Growing Up Too Fast

My daughter sent me a  text photo last week of our 10 year old granddaughter washing dishes. She wrote, "Do you remember when KC wanted so badly to wash dishes, but she was too little?"

Oh my gosh!

Isn't this the little girl we carried?

Wasn't it yesterday when she was small?

Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset..
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as we gaze...

(Fiddler on the Roof)


Why is it that washing dishes suddenly made her seem so much older? She even looks taller to me.

Why did it make me tear up...

Sigh...

I wonder how I'll react when she starts learning how to drive?

Heaven in a Glass of Water

We took mom out to her favorite restaurant recently to celebrate getting over her cold. The server poured us some water and it reminded Art and me of something that happened several years ago.

We were at a wedding reception sitting at the table with the bride's mother, Shirley and many of their family and friends. We didn't know anyone else, but like everywhere you go in Hawaii you end up talking to everyone quite easily.

Towards the end of the evening, Shirley, who is a very devout Buddhist doing lots of charity work around the world told us a story.

Once upon a time there was a man who tried to do a lot of good work so that he could go to heaven. It was a terrible surprise to find he'd been sent to hell after he died. He thought surely there'd been a mistake.

One day, the Buddha came by as he was walking by a large lake. The man asked him why he was in hell if he'd been good all his life. The Buddha pointed to the lake and told him, "This lake is full of the water you wasted throughout your life."

When the story ended we were all quietly musing the environmental message of the story. An efficient waiter moved to our table and asked if anybody wanted water to refill their glasses. Everyone shouted, "NO!" in unison and then burst into laughter. We then all finished every last drop of the water in our glasses before going home.

And now to this day, we do our best not to waste any of our water.

A warning to all those politicians who allow the pollution of our waters, I hope you realize that heaven might not be where you end up.

Treating Ourselves to Ice Cream

Our cellphone coverage right now is with T-Mobile. We have a T-Mobile Tuesdays app on our cellphone that we sometimes remember to check on Tuesdays for special offers. Sometimes, there's $4 movie tickets or maybe a free Frosty  or whatever. The other week it was BOGO 99 cents sundaes at Baskin Robbins. We were almost not going to use it.

However, we were out shopping and just happened to pass by a Baskin Robbins and decided to see if they participated in the T-Mobile Tuesdays offers. They did!

I had been to Zumba on a HOT, sweaty day and Art had just returned from delivering all his Meals on Wheels. We felt we needed a treat.

We met the super NICEST server there who made us feel as welcome as can be. He kept offering to let me taste something. I didn't take him up on it because I knew what I wanted. Mint Chocolate Chip and Rocky Road! I hadn't had those in such a long time.

It took Art a much longer time to choose. He finally settled on scoops of Lemon Poppyseed and Strawberry Banana. Can you believe he's not a chocolate fan? I guess opposites attract.

It was very lovely! And would you believe there was another coupon for a BOGO 99 cents sundae on the receipt?  Gracious!

We decided we'd bring mom next time when she's back to normal and could probably use a celebratory sundae.

As we were driving away, we were commenting that ice cream is ice cream, but when you are served by such nice people it makes everything taste better and definitely makes you want to go back.

Mutated Beetroot

I've mentioned before that it's a toss up between the beetroot or the leaves that we like best on a beet plant.

We were at the Open (Farmer's) Market last week and I was thrilled to find a beet plant with a lot of leaves. When we got home, I discovered why this was so.

One of the beet roots had two leaf tops!
Awesome!

Mom was quite thrilled because she loves the steamed beet tops.

As I was boiling the beetroot, Art once again insisted that his mother was able to peel the skin off the beet after boiling or steaming.

I tried, but it didn't work on the first two.

"Well," he said, "My mom was able to do it very easily."

Humph!

So I googled it.

Ummm...

OK, it said I was supposed to put the beetroots into cold water after boiling it so I put the other two into cold water and doggone it! The skin came right off.

I was waiting for the "I told you so," but he wisely avoided saying it.

The beets were wonderful! I can't wait to buy more.

Popcorn and Wonder Woman

Regal Theaters on Oahu have a special deal on Tuesdays where you can see a movie for $6.20. We also belong to the Regal Crown Club where you accrue points and get popcorn or drinks or whatever. Since we go to movies maybe four or five times a year we don't accrue very many points.

A lot of friends had been telling us how much they enjoyed Wonder Woman. I've also read several blog posts from blog friends who have recommended the movie. My daughter and granddaughter went to see it and loved it.

