Sunday Morning 6/14/2020: Stormy Weather

Nothing spectacular, but we still had several satisfying sunsets this week in spite of the weather.

This past week was not one for going to the beach. There’s been rain, high winds, lots of clouds, and cool temperatures. It’s been hard at times to believe it’s June. On the plus side, we’ve been enjoying the cool breezes flowing through the house (such a change from where we lived before) and walking has been more pleasant in the cooler temperatures. We only got rained out of a walk once this past week, but otherwise have managed to fit them, sometimes between downpours. The Kukuiolono Park and Golf Course has turned out to be a great walking venue, and we’ve met many nice people there and are already being recognized as “regulars.”

YaYu learned this past week that her college will re-open in the fall, but with several changes to ensure student safety. Some students will continue distance learning, and student arrivals to the campus will be staggered so that they and their families will be able to stay distanced from others while students move in. Mealtimes in the dining halls will also be staggered to allow for social distancing, and classes will be spread out longer during the day to avoid crowding. Along with handwashing, masks will be required at all times, and every student will be required to maintain a contact journal. Even with all the new restrictions and some fear, YaYu is excited about going back. She is now eligible for a private dorm room and has her fingers crossed that happens, but most of all she wants to be with her friends again, and learn in a real classroom. She understands that all the above may not happen depending on conditions at the time, but for now, we are all hopeful things work out. The term has also been shortened – fall break will be eliminated, and instead of returning home close to Christmas, she will instead be back here right before Thanksgiving.

Several things that were supposed to arrive this week didn’t, like my new glasses, and the chair cushions I ordered. I noticed on Etsy that the order for the cushions didn’t actually occur until nine days after I was charged for the goods and wasn’t sure if that was normal or not since I have never ordered anything through Etsy before (love to look though!). I wrote to the store owner and she got right back to me to apologize and let me know she had gotten snowed under but was finishing my order and it will be shipped on Tuesday. Yeah! Anyway, I’m especially hoping my new glasses are ready this week – I need them!

This morning I am:

  • Reading: The new book from Connie Shultz, The Daughters of Erietown, arrived in my Kindle this week, but I’m still reading Just Mercy, although I’m getting to close to the end. It’s a gutting read and completely lays bare how the justice system (actually lack of justice) works for black versus white citizens in this country, as well as other marginalized people. I finished The Prisoner of Azkaban earlier in the week, and after I finished decided to go back to reading one book at a time versus two, even if it means I don’t reach my goal of 52 books this year (then again, is anything in 2020 turning out the way we thought it would?).
  • Listening to: The wind has died down some – last night it was wild – but it’s still a very cool morning and softer breezes are moving through the house. It’s quiet outside too – I can hear the birds singing this morning (I hadn’t been able to hear them all week because of the wind). YaYu is sleeping, and Brett is reading, so it’s still quiet inside. I was hoping for blue skies, but the sky is mostly filled with clouds so I’m not entirely sure how the day is going to go other than we’ll get out for a walk in the late afternoon.
  • Watching: No changes from last week – Brett and I have two more seasons of Line of Duty to go (they’re only six episodes each though) and YaYu and I are finishing up the second season of Dead to Me.
  • Cooking: YaYu has been baking to keep busy these days –  this past week she made some fantastic focaccia bread and on another day a batch of tasty pizza bites. She is excited to try making no-knead artisan bread, but we have to wait for our stored items to arrive in order to have a pan for baking it. In the meantime, she says she’s going to try a chocolate cake. I’ve gone back to cooking in the evening, most of the time anyway. Tonight I’m fixing carnitas in the Instant Pot, which will be used to make burritos. I’m going to make a few extra as well to freeze for later meals. This week we’ll also be having a chili relleno casserole along with leftover carnitas; pork & pepper stir fry, chili shrimp, potstickers, and rice; Instant Pot butter chicken with basmati rice (I am super excited to try this!); chicken adobo with bok choy; and stuffed peppers.
    The surf was rough on the east side from all the big winds this past week.
  • Happy I accomplished: We’ve taken advantage of the weather to get lots of reading done, and other chores around the apartment. We did manage to get out and walk every day except for one, including one walk on the eastside beach path. One day we literally closed the car doors to come home just as the rain started coming down in torrents! I got everything else filled in on my weekly tracking card. We ended up doing our food shopping on Thursday – we had been planning to go this coming week but ran out of too many things. I wish we could do “big shops” again, but we no longer have room to store much, especially in the refrigerator and freezer.
  • Looking forward to next week: I am getting my hair cut on Wednesday! Finally! Otherwise, there’s nothing special on the calendar, but we’re hoping the weather will improve so we can get back to the beach a couple of times. 
  • Thinking of good things that happened: YaYu finding out she will be able to return to school in the fall was very good news. We love having her with us, but we know it’s difficult for her here with no job (although she’s always looking) and nothing much else to do. We’re of course worried about her possibly contracting the coronavirus, but weighed against everything it’s better for her to be there than here (for now, anyway). In other good news (for us), karma showed up for our former landlord and he lost in court this past week – big time. He had pulled the same stunts on the tenants who lived in the house after us as he had with us, and wouldn’t return their deposit claiming they damaged everything, so they sued him in small claims and not only got their entire deposit back ($2400) but also an additional $700 for the hassle he put them through and all court costs! The house is now also registered with the county as a commercial property, but because he had been claiming it as a personal residence versus a rental property he will owe years of back taxes (county tax rates are different for residences and rentals).
  • Thinking of frugal things we did: We had a no-spend week except for our trip to the farmers’ market on Wednesday, where we spent just $19, and our food shopping on Thursday. We put $270.70 into our travel account (phone payment from WenYu and credit card reward), and $1 into the change/$1 bill jar. I earned 623 Swagbucks last week, and am now nearly halfway to earning my first $100 Southwest Airlines gift card.
    Kale, tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, bananas, zucchini, fresh basil: every week we fill our shopping basket with freshly harvested local produce for less than $20.
  • Grateful for: I am thankful for the wonderful abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables available each week at the farmers market, and how affordable they are. I think if I had had to pick the one thing I missed most about Kaua’i while we traveled, it would have been the ease of acquiring great produce, the huge variety available, and how many more fruits and vegetables we ate because of those things.
  • Bonus question: Do you enjoy gardening? Sadly, no. I have had gardens, great ones, but my work and enjoyment of them has been minimal. Growing up, my Dad always made gardening pure drudgery for me (and my siblings, as far I could tell). We pulled all the weeds (he didn’t), hoed furrows for planting (he didn’t, but complained if they weren’t right), and were assigned mundane, boring tasks like pulling leaves out of decorative wood chips. Choosing which plants to grow, watering, harvesting, etc., were all jobs reserved for adults only. Anyway, I came to intensely dislike anything having to do with outdoor gardening and refused to learn more about it once I was on my own and could have had fun with it, cutting off my own nose to spite my face, in other words. These days both Brett and I especially appreciate having someone come and do cleanup and other garden chores (it’s included in our rent). I always think our yard here looks great, but after it gets a “manicure” I can’t get over how much better it looks.

It took a bit of research to figure out this variety of palm trees. They line the road to the clubhouse at the Kukuiolono golf course.

As much as I dislike gardening and working outside, I do love plants and learning more about them. Thankfully, Hawaii has an abundance of interesting plants, many new to us, to keep us busy for a long time. For example, in the past couple of weeks, I became a bit obsessed with the variety of palms that line part of our walk in the golf course, and after some research, I figured out they are mature bottle palms (because of the sort of bulbous nature of their trunks). I’m still on the hunt for more hibiscus varieties, and I also want to know more about these pine trees that fill a wooded area we walk through on the golf course – their soft needles cushion the path. Thinking about plants also makes me remember my mother as well – she was a botany major and would have loved the great variety of plants and flowers here as much if not more than I do (I don’t think she ever came to Hawaii though).

My new mission is to learn more about this wispy pine tree. It’s found all over the island, but I don’t know what it’s called, and I’d like to know where it came from and when.

