Spring and early summer in Japan -- and Thailand -- bring the delights of a weekend in the mountains, a vacation on the beach, cherry blossoms, and visits from family members. So here goes.

Hi there, everyone on the Carey email update list. I started to write to you about our ski weekend last night, but I was just too tired! So I conked out relatively early (after a nice long bath) and decided to write this morning after a cup or two of coffee. Go, caffeine, go!

One of the first books I bought when this move to Japan was confirmed was "Skiing In Japan," by T.R. Reid. It sounded as though there were a zillion places to go skiing within a few hours of Tokyo, and I figured we’d get plenty of chances to hit the slopes. Well, with the kids’ schedules and one thing or another, we didn’t get to go until this last weekend. I signed us up for a trip with Mr. Warfield, a teacher at St. Mary’s who has been taking groups to the mountains for 13 years. He makes the train and lodging reservations, arranges for lift tickets and ski rentals, and make s the whole thing run very smoothly.

We left our house around 5:45 on Friday night and headed to Tokyo Station. It takes about 40-45 minutes to get there from here (Oimachi line to Oimachi station, JR Keihen Tohoku line to Tokyo), and we were supposed to meet at 6:50, but we decided to give ourselves a little extra time. So we were the first ones to get to the meeting place just outside the shinkansen tracks. (Shinkansen means "new line" which is what these trains were back when they were introduced. They’re the high-speed trains that zip along at 120-170 mph.) While we were waiting, I went off to find some food to eat on the train. There are several vendors selling "o-bento" which are meal served in a fancy box. They have a wide variety of o-bento for sale, some incredibly fancy with a piece of fish, some salad, rice, a bunch of tiny little pickled things, and so forth, or less fancy ones with a few pieces of fried chicken and rice. I picked up 4 boxes of food, a couple of beers, and some soft drinks for the trip.

The rest of the group arrived—mostly teenage boys from St. Mary’s—and we headed off to our train. Kent and I took a few shinkansen rides in 1985 when we were here with 3-month-old Colleen, but I haven’t been on one since. The old-style trains are now 12 ½ years older than when I rode them last, and they look a little beat up! They were so shiny and new in 1985. The train stopped at Ueno station (still in Tokyo) and Omiya (way on the edge of town) before picking up speed and zooming towards Niigata. We went through a really long tunnel, and at the other end the train stopped and there we were at the Echigo-Yuzawa stop. (We were about 50 miles west/north-west of Nagano.) Off the train and through the station we trooped, and then got on a bus to take us up to Naeba. Mr. Warfield booked the entire group rooms at a family-run lodge called Lodge Fuzan, which is a couple of blocks off the main street in the town of Naeba. The four of us got to share a medium-sized tatami room, so we set up our futons on the floor and eventually settled in for the night.

Mr. Warfield woke us up at7:00 AM for our 7:30 breakfast, which was pretty tasty. He described the food as "semi-Western" which is fairly accurate. Along with a Japanese-style salad, we got toast and bacon and eggs for breakfast. Then everyone got dressed and we went off to the ski lifts.

The resort at Naeba is huge. There’s a Prince Hotel at the foot of the slopes; the people who stay there can just walk out the door and jump on the lifts. And it’s not a small hotel—it has over 5,000 rooms. So there are a lot of people there, especially on weekends. And even on a snowy, miserably windy day like Saturday, there were a lot of people. The slopes down near the bottom of the mountain are pretty easy, but they were packed. There are a lot of lifts serving the area, and the combination of bad weather and the occasionally whining child meant that Kent and I didn‘t get to do a lot of skiing. We got about 6 runs in before deciding it was just too awful a day to ski any more, so we took the 3PM bus back to the lodge. We made one bad decision, mainly because we couldn’t see the slope we’d planned to go down, and ended up on a steep slope with huge icy moguls. It took us over an hour to coax Colleen and Kate down that hill. Kate lost a ski and couldn’t find a place to put it back on, so we both just took our skis off and slid down part of the way! I’m not sure how Kent kept Colleen going, but I had to use every ounce of tricky motherly reverse psychology I’ve learned in the last 12 ½ years to get her down those bumps. It looked like God took a gigantic ice cube tray and shook it out on the hill, then covered the enormous ice cubes with a light dusting of new snow. I would have had trouble getting down that even if I’d been alone!

So we let the snow fall and the wind blow, and went back to the lodge for a shower and a soak in the ofuro (hot hot bath). Ahhh!! That was heavenly.

We had a good filling dinner, then the kids watched a movie while the snow continued to fall. Kent and I were calmly reading our books and contemplating an early night when the snow cleared outside. Our lift tickets were good for night skiing too, and our lodge was only a few steps from a "bunny slope" that was lit up until 10PM. So at 9PM we decided -- what the heck! -- and got dressed and went out for a few runs. I’m really glad we did this. The snow was perfect, and the kids had a great time. The slope was not at all crowded, and we zoomed down the hill and remembered how to do turns when we wanted to. Really made the day worth it. Kate had been whining during the day, "Why did we come this weekend? Can’t we go home now?" but on Saturday night after her 2^nd or 3^rd run straight down the hill, she asked, "Can’t we stay another day or two? Why do we have to go back??"

Sunday morning dawned clear and gorgeous! We went back to Naeba at 9AM with strict instructions to meet the bus at 2PM so we could pack up and get out of the lodge in time to catch our shinkansen back to Tokyo. In spite of the great weather, the resort wasn’t any more crowded on Sunday than it had been on Saturday. At least it didn’t seem that way—I think quite a few more lifts were open Sunday, so the crowd was more dispersed over the mountain. Anyway, we had a great time, and got to ski all over the place.

Colleen and Kate aren’t too fast, but they get themselves down the hill, and we had fun together. Kate’s already planning next year’s trip. She wants to come twice, or more! Our lift tickets were actually cheaper than places like Squaw Valley or Kirkwood. We got a special group rate 2-day pass for chairlifts only (Naeba also has 2 gondolas, but we decided not to go for those) for 7000 yen, about $55 at the current exchange rate. That’s a TWO day pass, not one day! The regular tickets were 5000/day (under $40) including gondola. Ski rental was 6000 for both days ($47). So that part of the trip wasn’t too bad. The shinkansen ride was a little pricey, especially for the 4 o f us; we might try driving sometime, which would cut the cost in half (or less).

Kent leaves this afternoon for New Jersey and Palo Alto, and returns on Saturday night. I’m in the final throes of my Barron’s cover article, which will appear in the March 16^th edition of the publication. So it’s going to be another crazy week!

Hope all is well with you ...

