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Thoughts On The Last Day Of May, 2019

5/31/2019

So much news flashing in my eyes
- Randy Rainbow

      Yes, to quote the modern-day musical Jeremiah Randy Rainbow, who cries out - or rather sings out - like a voice in the wilderness, there is so much news flashing in one's eyes and zipping along the conduits to one's brain that sometimes one wishes there was such a thing as an SPF to prevent brain burn.
        But there's not, and so the only thing we can do is either block it all out and be happy as mushrooms growing in the dark, or take it all in and try to sort through, make some sense of, and decide what we think about things.
        To that end, here are a few of my brain stormings - by that I mean the storms going on in my brain - over a few of the big news events that have been flashing in all our eyes:

1. The Mueller Reports

“If we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.”

The above was Special Counsel Robert Mueller's synopsis which he gave in a brief public statement this past Wednesday of his team's investigation into whether Donald Trump committed a crime contiguous to Russia's interference in our 2016 elections.
Robert Mueller is like Pythia, known as the Oracle of Delphi, who was the highest of priestesses in the ancient Greek world, purported to be filled with the spirit and wisdom of the gods in her dispensing of judgement and prophecy.

The only problem was that in general the Oracle's words were so enigmatic that nobody was one hundred percent sure what the she really meant, and so her statements could be interpreted however one wished to interpret them.
Like Robert Mueller's statement the other day.

In fact, the whole Mueller Report is like the Bible, from which people can pick, choose, and interpret however they want to prove their own beliefs, whatever those beliefs might be. People claim as truth whatever they want to claim as truth and state that it's in the Bible. Or the Mueller Report. Even if they've never read the Bible. Or the Mueller Report.

2. On Impeaching Donald Trump

Impeach: To charge someone with doing something wrong, specifically a high government official, such as the U.S. president, a senator, or a federal judge. Fortunately, very few presidents have had the dishonor of being impeached. Impeach comes from the Latin impedicare, meaning "catch, entangle."
- Vocabulary.com.
       The House Democrats keep on talking about impeaching Donald Trump.
       Now, it is the job and duty of the United States House of Representatives to oversee the actions of the President, thereby upholding our Constitution and protecting our democracy and the well-being of our country.
         So if Donald Trump, aka the President of the United States, has committed wrongdoing that calls for impeachment, the House must uphold its responsibility and bring formal charges against him for specific acts and lay these acts and charges out plainly and clearly to the public.
            If Donald Trump has committed an impeachable act or acts the members of the House should not sit back and wait to determine whether or not impeachment will score political points for their party,or worry that Mitch McConnell and his Senate Republicans will circle the wagons around Trump and kill the impeachment proceedings,

    If McConnell and his minions did that the wrongdoing would be on them. But the fact that they just might do it is no reason for the members of the House not to do their duty and the right thing, which would be to write up articles of impeachment against Donald Trump.
       If his actions honestly justify impeachment.
       If, on the other hand, he has not committed offenses that unequivocally call for impeachment, then the Democrats should stop talking about impeachment and quit running the idea up the flagpole to see who salutes.

...and quit running the idea up the flagpole to see who salutes.

In other words, either impeach or get off the soapbox.

    3. The Abortion Bans
     In the past few months one conservative state after another has passed laws criminalizing abortion. These bans have ignited debate and dissension between pro-life and pro-choice groups, but I feel like there's a huge and critical point of agreement that's being totally ignored in the discussion and it's this: that in truth everybody is pro-life. Nobody is really pro-aborting a baby, and though we talk about women's bodies and women's right to choose, no woman who believed she had any other choice would choose an abortion. The problem is that sometimes women really don't have any other choice.
      And I think that if the mission of right-to-life groups in this country were really to end abortion they'd lobby for affordable health care, especially prenatal and maternal health care, as well as for other social safety nets to make sure that no woman or family ever has to fear for how they'll care for, feed, clothe, and educate a child. Because that fear is a factor that drives women to abortion.
      If the mission of pro-life groups were really to end abortion they'd lobby for sex education and free contraception - why not make it free, if that would be a way of preventing abortions?
     And if all babies are precious and have a right to be born, why would pro-life groups not work to make ours a society which truly does welcome and celebrate and care about every child born, totally judgement-free of the circumstances of the mother?
      And why would they not work to ease the circumstances of every expectant mother in our society, whatever those circumstances might be, so that no pregnant woman would ever fear moral censure or find herself so alone and in such desperate straits that she would have to consider an abortion?
     Why do right-to-life groups not lobby for women's civil and economic rights and hold men as the equally responsible parties that they are in every pregnancy?
      If saving the lives of the unborn is really the mission, why not address the underlying problems that cause women to have abortions?
        Because in truth simply making abortion illegal isn't the answer.

References:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/william-barr-robert-mueller-donald-trump-obstruction-of-justice-russia-investigation

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My 2019 Commencement Speech

5/28/2019

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It’s that time of year again, when commencement speakers, persons of great accomplishment and/or celebrity, may impart words of wisdom and encouragement to young graduates, and maybe even pay off their college loans for them.

Alas, I have not the means to pay off anyone’s college loans – though I wish I did, and that I could pay off everybody’s - and in my life I’ve accrued neither fortune nor fame, but, as I do every year, I’ll offer this year’s graduates a few words of advice - some previously dispensed, some new - gleaned from my many years kicking around this planet that, hopefully, may be of some worth to someone, some time, somewhere along the road.
So Here it is, my 2019 commencement speech:

1. Graduates, remember that any accomplishment that comes easily and without considerable effort or work is probably not worth much. Or, as master martial artist Bruce Lee once put it: “I fear not the man who has practiced 10, 000 kicks once, but the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times”.

2. And remember the quote used by motivational speakers everywhere, including my yoga teacher: "The day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit."

3. When you are in social situations be sure to steer the conversation towards others: ask them about themselves before you jump in and start talking about yourself. And whatever you do, don't be a conversation hog who talks and talks and talks, making it impossible for anyone else to get a word in edgewise and boring them to death.

4. Don't talk about something you're going to do with a friend or friends in the presence of another friend or friends who isn't/aren't invited. Don't even do this when you're adults. Adults don't like being left out any more than kids do.

5. Don't hook up and don't be a friend with benefits.
Though prevalent, widespread and, I guess, socially acceptable, hooking up and FWBing are bad ideas. You can't sleep you way to love or friendship.

6. Don't sleep with anyone if accidentally getting pregnant by that person (or getting them pregnant) would wreak havoc on your life or the life of the person you're considering sleeping with. And remember, no matter what precautions you take, babies have a habit of doing whatever it takes to be born.

7. If you can't afford at least a 20% tip, don't eat in a restaurant.

8. If you stay in a hotel, every morning leave a $5, $10, or $20 tip (however much you can afford) on the bed for the housekeepers.

9. When you exit the airport shuttle bus hand a tip of a few dollars to the driver.

10. If your restaurant order is wrong or bad, it's all right to ask the server to take it back or fix what's wrong, so long as you're super-polite to the server about it.

11. Try giving up Christmas gift exchanging. It'll change your life.

12. If you're invited to a potluck at someone's house leave what you brought with your host when you leave.

13. If you're hosting a pot luck and there are sufficient yummy left-overs it's gracious to invite your guests to take home a plate of food and/or dessert.

14. Though they say whole wheat bread is healthier for you, white bread makes better French toast and grilled cheese sandwiches.

15. And speaking of grilled cheese, Here's a recipe that was popular back when I lived in a college dorm room for making a grilled cheese sandwich with an iron:
Heat your iron to medium heat. Make sure the steam is turned off and there's no water in the iron. Butter the bread slices. Place a couple of slices of cheese between the bread. Wrap the sandwich in aluminum foil. Place the foil-wrapped sandwich on your ironing board. Press the iron onto the sandwich, flip after a few minutes, then press the iron onto the other side. (Be careful not to burn your sandwich. You can unwrap and check the bread from time to time until you have the hang of the process). Unwrap the foil and if the bread is golden brown and the cheese is melted, your grilled cheese is ready.

16. If you're already full, eating something you don't really want because you don't want to waste it is wasting it just the same as if you threw it away. Except that if you throw it away you won't pack on the extra calories.

17. If you're ever feeling terribly down or depressed, try to look past the moment you're in; it's hard to do, but try. And turn to someone, get help, and remember that depression is a disease that can be treated with medication and therapy and the pain you feel is a symptom that's crying out for treatment. And remember that your life doesn't belong to you alone; it belongs to your friends, your family, your co-workers, everyone who loves and cherishes and depends upon you; your life belongs to your community and your country and this world that you were created for and placed in for the purpose of doing some good. Remember all that, no matter how badly you may be feeling at some moment in time.