That’s all for this week! I apologize for the lack of hibiscus pictures, but I sadly didn’t spot anything new this week. I hope you all had a great week, with great weather, that lots of good things happened for you, and that you’re looking forward to the week that’s coming up.

38 thoughts on “Sunday Morning 6/14/2020: Stormy Weather

  1. Thanks for updating your ghoulish landlord and his trip to Small Claims Court!!!!!!! That is a court that is not used nearly enough by people. It works! I know I sound like a broken record, but I advocate for Small Claims Court to anyone that will listen! What a sweet end to that story. Wow.

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    1. Joy, ‘ghoul’ is a perfect word to describe our former landlord. I shudder when I think of him, and some of the stories he told Brett, bragging about horrific things he hadn’t actually done, but thinking it would puff him up in Brett’s eyes. He was a not very bright person who thought he was a genius.

      We would have come back and taken him to court, but he sent eventually sent us a refund, although there was $200 missing and no reason why other than he was a jerk. This case took a few months outside of covid-19 restrictions, so in hindsight it’s a good thing we didn’t go that route.

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  2. After Just Mercy, if you had access to Netflix in any way, I would encourage you to watch When They See Us.

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    1. Thank you, Barb. I discussed it with YaYu and she and I are going to watch it this week. Last week we watched “Thirteenth,” a documentary about how the 13th amendment has been twisted to put more people in prison, especially black people, and then use them for what amounts to slave labor (again). I highly recommend it – very eye-opening.

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  3. Wow! That landlord finally got it! He sure had it coming. And it sounds like YaYu’s school is putting a lot of safeguards in place for the students. Fingers crossed that she gets her private room!

    Everything seems to be taking longer during the pandemic. We went to schedule our appliance delivery (we ordered them in February), and found out our fridge is on back order and they’re not sure when it will be available. So we picked one they had in stock. I’m running into the same thing with my washer. Oy vey. But when the factory has a Covid case, they shut down for 14 days, and when they can reopen, the workers are socially distanced, which apparently cuts capacity in half in many locations. And that doesn’t even count parts from China in the supply chain. I’m grateful they had another brand in stock we could get, because our appliances here were part of the house sale. 😱

    Our house FINALLY closed this week. Honestly, I think our buyer might be related to your former landlord. 🙄Not really, but our closing was postponed twice – neither one because of us. Unless you count us finding mistakes we weren’t willing to tolerate on the documentation. And once we closed, the buyer immediately asked if we could be out sooner. Good grief. Anyway, it’s a huge relief to have that finished. The next few weeks will be intense, but we are on task and not worrying about that closing anyway.

    One thing I will miss/not miss about this house will be gardening. I love my gardens and have many favorite plants that I’ve nurtured over the years. However, the weeding and mulching and upkeep are endless. I was super excited to see the landscaping and planting done at our new place and realize someone else will do all the work to keep it looking good. 🙂 I’m sure I’ll miss some of my favorites, but I can visit our amazing local garden & sculpture park when I need a fix – and let someone else weed and mulch.

    Like you, this is my haircut week. I am really, really happy about that.

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    1. Yeah, yeah, yeah for the house closing! Your buyers sound almost as bad as our were for the sale of first home. Our agent just about pulled his hair out dealing with them and their agent, and he did report their agent in the end. We lucked out with the buyer for our second home – easiest person in the world to deal with and the sale went off without a hitch. Glad too that you found appliances that worked for you when your first choice wasn’t available.

      Even though it wasn’t our case, we feel vindacted by this week’s sentence. I am pretty sure the couple that sued him used message from us as evidence – he tried to charge them $2000 in supposed damages to the washing machine and dryer; we sold the pair to him for $800 ‘as is’ so that attempt at extortion didn’t fly. I’m sure when the judge saw the evidence he was flabbergasted (and disgusted) by the landlord’s claims and behavior.

      Can. not. wait. to. get. my. hair. cut. Lots of preventative measure in place, but thankfully all I need is a cut. Time for my ponytail to go!

