Mother's Day #1

Mom lives with us so my baby brother, Dennis and his family don't get to have her to themselves unless we go on a trip. Therefore, Art and I thought it would be great for them to celebrate Mother's Day with her, especially since we had an invitation to go to another Mother's Day celebration that evening.

When they came to pick her up, they brought a very elaborate GORGEOUS orchid lei.

We laughed that it felt like she was going on a date.

Like excited parents, I had to take a photo of them before they left.

They were meeting their other son, Barry and his wife, Miho at Benihana of Tokyo.

Both leis are made out of the same flower. Can you imagine how many orchids it takes to make that one elaborate lei? It was so very wonderful of Dennis and Nancy to get it for her. The other lei was from Barry and Miho.

Mom came home excited and thrilled from her special outing. She couldn't wait to tell us about the chef tossing his knives around and cooking in front of them and how delicious her food was and how fabulous it was to be together and all the attention she got.

And then she took a nap... smiling.

When she woke up, I was preparing the salad to bring to Diane (my childhood buddy) and her husband, Dave's party.

Mom looked at the beautiful lei in the refrigerator and wistfully remarked how sad she was that the lei would have to sit there until it had to be thrown away.

She thought it would be great to pass on the good feeling to Diane and Dave.

The lei did add a festive air to the celebration. Dave is the amazing photographer who always takes our family photos.  Diane would not have wanted the lei since she gets a bit of a reaction to flowers draped around her neck.

So Mother's Day Sunday was great for all of us.

But there was still Mother's Day #2 coming up.

Birds in Paradise?

I have written numerous posts about the status of our Satsuma tangerine tree.

We planted the tree in March 2013.

It had a lot of pretty flowers on it which is what enticed us to buy it.

Within a couple of weeks the flowers all fell off with no fruits to show for it.

We were not discouraged. We figured the tree was still a baby and not ready for anything but growing.

And in three years, it did grow.

Flowers bloomed and then fell off.

Flowers came again, bore minuscule fruits and fell off.

I finally gave up writing about our hopes for a fruit.

Then ants came leaving black aphids on the young leaves.

We used Tree Tanglefoot to stop the ants from going up the tree trunk.

A few months ago, FIVE fruit appeared.

And they didn't fall off!

Is it possible? Could we actually have some fruit this year?

The five baby fruit are growing beautifully with no sign of giving up again.

(I know. I know. I know we can buy a whole bag of clementines for $3.99 or something like that.)

Sigh...

Anyway...

A friend of ours on the other part of the island told us about parrots or giant parakeets that were proliferating in the islands.

Apparently, because the birds make lousy pets (they bite), people have let them go and they multiplied.

They are now agricultural pests and are eating up the tropical fruits on the island.

Art's friend told him they swarm onto his neighbor's tree and eat all his oranges.

Arrrrghhhh...

Since we don't have these birds yet in our part of the island, I thought we might be safe.

However, the last couple of days we've heard very loud squawking in the skies. Some of the birds swooped down and we were able to see that they are those red-masked parakeets.

They sat on our neighbor's tree and stared at me.

"We'll be back when your fruits are ready," they said.

Shiver....

Annual Bonsai Sale

I'm rather late in posting some of our happenings, just because we've been a bit busy with guests, etc. Time just gets away from me.

A couple of weeks ago, we helped set up a school auditorium/lunch room for the Bonsai Club's annual plant sale on a Friday afternoon.

Bonsai members arrived at 5:30 PM. We had only about an hour and a half to set everything up for the sale on the following day.

Members brought lots and lots of plants to sell. We didn't bring any....

Mainly because we don't have any worth selling.

Lunch tables were set up with spacing for wheelchair access.  We then had to cover the tables with some black plastic to protect it.

The perimeter of the room had displays of plants to be admired, but were not for sale.

They were pretty darn amazing!

We got done with only a couple of minutes to spare.

The tables were full of enticing plants for sale. I don't know how people can part with some of these beauties.

Somebody was selling these coffee plants for $2. Art was sorely tempted! This unusual plant on the right is some kind of onion, but the label said it wasn't for sale.

One of our bonsai buddies asked us to look at his treasured forest. He's worked on it  for 20 years. He even made the display stand for it.

Needless to say, we were mighty impressed.

