Eatery Review: Petals and Beans

Gigi of gigi-hawaii recommended Petals and Beans on her blog.  It looked so wonderful that we thought we'd give it a try the next time we were in Honolulu.



We met owner Chopsuey Boy and agree he is really a very friendly, wonderful person and we enjoyed meeting him.

The prices were reasonable and it was hard to choose what we wanted to order.

We decided to do what Gigi suggested and ordered the Waffle dog and Blended Drink Combo.  Art ordered the guava smoothie and Mom and I had the Mocha Expresso shake.

I have to admit that the waffle dog wasn't exactly Art's cup of tea, but then again...he's not a hot dog fan.  I thought it was interesting.  Mom liked it.








What mom and I really liked was the Mocha Expresso shakes.    We got to choose what kind of whipped cream we wanted.  I didn't even know there was chocolate whipped cream.  When mom and I stumbled over making a decision, he gave us both!  And that probably took care of our calories for the day, but it sure was fun!

Acupressure Point for Hypertension?

I've been asked about that acupressure point for high blood pressure we were taught in that Brain Awareness class I went to last weekend.  I've looked it up and found what she told us at this Heart Infocenter website.  She told us about the Li 11 acupressure point.  I'll have to ask my mother if it has made a difference.  I shouldn't do it for myself because my blood pressure is just right.  I wouldn't want to tamper with the only part of me that doesn't have a problem.

Here's a photo of where I sort of remember she told us the blood pressure point was.  I've drawn a dot with a marker where the point is supposed to be. (That's not a beauty mark.)  It should be at the bottom of the crease near your elbow.  If you Google Acupressure, you'll see a whole bunch of websites that tell you all about it.

The acupressure point that appealed to me was the one on the head to alleviate tiredness.  I found this picture at the Ying Yang House website.  I've tried it a few times and I think it worked, BUT... it could be I wanted to believe it so it worked like a placebo effect.


Then again, maybe if I'm tired I should just get some rest instead of pressing the top of my head.

Ah well... it's nice to know, even if it's just on my head.

Not Necessarily Politically Correct

Let me be up front with this.   I am not good with politics.  I don't understand all the ins and outs of it and don't read the papers thoroughly enough to be confident.  However... I do have some thoughts on it.  I don't know if it's accurate, but it's what I'm thinking.

I suppose this is not being politically correct but it seems the Republicans are for Big Business so they don't want to raise taxes, in particular for the rich.  They keep espousing trickle down economics... but has it really worked?  Aside from Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, have the rich really been hiring?  Doesn't sound like it.  They seem to be getting richer.  In fact, hasn't the divide between rich and poor become even greater in this country?  It's what I'm hearing.

The Republicans want to cut billions or more on entitlements.  Most people don't understand that entitlements are Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc.

The Republicans have been wanting to cut the legs off of the Environmental Protection Agency forever.  I know this because Art worked for the U.S.E.P.A. and I remember how discouraged he was when Reagan was in office.  He's discouraged every time a Republican comes to office.

The Republicans are holding President Obama hostage by demanding no new taxes (again... especially for the rich) and to CUT those entitlements which will really hurt Seniors and those planning on becoming Seniors.  They know the president does not want the country to go into default so they're waiting until the last possible moment so he'll be forced to sign something.

Tea Party people are primarily responsible for the hard line thinking.

Yes, I know President Obama has spent a lot to rescue banks who caused the problems in the first place.  But, what choice did he have?  The country was going down the tubes when he took office.  And who took us down the tubes in the first place?  Some people keep forgetting and some would like us to forget.

So there you have it.  That's how I'm seeing it, while understanding that I'm not very knowledgeable about politics. 

To be perfectly honest, I'm pretty upset with Washington D.C. today.  I may not be politically correct, but I think they're political idiots right now.

A Post a Day for a Year

I've been writing a post a day since July 4th, 2010 (and off and on since 2008).  The first thing that comes to mind is that a year certainly went by quickly.   Then I'm wondering how long can I keep this up.  And then I'm thinking I need to stop putting stress on myself.  If I can't think of anything to write about, I should let it go.

However, after doing this for a  year, it's hard to stop thinking that I need to be on this self-imposed schedule.  Is this an addiction?

Well... I can't go cold turkey so I'm going to try to slowly ease up on myself.  I'm certainly not going to stop writing, but I'm going to try to let a day go without thinking I need to come up with something worthy to blog about.

Let's see how I do.

POSTSCRIPT:  Of course, once I've posted this, Art is saying, "Why don't you write about this?" and "Check out this article.  It's worth blogging about."

