We are getting the Vaccine!

It is amazing that we have already been chosen to get the vaccine on the last day of this year. The word was that Independent Living was not getting it until later, and only Assisted Living and Memory Cary would. But then, they decided that we are not completely separated all the time, so the better thing to do is to vaccinate everybody. So that is good news at the end of this year.

A Kirkus Review!

The best news of the year came the day before my birthday: I received a Kirkus Review of my book Rising from the Shadow of the Sun. I am very pleased with the review, and intend to publish it on the Kirkus Website.

This is what will happen: professional reviewers assess merit based on the value of the content and reading experience alone. If you choose to publish your review on the Kirkus website, you will see whether your book earned a Kirkus Star. If your book does receive a Star, it will immediately be eligible for the Kirkus Prize.

My book is not stellar; it is a story that needed to be told.

As soon as a few kinks that have to do with the ISBN numbers have been ironed out, by January 2,  I will offer it for publication on the Kirkus Website. Then it will be eligible for publication in the Kirkus Magazine, and what all this means is that it will get exposure to a whole new world of industry influencers, agents, publishers and consumers. And that is what I am so looking forward to! My goal, my pledge, is to tell the story my mother so painstakingly put on paper in the most miserable four years of her life, as long as I can. Because of Covid, I have not done any presentations, but through my Kirkus Review I will reach a whole new realm of readers. I am so excited! It is amazing to me how little, if anything at all, the younger generation knows about World War Two in the Pacific. Before publication on the Kirkus Website, I am not allowed to publish any part of the review, but after that I will post it wherever I can.

Christmas and Birthday

were absolutely wonderful. Sparkling with phone calls and FaceTimes and delicious deliveries, and piles of cards, wishes on FaceTime and reasonably good weather for nice walks, togetherness and family sharing, even at a distance. It was different, but we are hoping for a wonderful new year. Our warmest wishes to all of you for all the best and especially good health.

It’s a Wonderful Life!

Until next time,

Ronny

Oh Joy! The Salon is open!

Two days in a row we both visited the salon. Only two people at a time are allowed in the salon, plus the technician. so two days a week the nail tech is there, and two other days a week the hair stylist takes customers. It works! One day we both had our nails done. Mike had a nail clip and I had a manicure plus a pedicure. And on the second day we both got a haircut. After almost four months we feel fresh and young and very happy that we will look good for Christmas and the beginning of the New Year! I imagine it must feel like getting a bath or a shower after you have not had one for almost four weeks!

Winter Solstice

I have an App called StarWalk2. It gives me a lot of information about the sky, such as that this December has had the most Meteors crossing the sky of the whole year (like falling stars, you can make many wishes if you watch them this month!). Very interesting news is that on December 21, the winter Solstice, which means that it is the shortest day and the longest night, Jupiter and Saturn would appear the closest since 1226.

I say appear, because on this day, Saturn will be about twice as far from the Earth as Jupiter. For us, observers from the Earth, it was the closest conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn most of us will ever get to witness. The two planets were only 0.1 degrees apart and would look like a single bright star. The Great Conjunction 2020 took place on December 21, at 7:40 p.m. Even after December 21, they will remain pretty close to each other and will end the year at a visual distance of about 1 degree apart. Some people think that this phenomenon in the sky was similar to the Christmas Star at Jesus’ birth. I went outside with my binoculars and finally saw it. But it was not bright at all. Mars was much bigger, and red, close to the sickle of the moon. Of course people with a telescope and those at the beach or in the desert, did see it as it was supposed to be, like this image over Lake Merritt in Northern California.

Hawai’i on my mind

Eruptions of Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island seldom make the headlines here on the mainland. I had heard recently that Kilauea had not erupted since August 2018. So to read on Hawai’i News Now that there had been a 4.4 earthquake on Sunday night following a 9:30 eruption of Halemaumau Crater and a lava lake had formed, boiling off the water lake in the Crater was Breaking News. Fountains of fire and plumes of billowing smoke as high as 165 feet into the air prompted health advisories about ash fall.

