For Naomi's Birthday April 7th

The day before Buddha's birthday is Naomi's birthday. This is where we celebrated the perfect day! Thank You Naomi!!!!

And here is what Naomi got to wake up to on the morning of her birthday!

(Sign designed by Sheon-chan!)

I had this great idea, cause I knew the girls wanted to get this space planted.

Ischin and I went to a nursery nearby, and got LOTS of flowers and plants!

Then, to surprise Naomi, after she went to bed (in the room on the second floor above where we worked- so we had to be really quiet, whispering with each other!)

Sheon arranged where she liked, quickly~
It was about midnight when we finished. Oh, and we used the compost I'd been making!!!

Oh, my babies~ they are GOOD!!! no~ GREAT!!!

I didn't get to see Naomi see the flowers in the morning~ but Sheon told me~

she was so happy she cried...a little! awwwwww~~

There's a bay leaf ("laurel") little tree, there's CHINCHOGE which always reminds me of their Japanese grandmom. There's the yellow forsythia which reminds me of MY mom, and the home I grew up in (when I was little mom remembers she told me the plant was "forsythia" and I responded "for ME?" )...

Before Naomi got the garden planted in~

Kahori organized a picnic- hanami- birthday-lunch for Naomi-chan and friends
Kahori made quiche!!!! And everyone brought other great foods for lunch. (I made the birthday Mimi-cheesecake recipe - tho couldn't get canned cherries in these parts of Japan for on top)

Those leaves on the sushi are "new" and called...something interesting like "wet-something" cause they look like they have water droplets on them. I didn't get to eat one (too much rice for me) but Sayoko told me it really has no flavor. The wrapping around the ONIGIRI ("rice ball") next to it is made from wakame too. I think the red is UMEBOSHI- salted pickled plum in the rice. Look how moist and sticky the rice is~ I'm sure this rice is organic too.
Mari-chan, and Sheon feeding her baby boy (in the carriage). Sheon's best, best oldest friend is giving Sheon lots of baby-doses!!

Yaari, Takeshi, and Sayoko~~I love these guys!!!

Akko-chan's baby boy, "Teru"? Almost a year and a half

And Akko-chan, getting a walk from Sayoko and Shinji's dog

It was gorgeous weather for celebrating Naomi's 25th! The cherry blossoms were perfectly bloomed, and the sun shone down on us in this beautiful park at FURUKAWA KOEN

Two days later, it's drizzly, rainy. I'm working to get this car of Julie's and Prahbu's donated for the Tohoku area. I think a guy from Saitama will come get it so they can take supplies up north.

  I'm doing lots of work organizing my school right now. Anita will come next weekend from Peru to take care of our school! So~ but along with the work I get to have some of my favorite beer~ in cans with cherry blossoms adorning them!Right now we're not having to use our little heater there in the background. Spring is here!

Not "good food, good people" but "GREAT~GREAT"!!!

Kahori and Ischin, mostly Kahori? Made dinner for us one night. SO, so sogood

(can you tell, I'm hungry right now TOO!)

Our little kitchen...a little old, but wonderfully workable kitchen. And these guys make GREAT food here! (Yes, that big white contraption over the sink is a water heater. And Kahori is in front of a two burner gas stove).

Tofu burgers, and...KABOCHA balls, and...what was that fried thingy with nori wrapping? deep fried- OH HEAVEN! And the SOUP~ kombu~y...hit the SPOT.

Yummy meal in our humble, abode~Naomi, Kahori, and Ischin.

On another day, I went out with Hiromi. I couldn't resist taking this photo of GREEN tea donuts~

and square donuts...I thought Japanese aren't so creative, but boy, have they proven me wrong!!!
I was planning a "Thank You" party for Hiromi (she'd given notice eight months ago that she would finish working as manager for N.A.C.  April Fool's Day~ bad joke eh?!) and Sheon showed me this balloon shop where I got some balloons for the party the next night.
Out in Anjo, a LITTLE place~

My camera makes it look HUGE!The next night a few of us got together to celebrate Hiromi.

Oh, and I found this shirt I had to go back to get.

It says: "Thank you for all the damned things you have done all these years" And the picture is some

character, you see the heels of his shoes? He's bent over bowing with his head to the floor, you can kind of see his face between his legs, his butt in the air~ pretty cute! I wonder if Hiromi will wear it?!

Mikawa Bay, Japan 3/31/11

This is from about half an hour from our home. Mikawa Bay.
Up on this hill is the "eating establishment" called SAN GANE SAN

This is one of the "rooms". There are perhaps thirty of these around the mountainside of this old style restaurant

Inside we cook on a Hibachi, see, we have large paper napkins(with advertising all over it) on our laps to deal with our inadequate chopstick use! Veggies, pork, mutton, and/or beef...and quail's eggs~and rice, pickles, tea-soup with seasoning FURIKAKE, and of course, beer.

This photo was from a little while ago. (And in one of the larger rooms) Not this trip...this trip Anita, on the left WILL be RETURNING to our town of Nishio mid April to work with my school. Amy- in the middle, I couldn't get her back yet.

That day while walking around, we peeked into this unused building. Ohhh, to be here at night! You can't imagine NOT getting other worldly entertainment!

I haven't gotten to take many photos this trip yet,but Taka and I went to this one home the beginning  of this trip, where a man is making "rocket stoves" which don't release as many fumes~
I haven't looked into them in detail but sounds like the way to go.

http://www.lowimpact.org/linksrocketstoves.html

 His place is in Nagoya. It's so cool to find a YARD like this in the middle of the city.

  He even had a "TREE HOUSE" in his yard (well, almost a house). A tree house was always something I wanted my kids to get to play in when they were little.

I was looking back at some of my oldest photos on my computer. Just before leaving Japan, four years ago, April, this was Zen one last time with his basketball team mates. Their sayonara throw.

Four years makes a huge difference. Zen's no longer little like this. That's him in front between the Gamano holding the ball and Masato with the paper...what's that paper/ceritficate?
WAIT GO FURTHER BACK!!! ZEN AND JOE!!! In Santa Cruz...how many years ago? 7th grade? Ballers By Nature!!!

Japan, southwest of Nagoya 3/28/11

The first day in Japan, a chance in the middle of the busi-ness, we stopped near home at a restaurant for SOBA. (buckwheat noodles)~
"REAL" tempura (no american carrots or broccoli..."sorry" they aren't meant to be tempura really.)

This is where they make the final noodle cutsAnd then, out the window, the scenic japanesey view~ picture perfect for Japan really

There was really no time for Taka to enjoy Japanese newspaper or TV. He was too busy. Even I...after a week, have started to feel out of it. There's not the tv, or CNN in Japan like we have in Santa Cruz. No, I can't understand the Japanese (language), and interestingly...maybe lots of people are trying to NOT watch it now. Even meeting old friends, people are not bringing up what's gone down. It does make me prefer to hear CNN. I hear more in the States than I can right here in the country of Japan, I regret to say.