Tackfodelsedag

Is Thanksgiving in Swedish, just in case you ever need to know.

My Thanksgiving was nice.

First, the foods: I made these green beans. Because of the vinegar and the mustard, they turned out a little tangy/pickle-y, but they were quite good. I also made this pie, which was excellent. Truly worth its prizewinning status!

Pie before

Pie after

Next, the company: I hit two Thanksgivings. First (and last), the Lisa/Glenn & Amy/Brian & Jen event.

In the middle of two visits to that party, I was at the Selfon clan gathering:

Mike was able to chime in for a virtual visit to the Selfon party. Here, the B-hatch talks to him (after "feeding" him dinner).

Big congratulations!

This is a post of felicitations, in no particular order (except the chronological).

• On Thursday, my best friend from college, the sparkling and scintillating Marianne became DR. Marianne, if you know what I mean . . . . Now, if you have any questions related to the use of foreign languages in Shakespeare, you know who to call, STAT!

• On Saturday, my cousin J. (who lives in San Francisco) qualified for the state cross country championships. From the way I understand things, he qualified both as an individual and was instrumental in helping his whole team could qualify. Just how fast is he? How about 5:20 for the first mile, and 16:40 for three miles! Let’s see . . . in 16:40, I think I could run about a mile and, oh, a sixth. Clearly, this skill is not so much genetic.

• Later on that very same Saturday, my other cousin E. (who also lives in San Francisco and may or may not be related to the first cousin) was the goalkeeper in her team’s league championship game. I’m told that she had several great saves during the game. A very remarkable part of this story is that E. is playing up in a team two years above her age level!

Do you have something for which we ought to be congratulating you? Do share!

Rainbow Tree(s)

These two trees are right outside my building on campus. For days I've been noticing how the leaves just fit together in a perfect rainbow. The shot is a little strange, since I was really trying to get the rainbow effect of the leaves (also since the wind last night blew many of the leaves off the tree).

Not to worry

There was an offshore earthquake near northern Japan, but it was nowhere near me, and no one was hurt as far as I can tell.

Also, if you will notice the counter at the very bottom of the page, we have surpassed 10,000 visiters! I would estimate that 9,000 were Kate and I, and 900 were our parents, but to those other 100 people, welcome!

My big weekend

Well, I was supposed to be puppy-sitting this weekend, meaning that I would have been able to wow you all with cute puppy pictures. Unfortunately, because of all the rain, the hiking activity that the people with the puppy were going to do was cancelled. So no puppy for me. Or you.

Instead, I’ll share with you a picture of a cake I made on Friday. I used this book, a book that some in my family have made fun of me for liking so much.

Also on Friday I went to see Daisy. While not a puppy, she was looking quite hip in her new fall hat. Daisy is also starting to rival Chuck for getting things balanced on her head: I watched her get a bone, a couch cushion, a head of garlic, and some other things I can’t remember placed on her head.

Baby Emma’s sweater is coming along. I’ve attached one sleeve, so I’m feeling quite good about things. Besides, small clothes are hip, right?

Baby Emma has also gone public with her new blog.

Sadly, I think that my half-marathon dreams are over. I've been pretty sick since last weekend and haven't run at all. This morning, despite a bad cough, I vowed to get out and clock some miles. I barely made it three, despite making nine two weeks ago. Perhaps a spring race is more realistic for me. . . .

In other news, tonight I went to this sushi place that Mike finds pretentious. I really like(d) it – I found it fun and hip. Except that tonight there was a spill in the bar up above the restaurant. And it dripped down. On me. On my hair. The restaurant peed on me! I guess Mike doesn’t really have to worry about me agitating to go there once he gets back.

Ryoko's Wedding

Today I went to my first Japanese wedding, of my host sister, Ryoko. Ryoko and Koji did not opt for a traditional Japanese wedding, with a Shinto priest. They also did not opt for a faux Christian wedding, which have become popular in recent years (where a foreign man poses as a minister and memorizes a set of lines). Instead, there was no officiant at all. There was a woman in the back, who worked at the establishment, who would tell us when to clap, etc., and Ryoko and Koji read vows that they had prepared to one another. It was lovely.