Getting Rid of a Pesky Wart or Whatever It Was

Strangely, Art and I both had wart like growths between the pads of our feet recently.  His was on the right and mine was on the left.  He got it first.

I don't recall ever having this problem before.  I ignored it until it began to irritate me when I walked on bare feet around the house.    Art's skin growth, warts or calluses bothered him when he ran.  We're still not sure what it was. 

His doctor recommended salicylic acid.  

After his shower, Art dried off his feet and I brushed on the salicylic acid liquid.  He waited for it to dry and just went to sleep.

After about 2 days pieces of skin came off, but not all.  It took about a week for all the hard skin to fall off or be peeled off.

Then I noticed I was getting something on my foot too.  No, I wasn't running.

Since it took a bit long for Art's hard skin or whatever it was to fall off, I thought I'd follow the directions and do it twice a day.  I did it after my shower and in the morning when I got up and worked at my computer.

After about 3-4 days, whatever it was fell off. Then it was a little tender so I put a band aid on it for a day.  It's feeling better now.  Keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't come back again.

I hope this photo of the bottom of my foot doesn't gross anybody out.  I guess this is what my kids refer to as TMI (too much information).  They'll be shaking their heads as they read this post.

POSTSCRIPT:  I just looked on line and what do you know?  There was something on a Dr. Scholl's website.  It is a hard skin thing, sort of like a callus and people do get it.  I guess we're not alone after all.

Taken With a Grain of Salt

My friend, Joanne and I took a class this past weekend called Brain Awakening.  We found it very interesting, but will take the information we were given with a grain of salt.  Our teacher has a Dr. title, but when I looked on line, it looks like she is an acupuncture specialist.  I'm not sure what kind of Dr. she is exactly but she was very knowledgeable in her field.  I'm not saying that the following information might not be accurate, I'm saying you should take it with a grain of salt and do your own investigation.  She did advise us to do that also.

In a nutshell, we were told that:

• We shouldn't use automatic rice cookers because they have an aluminum pot which is bad for you and can cause Alzheimers.  Aluminum can be found in antiperspirants also which should be avoided.  (I knew about the antiperspirant, but I don't think Mom will give up her rice cooker.)
• Don't eat raw meats (No sashimi, etc.)
• No shellfish
• Get rid of your silver fillings because it has mercury in it.
• Don't do root canals. (I forget why.  Why do you think I was taking this course?  I forget stuff!)
• Don't chew gum because it releases the toxins from your fillings.
• Don't dye your hair because of the toxins in the chemicals.
• Don't eat Hawaiian GMO papayas; especially avoid Rainbow (or the Sunrise or Strawberry type) papayas. Kapoho or Kapoho Solo is supposed to be good.  Check out this Hawaii Papaya Industry Associaton website.
• Don't use microwave ovens.
• Avoid alcohol.
• NO diet colas because of the aspartame.  No lite yogurt either for the same reason.
• Avoid sugar.
• Avoid food additives, caffeine, fast food, etc.
• Avoid cellphone use and especially Blue Tooth because of the brain cancer threat.
• Avoid water in Ewa, Kunia, Wahiawa, Mililani.  (Sorry you guys out there.  Toxins in your water.  I thought we all drank the same water.)
• Stay away from Morton type salt.  Use only sea salt.
• If you're an A or B blood type you can be omnivorous.  However, if you're an O, you should be vegetarian. 
• Avoid Dead water.  She recommended a book by Masaru Emoto about water.  She said to especially avoid Kirkland water. However, before you start praying over your water and such, you should read this article I found called, Is Masaru Emoto for Real?
• Drink lots of water!  (I'll try to do better.)

OK... so now I'm more paranoid than I was before, but I took a few calming breaths and listened to the rest of her lesson which was about acupuncture points.  I found those more helpful and the reason why I was there in the first place.

I've already told my mother and Art where to press to reduce their blood pressure.  I'll be checking to see if anything happens after a few days.

After the class, Joanne and I went to dinner at Bravos which was great.  We did drink quite a bit of iced tea which does have caffeine in it; no aspartame though. 

We didn't have dessert so avoided the sugar and all in all, pretty much just had a rollicking good time.

Heeeey.... she didn't say anything about chocolates!  Phew!

Conflict Resolution for Children: Talking It Out

My post yesterday reminded me of the method of conflict resolution that we used to teach our children in Illinois when I taught 1st grade.  I really thought it worked well.  I used the same method with my own children. 

