Fran and the Puzzle

This is me doing one of my jigsaw puzzles. i can't sit still just doing nothing, so I am lucky that I have puzzles and gardening to do. Housework helps too but it's not as much fun! 

If you want something to keep you young, buy a house with all white floors. This one has all white tile floors. Pretty but a lot of work. 

Church in Naalehu

This is the Methodist Church here in Naalehu. There are many churches in town but this one is the most prominent and pretty. All the tourists take photos of this one. That is Bob in the red hat. He is drinking a latte from the coffee truck that parks on the church lawn.

On the hill behind the church, sugar cane use to be grown. Now it is a cow pasture. The hills are very green and very pretty. I can see the hills from my living room window.

Carmen

This is my dog, Carmen.

When I moved here there were no plants or flowers in the yard. Now it is very bushy and colorful.  I apparently did a lot of gardening, no wonder I am so tired. I feel much better when I keep active.

Amy, why is your brother going to Uganda? That's in Africa isn't it? I have never travelled much. I am a homebody. When is he leaving? Does he have a wife? Children? It sounds like a big move. It's a shame he cannot take his dog. My dog is like a child to me. I would not think of leaving her behind if I had to move. She is my family now.

I did not name Carmen myself. Her previous owner named her, but I do not know why. But Carmen is a nice name. And she likes it.

I go to the doctor this afternoon. Nothing is wrong. It is just for a yearly check up. My ear is doing fine now. And other than not having a lot of stamina like I use to have when I was younger, I think I am ok. I do not take any medicines. I just take a multivitamin, cranberry, and glucosamine every day, and an iron pill twice a week. I make sure to eat a well varied diet with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. I eat a half a papaya with breakfast every day because it stops me having leg cramps at night. I don't know why it works, but it does.

It is so good to hear from you Amy. Thank you  for writing to me.

Windy Monday

I'm not in the mood to sit down and write today. But I will tell you that it is very windy here. It blew all last night and this morning there are lots of wind gusts that rattle the windows. Sue says it is the tradewinds blowing today.

I made a new flower arrangement for my kitchen table.  I used lots of colorful leaves and a flower spike off of a ti plant. Funny things about the ti plant. It has only bloomed once since I have moved here. It's a odd looking flower.

Last week I did a lot of hard level jigsaw puzzles. They are the ones that you would swear have missing pieces. But eventually the pieces jump out at you and they are not missing afterall. I've learned that our minds really work different than I expected. I can get totally frustrated and not find a thing, but if I stop for a while and come back to it, I can almost instantly  find dozens of pieces that fit. What an odd thing to happen. I wonder why the mind works like that.

Sue worked at the community garden this morning. She brings the lunch leftovers for us to eat. Today we had potato soup, fresh beets, and corn on the cob.

What to say?

So, what do  I talk about today?

I have four new plants to put in my garden. Judith and Dick brought them this morning. They kept me company for about two hours. Getting old isn't lonely. I have so many friends.

Today is Tuesday!

I got the new puzzles in the mail and I've done three of them already. The donut one was hard to do, but after a few days I got it done. The next one I did was marine fish. It was a lot of fun and not terribly hard. Today I started the puppy and kitten one.  It seems to be a hard one. It's going very slow.

I'm into flower arranging now. Judith, a friend of mine, goes to a class of flower arranging and I am learning from her. I have lots of leaves and flowers in my yard to work with. My house is now starting to look like a florist shop. The latest one is really pretty, Sue says.

I'm so glad to hear from you Amy. I seem to be getting younger, not older. At least I'm having more fun.

Quick Note

Bob and Sue stopped by on their way home. So I just wanted to say hi. I'm doing ok.

I hear that there is going to be a big snow storm back East. Ken, I hope you and Blanche will be ok. You too, Wyatt and Amy. I miss the snow, but I know that it is no fun for you to have to drive in. Be safe.

Sunny Wednesday

I hope everybody is doing as well as I am. I seem to be getting younger every year. I guess it's because I am more active.

Today was a town market day, but I didn't bake anything this week. Sue wasn't going to set up a table today. Jerry, the pie guy, came by and asked for an apple pie for next week. So I guess I'll keep busy.

I'm glad that I have Carmen. I feel a lot safer because she is a good watchdog. The other night about 2 in the morning she barked up a storm. Someone must have been outside. Nothing past Carmen! She hears things even when she is asleep. It's surprising how alert she is. She's doing alright for being 12 years old.

I don't feel old anymore. There is another woman in our town who just turned 101. And she still gardens with her roses.

Another Weekend

The weekends always seem long to me. I guess that's because Bob isn't here. I am use to him working in the spare bedroom that he uses as his office.  But Saturday morning Bob and Sue stopped by for an hour. It was nice having them here. Sue and I worked on the jigsaw puzzle together.

I don't feel very chatty today. I don't know why. So I guess I won't type anymore.

Been Busy

I've been keeping myself very busy this week. I did some housecleaning and washed the floor. On Tuesday I baked a cake for the town market. Sue takes it there and sells pieces. Everyone seems to like the cake.

Yesterday Bob and Sue looked at Barnes and Noble on the computer for jigsaw puzzles. I found 6 new puzzles to try. They are all very colorful. 4 of them are 500 pieces and 2 are 300 pieces. I like the colorful ones. I really like the cartoonish type but there wasn't any. So I choose some animal ones, one of all kinds of different donuts, and a pretty landscape. I am looking forward to them arriving in the mail.

I do the laundry in my new machine. Bob bought it at Costco. It is rather fancy for being a basic machine. It does a much better job than any machine I had before. The machines are getting better. So I do the laundry for myself and for Bob and Sue. I like to do it. It gives me something to do. But Sue doesn't like me to hang out the big sheets by myself. We disagree on that because I can do it my myself just fine. On days like today, the wash dries very quickly. It is sunny and breezy.

Today for lunch we had really good roast beef sandwiches from Hana Hou. Hana Hou is a small restaurant here in Naalehu. It is the southernmost restaurant in the United States. The person who runs it  is one of Bob and Sue's neighbors. She is a very good cook and baker. I like to go there to eat on special occasions.

This afternoon I will read some of my book and work on the jigsaw puzzle. I read lots of books. I like romance novels set in the 19th century. But I read other kinds of books too, like mysteries and autobiographies.