Art was not excited. He says he never read Wonder Woman comics. Hmph! I can't imagine why. However, to keep me happy he agreed to go.

We were surprised to be told that we qualified for a free small bag of popcorn. Art was happier. For a $1 more we got a bigger size.

When we entered the theater I was surprised to find my Zumba buddy, Irene and her husband already sitting there. We sat with them. This was turning out to be more and more fun.

The movie?

It was great! I liked seeing a woman super hero for once. Art? He did agree that it was a lot of fun and I could see why my granddaughter loved it.

And me? I really liked having popcorn while watching a fun movie, especially when it's free.

Have  you seen a movie you could recommend?

You've Got to be Carefully Taught

I've often been at parks enjoying the birds hopping or walking around the grass when a child will come careening through to scatter the birds while their parents laugh at their antics.

My son texted this photo of my grandson and daughter-in-law during a little hike.

What I loved was how Sarah is holding his hand and showing him how to keep his distance and enjoy the Canadian geese and their goslings without scaring them.

Do you remember the song, "You've Got to be Carefully Taught" from the Rogers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific? Here is Mandy Patinkin.

It was quite controversial at the time, I understand. Apparently Georgia declared that its Anti Racism message was part of a communist agenda.

Anyway...

I really feel children must be carefully taught from the time they are little to respect others, respect nature, respect and care for the environment.

I'm happy to see my granddaughter and grandson both being carefully taught.

Poi!

Art meets up with two of his high school classmates twice a week for exercise and coffee. Morris shares his pineapples with us. Gary often shares bananas or baked goods that his wife makes.This time he asked Art if we would like poi. 

Art and his sister grew up loving poi. My brother and sister-in-law like it. Me? Meh...

I got this from Wikipedia:

Poi is a Hawaii word for the primary Polynesian staple food made from the underground plant stem or corm of the taro plant (known in Hawaiian as kalo). It is a traditional part of Native Hawaiian cuisine.

Poi is produced by mashing the cooked corm (baked or steamed) until it is a highly viscous fluid. Water is added during mashing and again just before eating to achieve the desired consistency, which can range from liquid to dough-like. As such, poi can be known as "one-finger," "two-finger," or "three-finger" poi depending on the consistency, alluding to how many fingers are required to scoop it up in order to eat it. Poi can be eaten immediately when fresh and sweet, or left a bit longer to ferment.

We had some with our breakfast and you know what? With a teeny (sort of) bit of sugar it was MUCH better than the usual stuff I've had.

And how did Art eat the poi?

Would you believe he just plopped several dollops of it right on top of his cooked oatmeal with bananas, flax, hemp, tef, etc. and frozen blueberries?

He says it was wonderful...

I'll take his word for it.

Have You Tried Beet Tops?

We were at the Open Market (Hawaii's farmers markets) where we often shop for our veggies, bananas and papayas for the week.

We go to different farmers for certain fruits or vegetables. This is the stand where we always get our papayas. The farmers moved here from Thailand many years ago.

We get our bananas from the sellers who are from the Philippines.

This must be the season for beets. Notice how fresh the leaves are? We love to steam beet leaves and eat them with just a tad bit of mayonnaise. Art eats his plain. And yes, we eat the beetroot itself too. Art says his mom used to put the beet leaves into her meatballs which added a bit of moisture. It's not often we get beet leaves that are this beautiful. I'll be looking for them again next week.

Paid to Rate

We received what someone might have thought was junk mail.

What a shock! There was a $5 bill and request by the Nielsen Ratings Media Study to answer a short survey on our radio/TV habits. They said that if we sent our survey in, another $5 would be sent to us. This is pretty incredible!

Can you imagine just how many people tossed these envelopes in the trash thinking it was junk mail? It boggles your mind. The only thing I didn't like was the fact that I could only give one answer for my favorite TV show. Darn! I have several and it's hard to choose which one is my favorite. I finally settled on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.

What would you choose?

How Small Can I Go?

Yes, it's true. I'm getting older and weaker. Perhaps I need to stop carrying so much in my backpack. Whatever....

I've been noticing that my backpack holding my Kindle, iPad, extra clothes, snacks, journal, magazines, etc. is feeling rather heavy and uncomfortable.

Last week, we were wandering around TJ Maxx looking for something else when I spotted this!

I was surprised to see this small 18" tall carry-on for $49. They must be making them smaller in response to possible new airline rules. They list it as 17", but they're not counting the wheels.