Here's what I remember teaching my class:

1.  Cool down.

2.  Ask the person you had the conflict with to the "Talk It Out" rug.

3.  Give the "I" message.
Tell the person how you felt when they did the action causing you grief.  It should be an "I" message, not a "You" message.
Example of wrong thing to say:  "You are rotten.  You were nasty to do ...."
Example of the better thing to say:  "I felt really sad when we were out on the playground and you took the ball away."  Then listen to what the other person says.  It may have been a misunderstanding.

4.  Come up with a solution so it doesn't happen again.

5.  Part as friends after agreeing to what will be done next time.

I looked on line and found something from Brigham Young's Center for Conflict Resolution.  And here's another site from Teacher Vision that actually gives a free lesson plan for Talk It Out Together.  Both sites explain conflict resolution for children and adults very well.

Good Manners for Pre-Schoolers

My daughter, Tiffany shared this e-mail with me that she received from a mother who wrote to tell her what her son said the night before about a bedtime story.

Wanted to pass along a funny story.  Last night we read a book called Henry In Love.  It is about a little boy (cat, actually) named Henry, who has a crush on a girl in his class.  He thinks she's the "loveliest girl in his class." When we got to that part, Henry said, "Just like KC!"

Tiffany has worked very hard to teach KC good manners.  We're very proud of the patient, consistent way that Tif has tried to instill politeness from the time KC was very, very little.  KC has written thank you notes from the time she could hold a pencil even though no one could read what she wrote.

The other day, Tif says a child grabbed a toy that KC was playing with at a party.  KC tried to explain that she was still playing with it and was not ready to share it just yet.  The other child grabbed the toy and ran off laughing.  KC was stunned and not a little upset.  She was furious, but didn't go into a counter attack.

On the way home, Tif says she tried to explain that life is like that sometimes... that there are other children and adults who won't behave as you would like them to.  You have to try to make your feelings known calmly, and then let it go.  Tif isn't sure KC got much out of their talk on the long way home because all tuckered out in her car seat, KC fell asleep.

Letting it go is hard.  I think even adults have a hard time with it.  Imagine how hard it must be for kids.

Wordpress Back-Up

A lot of people have had such a bad time with Blogger.  I've heard of a person or two even losing their entire blog.

Several bloggers have suggested switching to Wordpress.

I decided to give it a try.  Here it is if you'd like to take a peak.  I titled it Kay's Musings.  This is the link to it.


I don't really understand Wordpress yet.  I haven't even figured out how to put a blog roll on it and won't bother.  It's too much for my technology challenged mind to absorb and understand.  Things are just not very intuitive for me on Wordpress.

However, since I've been worried about backing things up, I thought I'd just back up my Blogspot blog on Wordpress.  I don't want to switch over completely because I think you lose a lot of the connections you make.  I also like a lot of the Blogspot options.  So, I'm NOT moving from Blogger, but I'm feeling a little safer knowing I have a back-up option in place. Phew!

POSTSCRIPT:  I'm seeing in my Comments that some of you might be interested in backing up your blog on Wordpress also.  To save you some trouble since it took me a while to figure this out, you can go to the Tools on the left hand bar of the Wordpress Site Admin and IMPORT all of your Blogger posts and comments with one Magic Button. 

The only problem I had was that it also imported all the "Labels" I had on Blogger and changed it to Categories that I then had to delete.  That's where I am now.  I have no idea yet how to create a blogroll link for places I like to visit, but since I'm only using Wordpress as a back-up, I figure I won't worry about it.

Buddhist Ancestor Worship?

I've always been disturbed by the term ancestor worship to describe the honoring and remembering of those who passed before us.

Why would you call it ancestor worship?  It makes it sound like Buddhists are elevating their loved ones to the status of gods.  That's ridiculous!

 And yet that's how I've heard and seen Buddhism described.

It's a put down, isn't it?  It's used to make Buddhism sound heathenistic, uncivilized, pagan, scary?

That's not how I was raised to believe.

We have a family altar at our house.  That's another custom that was used to try to illustrate the supposed belief in ancestor worship.  It really disturbs me to know people think of Buddhism that way.

My mother prays at the altar every morning to honor, not worship people she has loved and lost.  She humbly sends her gratitude to the next world.  She does believe that there is a next world where people she loved are waiting for her.

She also feels we need to visit graves at special times of the year to offer flowers and send our prayers of remembrance.  She doesn't want us to forget those who went before us because they paved the way.  We need to learn from their trials and make the way easier for those who will follow us.

