How Many Umbrellas Do You Need in Hawai'i?

I was organizing the bookshelf by the garage door this morning. I needed to make more space on the shelf so that I could put away the cookbooks that Mom got in December. I had not really noticed what was on top of the other cookbooks until I started the task. I have not figured out why there are so many umbrellas here. But now when Mom says she needs to get an umbrella I can let her know that she already has an umbrella and doesn't need to get another one. One of these days I will find the 3 nail clippers that I have bought for her since I arrived 7 months ago. I get a new one every other month or so, clip her nails, then it disappears in to the black hole next to her chair. And I buy another one. Again.

There are nine umbrellas here.

I also found the recipe book that Myrtle put together for the family reunion in 2001. Everyone was asked to contribute 1 or 2 recipes. Kai sent in Pie de Queso (Mexican Cheesecake) and I submitted teriyaki chicken and bulgar pilaf.


It was a dark & stormy night... We were without cable tonight, which also meant I had no wi-fi connection. But the wi-fi outage only lasted for about 2 hours (though it did go out a 2nd time for about 5 minutes as I was trying to post). The wind actually started earlier in the afternoon; tonight gusts got up to 40 mph according to the news. When I went out after dinner to check that everything was still OK, I found that the wind had knocked a lot of the ripe pomelos off the tree. I decided to wait until tomorrow, when the wind stops, to go and pick them up.

Note the pomelos on the tree towards the left that are blurred due to the wind action on them.

Found out today that David will also be coming for a visit while Sarah & Kaia are here! Since he's gluten intolerant I picked up these 2 cookbooks from America's Test Kitchen a few months ago. I am excited to start using them. The 1st volume has a make-your-own gluten-free flour mix that is then used in the recipes. The 2nd volume has a make-your-own whole grain gluten-free flour mix. There are a lot of recipes that are also vegetarian, so they will also work for Sarah. David's girlfriend Randi is coming with him.


Happy Birthday to Maki-san & Jina!