Hi there! Where have you all been? Oh wait, it’s me who hasn’t been writing much. Gomen nasai.

Last Friday night (3/20), Kent and I went to a fund-raiser dinner and auction for the school the Oppermann kids attend, Nishimachi. It was quite a glittering evening. The other thing we noticed is that, for the first time in ages, we were in a room in which we were not in the minority in terms of ethnic heritage. That hasn’t happened in a long, long time, and it was actually a little disconcerting. Seriously, I haven’t seen that many white people in one place outside of Narita Airport. Anyway, dinner was very tasty—a collection of Spanish recipes—and there was a silent auction that went on during the meal. I bid on a whole bunch of things, but to Kent’s great joy and relief, only got two of them: a beautiful obi (long rectangular piece of cloth that is usually used to tie a kimono; I’ll use it as a table runner) and a Tower Records gift certificate. During the live auction, I bid on probably 1/3 of the 35 items, but usually stopped myself way before the bidding was over. One item, however, a ski vacation for 4 in Nagano, to be taken next winter between December and March, caught my eye. Since we’d just been in Naeba, and I knew how much we’d spent on that, I put the cost of our Naeba weekend down as my "not to exceed" figure. Much to my surprise, that’s where the bidding stopped, with me the top bidder. So, sometime next winter, we’ll go to Nagano and do some skiing. Whee! After the dinner and auction had ended, and Nishimachi had netted somewhere around 18 million yen (almost $140,000 at the current exchange rate!!) Mark and Ghislaine and Kent and I went off to a karaoke joint. It was funny; I think that we’ve led parallel musical lives from the Oppermanns. We had to go back to the 60s to find songs we knew in common. But it was a fun evening.

Saturday, Kent left for the U.S. and Colleen had a basketball travel day, so Kate and I went over to Seisen around 3PM to help out with the big bingo fundraiser. They sell a ticket for 1,000 yen (about $8) that entitles you to a seat, a door prize ticket, and a single bingo card. There were 4-6 prizes for each of the first 8 games, but only 2 for the 9^th game, and a single prize—a trip for two to Paris—for the final game. At the beginning of the night, you could buy additional cards for 500 yen; the price dropped to 200 and then to 100 by the last of the 10 games played. I had volunteered to help out, so I was selling tickets through the first three games. Colleen wasn’t back from basketball yet, so Kate was sitting at a table with our Australian friend Emma and her dad, Ken, and a few other folks. I finally joined them in the 4^th game, which was restricted to players in kindergarten through 6^th grade. So I sat and watched as Kate played ... when the first kid hollered, "Bingo!" Kate had only one spot open on her card for a bingo. The next number was hers! So Kate yelled, "BINGO!!!!" as loud as she could, and ran up to the stage to claim her prize: a huge stuffed Winnie the Pooh bear, four tickets to an amusement park near Tokyo Dome, a bunch of art supplies, and a whole lot of other things. After that game, they called out some door prize numbers—and I won! My prize was a huge shopping bag filled with boxes of juice and a funny box that turned out to hold a beautiful fan.

Colleen finally showed up with the 7^th game, which was only for kids in 7^th-12^th grades. With only about 10 numbers called, she hit a bingo and got first prize!! She won a 5,000 yen gift certificate to Tower Records, the reddest fingernail polish you have ever seen in your life, coupons good for a case of Coke, and a bunch of other things. Then there was another door prize drawing—and Kate won! It was amazing! More Coke coupons, some McDonald’s coupons, and a few cans of soup. (Soup??!? Yes!) During the 9^th game, which was "box" bingo (you have to get the whole B column, the whole O column, and the top and bottom row), Kate won first prize!! This was a bag filled with good stuff like four tickets to Disneyland (worth about $200 US), more Coke coupons, more Disneyland coupons, some t-shirts ... all in all, it was an amazing haul. I was only one spot away from winning the trip to Paris. I think if I’d won that one, we would have all been shot on our way home though.

This week has been remarkably busy as I cram two weeks of work into one so I can take next week off. I really don’t want to bring any work to Thailand. I’ve been terrible about returning the emails that have come in this week, and I apologize and will try to make it up to you all. Kent just called from Narita and ought to be home within two hours—long enough to unpack, eat, sleep, and then get up and head back to Narita! ( I think he’s nuts and should have just met us in Thailand, but he really wanted to come home first.) He’ll go more than halfway around the world in 36 hours or so. Jet-set dude!

Kate and I ran over to the pet store at the local "depato" (department store) to stock up on hamster and bird food, and bumped smack into an interesting sale on the 6^th floor. Lots of prints, silk paintings, and samurai dolls on sale. Too bad I was in such a rush <sigh!>. I hope to make up for my lack of sun and shopping time next week!

Have a great week....

Phuket, Thailand

Greetings, Earthlings!

I can’t log on from here, which is a blessing in many ways. I gave it a perfunctory try, then decided not to bother trouble-shooting the logon problems. Heh. So I’m writing this Thursday night but won’t be able to send it until after we return to Japan.

Phuket is a good antidote to the insanity of the last few months. We’re on island time; everything moves a little slower. Phuket is called the Caribbean of Asia, and in many ways it reminds me of hanging around Key West. Lots of boat drinks—varying concoctions of fruit juice and rum served inside hollowed-out fruit—and t-shirts. Unlike Key West, though, Phuket has got beaches. Gorgeous, white-sand-covered beaches. The hotel we’re staying at, Sheraton Laguna Grande, has got so much going on that you don‘t have to go anywhere, but we’ve made a few field trips anyway.

We left Tokyo early Sunday morning; to get to an 11AM flight at Narita, we had to leave our house at 7AM. Then we flew to Bangkok on Thai Air, changed planes, and hopped on down to Phuket. We’re 8 degrees north of the equator, and facing the Andaman Sea, so it’s hot and moist. It’s not as bad as Tokyo in August but it’s pretty warm. Fortunately, there’s a huge pool on one side of our room, and a beach on the other side, and air conditioning inside, so we’re not sweating too much. Plus there are all those boat drinks...!

When we got in on Sunday evening, we went straight to dinner. At the bottom of the stairs outside our room is a restaurant called Birds of Paradise, which has a different style buffet every night. On Sunday it was Chinese food, which was pretty darn tasty. We all conked out right after dinner, especially Kent, who had just gotten home from the U.S. on Saturday night.