It is the Obon season now which is why we were at the grave site yesterday and temple tonight.  We are remembering loved ones and honoring their memory.

This is a good thing.  It's not ancestor worship.

Aggravating Hard Water Deposits

I've been having a problem with ugly, scaly, hard water deposits around my bathroom faucet.  I've tried Lime Away, vinegar, and a number of other things that just wouldn't get rid of it.  I don't remember having this much difficulty in Illinois.  Does Hawaii have more minerals in the water?

My fingernails have taken a beating trying to remove what I could from it.

Art thought he'd try this Soft Scrub Total.

It has a spray and foam option.  He thought the foam clung better.

We let it soak for a while and then scrubbed it with a teflon Dobie pad.

It didn't remove all of it, but most.  I could also scrape off the left over deposits easier when it was dry.

Not bad.

I can live with this.

So...How Do You Back up Your Files?

Sigh...

There appears to be no easy solution to backing up our files. I have a million photos and family files that I'd like to archive.  But what's the best way?

I have a 1 Terabyte external drive and I have CDs and DVDs.  My brother and son-in-law (both experts in computers and peripherals) tell me that I must not archive my files on CDs.  They deteriorate much more quickly than DVDs.  They explained why, but I won't try to in this post.

I decided to check out this DesignTools website.  Here's the most important thing I got from this article:
"Currently, the best archival brands we know of are from Verbatim, Mobile Fidelity, Maxell, TDK, Mitsui, and Taiyo Yuden.

Verbatim's DataLifePlus and Mobile Fidelity's UltraDisc media are particularly worthy of trust: they both have a 100-year life expectancy, which has been confirmed by accelerated aging tests. Both have an extra-hard coating to make them resistant to scratches and UV light damage. 

We trust Verbatim because its parent company is Mitsubishi, which invented the dye used in optical media. (But be careful of brands: Verbatim also has a lower-priced "DataLife" brand that isn't as bulletproof.)"

My brother says I should back up with an external drive, but says even that is not foolproof because machines can break down in Hawaii's salty air.

I just bought some Ativa DVD+Rs that were really cheap at Office Depot. (100 for $11.99)  Sigh.  I'm going to return them today after checking on line and finding out that they were not worth buying.  Sigh. 

Seagate Freeagent  hard drive

I just checked reviews on the DataLifePlus DVDs and it didn't necessarily fill us with confidence.  Then we checked on the 2 Terabyte Seagate Freeagent external hard drive.  Lots of people complained about that, too.  We checked other hard drives and no matter what we looked at people had complaints.  Arrrghhh!

So how do you choose?  Can anybody recommend an external hard drive or DVD that they think is excellent for archiving?

Movie Recommendation: Tangled

Art and I borrowed Tangled from Netflix and really loved it. 

I got this review from Amazon:

"Walt Disney Pictures presents TANGLED, one of the most hilarious, hair-raising tales ever told. When the Kingdom's most wanted - and most charming - bandit Flynn Rider (voice of Zachary Levi) hides out in a mysterious tower, he's taken hostage by Rapunzel (voice of Mandy Moore), a beautiful and feisty tower-bound teen with 70 feet of magical, golden hair.
TANGLED is a store of adventure, heart, humor and hair - lots of hair. The soundtrack matches the humor and adventure of the movie with original songs and score from legendary and 8 time Academy Award® winning composer Alan Menken and Tony® and Grammy® nominee Glenn Slater. The quality abounds in the music with Mandy Moore singing on several of the new songs and the release of Grace Potter's new song 'Something That I Want'."

Now that I've looked it up on the web, I see another reason why I liked it so much.  The part of Flynn Rider is played by Zachary Levi.  I forgot who Zachary Levi was until I looked it up.  It's Chuck!  That's the television series that Art and I like so much!

Our favorite character in the movie was a horse named Maximus.  The expressions are hilarious.

You all know how much I love happy endings. I'm still so amazed at how far animated movies have come.

If you'd like to watch a movie that will make you laugh and smile long afterwards, rent Tangled.

Art in California!

I've been looking at Art's travel photos and I could see where he had a terrific time.  He met his college buddy, Sam who arrived from Tokyo to be at this get-together in San Francisco.
They stayed with more friends from college days and visited a lot of amazing places in that area.

Art says Muir Woods reminded him of Cedar Trail in Glacier National Park and was just as beautiful.

They then went to Filoli House and Gardens in Woodside, California.  This is a photo of their sunken garden.

Then it was on to Napa Valley's Beringer Winery.

