| Aahhhhhh!! Mama's HOME!! I love my Mama!! She brought me a shirt, and a sweet little HelloKitty keepsake. Too bad Nana handed it to me to look at, because I stuck it in my mouth, bit it, and got CHOMPER MARKS on its face and back! |
| .. |
| While Genna was off living MY DREAM ( the one where I, after a lifetime of wishing and waiting, finally get to visit JAPAN), I stayed home with sweet Gracie. And, while we had a great fun time, let's face it, IT WAS NO VISIT TO THE SNOW MONKEYS!!! |
| We go to school, where Gracie LOVES to be with Deanna and Sam. Soon she will be leaving the Ladybug room in BabyLand and "flying up" to her new Penguin room with Birgir(sp?) in ToddlerLand. |
| We have a BIG STORM and the power (and AIR CONDITIONING!!) go off, so we drive to Gramma Cindy and Grampa Jamie's house, where it is cool! And where Gramma has a ton of toys, and Grampa has a great chair! |
| HEY NANA!! I'm trapped in the kitchen here!! |
| Genna brought ME many LOVELY gifts from Japan - a mug from Shiga Pottery works, another beautiful mug from one of her friends in Japan, a lovely teapot, the plaque from the temple in Nagoya, some tea, and best of all, a Chado-yu tea ceremony set from the "hardware store" in Tokyo!! I LOVE AND TREASURE THEM ALL!! |
| Genna had a great tour of Japan, I had a wonderful time with my sweet, sweet little Gracie (not sure how Chad enjoyed all the time with his Monster-in-Law, but he did get to play golf!) and now, my best gift of all, is to TO HAVE "MY BABY" HOME!! |
| AUGUST 5 - FUN STORY UPDATE!! Exiting the school after having made a quick stop there, I was met at the door by Mike Hiyataka, one of my students (and one of my best potters!) He had just returned to Rockford from a two week stay in Japan on a study exchange, where he got to spend time actually throwing pottery in a class in Shiga. Omigosh - now HE is living my dream!!! He suprised and delighted me with a gift of Shigaraki - a tiny personal teapot with a side handle and a matching tea cup! I am so excited to add them to my little collection! Domo arigato, Mike-san. |
