Farewell to our Tai Chi Master

Our 90 year old Tai Chi teacher and founder of our group passed away last month. Art and I along with other friends attended his funeral a week ago. The funeral home overflowed with family, friends and grateful students. We all wore our Tai Chi t-shirts and it was amazing to see how many of his students there were.

The beauty of Mr. Pong is that he really wanted to give us all the gift of health, happiness and peace. Until his health began to fail last year, he would come to every class, sharing his smile and philosophy. He never accepted payment and his teachers do not either. They all devote their time freely following the standards he set decades ago.

Mr. Pong always closed the sessions with a call for peace and a sing along. His favorite song was You Are My Sunshine. It's the song we all sang at his funeral service.

Mr. Pong didn't just teach us everything he knew about Tai Chi, Qigong and Chi. He also gave us good friends and fellowship which we've treasured for the last 7 years.

I've learned the steps of Tai Chi and feel that the exercises of Qigong does help with flexibility and balance.

As for feeling the chi or life energy (sort of like the Star Wars force) well... I'm still what Art calls a work in progress.

I will keep trying though because that's what Mr. Pong expects of all of us.

Peace be with you, Mr. Pong. Thank you for all you've given us.

Teppanyaki at Sakura Restaurant

It's always a ton of fun to go out to dinner with our Tai Chi friends every couple of months. This time was no different. Each of the four couples take turns being responsible for choosing a restaurant and organizing the get together.

This time the restaurant was called Sakura. A table for the teppanyaki meal was reserved for us.

Wikipedia: "Teppanyaki is a style of Japanese cuisine that uses an iron griddle to cook food. The word teppanyaki is derived from teppan, which means iron plate, and yaki, which means grilled, broiled, or pan-fried."

Our server lit a stack of onion rings which burst into flames which was fun to see.

The only problem was that it was not an easy place to socialize.

The person serving us was very good and we enjoyed the food. Restaurant staff were all very friendly and professional.

The funny part was we ended up after dinner in the parking lot conversing happily for another hour since it was too difficult to do so at the restaurant.

I'm glad  we were in Hawaii with its warm temperatures because we'd never be able to do this in Chicago in January.

Safety First with the Red Cross

Last year, a couple of my senior Zumba friends said the Red Cross had come to their houses, checked their smoke detectors and installed new ones for free. I was amazed. You didn't have to be disabled or destitute. It was a Fire and Hurricane Safety Program provided to all seniors as well. I called right away to be put on their list.

A couple of months later, they called back and said they were ready to come to the homes in our area.

I was surprised to find, not just one or two Red Cross workers but a contingent of six people! One worker was taking the photo.

And they were the absolute nicest, friendliest, most caring people ever! Within a few minutes, I felt like I'd known them forever.

They checked our smoke alarms, discovered that several were too old, and replaced three of them. That is now the limit of smoke alarms they can install which was quite sufficient. These new smoke alarms are supposed to work for 10 years without worrying about a battery change. How awesome is that?

They then reviewed how we should get a fire escape plan plotted out and we came to the realization that we hadn't truly prepared well enough. We've since notified neighbors to help mom if we're away and told her where to go.

Aside from fire safety, we were also reminded about hurricane preparedness.

Our friend, Paul in Seattle is also a red cross worker and had instructed us on this several years ago, but we'd gotten pretty lax about it.

This is a big reminder that we need to be quite a bit more diligent in our preparations. There are hurricanes often aiming to hit us from June to November. One day, they could get us again.

We feel we're now getting ourselves more ready should disaster strike.

Thank you to the Red Cross! I'm glad we've been donating to the Hawaii chapter and do our best to support their efforts around the world as well.

familytreenow.com

I saw something on the TV news last week that caught my eye and surprised me. I then looked online and saw that a lot of news sources had mentioned this worry.

There is a website called familytreenow.com. If you're doing some genealogy, this might help you. If you want to find someone, this would help you. If you forgot some of your previous addresses, this would help you. If you're a stalker, it would help you too.