Art says they got to sample a variety of wines and they all enjoyed themselves.

After spending time together talking about their exciting college days, Art and Sam left to join Art's sister, Kay and her husband in the Sierras.  It was a long drive to the Mammoth Lake area.

Art says it was so beautiful that it took extra long because they kept stopping to take photos.  They spied this yellow-bellied marmot that really entranced them.

Ellery Lake was spectacular!

They were able to find Art's sister and her husband quickly.  Here is Art and Kay at Gull Lake where they had been fishing.

And here they are at Twin Lakes.  The views are just incredible.  I can see why Kay and her husband love it there!

On another day, Art and Sam went to Devils Postpile which is near Mammoth Lakes.  Art says the formation is like Devils Tower.

Kay invited her brother and Sam to try fishing.

Art hasn't fished much... or at all in the last couple of decades.  Sam had never tried fresh water fishing and declined at first.  However, they convinced him to try his hand at it.

Amazingly, the fish decided to give them a good time.  I was told they caught about 50 fish and let most of them go.   I'm told they were really huge!  Hmmm... this is sounding like a "fish" story to me.  



After that wonderful experience with two patient teachers, Sam was hooked on fishing.

They apparently had a fabulous trout dinner that night.
 

Art's birthday happened to be during that time so his sister made sure they celebrated it royally.

Apparently they had so much baby back ribs that they could barely eat the cake.  But they did!  Art's sister has always watched over her baby brother.

When Art left for college, he stopped in California where Kay was working as a teacher.  She outfitted her brother with appropriate clothes for the Midwest.  Since he was coming from Hawaii with limited finances, she made sure he arrived at school looking presentable.

I've celebrated many birthdays with Art.  I was so pleased that he could have this special time with his sister.  Now Art is telling me, we need to make another trip in the future so I can see everything he's seen and perhaps try my hand at fishing also.

Farmers Market

There's a Farmers Market quite close by and while Art was gone, buddies Joanne and Diane suggested going there for food and veggies.  We went last week and really enjoyed a lot of the food.  Art and I haven't tried any of the prepared foods  before, but since he was gone and Joanne and Diane were trying some, I decided to try a taste for fun.  Yummm!

I bought chicken long rice and teriyaki chicken which they were grilling right there.  Mom loved it!  The portions were very generous.  Mom and I couldn't finish the small size container.

When I went back this time, I bought the large chicken plate since I figured Art would like the left overs and I picked up a box for my brother and his family also.

I was surprised when I went to the stand that sold chicken long rice.  I told the friendly seller I wanted the same thing I ordered last week and before I could say what it was, she actually remembered the container size that I wanted and the extra green onions.  I was floored.  I can't remember what I did yesterday and she remembered my order from last week!

Wow!  I'm going back again next time and I'm going to order the same thing.

Vacuum Cleaner Salesmen

I've been hoodwinked.  I usually don't let people in the house unless I really know them.  What possessed me to let vacuum cleaner salesmen in?

I answered the door and a fellow who looked like he could be a friend's son appeared.  He handed me an air purifer that he explained was wonderful and that they were handing it out to all the neighbors to try.

He said his company, Aqua Systems just wanted to get the word out about their company.

Sounded OK.  He looked trustworthy.  He said he just wanted my opinion about that air purifier.  He said he just wanted to spread the word about their company that they wanted to start in the neighborhood.  He said he was just collecting opinions and the more opinions he got, they could win a trip to Reno.

Sounded OK.  Like I said, he looked like he could be a friend's son. I always help my friends' children when I can.

Then he said he needed to come back to show me what it was about and that it would be brief.  I told him I could only give him a half hour max because I had friends coming over.

He said OK.

That's when his partner showed up with a Rainbow air purifier which was ALSO a vacuum cleaner.  I told him I already had two vacuum cleaners.

He demonstrated how great the vacuum cleaner was.  And it was very good.  It certainly picked up a LOT of dust in what I thought was an already immaculate house.  My mother is very fastidious.  BUT the price tag was $4,000.00.  I told him, "No way."

He insisted on cleaning all of our little area carpet showing us the dust it was picking up.  He insisted on cleaning the sofa too.

It was now well past that half hour mark and my friends arrived to go with me to the Farmers Market.  I told the vacuum salesmen they needed to leave because I could not leave them with my mother and it was past their allotted time.

Well... it took them quite a while to get their things together to leave while my friends waited outside.

The kicker.  The little gift of the air purifier that fellow gave me before, to have me listen to them ... he took it with him as he was leaving!  

