About Aunty

Aunty is a new senior citizen and loving this phase of her life. Less responsibilities, less fear of being weird, able to do more of the things that I want to do! Older, yes, slower, yes, but life is even more wonderful in my golden years and I look forward to even goldener ones.

Aunty’s war on slugs

slugsAunty has been trying to grow vegetables from seeds.  Carefully planting Manoa lettuce seeds, Chinese parsley, and red lettuce in small raised beds.  Watering gently and keeping the surface moist.  Looking for sprouts that haven’t shown up.  Failure!

The next strategy was to buy starter vegetables from Koolau Farms for $1.49.  Carefully breaking up the clumping sprouts and transplanting them in the formerly unsuccessful raised beds.  Shade the transplants with a cut branch of mango leaves (neighbor Mrs. Fujitani taught Aunty that trick) and water gently, twice a day.  However, after about a week, these would become sparser and sparser and start to disappear.

Why?  Because of dang slugs.  Brown ones, blonde ones, black ones, and African snails – ooojey slimey mullosc that invade Aunty’s garden at night and hide behind rocks and pots during the day.  Creeps.  AND they are the carriers of the very bad rat lungworm disease that has become a problem in Hawaii.

War!  Humpf!  Ho – What is it good for?

A slug free yard and garden.  Aunty’s war on slugs is fierce, cruel, gross, and fun.  Pal Cookie calls Aunty “sick”.  Aunty calls her a wimp because just the thought of going out slug hunting at night will send her home immediately.

Slug bait is okay but they seem to have an innate sense of avoiding what will kill them.  Beer in a pan doesn’t seem to work with the slugs in Aunty’s yard.  Instead, Aunty now uses 2 relentless hunting methods that work.

Slow and torturous

The first method was taught by a sweet old neighbor, Mrs. Fujitani, who also taught her how to grow a garden full of great Manoa lettuce from seed.  She would wait until dark ~ about 9:00 pm or later, and go out into her garden with bamboo skewers in hand, and a flashlight.  Each slug would be poked all the way through the middle of their oojey bodies.  The next one would be poked, pushing the first one deeper on the stick, and so on and so on until she had a stickful of slugs (see the opening picture of skewered buggahs).  She would then insert the dull end of the skewer into the ground, and they would die in the sun and dry up the next day.

Faster and still torturous

Mrs. Fujitani’s method was good, but Aunty expanded her nightly hunts to the entire yard, and several times, the “harvest” included African snails, so Aunty discovered a new use for ziplock bags.

Latex examination gloves have also become Aunty’s favorite fashion accessory.  Donning those on both hands, and holding an open ziplock (sandwich size is just right) and lightweight LED flashlight in the gloved dominant hand, Aunty would wait until dark, and shine the light on the grass, sides of pots, inside gardens, even on concrete.  Each slug and/or snail would be picked up with the non-dominant gloved hand and popped into the open ziplock bag.  Find, pick, pop.  Find, pick, pop.  Occasionally one or two of those slimey buggahs would try to escape, so the non-dominant picking hand needs to push them back in the bag.

It is very important that only one hand touches the slugs and the other holds the bag and flashlight so that the flashlight doesn’t become slimed out.  After the bag is full or the hunt is over for the night, put down the flashlight, seal the ziplock bag up tightly and throw away in your rubbish can.  Then, carefully remove each glove, starting with the slug gathering non-dominant hand and then the “cleaner” hand.  Toss those.

Slime bagging tips

It seems that the slugs and snails come out into the open at night to socialize and party, as well as to destroy Aunty’s vegetable starters.  They like wet or damp grass or concrete.  So, water during the day before it becomes dark.  You are preparing the canvas for battle.

Hunt every night, if you can.  The first night is the biggest catch.

Make it a contest between friends – who can catch the most slugs.  Count and laugh – one slug, ah ah ah ah, two slugs, ah ah ah ah (just like Count Dracula from Sesame Street) but don’t be surprised if your friends decline and go home instead.

Make sure the bags do not have a puka or opening, or your rubbish can will have them crawling all over the next day (very gross, very gross, especially in the big grey bins that the City and County provide to us.)  Sometimes, Aunty will put the bag in an empty plastic bottle with screw on lid as an added precaution.  They are stinky while they are dying.