I looked up our name and saw that it listed not just my immediate family, but my daughter's in-laws names as well. That gave me pause.

Art immediately checked to see if there was a way to opt out. He found it at https://www.familytreenow.com/optout.

Art, me, our daughter and son have all opted out immediately.  My daughter in-law who was an investigative reporter says that there are many ways to find people as she's used these websites to get information.

Coincidentally, Honolulu Aunty did a blog post about this exact thing last week.

I've warned many of our friends and relatives. However, just as my daughter-in-law said, if you just search your own name on Google, you'll be surprised how much information is floating out there. This is a drop in the bucket.

Whatever the case, it's one less drop about me and my family on the web now.

Marched in Spirit!

I saw on Facebook that a friend of mine was marching at Grant Park in Chicago. Terry posted photos for us to see the crowd.

She said there were so many people that they could hardly move and were marching in place. Wow!

Several of my daughter's friends traveled to Washington, D.C. to join the march there. Many of them have daughters and the idea of a president who treats women as you-know-who has is repugnant. A message needed to be understood that women would not be sitting back and accepting it.

Another friend of ours posted a photo of the people who traveled there from Hawaii to represent our state.

My son and daughter-in-law marched in Washington, D.C. along with my grandson and gave us a running account of the excitement and feeling of being unified in their message.

I saw a video of my baby grandson waving to the beat of everyone chanting, "Welcome to your first day, we will not go away!"

We have four years ahead to keep watch over this administration. I'm happy to see people are determined to do so.

I'm proud of all of them! And I'm proud to live in a country where we can do this.

Finishing My Photobook Project

These last couple of months have been awfully busy and I'm still not up to snuff with 2017. First off, I needed to get our South Korea travel book completed.

We finished it. It's a highly detailed chronicling of all our experiences on the 10 day tour across South Korea.

We feel a great need to do this because these trips become a blur in my brain after a while and gets mixed up with all our other trips. Seeing the photos brings it happily back.

My next computer project is finishing the two volume set of photos covering the 10 years of my granddaughter's life.

I kept a little journal noting things she's said and done since she was a baby and I've included them in the book.

My daughter has kept us updated on KC ever since we left Chicago so we've worked together on this project. KC knows I'm doing this and is looking forward to seeing it.

I'm looking at the photos and seeing myself 10 years ago. Yes, KC has changed, but doggone it! So have I... Sigh... It's rather disconcerting to see the changes that 10 years makes.

Mom asked me if I'd be making a 10 year book for my grandson JD too. Good gosh! What condition will I (my brain) be in 9 years from now? Will I still have the patience and determination? How will technology change?

Gosh... I don't know...

Frosty Tags and Senior Drinks

For a couple of years now, we've bought the Frosty tag at Wendy's for $1.00. We then buy salads and get our free senior drink and use the tag throughout the year to get a very tiny Frosty Jr. It's tiny, but just right for us.

As we've done before we bought our Frosty tags in December of last year. They'd raised the price to $2.00, but that was fine.

Unfortunately, when we went to Wendy's in January 2017, they said they could no longer honor both the free senior drink and Frosty tag. You could have either the drink or the Frosty, but not both. Darn! I wish they'd told me before I bought the tags.

I asked how much the senior drink and Frosty cost. The cashier said $1.49 for the drink, $.68 for the Frosty. Well then... it's makes sense to get the drink and pay for the Frosty, but now I had two tags that I'd already bought.

No problem. I sent them to my daughter who was happy to get them. Ah well... win some, lose some.

VOG!

I looked out my windows and finally saw the Koolau mountain range clearly. Until recently it's been covered with a gray vog. The meteorologists said the only nice thing about the vog is that it gives us colorful sunsets.

Well, last week it was so bad that even the sunsets weren't pretty. It was just gray. Friends with asthma or other lung ailments were really suffering. Smog usually left me feeling tired in Chicago. Here in Hawaii, vog does the same thing.

