​I'm on my way home from my morning trot around PoKai Bay, which is uniquely beautiful every day.  This morning there are long boats out with rowers, and they're making good progress because they don't have to fight so hard against rough waters.  Several paddle boarders cross the gentle waves, which means there are no surfers because it's not fun when things are this mild.  However, many little ones are out enjoying the surf as it washes over them, pushing them back, and then they make their way forward to be pushed back again.  The waters are a darker teal this morning because there is a cloud cover making it a little cooler and, thus, my walk easier.  I'm heading home now, and when I get there, I shall put up my next blog.
  I made it, and I am sitting at my little table on the Lanai, enjoying the beautiful breezes that come down from the misty mountain directly across from us.  This is a beautiful setting, and I love writing here.  We shifted things a little to accommodate guests this week.  My sister-in-law Bethany and her family arrived Saturday for a week-long visit.  We immediately walked them around to our beautiful Bay, and they spent several hours there before checking into their AirBnB near the Disney resort on the West side.  They love our area, and Beth says that she has never visited the West side before.  It is stunning, and I wonder why people don't want to stay on this side, except that it is populated mainly with locals who aren't worried about aesthetics.  Some visitors only want to shop in high-end stores and eat in expensive restaurants in Waikiki while staying in high-rises near crowded Waikiki beaches.  These areas are very contrived, and sadly, people ignore the natural beauty of Oahu when they spend their time in tourist traps.  In any case, we've already shared several meals, and I'm sticking to my keto.  It's pretty easy because I always create several items that I can have along with favorites of theirs, such as pesto pasta and bread to serve along with the meal.  It's easy for me to avoid these items eating only the main course and salad.  I enjoy having guests and feeding them in ways that allow me to stick to my keto diet.  I've been very successful this week.  I've lost another two pounds, and I'm still going down, down, down.  At this rate, I'll meet my deadline!

​     So we're having really lovely times at our little Mango Shack.  Jake has a colleague from Germany who's helping him figure out his material science synthesis for water desalination.  It's a pretty complex chemical process, and they're working on refining it so that it has greater capacity.  Apparently, his material is quite good and lasts for extended periods, which would also be suitable for battery construction.  The material is called Prussian Blue, and beyond that, I'm clueless.  In any case, having company over to our little shack is great.  We spend all our time outside enjoying the lanai and breezes wafting over us from the mountains.  Steve grills for us, and I do all the sides with occasional additions from Harold and Jake.  They joined their friends and traveled to North Shore on Saturday morning so that Luis, the guy from Germany, could see the place that everyone talks about when visiting Oahu.  I think our Bay is much more beautiful, and I don't understand why anyone wants to go to any other place, but it's great that he gets to see the sites.  They passed the Dole Plantation and stopped briefly, so that's a checkbox tick.  That evening we had ribs again and grilled some brats to honor our German guest.  In the meantime, I'm sticking to keto and creating new additions that make it enjoyable.  My latest is a lasagna made of cabbage leaves.  I'll take a picture and put a recipe up soon.  I'm also creating keto-friendly fillings for the tarts.  I mentioned doing a chocolate mousse tart and a lemon tart, and now I'm working on a raspberry tart.  The fruit filling is made with chia seeds and is really yummy.  I'm amazed at how versatile chia seeds are and contain very few carbs.  Of course, you must be careful using fruit because of the carbs.  However, blackberries and raspberries contain fewer carbs.  So, that's basically how the week went.  I also finished some writing and did more promotions of my historical novels and textbook about slavery.  Then, I spent some time reading my previous blogs.  OMG!  I noticed that I bounce from topic to topic, so I'll explain.  I often use a "stream of consciousness" method to write my blog by talking my thoughts into my cell phone notepad.  Sometimes I do this while walking around the bay, and sometimes I do it when just sitting and relaxing on the lanai and enjoying the breezes.  That's why my blogs often shift topics.  I'm following a series of thoughts that go right along with my tendency toward ADHD.  Therefore, after noticing the shifts, I decided to explain why this occurs.  This leads me to share that I'm working on another True Tail about helping my mom when she decided to shift into hospice care after discovering she was in heart failure.  I can write about it now that I have some distance from the actual event.  Looking back, I feel so grateful that I helped my mother pass comfortably.  I only wish I had been able to help my precious boy Bernie when he passed.  However, I'm very grateful his friend Gloria was with him, and I'll forever be thankful to God that he was not alone.  Helping loved ones leave this world is a blessing to all involved.