The double kicker.  When I was gone, my mother went out to get the mail.  They were still there outside of our house and told her they were thirsty.  She went back in the house to get them canned drinks!

Mom says they cleaned her carpet so it's OK to give them some drinks.

When she told me this, I was alarmed.  I called my brother who works for the Honolulu Police Department and he said that if they allowed me to take so many photos of them, it should be safe.  I have photos of their faces also, but I didn't think it would be fair to post them because they're probably just doing their job.

I've learned my lesson now.  I'm never letting another salesperson or stranger into the house again.  I hope I don't get a call from my son and daughter scolding me if they read this post.

One of my friends who was waiting for me got a good look at both of the fellows and she says she can see why I allowed them in because that first fellow I talked to looked so innocent. However, she gently warned me to be more careful next time.

But you know what?  It was a rather remarkable vacuum cleaner.  Except that I thought they were trying to sell an air purifier.  I'm sure they were perfectly legitimate, hardworking fellows working in a tough economy. However, I feel like I've let my guard down and opened myself to something that wasn't wise.

I was a teacher, and I can also learn.

POSTSCRIPT:  I just checked online and have seen some terrible horror stories about Rainbow vacuum cleaner salespeople.  They appear to prey on seniors.  It also states the vacuum cleaners run from $1,000 to $2,000, not $4,000.  On the other hand, some people have liked their machines.  But, more importantly, a lot more people have been really badly scammed!  Beware!

He's Coming Home!

OK, I did it!  I filled in the nail holes with plaster, sanded it, caulked all the spaces in the trim and painted it and the wall.  I had 18 windows to do.  Thank goodness I kept sample paints for all the walls in the house.  The windows have been on my To-Do list that I just didn't want to do.  With Art gone, and not a WHOLE lot of other things to do, I did them.

I also worked on his family tree project and am nearly finished; just putting in the finishing touches and editing.

Art is returning tonight.  My brother, Dennis will be picking him up at 8:30.  I'm planning to buy some Ewa sweet corn that my friends, Joanne and Diane bought at last Friday's Farmers Market and swear was fabulous.  Art loves corn on the cob.

Other than that... what else is there to do?  Oh yeah... I forgot #3 on my To-Do list.  Cleaning the bathroom!

Mom is looking forward to having Art back.  And yes, me too!

POSTSCRIPT #1:  It's 10:33 AM Hawaii Time and Art has had three delays in San Francisco due to fog.  It's possible he may miss his connection in Seattle and will be back tomorrow.  Sigh...

POSTSCRIPT #2:  We have had the worst problems with Alaska Airlines.  We had all those last minute schedule changes when we went to Yellowstone.  Now they've switched his flight to Delta.  BUT there's a silver lining.  He got a refund on his luggage from Alaska and Delta did not charge him for luggage.  In fact, he was entitled to two Check Ins.  That's amazing!  AND he's now got a direct flight to Honolulu and will arrive 8 minutes earlier.  Sheesh!  Incredible! Since he won't have a stop-over in Seattle now, there won't be any clam chowder for him.  I told him he should get some sour dough sandwiches instead since he's now got a 4+ hour wait in San Francisco.  :-)

POSTSCRIPT #3:  OK...  After the long 4+ hour wait, Art was ready to board the Delta flight, BUT they said there was mechanical difficulties so they couldn't board.  More waiting.

They were then sent to another gate for yet another airplane because they didn't think the plane could be repaired quickly.

POSTSCRIPT #4:  After waiting at the other gate, they changed their minds again and sent them to another gate to board another plane. 

POSTSCRIPT #5:  My mother answered the phone while I was at the Farmers Market picking up our dinner.  Art told mom he was in the process of boarding an airplane.

Instead of being  home by 8:26 PM, he's due now at 10:45 PM.  If there's no other problem, that is!

POSTSCRIPT #6:   He's home!  My brother picked him up and brought him home well after 11:00 PM.  What a relief!

Storm Mayhem

I got an upsetting phone call from my daughter, Tiffany a couple of days ago.  It appears a smaller, but violent storm crashed through the area.  Tif tells me most of the damage seemed to be localized to their house.

I doubt it because I looked online and saw that there were damages in many areas of Chicago.  However, there are quite a few trees on the property and they took a hit.  Art was a Tree Keeper and loves trees.

But lately, trees have been a danger to the house.  When we went back to Chicago in April of last year, our large chestnut tree fell, luckily missing our house.  We planted a smaller weeping cherry in its place.

Now two other trees have been damaged.