Unfortunately, we were too busy on Saturday to attend the sale... which might have been a good thing since Art would be too tempted to buy and too busy to upkeep.

Ant/Roach Killer Chalk

We found one solution to ant and roach problems was an insect killer chalk.

It works really, really well... too well. Many people in Hawaii that I've mentioned it to had already heard of and use it.

We applied it on kitchen baseboards since that's what the diagram instructed.

I finally looked up these chalk killers online and got some alarming information.

I found this on the EPA website:

• Illegal insecticide chalk is dangerous. Also known as "Miraculous Chalk" or "Chinese Chalk," you may have seen it sold in a neighborhood store or on the street for about $1 a box. It is mostly imported illegally from China and often bears a label in both English and Chinese. Sometimes the manufacturer claims that the chalk is "harmless to human beings and animals" and "safe to use." These claims are untrue and dangerous.

Children can easily mistake insecticide chalk for blackboard chalk or put it in their mouths. Some insecticide chalks can cause serious health problems, including vomiting, stomach pains, convulsions, tremors, loss of consciousness, and serious allergic reactions.

I was ready to toss out this chalk when I read this:

• Look for an EPA registration number on the pesticide's container. This number tells you that EPA has examined the safety testing.
• Look for a list of the active ingredients on the label. Any product registered with EPA must state the active ingredients on the label.
• Trust your instincts. Shop for pesticides only in stores you know and trust. Don’t buy products that are packed or wrapped suspiciously.

I looked on the back of our package and saw this. It DOES have the EPA registration #. 

On the other hand, I don't see a list of the ingredients anywhere on the package or the booklet that came with it.

The diagram shows where to apply the chalk in the kitchen but then prohibits its use in commercial kitchens and eating areas. Hmmmm...

OK... So I'm going with my gut instincts. Art can use it outside if he wants to, but not in the house.

So there!

Happy Mother's Day!

I don't usually do a weekend blog post anymore, but I just had to share this with you.

My daughter, Tiffany along with son-in-law, Ed sent me a Mother's Day package that I just opened.

Inside was this lovely card that Tif and KC made along with a book from KC.

What a surprise to see pages that KC filled out herself.

This must have taken her a long time.

I had to smile since I'd just gotten my first comment from KC a few days ago on my blog.

I'm looking forward to seeing KC in Hawaii in just a few weeks!

KC takes ballet and tap, but she picked the waltz for me. I love it!

I burst out laughing when I saw her response to...
It makes me grin when you "walk down the stairs."

Notice the clunky feet she drew? The  joke in the family is that I walk very heavily up the stairs so everybody knows it's me coming.

Ahhhh... French Silk (from Baker's Square)! My favorite too (in Chicago).

And you all know who is the 1st place granddaughter in my heart!

Happy Mothers Day to all of you 

who are mothers and/or love a mother!

Compromising on Color

I did a post a while back about the closet doors being our finishing project to the home renovation we started in 2006. Turned out, it wasn't. Art realized later that he has a couple more things to finish to be truly, totally finished, but we'll deal with that later.

The closet doors were a bit of a head ache. I wanted to use a clear latex sealer to finish the folding doors. Art felt it should be white. Bloggers agreed with me. 

Marriage is a compromise.

Art agreed that I could paint the doors in my office with the clear sealer.

I told him it would be much simpler since a clear sealer was a lot more forgiving and you wouldn't see spots you might have missed.

He was willing to see how it looked in my office (guest/entertainment) room.

After the sealer was applied (2 coats), the doors were a little darker and very smooth. I loved the feel of it.

Art still insisted on white for his office (guest room).

It required more coats (primer and 2 top coats) but I conceded it looked fine too.

As for the hallway closet, I didn't want to make a big deal of it and let him have his way.

After all, he lets me choose which flavor ice cream we should buy.

Hello to Halo

This has been a long time coming...

I've been noticing for a while that Art hasn't been able to hear certain things. He used to say it was me who was hard of hearing. I even had my hearing tested when we were in Illinois and they laughed and said it was probably "selective." Loud whistling noises do bother me and so does the very loud Zumba music. In fact, I'm the only person at Zumba who wears ear plugs because I really don't want to take a chance with my hearing deteriorating.