Then I saw this one and was even more intrigued. It's a teeny bit shorter and it has an opening at the top so you can actually put it under the seat in front of you and have access to snacks or whatever.

If I have this I really don't need a heavy backpack.

However... That handle at the top puts a lot of stress on the plastic zipper.

So we went to Ross to check out their discounted luggage.

Remember... I wasn't even looking for luggage and got sidetracked.

And look what we I found! This was only 16.5" tall with a top opening so you can access things if you store it in front of you. And it was only $39. I had to get it.

Here's my collection of carry-ons through the years. They've gotten progressively smaller. I had even bigger ones that I donated a long time ago. The wheels on the red one is actually broken. It's usable but the rubber on the wheels had sort of melted off.

Art says I just have to keep in mind that he refuses to be caught anywhere holding my new blue bag. I wonder if that's why nobody else bought it. On the other hand, maybe nobody will want to steal it.

Framing Our Travels: Part 3

In April, 2005, my cousin encouraged us to go to Australia and New Zealand.

Art had to drive on "the other side" of the road which was incredibly tricky. He drove through the North and South Islands of New Zealand and it was one of the BEST trips we'd ever taken. We stayed at youth hostels and met the nicest, most wonderful bunch of international travelers everywhere we went. The scenery in New Zealand absolutely blew us away. We spent over two weeks in New Zealand and six days in Australia.

I remember a meringue type dessert called Pavlova that both New Zealand and Australia claimed as their national dessert. It was definitely something I would want to claim. We need to go back there and try it again.

November found us in Turkey on a tour. Our son had gone there a couple of years before and told us that we needed to go. We still think of it as one of our best trips too. There was so much to learn, so much to see and experience!

There was the Hagia Sophia, Aya Sofya, the Blue Mosque, Mausoleum of Ataturk, Cappadocia, Hattusas National Park, caravanserais (caravan stops on the Silk Road), Perge, Pamukkale, Ephesus, Troy and so much more. What made it extra special was the tiny group size. I think it was because of the political climate at the time. We all got to be good friends and I still keep in touch with a few of those wonderful tour buddies.

Art insisted on buying that HUGE and heavy tile piece at the Grand Bazaar to remember this remarkable trip. It took a while to figure out how to display it.

Egypt was incredible! Perhaps it is the dry climate but I couldn't believe how well preserved the hieroglyphics were. We saw the pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx in Cairo, temples everywhere, sailed on the Nile, walked on the sands of the Sahara desert, visited a Nubian school, crossed the Sinai to Jordan and sat in a Bedoin tent, saw Petra (Indian Jones) at night, floated on the Dead Sea, etc. We bought this papyrus print to remember this memorable trip.

I'm glad we went then to see all these incredible places. I don't think I'm brave enough to go now.

Whenever I tell anybody about frames that are more valuable than the artwork, this poster comes to mind. We took a bike/canal trip through the Netherlands and Belgium. We loved the Van Gogh Museum and I figured I'd frame this 10 Euro poster with an inexpensive poster frame. When we got back to the states, we discovered that the poster is a NON-standard size. Of course! I should have realized that. The U.S. is still using the Customary system of measurement while the rest of the world is using the Metric system. Arrrghhh...

My favorite place in the Netherlands? Keukenhof tulip gardens! Absolutely awesome!

We moved to Hawaii in 2008 and began taking mom on trips to Japan and then to Seattle and Canada. Mom LOVED Skagit Valley's tulips and Butchart Gardens in Victoria, Canada. We bought this native art print by aboriginal artist, Maynard Johnny.

In China we bought this folk art that was supposed to have been done by farmers in the area.

We loved China! There was just so much to see and so much yet to explore.

The Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Terracotta army in Xi'an, etc. all lived up to their fame.

Although we've done some other travels since, we haven't bought anything else.

We do have this nice big wall yet to fill. Maybe we got tired of having to pay so much to frame our inexpensive artwork.

Whatever the reason, as I look back at these photos, I'm thinking the memories they contain make every art piece priceless.

Framing Our Travels: Part 2

We'd always taken our trips with our children. However, once our daughter was working and our son was in college Art thought it was time we actually took a trip on our own.

It felt weird but we did it. I know the kids were rather wistful about not coming along. We went to Paris during my winter holiday break from school and bought this water color painting at an art stall on the way to Sacre Coeur at Montmartre which is the highest point in Paris.

I remember...