Monday we just splashed around in the pool in the morning, and went to the beach in the afternoon. Really a relaxing day. The beach is an adventure; we immediately got accosted by a bunch of boys, asking us, "Drinks? Ice cream? You want beer?" Right after we got settled in, we got accosted by a gang of women in pink jackets who wanted to braid our hair. Colleen and Kate were dying to get this done, so we went off to negotiate their hairdos (and the cost thereof). While waiting for Colleen’s braid job—which took 4 or 5 women about an hour to complete—I got a one-hour massage, right on the beach under some palm trees, for all of 300 baht, which is about $8. Then the ladies took advantage of my relaxed condition, and talked me into a hair braid too. So now the three of us, Colleen and Kate and I, are sporting many many braids festooned with multi-colored beads. We’ve got the island look!

We also bought some beach wear from a traveling saleswoman who was cruising the tourists. I’ve got "Sucker" branded on my forehead, I guess. We enjoyed a sunset barbeque on Monday night, right on the beach. I had huge tiger prawns, Colleen had sausages, Kent had mixed grill, and Kate had a hamburger. (Food details supplied for Robin Roberts ... <grin>.) This restaurant also had a great salad bar too!

I set up a few field trips on Monday, so Tuesday morning found us heading out to ride some elephants. We were taken over to Patong Beach then inland about a half a mile to the elephant place. Kate and I rode on the biggest elephant I’ve ever seen anywhere, while Colleen and Kent rode on a slightly smaller one. (I think our elephant got the better deal, though I doubt either one of them noticed our presence much. These things are BIG—we were at least 10 feet off the ground.) I felt like we were on rollers, going up and down the hill. Our guide jumped off at one point and just had the elephant following him. Then he taught Kate and I the verbal signals to get the thing going -- "Hyaunghk!" is what it sounded like. Stop was "How!" and turn was "Ma!" Our ride went on for an hour, then we fed the elephants a bucket full of bananas and headed back to the hotel. Tuesday afternoon found us back by the pool, and dinner was at the Thai restaurant in the hotel complex. As usual, we ordered one dish too many. We got a few appetizers and coconut-chicken soup, which was served in a coconut, then some salads that were very VERY spicy. But tasty!! Mine was served inside a mango. We had another early night -- all this sun-soaking and eating generates the need for 10 hours of sleep.

Snorkling was the theme of our Wednesday outing. At noon we were taken over to the aptly-named Boat Lagoon along with a half-dozen other people from the hotel. We got on a speedboat named "Anne" (I knew you’d wonder about its name) and were taken out across the eastern side of the Andaman Sea to a small island, the name of which we never quite learned, that’s got a beautiful white-sand beach and coral all around. Also quite a few fish! We saw eels, yellow fish with black spots, long silver fish that went unnamed, coral and more coral, sea cucumbers, and a bunch of other stuff. The tiny island was about half white sand beach and half rocks, but altogether toosmall for a hotel or any kind of permanent structure. But a lot of hotels drag snorklers out there; we heard 8 or 10 different languages from Italian to Japanese, with a few stops in between. (I didn’t count the three English dialects I heard as separate languages, though sometimes I think I should.)

After snorkling, we just enjoyed lazing around on the beach. Somehow I managed to get sunburnt even though I spent most of my time under an umbrella. I guess my Irish skin got burnt by the reflection off the sand -- how very talented of it. Wednesday night’s dinner was back at the buffet place; Colleen and Kate were drawn by the sign promising Mexican food. It was kinda Mexican, I guess—whatever it was, we ate too much (as usual) then passed out for our traditional 10 hours sleep.

Today was mostly a hang-around-the-hotel day. We spent several hours this morning out on the beach, and Kent took the girls out jet-skiing. (30 minutes for 500 baht, about $12.) I wanted to try parasailing, but the wind was wrong, and by the time the wind turned, we were settled back in around the pool at the hotel again. Plus I was napping; clearly the 10 hours I got last night wasn’t enough!

Tonight we had a fun dinner—we did a "lagoon cruise" and were served dinner aboard a small boat while cruising through the various lagoons around here. We had fun, and both girls were able to lay down after they finished eating and take a short nap. Much better than a restaurant! Kent and I had grilled lobster accompanied by a nice New Zealand chardonnay from a place called Cloudy Bay. Pick up a bottle if you can find it—very yummy!

The funniest thing about tonight’s dinner was the musical accompaniment. At first, our waiter/boat pilot put on a tape of vaguely Italian songs, ranging from Dean Martin’s "That’s Amore" to an operatic rendition of "Tarantella." Once that tape was over, though, the waiter threw on what must have been his only other tape in English—of Christmas carols. So there we are, cruising around these lagoons when it’s almost 90 degrees out and about 60-70% humidity, hearing Nat King Cole sing, "Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful ... let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!" We had one of those cultural paradigm shift experiences. The waiter had no idea why we were laughing so hard!

OK, that’s more than enough typing for this week. I’ll wrap this up when we get back to Japan... hope you didn’t miss us too much this week while we were offline...! I of course missed you all terribly. No, really, I did.

Yes, we did make it back to Japan from Thailand. I'm still on island time, though, and rather enjoy it here.

On the 10th, the kids had the day off from school, so we went to Korakuen at Tokyo Dome to cash in some of Kate's bingo winnings. The tickets she won at Seisen Bingo Night back in March took care of our entrance fees (about $10 each) but didn't pay for any rides. So I picked up some "free ride" coupons that cost a little more than $20 each. Nothing like having "free" tickets cost an additional $65!! We did manage to have a lot of fun, though. We rode on all the roller coasters and also did a ride that is similar to the Drop Zone at Great America. It's a little different looking out over the Tokyo landscape immediately prior to plunging towards the earth. The "big" roller coaster at Korakuen is kind of a wuss ride --if you sit facing forward. You can also sit facing backwards, and the ride is *much* more interesting in that direction. We ended up getting our money's worth out of the "free ride" tickets by riding the roller coaster backwards many, many times.

Colleen and Kate both tested for aikido belts on the 11th, which is something they've been preparing for since about January. Kate was in a class of beginners, mostly younger kids in kindergarten through first grade, so we were pretty sure she'd get her yellow belt. (The belts in aikido go yellow to orange to blue to purple to brown to black, and then go through ten grades of black belt.) After the first year, most students earn a yellow belt. Colleen got thrown into a class of older kids, most of whom already had orange or blue belts (and a few purples too) because of her age group. But she worked really hard, and often stayed after her class to help out with Kate's yellow belt group. As a result, this last Saturday, her teacher surprised her with an orange belt -- she skipped the yellow belt entirely. (Pictures are up of both Colleen and Kate throwing some rather large people around, and receiving their belts too.) It was so cute when Colleen realized she was getting an orange belt instead of a yellow belt; she got it about 30 seconds after I figured it out. The teacher said that seven students out of the class had tested, and started handing out belts from purple on down. I saw Colleen staring at the pile of belts, and then I looked at them too and counted them -- there were, indeed, seven belts in the pile, but none of them were yellow. After the other belts were presented, Tony-sensei talked about two students he had who had joined this difficult class and worked hard, so the examiners decided to give them orange belts. Colleen was thrilled -- the smile on her face was beautiful to see.

