ChanomiTalk

お向かいのダンさん（８４才）からまたまた自作のねぎ、レタス、二十日大根をいただきました。ありがたいことです。二十日大根を最初に頂いたとき、葉も料理するから捨てないでとお願いしましたら、そんなことは初めて聞いた、それはお安い御用と、以後せっせと葉付きの大根を持参されます。大根葉はゆでた後、油で炒めて、鰹節と胡麻をくわえてふりかけにします。美味しいのですが、そう沢山食べるわけではありません。他の料理法をご存知でしたら、ぜひ、教えていただきたい！

Our guest Gabriella from Japan has decided to stay on and live with us for longer. She is taking care of my little boy Bally, while he plays with her son Aaron. They are very opposite personalities and they look opposite as well, but it is great watching them play. Aaron is more introverted, he speaks quietly and is shy he has lovely jet black hair and beautiful eyes that look half asian and half western. My son Bally is more talkative and likes asking questions, he is very blonde with a more fair complexion and piercing blue eyes. In spite of their differences, they are growing to be great friends.

My college had a very distinctive library. The building housing the library was very large. As you entered the front doors, the entire front wall was made of glass. Once inside, there was a help desk to the left and then rows of bookcases that stretched out to the back wall. The ceiling was very high and the library was actually two stories tall. In some places, there were spiral staircases that rose to the second floor. Similar to the front wall, the back wall was also made entirely out of glass. Looking through the back wall there was a spectacular display of beautiful scenery including views of the mountains and the nearby city.

今日は、夜8時から１時間、水泳をしました。約、２か月ぶりです。
泳がなかったこの２か月間、毎日、少しずつヨガをしていました。

久しぶりの水泳。
干し椎茸を、水につけて、柔らかくなるように、
泳ぎながら、肩や背中の筋肉がほぐれていくのを感じました。

泳いだあと、ヨガで無理にひねった首筋の痛みが、消えていました。
改めて、水泳は最高のリハビリだと思いました。

10 years old, that’s when I had my first experience driving a car. My Dad said to me, “I’m going to teach you how to drive correctly before any of your friends teach you the wrong way.”  So we went to the old deserted airport that was next to the new 1 level which  later became the current Honolulu International Airport. The area was just a flat worn out old runway with a lot of weeds growing out of the cracks, bordered by seawater on one side (reef runway) and no cars around, you could probably drive right into the water if you weren’t careful. I was the driver, with my Dad to the right of me, and my stepmother was in back.  He had  an old Plymouth, standard column shift, 2 door car.   When I was driving, it felt like mini earthquakes every time I had to shift gears, especially from  1st to 2nd. And as I got better, the jerkiness went away. Learning the correct amount of gas to clutch ratio and shifting gears under the steering wheel (column shift) made it doubly  hard.  Each time, I hoped that I didn’t miss putting it in reverse or 1st. gear, or the consequence to face, was a horrible grinding sound when I did!  Steering column shifting is much harder to do than floor shifting, because you have to jiggle the stick  to get it into the 1st or reverse.  After only 2 lessons, my Dad was too nervous to continue. One reason was he yelled a lot, secondly he got excited at me every time I made a mistake, and thirdly I had a lead foot(pressed too much gas which made the car jerk, accelerate-zoom and screech tires).  My poor stepmother, would never, dare learn to drive after sharing these scary lessons with me.

The next driving event happened when I was 11 years old.  My aunt lived on Young Street near Washington Middle School close to the Ala Moana Shopping Center. While helping my aunt polish her car, she asked me if I could reverse it down the driveway. EASY!! I had lessons from Dad.  So I hopped in the car, started it up, put it into reverse and slowly reversed the car, straight back, down the narrow driveway, until she said to stop. What an accomplishment! My heart was racing. It was then that I  decided, driving is great fun! When could I do it again?

By the time I was in 10th grade,  “Joy Riding” had become a popular , so the opportunity to drive was numerous.  We always found “RIDES” with friends or some nice unsuspecting boy,  who was so happy to have  a bunch of pretty girls in his car.  I would always ask if I could drive a little and they would gladly oblige.  How reckless we were back then!  It’s a good thing there weren’t that many cars around (making it safer) and  that the cars were built like tanks.

Summer of 1965, at 14 years old, a bunch of Pineapple Cannery friends and I planned a vacation trip to Kauai. We stayed, all 6 of us at a relative’s house. We borrowed a girlfriend’s driver’s license to rent a Volkswagon.  All of us took turns driving(we were all under age). The most nervous part was when I had to drive the car out of the Rental Lot with the salesman standing right there watching me. I had so many side and back seat drivers telling me how to drive!  Thank goodness we had a safe trip, for back then there was only 1 traffic light on the whole island of Kauai. Most of the roads were dirt, with very few  cars around. A very safe place to drive, where the speed limit was whatever was safe for the area. It wasn’t until I was in the 11th grade that I  legally could drive.  My mother needed a way, to and from work and shopping, so I got my license.

Driving was fun! At first I collected a count of just how many different cars(Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Porche, Audi,etc.) and the different Makes (340 Cuda, Mustang, Impala, Cadillac, etc.), I could drive. Then it was, how many different states in the US( California, DC, Arizona, Connecticut, Mass. ,Utah, Oklahoma, Nevada etc) that I drove in. Also, weather conditions like snow, fog, heavy rain and strong winds. But the best memories of driving were  back when I didn’t even have a license!

Several years ago, I knew two brothers that went to high school with me. Both of them were taking Chinese language classes. They were each one year apart. Every year, the Chinese instructor would take a group of students to visit China. The older brother was the first to take this school trip. The trip included the beautiful, mountainous, and forested southwestern China where monkeys live. While visiting a holy, Buddhist temple, the older brother was bitten by a feisty monkey. He was quoted as saying, “Oh my God, I was just bit by a monkey!” He had to go to the hospital and have a rabies vaccine and the whole event was very painful. A year later, the younger brother also went to China on a similar trip. Like his brother, he also met a monkey that didn’t like him, was bitten, and cried out, “Oh my God, I was just bit by a monkey!” Whether the two brothers suffering the same fate is coincidence, karma, or some kind of destiny, it just goes to show that the universe does have a sense of humor.

Next month, I will be moving to Chicago to start at my new job.  This will be my first big move on my own and I am both scared and excited.  Scared because it will be a completely new environment and I will not know anyone but excited because I will be able to start a new chapter in my life.  It’s amazing how life is never really how you plan it.  I guess you just have to go with the flow and do your best.  Wish me luck!