Then, too, I learned that there had been many small earthquakes in 2018, as well as a 6.2 strong one, that had created enormous fissures to form in the area of Leilani Estates that people had to traverse to get to their properties – that is, if they still existed. If you are interested, watch the Youtube clip: Pele’s Path: The Journey Home. It is about an hour’s watch, and it gives you a good impression of life of some people on the Big Island, living in the path of Pele’s wrath.

Willie K, last, but not least

William Awihilima Kahaiali’i, known as Willie K, was a Hawaiian musician who performed in a variety of styles, including blues, rock opera and Hawaiian music. Born and raised in 1960 in Lahaina, Hawai’i, he became one of the very few artists to win a Hoku award. He died at age 59 on May 18, 2020. In his memory, listen to his 2009 Christmas concert.

Willie K and the Makaha sons: A Christmas Concert

Rest me to wish you all a Christmas filled with special blessings, happy times, the warmth of friends and family and all the love of home. May all those wishes continue to be yours in the New Year.

It’s a Wonderful Life!

Until next time,

Ronny

Zooming in and out

We are not yet allowed to have visitors, but once in a while things have to be done that we can’t do and then our son comes to the rescue. So, too, this week. We needed to get our winter comforter out of storage and replace the summer one. Then, when we got our new computer, I ordered extra memory so we would be prepared for the long haul. So at the appointed time, our masked son zoomed in and went directly to the bedroom. Ten minutes later he shot across to the office, where he turned the computer on its side and replaced the memory. Within twenty minutes he was in and out. It was wonderful to have at least seen him.

Employee Christmas bonuses

For the past three days I have been busy emailing back and forth with a friend in the main building about the fact that two long-time employees, who had left employment here in November, did not get a Christmas bonus, because they were not here on December 1, when the bonuses were distributed. The rule is that we, residents, may only show our appreciation for employees by donating money to the Christmas fund. The Treasurer divides that money between all non-salaried employees, based on a point system of how many hours they worked during the past year. Anyway, these two employees, the dining room hostess and the move-in coordinator, left probably because we were not eating in the dining room any more, and there were no people moving in. They were not aware of the cutoff date. And we feel strong, because such a thing was not mentioned in the bylaws.

The treasurer, aware I was trying to get bonuses for the two ladies, called me and told me to stop. When I continued to defend my case, she hung up on me. She went to the apartment of my friend in the main building and told her to back off too. But my friend said she would fight for the employees. After going door to door with a petition I drafted, we both got a total of 42 signatures in two days. Today I wrote a strong but nice letter to the Board members, with attached the lists with signatures, and a blind copy to my friend. Now we are waiting what they will do. If it is a go and we will get two checks, one friend in the main building will find out phone numbers and addresses of the employees, and then we will mail them the checks. If the Board does not budge, some of us will collect some money and send the employees a bonus anyway. It feels so good to fight a case when you know you are right and have some support! And I can write fantastic letters, if I say so myself. I’m proud of my letters!

ESP

Often, out of the blue, I think of someone that I have not heard of for a long time or a very long time. When I call, there often is something wrong with the person or someone close. This past week, calling a friend in the Netherlands, I heard that her son was terminal with colon cancer. We know him well – he was only 64. Last night, I called an old high school friend in Hawai’i. We were together the first year of high school in Surabaya, then we lost touch. Twenty years later, in Los Angeles, we met again at an Indo dinner; they moved to Hilo, Hawai’i, she became our travel agent, and in 1990 we moved to Hilo as well, and we did many fun things together. We moved to Arizona, and then to North Carolina. Writing Christmas cards, I called her to see if they still lived in Hilo or had moved to Spain, as they had been planning. She told me in tears that her husband had just died, and we had a long talk together. I could come up with more examples, but don’t want to be so morbid. When Mamma was in her eighties, she often said, this is a time of saying goodbye. We are starting to experience it; family members, good friends, we can’t keep them with us on a string, we have to let go when it is their time.

And so, we realize the treasured life we have; we are thankful for every new day, for having each other and our children and their families. Which reminds us of two unbelievably beautiful concerts we just heard.