On the 8th, I went on a trip to Sankeien Garden in Yokohama with a bunch of other Seisen moms to check out the cherry blossoms. What a gorgeous garden! It's well off the tourist-beaten path, but worth a visit if you're heading to Yokohama or Kamakura. The founder purchased some old buildings from Kyoto and environs and moved them to Yokohama, then surrounded them with a collection of interesting and beautiful plants. The garden was designed so that something is blooming there year-round, from camellias in December through cherries in March/April through iris in May and so on. The setting is very pretty; if you don't look out, I might drag you there when you come visit!

I've arranged for a babysitter to show up once a week or so, so Kent and I can go out and eat Japanese food. The kids just won't do that, so we have to ditch'em if we're going to enjoy any local cuisine. On the 9th, we went to a restaurant near the Yoga station (just one stop towards Shibuya on the Shin-Tamagawa line) and ate at a pub-style restaurant. These places serve small dishes of a wide variety of good things -- we had tomato/mozarella salad, bonito sushi, seafood salad, the best spring rolls (so fresh!!) that I've ever had, and a bunch of other things -- all washed down by "nama biru" (draft beer). We were the only gaijin in the place, and had to make use of all the Japanese we both knew to get food. But it was great fun. When we ordered something, the waiter would shout out our order, which was echoed by everyone else who worked there along with the cry, "Hayai!!" (which means "Quickly!") That was fun. This last Thursday, we zipped in to Shibuya to see "Good Will Hunting" (with Japanese subtitles) and then had the "paradise course" dinner at Cocoloco. This was a 6 course meal, accompanied by large amounts of "nama biru" and it was very tasty. We had some salad, octopus sashimi, chicken and vegetables, and some pasta, followed by a tasty dessert. We staggered home around 11PM, a little late for a weeknight! But it was fun.

Myrt and Bob arrive on Thursday afternoon for a visit, and we're all looking forward to seeing them. Today we got the upstairs rooms arranged for their visit. I bought an inflatable king-size bed, which is now all blown up and waiting in Kate's room. Kate's bed is now in Colleen's room but they're fighting a lot. I think things will calm down by Thursday!

Kent's got a lot of HP people coming to town this week and we're planning to go to Kyoto over the weekend with Myrt and Bob. Should be fun! Come on over!

-- T.

Hi there, folks. I’m finally getting a moment to let you all know that Myrt and Bob got here just fine. Their flight from SFO got in 30 minutes early, and Bob called me at 2:10 to tell me that they would be on the 2:20 bus to Tokyo City Air Terminal. They walked off the bus just as I walked into the lobby area at TCAT, so I relieved Myrt of her luggage and showed them the way to the subway station.

It takes about 35 minutes to ride from Suitengumae, which is attached to TCAT, to our stop at Futako-Tamagawaen. The hardest part of the day was probably the walk from the station to our house, which goes up a small hill. But it’s tough when you’ve been on an airplane that long! Anyway, we got them home and settled in, fed and entertained. Myrt is now asleep, but Bob is down in the living room sitting in "my" chair reading a book.

Saturday morning, we’ll go to Kyoto, which should be fun. Tomorrow (Friday) will be a busy day of picking up tickets, attending a basketball game at Seisen, and then going out to dinner with a bunch of friends. With any luck, Myrt and Bob will have enough fun that they’ll convince YOU to come on over and visit too!

-- T.

27-Apr-98, 11:45PM

Hi, Everyone!

This is Myrt checking in from Tokyo on Monday evening. We had a great weekend in Kyoto seeing the sights. Saturday morning we arose early to catch the local train into Tokyo Station where Bob and I turned in our Japan Rail voucher s for rail passes before we could board the Shinkansen for Kyoto. Tamura-san, Kent’s office assistant, very kindly had arranged our seat reservations. It’s a bout a three-hour train ride to Kyoto, passing through Yokohama and Nagoya. Colleen, Kate and I played a mean game of SORRY to pass the time toward t he end of the trip. (Little did I realize until returning today that I’d missed the rice paddy areas!) Our hotel, the Rihga Royal, was only about three blocks from the station. Deciding to visit Nara, another hour’s train ride away, we checked into the hotel, dumped our bags and took off again. The Great Bronze Buddha, Daibutsuden, 53 feet tall and weighing 330K pounds is in the Todaiji Temple in the heart of Nara Park. Sacred tame deer roam the grounds near the temple and bow when you feed them cookies. Colleen attached a picture of me bowing to the deer. Nara was the capital of Japan in 710. Kyoto, established in 794, was the center of civilization in Japan for over a thousand years and is the historical and cultural center. Before Tokyo became the capital, Kyoto was Japan’s capital.

Saturday evening we returned to Kyoto to get ready for the next day of sightseeing. Kiyomizudera, Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) and Ryonaji Temples and the Gion District were among the feasts of sights planned for the day, an d we saw them all!

Kiyomizu has a wonderful view of the city, the Golden Pavilion has its twoupper stories covered with gold leaf which shone brilliantly in the sunshine, and Ryonaji has the contemplative Zen sand and rock gardens. In the Gion district we toured the Kennin-ji Temple, then roamed the narrow streets where small shops nestle together and shopkeepers lure you with samples of bean cakes, green tea and other goodies. Red banners with white Kanji and cherry blossom mobiles hang from posts. I took a picture of a monk begging for yen one moment and a pretty Geisha girl the next. We ate udon noodles with beef and tempura shrimp with rice at a quaint little restaurant.

Kyoto is a large modern city with tall modern buildings and centuries-old pagodas and temples sprinkled among them. Taxis were our mode of transportation, and I can honestly say I rode in more taxis in three days than I have ever ridden in my life! We had to hire two of them everywhere we went. Kent, Colleen and Kate left on the Shinkansen late yesterday afternoon after our full day of sightseeing.Teri, Bob and I stayed behind to cover more of Kyoto today. We took in Nijo-jo (the Shogun’s castle) built in 1603 . It’s in the heart of the city, complete with rock walls, moats surrounding the outer and inner areas, nightingale squeaking floors warning of invaders, centuries-old paintings on the walls and beautiful gardens. Next we visited the Ginkakuji Tample (Silver Pavilion), built by the grandson of the shogun who built the Golden Pavilion. It has a beautiful stone Zen garden which supposedly sparkles in the moonlight, a beautifully landscaped flower garden with waterfalls, and a great view of the city if you’re hearty enough to climb up the side of the mountain (I don’t know how I would’ve accomplished this if I hadn’t been working out, as I was huffing and puffing). The only thing missing on the silver pavilion is the silver foil. Whoops!

