Here in Tokyo we are supposedly in the midst of rainy season, and it has rained about 3 times in 2 weeks. Not very rainy. What it IS is hot and humid.
This is okay, because I know I'm getting on a plane and going to Minnesota for the summer, where at least it is hot and humid with cool nights. Or sometimes it's hot and not humid (like last summer). Or it can be just plain cold.
So, what is in my suitcase for the summer in Minnesota. (Mind you, I already have my yarn stash there waiting for me, and a stack of the knitting books I own in Tokyo already placed on reserve to check out at the library there.)
Swimming suits, tank tops, shorts. No surprise. Jeans, khakis, summer dresses, sandals. Here's what might surprise some: Sweatshirts, fleece, sweaters. Warm socks. If you've even been in Minnesota in August, you know that if you don't pack the fleece, you will end up buying one. That's why the kids have sweatshirts that say "LEECH LAKE" on them from two summers ago. (Yes, Leech Lake is a real place.) We also have warm clothing that says "MINOCQUA" from last summer.
I figure it's okay, because I fondly remember wearing out a KOA sweatshirt from some family vacation many many years ago. It was too cold to swim in the swimming pool (according to my mom, who was probably right, but I remember desperately wanting to jump in a pool anyway). Not having enough warm clothes is a summer tradition.
What else is in the suitcase? The kids' clothes that they've grown out of. We bring it back and pass it on to family and friends and whoever needs it. Then we bring back the new stuff with us to Tokyo in August.
I bring seaweed (the kids snack on it, although I still find it a bit strange to eat it as a snack), some Japanese candy (milk candy), but not a whole lot.
It's so fantastic to travel to the US, because here's what's going on in my brain as I pack:
"Did I pack sunscreen? Oh, gosh, I don't know. Should I bother looking? I can get it there if I forgot to pack it."
(Substitite "sunscreen" with shorts, socks, ponytail holders, shampoo, etc -- it doesn't matter, it's ALL available.) When we travel to other places we have to THINK when we pack. Not when we go "home." When we travel to other places we bring loads of books for storytime, craft things, movies, whatever. When we go home, we stop by the library and pick up 50 books, and the grocery stores are open 24 hours (a thing of joy!), and Target is such a wonderful place I get tears of happiness just walking in.
We have an arrival tradition: the first night we are in the US we invariably wake up at 2am, jet-lagged, and we go to the grocery store. The kids love the truck-carts, and we go up and down every single aisle. We don't buy the gimicky stuff (don't get me started on fruit gummies and how many different child-appealing packages they can put the same sugary crap in), we don't buy the sugar cereals, but we get fruit and veggies and cereal and milk and ice cream and juice and eggs and whole grain bread, and it's all so AVAILABLE and (if you pick the right store) so GOOD. By 3am we've had our fill, we go back home, put the groceries away, perhaps have a bowl of cereal, and go back to sleep.
I'm coming home soon, and I can't wait.
P.S. For my family members -- I'm really coming to visit you guys, not just to stroll down the aisles of the grocery stores at 2am. Really.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
Five is a big big number
And as hard to believe as it is, my little boy is FIVE. Most of his friends are already five, so for him it’s a “finally!” kind of thing, and short-lived, too, since in 3 months we’ll begin the 6th birthday party celebrations for friends.
But for me, the mommy, this is my youngest, and five is so much bigger than four. FIVE is the age you go to kindergarten. FIVE is half a decade. FIVE is a whole hand’s worth of fingers. FIVE is just a number, but wow, it’s FIVE!
A picture of the castle cake, after being pillaged by the family pirates. (Rules: no utensils allowed!)
Happy Birthday Big Big Boy!
But for me, the mommy, this is my youngest, and five is so much bigger than four. FIVE is the age you go to kindergarten. FIVE is half a decade. FIVE is a whole hand’s worth of fingers. FIVE is just a number, but wow, it’s FIVE!
A picture of the castle cake, after being pillaged by the family pirates. (Rules: no utensils allowed!)
Happy Birthday Big Big Boy!
Friday, June 22, 2007
Fun with Swift and Winder
MORE! MORE! Can we do some more?? PLEASE?
My children have discovered the joy that is making skeins turn into center pull balls!
I used to have to beg someone to be the arms to hold the skein while I made the center skein ball. Too many times I ended up using a chair. Then, I found a wonderful shop on eBay that would send a ball winder and a swift to me in Tokyo, and I ordered it. YIPPEE! I love eBay. I love everyone who will ship international.
