The Almost Immortal Orchid

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And then early last month...!!!

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

Sigh...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But there was more to come.

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

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

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

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

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

I'm too freaked out right now.

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

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

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

And that was Tuesday. 

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

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

Recycling Garden/Kitchen Waste

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And Art? He's very happy.

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

So I sent an email to their Refuse Division.

POSTSCRIPT 2:

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

Aloha Kay,

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

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

Mahalo,

The Refuse Division

AU

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

July Fun with Our Son and Family: Part 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yay!!! 😀 

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

July Fun with Our Son and Family: Part 1

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

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

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

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

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

This is from Wikipedia:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As a retired teacher, I loved it!

Getting Ready for Hurricane Kiko

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

According to AI:

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

We're told that we should:

 Stock at least 14 days of supplies:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blog Hiatus Again…

 This has been a crazy spring and summer for us. I’m really behind on everything.

Two weeks in April after returning from Japan, we were in Chicago in May. A month after we returned from Chicago, our son and family arrived for a month long stay in July.  Our daughter-in-law’s job was moving her from one country to the other side of the world. Luckily, Keola’s job as a data analyst allows him to work from home. 

It has been a very busy, wonderful, extremely exciting month of July for us where every minute was crowded with things to do with our grandsons, son and daughter-in-law. 

I’m therefore having to do another hiatus just to catch up on everything. Phew! I’m sorry to be missing out on all that’s happening with blog buddies. 

But I’ll be baaack… 😁

POSTSCRIPT:

Some of you asked for the corned beef hash patty recipe that I mentioned making for my daughter and family this spring. 

Would you believe I actually wrote a blog post about it in 2017? Here's the link to the post with the recipe.

https://travelerswife.blogspot.com/2017/11/making-hawaiian-corned-beef-hash.html

Surprising Byakkotai Memorials

I wrote earlier about the trip to Mt. Iimori in Japan that our tour took us to in April. This is where those 19 young boys committed seppuku (ritual suicide by disemboweling) thinking that their castle had fallen and they had lost their battle.

The Byakkotai was meant to be a reserve unit composed of young 16-17 year old sons of the Aizu clan samurais. They were organized in different groups and the group that committed seppuku had been cut off from their fighters and they ended up high on Mt. Iimori where they saw the devastation and thought all was lost. Well, actually all was lost eventually.

 We'd gone up an escalator to visit their memorial where 20 young boys had done seppuku. One fellow had not died and was actually rescued by a farmer who took care of him.

We saw the grave site of the 19 boys who'd died. 

The other boy who'd survived actually went on to move to Sendai. When he passed away, his remains were sent to join his comrade in arms.

Well....

I was looking up the story of these Byakkotai boys and saw something about a memorial that we weren't informed of.

I found this on the Everything is Marshmallows blog site:

"...I describe weird things in Japan, not weird things about Japan. This is not a country profile. But ohhhhh my god, I found something really weird: two memorials dedicated to fallen samurai children …donated by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany!...

....By now, I suppose it’s been so long that the two memorials serve more as historical curios than genuine fascist symbols and the obscurity of Aizu prevents them from doing any real harm. But given ideology’s emphasis on youth mobilization for the fascist struggle and the Byakkotai’s own status as child soldiers, with Iimoriyama honoring the remains of samurai as young as 14, I have to ask a question:

Is it really appropriate to leave two fascist monuments overlooking the active graves of 19 child suicide victims, celebrating the militaristic ethos that led to their deaths on that very spot?

Ohhhhh my god, that’s weird. Maybe the Fascists and Nazis belong in the museum down the hill… let the Byakkotai rest...."

Well... Japan was once part of the Axis powers which I imagine they're not proud of at all once they knew everything. 

And then I'm thinking... what exactly is Fascism. I sort of know but what really? I looked it up and got this on AI.

I looked up fascism on Wikipedia.

What does fascism mean?

Many experts agree that fascism is a mass political movement that emphasizes extreme nationalism, militarism, and the supremacy of the nation over the individual. This model of government stands in contrast to liberal democracies that support individual rights, competitive elections, and political dissent.

In many ways, fascist regimes are revolutionary in nature. They advocate for the overthrow of existing systems of government and the persecution of political enemies. However, such regimes are also highly conservative in their championing of traditional values.

And although fascist leaders typically claim to support the everyman, in reality, their regimes often align with powerful business interests.

Oh goodness... what does this remind you of?

Surprise! Back in Hawaii

One evening, a few nights after our return from Japan and Illinois, Art had mentioned to me sometime in the evening that he'd smacked and killed a cockroach in his sink in our bathroom.