Christmas Cantatas

Our granddaughter’s high school’s choir put together a beautiful concert on Youtube. It was so moving to hear those young teenagers sing, in many voices, We shall overcome, knowing that they are starting their lives in a world full of violence, with a pandemic and problems with climate change and more, and yet, they know they shall overcome. Our daughter-in-law, minister of music in a large church, had worked with her choir since July, for many hours, on a beautiful, eight part Christmas Cantata which we heard live on Sunday. Unbelievably complicated and awe inspiring.

So yes, there is hope. If people in dire circumstances like this can produce things of beauty with techniques they have never used before, and grow and learn, and teach others, times will get better.

It’s a Wonderful Life!

Until next time,

Ronny
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Preparations

On Tuesday afternoon, I had so much energy when all things were “going my way” that I put up the Christmas tree and two little ones. The 12″ aqua tree that we always put in the bedroom because it blends in with the Hawaiian colors dates back to Christmas 1961: our first Christmas together. We bought it in the shopping center below Rockefeller Plaza, where I worked for a year. I had seen it during my lunch hour and could not resist it, and when Mike saw it later, he bought it for me right away. A 59-year-old Christmas tree, who has it?! Well, perhaps someone among you does have one 59 years or older. If so, let me know! We can share pictures.

My volunteer

This spring and summer, I watched as a little volunteer as they call it, grew in the pot of my gardenia. A pine seed had landed there and grew roots and a straight trunk. I took it out and put it in a pot of its own. Last month, I transplanted it into a larger pot, as an idea grew into my mind: I would make it a Charlie Brown Christmas tree! I found a little red ball, et voilà!

I also put the two lighted candles in the windows on the street side and set the timer. One needed some fixing, but I did it. Dinner came late, so we enjoyed some of our crackers and soft French cheese and opened the Thanksgiving bottle of Cabernet. It was all delicious and relaxing. We took it easy and were still in bed before ten o’clock.

On Wednesday I did more decorating in the house, and now the only thing left to do is putting the ornaments in the tree; that job will have to wait until Thursday.

Nail job

On Wednesday, when Mike had Physical Therapy with his personal trainer – he comes to the house during this time of Covid threat – I had the luxury of two hours of free time! I walked in Wimbledon wit Lani, a double walk, and after that I gave myself a professional manicure and applied Aloha, my favorite color red OPI polish. Years ago, I discovered that OPI, one of the most famous brands in nail polish, is manufactured in the Netherlands, in Helmond. Since March, my nails have grown out strong without the help of acrylic, and I hope to keep them this way. It saves time and money, and yes, I still do some harsh work with my hands, but not as much as before, and I wear rubber gloves whenever I need them for protection. I just feel better with hands that look elegant. I only wish I could cut my own hair! Looking back, we have saved quite some money in the past ten months on hair cuts, nails and gas. “Every cloud has a silver lining,” my mother would say.

The death of a WWII Survivor

Out of the blue, on Sunday night, I received a letter from a lady in Australia, letting me know that my friend and camp survivor Vera Radó  had passed away on November 10. It was a shock, and difficult to believe. She was one of the teenage survivors I interviewed in 2014 for my anthology Survivors of WWII in the Pacific. Vera Radó was a strong, remarkable lady. It took her fifty years to get over the traumas she suffered as a teenage prisoner of the Japanese, but in 2014 she sent me her Memoir to be included in my Anthology. A teenager during the war, she suffered and remembered much more than I, a little girl at the time. A good friend of hers in Den Haag had my first book In the Shadow of the Sun, and told Vera about it. We never met, but became friends at a distance, she in Australia, I in Hawai’i, then in Arizona and now in North Carolina. She was 94. The years don’t mean anything when you are talking and writing and feeling young. But it is a fact that I will need to think about more in the years to come.

We do grow older, and with age come physical changes, sometimes also mental changes. And, especially in these later years, you need to take more time to maintain every part of your body from your head to your toes. Getting a disastrous disease is beyond your control, but without that you can still enjoy many good years in relatively good health. Maintenance of your own body should not be delayed to later years, however. You will reap the gains of long-time health if you start early. I’m sorry, it sounds like I’m preaching. But it’s just how I feel. And an example like Vera’s inspires me.