I got this from Wikipedia:

"Vog is a form of air pollution that results when sulfur dioxide and other gases and particles emitted by an erupting volcano react with oxygen and moisture in the presence of sunlight. The word is a portmanteau of the words "volcanic", "smog", and "fog". The term is in common use in the Hawaiian islands, where the Kīlauea volcano, on the Island of Hawaiʻi (aka "The Big Island"), has been erupting continuously since January 3, 1983."

Today the trade winds are blowing away most of the vog so we're feeling better and the skies are clear. I wonder how the people on the Big Island are faring since that's where the vog originates. I guess it's a matter of whether you're downwind or upwind.

Pretty sunsets are lovely but I prefer the kind that doesn't come with bad air.

Damaging Your Ears at Movie Theaters

We don't go to movies frequently but we did take mom to see Moana recently and then went to Rogue One on our own since our granddaughter recommended it highly.

When we went to see Moana at a Regal Theater, the sound level was so high that I had to wad up tissue to plug my ears. (Just think how that can damage little kid's ears.) After that experience, I put reusable ear plugs in my bag for anytime the sound level is too painful for me.

Before going to see Rogue One, I asked Art if he would like me to bring a one-time use set of ear plugs for him that I got from somewhere.

He said, "No, don't need one."

Just before leaving the house, I asked him again and he insisted he really didn't feel he needed one.

Once the movie began, I saw him shuffling about from the corner of my eye. He was wadding up a piece of tissue to plug into his ears. I'm sure he didn't see my smug smile. When we got home, he conceded it would be nice if I'd carry an extra pair of ear plugs for him too.

Well... This led me to looking online to see if anybody else had noticed the theater sound level. Quite a few people had and there were articles from different sources also. This one from Today said the American Hearing Research Foundation had stated that movie theaters are "a source of premature hearing reduction."

They also stated: "A sound level of 85 decibels "is where you want to stay below," said Kit Frank, AuD, audiologist, NYU Langone Medical Center. Beyond that, "you start to hit into the range where you could potentially cause some damage" to your hearing."

The article then went on to tell you how different movies exceeded that level.

What I really appreciated was their recommendation to install a free app on your iPhone that would measure the sound level for you.
Decibel 10th: Professional Noise Meter
This is the app for adroid phones.
Sound Meter by Abc Apps

I've installed the sound meter app on my iPhone. I think I should check the music for my Zumba class. I already use ear plugs there.

Why the heck do people feel it needs to be so loud. Are they deaf?
Well... they soon could be.

Winter in Hawaii

I warned Keola and Sarah that it does get cold in Hawaii. Since they live in Maryland and grew up in Chicago and Michigan, they didn't take me entirely seriously. After a few days though, they agreed that it can get a little cool although different parts of the island varies in temperature and weather conditions.

They're back on the mainland now where the temperature is at this moment 24 degrees F.

Mom got up last week telling me her fingers were turning numb and she couldn't get over how freezing it was. We checked our thermometer which read 62 degrees F.

OK... That's a bit chilly.

However, Art says it was perfect for his early morning jog.

My daughter says it was 9 degrees F in Chicago. Telling mom that didn't seem to make her feel any warmer though.

Master Photographer

Dave has always been our family photographer.

He even came to Chicago with my brother to do the photo shoot for our daughter's wedding.

I really like how he's captured the pensive moment of Tiffany ready to embark on her new life. It still gives me pause to look at it.

When the whole family came to Hawaii to celebrate Art's 70th birthday in 2014, Dave took our official photo to mark the occasion.

We took photos indoor and outdoor.

Dave has also done some fun shots that still make us laugh.

These photos were all taken before JD was born so we wanted to take a photo with JD also.

Since our time was limited on this trip, we opted to have our photos taken indoors in a controlled environment with the least amount of running room. JD was still squirmy and excited about everything around him. We didn't think there would be any decent photos. Dave had an arsenal of toys and expressions that could make JD laugh. And here we thought it was only our granddaughter, KC who could do that.

