Stoned By a Friend

Last month, I was surprised to receive a package from an Illinois teacher buddy. It was rather heavy and I was totally mystified. 

I was opening the package when Art walked in. "What did Carole send you?" he asked.

"A rock," I answered.

"A rock?!? Carole sent you a rock?" he asked incredulously. 

"Actually, it's a stone," I told him.

It was a stone she had decorated beautifully for us with a wish for the new year. 

Carole had mentioned how she was into rock/stone painting as a hobby during the pandemic. I had been impressed with several of her amazing, artistic creations that she had shown me by text messages.

There are lots of Rock Painting and Stone Painting books you can buy that show you ideas as well as instructions on supplies that are needed and how to prep your stones. 

The funny thing is, I set Carole's rock on my desk and didn't even turn it over because I thought it was just going to be blue.

It wasn't until a couple of days later that I turned it over and saw this beautiful surprise.

I love it! I told you she was creative and talented. It was especially touching because my mother's father as many of you know was a Zen priest. He told his children that one of the family's mottos was Arigatai. It is Japanese for thankfulness or gratitude.

I am thankful. I'm thankful for friends like Carole who haven't forgotten me even though I'm so far away. I'm thankful for all my family and friends here and on the mainland and beyond. I'm thankful for all of you who keep me company online everyday.

Yes, I shall be going into 2021 striving to be thankful for all that I have and not to worry about what I can't yet control.

Saying Goodbye

I’d been planning to write this post for several weeks, but just couldn’t get myself to do it. I guess it’s because I didn’t want to acknowledge the finality of our loss and we have suffered too many losses both last year and this month.

Last month, I had to say goodbye to my witty, funny, brilliant cousin, Walt. He knew so much about everything and was interested in everything and everyone. He was an excellent cook and kept trying to find the best beans to grind for coffee. He'd share the beans with Art that he felt had a certain flavor or aroma or whatever and he'd attach notes on each little bag explaining how he roasted it, etc. Now, every time Art takes out his Dunkin Donuts coffee bag, he thinks about Walt.

Walt, who was 10 years younger than me, had been fighting bladder cancer and it seemed as though he had overcome this horrible disease. I thought he'd won. He once laughingly told me, "I'm too mean to let cancer beat me." 

But then suddenly... he wasn't able to fight off that last battle. We saw him at the hospital looking quite upbeat before the pandemic hit. I spoke to him on the phone at the hospital and he sounded perfectly fine toward fall of last year. But I worried when he started leaving a few comments on my blog in October ending with "love, your cousin Walt." We almost never use that "l" word. I do, but well... not my male cousins. That made me nervous.

He called me in November from the hospital and we spoke for nearly 45 minutes. He told me it was bad and though the doctors gave him 6 months, he didn't think he could make 2 because the pain was so unbearable. 

When my blogger buddy, Linda from Kansas learned of this, she sent me a set of hospice books for Walt's family and one for me.

They are written by hospice pioneer, Barbara Karnes. Her website is bkbooks.com. 

Walt's wife told me that the books were very helpful.

I couldn't open the books until we decided to go and visit Walt at his home when we knew his days were limited. They are very well written and structured step by step.

I couldn't believe the change in just a little over a month. Walt was bedridden and could no longer talk but when my brother and I held his hand, we felt the pressure of Walt's grip.

Leaving the house, we said  goodbye and suddenly there was a sunshine smile on Walt's face with a very slight wave. I will always remember that smile. Walt died two days later.

I was still reeling from Walt's passing when we got a call from good friends in California.

We met Mike and Jean during a biking trip in the Netherlands in 2007. We were still living in Illinois at the time. I hadn't been on a bike in 30+ years and suddenly here I was biking through the Netherlands and Belgium. Art was in an advanced group. I was in the turtle group. Jean was also a teacher and she took me under her wing and watched over me. There was one incident when her bike wheel hit a curb and she fell. What did she do? She got up (with bleeding leg), turned to me worriedly and asked, "Are you all right?" 

After that we saw each other whenever we went to California and they came to visit us in Hawaii. We have a lot of photos of our fun times together.

When we got that call last month from Mike that Jean was fighting an undiagnosed cancer, I absolutely could not believe it. Jean is also younger than me. She was meant to live forever always helping others and never putting herself first. She loved horses. She loved teaching handicapped children. We all loved her. I ordered a set of those hospice books to be sent to their daughter who passed it on to Mike for me. They were in some sort of assisted living with the option to move on to hospice care when the time came. I sent photos to her daughter that they could add to her digital frame in her room. Mike said they expected to be there for quite a while.

Mike called two days ago to tell me Jean had passed away in the morning. How is this possible? Mike says the end came so suddenly that they were all surprised.

