t-shirt you see Shane holding up... if you see a guy wearing that around Hawaii, it might be Art.

Pain In His Fingers

Ever since Art did our taxes earlier in the year, his fingers have been hurting him.

Since his mother suffered from arthritis and her fingers were all fused completely stiff, he was concerned that it might be his fate as well.

I was always amazed at how his mom stayed cheerful and more concerned with others rather than herself until the day we lost her. She was truly one of a kind.

Art mentioned the pain in his fingers to our nurse practitioner and she sent him to occupational therapy to check it out. She also had him take a blood test to make sure he doesn't have rheumatoid arthritis.

The blood test was thankfully negative, but X-rays showed he had a mild osteoarthritis. The doctor gave Art a paraffin wax treatment. She soaked his hands in the paraffin and put the gloves on to retain the heat.

She then explained to Art that as we age we should protect our fingers because our finger joints could become vulnerable.

He was also given several handouts with information to keep in mind.

I found several of them helpful to me.

With tax season coming up again, she recommended Art getting a pencil grip or an ergonomic pen.

It's all something for everyone to keep in mind before it's too late.

2015 Zumba Party

Our Zumba Holiday Party is something I always look forward to each year since 2012. This is with the group of friends who keep me wanting to go to exercise class throughout the year.

This year our party was at Paesano in the Waimalu Plaza.

The restaurant had set the tables beautifully for us with fresh red roses.

After everyone arrived we shared our favors with each other which was then put into gift bags that Naomi gave us to bring home.

The menu was Italian and I decided on Scallops Scampi.

This is my dish.

The dish below is a clam linguini and below that is a chicken vegetable dish.

Naomi and  Myrtle thought up games for us to play individually and in  teams.

This first photo shows how groups of threes had to build a snowman with cotton balls balancing on one person's head.

Of course we all voted for our own team so we were all winners.

We then took turns telling the group about the highlight of our year.

Naomi very generously bought desserts for all of us to share. The first was a mousse, I believe and the one below was tiramisu.

And here's eleven of the wonderful ladies that I exercise with. One person was not there and we missed having her join us.

And here are the wonderful favors that each person brought. Art, mom and I had a lot of wonderful desserts to share tonight.

The best gift of all truly has been the friendship and camaraderie we've been able to share throughout the year as we help each other try to keep healthy.

And now tomorrow I'll be working on burning the calories I ate.

Albums of Happy Memories

One morning a couple of weeks ago I spied Mom looking through two travel albums that we'd put together a few years ago. Putting together these albums take a LOT of time, a LOT of time. It's painstaking, often tedious and prevents me from getting other things done (like my blog and visiting).

However, here she was looking through the two albums where we'd taken her and her sister, Auntie Grace to Japan, the National Parks on the west coast and Canada and she was smiling ear to ear, occasionally chuckling with remembrance. Auntie Grace passed away last February and Mom is only now able to look back and smile at the happy times they had together.

The next day, she once again looked over all the photos in the book we made for her about the trip to Seattle and Vancouver that we took this past April.

I think it's really true that more than material things, what makes a person happiest are the precious memories they can gather and remember.

So we'll continue to take the time to make our albums.  Please forgive me for not having been able to visit these last few weeks. I'll look forward to catching up, once things return to normal.

Water Heater Genius

"Kaaaay!" called Mom frantically one night last week. "There's no hot water!"

We'd just paid for a new timing belt for our car and dreaded more bad news. We hoped Mom was mistaken and just hadn't waited long enough for the hot water to get through from the heater to her bathroom.

Nope. There was no hot water. Art checked the heater and found that it seemed to have just died!

I began looking online to see about calling in a repairman as well as how much a new water heater would cost. I was resigned to another costly fix.

And then Art discovered how to turn on the water heater and we were able to take a bath.

However, the following morning the water heater had turned off again.

I restarted the process of deciding who we should call to fix the problem.

"Wait!" said Art. He found this little thingamajig that said "ON" that was under the heater.  It appeared to have fallen off.

Apparently it was the ON switch for the heater. The ON switch had somehow fallen off the timer and only the OFF switch was still on.

"OH MY GOSH! You are a genius!" I exclaimed. Mom said she always knew what an amazing guy he was.

"Ummmm...." laughed Art. "Actually, all you had to do was read the directions on the inside of the timer."