Covid Testing

We got tested again on Monday, and that will continue weekly for a while longer, a safe feeling.

Dining apart together

For his August birthday, Mike had received a coupon for a Thai dinner. Since our home was too far from the restaurant for them to deliver, we made a deal with the young de Jong family. We chose from the menu, our son picked it up, delivered it to us, then went home to the family with the menu items they had selected and we were treating them to. Both our families enjoyed a Thai dinner, and we even had enough for lunch and dinner the next day! Great fun! Good deal!

It’s a Wonderful Life!

Until next time,

Ronny

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving Week

This 2020 Covid-influenced, stretched-out Thanksgiving was amazing! It started on Tuesday night, when an email from our daughters on the west coast announced that surprises for a cozy Thanksgiving would arrive soon and our son and daughter-in-law came by with a large thin-crust pizza, a homemade apple crisp, vanilla ice cream and a lovely, deep red poinsettia. I used to make breads and jams and pies to share with neighbors and shut-ins this time of year wherever we lived, in Pasadena, Hawai’i and Prescott. And now the roles are reversed and we are the shut-ins.

On Wednesday morning two large bags were delivered with a plethora of surprises: a variety of cheeses, crackers, a jar of olives, salmon, sliced salami and a bottle of Josh Cabernet. We cancelled dinner from the Club two nights in a row, and their actual Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday was very disappointing. On Friday morning I decided I would make up for the mushy pumpkin pie (that I did not eat) and make my own favorite lemon pecan pie. Amazon Fresh delivered lemons, sugar, eggs and whatever else I needed the same day, so on Saturday morning I started getting all things together – mixer, grater, lemons, eggs, sugar, and then I could not find the recipe! 🙁  And I had been looking at it for two days! I searched for it for fifteen minutes, then found a recipe online. I changed that to what I remembered from my own and happily baked two beautiful lemon pecan pies. I had only saved one glass pie dish when we moved, but I used the empty dish of the apple crumble that our daughter-in-law had brought on Tuesday.

After lunch and a lovely walk with Lani in Wimbledon, we set off, the three of us (yes, Lani went along for the ride) to deliver one pecan pie to the de Jong family. We did not get out of the car, but talked to three of them in the driveway, and Lani was a miracle of controlled grace, greeting them though the open window. I borrowed another pie pan, because I wanted to make another lemon pecan pie to give away to neighbors. But when we came home I had second thoughts. I needed a break. And why would I make a lemon pecan pie for neighbors who get desserts from the Club every day, and some of whom would not eat it because of allergies or because they had not enough teeth in their mouth left to eat pecans (I know a few people here. When their teeth got bad, and we got the in-depth stories at the dinner table before the Covid virus struck, they just did not replace them).

Fall weather

The colors faded and the leaves fell faster this year, making the Divide more see through. There are not as many pretty mushrooms along the trail in Wimbledon, and the trail itself is covered in a thick tapestry of leaves: lovely to shuffle through. People in the large homes have been blowing first acorns then leaves off their lawns and driveways onto the streets, with loud noises disturbing the peaceful surroundings. 3″ x 4″ piles of leaves and acorns border the Wimbledon streets, and I think the City will collect them every Monday. The temperatures are so nice, in the sixties, that walking is pure joy and winter seems far away.

Late Sunday morning, after testing the strings of lights we had from last year, I proceeded to string them along the fence by our front door. Well, the weather was nice, and I got my exercise for the day, but that is not really a job for a lady my age anymore! Twice I had sat so long on my haunches, trying to attach light strings to the fence beyond my reach that I had a tough time to get up. Next year I will ask my grandsons to come over and do it for me. But I am glad I did it, because Monday was a rainy day. The sad thing was that I could not test them because the electric outlet by the front door does not work. It has a red light in it, and I could not find an off-switch on the switch board in the laundry. So I’m waiting for Maintenance to send someone to fix it. We don’t have any other way to hook up the lights. So I have my fingers crossed. Well, someone finally came to fix the outlet on Tuesday, and next time I will know what to do. I had pressed the button, but not hard enough! All the outside lights work now! And while he was here, he also replaced a bulb in the chandelier over the breakfast table and got two large bins with Christmas decorations down from the top shelf of the garage closet. I was so happy with this progress that I started on in-home decorations Tuesday afternoon.