So the winder and swift have arrived, and for two whole weeks I have not needed to wind anything. Then last night I found a messy ball in my newly organized stash and figured I'd have a go at my new winder. Enter children (they must have sensed my excitement?) and LOOKIE HERE, it's fun for the whole family! After that one ball, we had to wind another one.
And then just for grins I got out a sock skein, and set up the swift. They were so impressed, and looked at all the arms stretched out, and they were even more impressed when they saw that it would actually turn. My 4yo said, "It's just like watching Earth turning around!"
To make it fair, we have to count how many seconds each person gets to turn the crank and watch the swift go around. The joy is occasionally paused for me to say, "Whoa, slow down there, cowboy." They love the variegated yarns, and get into a trance-like mode watching the colors change as the yarn is wound.
I swear it's as relaxing as a massage for them. They breathe more slowly, and go into a zone. It's wild. But then, look at these gorgeous colors -- Yarntini in Cherry Cordial. Yum. Who wouldn't get into a zone looking at that? More about Yarntini later.
On a totally different note, here are more flowers from my garden -- I have no idea what these are, but they are especially plentiful this year. We've had hot days and not a lot of rain (although theoretically it's been "rainy season" for about 10 days now).
Back to Yarntini. So, if I weren't such a mature person, I'd be dancing around singing a na-na-na-na-na-na song -- I scored some yarn here in Tokyo that sold out the first day in the US. Yarntini sent a note to its fans advising us to watch the Sweet Sheep website -- that they would be available the next day. Every time I checked, they weren't posted yet. I checked the next day, and WHOOPS, they are all gone.
I call the local yarn store when I've heard that they sell Addis and sock yarn as a hobby, sort of under the counter (remember the post with the secret spy stuff and code words?) I wasn't sure if I needed a special handshake or not. Turns out, they have 6 colors of Yarntini, and they are also selling the Addis for 1500 yen. That's about $12.50 right now. It rocked my world. I've been sending my husband and visitors all over to score me Addis of various sizes and lengths, and I have a source right here, about a 5 minute bike ride from my house.
So, the nice person who answers the phone remembers me (it's rather easy to remember a Japanese-speaking blonde woman who comes into a yarn store with a very well-behaved small child who knows not to touch yarn, but to ooh and aah over it politely, and then play cars on the floor quietly), and she agrees to bring some yarn and needles in for a secret hand-off the next day. Only one problem with the needles -- they only have 1 size zero. I want two. She says, "no problem, I'll just teach you the magic loop way."
So, right here in my backyard, I scored 3 skeins of Yarntini, 2 pairs of Addis (100cm size 1 and size 0), and a lesson in Magic Loop knitting *and* Judy's magic cast on. The yarn shop woman (my new best friend, I hope I can find out her name) even found pages out of KNITTY to do so, and the Baudelaire pattern as well.
Meet the newest additions to the s(t)ockpile: Cherry Cordial, 4-8-15-16-23-42 (gotta love that), and Appletini.
What, you'd like a better view of the 4-8-15-16-23-42?
And one more of the Appletini?
Did I mention that I happened to buy some other yarn, too? After all, I have all that extra room in my 3rd stash cupboard.
My children have discovered the joy that is making skeins turn into center pull balls!
I used to have to beg someone to be the arms to hold the skein while I made the center skein ball. Too many times I ended up using a chair. Then, I found a wonderful shop on eBay that would send a ball winder and a swift to me in Tokyo, and I ordered it. YIPPEE! I love eBay. I love everyone who will ship international.
So the winder and swift have arrived, and for two whole weeks I have not needed to wind anything. Then last night I found a messy ball in my newly organized stash and figured I'd have a go at my new winder. Enter children (they must have sensed my excitement?) and LOOKIE HERE, it's fun for the whole family! After that one ball, we had to wind another one.
And then just for grins I got out a sock skein, and set up the swift. They were so impressed, and looked at all the arms stretched out, and they were even more impressed when they saw that it would actually turn. My 4yo said, "It's just like watching Earth turning around!"
To make it fair, we have to count how many seconds each person gets to turn the crank and watch the swift go around. The joy is occasionally paused for me to say, "Whoa, slow down there, cowboy." They love the variegated yarns, and get into a trance-like mode watching the colors change as the yarn is wound.
I swear it's as relaxing as a massage for them. They breathe more slowly, and go into a zone. It's wild. But then, look at these gorgeous colors -- Yarntini in Cherry Cordial. Yum. Who wouldn't get into a zone looking at that? More about Yarntini later.