Art had his hearing tested a few years ago and tests showed some loss, but he didn't feel it was bad enough. We then got his hearing tested again at Sam's Club some months ago that showed more loss which still didn't move him toward getting hearing aids. Tripler Hospital sent him again to get his hearing tested and it all showed that yes, yes, he should get hearing aids. He also has tinnitus which is a ringing in the ear.

He admitted that it may have been a subconscious feeling that hearing aids would admit his aging. Or maybe it was how people who had them said everything got noisy and was distracting.

Going to a seminar where it was mentioned that hearing loss could contribute to the deterioration of unused brain cells and possibly hasten dementia that probably finally motivated Art to agree to getting hearing aids.

Whatever it was, there we were finally getting hearing aids for Art. We are very grateful to Linda of Linda Letters who gave lots of extremely helpful information based on her experiences.

There were a number of choices, but when our sales assistant at Tripler recommended ReSound, we opted for Starkey's Halo which is the brand that Linda went with. We know she did a thorough research and Art also did his due diligence.

It should be arriving in about a month. It will be just in time for him to be able to hear our granddaughter clearly when she, our daughter and techie son-in-law arrive. I hope Art doesn't turn the sound on the TV so low now that I won't be able to hear it.

POSTSCRIPT:
For my friends in Mexico: Happy Cinco de Mayo!
For my Japanese friends: Happy Children's Day! (Kodomo no Hi) It used to be Tango no Sekku (Boys' Day) but now it's inclusive of both sexes. March 3rd was Girls' Day (Hinamatsuri). Whatever the case, we've sent a carp wind sock to our grandson.

Another Quick Fix

My daughter, Tiffany bought me a nifty, compact, sturdy camera bag to take on trips about 6 years ago. It worked very well. She was just tired of seeing the ratty, tattered bag I was carrying.

The other day, I was shocked to see the strap was deteriorating. In fact, it was ready to fall off my shoulder. I found then that I could rip the strap with my fingers. It was that fragile. It's that Hawaiian salty air again.

No problem. I found another cooler bag that Tiffany had also given me a few years ago and just transferred the strap to my camera bag after testing it first.

True. Art did mention that they were different colors and looked a little odd.

Just don't tell Tiffany.

Cherry Blossoms in Illinois

In 2010 we were visiting in Illinois with our granddaughter when the chestnut tree suddenly fell. Thankfully, it fell into the street instead of on the house.

While our daughter and son-in-law were on a cruise, we decided to surprise them by planting a replacement tree. You know how much Art loves to plant trees. KC was three years old then and couldn't wait to help Grandpa.

We decided to plant a Shidare Zakura or Weeping Cherry because we always enjoyed seeing their cascading beauty in Japan.

Tiffany sent these photos to us last week so we could see how beautiful the tree was now. It was still not quite in full bloom, but lovely nonetheless.

KC is 9 years old now and the tree is much, much taller than her.

I wish we could be there to see it in person one of these days, but it's hard to schedule the trip due to it's ephemeral blooming season.

Ah well...

I guess that's what makes it so special.

It sure seems like it wasn't all that long ago when KC was just a baby we could carry her in our arms everywhere we went.

Sigh...

Misdirecting Mail to Micronesia?

We mailed our package to our grandson in Maryland on April 21st, Thursday. The receipt for our flat rate box said it would arrive in Maryland the following Monday. We waited a week, but didn't hear from our son that they had received the box.

We'd enclosed Boy's Day gifts which included the traditional wind socks, some fun food items and clothing.

We finally checked online tracking and saw this!

What the heck? Our package went to Pohnpei, FM 96941? FM stands for Federated States of Micronesia! Since Maryland's zip code starts with 21 we were puzzled as to why our package was sent to Micronesia which has a 96941 zip code.

Now the package is back in Honolulu somewhere. I wrote inquiries to USPS and Art called the customer service number. It is impossible to get through to write a complaint or get information. Aggravation! The computer freezes! We tried on three separate computers and the same thing happens. The customer service phone number just forces you to press numbers to get to where you want to go until it cycles you right out to hang up.

Sigh...

I wonder what the chances are that the box will arrive before Boy's Day (May 5th).

POSTSCRIPT:  I just checking the tracking number again this morning and BINGO! It's arrived in Maryland! They must have expedited the package.

