Maunalani Circle Here I Come!

It's August 1st! I had set this as my target date to start walking around Maunalani Circle in order to increase the amount of walking I am doing to get in shape for the Great Aloha Run in February. So this morning, as I left the parking lot, I turned left & headed up the hill. When I drove it a few weeks ago it didn't seem like it was uphill for most of the way from the parking lot! I think about 2/3 of it was uphill; I originally thought it was way less than half. Oh well, since it is the start of the day it is easier to do than if I was trying to do it at the mid-afternoon walk. My morning walk is now about 1.2 miles long; the longest distance I have covered at one time since 2005 when all the fibromyalgia-related issues began. The real test was to see how quickly I recovered before the mid-morning walk today & how wiped out I am tomorrow.

Hmmmm, I don't remember it being so steep when I drove it.

After my walk, when I change from my sweaty UPF shirt into a dry shirt to wear around Maunalani, I spend a few minutes washing the sweat off my face. I take a small wash cloth that acts as my towel to dry off with as well as anything else it might come in handy for. After I wash the sweat off I reapply a moisturizer with SPF 15 sunscreen. Or maybe it's an SPF 15 sunscreen with moisturizer since it says to reapply every 2 hours for maximum sun-protection; my walks are generally over 2 hours apart, so it works well.

These 2 products now live in my backpack; the towel changes every day or every other day.

Dad got out of bed to go to the Namaste session, it was in the dining room but Sam did his best to do a good massage on Dad. I took Dad to see Popokilani while we waited for the regulars to show up.


The mid-morning walk started out with spotting a kolea in the lower parking lot at Maunalani. This one is very mixed up; it was walking around on the pavement, it wasn't even looking for food items in the planting areas, which are not grass where it is usually found. I tried to skirt around it to get out of the parking lot but it flew away; I did not see it down at the park. On the way back up I was feeling good until about the last block getting back up to the parking lot. But after I did my cool down stretches the tiredness went away. The next test is the mid-afternoon walk.

Kolea or Pacific Golden Plover (Pluvialis fulva) in non-breeding plumage.

Kirsten came to interview Dad for their social services assessment. Like the Care Conference, it is done within a couple weeks of the resident's arrival, then every quarter after that. Kirsten reviews Dad's file before her interview, but talks directly to the resident and asks some questions that she already has answers to, like "Are you eating okay?" She also does a memory assessment as part of her interview; Dad could only remember the 3 words immediately after she told them to him. Five minutes later he could not remember a single one.


Lunch was Honey ginger glazed chicken, Steamed rice, Pacific blend vegetables, Tossed salad, Layer cake, & French onion soup. Dad didn't want to try anything at all. In spite of his not eating, when they weighed Dad after lunch, he had gained 3.2 pounds since July 2nd.

On the scale for his monthly weigh-in.

At the mid-afternoon walk Curtis pulled in to the lower parking lot just as I was beginning my walk. He said the work crews were in the midst of paving some of the areas near the upper driveway so he opted to park below. I felt similar on this walk, good until the last block, then a little tired. But again, after the cool down stretches I was feeling good again.

The Roommates were running around doing errands after work. One texted me a photo; I had been telling them about the blue tape placed around the Manu-o-ku trees to keep the nests & young birds from being disturbed. They found a tree! (I think they were near Don Quijote; there is a whole row of trees that the Manu-o-ku are nesting in near there.)

(Photo by The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes)

The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes & I did an evening walk as part of our training for the Great Aloha Run. This shows up on the Walking app as a 0.8 mile walk; almost all of it is flat, this is the route I did with Mom when she was not able to do much walking.  (If we walk up to the Little Free Library across from the elementary school it adds just enough to make our walk 1 mile.) I felt good for the entire walk, I think the incline for the walks at Maunalani are what make me feel it at the end. I will have to see how I do tomorrow morning; a big question is will I be able to wake up easily at my usual 6 am time?

I made a couple of new signs to put up in Dad's room. That way when there is a CNA that is not familiar with Dad's routine they have some clues on what to do for him.

I forgot to take my reading glasses with me today, so I was limited in what I could do. I spent a lot more time listening to the Harry Dresden audiobooks. I am close to finishing Grave Peril; only 9 more chapters to go. Earlier I noted we listened to part of Storm Front while in Michigan, then part of Fool Moon on our way out to Kapolei. I never mentioned that I listened to 2 Harry Dresden short stories, Restoration of Faith (apparently originally called Side Jobs) and Working for Bigfoot. I have 29 more Harry Dresden audiobooks that Kai has downloaded onto my MacBook.



Happy Birthday to Sarah & Ariel!