The best night to go slug hunting is after a heavy rain.  They really come out to party and your bagging fingers will be busy and the bag filled up in a very short time.  If you are feeling victorious and want even more of that feeling, go out again a couple of hours later when it is even darker and catch the latecomers.

If your neighbor asks you what you are doing, be honest.  It is better for them to think that you are weird than for them to think you lost your marbles (and are looking for them).

 

 

How to pick a good ripe watermelon

watermelonsAmy Lynn Andrews is a blogging guru that Aunty follows.  Sometimes she has excellent non-blogging tips.

Recently, she shared Shareably.net’s article about picking the perfect watermelon.  This was great for Aunty who usually doesn’t buy watermelons because of the risk of getting a lemon – a non sweet or juicy bulky green globe that nobody wants or eats.

The 5 key factors to picking, according to Shareably, are:

  • a yellow rather than a white field spot (where the watermelon lay on the ground).  Field spot?  Aunty never heard or looked for that.
  • lots of webbing – the ugly looking brown lines that indicate how many times a bee pollinates the flower.  Ugly lines are good?  Aunty used to think they were junk.
  • boy melons are longer and watery,  girl melons are rounder and sweeter.  Ahem, well, we all knew that, right?
  • not too big, and not too small, but juuuussst right.  Sounds like Aunty Marialani from Rap Replinger’s video.
  • brown tail means it was on the vine longer, thus riper.  Green tail means it was picked too early.  Aunty has never seen a tail on a watermelon – but now shall check them out.

MAYBE Aunty will buy a watermelon again.  Or did she miss the season already?

Wisdom is Wasted on the Old

bill-bonnerBill Bonner has a newsletter than Aunty subscribes to.  He owns Agora Publishing – a very affiliate based newsletter business – sometimes there is overkill in how many links that we are introduced to, but his insights are usually spot on and sage, so Aunty pays attention.

His Bill Bonner’s Diary post today started off with:

POITOU, FRANCE – “My father told me to plant trees,” said a neighbor last night.

“It was right after I bought this place. Of course, I was young… I was busy… I didn’t have time to plant trees.

“Now, I tell my sons to plant trees while they’re still young. So they can enjoy them later.

“Funny, as you get older, and the less future you have available, the better you know it.”

It went on to talk about the trillions of dollars of government debt (all the QE – quantative easing money that the Federal Reserve started printing beginning with President Bush and beyond) and how the younger generation will have to pay it eventually.  Or, there will be a collapse in the system.

Too heavy for Aunty.  For, what can the average person do?  The ostrich head in the sand shows up.

He then went on to talk about buying with debt – borrowing and using income to pay off the debt later IF all goes well.

Which brings to mind those trees that should have been planted when we were young.  Didn’t our parents tell us to save our money?  To eat healthy, cover up from the sun, exercise, work hard?

And what did Aunty do?

Spend like crazy, borrow constantly and use credit cards to their max.  Eat deliciously wonderful junk foods, go out in the sun without hat or sunscreen, sit and squander time.

Aunty has had to pay the price for not listening when she was younger.

Aunty emailed Bill Bonner, “Youth is wasted on the young, and wisdom is wasted on the old.”

However it is never too late to make changes in our lives, no matter how old or young we are, right?

Post note:  Aunty just finished listening to Deepak Chopra’s  “The New Physics of Healing” CD, borrowed from our local library.  Most of it was WAY above Aunty’s understanding – quantum this and fundamental that.

However, what was fascinating was how influential the collective belief of our communities and culture view old people.  For the most of us, getting old is an undesirable downhill slide into physical and mental deterioration.  In a few specific societies where getting old is something to look forward to, with the collective belief that oldsters are more functional, with bigger roles affording more respect and admiration, there is no physical or mental deterioration, but vibrant lives well into their 100s.

Perhaps, that is why, when we are with others who look good and enjoy life, we are ageless.  When we live each day without worrying about what doesn’t matter, we still have time to plant trees.

Avocados, Bananas, and the Olympics

CIMG0579What do these 3 things have in common?  A friend named Wandaful.  She is a wonderful (hence her nickname Wandaful) person and a sharer of useful information.  The first 2 are super useful tips for preserving Aunty’s favorite perishable fruits.  The last is eye candy for the senses.

