OSA Winding Down

Sort of. I helped Tani take the Hawai'i Wildlife Center (HWC) van to Young Brothers today; it is returning to the Big Island. Tani leaves tomorrow night, signaling the close of the O'ahu Seabird Aid Program for this year. In the meanwhile, Nikki is renting a car to run them around for today & tomorrow; she'll be with us until about December 20th, continuing to work with the Manu-o-Ku. There are several Wedge-tailed Shearwaters at Feather & Fur that came in today that Tani still needs to assess; she & Nikki will release the ones in good condition tomorrow morning. Others will be sent to HWC. Getting in to Young Brothers was a little tricky this morning. There was a long line of semis with cargo containers in line to get in; I had to sneak around the end of the last trailer to get in to the non-semi truck line.


I was again a little late getting to my morning walk so I didn't see any regulars; but I did meet Paul. He usually walks up from Kapahulu to the top of Wilhelmina Rise where it intersects with Sierra Drive; today he decided to see what was beyond that. He was walking on Maunalani Circle when I met him; along the way he picks up recyclables. He also carries a 35-pound weight in his backpack. He is training for the GORUCK Tough Challenge Pearl Harbor event on December 7th.

First thing in the morning.

On Sierra Drive, about mid-walk.

I left for Young Brothers shortly after I did my cool down stretches; Google Maps said it would take me 30 minutes with the traffic so I would arrive there 15 minutes early. I decided I wanted the extra time just in case traffic got worse on the way there. As I was going down Waiakamilo it was clear I would still be at least 10 minutes early, so I stopped at Hawaiian Pie Company because, why not? I tried a sample of their Blue Pineapple, which I liked but it had coconut and one of The Roommates does not like coconut. So I got a Caramel Apple pie instead.

The pies on display.

A 3-lb. pie ready to go!

I dropped Tani off at the house, she needed to do the sheets from the bunkhouse. I left for Maunalani just in time to do my mid-morning walk. On the way back from Young Brothers we had been discussing the weather forecast which said a storm was coming in from the northwest, so far it had looked like a good day. By the time I got up to Maunalani, the sky had changed, it was getting cloudy.

I think it is a Spotted Dove (Spilopelia chinensis).

Lunch today was Chicken long rice, Steamed rice, Vegetable of the day, Garden salad, Angel cake with strawberries, and Egg drop soup. Dad got up and sat out on the lanai with me during lunch; one of the Gold Dust Day Geckos came to check out our lunches again. It tried to drink one of Dad's supplements; Dad had plenty to share, he only drank half of one of his supplements.

Dad enjoying the view of Honolulu.

The sky was cloudy on & off since my mid-morning walk but it never rained or even drizzled. Not even during my afternoon walk.


I picked Kai up as soon as I was done; he wanted to go to Hawaiian Graphics to pick up some art supplies. I decided to recreate my field watercolor set that I can leave in my backpack for sketches when the mood hits me. I am pretty sure once I am done with all the training for the Great Aloha Run I will only do 2 walks a day; I could use the time for the 3rd walk for watercolor sketches. We also made a quick stop at the Book Off in Don Quijote so Kai could pick up the other books in a series he is interested in. He passed them up the first time since volumes 11 through 16 were missing; but decided he could fill those in later.

My limited palette of colors.

Even with a hearty dinner last night and some Almond Dream frozen dessert plus less walking this week, my weigh-in this morning showed that I managed to lose 2.6 pounds over the last week. I am now 110.9 pounds and 18.8% body fat; this is where I was at on August 31st. Which was before I took 2 off-island trips and Thanksgiving; I'll have to see if I can at least maintain this weight through December 29th which will be my 1 year anniversary of using the Fitbit. I am 10.9 pounds away from my initial goal.

Tani took Nikki & me out to dinner tonight as a thank you for the help we have given her. We went to Roy's Waikiki since they have a great vegan prix fixe menu. Tani had the 4-course Special with prawns. Obviously Nikki had the vegan prix fixe. And I had the Roy's Classic Tasting Menu with Macadamia Nut Crusted Mahimahi and Roy's Melting Hot Chocolate Souffle. None of us had the wine pairings with our meal. (My phone was dying so the photos are a little dark.)

Harris Ranch Beef Carpaccio. (Photo by Tani)

Spicy Garlic Buttered Prawns. (Photo by Tani)

Roy's Melting Hot Chocolate Souffle.

Waikiki Mix Greens. (Photo by Nikki)

Tofu "Katsu". (Photo by Nikki)

Banana Bread "French Toast". (Photo by Nikki)

Appetizer Sampler with (clockwise from L) Chinatown Chicken Spring Roll, Szechuan Baby Back Rib, & Shrimp Stick.