He thanked me for the books which he said were extremely helpful to him. Knowing that Jean is more of a private person, he told her that when she felt she needed to go, not to worry about them because they were prepared and he left the room to call their children to let them know what was happening. Returning to the room, he found that Jean had quietly left us all.

I think of her going ahead of us, leading the way and teaching us how to make that final journey with dignity and grace.

Oh Nuts! Now the Refrigerator?

One month ago, our Whirlpool refrigerator vents iced up which caused the temperature to rise to 50 degrees F. We defrosted it to enter the new year without rotten food. Sadly, it only lasted about a month before icing up again. The fridge temperature rose to an alarming 60 degrees F. 

"I can fix it," said Art. "Let me get the hair dryer."

No way.  

When the ice maker died, Art ordered a new one online and fixed it. One year later, it broke down again so I got out the ice trays and made ice cubes manually. 

Then it started this whole vent icing thing a year or so ago. Art learned from friends that the vents needed to be defrosted so that's what he's been doing.

We bought the refrigerator in fall of 2006. I've read that refrigerators last about 10-18 years. The average fridge life expectancy is about 14 years. Our fridge is 14 years old.

This time, I put my foot down. No more YouTube DIY fixes. No more blowing hot air into the vent to melt the ice.

My cousin told me she has a Whirlpool too which was only 5 years old when the gasket broke. I told her I'm never buying a Whirlpool again. She said, "Me too."

The problem is it's very difficult to find a refrigerator that is counter depth and we needed a counter depth. I REALLY regret not finding a way to avoid this problem when the kitchen was designed. We also decided we didn't want an icemaker. In fact, when we were looking at refrigerators a year ago, we bumped into someone who said they were also looking for a fridge without an icemaker/water dispenser.

I called Home Depot and they said the wait time on any refrigerator was 12 weeks due to the pandemic. Sheesh! 

I called Lowes but couldn't get connected to the appliance department. I called Disco Mart and they said they didn't have anything that came close to counter depth. 

I called some other places before calling Best Buy who said there was one model that might work. It's going to stick out a bit, but would probably fit in our space.

We went to look at it. It could be delivered in 3 weeks. Free delivery and $24.99 for hauling away the old refrigerator. It's stainless steel which will match our other appliances.

And the brand?

Sigh... Whirlpool

Well, we bought it and will be keeping our fingers and toes crossed that it lasts at least 14 years. I did look online and it said Whirlpool was a good brand. Let's hope that my cousin just happened to get a lemon (which did get repaired and is working) and our new fridge will be a peach. 🤞

POSTSCRIPT: Since we're waiting for our new fridge to be delivered Art did defrost the vent and yes, it's working fine again. For now.

Art Gets His 1st Pfizer Shot

Art and I had been wondering when we'd (Art first) be getting our COVID-19 vaccination. We'd heard that Hawaii was very short on its vaccination supplies. However, you could sign up online and get shots at Pier 2 in Honolulu. We considered it but were worried about parking and crowds of people. Actually, the news showed they seemed to have everything under control with people coming in by appointment.

Mom got her shot easily. I received a "ticket" by email from Kaiser Permanente and could schedule her appointment without a problem. 

We'd heard from Art's classmates that they were able to get their shots either on the other side of the island or Pier 2 in Honolulu. 

Just as we were wondering what to do, Art got a phone call from Tripler Army Medical Center. They scheduled his shot for this past weekend.

The photos don't clearly show it but there were intermittent downpours throughout our time there. I felt so sorry for the medical personnel and corpsmen who were running around without raincoats.

Some corpsmen ran over to our car twice for the same thing. They told us that it took a while for them to figure out how to organize the distribution and were trying to work out the kinks in the operation.

Art says his shot was painless and he felt just fine.

We were told to wait in the parking lot for 15 minutes and to honk our car horn if he experienced any side effects. A corpsman met us in the parking lot and gave Art an appointment card for his second shot in February.

As we sat in the parking lot, a glorious rainbow spread itself before us.

I did ask one of the organizers if it would be OK to take photos. He told me to absolutely go ahead because word needs to get out about the necessity to get vaccinated.

But me? I don't know. According to this information from the Hawaii Department of Health, I'll have to wait until spring. 

Whatever the case, we'll be wearing our face masks, washing our hands and keeping our social distance until next year.

AirPods Pro Disappointment?

I had considered getting AirPods for a while. However, I was worried that with my weird ears, the wireless earbud would easily fall out of my right ear every time I leaned over. My daughter insisted that she loves hers as does my granddaughter and they should work fine for me too. 

