Back at Maunalani

I woke up & could breathe clearly! I went to stay with Dad this morning; he seems to be doing less than before I got sick. He did not want to get out of bed this morning and wasn't drinking his supplements. I found 2 photos that Lynn had brought in to share with Dad; it was of him & her father when they were in the military, I'll be scanning them. There was also a copy of The Lighthouse, the Japanese magazine that had interviewed Dad back in June (when I was in Michigan); it's all in Japanese so I don't know what it says.

L to R: Dad, Walter (Lynn's father), & Sgt. Matsuda. (Photographer unknown)

The portion of the article on Dad.

Uncle Larry is looking good! He's back out of his room and roaming the halls again; he's much happier than when he first returned from the hospital. Mrs. Tanaka is also looking good; she continues to do her physical therapy & appears to be getting stronger. Mr. Yamada is also looking good; but his bed alarm keeps going off for no reason. Lori is as bubbly as ever. Mr. Watanabe is still singing his Japanese songs. Mrs. Ho is still trying to power drag herself down the hallway. Mrs. Toyama is sporting a new haircut; it looks good on her. I didn't see Mrs. Iseri or Mr. Kalaukoa today; they're rooms are on another floor. Only down side this morning is that Mr. Cruz keeps yelling about wanting someone to help him but telling people to get away from him; he seems to be louder than usual today.

I was able to get Dad out of bed just before lunch time; I got him to agree to sit out on the lanai with me as I ate lunch there. Lunch today was Seafood pasta primavera, Succotash, Garlic bread, Tossed salad, Chocolate pudding, & French onion soup; the menu said succotash but we got peas instead. Dad refused everything but the supplements.


After lunch, Dad watched a little bit of a Jackie Chan movie before he went back to bed. Not sure what the movie was, but it included Kevin Hart. This scene takes place in a men's spa. Jackie Chan is wearing a lavender robe, everyone else is wearing  blue; guess they wanted to make it clear which one was Jackie Chan since all Asians look alike ...


During my morning walk I saw Bella & Maggie as they were leaving the park. There is now a PODS storage unit sitting in the parking lot at the park; I'm not sure if its for the park or for the Board of Water Supply workers.


At the mid-morning walk there was a large truck parked at the edge of the field & a Board of Water Supply truck in the parking lot; I'm not sure what's going on. There were no birds on the field when I started walking around the field but as I reached the opposite side I saw the Kolea, it didn't stay long however; I wasn't able to get a good photo of it as it flew off; I hope it returns, it would be cool to have a resident Kolea at the park.



Curtis arrived early today; he gave our friends a ride to the airport. Because he got here so early I didn't do the mid-afternoon walk. I was going to walk after dinner with The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes; but ended up going to bed early.

Tonight was the Diversity Diner; a gathering at dinner hosted by Mary Ellen & Michael every 2nd Saturday of the month. After dinner there is a speaker or an activity that educates attendees on various aspects of racism, discrimination, & inclusion. Sometimes the topic is fun-filled & enlightening, sometimes it is serious, heavy-lifting training on such things as how to deal with racism. It is always followed by dessert & smaller, individual conversations. When I met Vivian, I invited her to attend with me & she became a regular; tonight Mary Ellen & Michael honored her by making some of Michael's fried chicken which was her favorite.

Photo of Vivian (L) & Carole (R) with a plate of Michael's fried chicken. (Photo by Mary Ellen)

Vivian at Studio Ghibli film night in 2016; me in a Totoro suit in the background. (Photo by Mary Ellen)

I've been using the new laptop (MacBook Pro with 2.3GHz dual-core processor) for a week now. It's fast! When I transfer photos over from my phone I have hardly any wait; I used to think something was wrong with the connection between the phone & the old laptop, now I know the old laptop was just slow since I am using the same cable. The new one is also very light compared to the old one. I'm getting spoiled! And to think, up until about 5 years ago, I had dial-up Internet service & I was satisfied with it. (That's a story for another time. OK, maybe just a little hint; I would go brew a cup of tea while I waited for a download to finish.)

One of the things I am doing right now regarding my artwork is collecting reference photos & thinking about what I need to do to turn that photo in to a painting. Here is the photo for today, a shower tree in full bloom.