Teri, Bob and I arrived home about quarter to five. Risa’s mom invited us in for coffee as Teri didn’t have her key and the girls and Kent weren’t home yet. Teri cooked up a delicious dinner of chicken, rice and asparagus, followed by the traditional Carey girl after-dinner entertainment of piano music and dancing served with delicious smiles and laughter.

Just a short summary of the first two days—our trip over here went well. Kent’s instructions getting us from the airport to the downtown air terminal were flawless. Teri met us there and guided us the rest of the way to their house. Friday morning Teri drove us to H-P, where we picked up our train tickets from Tamura-san and met some of Kent’s staff. (He was out of the office.) A visit to Seisen for Colleen’s basketball game was sandwiched in between a trip to the local department store (which, in my book, puts Harrods in London and the Ka-da-we in Berlin to shame!) and a dinner in the Verte Spa on the top floor with Jessica and her mother, Noriko.

It’s almost midnight here. The girls, Kent and Hershey are asleep. Teri’s in her office settling a serious overcharge on her cell phone bill, and Dad just came upstairs and gave me a goodnight peck on the cheek. It’s time for me to call it a day.

-Sayonara with love and kisses, Myrt/Mom/Grandmyrt :-)

03-May-98 10:30PM

This is Myrt checking in with an update on our travels in Japan:

Hi, Everyone!

After the wonderful trip to Kyoto and Nara last weekend with Theresa, Kent and the girls, we rested for a day and took off again Wednesday with Kent for a two-day trip on the Shinkansen to Hiroshima and Miyajima Island— another deluxe Carey tour!. The trip to Kyoto took about two and a half hours, but Hiroshima is another two and a half hours on the same line -- a long ride but well worth the effort. Kent brought along his little HP620 LX, so we indulged ourselves in many challenging games of Solitaire and Freecell. Somewhere along the way, I said, "Kent, this is a fun game computer. What else do you use it for?" (This amused him immensely!) We stayed in Hiroshima’s Hotel Granvia overnight, adjacent to the train station, and had a relaxing dinner in one of the many restaurants in the station after watching the sunset over the distant mountains from our room.

I was surprised to see Hiroshima is a modern, thriving, beautiful city. Thursday morning we took a taxi to Peace Park and toured the Peace Memorial Museum and the Park. It was a beautiful sunny day, in contrast to the stark reality of viewing the horrors of World War II and the atomic bombing -- a very sobering experience taking Bob and I back to our teenage years. Returning to the train station around noon, we caught a local train to Miyajima—about a 20-minute ride—and then a ferry ride. Greeting us in the ferry building were more of Japan’s tame sacred deer! Being at another of the three most famous visiting sights in Japan was exhilarating. Its water temple—the Itsukushima Shrine—afforded us many more photo ops for a possible Christmas card picture. A call to Lynn in Palo Alto to sing Happy Birthday was initiated from outside an eating establishment that reminded me a little of a place on the Monterey pier. We made it back to the Shinkansen Station in time to stock up on bento boxes and snacks for our long ride back.

Friday we rested again, with short trips to the neighborhood shopping area. Yesterday Colleen had to travel to an air force base for a basketball tournament, which pretty much tied up her day. The rest of us boarded the local trains and toured the Omote-sando area of downtown Tokyo, where there are many art galleries and specialty shops. One of the art galleries we visited was "The Blue Dog," giving Kate and I the inspiration to paint pictures of Hershey today which you may see on Teri’s web page in full color.,We had lunch in a hole-in-the-wall authentic Japanese restaurant. Teri, Kate and I sat on tatami mats on the floor, but Bob and Kent opted to sit at the counter. We had tempura and rice. We then strolled down an avenue much like the Champs d’Elysees. The highlight of this walk was shopping at the Oriental Bazaar, where the pickings are plentiful and prices are reasonable. We spotted many Gaijin there. We walked from Omote-sando to the Harajuku station to board trains leading us back to Futako-Tamagawa-en on top of Futako-Tamagawa Park. (Kent tells me that futako means twin and tamagawa stands for the Tama River which forks nearby.) This station is just a short 10-minute walk to their house among narrow streets with large specialty stores and small mom-and-pop shops, apartment buildings, and small homes with flowering gardens. There are vending machines everywhere. We lazed around today, while the girls played with friends and Colleen studied for her world geography test. We then walked through a nearby park looking for a place to eat. I was surprised to see places where people pay to visit cats and dogs because they are too expensive to buy here. I told Teri they should charge for people to come and pet Hershey! We ended up at an Italian restaurant in Dogwood Plaza.

Tomorrow and Tuesday Kent is off from work and Teri finished up her 900-page article, so they are cooking up something special for us to do. Some of their friends are coming tomorrow night for a do-it-yourself burrito supper.

Life in the city is busy work! Lots of walking, climbing in and out of train and subway stations, trains and taxis, and being jostled by people walking twenty miles an hour. Eating is necessary not only for sustenance, but also for resting weary bones and getting ones bearings before taking off on the next adventure.

We enjoy being here and spending time with Teri, Kent and the girls, seeing how life in the big city is for them, meeting their friends and sharing in their activities (Bob even went on a bike ride down to the river with Kent and Hershey this morning!) They are thriving, and this gives us great satisfaction. We’re looking forward to another week of fun adventures.

-Sayonara with love and kisses, Myrt/Mom/Grandmyrt :-)

06-May-98 10:13:20

Myrt checking in from Japan:

Hi, Everyone!

An errata message for the last report: Teri has not yet written her Michener-length novel of 900 pages (although the ideas for it may be running around in her head)! Sunday she wrote the first 900 words of a 2,000 word article. Yesterday while Colleen and Kate were in school, Kent and Teri accompanied us to Asakusa (pron. Ah-sock-sa) in old downtown Tokyo on the Ginza line of the subway system. A carnival atmosphere prevailed, with adults and children everywhere celebrating Golden Week. The old axiom "everybody and their grandmother" rang true, as families pay homage to the shrine at Kannon-do, buy trinkets and sample the food of vendors. In fact, we bumped into another set of grandparents with Teri and Kent’s friends Cindy and Kevin, whose twin daughters attend 8^th grade at Seisen. Kevin’s parents are visiting from Massachusetts. We compared notes on visiting Japan and chatted merrily away until the food vendor whose booth we were standing in front of shouted at us angrily in Japanese and, although it didn’t need translation, Teri interpreted, "Get away from the front of my booth!" Whoops!