Dave gave us the photos the next day and we were flabbergasted! The photos are priceless. Several made me teary. I would LOVE to show them to you, but both of my children do not want their children's photos floating in cyberspace until they're old enough to make that decision for themselves. Sigh...

Could you just take my word for it?
Thank you, Dave!!!

Different As Night and Day

Our children, Tiffany and Keola were/are as different as night and day. Tiffany had a difficult birth and was slow in wanting to join us. Keola could not wait and was born in the elevator of the hospital. Our vacations had to be planned with malls and wilderness exploration in mind. One was a social butterfly, the other was more selective. One was a picky eater, the other ate whatever was on hand.

We should have been prepared for our grandchildren being different too.

KC came to Hawaii when she was about two years old. She was scared of the sand and wouldn't leave the beach blanket. You could set her down and we knew she wouldn't run off. Getting used to the water was equally challenging. We laugh about it today, especially when we see her in swimming competitions doing the same graceful breast stroke that her mother was noted for.

When we learned that our 17 month old grandson JD was going to make his first visit to Hawaii we were cautious in our preparations knowing what his father was like as a toddler.

We covered all the electrical sockets, put everything up high out of reach, tied up cabinets, bought a smaller Christmas tree, put up unbreakable ornaments, installed a baby gate at the top of the stairs, etc. He still quickly found things we'd missed and opened every drawer we weren't able to secure. As for the Christmas tree... He was careful at first in just poking at the ornaments or touching it. Then on the second day, he pulled the branch and it fell almost on top of him. He was so startled, he didn't try it again and went back to just poking at the ornaments and pointing at the tree as though it was some mean creature that tried to swat him.

When we took him to the beach, he was enthralled by the sand and couldn't wait to dig, poke and run along the beach.

He even loved walking in the water up to his chest while his parents held his hand so that the current wouldn't push him down.

You couldn't keep him out of the water.

When Keola mentioned putting JD on a boogie board, I said, "No way!" I really didn't think he would stay on it.

Gracious! He's only been walking for 4 months! How can he stay on a boogie board? "He'll be too scared," I told them.

Ummmm....

Nope! He laughed the entire time and couldn't wait to be placed back on.

When I mentioned this to his Auntie Tiffany, she laughed and said, "Looks like JD is his father's son."

And KC? Well... She's a natural on the boogie board these days and loves the beach! I wouldn't be surprised if she took up surfing like her uncle someday. I know Keola would love to teach her.

Ethical Eating Day!

Art just sent this link to me that he got from Tzu Chi which is a Buddhist charity organization that helps people in distress around the globe. They have very low overhead and do a lot of good work.

They are promoting Ethical Eating Day for today. This video shows why.

I know it's a good idea. We eat way too much meat in fast food and our everyday meals. Having attended my diabetes workshops, they do stress that eating more vegetables and keeping our meat to a minimum is quite beneficial.

I'm not ready to be a vegan. But we do try to keep our meat to a minimum as much as we can. I have several cousins who have made the commitment and their health improved dramatically.

It will have to be emphasized in our resolutions for 2017.

Illegal Fireworks?

Keola and Sarah were going to go into Honolulu to watch the fireworks and soak in the Hawaiian New Year experience. When they heard the crashing sounds of exploding illegal fireworks and seeing how many people were setting off the banned bombs, they decided to watch the mayhem celebration from our second floor windows.

They sat at different windows in awe of the seemingly endless supply of illegal fireworks that were exploding well before and after the legal time constraints all over the island.

One person died and her friend was hospitalized. Apparently, she wasn't even setting them off. She was just watching. The fire department, police and hospitals responded to dozens of fireworks related injuries and incidents throughout the night.

Firecrackers are the only things that are legal and you have to get a permit to buy them. My question is this. Where the heck are they buying these illegal displays? Some are spectacular enough to look professional. Some are bombs that set off car alarms. They're not sold in stores, so where are they getting them?

There's a hue and cry every year for the first couple of days and then it's forgotten until the following year. Sounds an awful lot like gun control doesn't it?

They Don't Make Them Like They Used to...