Soooo... I looked into it and what do you know. The AirPods Pro was on sale. It also stated that it had a noise cancelling feature.

So I bought it. I considered it an anniversary gift for myself although Art said to think of it as a gift from him. 🙄 He just threw in Mothers Day and added my birthday too.

I excitedly waited for it to arrive and it came sooner than expected.

Would you believe Apple gives you a new charging wire, BUT NOT the adapter for it? And on top of that, the pluggy thing does not fit any of my previous adapters. You have to buy a NEW adapter for about $20! 

Arrrghhh!!!

Luckily, Art had gotten a new MagSafe (wireless) charger for Christmas that would work so I can charge my AirPods on that.

OK....

So now I was ready. However, what really moved me to get the AirPods Pro was the noise cancelling feature. I figured it would be great to drown out engine noise on an airplane (for whenever we can travel again).

I tested it out when Art was vacuuming the house just when I thought I'd take a nap.

I stuck them in my ears and it was great. Then I turned on the noise cancelling feature and could hear thumping... weird thump thrump bump. I wondered if the noise cancelling was broken on my left ear. So I tried moving my earlobe. Nope. Still thumping. Art said maybe it was my heart I was hearing. Nope. 

I looked online and found other people had the same thing happening when they were walking or riding a bus. I was lying down!

Wait! Wait! I just tried it again while walking around the house and now I don't hear it. 

What the heck! Maybe I have to stay upright to use the noise cancelling?

POSTSCRIPT 1: I was complaining to my daughter about that new charging wire. She told my techie son-in-law, Ed who owns an Android cellphone but is extra smart about anything technological. He hates Apple because they keep changing things just to force people to spend more.

Anyway, he asked what the other end of my charging wire looked like. I compared it to my old Apple lightning wires. They were the same. THEREFORE he said, I should be able to use my OLD charging wires. So I stuck that lightning side into my AirPod charging case and by golly, it fit and started charging. 

Dang! (I never thought to look at the other end. Sheesh! I now have a useless NEW charging wire.)

So why didn't Apple provide us with a new USB-C adapter? Don't ask Ed. He'll just explain about profits and all that other stuff. Sigh...

POSTSCRIPT 2: 

OK... Just to be extra clear about what everything is because I always need visuals to understand anything to do with technology.

POSTSCRIPT 3: 

I'm using my Air Pods whenever we go walking now and have to say I'm really enjoying it. I'm looking forward to using it on an airplane someday.

Kludging Together a ZOOM Stand

My very dear Illinois teacher buddy, Gerri proposed doing a ZOOM session the other day. I did get to see my colleagues when I squeezed in a trip to see my granddaughter dance almost a year ago. Our chat group of 5 teachers have been keeping each other company daily by text throughout 2020 as we held our breath before the November election. There's actually 9 of us but 2 are supporters of Trump and didn't want to be included in our texts, 1 doesn't own a smart phone and the other is busy with family.  We respected the wishes of our Trump supporting friends, of course. Our friendship is more important than our political views.

Art and I have had ZOOM sessions with our children and grandchildren which we loved but had to work through difficulties with the angle of our iPad. I didn't like how the angle had them looking up our noses.

Sooo... I'm thinking. There must be some kind of iPad stand that would be good. Oh yes! You can find a ton of them, but they're not cheap and I'm thinking I wouldn't be using it after the pandemic is over.

And sooo... I'm thinking. I'll bet I could make an iPad stand.

I like to keep shoe boxes. I always figure I'll be able to use them for something.

Sure enough.

I took the lid and shortened one side of the lip and glued it down so it wouldn't cut off any of the ZOOM view. I used my sewing clips to hold the cardboard together. (Not a good idea because now the clips don't work very well. I should have used clothes pins.) 😖

And here it is!

Yes, it worked perfectly. It was wonderful seeing my teacher buddies again. It was just like a year had not passed but the hour and a half ZOOMED by in a flash. I'm ready for any future ZOOM calls now! 

I Remember the Tears

I was just remembering a time when I started crying with no warning. I'm still dumbfounded by that moment. Most people know I rarely cry at funerals or weddings or any ceremony. I'm very moved and feel the happiness or sorrow, but I just don't cry. I think that's my mother's influence because she expected composure and self-control from myself and my brother when in public.

I know there are stories of mothers who cry at their daughters' weddings. It never ever occurred to me that I could possibly be one of those women. 

I was at the wedding rehearsal and saw Tiffany come down the aisle on Art's arm. No problem. I thought it was sweet to see father and daughter although I like the idea now where both parents walk their daughter down the aisle. (I'm just saying....)