A few hours later I woke up to use the bathroom and while washing my hands at my sink, I was surprised to find his cockroach on top of the Invisalign for my teeth that I had washed and left out to dry the evening before.

I called Art and he was shocked!  He smacked the bug again and then had to smack it one more time before taking it out of the house.

We haven't seen such a giant American cockroach in a long time. 

Well... we now knew we were back in Hawaii for sure.

POSTSCRIPT: I’m sorry I didn’t clarify that I threw away that set of Invisalign. I was already done with that week anyway so I just put on the next set.  😁

And Now Chicago!

I had one week to recover from our trip to Japan and then another week to prepare for our flight in the other direction to Illinois.

That last time we flew to Chicago on United, my tray table was slanted so food kept sliding down. The flight attendant merely put in a job order to get it fixed for another flight.

This time the tray table didn't even come up. I'd seen the white paper taped on it when we came in but the print was so small that I didn't see that it said, "TABLE INOP" in very light faded writing. Art and I both had to eat on his same little tray table. We mentioned it to the flight attendant and this time she gave us $300 for our next flight within a year. 

OK... that's fine.

We landed at O'Hare and our son-in-law arrived to drive us to their house. 

And then Art and I both took a nap.

The time difference between Hawaii and Japan is 5 hours. The difference between Hawaii and Chicago is 5 hours. Hawaii is in the middle so my brain needed to adjust again. My body didn't know what was going on.

And then it was soon time for KC's graduation. It was huge. There were over 900 graduates!!! My Waipahu graduation had a little over 300 graduates and I thought that was a lot. Art's high school had 120. 

There was a party with family friends after the graduation ceremony and her dance performance in the evening. It was a thoroughly busy, exciting, fun and happy day for KC and her friends and family. 

Our son, Keola and family had ordered flowers from overseas to be delivered to KC after the graduation. They also watched the ceremony from the other side of the world. Absolutely amazing!

There were a lot of different kinds of leis sent from Hawaii for KC along with flowers from her performance.

Later in the week, I had a fabulous time having lunch with the wonderful teacher friends I taught with. It was so good to catch up with our lives. It's such an awesome thing that we can keep in touch daily through our text chat group.

Art and I also met up with several other friends and was devastated to hear how some of them were doing. One friend told us he'd been told he has bone cancer and 6 months to...

And so on.... with several other friends... It was hard.

One thing I always prepare when we're in Chicagoland is corned beef hash patties. I make enough to eat and freeze. 

I didn't get to make cornbread which is something KC likes. I'll have to do that next time we go.

Our son-in-law, Ed is a master cook and griller. He made so many of his signature dishes that I actually gained 5 pounds.

Actually, that was their goal because they were a little alarmed at my weight loss.

Ed even got me this quite pricey Linda's Fudge Cake from Cheesecake Factory. They all know it's my favorite chocolate cake.

BUT the best, most awesome, wonderful thing Ed did was to transfer all the data from our fried, dead desktop computers onto new computers for us to bring home. I couldn't believe how much smaller computers were now. It took him a while to get the programs I needed and to make sure they worked properly on the newer Windows 11 system. (Will write more about this later.)

And so our two weeks in Chicagoland sped by and we returned home. 

My brother has been awesome in caring for mom while we've been away on these trips. 

And yes, it would be another couple of weeks before I was back to normal again. Art? He recovered a whole lot quicker than I did. I don't know how he does it.

Osaka to Tokyo to Honolulu

April 27, 2025 Sunday

Osaka to Honolulu

We had been gone from Hawaii now for 20 days. 

We woke up at 5:00 AM, had a wonderful buffet breakfast at the hotel and were on our way to the Shin-Osaka train station at 9:00 AM.

We changed trains at Tokyo Station and continued on our way to Narita Airport.

Once at the airport, we found the Yamato Transport baggage room where we were relieved to find our 2 suitcases and big box of items we'd bought in Japan while on the tour that we'd sent from the Mito hotel 3 days ago.

We then checked in for our ANA flight to Hawaii which would take off at 8:26 PM.

Our plane landed at Honolulu International Airport at 8:29 AM. 

We collected our luggage and was picked up by my brother and returned home to find mom happy to see us. 

I was shocked to see our orchid still had flowers blooming after so many weeks. 

We unpacked, sorted our laundry, etc. and stayed awake until about 8:30 PM. 

I can never sleep on airplanes so I wondered how long I'd been awake.

I had AI figure it out for me. Granted I'm not understanding why it says I've been awake for 27 hours and then also says the Total awake time is 39 hours.