There was a time a refrigerator would keep working for 20 years or more. My daughter inherited our old freezer that must be older than that and it still works.

While our son, Keola, daughter-in-law and grandson were visiting, Keola mentioned several times that the fridge just wasn't keeping things cold enough. We couldn't believe the fridge would be broken since it's only a little over 9 years old. My chocolate milk actually spoiled. The clementines got moldy. We used an appliance thermometer and discovered the temperature on the refrigerator side was over 50 degrees F! Yikes!

We went to look for a new fridge and saw how expensive they were now, especially the counter depth type that we needed. Then we were talking to our tai chi friends who had encountered the same problem. They said it was the vents that blew air from the freezer compressor that got frozen.

After pulling out the fridge and unplugging it we took the shelves off and checked the compressor (in the freezer). It seemed to be all right... as far as we could tell.

Then we looked on the refrigerator side and was amazed to (sure enough) find a huge lump of ice blocking the vent. I wish I'd taken a photo of it before we melted it.

Ummm... Then I thought maybe I should look below and see if there was dust on the refrigerator coils.

Ooooops!

Ummmm...

OK... I vacuumed the dust off the front, but I just couldn't reach the coils in back. How the heck can anybody reach that anyway?

We put all the shelving back in and checked the temperature this morning. It was about 35 degrees F on the refrigerator side.

However, we still don't know why the vent iced over in the first place. Art has already replaced the ice maker once because that broke also.

I have a sneaking suspicion we're going to have to look for another refrigerator soon and I'm not looking forward to it.

POSTSCRIPT:
Some commenters asked why we didn't call a repairman to fix the fridge. We considered it. We really did. However, having someone come out is usually quite expensive.

I looked online and it said these fridges were meant to last between 10-12 years. Sheesh! Friends told me the same thing. Sigh... That's why we decided to try fixing it on our own first. We'll see how long the fix lasts.

Another Anniversary

We totally forgot that today was our 44th wedding anniversary until our daughter called and wished us a happy day. Wow! 44 years? How did that happen? Where did the years go?

I remember asking Art before we were married what we would do if we found out we were not compatible. I expected him to give me some guarantees that he would love me forever. Instead he said we would work on our marriage and if it didn't work, well... we would have to part. Being an engineer, he was just logical and pragmatic about everything and didn't much go into false promises. So we worked on it. It wasn't always easy at first. We had to do a lot of talking and especially listening.

And the years went by with alarming speed. We each found jobs we enjoyed, moved from Hawaii to Illinois, made friends, raised two very different kids and gloried in their achievements, traveled, renovated our home (twice), dealt with health issues, retired, moved back to Hawaii, traveled some more, became enchanted by our grandchildren and here we are.

And now we've gotten to the point where we can finish each other's sentences, know what the other person is feeling with a glance and offer comfort and love whenever there's a need.

We've never paid much attention to our wedding anniversary, but we decided to see Rogue One since our granddaughter said she loved it. We'll then take mom out to dinner to commemorate the day. I guess the fact of the matter is that our anniversary date isn't all that important for us. We celebrate every day that we've enjoyed together and that's enough.

Haircut for My Grandson

Our time with our son and his family flew by. We were amazed at how much they could pack in a day with a 17 month old toddler.

They just left to return to the East coast this afternoon and the house is awfully quiet, awfully empty.

When they first arrived, they asked if I would cut my grandson, JD's hair and teach them how to do it since he moved around so much. We've been so busy that we just didn't have time to get around to doing it until last night.

I had JD watch a Japanese children's program and used Art's nose hair cutting scissors which is smaller and has a smooth rounded end so it wouldn't poke him if he hit it. Thankfully JD was so mesmerized by the program that he hardly noticed my cutting his hair until he saw his locks on the floor. I did the best I could, as fast as I could and I must say he looks quite handsome. His parents were pleased.

We'll be very busy tomorrow cleaning the house, putting away baby equipment and toys and getting the house back to normal again. I'll need to get to work on our Holiday newsletters, thank you notes, etc.

