Mom's Big Island Visit, Day #2

I forgot to mention that Mom really liked the ramp to the front door. She also liked the new indoor shower and wood floors. But the ramp was the improvement that was her favorite. It gives her more independence with less fear of falling. She says her legs are getting weaker, especially the left side, and she did have a lot of trouble with the 3 steps up to the Alamo car rental office. On the drive from Kona to Kohala she kept saying this is her last trip to Kohala since she was having trouble walking, but when she got to the ramp her attitude changed.


I also forgot to mention that the night time temperature on our first night dropped to 62 degrees F, which is quite balmy for those of you in the continental US stuck in the deep freeze that seems to be hitting the rest of the states. But for Mom it is extremely cold, I'm glad that I brought the heating pad for her. Even though she was cold (and complaining a lot about it) I had a hard time convincing her to wear her leggings and the vest her mahjong buddies gave her (which I packed for her) and the very warm fleece with a hood that I keep at the house for when the temperatures go in to the low 60's. The fortunate thing is that there is no TV at the house so she had to go to bed early and read under the covers with the heating pad.

On our 2nd day (12/14) we went to CSC Cafe for breakfast because I wasn't in the mood for washing dishes before breakfast in order to cook breakfast. While there, Lem showed up for his morning ritual coffee. He says if he stays home he starts thinking too much about things, so he tries to get out of the house every day and CSC is his main hangout. He gets together with the other retired guys at the outdoor tables under the canopy to talk story or watch the big screen TV.

I wrapped the presents for Kai, Sarah, David, Vivian, Lamberts, and Kai's friend Xeon, and dropped them off at the post office. They said since the packages were mailed on 12/14 each of them should receive their package by Monday, 12/19. We shall see how accurate that estimate is. The official deadline for guaranteed delivery before Christmas to North America is 12/15, so I am cutting it a little close.

We dropped by to see Jessie and found out that a wild pig and her piglets have been coming in from the pasture in the back of the houses and rooting around in her backyard the past couple of weeks! (She said her son Masa caught a 150# one in her back yard last week.) She said some of the piglets are small enough to get through the hog wire fence between our yards. When we got back to the house I checked to see if they had torn up the back lawn like they did to hers, but found no damage.

I cut as many flowers as I could from Grandma's anthurium patch to take to the cemetery but there were not that many. Yesterday David, Mei, & I talked about what needs to be done to rejuvenate the anthurium beds. Previously, Grandma used bagasse as the medium to grow them in, but with the closure of the sugar cane mills that is no longer available. David said macadamia nut husks are an excellent medium and I could get them for free from Hamakua Macadamia Nut Company in Kawaihae. Here is Mom at the grave site of her parents with a few flowers we were able to get; we also put a couple of flowers at the gravesite for her grandparents and aunty.


The cemetery is close to the Kohala Hospital where Uncle Kazu is at, so we went there next. (No, not right next door, that would be creepy. The hospital is about 1/2 mile away down the hill and across the highway.) Mom found the slot machine that they have in the Day Room and Sadie taught her how to use it; she won every time she put something in! We also played hanafuda with Mom's friend Akimi who also lives there, Uncle Kazu wasn't interested so he went outside. I later joined him outside.

Mom & Sadie at the slot machine.

We had dinner at 'Aina Ahiahi Restaurant at the Kohala Village HUB, I was checking out other places to take Uncle Kazu for lunch. This one is easily accessible, though he might not be enthused about the food, Mom wasn't. The restaurant uses as much local and/or sustainably produced ingredients as possible. I had the HUB Burger made with Kahua Ranch beef, with a side of Pacific Salad (purple sweet potatoes, ulu, & other Pacific crops in season "with shredded organic carrots & Best Foods mayonnaise"), Mom had Da Rice Bowl with tofu & "organic chicken served over stir-fried seasonal local vegetables". She kept complaining that the cook was not Japanese, I kept pointing out it was not a Japanese restaurant. She is upset that there are so many changes in Kohala compared to when she was growing up. The burger was excellent! (Kahua Ranch is a few miles up the Kohala Mountain Road from us, so it is very local.)

L to R: HUB Burger, Pacific Salad, & Da Rice Bowl.

I think dessert made up for Mom's disappointment with the meal. She originally said she only wanted one taste of the lilikoi pie. She ended up eating at least half of it! The lilikoi pie is the only one made by the restaurant, the other pies are from Holy's Bakery.

It looked so good I started before I remembered to take a photo!

Later in the evening, as I was getting dressed after my shower, I heard a yelp from Mom & something dropping. It turns out she was trying to light the incense with the lighter. Because of the dementia she can't remember that she should be lighting the candle then lighting the incense. She almost started a fire but fortunately the lighter put itself out after it fell and there was nothing extremely flammable nearby. I surreptitiously put the lighter in my fanny pack a short while later. But she almost started another fire when she let the candle burn down instead of letting me put it out after she lit the incense! (I now take care of that, too, before I leave the room.)

Oh, oh, getting down to 2% again. Publishing Now!