But then came the wedding day. No problem. I was happy to see friends there. My brother and our photographer friend, Dave flew to Illinois from Hawaii to take the photos. Our son returned for a week or so from Mali where he was serving with the Peace Corps to stand as a groomsman. I was happy, very happy.

But then... that moment.

I saw Tiffany appear on Art's arm looking so exquisitely beautiful. I think I remembered her as a baby, a little girl, a teenager.  And suddenly, out of nowhere... tears, not pretty little tears but a gush, a torrent, a flood! I tried to stem the flow, but couldn't.

Tiffany told me later that she saw my face and had to immediately turn away so she wouldn't succumb to my emotion. Teacher friends turned to see my reaction and realized I didn't have a single tissue on hand. They immediately rescued me by sending up their tissues. What lifesavers!!!

And so... today... nearly 20 years later, I'm thinking about that and still surprised by my sudden loss of control. Someday when my granddaughter, KC gets married, you can bet I'll be prepared. I'll bring tissues for Tiffany too.

Inauguration Thoughts

First off, did you know that this inauguration day was a palindrome? A palindrome is a word, phrase, or sequence that reads the same backward as forward. Therefore 1-20-2021 is the same backwards or forwards.

My Illinois teacher friend sent me a letter telling me not to open it until the day of the inauguration.

Since I do try to follow teacher directions, I did as she asked.

I was expecting confetti or streamers, but burst out laughing when I found toilet paper.

My granddaughter posted these photos of two inaugurations for us. The first photo is of KC in 2009. She would have been 3 years old. I remember the jubilation of the day Barack Obama became president. We thought our country was finally showing growth, change, understanding, acceptance.

But things didn't stay that way.

Prejudice raised its ugly head 8 years later.

So on this day, my feeling is one of relief and hope. 

Sadly, for the last couple of years seeing the American flag and especially red colored hats made me sad and often embarrassed. 

Yesterday, I was feeling more pride again that we had survived another horrible time in American history. And yet, there's caution too because we still have almost half of the United States who voted to continue with the status quo. Muslim terrorists have often been referred to as radicalized. Don't you think those people who stormed the capitol were RADICALIZED terrorists?

And here is someone who is over-the-moon happy that President Biden was inaugurated yesterday. She feels America can hold its head up high again. We celebrated with a carry-out dinner from her favorite Japanese restaurant (and plum wine from her son and daughter-in-law).

President Biden and Vice President Harris have a monumental job ahead and it's wonderful to see they started on Day 1. I'm hoping we shall see the sun come out for our nation once again.

Mom Gets Her 1st COVID-19 Vaccination!

I was wondering if I would need to contact Kaiser Permanente for mom to get her vaccination. However, once Hawaii moved to Tier 1b, I got an email from them with a "ticket" to schedule an appointment. Gee... that was pretty easy. We could choose our time and clinic. We chose the Waipio Clinic because it's the smallest building and I thought it would be less crowded. 

Nope. Although the Clinic closes at 5:00 it was still busy for our 5:10 appointment. There were a lot of people waiting to get their Pfizer vaccinations.

I had to circle YES for mom having a history of allergic reactions to bee stings. Our clinician checked whether mom could still have the shot. She was told that mom could, but instead of waiting 15 minutes before leaving, she would have to wait half an hour. I commented that the room where the shot was administered is rather cramped. I hoped that the hospital had good ventilation. Me, paranoid? Well... maybe.

Do you know mom didn't even flinch when the shot was administered? My daughter said, "Grandma is a tough cookie." 

We were sent along with others to an observation room after her shot. Chairs were placed well apart. However, I was getting rather concerned when it started to fill up. 

The administrators in charge must have thought the same thing because they sent us on our way after 20 minutes.  They also gave mom a mask. However, the mask is made of polyester. Wasn't it supposed to be cotton? Is polyester OK now? 🙄

Mom was scheduled for her 2nd shot in February so we're good to go. 

That was pretty easy. On the other hand, Art also falls in this 1b Tier group and he hasn't heard anything from Tripler Army hospital. Looks like we're on our own. I hope Biden/Harris will be able to fix the incompetence of the current administration.

🤞

POSTSCRIPT 1: One day after her COVID-19 vaccination, mom said she had a severe leg cramp the night before and slight pain where she received her shot. I gave her a couple of Tylenols.

Two days after mom received her COVID-19 vaccination, she was 100% better. She says she doesn't have any reactions and she's back to normal.

I'm hoping Art and I will also avoid any adverse reactions when we're able to get our vaccinations as well.

POSTSCRIPT 2: Whoa... Art just got a call from Tripler Army Hospital. He is to go in on Saturday as a "high priority" person to also get the Pfizer. 

Fruitcake Without Candied Fruits?