Macadamia Nut Crusted Mahimahi.

Roy's Melting Hot Chocolate Souffle. Yes, it shows up twice!

Happy 5th Anniversary to Ali & Latifah!

Be More Active

That's what my phone frequently tells me after I have completed my 1.5+ mile morning walk! I wonder how long a walk I need to do to satisfy the Samsung Health app that I am being more active? I was a little earlier today than usual; I picked Barbara up at the bus stop. She was jingling, she had some bells in her bag for Lori. I also saw Steph; she said Lauren will be in finals in a couple of weeks & would get in touch with me during winter break. I also saw Ken with his 2 younger dogs. Suzette's car was gone, so perhaps she was working today since the hotel workers strike is now over.

At the beginning of the walk.

On Sierra, about halfway through the walk.

Not sure what's happening here; grass has been removed and other plants planted. I'll have to keep checking this out.

This is the temperature as I left the house; Kai was very happy with this cooler weather.

Since I was early, Dad was still asleep. When CNA Frances tried to change his shirt before breakfast he was very argumentative & wouldn't let her touch him. She changed him later when he agreed to get in to the wheelchair.

During my mid-morning walk I saw another interestingly marked hibiscus. I only remember solid yellow and solid red hibiscus when I was growing up; we had a red one in the front yard.



Lunch today was Pork stew, Steamed rice, Steamed corn, Tossed salad, Brownie, and Chicken jook. Dad went out to the lanai with me to eat lunch; he finished about 1/2 of his peanut butter & jelly  sandwich and had 1 bite of brownie. He seems to be more interested in eating than he has been, though he still isn't eating much.


The afternoon walk was a welcome break to keep me awake! I saw a painted mailbox along the way; I've never noticed this one before because I'm usually on the other side of the street. I had crossed over to take advantage of the little patch of shade nearby.



Tani leaves on Saturday; tonight she dropped by to pick up one of the things of mine to put in the van for transport to the Big Island. Since Sam took a whole van load of things the only thing left was the bean bag chair that we couldn't fit last time. Before we did that though, we had to drop a bird off at the State Division of Forestry & Wildlife bunkhouse; I got to meet one of the bunkhouse cats while Tani got the bird settled.

We're not sure what the green spot on her neck is from.

Later we went out to dinner at Wagaya Ramen. We started with the Potato Mochi and Chicken Karaage; we both had the Garlic Wagaya Ramen. Everything was great!

Potato Mochi.

Chicken karaage.

Garlic Wagaya Ramen.

I napped a lot today while at Maunalani; I am hoping it is not because I have found my current limit on activities due to the fibromyalgia. I have been staying up a little later because Kai loaned me one of the secondhand books he picked up while here; it is by one of his favorite authors, Mercedes Lackey. I have finished the first part of the Queen's Own trilogy; perhaps I should return it to him now so I can get to sleep at a decent hour!

Happy Birthday to Victoria & Valory!

Feeling Tired Today

I was a little late today for my morning walk; I was a little tired. A couple of the regulars were also late; on Maunalani Circle I saw Steph as I was starting my walk and LaVie as I was ending my walk. Down below the park I saw Gwen & Carly with Kealani.

From Maunalani Circle at the start of the walk.

On Sierra Drive, about the midpoint of the morning walk. Gwen, Carly, & Kea are to the right in this photo. Really.

Dad was awake & eyeing his breakfast; I got him to finish all his supplements and he ate a couple pieces of papaya.

During my morning walk I had seen a house where only the attached garage and the area immediately adjacent to it was enclosed by tarps for termite treatment; I didn't know they could only do part of a house. They can't; during my mid-morning walk I saw them enclosing the rest of the house. With the circus tent tarps I can now see it from many angles during my walk to see how big a house it really is. The roadwork is now down to the upper end of the park and also going up  Haleho'ola Place.

Trackhoe on Haleho'ola Place.

Lunch today was Garlic chicken, Brown rice, Tuscan mix vegetables, Garden salad, Carrot cake, and Thai chicken curry & rice soup. I was talking to Gloria in the elevator; she doesn't like the taste of the food they prepare here. She prefers to bring her own lunch of rice & kim chee; yes, she is Korean. Dad sat out on the east-facing lanai with me; unfortunately it was too hazy so we couldn't see Moloka'i. He ate about 1/4 of his sandwich & 1/2 his supplements.

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Dad working on his sandwich out on the lanai.