18. If you have no idea what you want to do with your life or what career path you want to take, just pick something to do or something to pursue. It's better to be doing something productive than nothing.

19. Pick something to do with your life even if it's not your dream, and even if you don't yet know what your dream is. Often by choosing one path that path leads to another that eventually takes us to who or what we want to be in life.

20. Do something wonderful. People may imitate it (Albert Schweitzer).

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A Billionaire Takes A Bullet

5/24/2019

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Last week a lucky group of students dodged a bullet. They were saved from a bullet that was aimed at them because a generous, some would say heroic, man stood in front of them and took the bullet for them.

I’m talking of course about Robert F. Smith, the philanthropic billionaire who intercepted the killer college debt , 10 to 40 million dollars worth, that would have hit hundreds of young African American graduates of Morehouse College soon after their graduation ceremony.

   How very fortunate for those several hundred young men who by chance attended a college that, their very year of graduation, happened to invite a commencement speaker who decided to pay off the loans of every graduating student of that class.
         But only the loans of those students in that class.
       How very unfortunate for the million upon millions of college graduates who happened not to have been members of that particular class in that particular school, the past, present, and future young people who have been and will be crushed by student debt, many of them too financially debilitated to move out of their parents’ houses for years, let alone get married, buy a house of their own, or start a family.
     However it’s not only student debt that’s economically crippling college graduates. It’s underemployment and low wages in the workplace. Forty-one percent of this year’s college graduates will enter the work force into jobs for which they are over-qualified and that pay hourly wages that may not cover the cost of independent living .let alone student loan payments.

True, unemployment in this country is currently low, but so are wages. But at least one small class of 2019 graduates won't have the ball and chain of student debt to drag along with them. Unlike the others.

Now, I am a believer of doing what one can, when one can, for whomever one can, and I know that no one person can save every star fish of the millions struggling on the beach.

Still, one good-hearted billionaire rescuing one class of college graduates by paying off their loans no more solves the student debt crisis in this country than one brave person saving a few people by stepping into the path of a gunman solves the problem of mass shootings in this country.
Both problems need legislation, and - as has been pointed out in OpEd pieces in the New York Times and Washington Post (see references below) - far better than having a philanthropic billionaire occasionally giving a random gift of charity to some lucky few recipients would be for all the super rich members of our society, instead of paying nothing to almost nothing in taxes because of our loopholes-for-the-super-rich-laden tax laws, pay an equitable share in taxes that could then be used for government-subsidized tuition assistance to make an education affordable for all the young starfish from sea to shining sea.

References:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/20/opinion/morehouse-college-debt.html

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/underemployment-for-recent-grads-worse-today-than-in-early-2000-s-180429491.html

https://secure.marketwatch.com/story/why-robert-f-smiths-pledge-to-pay-off-morehouse-loans-is-a-turning-point-for-colleges-and-the-billionaires-that-support-them-2019-05-22?link=MW_latest_news

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7058019/Morehouse-College-students-loans-paid-billionaire-Robert-F-Smith-speak-out.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

https://www.dispatch.com/opinion/20190522/editorial-billionaires-gift-tackles-student-debt

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The Days Were Nothing Special, But They Were Special All The Same

5/20/2019

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...Continued from yesterday:

On Wednesday morning after delivering our grand daughters to school Tom and I headed to our favorite local breakfast eatery,

...where the food and service are always great,

...but the hash browns are the best.

That afternoon some friends came over after school, to play for a while,

...and help me make pizza.

...which we all enjoyed after it came out of the oven.

(For my easy, yummy and kid-friendly pizza recipe, see the post from 8/3/2017, "Where Has This Pizza Been All My Life?").

     One friend spent the night and she and my grand daughter spent the evening practicing for their parts in an upcoming class program called Living History, for which each child in the class chose a historical figure to research, write a first-person narrative on and "become" for the program.
      My grand daughter chose to become Orville Wright, one of the inventors of the airplane, and her friend chose to be Anne Frank, the Dutch Jewish girl whose diary presented a picture of the day-to-day life of her family while they hid from the Nazis in Amsterdam during World War II.
  The girls rehearsing their reports in the morning before school.

The Living History presentation began at 8:30 am in the classrooms and outside,
and consisted of groups of two historical figures sitting next to each other around the rooms, .or around the lawn,

...or around the lawn, .or around the lawn, holding up signs identifying who they were.

