Back in Japan

It is a rainy day here in Japan which isn't so strange since we are in the rainy season. Both Takumi and I came back from California and were struck by the greenness of the the area we live in here. In some areas of the scenery it could almost be described as a heaviness because there is so much green and shade and damp. The rain makes it difficult to go for a walk so I skipped my morning routine today. Takumi was planning to get around our town on his skateboard (it sounds like a strange plan to me) but the rain limits his outings. I don't know why he didn't get an international driver's license. He, of course drives constantly in California and he even was riding a motorcycle when he lived in Japan 4 years ago, but for this trip he thought a skate board was good transportation. Doesn't sound too safe to me but with gas prices (I think we computed it at around $6 a gallon) it is one solution to high travel costs.

Takumi and I have already made a visit to Tetsu's mother and I took along my laptop so that I could show her pictures of Leiya and America. She understands computers and digital cameras even less than my mother so more than enjoying the pictures she wanted to know how I got the pictures in the computer and how I was going to get them out again. She was thrilled to see Takumi because she's been saying for the last four years that she'll be dead before he ever comes back.

Tried to do a little on-line banking but got very frustrated. I thought I'd figured it all out with a lesson from the bank teller and Takumi helping me while we were still in California but it looks like there are still glitches so that things are not going through. They want me to call the bank for more help or come in to see them, which would have been possible four days ago, but now I can only send e-mails. I need to figure this out so that I can pay tuition!

Teaching begins tomorrow! My house needs to get cleaned up and the bags are only half unpacked. Love looking at all the fabric I bought and was given this year and only hope I'll be able to make time to do some sewing as soon as possible! I have a heavier teaching schedule from July so it is going to be a challenge. Takumi is living in the sewing room right now so I will be sacrificing sewing space to having my son around. Hey! I'm a mother before I'm a quilter but I'm already trying to figure out a place to put my sewing machine in another room!