I was so tired I skipped my afternoon walk because I was napping. I didn't wake up until CNA Jessa came into Dad's room. By then Curtis was almost there. I didn't do a night walk either; I just ate and went to bed. Fortunately I write the blog as the day progresses since there's not much else to do; when I get home I usually only need to download & insert the photos to complete the post.

Last night Kai upgraded my operating system to MacOS Mojave; now I have a blah desktop. They no longer have the breaking wave desktop photo so I have the Beach desktop photo which is rather tame.

Happy 2nd Birthday to Jace!

Kountry Style Kitchen

We went to breakfast this morning at Kountry Style Kitchen (aka Kountry Kitchen); it's one of Curtis' Top 10 breakfast places. It was one of the early ones that we visited in 2017. Curtis had his usual Polynesian Omelet, Kai had the Ube French Toast, and I had the Kaua'i Benedict. The Polynesian Omelet has kim chee, Portuguese sausage, onions, & cheese. The Ube French Toast is made with ube sweet bread topped with coconut curls; Kai requested real maple syrup to go with it. Besides the poached egg & Hollandaise sauce, the Kaua'i Benedict was made with Hawaiian sweet bread, kalua pig, & lomilomi salmon. Apparently the restaurant started on Kaua'i in 1975 and the O'ahu location opened in 2015.

Polynesian Omelet. (Photo by Curtis)

Ube French Toast (Photo by Kai)

Kaua'i Benedict with pineapple.

On the way back Kai & I stopped to pick up a single-cup coffee filter for him but The Compleat Kitchen at Kahala Mall wasn't going to be open for another hour. So I dropped him off at the house and went up to Maunalani to do my mid-morning walk; I didn't see any of the regulars except Tui. The road was so torn up I should have gone up Lurline to avoid the area; I'll have to remember that the next time I have to come up in the middle of the day.


Dad was sleeping when I got to Maunalani; I couldn't tell how much of the solids he ate but it looked like he finished 1/2 of his  supplements.

Lunch today was Meat jun, Steamed rice, Pacific blend vegetables, Tossed salad, and Lemon bar. Dad ate all of his peanut butter & jelly sandwich and drank all his supplements but ate none of the dessert.


My afternoon walk was under partially cloudy skies, which made it reasonably cool. There was also a cool breeze for most of my walk. While I was coming up Lurline I saw a nice stained glass piece set into a wooden gate; this is the first time I had seen it since the van that is usually parked in front of it was gone today.



Kai came to visit Dad in the afternoon; he brought some Portlock smoked sockeye salmon for the 2nd floor staff. He also visited with Mrs. Iseri; he brought her some Seattle Chocolates for omiyage.

Dad & Kai.

Kai giving smoked salmon omiyage to Grace for the 2nd floor staff.

Kai with Mrs. Iseri.

Kai & I went to Kahala Mall after we left Maunalani to pick up a Bodum Pour Over single cup coffee filter for him from Compleat Kitchen. While there I also got 2 nice big cookie sheets so I wouldn't have to wait for one to cool before I could do the 2nd dozen cookies. I also picked up an Oxo ergonomically correct ice cream scoop for the Kohala house; we won't have to wait for the ice cream to thaw out before we can scoop it. We decided to eat dinner there; we went to Grylt. Kai had the Grilled Angus Steak Wrap with Kim Chee; I had the Grilled Ahi Wrap.

Party Pueo checking out Kai's new single cup coffee filter.

New cookie sheets & ice cream scoop.

That's Felicia behind the counter making our wraps.

Grilled Ahi Wrap. I need to ask them to hold the wasabi aioli next time.

Grilled Angus Steak Wrap with Kim Chee.

Kai with his steak & kim chee wrap & Party Pueo.

There was no post yesterday; I got up with a sore throat & bad headache so I just went back to sleep after gargling with salt water. Later I got up and did a load of laundry. The sore throat wasn't really bad, but it was what Curtis & I call nursing-home-sick, where you're not so sick you wouldn't go to work, but too 'sick' to expose kupuna with compromised immune systems to whatever you might have. I think the headache was because my neck was very stiff from falling asleep in the chair at Maunalani. Even though I had to get up an hour earlier to go to breakfast, I felt much better when I woke up this morning.

For much of yesterday and last night S'mores was loose & running around the house. A couple times she climbed up on the couch where Chibi was dozing in the evening and got hissed at. But for most of the day Chibi apparently stayed out in the cat run as she usually does and S'mores couldn't get out there because she's not strong enough to push the cat door open.

Happy Birthday to Patrick & Stacy!