* catching a cold almost as soon as we landed.

* having the best pastries we'd ever tasted.

* eating escargot for the first time.

* having a free American Airlines package deal meal at Les Bistro des Deux Theatres that Art had gotten with the flight purchase. It was the BEST meal cuisine we'd ever had on a trip. It also came with a fruit basket and bottle of wine!
I'd ordered Coke and the waiter was aghast. "No Coke. You in Paris," he said. "Wine!" And he brought us full bottles of red and white wine to our shock.

* Being pick pocketed at the flea market at Marche Aux Puces de ST. Ouen. No, they didn't get anything. They just looked in my backpack apparently.

* Going to see the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Versailles, Musee de l'Orangerie, Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, etc.

* the very nicest desk clerk at our Opera Cadet hotel.

* loving every minute.

After Paris, we decided to go to Florence (Firenze) the following winter holiday break.

We bought this watercolor that an art student was selling near the Ponte Vecchio.

We decided to try a gelato for the first time.

We saw one gelato store that had a long line and opted to go to another one across the street. We did note the gelato seemed rather expensive.

To our surprise, we'd managed to buy over a couple pints of gelato. My tiramisu flavor was not as good as Art's pistachio which he ended up sharing.

We loved Florence and saw many of the surrounding towns as well, but we didn't go to Venice because a friend said not to bother.

That was a mistake we had to rectify three years ago.

In January, 2000 Art took a Father and Son trip to Peru. He and Keola hiked around the ruins of Machu Picchu. They had many adventures. Art bought this (Would you believe?) woven placemat for a couple of dollars and then framed it. Yes, yes... It's true. The frame is much, much, much, much more expensive than the placemat.

In April of 2000, Art and I went to Barcelona and Madrid in Spain. We loved walking along the avenue of Las Ramblas gazing at caged birds, flowers, mimes. We were introduced to Antoni Gaudi's incredible art and architecture. They were still working on the Sagrada Familia cathedral. Ten years later we were able to go back there and see the amazing progress they had made. Ummm... It's still not done.

We learned so much history about the Spanish Inquisition, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. I was able to share so much of what I learned during these trips to my students.

In January-February, 2002, Art visited Keola who was volunteering with the Peace Corps in Mali, West Africa. Art brought back a wooden grainary door to commemorate that trip. That was the trip where he and Keola climbed Kilimanjaro. For some reason they like to climb high places.

Later that year and into 2003 during my school winter break Art and I went to Portugal. We picked a couple of porcelain tile work. The other tile piece has our name on it and would take a month to get to Illinois. Yes, yes. The shipping cost from Portugal to Illinois was more than the cost of the tile piece. Sigh....

I remember going absolutely everywhere in Portugal. It was particularly interesting because we have many Portuguese people in Hawaii who arrived before the Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, Koreans, etc. I still remember how to say, "Obrigado," because I goofed once and said "Gracias." Yikes! There's a little rivalry between Spain and Portugal and they don't like you to mix that up. I only made that mistake once.

OK... That's it for today. I'll finish up tomorrow.

Framing Our Travels: Part 1

During many of our travels we have enjoyed choosing artwork to hang on our walls. Looking at them brings back a lovely memory. We have to ruefully admit that with most of them, the frames are more expensive than the artwork. Still, the memories they hold are very valuable and priceless for us. We haven't bought something during every trip we took, but I'll show you what we have collected.

This was the first piece of art we bought together.

We'd been walking around the Honolulu Zoo in Waikiki and saw an art fair going on.

An art student was selling her watercolors and we both liked this piece. It was very inexpensive and too difficult to resist even for poor college students.

When our kids were born, we lived in Chicago and traveled around the U.S. exploring different states.

In Arizona, we took the Thunderbird Canyon tour of Canyon de Chelly on an open air rooftop truck.


We did also take the kids to England in 1990 and then later in 1993 to Rome, but did not buy any artwork to hang.

Here is the open air truck we rode in at Canyon de Chelly.

You can see the truck itself in the background in the bottom photo.

When we took mom to see the same canyon about 20 years later we were shocked to discover that the Thunderbird tour was no longer offered because one of the trucks had overturned and a University of Hawaii astronomy professor had been killed.

We bought that Navajo rug above at the Thunderbird Lodge.

Art was always looking for good travel deals. Cancun was our next place to explore and the kids loved it.

