Welcome-to-Japan (and to my school) Party for the new (and LAST) teacher I would hire

Yaari, and Hiromi, Shuji, Syvester cat, Hiroaki, and the new teacher and her husband.

The Kato's and~

Kazuko brought along her good friends!!

And George came by too. George taught for me- how many years did we figure out? About 11 years ago?!


And our dear long time friends and students the Sugisakis, Tomomi, Suzuyo and Nachi
HARU MAKI!!!! Our landlord made it for our potluck was DELICIOUS!!!

And this RICE!! It's called "SEKIHAN" I thinkおいしかった！！！There also was chocolate cake and strawberries and japanese marshmellows decorated with some pretty green leaves! THANK YOU Kazuko's friends



Here's what I made- banana bread, some with chocolate chips... yes, that's Trader Joe's coffee in the background, yes, that's my glass of Kirin beer... yes, this little tray of cake is the quickest way to bake it...
in this tiny oven! Two trays can fit in. Everyone will tell you it turns out WONDERFULLY tasty! I've got it DOWN!

One week back in Japan trying to REGROUP!

My English school in Japan has suffered~

I trusted the teacher who worked for me the past three and a half years to carry on while I was away.

But our school and our students were burnt.

I've spent the last week in this predicament, trying to figure out how to proceed.

Thank god for family and friends.

Thank the spirits above, a new teacher and her good husband have come and are ready to do the best they can to breath life back into this situation!!

I was in the middle of paperwork today, recalculating the work of the last teacher and could figure it out, and could STOP feeling so angry and upset because she will pay for the mess she left behind.

a photo in the middle of the work. feeling happier finally!

Flying back to 日本 THIS MORNING!

"I'm leaving, on a jet plane~~" How often have I said that the past two and a half years?! Twelve times maybe? No, more...fiften? Sixteen. I'll have to check my passport. 

My boys Taka and Zen will be fending for themselves remaining in Santa Cruz once again.

And I will be back in Japan in the arms-well getting my hugs around my three older children in Japan again! And friends!!

USA Halloween!

(I'm putting these in here for my dear friends in Japan, and students, who wonder how and why we celebrate Halloween in the U.S. of A.!)

Check out all of these houses!!!


I swear about five homes...were right next to one another!

They were competing it seemed like!

Or just having a great time!

There are pumpkins everywhere for sale now.

And candy GALORE!

But, GRANDMOM HATES Halloween she has informed me. 90 year old Grandmom. Why? No meaning to it, it just for kids to try to accumulate candy she says!

Some BASKETBALL stuff!!!

Basketball HAZARDS!!!

I mean HERE:

Guys trying to DRAG HIM DOWN!!! What they will do!!!

Halloween's coming~Autumn's here and~

PEACE Pumpkins!!

Our Neighbors, Angelina and Azalea with their homegrown pumpkins.

Their pumpkin that read "Rasta" became the yummiest soup which Angelina shared with us.

(I must get a photo of Angelina's gorgeous longs dreadlocks for you!)

This is a famous old house waiting to be renovated near where we live. If I were young again, I would be trying to get inside with the hope of meeting the spirits who must be there!

Oh, Zen~this is the only kind of photo he lets me take of him!

Well, to tell you the truth, I wanted this of his VERY cool shirt from Japan.

240 means NI-SHI-O! [our home town in Japan]

Maybe it was Yuto who gave this basketball shirt to Zen?

Ozzie, Darling Julie was HERE in CaliFORN-I-A- USA!!!

Julie took quite a bit of a tour through the States here!! We got to have her fly through our home THREE times between her other destinations actually! She IS a wonder of a woman!! (He hee!! WONDER WOMAN JEWEL!!).

And Julie, driving on the RIGHT side of the road in our purple SUBARU-Yes!! Memorable TRAVELS


Along with a friend of Julie's from Argentina, Carmen,we got up there where it wasn't as freezing cold as I had feared, to Golden Gate Bridge!!

Zen posed cooly for Julie!