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  4. Bryan is friends with my boss, and I met him years ago, before fame. He is a brilliant lawyer and very charismatic. I am sure he doesn’t remember me, but he definitely made an impression on me. He is just one of those people who are destined for greatness. Beautiful pics of Hawaii. They soothe my soul in these stressful times. Oldest had two emergency surgeries and two blood transfusions and spent six days in hospital. He appears to be on the mend. After that complete shock, I went to court a few days later, and literally counted 52 people, whom I know for a fact have, or had, family members with Covid. Probate judge posted on Facebook she had it and asked for prayers. The district judge’s husband had it. Luckily, she did not get it, and probate judge seems to be doing okay. It is really frightening. We have a massive outbreak in the county where I work. I am no longer around family members on weekends because of it. We wear masks in court, have courtroom marked off at six feet intervals, etc. but really, there is only so much we can do. Other things have happened that are really scary, and I (and my coworkers) are having to be really careful because of job. I no longer walk in my neighborhood and have varied my routine. 2020 is truly one for the books. I do not want to retire yet, but if my son gets sick, or I feel very unsafe, I will. I was looking at a house about an hour from the beach, to retire to and go on weekends, before my son had this bizarre medical emergency out of left field. He lives in the northern part of the state, so I may instead, retire to a lake area near him. I just do not know, so for now, I do nothing except put one foot in front of the other. Keep the beautiful pictures up please. I think all the sunsets are gorgeous.

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    1. Thanks for the information about Brian – he is a wonderful writer as well.

      Fingers are crossed that your oldest is one the mend after those emergencies. Wow.

      The U.S. is in complete denial about the virus and we are due, IMO, for a BIG reckoning this fall. Over 1,000 people a day are still dying from it, and even those who have recovered are dealing with multiple issue, some lifetime. But, wearing masks is a pain, not being able to go out for a drink is unfair, etc. We would have lost WWII in a matter of months with the attitude of so many now.

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  5. Great news re the reptilian landlord, and this illustrates most clearly what goes round comes round!!

    Your post today is brimming with great news about YaYu and school, plus your settling in with the new normal island life. What amazing deals on locally grown produce. We await the start of fresh tomatoes sometime in late June to early July, purchased from our favorite farmers a few miles out of town—and so worth the drive. It’s great that YaYu’s school, has worked to accommodate students on campus and also set up means and methods for safety—when so many are not doing that. Now…to get “invincible”young people to comply….

    While our state has opened up a bit I am constantly amazed when I take my son to shop at Lidl the number of people NOT wearing masks. (I stay in the car.) I saw a couple going in & then out after their shop and she wore a mask but he did not.That is true when we go to drive through for Med pickups—actually more often than it should be.It’s horrifying and sad when I see that example (among many) of folks who don’t get “why” a mask is critical.I remind our younger son that his mask & mine keeps others safe and their masks keeps him, me & others safe.So no, we will not be resuming “feeling free to move about the cabin”—my DH and I will keep our seatbelts buckled thank you.

    On our home front the multiple flowerbeds have all been mulched—whew! I finally brought in the “Calvary” as my DH injured his right leg and my left leg is getting ready for a Total Knee Replacement. We distributed 60 bags of mulch before DH hurt his leg, slowly mind you. But that was so not enough so 150 more bags at 2 cu yds each were delivered.And in the interim DH had the muscle strain.He did not want me to get more but I needed help keeping weeds in check, so that’s when I called in the Calvary—-in the guise of 3 HS students advertising their services on our NextDoor app.We also had another estimate.Prices were similar but the students listened vs the older person.They were not perfect but quite acceptable.But wait there’s more, we still needed more mulch to finish.I then had a delivery of 6 yards of loose mulch, and the guys finished it all in 4 hours. So worth it!

    DH has mostly recovered enough to help me plant “gifted plants from people on our NextDoor App” and transplants from our yard to better spots—plus I ordered some plants from online nurseries.I used to haunt the “scratch & dent” section (marked down plants) at the garden centers for Lowe’s & Home Depot. What deals on plants! But not this year with the Pandemic…Soon it will be too miserably hot and humid and our job will be to keep the plants alive. And go out to garden no later than 7:30 am!