They went up ahead with Art to the top of the Mayan temple while I took videos of them climbing. I followed and made the mistake of stopping about 3/4 of the way up to catch a breath. That's when I looked down and totally froze. The stairs were incredibly steep. I couldn't get myself to move up or down. I wanted to plaster myself to the steps. Art finally looked down and saw me frozen and coaxed me to just look at my feet and go up. I did and then did the same thing going down. I was imagining having a helicopter come and rescue me.

Our happy memento of that travel experience was this Mayan inscription of our wedding date. I thought it would be a good reminder for Art.

I'm still trying to forget the fact that I did get hit by Montezuma's Revenge on that trip.

Now that we managed England, Rome and Cancun we thought it was time to take the kids to Japan to meet some of my relatives and see the country of their grandparents' birth.

We stopped at the Kyoto Handicraft Center where the kids got to try their hand at woodblock printing. We bought a print to remember our first trip to Japan together as a family.

Tomorrow I'll share the next trip which Art and I took on our own for the first time without the kids.

Family in Frames

My Wall Art Gallery continues. This time, it's about family.

Before my brother, Dennis became a Photoshop master, he really was an accomplished artist. He won't draw a thing for me now. When we moved to Chicago from Hawaii in 1974 he mailed the drawings on the right for me so I wouldn't forget my roots. He started to draw Art's family restaurant and for some reason gave it up. We rescued it from his trash basket and framed it. Someday, Dennis will retire and I'm going to chain him to a desk and have him finish it.

I put our kids' clothes in a shadow box to keep a bit of their childhood for us to always hold dear. I've done the same for our grandkids.

We loved printers' boxes at one time and used it to display small treasures. The only downside was the dust it collected. When we moved to Hawaii, we designed a removable plexiglass cover for it. It's so much better!

Our granddaughter, KC drew this picture for us of the time she spent with us in Hawaii. They were at the beach a lot where there were rainbows, boogie boards, spam musubi and mom taking photos under the giant umbrella.

Here's the painting that Auntie Grace painted before she passed away. She is mom's much beloved younger sister.

Every time we look at it, we remember Auntie's zest for life and beauty.

When I retired from teaching in Illinois this was one of the gifts I received from the staff. I can see the windows of the 1st floor room where I taught for 19 years.

Our son and daughter-in-law gave this to Art for his 70th birthday. I wasn't sure what it was at first but Art knew right away. It's a diagram of the Chicago subway system. Art rode the train to work every day.

We bought this poster from the The Art Institute of Chicago when they held the Monet exhibit.

Chicago's art institute is one of the largest and oldest art museums in the U.S.

We often took our children there to develop their appreciation of the arts.

This was a photo our daughter, Tiffany took and developed when she was taking a high school photography class.

Here we copied Jackson Pollock and did this art project with the kids dripping paint on a very large canvas.

Unfortunately we couldn't find a wall big enough to hang the painting horizontally so we had to hang it sideways.

Someday, our son says we may have to cut the painting in two so he and his sister can each have a section.

Too funny!

Friends on Our Wall

Sigh...

Didn't know what to write about and was wandering around the house again. Art must have gotten tired of my pacing and suggested I write about what we have hanging on our walls.

I started looking first at beautiful pieces I've received from friends. Peggy gave me several art pieces through the years and I liked the colorful, happy feeling that this piece represented of those years we spent together in Illinois.

My dear classmate/friend Mavis made this wall hanging quilt for Art when he retired from the U.S.E.P.A. I'd sent her all his neckties for her craft projects and was totally blown away when she sent this at Christmas.

This poster was given to us by our very close friend, Dave Au. He is a professional photographer who has taken all our family photos and even came to Chicago to photograph our daughter's wedding.

This was one of the awards he's won through the years.

Dave is blessed with an eye for detail, angles, color, timing, composition and anything to do with cameras.

Our trip to Turkey in 2005 holds some of our favorite experiences. Whenever someone asks us what our favorite trip was, this is one of the top five. It wasn't just the scenery, history and people, but our tour members who came from all around the U.S. as well as Canada. There were only 18 people and we became good friends. One of them was an artist from New York named Connie. We were tickled pink when she painted this and sent it to us a few months later.

Bill, our anthropologist friend from Chicago often travels around the world to share his expertise.

He brought back this kanji from Paris which is supposed to say "Harmony."

In a place of honor is this sweet drawing that blogger Christine of Canada gave us when we met her and her beautiful family in Hawaii a few years ago.

There are several more wall art from friends but I'm going to move on to some different pieces for tomorrow.