#1 Avocados

One day, Wandaful came by and gave Aunty 3 perfectly ripe avocados from her Sam’s Club bag of 6.  Aunty loves to eat bacon avocado sandwiches but didn’t have bacon in the refrigerator at the time.

Wandaful’s great tip saved the day.  She said to wrap each avocado tightly with plastic wrap and store them in the refrigerator until ready to eat.

Indeed, it worked, exceptionally well! Here are the avocados after 1 week, then 2 weeks.  Perfect and not over ripe OR dried up!!!

#2 Bananas

Have you bought a bunch of bananas and have them ripen all at the same time, and end up throwing away the blackened over ripe ones after a few days?  Waste money.

Wandaful suggested putting the just right ripe bananas in a brown paper bag (okay….that’s what to do to hasten the ripening process of green bananas).  However, instead of keeping them out on the table, put the bag in the refrigerator.  Aunty tried this for 2 weeks.  It sorta worked.  Both the table top control banana (single one that soon became black) and the refrigerated bunch of bananas were still good to eat, though the black one was a bit mushier.  What might have been a big factor is that these were Apple bananas which have a MUCH longer shelf life than regular bananas and remain firm even though they look rotten.

#3 Visual eye candy

Wandaful sends Aunty an email about checking out a special Japanese artist by signing in on Google.  Huh?  How does one sign in to Google?  After Aunty’s confusion, she sent the name of the artist – Eiko Ishioka.  This is a neato lady that passed away in 2012.  She did strange and fantastic media art.  Aunty took exceptional attention to the Beijing 2008 Olympics opening ceremony of 2008 Chinese drummers that Eiko art-directed with its physically staggering optics and performance.

Behold and enjoy: [Aunty’s update: to view, click on “Watch on YouTube” and the video will open and play.]

Jalna’s husband’s crispy skin pork bake

Jalna pernil

Picture from Jalna’s blog of Wendell’s Pernil

Jalna’s blog just kills Aunty sometimes.  She makes us laugh, feel whimsy, and then, SO hungry when she posts her husband and son’s cooking results.

A few weeks ago, she shared Wendell’s Pernil – a Puerto Rican pork recipe .  The picture of the crispy skin pork jumped out and begged to be eaten.  Jalna assured Aunty (during the funeral picture taking day) that it was indeed ONO (delicious) to da max.

Last Sunday was the first Sunday of the month.  Each month, Aunty has her 1st Sunday dinner for family and friends at the house.  Wendell’s Pernil was going to be the main dish.  Luckily, Times Super Market had ONE 8 lb. picnic pork shoulder (looked kinda gross and weird because of the skin), and Aunty’s old spice cabinet didn’t have dried oregano so she substituted with Italian seasoning.

It was easy – even for Aunty – who is still regaining her strength in her hand after her broken arm incident.  The marinade seemed like it was too sparse but it was actually just right.  Aunty should have let the skin get crispier (it would get stuck to Aunty’s teeth instead of crunching into pieces) but everybody at dinner seemed to love it.  Pal Wandaful took home the big bone to make jook.  It was a fall off the bone success!!!  Mahalo, Jalna and Wendell!

Ingredients
8 pounds picnic pork shoulder
12 minced garlic cloves
1 1/2 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
3 tbs olive oil
3 tbs white vinegar
8 tsp salt (or 1 tsp per pound of meat)

Directions
Wash the pork shoulder.

With a sharp knife, make 1-inch deep cuts into the pork.

Using a mortar and pestle crush garlic, oregano and black pepper together.  (Aunty just smashed ’em)

Add olive oil, vinegar and salt. Mix well.

Spoon some of the garlic mixture inside the small cuts around the pork and spread remaining all over the pork.

Place pork in aluminum turkey pan (skin side up) and cover with aluminum foil tightly.

Refrigerate for at least 8 hours. Turn it in the marinade.

Bake at 325 degrees for about 5 to 6 hours.

Remove aluminum foil and bake at 375 degrees for another hour or until the skin is crisp.

Your next 5 years

laptopAunty subscribes to over 40 websites for daily email updates and newsletters.  These vary from healthy cooking, beading, real estate, retirement planning, etc.  The majority of Aunty’s subscriptions focus on financial gurus letting subscribers know what they THINK may happen based on current and past factors.