I don't know why I suddenly decided I wanted to try making fruitcake with dried fruit instead of candied fruit. I think I can attribute it to my friend, Pat. She saw my previous blog post and texted me, "I love fruitcake, but only know how to make one with cream cheese." She also said she preferred fruitcake without too much of the candied fruit.

So I'm thinking... I should try making a batch for Pat to try. Besides, I knew Art's aunt loves fruitcake and would love to have another loaf.

Art was mystified. "Why do you need to make fruitcake?" he asked. "We still have several loaves in the freezer." 

"It's an experiment," I told him. And it was. He was not sold.

This past year, my friend, Naomi had to generously share her candied fruit with me so I could make fruitcake for the holidays because I couldn't find any in December. She told me that if I didn't purchased the candied fruit early in the season it would disappear from the shelves.

I looked at Jalna's fruitcake recipe (click on this link for recipe) again.  It did say you could also just use dried fruit. But would it be the same? Or similar? Would it be any good? Would it still be fruitcake? All the fruitcake recipes on line had fruit that you made by boiling dried fruit with brandy or rum and sugar or honey or whatever. 

When I told Art I was going to try making it with dried fruit anyway, I could swear I saw him roll his eyes up and bite his tongue. He told me that once I make up my mind on something I want to do, he's going to give up and just let me have my way. He is the fruitcake aficionado along with mom. I don't care for fruitcake. He felt it just wasn't going to work without candied fruit. "Aren't you even going to boil it in sugar or something?" he asked. I looked at him and he settled down to reading his newspaper.

I got out all the ingredients.

Art did help by chopping the walnuts for me. I took out all the dried fruit I had that I thought would work.

Raisins, cranberries, a Trader Joes berry mix, prunes, apricots...

Once they were made, we brought one over for Art's aunt, Pat and another friend who happens to love fruitcake.

There really are people who love fruitcake.

Art tried a slice of the cake when it cooled down and was very pleasantly surprised. He said it was really good.

Everyone else concurred. 

And mom?

She said it was the BEST I've made yet.

Art now says he thinks it's just as good as the regular fruitcake with candied fruit.

And Pat? She said, “ I just ate two pieces. I like it because it’s more cakey and not too fruity. Thank you so much!!!”

So you see.

Experimentation can be good.

OK... that's it for fruitcake for this year.

Blog Family Conversation

On my Friday Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich post, blog buddy, Doug of Apache Dug's Teepee wrote a reply on Patti's comment of The New Sixty  He apologized for doing so.

Granted, now he's making me want to get a bottle of Jif. However, Art usually insists on an organic brand. I had Skippy's because we were eating down some hurricane prep supplies.

Anyway, what I wanted everybody to understand is that I really enjoy anyone going ahead and jumping in to write replies to any comment for the fun of it. Obviously that's only if you're doing so with friendship and kindness. If you're not nice, I will erase you. 🙈

By the way, this cartoon is not Doug. Doug looks more like Matthew Broderick. 😁

So please, please... absolutely feel free to jump in and add additional replies to anybody's comment. 

And then, if you see a reply to a comment and another person's reply to that reply, go ahead and jump in. It will be a blog family conversation.

And this means you, Doug. 😂

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches?

Art and I were having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch the other day and that reminded us of our 2007 trip to Egypt and Jordan. 

Yes, we do eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches occasionally. Art used to pack it for his lunch all the time when we lived in Chicago.

Anyway....

Our trip was with a tour group called Imaginative Traveller. Yes, they spell it with two ls.

(I wonder if Brits spell it that way.)

There were fifteen of us from the U.S., England, Australia, Poland and Canada and we got to really enjoy each other's company. This was not a luxury tour AT ALL, hence the affordable price. They advised us to bring very small luggage, preferably duffle bags since we'd be carrying our own things all the time.

There were incredible pyramids in Cairo as well as the famous Sphinx and we rode an overnight train to Luxor where we saw amazingly well preserved temples. They looked like movie sets.  I was totally astounded how the hieroglyphics were so clearly visible after thousands of years.

We were expecting an Egyptian tour leader, but he turned out to be British. We were disappointed at first not to have a local person but he turned out to be excellent, very knowledgeable and really knew his way around.

After Egypt, we went on to Petra in Jordan.

OK...OK...  And this is where the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches come in.

We were to have a long bus ride to cross the Sinai desert in order to climb Mt. Sinai. We were told to go to the grocery store and buy supplies for our lunches since they would not be provided and we'd be staying on the bus the entire time.

We looked around and couldn't figure out what to get so finally decided on water, peanut butter, jelly and a loaf of bread. We figured they wouldn't need refrigeration.