But before I do that... I'm looking at all the photos of my beautiful grandson and remembering the fun times we all had together.

Hawaii is the Healthiest State!

I saw recently that Hawaii had been ranked as the healthiest state in the nation. No kidding? And that's not just this year. Apparently this is the fifth year that we've been judged the healthiest state. And it looks like Mississippi is ranked the lowest. They are taking into account the number of people who don't or quit smoking, obesity, low percentage of uninsured people, etc. However, Hawaii does rank above the national average for excessive drinking. Maybe that's why we also rank pretty low for driving ability.

Along with myself though, I know quite a number of people who are suffering from diabetes and even more who are working on managing their weight.

The lucky thing is that we can work on it all year long because of our climate. On the other hand, does the warm climate contribute to the excessive drinking? I have no idea.

My First Fruitcakes

I don't really care for fruitcakes. But Art and his sister really love them. They'll even buy a fruitcake when they're traveling if they find what looks like a good possibility, but have come out dry so far. I thought I'd try making some after seeing what looked like an easy to follow recipe on Jalna's blog.

Let me preface all this by telling you I'm neither a good baker or cook. However, I thought I might be able to follow this recipe. Thank goodness I have a stand mixer! It was very helpful. Art was glad I finally made use of it. I've tried recipes before that I've seen on blogs or newspaper articles and it's never quite been as wonderful as it looked.

It was not easy finding candied fruit but it did look pretty in the dough.

Instead of putting the dough into two large loaf pans, I opted to make smaller cakes. OK... To be honest, I don't have big loaf pans.

Anyway, they probably came out drier than the fruitcake Jalna's husband made.

Mom and Art tried one and said it was quite tasty. Mom wanted a SECOND piece! Seriously?

SUCCESS!

OK... So we've come this far.

Art wanted to try soaking it with liquor. Some websites suggested brandy. Some said rum and some said whisky. 

We are really crazy. Art wanted to experiment to see which liquor would be best to soak the fruitcake with.

We've had the same bottle of scotch whisky for the last 10 years which I use for my turkey stuffing at Thanksgiving, but we had to go out and buy a bottle of rum and brandy. I didn't have cheesecloth so I cut up an old bed sheet soaked it in liquor and wrapped each small loaf with it. Then I drizzled more on each one and labeled what kind of liquor was used for that loaf.

We'll do a taste test in a week and then maybe a month to find out what it's like. If it's good enough, I'll make more to bring to my sister-in-law's place in March. If not, I'll have bottles of brandy and rum that will keep company with my bottle of 10 year old scotch.

After two weeks, we decided to try the fruitcakes.

The cut up sheets worked very well. The fruitcakes didn't stick to the cloth and were nicely moist.

We were going to try the fruitcake loaves, but my son said we really should do a blind taste test.

It was hard to come up with a verdict. They were all moist and tasty. I'm not a fruitcake fan, but I have to say these were very good.

The votes came in at:
Brandy 2
Rum 2
Scotch 1

I don't have a good sense of taste so I thought the Scotch was good because I could taste something. Everyone else felt the brandy and rum had a much smoother taste was the superior fruitcake.

This was a fun experiment. Now I can make Art a fruitcake, anytime he's got a craving for it.

Thank you, Wendell and Jalna!

Not Ready for the New Year

It is a custom for Japanese Americans to clean their house, pay their bills and generally tie up loose ends before heading into the brand new New Year.

I'm seriously doubting that my own kids follow this custom, but it's pretty ingrained in Art, Mom and my consciousness and even subconsciousness.

Art would start washing everything down. I'd organize things and clean up closets, etc. and Mom does her thing all over the place.... usually.

This year, we're not quite ready. We were so focused on our grandson being here and finishing up our photobook for our trip to South Korea that I haven't even started on our holiday newsletter. And Art hasn't cleaned our windows like he always does.  I take it back. He just cleaned all the windows and cars.

Needless to say 2017 will begin in February for us. I'd better not write any checks until then.