I'm so tired. As usual! It's been another busy weekend and there's one more day - it's a national holiday, Labor Day, tomorrow. I should rest a little but I won't.
Yesterday we all had to work. It was sports day. I had a nice brunch - although I really do miss pancakes, waffles and that sort of thing on weekend mornings.... here those are desserts, not meals. Maybe I'll make some chocolate chip banana pancakes tomorrow morning. Anyway, I met a coworker - actually she works in the preschool - to talk about possibly transferring down there in the spring. I really like the women who work there and I do like the younger children. It would mean staying in Hikone for at least another year (from April) so I really have to think about it. But I have to decide soon so they can advertise either for my replacement or for a preschool teacher.
Back to this weekend. We all arrived at 12 and went to work putting up decorations in the city gym. At 1:30 the parents and siblings of the 30 preschoolers were let in and a little before 2 the games began. As usual the kids were adorable and they did very well.
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| Comforting a friend while waiting for the next race. |
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| These costumes were for a little square dance which was really cute! |
There were a few events that the parents participated in too. This is a 'delivery service' race. They had to load the boxes in the carrying thing run to a spot then go back and unload.
The event was supposed to last 2 hours but went on for almost 3 so we had only 5 or 10 minutes to take down all the decorations. We finished at about 5:30 - 6pm and then made our way through traffic to get back to school.
Today I went to Nagahama because Takako (with whom I went to Kyoto last weekend) had tickets to another ikebana show. This one was much smaller but in a really nice old building with a garden out back. It's a 'Lincoln slept here' kind of place. It's said that an emperor, this emperor's grandfather I think, used this ? ((house, school, shop - we don't know) place to rest when he visited Nagahama. It's also were a bonsai plum tree festival is held every winter.
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| I passed him on the way to the station. |
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| Changing seasons in Hikone at the Serigawa. |
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| My bike parking garage where they always tell me to have a good trip and welcome me home in the evening. |
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Some interesting choices in the vending machine - a pudding (like flan) shake, corn soup and onion consume.
The soups come out warm. |
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| Some other choices. The ones with red buttons are warm, the blue buttons mean cold drinks. Green and black tea, plain, sweetened, with milk, same with the coffee choices, sports drinks, water, juice etc. |
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| I think this would be perfect fora Christmas or a New Years' arrangement. |
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| Takakos' teachers' display. |
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| So elegant and graceful. |
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| We were served tea (or coffee) and these two women (in the front) wanted to chat. |
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| This is Takakos' teacher and evidently one of the top 10 teachers in the Ikenobo school of Ikebana. Nothing like I would have expected. He was so relaxed, constantly joked and helped me put this arrangement together. There was an area where for $5 we could make and take home an arrangement. So now, besides having a good time making it, I have a vase! |
The garden in the back of the 'house'.
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| ginko |
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| camillia |
We left our arrangements and went for a walk around town and lunch.
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| Cafe Caramel Papa - who knows how they came up with that... good pasta though. |
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| ?????? I have no idea. |
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| This is a giant kaleidoscope! You go inside and look up while turning a wheel and the image changes. |
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It was too bright, the picture didn't come out but that bright spot is where the
different things are seen when you turn the wheel.
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Back to get our flowers and then to the train with a lot of bags. I bought a few gifts to take home, and a very heavy cauliflower, and Takako gave me a bag of persimmons and yuzu. I made it home, made a drink with yuzu and am just thinking about what to do for dinner...
I'm so tired!!!
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