Myrtle's Really Great Food Video

My dear friend, Myrtle sent our Zumba group this really great Youtube video with great food preparation tips.

I really love the one about peeling eggs and gosh.... I didn't know you call red peppers paprika.

Oh yes, and I'm looking forward to trying the potato trick too. What fun!

POSTSCRIPT: Ummm... I tried the garlic in the jar trick and it didn't work.

Saving Water with a New Showerhead

We've been needing a new showerhead for some time.

Our showerhead holes were clogged and a lot of the rubber tips had fallen off. The water flow was weak with lots of spaces between the water spray.

It would also sometimes keep dripping until I'd have to take the showerhead and drop it to the bottom of the tub so the annoying drip would stop.

The hose was also deteriorating.

Art did a LOT of research online and came up with this High Sierra Low Flow showerhead system.

Hmmmm.... It didn't look like any of the showerheads we'd seen at Home Depot or Lowes.  I was really dubious. How could such a small nozzle provide a good spray?

Our old shower head had a pitiful spray, but would this be worse since it's supposed to conserve water?

Art insisted the reviews were good and that although it's more expensive ($119 for the system) than regular sprays, it would save money in water usage and help our environment at the same time. In fact, it advertised that it would make up the cost of the spray in 3 months.

Apparently a regular shower head uses 2.5 gallons of water a minute. Can you believe it? This High Sierra shower head uses 1.5 gallons of water a minute.

Art could hardly wait for the showerhead to arrive.

I wondered if it would be hard to install. Nope! He got some plumber's tape, wrapped it around the threads and just twisted the showerhead on. It didn't take more than 10 minutes!

I got to try it first and it was amazing! The spray was much, much, much stronger than our old showerhead and it felt like there was a lot more water coming out. How can that be? I could change the direction of the spray and that button allowed me to stop the spray more easily while I soaped my self.

I like the part where it says it never clogs. Apparently there is never supposed to be a calcification build up according to Art.

All in all, we're very pleased.

What Art really liked is that it's made in the U.S.A.

Yay! We're happy... and definitely clean!

Mountains on the Moon?

One evening my nephew, Cody texted when he was out to tell me the full moon was looking particularly beautiful.

I looked out the window and saw that the cloudless sky was truly allowing the moon to show itself to full effect.

I got my Canon Powershot SX50HS, propped it on the fence and took this photo. I noticed some irregularity at the top of the photo and blew it up.

Could those be mountains? Is it really possible for my little camera to capture a mountain on the moon? Then again, could it just be a glitch in the camera or my shaky fingers?

Maybe I should try this with a tripod next time.

Ah well... It's just neat to imagine it could be true.

Father to Son

When our daughter, Tiffany was born I know that Art was thrilled. She was his treasure and still is. However, I think he'd perhaps hoped for a son.

Three years later we were ready to welcome another child and we didn't even have a boy's name truly agreed upon. Art didn't care anymore if we had a boy or a girl.

In fact, when Art delivered his own son in the elevator he didn't even look to see if he had a son or another daughter. The rather shocked nurse who met us when the elevator door opened announced we had a son.

Art loved exposing Keola to different experiences. He taught him the value of travel and learning.

He passed down the idea that Keola needed to continue the responsibility of the family name and live with honor and kindness.

(Photo was taken at the Smokey Mountains in 1981.)

When Keola became a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali, Art joined him during a break and they went to Tanzania and climbed Kilimanjaro together.

And now, here's Keola with his son.

We're looking forward to seeing what kind of man our grandson will be. We're enjoying seeing our son as a father.

What's In Those Cards?

Good friends have sent me these musical cards in the past and I always kept them for my granddaughter to play with.

One card she really loved was this one.

When you opened this card James Brown sang out loud and strong, "I feel good."

KC would open and shut this card over and over to hear the initial joyous James Brown yell.

After 7 years, you could still faintly hear the song.

I couldn't resist taking the card apart to see how it worked.



I got this card from a teacher friend and it played the Star Wars theme music.

Isn't it amazing that these little music players are in each card? Haven't you ever wondered how it was done?

Now you know.

Doing the Virtual 3D Tour of the Iolani Palace

The KHNL news announced that the Iolani Palace is now offering a Virtual Tour. Here is the link:  http://www.iolanipalace.org/Visit/VirtualTour

We tried the Virtual Tour and found it fascinating.