Most of them are gloom and doomers.  The economy will collapse, we are in a bubble, sell everything and move to another country, get ready for the survival of the fittest, etc.

Some are believers in getting into the stock market for the long haul – buy now and hold forever, just make sure that you only buy top quality stocks.  Some believe in buying real estate. Some believe in buying and storing away gold.  Some are absolutely sure about bitcoin.

Who is right?  Probably every one of them.  The trouble is, we don’t know what will come first or happen until it happens.  So we plod on, hoping for the best, planning as best we can, or choose to just keep doing what we always do.

The post it note

Aunty has a little post it note on her laptop.  It asks, “What would I do if I only had a week/a month/ a year/5 years/ a life left to live?”  Then, it asks, “How can I design my routine this week to align with these answers?”  Allow 10 minutes per answer.

This post it note has been staring at Aunty for over a year, each time the laptop was opened.  It requires 50 minutes of sit down and write answers, so Aunty would look at the note, and then ignore it as emails were checked, Drama Fever shows were watched, games were played, or checking things out on the amazing world wide web.

A break in time

After Aunty broke her arm, it was really quite nice.  All chores, commitments, and activities stopped.  Friends and family brought food, became chauffeurs, and Aunty had an excellent excuse to not have to get up and fetch things or clean up.  Daughter #1 became a very capable and caring housemaid/cook/nurse aide.  Aunty would play HOURS of Candy Crush Saga with her right hand or watch Korean dramas nonstop without feeling any remorse of wasting time.  Ha Ha!  That was fun.

Aunty’s 5 years

Even while wasting time, that post it note kept asking, “What would I do if I only had a week/ a month/ a year/ 5 years/ a life time left to live?”

So for now, Aunty has thought about the 5 year time line.  If Aunty only had 5 years left to live.  Hmmm.  For starters, Aunty wants to be in excellent health – no aches, pains, disease.  Vibrant independent living.  Active in thinking capacity (no Alzheimers for Aunty!), financially set up for life, having a clutter free home (via the Mari Kondo Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up), a joyful garden, 2 chickens to lay fresh eggs, an understanding with the children about who gets what and how, and having freedom of time and space to create and create with all the beads, fabrics, and supplies collected over the years.

Planning for the near and far future means doing things rather than putting them off.  The end will be our memorial service.

A funeral picture

from "Miss Granny"

from “Miss Granny”

Aunty thoroughly enjoyed a Korean drama movie, Miss Granny.  She was a crotchety bitter old woman who had a hard life.  She went to a photo shop to have her funeral picture taken.  In Korea, during the memorial service, the deceased’s picture is framed and set in a horizontal flower wreath.  Rather formal, usually flattering, plain backdrop, headshot.  Something like a passport photo, but better because it is flattering by choice.

So, Aunty reached out to her favorite photo blogger, Jalna, to take her funeral picture next week.  Friends have been invited, but Aunty’s friends think she is weird so no takers – yet.

This will also be a time for pictures for Aunty’s new website design (taking forever but it shall be happening).  Jalna’s work place and photographer friend Leslie (check out her unreal Africa photo trip) will be coming to help, so already it shall be a fun day.

Having a funeral picture and updating HonoluluAunty.com is part of Aunty’s 5 year plan.

Choose YOUR what if and work on it

“What would you do if you only had a week/ a month/ a year/ 5 years/etc. left to live?”

Aunty probably has at least 20 years left and has been mulling over how she wants her life to be.  Maybe it is morbid, but doing what needs to be done now will make it easier for the ones we leave behind.

Earlier this year, Aunty had EDTA chelation done.  This was once a week for 10 weeks at her doctor’s office (excellent Dr. Takemoto-Gentile) to remove heavy metals and detox.  A friend thought it was dangerous and put a bit of fear into Aunty’s psyche.

So, one week prior to starting the treatments, Aunty thought a bit about what to do if there was just a week left for Aunty.  It was cleaning up the garage that had so much junk in it, one couldn’t walk to the back wall. Strange choice but it felt good.  (The garage is still a mess but less of one.)

Turns out, the IV chelation was great, safe, and the side effects were better health and talking to the doctor every week.