Whatever the case. I wondered how Cory Booker was able to stay awake for 25 hours and 4 minutes in the Senate (March 31st to April 1st) with his symbolic protest against Trump without a bathroom break or food. Granted, I'd been up much longer although I got to eat and use the bathroom and didn't have to give a speech. 😄

However, I did pay for this abuse of my body and brain because it took me over a week to recover from this trip after which I had one week to prepare for a trip in the other direction to see our granddaughter graduate from high school in Illinois.

Osaka EXPO - Day 2

April 26, Saturday
Osaka EXPO Day 2

We went to breakfast at the hotel buffet area and was surprised that there were very few people there. 

There was a delicious assortment of food for us to try and we fortified us for the day ahead.

To be perfectly honest, I was NOT looking forward to this. Yesterday had been too exhausting.

It was now Saturday so as expected there were more people heading to the EXPO.  

Surprisingly, there weren't as many students there on Saturday.

Art had his list of places that he'd researched, but when we entered the EXPO and I saw the pavilion for Korea, I told him we needed to see this because.... well... our wonderful son-in-law is Korean American and there wasn't any line to go in.

And you know what? It was great! There was a light show at the start with K-Pop music playing in the first room. (I assumed it was K-Pop.) The second room had a bubble machine.

I got this from the Chosun Biz En website:

"Upon entering Hall 2, there were concrete walls. When air was blown into pipes installed everywhere, bubbles gradually fell from the hydrogen vehicle Nexo engine from Hyundai hanging from the ceiling. Director Go Ju-won explained, "The oxygen that the visitors exhale in the desolate city combines with the hydrogen from the hydrogen fuel cell to become water that falls as concrete and then recovers the space."

The last room/Hall had a girl from the future who finds her grandfather's broken cellphone and and completes the music he'd been writing. 

And then yes... more K-Pop dancing and music.

It was great and I was energized to see more, BUT I told Art to forget his list and let's just go to pavilions with no lines and no necessary reservations. He agreed.

We went to Azerbaijan next which was OK.

Turkey had a small display. We'd been to Turkey and enjoyed the memories it brought up.

Then we came to Thailand which was a lot of fun. There were giant wooden elephants outside and a video inside showing parts of the country we remembered visiting while a couple docents danced in front. Displays showed the many accomplishments of the country.

We've also been to Spain and enjoyed their pavilion a lot which included the story of Don Quixote. It told of Spain's past connection to Japan.  

Saudi Arabia had a huge display of all their accomplishments. 

We then stopped for lunch at a fun food court enjoyed our sushis and seafood rice bowl. 

Their recycling station was impressive too.

What I liked best about Indonesia was all the different translations for many of their sayings.

Steadfast in purpose, driven in spirit.

We are one with nature.

Transparency brings prosperity.

Diversity fuels unity and solidarity.

To live is to uplift others.

United in love through life's journey.

Where there's will, there's a way.

Warm not the earth nor the heavens.

We love peace but we love freedom more. 

With a peaceful heart, everything feels right.

Each step shapes the path ahead. 

Peace thrives when we respect others.

Live righteously, be blessed eternally.

And so many others.

Seeing the Australia pavilion brought back a lot of happy memories.

Serbia was next and their display was on the importance of play. 

The next EXPO would be in Belgrade, Serbia in 2027.

They gave out marbles with the colors of their flag.

We went to a small exhibit for Bangladesh because we'd gone there to visit our son, Keola who'd been doing research there.

Art had also visited Kenya when Keola was in the Peace Corps so of course, we had to check out that exhibit. Maurice was very happy to talk to Art about their experiences.

When we think back on it, it's funny to think we went to 5 exhibits on our first day at the EXPO and was exhausted. On this second day, we went to 11 exhibits and loved every bit of it. It was far better to just go and see the pavilions where there were no lines, friendly guides, and smiling faces. 

Since we enjoyed our dinner at Yayoi Teishoku restaurant yesterday, we decided to go there again on the way back to our hotel. When I texted my cousin in Tokyo about this, he said Yoyoi Teishoku is a very well known, popular restaurant. As a matter of fact, I just looked online and there are three Yayoi Teishoku restaurants in California. Wow!

It had been such a wonderful day that we stopped at the 7/11 next to our hotel and bought some ice cream bars for desserts.

It was all really such a lovely way to end our trip.

P.S. Thank you to all who were concerned for us about the tsunami threat on Tuesday. We were holding our breaths not knowing how bad it was going to be. The news were showing some tourists who were refusing to leave the beach. That was not smart. I wrote a blog post in 2017 about tsunamis that hit the Big Island and Japan. https://travelerswife.blogspot.com/2017/04/when-historical-catastrophe-becomes.html

It shows how seriously you need to heed the warnings.