Getting away from the madd’ning crowd, we took a side street and guess what, looked for a place to eat! After eating an American -style lunch of grilled sandwiches and green salad, we decided to take a boat ride down the Sumida River. As we breezed along under sunny skies we passed under no less than thirteen bridges, all of different architectural designs, modern and traditional, like the buildings on either side of the river. [Watch Teri‘s web page for the "bridge series."] We docked at a pier just short of the famous new Rainbow Bridge and hiked to the train station at Hammamatsucho for the ride home. With only an hour until guests would arrive, Teri drove to the international store where she bought all the makings for our delicious burrito dinner. Parking there is unique. Two or three parking attendants shuttle the cars around the tiny lots and guide you in parking your car. Teri deserves a medal for backing into a difficult place, the very one we were hoping they wouldn’t send us to. The van Woerkom’s— Marge, Chris and Kelley, whom they met in the hotel when they were looking for a house here—joined us for dinner. Chris works for H-P in an area other than Kent.

It was up and at ‘em early this morning. After dropping Colleen and Jessie off at Seisen for basketball practice, Kent drove us to Hakone. It’s difficult to imagine that this beautiful place in the mountains is less than a two-hour drive from Tokyo along the Tomei freeway. We went directly to Lake Ashi, where we took a boat ride around the lake on Disneyesque pirate ships. The scenery was beautiful. Kent said it was greener than when they came in February. The only disappointment was that Fuji-san was visible only slightly when we arrived and instead of getting clearer it clouded over more. We had great visibility of everything except Mt. Fuji . That means we must go back!

Glen asked if Japan is what we expected or, if it is different, then why is it different. This took a little pondering and I’ll try to express it. It’s different because since childhood my impressions of Japan were of grotesque masks, mean samurai warriors, hulking sumo wrestlers and fiery-eyed dragons. In visiting here these traditional examples of a culture I didn’t understand very well are not that apparent and the culture has modernized. Also, not knowing the language is a huge barrier. Reading of other people’s experiences in Japan and glowing reports from the Kirkeengs and others who have traveled here about how beautiful it is, plus the added opportunity of visiting family, gave Bob and me the impetus to attempt it. We’re still not ready to venture very far on our own, as we d id in other countries, but only because of our inability to read the signs and communicate.

Kent returns to work tomorrow. Bob and I will attempt visiting some parts of Tokyo in the next three days. A school fair Saturday and a day trip to Nikko Sunday are planned thus far.

Sayonara, Myrt/Mom/Grandmyrt (Bob/Dad/Grandbob sends his love along with mine)

Hi, Everyone,

Sometimes it’s hard to remember that it’s 6:00 pm Thursday in California and 9:00 pm in Michigan. Teri and Kent have been fantastic hosts doing everything they can think of to entertain us, while trying to keep their work responsibilities and family things moving at a close to normal pace. You’ve been given a good account by Myrt of our travels and experiences so far. I haven’t written because she can explain things much better and type a lot faster.

Today we’ll be on our own because Teri had to go with Kate on a field trip and Kent is, of course, at work. We may just rest up from the hectic pace we’ve been on or take a trip into downtown Tokyo. We haven’t mastered the train and subway system but we can get around a little if the trip doesn’t take too many transfers. We can buy our tickets at the automatic ticket dispenser but trying to figure out how much they would be for travel from station to station is tough when the explanations are in symbols and not roman letters. Yesterday I took Hershey for a walk down by the river and did a couple of circuits around the neighborhood while Myrt went to a meeting with Teri where her collegiate womens' organization—CWAJ (College Women's Association of Japan) -- was reviewing artist prints that will be for sale at a fund raiser in October. They got to view over 200 prints that had been selected from over 700 entries and voted on the five that will be selected to be used for making note cards and calendars that will also be sold. Teri, of course, is heavily involved and is putting together the announcement flyer for the event and producing a CD rom to send out for publicity.

The plans for the remaining days are full. Tomorrow Kent and I are going with Colleen to an away basketball game and Sunday there is a planned excursion drive to Nikko. Monday is a school holiday for Kate and Colleen and I hope we’ll be doing something with them. I would be feeling sad about leaving next Tuesday but it’s comforting to hear the family talk about their summer plans in California. The details haven’t been worked out but we’ll see a lot of them in July and August. Teri found out that with the help of the local vet they can bring Hershey home and back to Japan without his having to go through the impounded quarantine period on his return. They can merely keep him at home for two weeks and out of contact with other dogs.

I’m glad they don’t have a scale here. I’ve been eating and drinking everything that has been put in front of me. I’m sure I’ve gained ten pounds. I’ll have to go on a fast when we get back.

We hope the California weather has improved enough to let the painter finish his work on our house before we return. We look forward to your messages with the home front up dates. We’ll see most of you next week.

LOVE, DAD, BOB & MOM, MYRT TOO

Sunday 17 May, 11PM

Hi there—it’s been a while, hasn’t it? I let Myrt chronicle our travels while she and Bob were in town, but I guess it’s about time I sent out another update. Kent just arrived back in Tokyo following an awful fligh t from SFO (more on that later), and has been busy bestowing gifts and goodies on everyone here. Colleen’s friend Azumi sent a huge pile of Beanie Babies, videos, and other goodies along, so Colleen, who had been asleep, is now awake and pawing through her new stuff.

The kids and I had a fun and busy day today. We went to a BBQ at the Hachioji H-P site (about 25 miles west of Tokyo) with Chris, Marge and Kelly Van Woerkem and met about 35 H-P employees from all over the world. There was a couple from Mexico City, a guy who had just arrived from Switzerland, a family from the Philippines, several American families, and quite a few locals. It was a nice group, and there was way too much food, though almost all of it got eaten anyway. After waking up to a pounding rain, I was surprised when the day cleared up beautifully. I even got a little sunburnt. Should have used the umbrellas we hauled around for no reason for sunshades! Colleen and Kate had lots of other kids to play wit h, and they even transformed the large sculpture in the garden outside the H -P cafeteria into a climbing structure. I doubt it had ever been used in quite that way before...

After the Hachioji party, Colleen and Kate and I left for a surprise party for Ghislaine Gery’s 40^th birthday. Her husband Mark Opperman had brought two of her best buddies from Palo Alto back with him the day before, which was a huge and very welcome surprise to her. We met them at a treasure of a restaurant called Ukai-Toriyama in Takao-san-guchi on the slopes of Mt. Takao. This is a beautiful area, not far from Hachioji, that’s wooded and cool and quiet. I’d never been there before, but I’m sure I’ll be back (and may drag some of you with me). We took a shuttle bus from the train station up into the hills to the restaurant, which is set up in a canyon with a stream flowing through it.