Well, we had a lot of bread, jelly and peanut butter left so we offered it to everybody.

All our traveling buddies from other countries were rather astounded. The Canadians laughed saying it was breakfast food. 

I can't remember who, but eventually somebody did have some.

I wrote in my journal that there was a night where we went to dinner in Alexandria at a French/Egyptian restaurant with tour friends from Canada, Poland and Australia, having a great time listening to Frank Sinatra on the restaurant speakers. 

Yes, it was an awesome trip. I don't swim, but I did float on the Dead Sea. You really do float. 

And that's what eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich reminded us of.

Desk Cord Holder

I have a desk which I use for sewing, scanning, laptop computer and other projects. I was getting a little frustrated when the charging cord for my laptop kept falling behind my desk. 

And then aha! I had a thought. 💡 I'd bought a packet of cord holders many moons ago from I don't remember where. It might have been Office Max. You can now get these cord holders on Amazon or a bunch of other places every inexpensively.

Trouble is, I used up all my cord holders. So then I had a thought. There was one place I no longer needed that cord holder so I carefully pried it off.

I found my super glue and taped the cord holder onto the back of my desk to hold it until it dried.

And woo hoo! It worked!

I love it! The cord holder is in the back, out of view but holds my charging cord nice and handy for when I need to charge my laptop. 

I know this isn't important, but I'm just proud of myself today. 

Phonebooks?

Last week THREE phonebooks were delivered to our door. THREE of them!

Why in the world would any homeowner need THREE phone books?

Art laughed and said, "If you own a cellphone, you'd just look up the number. If you're a really, really senior citizen and didn't understand technology you wouldn't be able to read the teeny tiny print anyway.

We checked to see if we could recycle the phonebooks on the opala.org (Department of Environmental Services) website and discovered that they DON'T recycle phone books. They go into the trash bin.

This seems like such a waste.

Do you get phonebooks? Do you use them?

 

Fruitcake 2020

I was somewhat late last year getting organized to bake fruitcake for Art, mom, some relatives and friends. I don't eat fruitcake. It doesn't have any chocolate in it. Or maybe it's because mom had a generous friend several decades ago who always gifted us each year with fruitcake that she'd bought. My brother doesn't like fruitcake either. I wonder if it's because we had to eat that fruitcake in our childhood. 

Art and his sister, on the other hand, LOVE fruitcake. Honest. They really do. Whenever we'd go on trips overseas to Europe, Art would look for fruitcake so he could buy one for his sister and one for himself. He never found THE perfect fruitcake.

And then I saw this fruitcake recipe on Jalna's blog. It was simple enough that I thought I could manage it. That was four years ago and I've made it ever since because Art says it's just what he was looking for. Mom loves it too. (I mean really loves it!) Maybe it's because it's a recipe from Betty Shimabukuro of Hawaii. (This is the fruitcake I also gave Honolulu Aunty.)

Unfortunately, since I was late this year in getting those candied fruit, I had difficulty finding it at the stores.

I asked my friend, Naomi where she got her candied fruit and she told me she makes her own and would be happy to share some with me because she'd made a lot. 

Wow! That was so kind and generous of her. I already had one container of candied fruit from last year so with the fruit she gave me, I was able to make three recipes worth!

I'm so grateful for my stand mixer. 

I made the third batch on Christmas Eve and froze them.

When I brought some fruitcake to our son's home a couple years ago, I made some without the alcohol wrap so my grandsons could try it. Everyone said they liked it better without alcohol so that's how I made it after that.

This year, Art said I should try it again with alcohol just to remember what that taste was.

I only had Scotch which I use for my Thanksgiving stuffing. 

I'm told Brandy is best for fruitcake. However, I decided to soak three of the fruitcakes with the Scotch.

Now I'm supposed to remember to re-soak the fruitcake once a week for a month. And how do I remember to do that?

Oh yes. Alexa will remind me.

But no, I'm still not eating it. It's for Art and mom. With alcohol on it, who knows? Maybe my brother would be interested in trying it then. Do you like fruitcake?

Memories and Questions about Our Capitol, Our Capitol Police, Our Politicians

I do try to avoid writing about politics because frankly, I don't have enough understanding or vocabulary to put it all into words. So many of you are much better than me at doing so.

I remember taking our little granddaughter to the Capitol in 2016. We'd scheduled a tour with our congressional representative, Mark Takai. 

We'd heard he was ill, but didn't know that he had passed away from pancreatic cancer as we were flying to Illinois to pick up our daughter and granddaughter.

We decided to go to Washington, D.C. anyway and see if there was some kind of tour that was still available through his office.