    I admit I find it difficult to read 2 books at once, so understand your stepping back. It is your goal-right-so you are in charge! My goal is to read as much as possible but paramount for me will be the surgery, the PT, plus exercising, and finally being able to resume normal activities from gardening to cleaning house—and one day traveling.If the virus abates I would love to see my friends, and resume weekly day trips to assist my eldest sister. But for now we continue online grocery orders where we pick up from Walmart with fillers from our son’s shopping at Lidl.

    Hoping for more lovely days for you and the family.

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    1. One of my favorite sayings about karma is that you don’t get it order when it arrives; it comes when it’s ready and serves you whatever it feels like.

      Hope you husband is feeling better now, and that you were able to score some good help. I really should check the NextDoor app here. We don’t need any help right now, but know we will one of these days and I’d like to see what’s being offered. Lots of people are looking for work too – the quarantine has been extended until July 31, so still no tourists and no work for the hospitality industry, although restaurants in town have been opening up for locals.

      I am glad to be here, although we’re certainly not immune from the virus arriving and taking hold. I think back on the mainland there is going to be a reckoning this fall for all this reckless behavior now.

      We wanted to go to the beach today, but it’s raining again . . . sigh.

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  6. I’m pretty sure the tree in your photo is not a pine tree but a casuarina tree, commonly known as ironwood. I’ve seen lots of them along the shoreline on the north side of Kauai. According to one source I read, they were introduced to Hawaii to protect shorelines against tsunamis.

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    1. Thank you, Julie! This gives me a good place to start looking for more information. It makes sense that it was introduced to protect shorelines as most of what I’ve seen of it up to now has been out by the ocean.

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  7. Glad to see you’re settling in ok. I’m sorry that you will have to stop traveling and hope you can eventually pick up where you left off.
    I think you made a good choice to leave Tokyo as you did. It got kind of crazy right after the cherry blossoms hit.
    We had just gotten to Kyoto about the time you left and were not yet ready to leave in early April so we opted for the “indefinite stay“ option.
    Indefinite turned into 2 months. We got very lucky band our Airbnb gave us a very good rate for the additional 6 weeks. Kyoto was not at all locked down and we really enjoyed the additional time with the granddaughter.

    There were no flights from Japan to the US from about mid-April until June 1st. We got back to Indiana late on June 1. Just in time for the protest curfew in Indy.

    Our flight to Chicago was out if Narita but we had to fly to Haneda and take the shuttle bus to Narita as there was no other way to get there. I think there was about 75 people on the flight to the US we basically had the back of the plane to ourselves. Really creepy to go through a major airport that was totally empty.
    Crazy times. But glad to be back.

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    1. Thanks for writing Bob – I had been wondering if you made it back. The ‘indefinate stay’ would have been a dream in some ways, but I know too we did the right thing coming back when we did and getting settled here. Your trip back sounds intense though. I had read that the only airports open for international travel were Narita and Haneda. We had a small amount of hope that YaYu could make it over there for the summer to help out, but no way. Our son is still working for home because the kids are now down with school for the summer and home all day.

      Going through an empty Narita airport was one of the most bizarre experiences of my life.

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  8. Glad to hear your former landlord finally got what was coming to him!

    It’s good YaYu’s college has a plan in place. My nephews’ college has a plan, but it’s subject to change, so who knows what will happen. My younger nephew will be a freshman so it seems some of his classes will be online because it wouldn’t be possible to social distance in large freshman lecture hall classes. Anyway, glad to hear YaYu will have a private room. I had a private room my last two years at college and it was the best decision. My roommate my first two years was from…Hawaii! She was two years older and I knew after she graduated, I’d never find another roommate as wonderful as she was, so I opted to live alone. I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d ever visit Hawaii back then so I used to soak up all her stories and try to imagine what it would be like.

    I also think it’s interesting that the college students I know have all said they prefer learning in a classroom to online. I was kind of surprised to hear that since these kids grew up with computers so I thought they would prefer online, but that is not the case. A lot of colleges are doing what YaYu’s college is doing and going straight through with no breaks and ending the semester before Thanksgiving. Some are not going to permit students to leave at all during that time, but not sure how they would enforce that.

