December 1st, 1960

 On this day 61 years ago I flew to Hawaii.

The 1st of Dec. 1960, we boarded a 707 in Los Angeles and flew to Hawaii. I was 7 years old. I don't remember the flight, I do remember arriving, the lei greetings, the rental jeeps with the striped covers (think of surrey with a fringe on top) and palm trees.

How much do I really remember from that day 61 years ago and how much has my mind built from photos & home movies? I guess, "Does it matter?" is the better question.

Our motel was across the street from Fort DeRussy, we were there over 3 months. I remember Suzi Lao, the maid at the motel and her Pearl Harbor/WW2 stories. I remember learning to swim underwater in the motel pool. I remember the little corner market behind the motel that had comic books. I remember the diner next door. I remember the sound the cockroaches made when my Mom ran them over with the stroller holding my sister as we walked on Ala Wai Blvd.

I don't remember second grade at Ala Moana elementary school and have vague recollections of the rest of the second grade at Maunawili elementary when we moved to the other side of the island (Kailua ,where we bought our first house on Papalani Street). I do remember 3rd & 4th grades at Maunawili elementary. And I do remember leaving my shoes at the door of the classroom in the morning and picking them up when I went home.

Funny how a single day can stick with you through the years....

I always feel the need to add a picture to a blog post, but right now I cannot find any of the Hawaii pictures but I can take a picture of our new house... it's getting really close to ready!

Waiting for paint on the ends, fill dirt around three sides,
stairs and the final inspection by the county!

It's been awhile....

 

The last thing I posted on this blog was the Declaration of Independence on July 4th of last year.

Let's go way back - back before the "pandemic house arrest", before the "essential" & "non-essential" job labels, back when society was what we'd had for my lifetime.

I'm talking about the 3rd of January 2020, which was a personal remembrance day because that was when my 4 year old grandson was diagnosed with leukemia.

This was not the horror of Leukemia's first visit to my family, which was when Leukemia took my 20 year old daughter, Aurora, on the evening of Friday the 13th of 2011.  Sad times.

A sunset over Hood Canal In Washington state.

But in January 2020, Christmas was over and we were about to head back to Florida when we got the news.  We stayed to help.

[A side note on Leukemia:  these days they save 90% of the kids who get the most common type, and my grandson is on the good side of that equation!!!  He is down to once a month doc visits and in a few months they will get stretched out even farther! This is GOOD NEWS, A SURVIVOR!!!]

The plan was for us to leave when he hit the maintenance stage. Then the pandemic came. So, for a variety of reasons, we did not leave.  We even acquired a summer home on the Hood Canal! Florida was not forgotten, just delayed, with the new plan to spend summers at the Hood Canal beach house and to travel in the RV and spend winters in Florida. 

Then, in February of this year, our house burnt down.  We escaped barefoot into the snow but lost our cat, Larry (and everything else) to the fire. 

Not a good night
but it could have been worse

We moved back into our RV.  The neighbors were fantastic with the help of food, clothes, shoes, rubber boots, coats and the like! I cannot say enough about how all these people helped us when we really needed the help. Then we were offered the guest house next door, so we are now renting it. The county is allowing us to replace what we had where it was (the salmon creek setback rules have changed greatly since the home was put there in the 70's), and we must maintain the same footprint. We expect to have a replacement manufactured home delivered in September.  We got lucky getting a build spot in September, the regular wait times for a manufactured home are sixteen months these days & it's the same & longer if you want a stick built house.

That brings us to today.  I'm not sure what I want to say these days but I will not be political on this blog....

We are alive and living today here in Tahuya Washington, visiting kids and grandkids, getting ready for the new house delivery and planning on being in Florida next winter.  Shorts, a tee shirt and flip-flops is the year round climate I'm still aiming for!