On the floor in front of each duo was a paper "button."

When a visitor pressed the button, first one of the historical figures and then the other would stand and come to life and talk about themselves and their contribution to history while their partner held their sign.

The presentations were full of surprisingly interesting and informative information,

...and the presenters cute as anything.

And listening to these little figures of living history tell their stories,

...made my eyes tear up,

...and filled my heart with hope.

On Friday morning Tom and I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood,

...and ended up walking a couple of miles to Redondo Beach, where we came upon an eclectic and quite wonderful used bookstore called Dave's Olde Book Shop,

...which we found to be an enchanting place,

...to lose oneself in,

...which we did.

The very friendly book-loving owner Dave told us that movie scenes have been shot in his bookstore.

I believe it. The place definitely looked like a movie set.

Alas, enticed by the endless offerings, we bought more books than proved wise to have to lug for a couple of miles on foot.

But then on the other hand, who can resist magic?

On Friday evening Tom, Maria and I drove to Hermosa Beach for dinner at Scotty's,

...a place of unpretentious decor but terrific food, such as their fantastic fish tacos,

...and a beach view.

After dinner we joined the crowds out for a Friday night stroll along the Strand,

...catching the sunset over the ocean.

On Saturday morning Tom flew back to Columbus but I stayed one more day, joining the other Saturday soccer moms, dads and grandparents,

...to watch my grand daughters play and my daughter coach,

...with her little crew of assistants at her feet.

After all the soccer games we went out for lunch with some soccer friends to a South Bay Mexican Restaurant called Café Rio,

...where the food was awesome,

...my chicken salad,

...as was the company.

And the rest was just a normal Saturday,

...followed by a normal Sunday morning,

...except that it was time for me to leave and return home to Columbus.
Is heaven not after all the now and here?

...the daily things of life,

...that are so dear?

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The Vanilla Beans

5/18/2019

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...Continued from yesterday:
Upon our arrival in Los Angeles Tom and I were much anticipating jumping into the joys of hands-on grand parenting, such as walking our older grand daughter, and our grand dogs,

...to the school yard;

...then picking up our grand daughter after school, meeting the class chicks,

...and marveling at the outdoor hallways,

...and outdoor coat and backpack-hangers, facilitated by the ever-balmy Southern California climate.

We watched the girls play soccer,

...and we watched them just play.

We helped with the household chores,

...and with the grocery shopping at Ralph's,

...(where the parking lot full of palm trees never ceases to charm me),

...tossing in a grandparently treat or two among the healthy stuff,

...including ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies, during the procurement of which we made a gasp-inducing discovery: Look at the price of the vanilla extract! $24.99 for four ounces, $12.99 for two ounces!

    I looked up why the cost of vanilla extract is suddenly so crazy and learned that a combination of civil unrest in Madagascar where the vanilla beans are grown and climate change have taken their toll on the vanilla vines, as have vanilla bean speculators who buy, hoard, and even steal what plants there are. All those factors have driven the price of vanilla beans up to $600 per kilogram, higher than the price of silver.
    In fact it's feared that vanilla beans may be on the endangered list, especially if imitation vanilla flavoring takes over the market, leaving farmers no incentive to cultivate real vanilla anymore.
       In truth if I had known about the plight of the vanilla beans - and the vanilla farmers - while I was shopping I'd likely have sprung the $12.99 for a small bottle of real vanilla, though I don't suppose my buying one bottle of expensive vanilla would have helped save the beans or the farmers.
     Anyway, I bought a bottle of imitation vanilla flavoring,

...which in fact worked well enough in the chocolate chip cookies as far as anyone could tell.

Still it's sad to think that by the time our grandchildren are grown all the vanilla beans may be gone.
And maybe not just the vanilla beans.

References:
https://spoonuniversity.com/lifestyle/why-vanilla-extract-is-so-expensive

https://vanillaqueen.com/expensive-vanilla/

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Tyson

5/16/2019

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After our trip to Hawaii (see posts from 4/27/2019 - 5/13/2019 ), upon my arrival in Los Angeles on Monday, April 29, I was greeted by the usual things that, as many times as I've experienced them, never cease to delight me all over again: The blue skies and palm trees,

...the warm West Coast air, the colorful California flora,

...my daughter and son-in-law's cozy, inviting home,

...and the jungley view from their back yard,

...and, of course, my grand daughters, with whom I'd just spent the week in Hawaii, and now would be spending another week.