It was a successful 1 week exercise and rather an easy one.  If Aunty were to do another “what if” for a week long time frame, it might be handwriting individual aloha letters to the kids.  Maybe finally painting a couple of the window sills that are starting to peel and flake.  Definitely clearing all the papers and miscellany from the desk.  Rearranging pots and plants and trimming trees.

For right now, Aunty has the great excuse of a broken arm, but it is healing up so quickly, Aunty’s days of Candy Crushing for hours and hours will be over.  It will be full steam ahead again soon.

What would you choose to do?

 

 

Aunty’s Quite Wonderful Broken Bones

ToshiSee this cute little doggie?  His name is Toshi.  He is our daughter’s 7 year old Sheltie, and he is dangerous for old ladies who try to keep up with his running while walking on uneven Kaimuki streets.  That is how Aunty tripped, flew forward, and broke 2 bones in her left forearm recently.

As Aunty struggled up, holding her dirty misshaped wrist and battling shock, Toshi was not concerned and of no help.  This dog is far removed from the hero dog that he looks like – Lassie – the problem solving smart dog we all grew up admiring on our black and white TV screens in the “old days.”

Since no one was home, Aunty drove, one handedly to Kahala Urgent Care just before they closed for the night.  The entire staff was sooo nice and efficient, washing and wrapping Aunty’s many wounds, taking an Xray, being seen by a real doctor, putting the entire elbow, forearm and wrist in a splint, and sending Aunty home with discharge info and instructions to see an orthopedic doctor asap the next day.

Not choosing the emergency room

Why didn’t Aunty go to Queen’s emergency instead and have it possibly taken care of in one visit?  Aunty heard that after 6:00 pm, the ER staff is made up of the rookie doctors, because Queen’s is a training hospital.  No rookie (deceivingly known as “resident doctors”) for Aunty.  Also, their triage admission process is agonizingly long and requires sitting, waiting, moving, sitting, waiting, on and on.

Kahala Urgent Care was close by, uncrowded, and they did a great job of stabilizing Aunty’s arm.  It was also SO reasonable in price, HOW do they make money?

Dr. Atkinson and Thelma

thelmaAunty called the first name on the list that Kahala Urgent Care recommended, Dr. Robert Atkinson at Hale Pawa’a Building on Beretania Street, (808) 536-2261.  Thelma answered the phone.  Thelma!  A really nice young woman with an old fashioned name.  We hit it off and Aunty went in that day to see Dr. Atkinson.  Surgery was scheduled for the next day in the same building, on the 6th floor.

The 6th floor was top notch, clean, excellent nursing and operating staff, bright and modern, with a state-of-the-art operating room.  Aunty’s surgery went well, and a good friend took Aunty home to recover with a partial splint and a bandaged arm.  A follow up appointment for a hard cast was scheduled in a week.

Tammy and the Beautiful Cast

tammyAunty’s hand was still swollen and her wounds were still raw and open at her followup appointment so with a gentle suggestion from Aunty’s newest pal Thelma, Dr. Atkinson directed Aunty to see Tammy of the Hawaii Hand & Rehabilitation Services located in an adjacent office on the same floor (so convenient that the Xray room, rehab, casting, and doctor are all on the 7th floor!)

Tammy is a pretty Okinawan looking young woman who really knows her stuff.  See her picture with Aunty?  She followed Aunty’s coaching about angling her body, bending her elbow, and pulling back her face from her ears the way that Jalna shared in her photo shoot tips.  She looks good, yeah?

What impressed Aunty the most was how she “made” Aunty’s HOT pink gorgeous cast out of a flat sheet of plastic, expertly fitting, shaping, cutting, forming and adjusting – into a work of art that Aunty is SO happy to wear!  It is hard, super light weight, easily removable (Aunty was worried that she would get itchy in a regular hard cast), and comfortable.

Tammy went through a worksheet of hand exercises to speed along recovery and mobility.

Aunty is ready to hit the town

Aunty is going stir crazy at home as well as watching the weeds in her garden laugh and grow. Aunty’s wounds are almost healed with the application of Anti-Infection that kills ALL bacteria on contact but can cause screeching pain at first.  Aunty has also been on her BEMER machine (a future post) and using its infrared light attachment directly over the largest wound.