The locust tree in the back of the house had a big branch go down.  The limb came down with winds they say were about 75 mph.

Poor Tif tried to move the limb herself but found it was too big and heavy.  

Thank goodness the insurance company came right over and sent workers to fix the more dire things (fallen wires) right away.

Now if this wasn't bad enough, the ash that we planted split into two and came crashing down on poor Tiffany's car.

On the really bad side, her car may have been damaged a bit.

On the plus side (if you want to find anything positive) this is the tree that Tif says the birds were using for a toilet.  They sat on the tree and pooped on her car constantly.

I don't know if that tree can be saved, but the side that had the branches over her car is now gone.

I love big trees.   I do.  I really do....in the forest.

With weather so unstable these days, I'm wondering whether big trees are wonderful to have close to the house.

Did I mention the swamp oak we also have in the back of the house... the BIG swamp oak?

I Have Control...

Remember this intro to Rod Serling's Outer Limits?

"There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to... The Outer Limits."

Well... with Art gone to San Francisco, guess who has the remote controls?  I've never wanted to touch it, but with Art leaving he had to teach me how to use them.  It's not a matter of just turning it on because we have an attic antennae, not cable.  We have to go through our DVD player to get good reception.  Then there's the accessing of Netflix Instant Streaming, etc.  I had him write the instructions down.

So now here I sit with the controls.  Art likes action, science fiction or high quality drama.  I like ....ummmmm... OK, fine... chick flicks, comedy and happy endings.  He doesn't limit what I want to watch.  I just know he doesn't enjoy it and it dampens my enthusiasm to know he's just watching to keep me company.

I can see why men like holding the remote.  There's a certain sense of power that you get being able to raise and lower the volume, change the channels, etc. all by yourself.  

Art will be back very soon.  I wonder how many romantic comedies I can squeeze in before he returns.  Hmmm... or maybe I could watch Pride and Prejudice again?

POSTSCRIPT:  Did you all see that Netflix is raising their price as of September?!?  They're now splitting their DVD and Instant Streaming so that if you do both it'll  cost you $15.98 instead of $9.99?  If  you only want DVDs or only Instant Streaming, you can pay $7.99.  Good grief!

Browser Quirks

I was running into all kinds of trouble with Blogger the last few months.  It wouldn't let me comment on certain kinds of comment pages.

Even though I knew I was signed in, the options at the top of my blog that should show wouldn't appear.  I also couldn't go to a direct edit from my blog page.

The weird thing is when I use Art's laptop with the OLD Explorer (I don't know which one it is) everything works just fine.  It's the new one that causes me all the grief.

And then Cloudia mentioned the Firefox browser a while ago.  I'm still partial to Explorer, even the new one because I find it easier to  enlarge fonts and I know where everything is... sort of.  I had to do a search to find out how to enlarge web pages on Firefox.  (You use the Ctrl key with the + or - button.)  Waaaaait a minute.... I see the Zoom Out - and Zoom In + button on the left of my Firefox screen.  Was that always there?  Sheesh!

However, doing comments on blogs and working on my own is easier with Firefox.  Somehow, it appears to be more compatible with Blogger. 

Remember that half the time I don't know what I'm doing on the web and I still don't understand half the functions on Blogger.  I'm using the new post editor and it's maybe better, but I'm not positive yet.  It's got new features but I'll have to get used to it.  There's so much to learn and I'm not a good technology learner.

On the other hand... maybe this is good for my brain.  It's certainly taxing what little gray matter I have left.

Oh... and the other thing I like about Firefox.  When I make comments  on other people's blogs, it does a spell check automatically.  Not so with Explorer.  How cool is that?!

POSTSCRIPT 1:  OK... I spoke too soon.  Now my sidebar is acting goofy even on Firefox.  Sheesh!

POSTSCRIPT 2:  I just found a blog called Beautifully Invisible when I visited Nan at Letters from a Hill Farm.  Beautifully Invisible is a new blogger who is keeping her identity anonymous.  However, you do see very quickly that she is technologically advanced.  She gives a very detailed and illustrated HOW-TO on switching from Blogspot to Wordpress.  I found it very interesting.  It still sounds a bit spooky for me and so far... Firefox is working adequately, but if you'd like to try moving, this was very helpful.

July 11, 1991 Total Solar Eclipse

Jonathan, me and Tiffany on the pier in Kona

Twenty years ago on July 11th Hawaii was scheduled to have a total solar eclipse and Art wanted to be there to see it. He scheduled our flight to have us arriving on the Big Island the day before and got our car rental reservations done well in advance. The eclipse was supposed to be best seen on the Big Island at Waikoloa.