On a totally different note, here are more flowers from my garden -- I have no idea what these are, but they are especially plentiful this year. We've had hot days and not a lot of rain (although theoretically it's been "rainy season" for about 10 days now).
Back to Yarntini. So, if I weren't such a mature person, I'd be dancing around singing a na-na-na-na-na-na song -- I scored some yarn here in Tokyo that sold out the first day in the US. Yarntini sent a note to its fans advising us to watch the Sweet Sheep website -- that they would be available the next day. Every time I checked, they weren't posted yet. I checked the next day, and WHOOPS, they are all gone.
I call the local yarn store when I've heard that they sell Addis and sock yarn as a hobby, sort of under the counter (remember the post with the secret spy stuff and code words?) I wasn't sure if I needed a special handshake or not. Turns out, they have 6 colors of Yarntini, and they are also selling the Addis for 1500 yen. That's about $12.50 right now. It rocked my world. I've been sending my husband and visitors all over to score me Addis of various sizes and lengths, and I have a source right here, about a 5 minute bike ride from my house.
So, the nice person who answers the phone remembers me (it's rather easy to remember a Japanese-speaking blonde woman who comes into a yarn store with a very well-behaved small child who knows not to touch yarn, but to ooh and aah over it politely, and then play cars on the floor quietly), and she agrees to bring some yarn and needles in for a secret hand-off the next day. Only one problem with the needles -- they only have 1 size zero. I want two. She says, "no problem, I'll just teach you the magic loop way."
So, right here in my backyard, I scored 3 skeins of Yarntini, 2 pairs of Addis (100cm size 1 and size 0), and a lesson in Magic Loop knitting *and* Judy's magic cast on. The yarn shop woman (my new best friend, I hope I can find out her name) even found pages out of KNITTY to do so, and the Baudelaire pattern as well.
Meet the newest additions to the s(t)ockpile: Cherry Cordial, 4-8-15-16-23-42 (gotta love that), and Appletini.
What, you'd like a better view of the 4-8-15-16-23-42?
And one more of the Appletini?
Did I mention that I happened to buy some other yarn, too? After all, I have all that extra room in my 3rd stash cupboard.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Knit for pleasure or fame?
Regarding yesterday's post: What do you do if something you like doesn't turn out as planned?
Do you rip it out?
Do you live with it?
I ask because I am of the perfectionist realm, where if I know it's not perfect, it's going to bother me. I don't mind ripping stuff out to get it right (although mohair is no picnic).
My dear husband can't stand to see me rip things out -- "But it's DONE!" he says. "But it's not right!" I say. He can't stand to see the work go to waste. I think it's sweet that he values my work so much. Still, I'd rather get it right, and rip back to do it. He and my daughter both think I should finish the sock. (But then I'd have to make another one just like it, and if no one wants the first one, wouldn't it be better to frog the first and make two that I want?)
I also had an interesting conversation with another knitter a month or so back -- why do you knit for other people?
I knit for the fun of it, and to think about the person I'm knitting for. I love knitting baby things, and I love knitting for my kids. I like knitting small things as gifts. I also tell the receiver that when I give a gift to someone that it is just that -- a gift, and that I made it for them and I'm releasing it. I hope they like it, but I did it for the joy of making something for someone important to me.
That, and also to prevent me from eating a pound of m&ms while watching tv after the kids go to bed. But mostly the love part.
Do you rip it out?
Do you live with it?
I ask because I am of the perfectionist realm, where if I know it's not perfect, it's going to bother me. I don't mind ripping stuff out to get it right (although mohair is no picnic).
My dear husband can't stand to see me rip things out -- "But it's DONE!" he says. "But it's not right!" I say. He can't stand to see the work go to waste. I think it's sweet that he values my work so much. Still, I'd rather get it right, and rip back to do it. He and my daughter both think I should finish the sock. (But then I'd have to make another one just like it, and if no one wants the first one, wouldn't it be better to frog the first and make two that I want?)
I also had an interesting conversation with another knitter a month or so back -- why do you knit for other people?
I knit for the fun of it, and to think about the person I'm knitting for. I love knitting baby things, and I love knitting for my kids. I like knitting small things as gifts. I also tell the receiver that when I give a gift to someone that it is just that -- a gift, and that I made it for them and I'm releasing it. I hope they like it, but I did it for the joy of making something for someone important to me.