These therapies and the excellent care that the above fine professionals have provided, along with the help and food from friends and family have made this latest journey of a broken arm quite wonderful.

Aunty has cancelled some of her previously scheduled commitments, is taking it easy, and has a really good reason for not working at projects that have been put off anyway.

Life is good, even with a broken arm.

 

 

 

Yellow for Yellowing Teeth?

yellow smileAunty’s blog friend Kay of Musings recently posted about whitening her teeth with Crest Whitestrips.  It worked beautifully – Kay’s teeth became movie star white – but had a few cautionary issues with sensitivity and erosion.

Aunty used to use whitening strips, or the “trays” that are formed as troughs to fit and soak uppers and lowers in bleach solutions, but has recently opted for a cheaper, possibly safer and more natural solution that really works, though not to the dazzling whiteness of movie stars.

It is a very yellow paste made with 1 TBS coconut oil, 1 tsp curcumin (also known as turmeric), and 2 drops of peppermint oil (optional).  This short video from the good folks at 7 Nutrition shows how it is done.  Aunty takes a capsule of curcumin on a daily basis, and 2 capsules = approx 1 tsp when opened and measured.  2017-05-25_17-17-21

After mixing thoroughly in a small ceramic dish, Aunty stores the paste in a cute little Chinese mustard container with a cover on her bathroom counter.  This lasts for weeks.

Use a Q-tip (rather than a toothbrush) to dip into the paste and rub or dab onto the front teeth surface.  Keep your lips open and away from your yellow teeth.  You will look wild and weird – but that’s okay.  We do what we must for looking good.  The longer you can do this, the better.  Try for at least 2 minutes.  Be aware that curcumin can stain your countertops, towels, and clothing so be neat and apply just enough.

Then, wipe off as much as possible with toilet paper or paper towel pieces, and throw in the trash.  Don’t rinse in the sink before wiping or dispose of the paper in the toilet or you will have oily yellow ringed sink bowls to clean.  Optional to brush or rinse your mouth after wiping.

Do daily for a couple of weeks, and then less often. Slowly but surely, your smile will be brighter and brighter!

mustard dish

 

Broke da Arm

armAunty is now a patient, feeling impatient.  Last Wednesday, she tripped on someone’s driveway while walking a dog and broke 2 bones just above her left wrist.

Surgery was done on Friday.  Recovery seems slow – but there is no way to rush it.

Time has been slowed down, too.  Life goes on, and the weeds are rejoicing because Aunty’s daily yard duties have been curtailed – for now.

In Aunty’s Garden

gardener

Hat, long sleeve dress shirt, long harem pants, and gloves = sun safe to the max

Aunty seems to be unsociable lately because she has been fanatic in doing her favorite task – every single day – from late afternoon to when the sun goes down.  Weeding, weeding, and weeding, non-stop.  This is a bit surprising because usually after a couple of days of weeding, Aunty’s hands and body are so sore and stiff, she has to take a break.  The difference has been the BEMER – a pulsed electromagnetic field system (post will follow one of these days).

Aunty’s blogging friend, Kay of Musings, has a blogging friend Linda of Linda Letters whom Aunty follows because she is a retired teacher with so much going on, is also a soccer fan, and has the most fantastic garden on 1/2 acres in Seattle.  She is a garden fanatic and shares with pictures and postings with weather reports so Aunty feels a bit more in touch with her #2 daughter  (teacher, soccer maniac, busy bee) who now lives there.  Another gardening fanatic was Mrs. Tsuneyoshi from across the street, who used to garden every day and share pots and pots of orchids, succulents, and fruits from her finely tended front yard.

Inspired by these 2 ladies,  Aunty wants to share some pictures of her ever changing garden – albeit small and wild.

front plants

Bonsai Bougainvillea in the driveway

papaya

Papaya trees, getting a bit too tall

mango

White Pirie mangos – still green. Luscious when ripe.

tillandsia

Tillandsias stuck into rocks

anthurium

Weird Tillandsia hung on nails and White Anthurium

orchidrock

Common Dendrobium orchid growing on rock wall

orchid

Brassia, on rock with spray of flowers

heliconia

Hanging Heliconia, about 12″ long

gingerv

Variegated Shell Ginger

gingers

Button Ginger

 

goldendewdrop

Golden Dew Drop