The restaurant is actually a collection of small buildings; each party is seated in an individual tatami room cabin/pavilion. The rooms all open out onto beautiful gardens, ponds (filled with carp), lanterns glowing on the pathways ... I would have been happy converting our tatami room into a place to sleep for a few days! It was gorgeous. Dinner was a multi-course feast, consisting of sashimi followed by chicken and vegetables skewered and ready to grill, and a lot more. Our waiter carried two hot-hot hibachis full of glowing coals into the room, on which we cooked the chicken and veggies. (We resisted roasting the sashimi.) We also got some miso soup, rice, pickled vegetables, and a small skewered mackerel that h ad already been cooked for us—and which we were supposed to just eat whole. I gingerly filleted my mackerel, and left the head, tail, skeleton and entrails on my plate. What I ate was good, though! It was great to share Ghislaine’s big birthday celebration with her and her family, and of course Kate loves every minute she spends with Tessa.

Myrt and Bob headed back to the U.S. on Tuesday, and we miss them a bunch. I’m sure Hershey misses them too! Kate today said, as she unwrapped a candy, "I miss having Grandbob here—he used to take all my garbage for me!" Well,she misses you for a lot of reasons, Grandbob, but there’s another one.

One of the fun things Myrt and I got to do was attend the preview of the prints that will be exhibited and sold at the CWAJ (College Women’s Association of Japan) Print Show this October. I’ve gotten way too involved with this show and have ended up taking on computer-related tasks with a couple of different committees. But I like the premise of the show: it’s the largest collection and sale of Japanese contemporary art in the world, and all the profits go to fund scholarships for women and visually impaired men and women. These are groups the Japanese establishments just plain ignore, so it’s kind of fun—and a little bit subversive—to help these efforts succeed. Anyway, Preview Day was the 7^th, and we got to lookat all 237 prints that will be displayed and sold. I was able to narrow my list of favorites down to about 20. Plan a trip to Japan in mid-October and come to the Print Show! After the preview, I guided Myrt to the Shinjuku area so she could gaze on the hotel that was our home away from home last June (Century Hyatt) and so we could have lunch in the Sumitomo high-rise. Fun day.

We took Myrt and Bob to two of our favorite local restaurants in their last couple of days: Suntory Malt’s Club and Momo Paradise. Malt’s Club is a yakiniku place—you order some stuff to grill at your table, and wash it down with some fine Suntory draft beer. Momo Paradise is a shabu-shabu place; ingredients similar to those served up with yakiniku are supplied, which you dip in boiling water until they’re done, and then you dip them into some tasty sauces. Momo Paradise will keep filling your platters until you beg them to stop. Of course we ate too much, but we sure had fun doing it.

Colleen and Kate had a piano recital yesterday morning, and they both did very well. Colleen played "The Entertainer" which was a big hit with the entire audience. I think that song just makes people smile when they hear it played well, and Colleen does a good job of playing it with feeling. Kate performed several of her favorite pieces, and also did a duet with Colleen that was a big hit. Their teacher is very proud of them; they’ve both made a lot of progress this year. The teacher is quite strict, but they’re both responding well to that, which is a pleasant surprise for me!

Our summer plans are starting to vaguely form. Hershey, Colleen, Kate and I will return to the U.S. on 7/2, and mooch off various relatives until our week at the Lair 8/15-8/22. Kent will come back to the U.S. about 7/25, and we all return to Japan on 8/24. That’s how it looks right now; film at 11. Since Hershey has had all his shots here in Japan, and he has a vet here who will sponsor him for home quarantine, we won’t have to leave him in prison at Narita for 2 weeks this time. When I checked with United, his airfare was much lower than I’d been expecting (which I assume is a mistake!) but in any case, he’ll be happy to be with us rather than in a kennel for a month.

I still have loads of pix to upload to the web site; I’ll try to do an update before my trip to the U.S. this Friday. I would like to have lots of good flying weather, so any of you with a direct line to the weather powers, please help me out with my prayers!

Talk to you soon ...

-- T.

June 13, 4PM

Hi there folks—

I’m reminded that it’s been a long time since I sent out an update. So now that I have the house pretty much beaten into shape for Bob and Lee (and entourage’s) arrival, I can take a few minutes to sit down and say hello.

Kate and Colleen have been out of school for a week now. Their last day was the 4^th of June and the end-of-school celebrations went on for a few days. Colleen’s class engaged in a huge teachers vs. students water fight, which resulted in a totally soaked Colleen boarding the bus to head back home. The driver made her stand near the front; he wouldn’t let her drip all over one of the seats! Kate’s class had a picnic in a nearby park and cleaned up all the artwork they’d created in their classroom over the course of the year. Kate’s report card was much improved over the first semester; she settled in at last, and finally showed her stuff. Colleen made the honor roll for the second semester and for the entire school year, and we’re very proud of her.

We started doing some Fun Stuff with school out, starting with a day or two of kids laying around the house watching TV. On Tuesday, the kids and I headed off into the wilds of Hachioji in search of an amusement park called Tama Tech. I got a little lost, stymied by a bad map and confusing directions in the "Kids Trips in Tokyo," book, but eventually we drove up to the gates of the park ... to find it closed for the week. I’d called earlier and listened to the recording and it said they were open from 9:30 to 5:30, so finding the place closed after a long frustrating drive was a bit ... well, it’s a good thing I don’t carry firearms. Fortunately, very nearby is the best zoo in the Tokyo area, Tama Zoo. We spent 4 hours cruising it, checking out the butterfly house and the nocturnal dome, riding a bus through the lion den, and looking at tigers, bears, oh my! as well. The bus ride in the lion area was fun; they attach a few pieces of meat to the outside of the bus, then drive up to some platforms where the lions get REAL close to snag the snacks. It was exciting, and a little disconcerting as well!