And then there's my little grand dog Pinkey-Poo,

...to whom I made very clear when I first met him a couple of years ago that I was not a dog person. (See post from 7/28/2017, "I Am Not A Dog Person").

Upon my arrival this time I met the newest canine member of the family: Tyson

As to how Tyson arrived, apparently a neighbor of my daughter's posted on Nextdoor, the neighborhood website, a photo of Tyson with a plea for someone to adopt him, as he was a rescue pup who'd over-stayed his allotted time in the shelter without being adopted and was scheduled to be euthanized the following day.
As my daughter tells it, her heart was captured by the plight of this pooch with his adorably sad punim.

So now I have two grand dogs.

As to what breed Tyson might be, that information is unknown, but it's been determined that he's around two years old, and he kinda looks like a cross between a sheep dog,

...a pit bull,

...King Kong,

...and, from certain angles, the creature from "Ghostbusters."

Though it's taken some time for Tyson to acclimate himself to the "do's" and "don't's" of life as a house-dog - he'd been neither spayed nor house-trained when he arrived - he seems to be a pretty chill fellow by nature, who doesn't appear to mind sharing the humans,

...and generally puts up with pinky's annoying habit of jumping on him.

       And, even though it's well known that I'm not a dog-lover, for some reason with Tyson it was love at first sight.
        I don't mean it was me who fell in love with him; it was him who fell in love with me.
        From the moment I met him, and snapped that first shot,

...Tyson followed me around everywhere I went, which is probably why I got so many pictures of him: Every time I turned around, there he was behind me, looking up at me with those soulful eyes.

And even though I explained to Tyson that I'm not a dog person and requested that he kindly respect my space...

Sometimes he'd even plop his paw or his head on my foot, as if he wanted to connect himself to me.

Of course, Tyson didn't love me exclusively,

...but I do believe he loved me best. Unless he just loved getting his picture taken,

...like his brother.

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Last Day In Honolulu

5/13/2019

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On Sunday morning, our last day in Honolulu, I found myself wide-awake at 6:30 am, so I went down to the lobby, where I found a number of other wide-awake folks, including Claire and Miguel.

Hence I procured an iced tea from the Java Cafe and joined them.

Maria and Theresa were also up and already on their way to Lanikai Beach for early morning snorkling,

...where Maria caught sight of this kind of shark (but not this actual shark, this is a picture of the shark she found online ) - a white-tip reef shark, about twice as long as she was tall - swimming along the sea bottom below her,

...after which she hauled elbow back to shore and declared the snorkeling trip officially over.

Meanwhile back at the Hale Koa, as soon as the remainder of our group were up we met at the Koko Cafe for what would be Tom's and my last breakfast there, at least on this trip.

After breakfast I wandered about the Hale Koa seeking out a few final shots of the place.

For the rest of the day everyone went about their respective activities, most opting for a beach day, though Miguel walked to a nearby theater in Waikiki to catch the Avengers movie on its opening weekend. Though he went to an early matinee the theater was packed with Avengers fans, with every seat filled.

Tom took one for the team and returned our rented Ford Explorer to the airport, taking a bus back, while Theresa and I decided to walk to the Ala Moana Center, a shopping mall about two miles from the Hale Koa and the largest mall in the Hawaiian Islands.
Soon after we started out the clouds rolled in then the heavens opened with a rain shower. Fortunately in Waikiki one is never far from an ABC Store,

...so before getting too wet we able to procure a couple of $1.99 rain ponchos, which kept us dry, if not stylish, for the rest of our walk to the Ala Moana Center.
The Ala Moana Center, we learned, is a spacious, pretty indoor/outdoor mall,

...where, of course, there is an ABC Store.

Two, actually.

A middle school choir was singing ballads on a stage in the middle of the mall.

It was sweet watching and listening to their young voices because it brought back memories of all the choir concerts I used to go to years ago when Theresa was a member of the Columbus Children's Choir.
Below, Theresa, about 18 years ago, hamming it up with some Choir members before a Christmas concert.

By the time we left the Ala Moana Center the rain had stopped and so we had a nice, sunny walk back to the Hale Koa,

...where we later met up with the rest of the group for our final family dinner at the Koko Cafe.

