Halloween

Last night I entered my evening school classroom and found this drawing on the greenboard. The writing after the word "to" is my name, Charlie, written in Japanese katakana. At the end of class, these second year students, the girls anyway, gave me some cookies as a Halloween treat.

The day before, at a different campus of the same university, two of the girls came up after class and gave me a box of cookies and two boxes of chocolates. The box of cookies had a note attached to it. Notice the way that the student signed it.

Masayo thought that the note was 'cute' and it is now hanging on the wall between the kitchen and the dining area.

I am not sure whether or not I am the "Pumpkin Hero"

Tomone and Naomi are back

Yesterday, Monday, afternoon Tomone and Naomi came back from Tokyo. Masayo and I met them at Sendai Station and brought them home in our car. This morning Tomone played with me for a while about 8 o'clock and then again just before noon. These pictures were taken while Masayo was preparing my lunch, zosui - rice that is cooked extra long in soup rather than water so that it is very soft and quite delicious. Tomone, of course, had milk for lunch.




Here is a close up of Tomone. Although she is only 4 3/4 months old, she can sit up and stand up with just a little support. She can roll over and this past week she has been able to get her rear end up in the air so she will soon be crawling.

She recognizes people from their names so she should start understanding language soon, too.

This is a full week of classes for me and I want to get in as much walking as possible, so it is going to be very busy. Next Monday is a national holiday so I will be walking then, too.

A quiet week!?

This was supposed to be a quiet week. Naomi took Tomone and went back to Kawasaki. Tomone had a health checkup scheduled and Naomi wanted to see her husband and his relatives. Masayo and I would again be on our own schedules.

It did not quite work out that way. I did my usual walking, which included 45 kilometers in the last 48 hours. During one of these walks, the effects of the cool autumn that we are having became very apparent. Many of the trees have already lost their leaves, as you can see in this picture.

I heard on the news that the leaves are changing color at a rate that is about a month earlier than average. The same broadcast said that, because of global warming, Japan is getting colder. From now on they expect summers to cool and wet and winters to be colder.

However, the flowers seem not to have gotten the word about the weather. The second picture was taken along the riverside path leading from my apartment to the main road. It is an extremely pleasant walk, which I take often as it is the shortest way to the nearest subway station. This year there have been a number of gardens planted along the path, including one that specifically has the approval of the city, which means that it will be no construction for the length of the lease - 4 years.

Masayo and I talked with Tomone by telephone yesterday. Naomi said that Tomo-Chan got a very strange puzzled look on her face when she heard our voices and then broke into a big smile. She did not try to make any noises back at us but she obviously enjoyed the 'conversation'.

More Tomone for the family

Tomone at breakfast yesterday. She is growing up incredibly fast. She, of course, can not talk yet, but she is trying to communicate. A few minutes before this picture was taken I was holding her in my lap and we were playing. All of a sudden she put on a sad face and stared into my eyes. She then put her fingers into her mouth and started sucking. She did this a second time and then reached out and put her fingers in my mouth. I said "mimi?", which is Japanese baby talk for "milk?" and she stopped looking at me and looked at the kitchen. I said "mimi?" again and she stopped moving around and smiled.

Also for the last two days, when I say "Do you want to come to me?" and hold out my hands, she holds out her hands in imitation. She seems to have gotten the idea.

Today, Sunday, Masayo and I took Tomone and Naomi to Sendai Station and put them on a Shinkansen train to Tokyo. They will stay at home for a week, coming back a week from Monday. Naomi is using this as a trial period to see how she does without Grandmother to help out. If she has no serious problems,after she comes back, she will pack up her and the baby's stuff and move back home before the middle of November.

I was thinking that I would have a nice quiet week to rest while they were away, but things just do not work out that way. Tomorrow Masayo is meeting friends for lunch so I have to get home from my classes by myself. This involves a bus, the subway, and a couple of kilometers of walking. My classes are over at noon, but I do not expect to be home until close to one thirty. Then in the evening I will go to the Sendai Book Club. We are discussing The Remains of the Day.

Tuesday, Masayo and I have to have health checkups in the morning, then I have two classes in the afternoon, following which I walk home - only about 30 minutes.

Wednesday, I walk with Ian in the morning and have three classes in the afternoon, following which I walk the six kilometers home. I'll walk a total of about 24 kilometers during the day.

Thursday, I have a class from 8:50 to 10:10 and then, after coffee with one of the other teachers, I'll walk home, again six kilometers. In the evening I leave home at about 4:45 and teach from 6:00 to 7:30 and then walk home.

Fridays are a day off, but I frequently go for a short walk (5+ kilometers), wearing my backpack.

Nothing special on the weekend, except that Sunday morning Ian and I walk about 18 kilometers. I hope to get some drawing done.

So as you can see, my quiet week is actually going to be quite busy.

Finally, so far this month I have walk 200 kilometers, the most in any 19 days since I started.