Brita Won't Take Petroleum Out of the Water

Local residents on the island of Oahu are extremely worried about the leaking petroleum from millions and millions of gallons of petroleum stored by the Navy in the aging 80 year old underground bulk storage facility into our water system. The Navy is in a battle with our Honolulu Board of Water of Supply who is trying to protect our island water aquifer that the island draws its water from.

It's an untenable situation with the Navy having already covered up or downplayed leaks that have been happening for quite some time. Local people no longer trust the Navy. In fact, the food court area at the Navy Exchange is closed right now and military housing residents have been put into hotels. There have been military housing residents who have also been admitted to Tripler for toxic petroleum poisoning. 

Soooooo.....

Friends and I were thinking, maybe it's time for us to get one of those Brita pitcher with the filters. I know my parents used to have one a long time ago, but stopped using them after a while since we thought our Hawaiian waters were excellent. That's what we were told by someone we met who worked for the water department about a decade ago.

But would the Brita filters take out the petroleum?

I wrote first to the Board of Water Supply asking if Brita filters would take out petroleum from our water. They wrote back that they didn't know and couldn't answer that question.

So I wrote to Brita's Customer Care to ask if their product would filter out petroleum. They responded with the above email after a few days. 

Darn! So now what?

POSTSCRIPT:

Deputy Assistant Navy Secretary James Balocki recently got Hawaii leaders and residents furious for saying the tainted water issue at Red Hill was not a crisis. The Navy had to issue an apology for him.

And now a couple of days ago, David Day, who serves as a state deputy attorney general stated: "The weight of the evidence establishes that the Red Hill Facility, as currently situated, is a metaphorical ticking timebomb located 100 feet above the most important aquifer on Hawaii's most populous island.... The Red Hill Facility has already damaged human health and the environment and, as currently situated, inevitably threatens to do so in to the future."

So this is where it stands with the Navy saying not to worry and islanders extremely worried and angry.

Eating Out Safely

We had a day of appointments for Art and other chores so Art and I decided to stop by our local Zippy's Restaurant to grab a quick breakfast between stops. We'd been there a few months ago and thought they took COVID safety seriously so we felt comfortable going there. I wondered if they were still maintaining their safety measures. Hawaii has been relaxing its COVID mandates in recent months, but now our numbers are once again climbing, especially with Omicron in the mix.

Entering the restaurant, friendly servers cheerfully called out greetings. It felt good to be remembered even with our masks on. They checked our vaccination card and state ID, took our temperatures and had us sanitize our hands.

The booths had high plexiglass barriers surrounding three sides and the menus were disposable paper. We placed our order which came with individually wrapped salt, pepper, cream and sugar.

We noticed that once restaurant guests left their table, a cleaning person came, sanitized the entire booth (table and sitting area), and left a little placard to pronounce the area safe for occupancy.

I wonder if all restaurants are following the same sort of procedures. I've heard on the news that political leaders feel COVID is spreading not through restaurants so much as people having holiday parties. Our present COVID spike is probably due to the Thanksgiving get-togethers. I'm wondering what will happen now after the Christmas/New Year celebrations.

I already know some people who have been affected by Omicron.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that our numbers don't reach the 500 a day mark they are projecting by the end of the December.

POSTSCRIPT: 😖

I wrote this post more than a week ago because I knew I'd be up to my ears with this and that around now, which I am.

We had just started taking mom to an Adult Day Care on December 6th for just one morning a week to get some extra socialization and she was absolutely loving it. The COVID case count in Hawaii then was 90. She made a new friend who had taught Japanese for many years. So the 90 infection number on the 6th wasn't perfect, but we figured she'd be safe. I sewed new pants for her as well as some nice new masks that I thought would be comfortable to wear and stay on her face.

When we took mom for her 3rd Monday morning session, the Hawaii COVID cases had jumped to 840. I told the center that we would be stopping the following Monday unless the numbers dropped substantially.

Yesterday's Hawaii COVID infection number was 2,205!!! 😫

We will not be sending mom today. This is CRAZY! I now have several friends whose children and grandchildren have tested positive and true...  most were not vaccinated.

Sigh...

It's scary.

Merry Christmas 2021!

To everyone who celebrates Christmas religiously or in a secular way like we do, I would like to wish you a very happy, healthy and merry Christmas.

I loved it that my aunt (my mother's sister) who is a devout Buddhist sent us a Christmas card recently. The Japanese create such beautiful and original greeting cards.

This is what came flattened in an envelope with one letter for Art and me and one for mom. Mom read our letter to me and I translated it for Art. 

Gosh! I wonder if my aunt and family will be having Kentucky Fried chicken and strawberry shortcake tonight along with other Japanese for which that has become a tradition. 😁

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate this special holiday!

Traveling During Omicron Times

My nephew's Japanese wife flew to be with her family following the passing of her grandmother. She had hoped to see her grandmother before she passed away and was devastated when she learned that she was too late. We were worried about the difficulty of flying alone to Japan with their 5 year old daughter and 18 month old son. It was a relief to hear that the flight went passably well....sort of. Their daughter was an angel, but the young son was a bundle of energy.