However, once we landed in Kona we discovered to our dismay and disappointment that they had run out of cars due to the heavy demand. The island was absolutely packed with excited sky gazers. Waikoloa was also crowded with people, many who had camped there to get a good spot.

The apologetic car rental company took us all to our hotels via a shuttle. There was nothing for us to do but grab dinner and go to bed.  The following morning, we woke up really early and walked over to the pier where we resigned ourselves to seeing whatever we could.


We found a great spot on the pier and sat down comfortably to wait.

Clouds swept across the sky and we thought we'd miss the eclipse entirely, but seconds before it was to start the skies cleared enough to give us a window to the sun. It all happened just as they said. When it was completely dark, the street lights suddenly came on. The birds became quiet and we could hear the crickets chirping. The temperature dropped. It was such an extraordinary, magical experience.

We walked back to the hotel seeing eclipse sun patterns all over the street coming through between the leaf spaces of the trees.

We heard in the news later that Waikoloa was clouded over and they couldn't see any of the eclipse. Even the observatories on Mauna Kea were not able to catch a glimpse of the eclipse because of cloud cover.

It's really incredible how sometimes everything just works out. I've never won a lottery, but that day is a precious, winning memory to cherish.

Who Stinks?

My mother and I were having a breakfast conversation.  Mom said her friend told her that another friend had gently informed her that her husband had an odor.  Mom says it's quite normal.  She'd read somewhere that your body odor changes when you get older.

I told her that I never detected a smell on her friend's husband at all and that I have many older friends and NONE of them have a stronger or odd odor.  Sheesh!  Frankly, I think that friend of the friend might have an olfactory disorder.  I think younger folks who exercise and don't shower have a MUCH stronger smell!

Tiffany and her grandmother

"But it's true," she insisted.  "Why, even Tiffany told me that I smelled stink when she was here last year.  I know it must be true.  I wasn't hurt by it."

"WHAT??!?!"  My head snapped up from my cereal bowl.   "Tiffany would NEVER in a million years say something like that to you!  Neither of my children would!"

"No, she did.  I remember," insisted mom.

Later in the morning, Tif Skyped me and I asked her if she told her grandmother that she stunk.  Tif was floored!

"Of course not," said a very affronted Tiffany.  Then she gave it some thought and remembered something.  "I brought grandma some sachet for her clothes drawer last year.  I saw that she was using moth balls because she liked the smell on her clothes.  I told her the moth balls made her clothes stink and most people don't like it."  (Did I mention that Tif has the memory of an elephant?  She remembers everything.)

This is what it's like at our house.  There is a rather interesting language gulf and it takes patience and understanding to bridge it.  We always keep in mind that nobody would say anything to hurt anyone so that's off the table.

Art and mom understand maybe 70% of what the other person is saying.  Art knows a smattering of Japanese words.  Mom understands more English than you would think, BUT it's not always quite accurate.  Even when they think they're understanding each other, I know they're not...really.  I'm often having to translate to clarify and it's given us some great laughs since we've moved back to Hawaii because Art makes it a point to have conversations with mom every chance he gets.  This is why she loves him so much!

It makes me think of world politics and the understanding it takes to have peace.  I can easily see why it's so difficult with all the nuances of languages and customs.  They must often think the other country stinks.

Gathering a Little Style to T-Shirts

Before

I've been seeing several ladies wearing over-sized t-shirts that have been altered to look more interesting or feminine.  Some women have cut holes in strategic places.  I didn't want to do that.  Any hole in my clothes tend to grow.

After

I was at a Zumba class recently and several women had t-shirts that were gathered at the sleeves and bottom hems.  They said it was a great way to wear over-sized t-shirts that they didn't want to wear.

With Art gone, I decided to try it.  He's probably going to wonder why I haven't started caulking some windows yet.

I've always liked the color and memory this Glacier t-shirt evoked from our trip with Jon about 15 years ago. However, it's too big.  I used to like wearing my t-shirts big a long time ago.  However, lately I've been preferring a more fitted style... not too fitted; just a little less baggy.

It took me all morning to do it.  Gathers wouldn't stay gathered no matter what stitch I used.  I finally had to attach a ribbon underneath to keep everything in place.  It was frustrating until I managed to figure it out.  But, you know what?  I like it.  I might wear this t-shirt now.

Sorry about the picture quality.  With Art gone, it's a bit hard to take my own photo.