Yesterday (Friday), we made a return trip to Yomiuriland, which is an amusement park about 10 or 12 miles away that we visited last September during our first month here. On a cloudy Friday, there were maybe 500 or so people in a park that can probably handle 8,000-10,000. We rode all t he rides a bunch of times and never had to wait in a line—we just had to wait for the ride operator to decide enough seats were filled to let us go! I don’t think we were ever on a full ride all day. We got back home and got in touch with Janet Alexander, who is in Tokyo for a 4-week lecture series that she’s giving at a law school in Yokohama, and spent a quiet evening visiting with her here. Her visit was punctuated by numerous phone calls from Bob and Lee, who had arrived at Lee’s aunt’s house in Chiba while we were having dinner. If everything goes as planned, quite a few people will be arriving here with in an hour. I’m not exactly sure how may are staying for dinner, or how many are staying overnight, so in the Wilkinson tradition, I’ve cooked way too much food and bought a lot of wine. Whatever happens, I’m sure it will all work out, and we’ll all gain about 10 pounds each. Bob, Lee, Monica, and Ellen’s son Timmy will stay with us until next Thursday, when they return to Lee’s aunt’s house, and from there they head to Taipei. Monica is going to be a well-traveled baby!

Colleen, Kate, Hershey and I head to the U.S. on the 26^th. I’d like to ask you all a favor. Could you do something about the weather in California so I can do a lot of flying this summer? Thanks! I’d really appreciate it!!

See you soon ....

-- T.

21 June 1998, 10:30PM

Happy Father’s Day!

We’ve almost recovered from this last week, which was extremely busy. Bo b and Lee arrived around 7:30PM last Saturday night, and we promptly starte d into one of the theme activities of the week: Food. I cooked up a coupl e of roasting chickens and also BBQ’d a leg of lamb, and accompanied it wit h mashed potatoes and gravy, and a huge Caesar salad. Lee brought along quite a few of her Japan-based relatives, so we had 14 for dinner. She h ad requested an American meal for her relatives—I would have cooked a turkey if I’d been able to thaw one fast enough! Anyway, it was a fun meal, and there were at least three languages being spoken at the table.

Sunday it poured down rain all day. We’d planned on going out to Mt. Takao for dinner at Ukai-Toriyama, but the weather and the traffic made it look like a terrible idea, so I just made a huge casserole out of the leftover chicken, and we camped out at the house. Monica, at 10 months, is a cute and smiley baby, though she doesn’t want anyone but her Mom to hold her. <pout> Lee’s friend Uh-san and her daughter Rika came over too and had dinner.

On Monday, we met with Uh-san also and spent most of the afternoon walking around down by the Tama river. The kids loved jumping in and out of the river, and Hershey enjoyed spending some time outdoors too. On Tuesday, we launched into a huge undertaking: I picked up the Alexander family (Paul, with whom I coached two softball teams in Palo Alto, Janet, a professor at Stanford who is leading some seminars at a law school in Yokohama for the next few weeks, and daughters Katy and Jane) and then we all went out for lunch before getting on the train and heading to Asakusa

My rudimentary knowledge of Japanese came in handy on this trip. The fare changed a couple of months ago from our station to Asakusa, but nobody has bothered to come out to Futako-Tamagawaen and fix the ticket machines. So when this crowd of 14 got to Asakusa, we had to talk to an agent and pay the additional charge on our tickets. I knew it should be 40 yen for the adults and 20 for the kids, but the agent tried to charge us 240 and 120!! I managed to talk him into the correct fare somehow. Maybe I just scared him because I’m about 6 inches taller than he is.

As a group, we moved through the shopping district approaching the temple in fits and starts. There are dozens of booths selling everything from goofy knick-knacks to kimonos to t-shirts to ... well, more goofy knick-knacks. Finally we got to the temple and admired it. Katy bought a charm recommended by Colleen for improving test scores. We found a couple of places to sit down and have a drink, then went to the River Taxi for a cruise down the Sumida River. (This is the same ride Kent and I took with Myrt and Bob in early May, but I was the only one in the bunch to do it twice.) From there we hiked to the Hammamatsucho train station, and headed to Jiyugaoka for dinner. Momo Paradise, a great place to pig out on shabu-shabu and down a lot of beer, was the site of our dinner. Kent met us there and was regaled by stories of our busy day.

Wednesday, Bob, Lee and the kids went to Shibuya to meet up with the Alexanders and some friends of Lee’s. I stayed home and worked on an article. On Thursday, we went to a fun place called Yokohama Wild Blue, which is a wave pool and a bunch of water slides. Our journey was slightly complicated by Colleen leaving a bag on one of the trains; fortunately, we were able to pick it up only 15 minutes after leaving it behind. I was glad to find out that the process of finding something left behind on a train was just as it was described in my Japanese language book. I used about 2/3 of a dialog that I learned a couple of months ago as well. These things do come in handy!! Wild Blue has an interesting system; when you check in, you’re given a wristband with a bar code on it. If you want to charge something, like a drink or rental of an inner tube or 10 minutes i n a tanning booth, you just get your wrist band scanned rather than having to carry a bunch of cash around in your bathing suit. When you leave, you settle up your charges. It went very smoothly. I’m still recovering fro m the sore muscles generated by swinging on the rope swing and dropping int o the deep end of the wave pool though!

Bob and Lee went back to Lee’s aunt’s house on Thursday night, so Friday was a pretty low-key day. The kids watched about 4 dozen movies while I worked on an article and some CWAJ business. Saturday we hosted a BBQ party, and took delivery of the Van Woerkem’s rabbit, which we’re taking care of while they visit family in Colorado. This morning, I was drifting through a very strange dream in which I looked out my window and saw my brother Bob in my neighbor’s house with Monica on his lap. Just as I started to ask him what he was doing over there, Monica started hollering, "The bunny is gone!!!!" I woke up to realize that it was Kate doing the hollering, and she was yelling about the Van Woerkem’s rabbit. We ran downstairs to find that the rabbit had kicked out the end of the cage it was sitting in our in our garden, and was, indeed, missing. Kent, Kate and I dug through the bushes in the back yard, and I managed to find it hiding in the bushes in the front yard. After fixing the cage so that the rabbit couldn’t kick the wire out again, we were all relieved of the prospect of writing to Kate’s friend Kelly to tell her that her rabbit was history. Whew. (Kelly, if you’re reading this, I hope you’re breathing easy by now.)

Kent attended a wedding today at which he had to give a speech! The groom is one of the engineers in his lab at HP Labs Japan, and the tradition here is that the ranking manager has to talk about what a great and valuable employee he is. As the "butcho" of the groom, Kent got to talk first. There were quite a few other speeches following Kent’s. I wasn’t there, since spouses don’t get invited to Japanese weddings (a mannerism from which I hope to recover in a month or two) so I hope Kent writes up the details of his experience for you all in the near future.

The girls and I just took Kent out for dinner to our favorite local restaurant, Spa Verte, and we had a great meal. I have one more article to finish this week (my 7/6 column in Barron’s) before the kids and I abandon Kent and leap on the plane on Friday to head to California.

Wishing you all a good Father’s Day and a happy Summer Solstice!