It was sad to see Mark Takai's desk draped in leis. His staff very kindly insisted on taking us for a tour anyway.

The capitol was under renovation and maintenance at the time.

As we walked along the halls with Hawaii staffer Kayla, we were awed and felt privileged to be where our leaders dedicated themselves to running our country. It felt inviolate. 

We saw the King Kamehameha statue that represents Hawaii and a model of the Statue of Freedom that sits on the Capitol dome.

I remember the almost sacred feel of the place.

To know that those criminals instigated by the President of the United States desecrated these halls, stole furniture and documents from the offices of our representatives and destroyed property fills me with anger, grief and a lot of questions.

Everybody KNEW something was going to happen. They'd seen Trump's call for some kind of action to overturn the election on social media.

He was telling his rioters, "We love you, you're very special." And this was during the riots! Yes, he eventually told them to go home. But he still added in his video, "I know your pain, I know you're hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election and everyone knows it. Especially the other side. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace."

And WHY were the Capitol police not ready? They were totally outnumbered and unprepared! They'd earlier refused federal help. They couldn't even accept National Guard help from Maryland (until later) since it wasn't approved by who knows who. 

Most of the Capitol police did their upmost to valiantly keep back Trump's hoard, but there were those seen online taking down barriers to let the rioters through and some who even took selfies with them. There were armed rioters as well as those that carried those zip-tie handcuffs. What were they planning to do?!? What do you think? I've heard a recording of one protester yelling that they were coming to hang Mike Pence.

One of my Illinois teacher friends texted me about Mary Miller, a15th congressional district representative from the most Republican area of the state. 

"On January 5, 2021, two days into her House term, Miller issued a prepared speech at the pro-Trump "Save America" rally to address the conservative group Moms for America. She quoted Adolf Hitler, saying: "In a few elections, we're still going to be losing unless we win the hearts and minds of our children. This is the battle. Hitler was right on one thing. He said, 'whoever has the youth has the future'.  (from Wikipedia)

She has since apologized for her words, but only after receiving widespread condemnation.

We still have people in our country who are Trump supporters. Too many. Right wing media is saying it was Antifa or left wing groups. Nick Ochs (leader of Hawaii's Proud Boys) is now in jail by the FBI because he was caught on camera at the insurrection. I didn't even know we had Proud Boys in Hawaii.

 Around the world, people KNOW it was Trump instigated. 

And yet... we still have too many million Trump supporters in our own country who think of him like a demigod. And ONLY 100+ (?) people have been arrested so far for this attempted coup (I'm calling it a coup. You can call it a demonstration, a riot, a protest, sedition, insurrection, whatever). This should scare everybody and yet there are those Trump supporters who are celebrating it and threatening more to come.

"Plans for future armed protests have already begun proliferating on and off-Twitter, including a proposed secondary attack on the US Capitol and state capitol buildings on January 17, 2021." (Posted by Twitter as a reason for suspending Trump's account)

There's also worry about the inauguration since Trump will be safely away. I am hoping and hoping that THIS time, they will be prepared.

OK, that's it for me on this until I get my dander up again.

POSTSCRIPT 1:

I just saw this on THE HILL.

"Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), who chairs the House Administration Committee, said that she had been misled about the state of preparedness in a briefing with Sund and House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving earlier in the week.

"We were told that was all in place and there was no doubt completely able to keep us secure in the Capitol,"  she said, specifying that she had been told that the coordination with the National Guard was ready to go. 

"Well that was not correct. Not only were they not prepared, what they told me about the National Guard was just not true. The guard was not even activated," she said.

Lofgren also indicated that President Trump was slow to react to requests to mobilize the National Guard, an issue that normally falls to governors, but rests on the commander-in-chief when it comes to the District of Columbia. 

A call from Congress's bipartisan leaders, she said, was necessary to get the Defense Department to mobilize the National Guard."

There's so much we don't know. I sure hope they figure it all out. Looks like a lot of those in charge have resigned. 

POSTSCRIPT 2:

There's a lot of discrepant information out now. The latest from NPR is Capitol Police chief, Steven Sund (who resigned) saying he requested National Guard help before and during the riot and was denied or delayed 6 times. There's something fishy going on.

Pick a Pot for Pickled Onions

I mentioned yesterday that Honolulu Aunty had gifted me with a lemon chiffon pie, tyvek fabric to make a washing machine cover, elastic for masks and some supplies for me to make a lemon pie myself someday.

She'd mentioned wanting to make a lemon chiffon pie like her mom made and I happened to have one that a good friend of mine gave me before she passed away a couple years ago. I'm sorry, but I can't post that particular recipe onto cyberspace because she never gave me permission to do that.