That, and also to prevent me from eating a pound of m&ms while watching tv after the kids go to bed. But mostly the love part.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Half a pair of socks
Not too long ago, I bought a ball of sock yarn in Tokyo -- which is harder to do that you might believe. Anyway, lovely purples and greens, and this was a sock destined for my feet.
Enter my first grade daughter. "Is that for MY socks?" she asks, as she's been asking for socks since I knit some for her brother. I promise her, yes, they are for her. Later, she chooses the Nemo sock yarn, then rejects that as it's too scratchy. Little brother gets a SECOND pair of socks (which is good, because the first pair were really not the greatest).
I start in on the green and purple pair for her -- a very loose twist, these socks are knit tightly on 1s (since I had no 0s), and I've been trying the sock on her as we go. "I LOVE it!" she says as the sock is a cuff on her leg. "I LOVE it!" she says as the leg is nearly complete and the heel flap finished.
"I LOVE it!" she says as the sock's gusset is finished, and I'm heading down the finish line to the end of the toes. I knit this sock at Tokyo Disney Sea. 
I knit this sock on a bus and a train on a Saturday night. I knit this sock in the car on the way to the bike paths (yep, we have to drive to get to the bike paths).
Last night, as I was finishing the toes, I had her try it on for the 10th time to make sure that the length was right. The fit was perfect. The sock was 5 or 6 rows from the very end.
She has it on her foot....she gets a look on her face....and she says, "It feels a little too tight here. And I don't like it here."
Now the last thing I want to do is make a second sock when the first is not loved. And I'm not going to finish this one and break the yarn unless she loves it. So I tell her (and I really mean it), "It's totally okay if you don't like it. I will take it apart and make a sock for me out of the same yarn if you don't like it. I will make you something else, and you don't need to worry about it."
She is relieved, and tells me, "Good, because I like it, but it's really scratchy, and I like it, but I don't want to wear it," and she has this idea instead: that I should knit the second sock as well, and then sell them for $5 and give the money to Room to Read , (an amazing charity that we are working as a family to make money for with read-a-thons and lemonade stands). She tells me that I should make a LOT of them. Nice idea, but at $30 a skein, I'd be knitting myself into the poorhouse. She suggests that we sell them for $35 a pair. I suggest that so many hours of my time is worth more than $5, and that I also don't think anyone is going to pay $100 for a pair of socks (and even then I never worked for so cheap!) I change the subject and ask her what she'd like me to knit for her. She points to the scarf I just finished as a present, and wants "socks make out of that soft yarn there."
Is it possible to make socks out of polymide thick and thin bumpy yarn with a suggested needle size of 7mm? Would you want to?
Enter my first grade daughter. "Is that for MY socks?" she asks, as she's been asking for socks since I knit some for her brother. I promise her, yes, they are for her. Later, she chooses the Nemo sock yarn, then rejects that as it's too scratchy. Little brother gets a SECOND pair of socks (which is good, because the first pair were really not the greatest).
I start in on the green and purple pair for her -- a very loose twist, these socks are knit tightly on 1s (since I had no 0s), and I've been trying the sock on her as we go. "I LOVE it!" she says as the sock is a cuff on her leg. "I LOVE it!" she says as the leg is nearly complete and the heel flap finished.
"I LOVE it!" she says as the sock's gusset is finished, and I'm heading down the finish line to the end of the toes. I knit this sock at Tokyo Disney Sea. 
I knit this sock on a bus and a train on a Saturday night. I knit this sock in the car on the way to the bike paths (yep, we have to drive to get to the bike paths).
Last night, as I was finishing the toes, I had her try it on for the 10th time to make sure that the length was right. The fit was perfect. The sock was 5 or 6 rows from the very end.
She has it on her foot....she gets a look on her face....and she says, "It feels a little too tight here. And I don't like it here."
Now the last thing I want to do is make a second sock when the first is not loved. And I'm not going to finish this one and break the yarn unless she loves it. So I tell her (and I really mean it), "It's totally okay if you don't like it. I will take it apart and make a sock for me out of the same yarn if you don't like it. I will make you something else, and you don't need to worry about it."
She is relieved, and tells me, "Good, because I like it, but it's really scratchy, and I like it, but I don't want to wear it," and she has this idea instead: that I should knit the second sock as well, and then sell them for $5 and give the money to Room to Read , (an amazing charity that we are working as a family to make money for with read-a-thons and lemonade stands). She tells me that I should make a LOT of them. Nice idea, but at $30 a skein, I'd be knitting myself into the poorhouse. She suggests that we sell them for $35 a pair. I suggest that so many hours of my time is worth more than $5, and that I also don't think anyone is going to pay $100 for a pair of socks (and even then I never worked for so cheap!) I change the subject and ask her what she'd like me to knit for her. She points to the scarf I just finished as a present, and wants "socks make out of that soft yarn there."