    Love the pictures! I had planned to return to Kauai later this year before the whole COVID thing happened and that’s not going to happen now, so it’s nice to see the photos.

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    1. YaYu is not sure she’ll get a private room, but she has her fingers crossed. She actually thinks the dorms may be crowded once again with space at a premium – not good. She is mentally preparing herself to extend her stay here as we all believe the virus is going to ramp up again.

      My first college roommate was also from Hawaii! She was amazing, and introduced me to ramen and several other uniquely Hawaiian items that her mom would send over. I visited her home for two days on the way home from our overseas study trip to Japan – the first day I slept because of jet lag, and the second day we went to the beach and I cut my feet on coral (OUCH!) so had to return to the mainland. Believe it or not, that was my only time in Hawaii until we moved here.

      I sure wish this cloudy, rainy weather would blow over so we can get to the beach. Yesterday on the beach path it was beautiful, but VERY windy. You can count on me to keep taking and posting pictures!!

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      1. I don’t see how a college dorm can operate normally if what YaYu is saying happens (dorms being crowded). But people in that age group don’t seem to be as affected so maybe colleges feel it’s worth taking a chance. I have a feeling if there is a spike in cases, all these plans may go out the window though, so it’s good YaYu is prepared in case she does end up having to stay on Kauai.

        It’s funny your roommate was also from Hawaii! Too bad your visit back then was cut short. I didn’t know that had been your only visit to Hawaii before you moved there! It must have made quite an impression for you to want to live there so many years later. This made me wonder whatever happened to my my old roommate, so I did a google search and discovered she moved back and now lives in Honolulu. I’m glad she made her way back there because I know that’s where she wanted to be.

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      2. I’m pretty sure the dorm issue will carry the most weight when it comes time to make the final decision about reopening. It is the one thing YaYu worries about.

        She is out actively looking for work now. One, because she’s bored, but two because even a little income will help her bottom line when it comes to college expenses. There are jobs available, but not the kinds that would support anyone. Perfect for a college student though so fingers are crossed.

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  9. The trees with the long needles are Ironwoods. If you’re really into palms and other plants, you must visit the National Tropical Botanical Gardens. Their visitor center is in Poipu on the way to Spouting Horn.

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    1. I should have known about ironwoods as I’ve seen them before, but not as lush as the ones in the wooded area at Kukuiolono. Thank you though – I’m off to a good start to learn more about them.

      Is that McBryde or Allerton for the palm trees? We’ve been to McBryde (and loved it), but have yet to visit Allerton.

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  10. Love the palm trees. My old college is also opening in the fall.

    Virus cases here have gone thru the roof. I went to my cousins funeral Saturday. He was only 48 so it was standing room only. Hardly anyone was wearing a mask. I tried to stay as far away from people as possible but was still grabbed and hugged three times before I could stop them. At the doctors office half the people weren’t wearing masks and when I spoke with the nurse,, she stated they couldn’t force people to wear masks only suggest that they do. I did see an article online that England has found a drug that cuts death by 33% in the most serious cases. Here’s hoping for a vaccine soon, maybe it will save us from ourselves.

    I’m glad your old landlord got his comeuppance. Sometimes the justice system does work.

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    1. Vivian, I’ve never been so glad to be here than I am now – mask wearing is strictly enforced – both socially and through regulation -the only place we don’t see mask wearing is at the beach or on our walks through the golf course. And, our governor is willing to risk his political future in order to keep the quarantine in place and keep the virus out, as much as is possible. The economy is going to tank here, and people are really going to be hurting, but I think he really can see beyond how much worse it would be if the virus took hold like it has back in places on the mainland.

      There is no leadership AT ALL when in comes to the virus. People went without for four years during WWII – we couldn’t get through three months without complaining!

      Re. the landlord: karma is real.