Time goes so fast that I forgot to mention that while we had lunch on Monday, a nurse came for another round of testing. The resident-in-isolation tested negative, but two Associates were positive, so we will be tested on a weekly basis until all is safe. We postponed yet again a visit to the dentist because of the danger of infection by all those people who traveled for Thanksgiving and came home contagious.

Goodkindles.net  

Did you ever hear of Goodkindles.net? It is a book promotion site – I think it is based in Great Britain. Today, December 1, 2020, they are featuring Rising from the Shadow of the Sun on their main page, and also in the various genres it pertains to: Historical, Biography/Memoir and Non-fiction.

I am so proud that I copied the whole page, because tomorrow it will not be front page news anymore and you will have to look for it in their files.

So, to all my friends and followers I say: please, if you have not read my book – this one is the most important – please read it. I am honoring my courageous mother who wrote her secret journal for four years while we were incarcerated by the Japanese; I am the last one in the family who can talk about it, the last survivor of our little Herman family. And wherever you live in the world, USA, Canada, Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Australia, to name a few where I have fans, Amazon is everywhere, and they carry at least the Kindle version, sometimes the print. And, another thought, if you have read it but you have readers on your Christmas list: it would be a lovely Christmas gift!

It’s a Wonderful Life!

Until next time

Ronny

More Covid Cases

Last week, walking Lani, I watched while a man and a woman put on full protective gear before they entered the main door at Assisted Living. As far as we were told, one positive Resident had been taken to the hospital and one positive Associate had gone home in isolation. So I deducted “the outbreak”, as was reported on the news, concerned more than just those two, who were no longer in the building.

The general manager says he wants to be transparent, but in essence he is not, probably because he “does not want people to panic”. So I called one of my friends in the main building who always knows the latest of things going on. I heard that there are 8 positive cases in Memory Care and 2 cases in Assisted Living. Whoa! An outbreak indeed. They must strictly order all staff to remain in their own section of the building for the safety of all of us, and hope they comply! We have three “communities” here, and before Covid, cleaning crew, staff, servers and even visiting family could go back and forth. There is a shared kitchen between Independent and Assisted Living.

One person tested positive in Independent Living last week, and has been in isolation in her apartment. Having talked to another friend, I now know who she is. I’m so sorry! We have friends, a pilot and his wife, who tested positive, got sick, then better, but now, two months later, are still suffering after effects, even heart problems. What a terrible disease! And yet, I am aghast to see how many people are traveling for Thanksgiving! Many of them will be sick at Christmas time! Why can’t they wait just a few more months and celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas in July? It is beyond me. And I am thankful that we made a good decision four years ago, sold our Prescott home and are now living safely in a cozy cottage on a beautiful campus, close to some of our children, and get our meals delivered to our door. We are thankful too, that we can support many people here in North Carolina with food through the local Food Bank.

Playing games

Last night, my youngest grandson, 10 years old, texted me: would I please download an app on my iPad and play a game with him? Ha! A link to the younger generation! With a little explanation I found the app, downloaded it, and was offered to play the game of twenty questions. A funny sound, a dark bonk – a- bonk -a- bonk played in the background, counting to twenty seconds, during which I had to ask questions and get answers. I will not explain more, but it took me a while to get the picture; I got very close to the right answer, but was just a few questions short 🙂 I lost. Grandson wanted to play another game, but I had to put the dog to bed and then myself (these young ones stay up late!) so I promised to play again the following day. I’m so happy to have a “connect” with one of the grandchildren, and I love to play games!

In these unprecedented times, we hope that you have at least a few family members in your “bubble” to celebrate Thanksgiving with, or connect with family in other ways, and have a blessed and happy day.

It’s a Wonderful Life!

Until next time,

Ronny

 

My new Mac

is wonderful! It works with the speed of light it seems, and has many new features I still have to learn more about. The desktop image is again a Hawaiian ocean scene: this time it is “dawn in Kailua-Kona”, on Oahu. The printer works again without having to turn off the WiFi, and I could even print from my iPad in the living room. I love all this modern technology!