Is it possible to make socks out of polymide thick and thin bumpy yarn with a suggested needle size of 7mm? Would you want to?
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
I'm SO organized!
So organized? ME?
Yes, I spent valuable and well-spent hours and many ziplock bags organizing the stash. It's now organized by fiber type (in general), by amount of same skeins (in general), and it's ALL put away.
Here is proof!
Stash Drawer 1 -- wools, Malabrigo, Noro, Manos del Uruguay, sock yarn, cotton, Zara, Zarina
Stash drawer 2 -- small quantities of things, lace yarn, alpaca (destined to be Christmas present hats)
Stash cupboard 3 -- large quantities of things, many purchased before I knew what I was doing.... Wool, alpaca, silk, wool cashmere blends, all the fancy acrylics, and a few one-ball-wonders (named such because I wonder what I will ever do with it).
Obviously, I have plenty of room for more yarn. Time? I'm not so sure about time.
Oh, wait, there's my stash in Minnesota, too. That's my summer knitting. (I am a very good planner, and a moderately good executer -- we'll see how much actually gets knitted up.)
Yes, I spent valuable and well-spent hours and many ziplock bags organizing the stash. It's now organized by fiber type (in general), by amount of same skeins (in general), and it's ALL put away.
Here is proof!
Stash Drawer 1 -- wools, Malabrigo, Noro, Manos del Uruguay, sock yarn, cotton, Zara, Zarina
Stash drawer 2 -- small quantities of things, lace yarn, alpaca (destined to be Christmas present hats)
Stash cupboard 3 -- large quantities of things, many purchased before I knew what I was doing.... Wool, alpaca, silk, wool cashmere blends, all the fancy acrylics, and a few one-ball-wonders (named such because I wonder what I will ever do with it).
Obviously, I have plenty of room for more yarn. Time? I'm not so sure about time.
Oh, wait, there's my stash in Minnesota, too. That's my summer knitting. (I am a very good planner, and a moderately good executer -- we'll see how much actually gets knitted up.)
Monday, June 18, 2007
The Lei Reborn
Remember the cheap plastic purple lei that I imitated in knitted art?
With urging from someone else that it would be really cute, and JUST what the intended recipient would love (??), I decided to cast on a nice ball of Rowan wool cotton, and go for it. I cast on 100 stitches. Purl one row, kf&b one row. 200 stitches. Purl a row, knit a row, purl a row, kf&b a row. 400 stitches. Continue, adding more circular needles. Remember to knit REALLY tightly, because the yarn calls for a 5 or 6, but you only have multiple circs in size 7 (Japanese size 8). Knit until the ball of lovely Rowan is finished (800 stitches). NOW add the plastic lei stuff -- hey, it doesn't look so bad. By this time there have been several repeats of the kf&b, and there are now 1600 whopping stitches spanning FOUR size 7 circular needles, with some size 7 dpns ready in case they become necessary.
A closeup of the stitches:
It's probably not surprising that it took me 3 evenings to sit through binding off 1600 stitches. I used a size 9 to make sure that I did it loosely enough, and I watched reruns of House to get me through it. I must say that purling 1600 times in a row was my least favorite part of the scarf. I did have to put it down and rest my wrists, so perhaps my purling technique is inefficient.
ANYWAY, it's FINISHED! A friend said that the picture below looks like some kind of flower on the tree. It's a hydrangea! No, it's wisteria! No, it's Ripply Scarf!
Also on the needles are eldest child's new socks -- the colors are great, but I'm not in love with the low twist of this yarn. Still, this sock came to DisneySea with me on Friday, on a bus and a train Saturday night, and in a long car ride on Sunday, I'm now on the toe.
By the way, knitting on a public bus and then on the Yamanote line? WOW, did I get some stares. I think being a foreigner dressed up to go out for a Saturday night definitely added to the "bizarre" quotient.
On the needles -- a scarf with beads. In my quest to make this, I've discovered two things: that if I don't like a pattern, I have no problem ripping out 2 feet of knitting and starting over, and that there is a better way to knit beads into my knitting than the way it's done here. The next question is: even though I'm not personally thrilled with the beads as they are here, will I rip out that part and then graft on something else? Or will I make the other end in the same way and give it away, knowing that the recipient won't care which way I beaded the knitting?