The following morning. Monday April 29, Maria, Justin and the girls took an early flight back to Los Angeles, while Claire, Miguel, Tommy, Emily, and Theresa took a late-afternoon red-eye back to Chicago, which gave them time for one more Koko Cafe breakfast followed by half-a-day of beach and lounging-around time.
Tom and I were back in the Lobby for our last time at 7:30 am,

...from where we took a Speedi Shuttle to the Honolulu Airport,

.where we ate breakfast at the Chow Mein Express.

It wasn't Koko Cafe fare, but it was actually a pretty good breakfast.

...with a nice view.

Soon after we were on our way to our next destination from Hawaii, happily not yet Columbus, Ohio, but rather Los Angeles,

...aka Hawaii Lite.

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The Tree Of Life

5/11/2019

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...Continued from yesterday:
Below the lobby of the Hale Koa hotel,

...there is a courtyard,

...landscaped with beautiful tropical flora and fauna.

In the center of the courtyard there is a giant tree with some kind of vines or hanging roots that cascade downward from the branches.

I was fascinated by the tree, as I'm sure are most visitors to the Hale Koa, and I loved looking down at it from the lobby above.

...especially at night when it was lit up with blue light.

My grand daughters loved the tree, too.

They named it the Tree of Life.

       We had talked about having a family picture taken while here in Hawaii, but the days were so busy that it seemed that we might not get around to it.
         As of Saturday the photo shoot still hadn't happened.
        On Saturday morning most of the group - myself not included - left for a visit to Pearl Harbor, and when they returned on Saturday afternoon, though the sky was cloudy and overcast and the sea had turned from bright turquoise blue to grey-green,

...we opted to spend the rest of the day at the beach,

...where my grand daughters made a friend.

    While we were on the beach the subject of the family picture arose. The day was overcast and almost done at that; still, this was almost our last day; should we try to get the picture done this day?
     We decided to give it a try, and we packed up, left the beach, and agreed to meet in an hour, at 5 pm, under the Tree of Life, which we all agreed should be the backdrop for our family picture.
     By 5 pm we were all at the Tree. Tom went up to the lobby to seek out a staff member of the Hale Koa who might be willing to take a picture of us, and one of the desk clerks was happy to oblige.
     And so we had our family picture taken under the Tree of Life,

...and a few other shots as well.

After our photo shoot we walked into downtown Waikiki,

...to have dinner at a little ramen place,

...where the food was really good and exotic-looking.

Tofu

Ramen

After dinner we strolled around town,

...and over to the Island Vintage Shave Ice stand next to the Royal Hawaiian Center.

Then we sat around for a while,

...then walked around for a while,

...soaking up the aura of Saturday night in Honolulu.

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A Nice Surprise At The Royal Hawaiian Center

5/9/2019

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...Continued from yesterday:

Friday afternoon, after we finished shopping and strolling around the market (see yesterday's post),

...Theresa and I - Tom had left to pick up the bikers, who'd finished their biking and hiking around Diamond Head - exited at the other end of Dukes Alley and found ourselves back on Kalakaua Avenue across from the Royal HawaiianCenter,

...which, happily, happens to be next door to the Island Vintage Shave Ice stand (see post from 5/2/2019, "Hula Dancers And The Best Shave Ice On The Island").

After having spent the better part of the morning first walking around looking for the market then walking around the market, a nice, refreshing shave ice seemed the very thing.

Theresa ordered a Heavenly Lilikoi, with strawberry and Lilikoi ice over frozen yogurt and a side of lilikoi popping boba,

...while I had a green tea and lychee with popping boba, which was indeed very refreshing.

We ate our shave ices in the Royal Hawaiian Center Grove.

Afterwards we went into the Royal Hawaiian Center mall next to the Grove, where there was a food court,

...in which there was a bakery that displayed the most charming little pastries.

     I swore that if I ever came back to Honolulu I would come back to this food court and snag myself one.
    But it was in the mall restroom where I discovered the most pleasantly surprising gem.
    A couple of years ago a member of my Panera Posse, the group of beautiful ladies with whom I meet every Wednesday morning for coffee, tea, and discussion,

...anyway, one of the Posse members went on an educational tour of China.
     Among the photos of her trip that she shared with the Posse there was a picture of an item that so captured my imagination that for a while after seeing that photo of that item I had a strong desire to find and possess said item.
      The item - which my friend discovered in the bathroom of her hotel in Shanghai - is a jet-spray toilet called a Toto Washlet Performance Toilet (see post from 11/13/2014, "All I Want For Christmas Is A Toto Washlet"). This toilet had a remote control button that sent cleansing jet sprays of water upward. The press of another button controlled an upward-blowing air dryer. Hence there was no need for toilet paper. The Toto Washlet was invented in Japan, and while it is commonly found throughout that country, one would not expect to find such an amenity in any public restroom in the U.S.
      But when I entered the stall of the ladies' room at the Royal Hawaiian Center, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a Toto Washlet Performance Toilet,

...with all the fixin's.