"But you are a genius," I said. "Who would have thought to find and read the directions?"

Dengue Fever Fear

People in Hawaii are nervous now with the outbreak of Dengue Fever. So far, it's been localized to the Big Island although we did have one case of it on Oahu. The Oahu case was someone who contracted it during a trip to Southeast Asia. That person's strain is different from the one that is worrying all Big Islanders.

The number of people getting Dengue Fever climbs every day. There is no vaccine for this mosquito borne disease.

Mosquito repellents are flying off the shelves on the Big Island.

The evening news reported that a new mosquito deterrent has been found.

I'm sure many people know that Avon's Skin-So-Soft works well. Art took it to Africa with him when he visited our son, Keola while he was serving in the Peace Corps. They traveled from West Africa to Tanzania to climb Kilimanjaro together.

Now the news is that Victoria Secret's Bombshell perfume works well too.

The problem is that it's not cheap. This small bottle is about $25.

The Avon products are more than half the price and have already been used by a lot of people.

I've read other articles by technicians who tested Bombshell who said you would have to liberally douse yourself with the perfume for it to be effective.

Hmmmm....

I'm thinking Art might not appreciate smelling like a flower when he goes outside.

Back to Hawaii

We got up at 4:15 and was out the door by 5:00 for the flight out of O'Hare Airport to return to Hawaii. There was one stop over in Phoenix and traveling was fine since we were equipped with our MacBook Air, iPad, and Kindle.

There was only one problem. On the second leg of our flight I wasn't feeling well. My stomach started to rebel for some reason and I was exhausted. (And I'm still sick.)

Our friends, Morris and Jane met us at Honolulu International Airport to drive us home.

It was good to be home.

Yes, Hawaii is home.

However, Chicago will always be home too.

POSTSCRIPT: Doggone it! Hawaiiantel came to repair our Internet line and now it's completely dead!  I'm writing this postscript with my cellphone. They're coming on Sunday!

Halloween Idea

Halloween in Pennsylvania with our son and his family was a lot of fun. Our grandson is still too young to understand what Halloween is about, but we celebrated the holiday anyway. It was a gorgeous evening and we had over 80 trick-or-treaters.

I loved this idea they had in Keola's neighborhood. I was surprised they celebrated on Thursday evening instead of Saturday though.

This is the picture that was posted on our door to let children know we were participating in the fun.

Incredibly, even though four big bags were bought, we still ran out of candy and had to take this picture down.

Back in Illinois, my granddaughter had a great time trick or treating with her friends even though it did rain a little.

In Hawaii, mom said there were NO trick-or-treaters. That was a surprise because we'd given mom a giant box of candy to pass out and she'd turned her outside light on to let children know she was open to giving out candy.

Did you get many trick or treaters this year?

Anniversary Celebration

Another favorite outing for us in Chicago is our annual Anniversary Dinner with two other couples. We have known them ever since we moved to Chicago in 1974 and have been celebrating our January anniversaries together since 1981.

We used to take turns choosing a movie and restaurant every January but eventually we decided that we would just take turns hosting a dinner every third year with one couple bringing a salad and the other couple a dessert. When we moved to Hawaii, the anniversary dinners were planned around our schedule.

This year Diane went all out with lasagna, incredible hors d'oeuvres, wine, etc. Terry made THE most amazing salad. I was a slouch and brought a fruit tart from Mariano's.

Sigh... It's our turn to host next year. The pressure is on. Luckily, I'll have my daughter, Tiffany to help me. Yae!

Let's see... teriyaki chicken and beef? Some Korean chap chae? Sushi? Hmmm....

Mother and Daughter Luncheon

I love seeing my teacher friends whenever we're in Chicago and Art loves spending some time with his EPA friends. Their regular meeting place is Jason's Deli in Schaumburg. Tiffany and I always go along so we can drop him off and then visit several stores in the vicinity. One of our favorite places is IKEA which is right next door. The big spender that I am, I bought a set of plastic knife guards that was under $5.

The highlight for me that day was to go to Olive Garden and have the all you can eat salad, soup and breadsticks.

We always have the nicest servers there.

Tif and I got to chat about anything and everything.

Since we're apart for the rest of the year, it's a great time to just relax and have a face to face, heart to heart.

Somehow the salad, soup and breadsticks always taste better there.