I discovered one more thing: if you go to the store to buy "some beads for knitting," you may come home with more than beads. (The beads were on the first floor, but the bathroom was on the 5th - and you had to walk past many aisles of new yarn to get to it.)
With urging from someone else that it would be really cute, and JUST what the intended recipient would love (??), I decided to cast on a nice ball of Rowan wool cotton, and go for it. I cast on 100 stitches. Purl one row, kf&b one row. 200 stitches. Purl a row, knit a row, purl a row, kf&b a row. 400 stitches. Continue, adding more circular needles. Remember to knit REALLY tightly, because the yarn calls for a 5 or 6, but you only have multiple circs in size 7 (Japanese size 8). Knit until the ball of lovely Rowan is finished (800 stitches). NOW add the plastic lei stuff -- hey, it doesn't look so bad. By this time there have been several repeats of the kf&b, and there are now 1600 whopping stitches spanning FOUR size 7 circular needles, with some size 7 dpns ready in case they become necessary.
A closeup of the stitches:
It's probably not surprising that it took me 3 evenings to sit through binding off 1600 stitches. I used a size 9 to make sure that I did it loosely enough, and I watched reruns of House to get me through it. I must say that purling 1600 times in a row was my least favorite part of the scarf. I did have to put it down and rest my wrists, so perhaps my purling technique is inefficient.
ANYWAY, it's FINISHED! A friend said that the picture below looks like some kind of flower on the tree. It's a hydrangea! No, it's wisteria! No, it's Ripply Scarf!
Also on the needles are eldest child's new socks -- the colors are great, but I'm not in love with the low twist of this yarn. Still, this sock came to DisneySea with me on Friday, on a bus and a train Saturday night, and in a long car ride on Sunday, I'm now on the toe.
By the way, knitting on a public bus and then on the Yamanote line? WOW, did I get some stares. I think being a foreigner dressed up to go out for a Saturday night definitely added to the "bizarre" quotient.
On the needles -- a scarf with beads. In my quest to make this, I've discovered two things: that if I don't like a pattern, I have no problem ripping out 2 feet of knitting and starting over, and that there is a better way to knit beads into my knitting than the way it's done here. The next question is: even though I'm not personally thrilled with the beads as they are here, will I rip out that part and then graft on something else? Or will I make the other end in the same way and give it away, knowing that the recipient won't care which way I beaded the knitting?
I discovered one more thing: if you go to the store to buy "some beads for knitting," you may come home with more than beads. (The beads were on the first floor, but the bathroom was on the 5th - and you had to walk past many aisles of new yarn to get to it.)
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
The Nemo Socks
The Nemo Socks -- finished, and being worn happily -- thick wool socks in 80 degree weather. You gotta love knitting for someone who loves your knitting enough to wear thick wool socks on a hot day. Not only that, but each time they show up in his drawer, they are the socks he chooses.
Here in Tokyo it's Busy Busy Busy -- as the school year comes to an end there are many gatherings -- there are sayonara parties, there is late night dancing, there are birthday parties. People having "one last coffee together before summer," or "one last playdate," and the greeting is not, "Hi, how are you," but instead, "WHEN ARE YOU LEAVING FOR THE SUMMER?"
Yes, the Gaijin Summer is upon us. Tomorrow is the last day of school, and hoardes of foreigners will trek to Narita Airport and get on planes to go home for 2 months, escaping first rainy season, then the hot humidity of Tokyo.
The benefits of the rain are not many in my opinion, but here's my favorite:
This lovely hydrangea is one I planted myself. I love the hydrangeas in Japan -- the colors and varieties are amazing.
Here in Tokyo it's Busy Busy Busy -- as the school year comes to an end there are many gatherings -- there are sayonara parties, there is late night dancing, there are birthday parties. People having "one last coffee together before summer," or "one last playdate," and the greeting is not, "Hi, how are you," but instead, "WHEN ARE YOU LEAVING FOR THE SUMMER?"
Yes, the Gaijin Summer is upon us. Tomorrow is the last day of school, and hoardes of foreigners will trek to Narita Airport and get on planes to go home for 2 months, escaping first rainy season, then the hot humidity of Tokyo.
The benefits of the rain are not many in my opinion, but here's my favorite:
This lovely hydrangea is one I planted myself. I love the hydrangeas in Japan -- the colors and varieties are amazing.
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