     Was the Toto Washlet experience everything I imagined it would be? It was.
     Do I now wish I owned one? I do.
     Will I ever go out and buy one? Eh, probly not.
     Theresa and I then walked back to the Hale Koa,

...to which the biker-hikers had returned, and were chilling in their hotel rooms,

...before we all headed back down down to the beach.

There's a place on the beach that rents beach furniture and toys such as boogie boards, scuba gear, floating carpets, and giant sea bikes that one can ride in the water.

   The equipment is rented on the honor system, with the renters leaving their rented items on the beach when they leave and the rental company employees combing the beach at the end of the day to pick up the items.
       For this reason there is a practice of people who leave the beach before the end of the day giving their rented toys to others still on the beach to use for the rest of the day.
     Thus my family, who generally stayed on the beach until day's end, tended to be the daily recipients of beach toy swag given to them by people who were finished with their toys for the day.
       Among the toys we scored to use over the week were two children's beach chairs, an inner tube, .a floating carpet,

...and on this day two boogie boards, upon which my grand daughters stood at the edge of the surf, "riding," squealing with excitement every time the water came up far enough to wash over their feet.

We stayed on the beach until the sun began to think about setting,

...and the rental company workers began collecting the rentals from the beach.
Then we headed back to the hotel by way of the botanical garden.

Tom invited the adults over to our room for a "beer-thirty" happy hour.

When the little ones were dressed and ready,

...we headed down to the Koko Cafe for dinner, where this night we were given our own dining room with a nice view of the beach and the sunset,

...and where I guess we must have found something hilariously funny.

After dinner we walked down to the beach,

...to join the crowd that had gathered to watch the Friday night fireworks.

Then we followed the crowd along the beach,

...into downtown Waikiki,

...that looked so pretty and alive on this Friday night.

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The Mysterious Market

5/7/2019

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...Continued from yesterday:
On Friday morning some of our group went on a bike hike along the coast followed by a walking hike to the top of Diamond Head, pictured below,

...while others headed directly for the beach.

Tom, Theresa, and I started our day at the Koko Cafe,

... which, along with the awesome dinner buffet, also offers an awesome breakfast buffet.

Omelette station,

...and a friendly chef.

I didn't try the coffee jello cubes, but I heard from those who did that they're great if you need a quick shot of caffeine.

After breakfast Tom, Theresa and I walked down to the beach,

...to say hello to Claire and Miguel, who'd already staked a nice spot in the sand.

Then we headed back to the hotel, taking a stroll through the botanical garden along the way.

We next decided to walk into downtown Waikiki,

...to look for a street market tucked away off the beaten path that Tom and I happened upon during our last visit to Honolulu (see post from 4/24/2017, "Busing Around Honolulu, Day Two). But now neither of us could remember where it was.
We'd asked about the market at the hotel desk but the clerk pointed out an image on a city street map that appeared to be a recessed mall of upscale stores called the International Market. This, we knew, was not our market. We also asked a tour guide we met on our way into town but he, too, directed us to the International Market.
We decided to try and find the place on our own by walking around the streets,

...starting with the main commercial strip, Kalakaua Avenue,

...where we walked up the street,

...and down the street,

...but we had no luck.
So we cut over to a parallel street, Kuhio Street, which we likewise wandered up and down,

...with no luck until we were accosted by two hippie-looking young women who were trying to sell us something, a guided tour, or a time-share, or a tie-dyed tee shirt, none of which we wanted. However Tom asked them about the street market and they knew exactly what we wanted and where to find it.
     "Dukes Alley," one of the young women told us, pointing out the way, "a really small street about a block away, off to your left."
       We followed the girl's instructions and sure enough, there was a tiny street sign that we'd passed and re-passed without noticing, as the alley ran perpendicular between Kuhio and Kalakaua Streets.
       The market was tucked so far back into the alley that I can't figure out how we found it in the first place.
          But there it was,

...in all its colorful glory,

...and we found some good deals there,

...on aloha shirts and dresses.

To be continued...

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