R's Tokyo trip. New store

Garden of the Hotel New Otani
where R stayed in May.

By special request of M and me, R and his friend went to the Tokyo branch of Laduree in Ginza Mitsukoshi.  According to Wikipedia, it is a French luxury bakery created in 1862 that sells 15,000 macarons every day!
They were the only males in the bakery-restaurant, full of ladies, so they ordered sandwiches and hurried out without even tasting a macaron!

 I guess he felt much more comfortable at the "Old Boys" luncheon given by his brother, Les.  Mmm, the food looks good.
Golfing three days, meetings, karaoke , wonderful food, and seeing old friends again- it was a great week.

***
We stopped here for the first time today.
Guess what store this is.  (It's in Honolulu)

Its glass exterior lets in a
lot of light.

There is a variety of products including cosmetics, alcohol, and Spam flavored macadamia nuts.

Food area

Sushi, too.

Enjoying a snack and coffee.

It's Walgreens, on the corner of Kapiolani and Keeaumoku.

What I did during the weekend, Penny and grandma

Nursed my cold and slept.

Grandma and Penny.
Penny will remember the nice Grandma that used to sit in the back seat of the car, and laughed when she would run barking into her apartment.

Goodbye Grandma

We said goodbye to Grandma at a very private and simple graveside service, as she had specified.
Reverend W. Fukuyama officiated.

Thursday, June 18, 2015.

Grandma's Orchids

This morning, we went to Halekulani Orchids, grandma's favorite, for breakfast, and to look at banquet rooms.

Agapito, and others, who have known grandma for  so long, were shocked to hear that she would no longer be coming back.

A moment of silence, in which we could almost hear her  saying her grace,
"God is great, God is good,
And we thank him for this food"

Thank you, grandma, for teaching us to be grateful.

Les and Roy had the American Breakfast of eggs and meat.

Liz and I ordered grandma's favorite Japanese breakfast,
as usual.

"Da Kids"
It has been a crazy hectic few days, but everything has been arranged, thankfully, with grace and expediency.

Manoa and Fendu

The highlight of Penny's and my day was walking with Liz in Manoa again.  It was later in the afternoon this time with even a light shower with clouds over the mountains, like I remember from childhood.

And, we ate at Fendu again.  Liz had the delicious Kobe burger with ciabatta buns.  Yum.  And I had the Croque Monsieur with Black Forest ham and cheese and tomato.

It was so nice recalling little stories about Grandma.

After we got home, Penny was just lying down and felt hot so I gave her a cool bath in the tiny utility sink,  and though she hates baths, she was quiet all through the ordeal and is snoring peacefully away now.

Manoa interlude

Lucky Penny got to do her Manoa walk with Les and Liz today.  It was a nice sunny day and Penny was her usual noisy self barking at whatever dogs she could see.

Under the Royal Poinciana tree.
Before this, she had to be carried for a bit.    She seemed hot and tired - out of practice since M went back to Maui.

Cool and downhill home stretch to the parking lot .

At Manoa SC, we stopped at Fendu's for lunch.  While waiting Penny and I found a lucky penny for this afternoon's Warrior's game.

Liz and I had the delicious Kobe burger and Les had the Pumpkin soup.  Penny behaved very well, barking only when she saw another dog nearby.

Since the plumbers were working on our bathrooms, R and I went to our gym to take a shower and sauna.
The glass around the shower stall is being cleaned so we didn't want to add more water stains.

In the lobby, while waiting for R, I watched the Warriors take the lead in the third quarter.

It was restful to look at this spot of green in a planter during this sad but busy time.

Glad you're here, Les and Liz!

Searching for Great Grandma's headstone.

View of the highway and Pali Golf Course beyond, from the top of Pikake Terrace.

A stop at Liliha Bakery after a very busy day.
Hot cakes were fluffy as usual.  We all had breakfast  in the afternoon.
Portuguese sausage, eggs and rice.
Hamburger, eggs and rice for Les and R.

Crispy bacon (could have been crispier), eggs and rice.

Hospital

A quick breakfast at Panya with Liz.
Panya Breakfast- French toast, scrambled eggs, fruit and
extra crispy bacon.  

Queen's Hospital to visit Grandma.

The monstera vines and big monkey pod tree at the entrance add a sense of serenity.

A peaceful little nook.

An old tree outside one of the windows in the hall.

At the entrance to the ward.

Liz and I hoping for a Warrior victory today.

Ukulele Concerto

What a treat.  Janie invited me to hear Jake Shimabukuro's virtuoso ukulele playing with the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra.
This was the last concert of the Season and it was sold out.

According to a review by Ruth Bingham in the Star-Advertiser this morning (6/8/15), "with this concerto (Dr. Byron) Yasui has brought the ukulele fully into the classical music realm, not as a novelty, but on equal footing with orchestral instruments".
One encore was "Pianoforte", Jake's composition, which was a duet with concertmaster  "Iggy" Jang.   

After the concert, Janie and I passed the Honolulu Museum
of Art School, where she and I had met in a Chinese brush painting class so many years ago.

There were displays in the yard, one of which reminded me of Boy's Day and Tanabata Japanese holiday decorations.

Penny's drive, Serge's

Today, we decided to take
Penny for the quarter island
drive.
To protect her eyes against
the bright sun we tried
UV dark glasses which she scraped
off in no time.

Then we tried a visor cap.
She was having none of that
either, although we thought
it was cute with the little
twirling thing on top.

Actually, it was cloudy with light rain, which showed Makapuu Point's darker, mysterious side.

Nuuanu Memorial Park was still colorful with flowers from Memorial Day.
The Koolaus were covered in clouds.

Driving back to Honolulu we
headed into those clouds and
through the tunnels.

It was like being enclosed in
amber.

Back in Manoa, we stopped
at Serg's for a bite to eat.

Salsa Verde Burrito

Chock full of tender pork, fresh chopped onions and green chiles and avocados.