New Covid Scare

Last Wednesday, all the relative freedoms we had in the past weeks were withdrawn again: no visitations, no scheduled activities, no meals in the dining room. A flyer from the Assistant manager stated these new regulations and explained that they had found one resident in Memory Care and one caregiver in Memory care testing positive for Covid. The resident was taken to the hospital, the Associate went home to wait in quarantine until she would be better. On Monday we would all be tested again, with the team going door to door. But on Monday morning all testing was cancelled because one of the testing nurses got sick. While many residents had looked forward to getting together with family for Thanksgiving, the Culinary team had envisioned a new lockdown, so the traditional Thanksgiving dinner will be served on the actual evening. In previous years, we had our dinner a week early, to give residents the opportunity to be with their families on the outside on Thanksgiving day and/or weekend. So this year we’ll just be together in our cozy cottage, connected to our three families by zoom. C’est la vie.

A purpose for each day

At a time like this, eight months into a lockdown with very little communication with family or the rest of the world, I feel we need to set a goal for each day, give each day a purpose; at least, that makes me happy. The problem is that I have so many goals for each day that I lack the time to do them all! I started on Sunday with the harvest of my ginger.

Ginger

When we lived on the Big Island of Hawai’i, we had a friend who had a ginger farm across the highway, in Papaikou. Once in a while he came over with a large “hand” of fresh ginger – clean and fresh and so beautiful. At that time I created recipes with ginger: ginger banana bread, ginger carrot cake, and, my favorite: banana ginger jam. For many years we had a slice of the banana bread or carrot cake (without frosting) with our morning coffee, and the jam was not only delicious on toast, but also made wonderful gifts.

Before Covid, when we dined in the dining room, I would sometimes bring an exotic fruit from the Asian store close by to show to people at our table. One day, I brought a small, 3×3″ piece of ginger as the topic of our conversation. Afterwards, I put it in the large antique fruit bowl on the kitchen counter. It remained there until I came across it the second time I emptied the bowl, sometime in March. The ginger had shrunk to a pitiful dry piece; yet I could not throw it away. I found a pot and some potting soil in the garage and planted it, according to Google’s instructions, 1/2″ below the surface and put the pot on our front patio. The following months I was absolutely delighted to watch first one, then another, then a total of eight green stalks rise up to a height of two feet. There was life in my shrunken ginger, life after death!

On Sunday I decided it was time for the harvest. When I started cutting off the stalks, I discovered a bud – a flower-to-come? How delightful! I did not cut that flower, but decided I would plant it again with the root attached. It was a little difficult to dig up the ginger root with my hands, because it filled up the whole pot. I found a tool to help me: my mother’s antique silver serving fish fork that I had not used since we live here, because I don’t cook anymore. It worked like a charm, and I got the whole ball of ginger, dirt and all, out of the pot. This was yet another item that served a different purpose in another time of my life!

Back to the front porch, where I have a garden hose at the ready (until it starts freezing). I cleaned the ball till most of the soil had come off, and continued to clean it on the kitchen counter. It was an amazing sight! With the sharpest knife I own, never used, I cut the ginger roots in pieces and cleaned those some more. (It’s like editing, you need to do it multiple times.) On Monday, I brushed some more dirt away until all the pieces were ready for consumption. I was going to make banana ginger jam.

In the mean time, realizing that I had a lot of bananas from the Club and fresh ginger from my patio but virtually nothing else, I ordered sugar and lemons and more from Amazon Fresh, and the wait is for the mason jars from Amazon. They will come today, Wednesday, so you know what I will be doing! Oh joy! Life couldn’t be better!

       

It’s a Wonderful Life!

