Happy Birthday, Kai!

Kai's day started out with going to breakfast with Mary Ellen & Michael at Piroshky & Crepes European Bakery Cafe; crepes are one of his favorite breakfast treats. He had a mango crepe, beef & cheese piroshky, & Turkish coffee.

With beef & cheese piroshky. (Photo by Mary Ellen)

With Turkish coffee. (Photo by Mary Ellen)

I mailed a package to Kai on Monday for his birthday; it arrived on Thursday. I also sent another package of goodies as a prize for whomever guessed the most of the things that were in Kai's package. Michael got the prize, he guessed pasta & coffee; the pasta was Annie's mac & cheese, the coffee was Sunrise, there was also SPAM, & a black Takata Store t-shirt. No photos of these right now, because they are on Kai's phone and he hasn't sent them to me yet.

Michael made buffalo stew and Carole & Norm picked up a chicken tikka pizza from Kai's favorite pizza place, A Pizza House. We've been getting pizzas from there for at least a decade; Gulshin, the owner, became a friend of ours.

Food coma time.

They watched Porco Rosso, a Studio Ghibli anime film; Kai is a fan of Studio Ghibli. If you have seen My Neighbor Totoro, you have seen a Studio Ghibli film. 

Here's me in a Totoro costume on Studio Ghibli film night at Mary Ellen's house last year. (Photo by Mary Ellen)

Mary Ellen got him a flourless chocolate torte, much like what I would get him from Pave' Bakery for his birthday. Our Jane picked up one of them one year; she walked in and said, "We're in trouble, they said the best way to cut it is with a hot knife!"

Here's the flourless torte. Kiki's Delivery Service is another Studio Ghibli film.

Meanwhile back here, I was hanging laundry & found that the papayas are now fruiting! They have now been in the ground for 7 months. And I should be careful what I wish for. With 3 trees all producing fruit there will be a lot of papayas here. Feel free to drop by to get one. Or 2, or 3, or ...


I also found that the pakalana has bloomed. Some of the blossoms on the 1st cluster were still good. And there was a 2nd cluster that was blooming. I now have about a dozen blossoms in a jar in the refrigerator.


I also spent time cutting the dead leaves off the strawberries; I found 2 flowers so there will be a couple of berries coming along. I am hoping they will start producing fruit again as it cools off.

Before.

After.

Shiro stayed close by while I was trimming the strawberries.

Yesterday, as part of the sheet changing that I do at the end of every visit, I put on the new Allerease Zippered Mattress Protector. Note to self, "zippered" means the the item needs to be on both sides of the mattress, i.e., on top as well as underneath! With the new location of the bed I was able to get it done. 

Before.

After.

I had a brainstorm last night. Pigs check things out with their sensitive noses. I know how they are getting in to the property. So I went to Sunshine and bought 4 rat traps! I put them on the trail the pigs are using. I put one right at the fence; I put the other 3 on the 3 areas they would have to pass through after they get under the fence. I need to keep them out long enough for Adam's friend to get the pig trap set up in the back yard.


I spent time taking more measurements of the sewing room. Due to the rain the day before I wasn't able to get all the outside measurements that I need, I was able to finish them off before I left. 

This is the east end of the sewing room; the window would be replaced by a door.

This is the west end of the sewing room, the closet used to be a porch with stairs down to the anthurium garden.

This is a post under the north wall of the sewing room. As part of the extension I will be having this post replaced.

Hmmm, a little sketchy.

I supplemented my ususal airport lunch with a brownie, but it's made with Peruvian chocolate! Auwe! Another big carbon footprint! I did find out the airport restaurant carries Garden Burgers, next time I will have to remember that and get one if there is enough time before my plane leaves.


While I waited for my plane I continued working on deleting e-mails to reduce the amount of storage I need. But its a slow, frustrating process. So far I have gone from using 16.25 GB down to 16.22 GB. I might have to buy some while I do this so that I can use my e-mail again.


While we were waiting to leave the gate we saw an Alaska Airline plane. This must be a new design for their 10th anniversary of their Hawaii routes. This is not their usual pattern.


Happy Birthday also to Nancy! Happy Belated Birthday to Swil Kanim & Chavie!