During the sudden and recent uptick in COVID cases, Japan had tightened their rules. She had to stay at the airport for two hours to get the NEGATIVE COVID results before leaving in a special COVID taxi to a COVID hotel for 3 days. Wow! Three days with little ones in a hotel room and unable to leave sounded really difficult but the days finally passed. She was able to finally be reunited with her mom who loved being with grandchildren she hadn't seen in a couple of years and being able to spoil them a teeny bit with ice cream and other treats.

And then the awful call came that someone on the flight had tested positive for OMICRON! This meant everyone on the flight would have to stay in another COVID hotel for 10 days where they are called by a doctor or nurse every day and tested every few days. 

The only thing they can see are buildings outside their hotel window. The children are bored and her little son tries to escape when food is delivered. My  nephew's wife is dealing with it all with strength and resolve, but wow! 

Wooow!!! And yet we have people who refuse to be vaccinated, refuse to wear masks, etc. 

Neighborhood Light Show

Good friends of ours encouraged us to come out their way to see the holiday light show in their neighborhood. To be honest, we do have quite a few neighbors that do decorate their homes with lights, BUT not like this!

So here are just a few of the incredible light decorations that neighbors in that community put out for the enjoyment of everyone.

Several cul-de-sacs in the area had all their homes decorated. I was wondering if anybody felt the pressure each year of making sure their home was decorated as beautifully as the others.

See that pretend chimney on the roof of that top photo? The windows are pretend too. The fake chimney was actually putting out some kind of smoke/steam (?). Absolutely amazing!

Where do they get all these incredible light decorations?

Everybody must know that this is the place to be for holiday lights because we saw many families strolling or driving along to enjoy the sights.

Art had to take these photos for our grandsons who are really into Pokemon and Paw Patrol. I wish they could have been here to see this.

Well, I must tell you that we did have a lot of fun and were very lucky that it didn't rain on us. Do you decorate the outside of your home in December?

Happy Holidays, Seasons Greetings and Now...

We often drive on this road which runs along an Elementary School here on Oahu. I'm not sure who does the (plastic) cup signs on the chain link fencing but it's fun to see what they'll come up with next.

You all know how I feel about holiday inclusion. When I taught in Illinois, our December unit was called Holiday of Lights which covered Diwali, Hanukah, Christmas and Kwanzaa. 

Generally speaking, I don't see many synagogues here in Hawaii and Diwali or Kwanzaa isn't much talked about, but look what we saw recently! 

I was so happy to see that this school was trying to teach inclusion and respect to their students that I sent an email to their principal on their website.

I was surprised to get an immediate reply from their principal.

"Thank you so much! We do our best to be inclusive. Thanks for reaching out! I'll let our fence crew know!"

It really lifted my spirits to know here in Hawaii, we are teaching our kids to think globally with kindness, understanding and yes, respect.

EXTREMELY Fancy Auto Paint Job

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

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

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

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

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

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

OK, now I know.  

A Japanese Christmas

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

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

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

We thought it was hilarious.

But when you think about it, why not? 

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

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

POSTSCRIPT:

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

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

Advent Puzzle?

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

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

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

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

December 1st came and Art was dying of curiosity.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oh... wait...

And do you know what they gave their grandmother?

Yup, Mom is loving it!!!

Sainthood for Brother Dutton

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Navy is Poisoning Our Water

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

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

I got this photo from an Environmental Science website: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Star Advertiser Editorial stated:

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

POSTSCRIPT:

This was in yesterday's paper.

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

This is bad, this is criminal.

Is it a Camouflage Frog or Toad?

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

It's very tiny.

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

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

Is there a herpetologist out there who can tell us?

Letter to the Editor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sigh.........

POSTSCRIPT:

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

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

Sigh......😕

POSTSCRIPT:

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

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

Thanksgiving 2021

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

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

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

I considered just grilling some teriyaki chicken.

But in the end....

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

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

I hope you all had a happy day as well.

You Know You’re In Hawaii If…

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

YOU KNOW YOU’RE IN HAWAII IF:

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

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

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

Happy Thanksgiving, Everybody!

It's Good to Complain (Suggest?)

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

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

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

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

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

"Aloha,

We appreciate this, thank you very much!

Mahalo,

Customer Care

The Honolulu Board of Water Supply

(808) 748-5000

Customerservice@hbws.org"

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

Doggone Daylight Savings!!! (and Partial Eclipse)

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

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

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

Hunh?

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

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

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

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

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

But seriously, do we really need Daylight Savings?

POSTSCRIPT 1:

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

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

POSTSCRIPT 2: 

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

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

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

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

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

According to Forbes Magazine:

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

Again, according to Forbes Magazine:

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

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

Hmmm... 

This is almost a challenge. 

I wonder if it'll rain.

Are you going to watch for it?

 

 

It's Safer Now to Eat at a Restaurant

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

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

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

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

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

We ordered our favorite luncheon specials.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hmmm.... Where shall we go next?