Until next time,

Ronny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Presidential Elections 2020

How amazing it is that our country is so utterly divided! Today is Thursday, and they are still counting the ballots in several states, two late nights and long days later. Last night, I could not sleep, even though I was exhausted. So I finally got up at 1:00 a.m. and took a sleeping pill; we still have some back in the medicine cabinet from the time we needed them. At 1:45 a.m. the dog started barking, loudly. I got up, let her out, whereupon she barked outside, into the night. It was a bright, moonlit patio, but I sure did not see anything worth barking about and we went back to bed. At 2:25, she started again, and then again ten minutes later. Sigh! I then had three hours of undisturbed sleep, thank goodness. And this morning I saw that she had thrown up in her dog bed. She was scheduled for a bath at the Vet at 8:00 a.m., and I threw the dog bed in the washer and dryer, and now everything is clean again.

It was finally decided on Saturday, when the majority of all votes was in, that Biden and Harris were to be our next President and Vice President. Let’s hope they can at least get the Covid threat down and bring peace to this country!

It has been such a hectic week that I will cut this week’s post short. Not only car maintenance was on the schedule, but I needed and bought a new computer with our son’s help, and it’s coming today. That means that I will have to learn to use it, and so I will be super busy the rest of the week.  My old Mac was getting very slow, and was almost out of Memory. When the new one is installed this one will go to our ten year old grandson, who has been doing schoolwork on a borrowed iPad. He will be so excited, and I am overjoyed that my iMac is going to have a whole new life! And guess what? This new, powerful desktop Mac will be an early Birthday/Christmas present from Mike. And all the time our son spent on research and purchase and installation of just the right new computer will be his Christmas and birthday present for me. I had started thinking of what I would like for my birthday this year. I could not come up with even a short wish list, because I really have everything my heart desires. And here, out of the blue, I get Birthday and Christmas presents early! Life couldn’t be better!

It’s a Wonderful Life!

Until next time,

Ronny

 

Halloween

has come and gone. A few people dressed up during the past week, bags of candy were handed out on Friday during Happy Hour, but that was basically it. On Thursday, after dropping off a special card at our son’s house, driving back along the inside roads, I discovered on a street corner a large pumpkin patch. I can’t remember the time that I actually walked around a pumpkin patch! So I immediately crossed over to the left lane, turned into the side street, made a U-turn and parked my car. It was fun! I had planned to get a pumpkin at Trader Joe’s, but this was better. It took me quite a while, however, to find a small pumpkin without blemishes, and I was surprised to see that not all pumpkins are round. There were many that were covered with growths, like large warts, colorful yellows, greens and oranges. Tall ones, and huge round ones, too numerous to mention, reminding me of the diversity of the human race.

Moves

The movers came early across the street on Monday. Sonia, the lady whose husband had passed away in August, is moving today to an apartment in the main building. She had ample choice of apartments on any of the floors, because I counted 26 vacancies. It is unbelievable, and I’m sure not good for business. Perhaps that is why the containers in which we get our food, oatmeal, soup, cottage cheese and fruit, are getting smaller, and therefore the portions have been getting smaller. I now order two oatmeal for Mike, and two soups. The kitchen is still struggling to get workers, and so sometimes we get three salads and no soup, or other kinds of mixups. Any new people they are hiring have to be trained, and sometimes you wonder how smart they are. For instance, getting all the containers in one plastic bag caused the problem that the boxes with dessert always ended up on the side. I then had to scrape off any whipped cream from the sides of the boxes put it back on top of the cake or pie. So I asked the chef to give me a second bag for the desserts. And what did I get repeatedly? A second bag; but instead of putting the boxes on top of each other, someone in the kitchen puts them neatly side by side, on their sides! So the pies are facing bottom to bottom and two whipped cream rosettes are squished somewhere between the top of their pie and the side of the box. Finger licking good!

Another move was taking place in Assisted Living: our son’s father-in-law was being moved to a whole new facility closer to the family. That was not done lightly, moving a disabled octogenarian to a whole new place. But considering the alternative, staying in an Assisted Living place where housekeepers did not do a satisfactory job of dusting and vacuuming, and an occasional mouse would come out of the bathroom, it would be my choice to get out of there too. We are so lucky to live in our wonderful cottage, are very independent, have a housekeeper that we hire from the outside, and we are thankful for every day.

Car maintenance and more

It has been a really hectic week: One day I had to take the car in for oil and filter maintenance, and when I was there, they reminded me that a year ago, they had given me an estimate for four new tires. It’s a good thing that after November last year I did not do a whole lot of driving! I made an appointment for the next day, after I had secured a ride from our son. The ride the garage offered was still too close for comfort.