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  11. I don’t have a good answer for the virus.
    My nephew(who manages a large gaming place) states that IF you are allowed to smoke dope, you should be able to take the risks with the virus. I think that is a narrow view, but we cannot expect healthy people to live “saudi like” for another year. Believe me, I have seen what that does to the psyche. Like your daughter, most people just want a human connection and the internet does not cut it. You compare it to WWII—but those people were very close to each other at home and overseas.
    i am just staying as socially distanced as possible. We are getting together with our family, finally. Still hoping to travel home in July (looking dim, Phoenix is soooo out there) and Germany in late August. We shall see. My sil goes back for cancer treatments in late July, so we need to stay as safe as possible.
    Hurray that the landlord got what he deserved!

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    1. The sacrifice I’m talking about is wearing a mask when you go out of your home and are going to be around other people. If that’s “Saudi-like” then we are in real trouble. The number of cases keeps going up, up, up in places where things have opened up and there has been no mask wearing (Florida, Las Vegas, etc.). Wearing a mask is not a huge sacrifice compared to friends, family and even strangers coming down with this virus. People who have recovered say they wish they only had had the flu. But people keep refusing to wear a mask, because “freedom” and I’m starting to see people who claim they will refuse a vaccination as well when one becomes available. And others, friends and family included, are continuing to catch this virus.

      We stay socially distance as well. I’m grateful we can go to the beach, or walk around the golf course as there are few people there, and everyone keeps their distance from others.

      Fingers crossed you get to go to Germany. We’d love to go back to Japan, but Americans are still not allowed in. Hopefully this all will have passed when we’re really ready to go in a couple of years.

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      1. I completely agree about wearing masks. It’s such a small ‘sacrifice’ to make to protect ourselves and others. Where I live, masks are required when going into stores and also doctor’s offices, but I see very few people wearing them outside. I actually went to my first doctor’s appointment since this whole pandemic mess started and before I could even walk in the door, there was a woman there who took my temperature and asked me a bunch of questions about if I’ve had any COVID symptoms. I told her I’m fine and she let me in. I was the only patient there and all the medical staff were wearing gloves and masks. I was thinking it might be safer to go to the doctor than anywhere else! But I am concerned that the mask requirement will be lifted soon and then I’m going to be afraid to go out to stores.

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      2. We are starting to see visitors here again, and one of the ways we can tell is that they are not wearing masks! This is why the governor extended the quarantine, because there is just no way to monitor visitor behavior. There is also a strong desire for some kind of testing before people get on a plane to come – after they arrive its too late. The virus taking hold here would be catastrophic.

        We wear maske except for when we walk at the golf course. It’s very open and there are few people so it’s easy to keep our distance from others. Everywhere else, we wear a mask – I wore one the whole time I was getting my hair cut!!

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      3. Not sure if you heard there is a new case of COVID on Kauai. A male resident just got positive results. Not many details but he is in isolation as well as others in his family. Damn. I was afraid of this. We still have mandatory masks to be worn, right? I guess if we see someone without a mask, we can bring it to their attention.

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      4. This is not good news. At all. Yes, masks are still mandatory, but we saw people at the farmers’ market yesterday not wearing them – I assumed they were visitors because otherwise everyone else had a mask on.

        Our upstairs neighbors returned to Kaua’i yesterday after two months back on the mainland (and they’re still laid off). Someone from the national guard stops by at random times to make sure they’re staying in quarantine. They’re nice guys, but we’re avoiding them for the time being.

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      5. Yeah, I just get my hip surgery rescheduled and this happens!!!! Doubt it will be a problem, but I hope that’s the only case. Well, that’s not realistic, is it. Couldn’t we all have stayed put for a few more months? Interisland tourism doesn’t make sense to me. We’re all in paradise!!!

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      6. If this is an inter-island case, I have a feeling the visitor quarantine is going to last a lot longer than just the end of July.

        What is the new date for your surgery?

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    1. The farmers’ markets here never disappoint (OK, there was that one we went to that had all of two farmers – that one was disappointing). We eat so many more fruits and vegetables here. Lichee are coming soon – I can’t wait!

      I do not feel sorry for that guy at all – he did have it coming.

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