     I've lost another pound, and I'm delighted because it looks like I figured out the formula to continue a downward trend following a lengthy plateau.  Also, I'm so grateful because I feel really well.  Of course, I have the average aches and pains accompanying old age, but I'm better off than many people I see who appear to be my age or close to it.  The other thing making me happy is that Costco is consistent no matter where we are, and I purchase most items required for my recipes there.  We made a trip right after we arrived, and I started making things in advance for meals throughout the week.  Today I made broccoli cheese soup, and we plan on having that along with salmon and crab tonight.  Tomorrow we'll go back to Costco and pick up two more chickens.  I usually keep one warm so we can have a fresh chicken dinner, and I use everything left for chicken salad and then make broth from the carcass.  I freeze the second chicken and repeat everything.  I use the resulting chicken broth for my broccoli cheddar soup and green chili stew.  Thus, the chicken that costs $4.99 at Costco carries the family a long way, and it's all Keto!  We try to make enough for our growing family.  Jake and Harald are still living here, and when we arrived in Waianae, we had a family of chicks that Harold and Jake began feeding.  They live happily in our yard, walking around, scratching, and gobbling up whatever they can find.  It's sad because several baby chicks drowned during one of the rain storms.  So Harold made them a little house.  If it rains like that again, they'll have a place to protect themselves.  Of course, I'm not very excited about having chickens in my yard, but that is the Hawaiian way.  They act as an excellent barrier between the home and bugs, so I'm happy to have them.  On my bay walk, I passed through a lot of flowering trees native to Hawaii and used to make lays.  The sound of the waves and the smells of the trees make this a beautiful walk, and I'm enjoying it very much.  We enjoy our life here very much.  I love walking along this Bay, and the views are exceptional.  Today I took a video of the Hawaiian rowers in their Longboat.  The waves were rough, so they had difficulty navigating the choppy water, but they made it.  I see they're rolling all in time.  It must take a tremendous amount of strength.  The Hawaiians love the water.  They love their boats, fishing, surfboarding, paddle boarding, and rowing, and they spend lots of family time doing these activities together.  This past weekend we heard a group singing together, accompanied by their Hawaiian instruments.  Several children took turns singing.  We enjoyed the few hours they spent harmonizing together.  Waianae is a lovely place with lovely people.  I'm so happy we found our property among the local people rather than the contrived tourist areas.  For the most part, they're all kind and welcoming.  Steve has friends at the marina, and people are lovely to me every place I go.  While there are a few crazies, they are not dangerous and seem to behave when the time is right.  Most live an "aloha" life, and I'm grateful to participate.

​     I've learned lots about counting carbs over the past week and how the keto diet helps fight cancer.  Even though I've been on the keto diet for over a year, I never knew about net carbs or how to count them, and because of that, I reach my total carb allotment very quickly.  I was astonished to realize that I was supposed to subtract the fiber content from the total carb content to reach the total net carb amount.  Because the body does not digest fiber, it does not impact blood sugar.  Now I'm only counting these net carbs when calculating those fifty grams I'm allowed daily.  However, I'm continuing to watch my caloric intake.  The majority of my daily calories come from fat, with ten to twenty percent from protein and less than ten percent from net carbs.  The ketogenic diet helps with weight loss because ingesting fats and limiting carbs forces your body to burn fat as its primary energy source.  I've also learned about a significant side effect of this diet.  Apparently, it helps starve cancer cells because they thrive on glucose and cannot use ketones to grow.  Therefore a keto diet may prevent the emergence of cancer cells or prevent them from feeding, making a low-carb diet supportive of cancer prevention and therapy.  Also, now that I'm in Hawaii, I'm adjusting my exercise to the area.  I'm replacing the Zumba I did in Birch Bay with a beach trot every morning.  The last time we were here, I just walked along the Bay but never got my heart rate into cardio.  I want to achieve cardio or intense cardio, and the beach trot is getting me there.  I also ended up with the same number of steps I achieved with Zumba and the same amount of cardio, so it's working out well.  My entire morning workout provides a fabulous view of Po Kai Bay, and I'm enjoying it very much.  Food preparation is always an adjustment when we shift living spaces, so I cooked several items ahead for us to eat for the next few days.  That means I can manage our dinners with little effort, and if I have urges, I have things ready.  We celebrated Jake's birthday Saturday evening with steaks that we cooked on our grill, green chili stew, slaw, and an ice cream cake I helped eat.  I will pay for this.  So far, we're having a wonderful time.  I'm enjoying our little Mango Shack very much.  The weather is fabulous!  It's breezy and remains about 75° during the day and a little lower in the evening, with breezes flowing down from the rainforest mountain across from our little house, providing a nice breeze that flows into our bedroom.  We are blessed.