On top of that, I needed to make appointments for Lani: a bath, an annual shot and a grooming session with a new groomer at another Veterinarian’s office, because the original groomer is away on maternity leave.

And then there were tons of daily political emails, and requests for money. It was quite a week. But today is Voting Day, and I am going to watch tonight who will be the winner. Think of all the money that was spent on this election! It could have been spent on disaster relief, the Food Bank, housing for the homeless and more. If only one president considered one term enough and another president would take over for the next term. That will not be the case, and next week we will know more. May the best team win!

It’s a Wonderful Life!

Until next time

Ronny

Immediate improvements

Two days after I took the Executive Director on a short tour of the premises, miracles had happened. The coat closet was empty and clean, with just the wooden hangers on the rack and the items of Lost and Found on the shelf. Both the patios I had shown him were clean, and the dirty old rubber mats had been removed. For two days, Peter has been working on the front door, mostly sanding as far as I can see, and there is an appointment date set with the Roofer to look at the leaking gutter. Peter muttered that because they had to do these other, first priority jobs, all his other forty maintenance job orders had been put on the back burner, but he saw the necessity of cleaning up the face of the building.

I arranged the items on the Lost and Found shelf in the coat closet, as before, took pictures, put together a flyer and asked the Life Enrichment Manager (what a title!) to copy and distribute the flyer to all Residents, as before. This morning: immediate results. Three articles had been claimed by their owners and hopefully some more will follow. Unclaimed articles will go to Dorcas next week.

Red wheels

Mike has been walking with a cane for a couple of months, afraid to lose his balance and fall. When that became rather tiring, even with me holding his other hand, he decided he would like to try a rollator. We found a nice one on Amazon, a Nitro, a European brand, which was available with a higher seat and adjustable handle bars for tall guys. Three days a week, he now walks to the Fitness center on the first floor of the Club and back to work out with a Private Trainer. He likes it, because the trainers he works with are mostly women.

There was one problem: with inclement weather to be expected soon, we would be stuck, because I could not lift the Nitro into the trunk of the car. It took two days, searching Amazon and talking to our son, and the problem is solved. I fold the Nitro sideways by lifting a handle in the seat, secure it with a clamp, lift it a few inches off the floor by the frame and slide it into the trunk. The first time it did not work, but then I had a Junior Moment (the opposite of a Senior Moment): I could fold half of the back of the rear seat forward to create more space in the trunk. Yea! But in order to do that I had to take off Lani’s hammock from the head rests. It worked! Yesterday, we drove to the Club, had breakfast in the dining room and Mike had an early haircut appointment afterwards, all with his red wheels at his disposal. It’s wonderful. He is more independent and feels safe.

It is unbelievable how many people here just fall and break a hip. Other than inconvenient and the cause of a lot of pain, it seems to be common practice for hospitals. The fallen have surgery, come home after two days and then need physical therapy for a few weeks. Piece of cake! One of the ladies was back in the garden working with a rake and a broom in no time at all. Yet, I’d rather not go through it.

True, when I want to take Lani in the car for a walk in Wimbledon, I need to push up the back seat and hitch up her hammock, but when the weather is good (and it is still in the seventies now, on October 27), I can still traverse the Divide. The white mushrooms pushing up through dirt, fallen leaves and needles on the forest floor are as large as breakfast plates or my cereal bowls, and then there are smaller ones in various colors, just beautiful. It smells like Fall, and I am so enjoying my walks. So is Lani. I am training her to immediately sit when we walk along the street and a car is approaching. Everybody we pass says what a model dog she is. And she is!

Getting back to normal

Today I’m going to the monthly spelling bee, always fun, even though fewer people attend. And on Friday the monthly Residents’ Meeting will take place again; actually they will hold two meetings, in the dining room. We will have to keep distance, so two people per table and the tables set far apart. Safety first. And so, slowly but surely, things return to normal. We are all hoping that the new normal will soon be here.

It’s a Wonderful Life!

Until next time

Ronny