However, I can post the pickled onion recipe that one of my favorite aunts gave me. Auntie Jean is my mom's sister-in-law and very well loved by everybody. She's also an amazing cook. I know this recipe was in the Maui cookbook and therefore public knowledge.

Auntie Jean's Pickled Onions

2/3 cup white distilled vinegar

½ cup water

6 Tablespoon sugar

2 ½ teaspoon Hawaiian salt

Boil all ingredients in a pot and cool. Add to onions. (We used sweet onions and added some red bell pepper slices too.)  Refrigerate for at least 2 days. (Actually we would recommend more like 3-4 days.)

I believe this recipe is for one medium/large onion in one pretty big jar. We make several jars at one time.

The pickled onions do have a rather strong taste that I happen to really like since my sense of taste is diminished. However, Art and mom love it too. I think it's a very Hawaiian type flavor.

POSTSCRIPT: I think 3-4 days might be better.

Our Crazy, Happy, No Good, Really Happy Anniversary Day!

Yesterday was our 48th wedding anniversary. Art and I were married on January 6, 1973. We were figuring on a quiet day with some take out Korean food from Sadie's BBQ restaurant in the evening.

I wasn't expecting Democrats in Georgia to win the senate race. And yet, by the time we woke up Raphael Warnock had won over Republican Kelly Loeffler. Really? As the day progressed Democrat Jon Ossoff had also defeated David Perdue. We could hardly believe it. OK... That was a promising start to our anniversary celebration.

Our happy breakfast was interrupted by text messages about the chaos, riot and attack on the Capitol. Pro-Trumpers had broken into the House chambers. A woman was shot and killed. Interesting how the police were awfully careful not to hurt those violent white protesters. If there were minorities in the group, I wonder how they would have handled it.  (This photo is from Wikipedia.)

Then we got a ZOOM call from our children and grandchildren wishing us a happy anniversary. That was absolutely wonderful!

I then got a surprise email from Honolulu Aunty saying she had some Tyvek she wanted to give me and possibly a lemon chiffon pie (no, I didn't tell her it was our anniversary). She suggested meeting at City Mill because she was picking up some things there. Art and I wanted to share something with her too so we quickly made some pickled onions. That was fun to do because I'd been wanting to make some for ourselves too. 

Oh gracious! Honolulu Aunty had the Tyvek material (future project: washing machine cover), a gorgeous pie and even some special elastic to make more masks. We were blown away. She is just the MOST thoughtful, generous, awesome friend to have.

Our take out Korean food was wonderful, but Honolulu Aunty's pie was even better. Uuuummm.... she even gave me some cream of tartar (which I gave as my excuse for not making a lemon chiffon pie) and would you believe... a lemon! 

And you know what? After tasting this pie, I will definitely have to make it.

All in all, this was a historic anniversary day. Perhaps the chaos and insanity of today's happenings at the Capitol made some Republicans see the light. It has certainly tested our democracy and it was an embarrassment with the world's eyes upon us.

However, as a 48th wedding anniversary, it was AWESOME!

Thank You Shaka Sign

We had just gotten back on the road after going to the gas station to fill up our tank when we heard a strange noise. At the first intersection as we stopped for the red light, the car in front of us honked his horn. The fellow stuck his hand out the window and pointed down at our van. Art was about to get out of our minivan when the driver jumped out of his car and pulled out a safety cone that was lodged in our wheel well. What a shock! I can't imagine how that happened. We totally didn't see that orange cone or hear it. 

We were so surprised and grateful to that other driver that as we passed alongside, I waved our thanks to him. He gave me the shaka sign back. So I flashed the shaka also as he smiled at us.

I've written about the shaka sign before but for those who don't know, this is what I got from Wikipedia.

The shaka sign, sometimes known as "hang loose", is a gesture of friendly intent often associated with Hawaii and surf culture. It consists of extending the thumb and smallest finger while holding the three middle fingers curled, and gesturing in salutation while presenting the front or back of the hand; the hand may be rotated back and forth for emphasis. While the shaka sign has spread internationally from its Hawaiian cultural roots to surf culture and beyond, the hand gesture also bears a variety of meaning in different contexts and regions of the world.

I write this because we passed by that same spot the other day and was surprised to see that orange cone is still there on the sidewalk.

We're going to have to go back and return it to the gas station, I'm afraid.

I thought it was rather cute to see a video of our son in Maryland teaching his sons how to do the "shaka" sign. 

Now they'll be ready for their trip to Hawaii whenever that can happen again.

POSTSCRIPT:

Art went for his early morning Christmas run and went to the intersection to pick up that cone and return it to the gas station. I wonder if they even knew it was missing.