I got this from Wikipedia:

The ʻIolani Palace was the royal residence of the rulers of the Kingdom of Hawaii beginning with Kamehameha III under the Kamehameha Dynasty (1845) and ending with Queen Lili'uokalani (1893) under the Kalākaua Dynasty, founded by her brother, King David Kalakaua.

 We have visited the palace many times and found it interesting to see how the Hawaiian royalty lived. It wasn't all that ostentatious, but comfortable and showed a lot of western (European) influence. The Iolani Palace is the only royal palace in the United States. It was fascinating to hear that King Kalakaua installed electricity and telephones before the White House or Buckingham Palace is 1882. He was very much into the latest modern technologies.

As interesting as it is to see the beautiful palace, it's very sad and tragic to know the history of what happened to the Hawaiian people and the royal Kings and Queens they loved.

Excited About the Eclipse

As soon as Art learned that there was a total eclipse which would be visible from Kona, he booked our tickets. It's a good thing it was in summer so we didn't have to worry about taking the kids out of school. This is why we were in Kona on July 10, 1991.

I wrote about that incredible saga twenty years later in 2011.  Here's the link: http://travelerswife.blogspot.com/2011/07/july-11-1991-total-solar-eclipse.html

The photo at the bottom is of Keola and Tiffany sitting with me on the Kona pier waiting for the eclipse to begin.

We had a rental car reserved to drive to Waikoloa where there was supposed to have been the best view but they'd  run out of cars!

Whatever the case, it clouded over in Waikoloa anyway. Even the observatory on Mauna Kea was clouded over.

On the other hand...
Just when the eclipse began, the clouds parted in Kona to give us one of the best views on the island.

It was awesome!

Needless to say, you can imagine how excited Art was to hear that there was going to be another TOTAL  ECLIPSE in southern Illinois in 2017!

How funny to think that in 1991 we had to fly to Hawaii from Illinois to see the eclipse. Next year, we'll be flying to Illinois from Hawaii to see it.

I got this information from Wikipedia:
The eclipse will have a magnitude of 1.0306 and will be visible from a narrow corridor through the United States. The longest duration of totality will be 2 minutes 41.6 seconds at 37°38′12″N 89°15′24″W in Makanda Township just south of Carbondale, Illinois. It will be the first total solar eclipse visible from the southeastern United States since the solar eclipse of March 7, 1970.

Needless to say, Art has already informed our daughter, Tiffany that she can expect our visit next year in August. He asked her if she and her family would like to join us. Tif texted back, "Very funny. I don't even know what we're doing next week."

Saturday Fun (Part 2)

Our dear friends, Patty and Paul from Seattle arrived at last and we decided to try the newly renovated Makapuu Lighthouse Trail. Our friends Diane and Dave had introduced the hike to us two years ago before the renovation and I wrote a post about it. I think I liked the trail better then because it was more natural. It's been cleared of so much of the shrubbery that I feel like I'm just walking on a road.

The views however were just as magnificent if not more so because there were no shrubberies in the way.

That's Koko  Head crater in the distance.

The newly paved walkway, seemed to radiate more heat. Perhaps it was just my imagination because it was such a hot day.

I was feeling a little tired after the swap meet we were at in the morning with Honolulu Aunty, Jalna and her sisters.

However, that rainbow strap I bought at the swap meet for my Hydro Flask water jug really made it handy to carry. The cooler bag Jalna gave me stored water bottles perfectly for Patty and Paul.

It was fun seeing the lighthouse again. Opened in 1909 the Makapuu Point Lighthouse has the largest lens of any lighthouse in the United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

The views from the top of the trail were definitely breathtaking. We saw that "love locks" which people had been putting on the new handrails had been removed. They are a terrible problem because the metals in the locks cause some kind of a chemical reaction which produces rust on the handrails.Irresponsible people are also throwing the keys into the ocean which harms ocean life. Sigh...  Why do people do these things?

Going down the trail (which I always prefer) we saw what looked like a person riding a surfboard under a handglider.

We were also excited to see whales cavorting in the waves and spouting water into the air.

We capped off the lovely day with shave ice at Waiola Shave Ice.

After making plans for our next outing together, we headed home for dinner and an early bedtime.

We were pooped!