It was a wonderful wedding, with balloons, bubbles, letters read aloud, and much joking and laughter. Many of the principals found themselves crying at one point or another. Koji, whose parents own a cake store, actually put on a chef's hat and jacket and served the cake (I'm not joking -- that's really him serving the cake, which was delicious). Ryoko and Koji were married in front of a small wading pool which we were politely asked not to swim in. I know that Kate would have loved it, and I was disappointed not to be able to bring her. Here are some pictures:











Here Ryoko signs the traditional marriage contract, which is known in Japanese as a "ketubah." (For the record, I thought of that caption during the wedding, and I almost started laughing at a really inappropriate moment. She's actually signing the "proof of marriage"--kekkon shoumeisho--provided by the venue).

Raise your hand if you just turned 30 in Japan

(I'm raising my hand). I spent my 30th birthday with some of the very nice people I have met here. We went to one of my favorite restaurants in Tsukuba, Arzonie Italia. Here are a few pictures:


The restaurant has delicious desserts. Here my friends decide which to order:

San Diego

Quick weekend jaunt down to San Diego for my great-aunt’s memorial service. The memorial service was really nice, and I enjoyed spending the rest of the weekend with my family.

I didn’t say anything about my aunt’s death when it happened in September because I wasn’t quite sure what to say and the thought of receiving sympathy makes me uncomfortable. However, I guess I feel a little obliged to say something here, especially since I declined to speak (twice) at the actual memorial service.

Here’s a picture of my aunt Toni, taken just before we left for Japan last year.Toni was my grandfather’s younger sister. When I was young, she often took me to museums, the symphony, plays, etc. She took me to see my first performance of “Fiddler on the Roof.” Toni loved to read, and in the month before her death gave me this book, As a former New Yorker, she really valued “culture”—and, truth be told, she was probably more than a little starved for it in San Diego. She was also the only one I knew growing up who declined to read the local rag of newspaper. Sure, others complained, but she actually subscribed to The Los Angeles Times. From her, I learned that you didn’t have read the newspaper of the town where you lived. Considering my habits now, I’d say that was a pretty important lesson.

At her memorial service, I learned a lot more. I knew she’d served in the WACS, but not how many medals or commendations she’d received or that she’d been nominated to officer candidate school. I also had no idea that she had been a founding member of the Hadassah chapter of North San Diego County. My uncle Leon died when I was in late elementary school, so I don’t have much memory of their relationship. However, all of her friends spoke about how deeply they’d loved each other, how they’d truly been soulmates. My aunt was also a teacher for many, many years, mostly teaching second grade. One of her friends suggested that Toni was probably now teaching a class of all the young ones who had passed before their time. I really like that image.

In other weekend events, I managed to walk on the beach 2.5 times (the .5 is from a meal I ate at a beachfront restaurant). Here are some seals enjoying the sun:I also got to see my three aunts, none of whom I’d seen since my return from Japan, so that was great. My grandparents, my mom, and brother were all well.

My grandmother

(I have no idea who or what Daylin is)

I also snuck in a quick Friday afternoon visit to see baby Emma, who is just two weeks old.

Isn’t she lovely? And so tiny!

Also, in other news, today begins the one-month countdown to Mike’s return! I can’t wait!

Exciting news!

I've been holding off on this post for a while because I wanted to do it just right (you know - with pictures. and the permission of the parents).

My good friend from high school, Alex, and his lovely wife, Kat, just had their first child last week. Baby Emma is beautiful!

Here are some pictures!

The proud parents. They look so happy. And tired. And happy.

Dr. P and Emma. Notice the professional handhold there on Emma's head.

Baby Emma sleeps.

Also, here's a shot of the baby sweater. I'm not sure how close to being done I am (not very, I think). The good news is that it is the 0-6 months size.

Disney Land

Yesterday I went to Tokyo Disneyland for the first time. I had an opportunity to go with my 2-year-old friend Nagu, and his 6-year-old cousin Yu-kun, and that is hard to pass up. The park was a BIG hit with the kids, and we all had a great time. I haven't been to the American parks in a while, so I can't make a good comparison. And it was a Saturday, which would make things more crowded. But the crowds were UNBELIEVABLE. For example, this is a picture of the inside of a souvenir shop:


Here are a few more pictures of our adventures:

Presented without comment

Photo from espn.com.

Children growing up

I just had an admittedly very short phone conversation with my favorite Japanese baby. He said my name, said "hello" (in English, which he might have picked up on his travels), I believe he asked me what I was saying, and then he said "bye bye." It is hard to describe how cute it was.

The last week has been so busy

That I just didn’t get to the requisite weekend update portion of the blog last weekend.

So, a special combo for you: last weekend, plus the first part of this weekend (all rolled into one! With chocolate sauce!).

I kicked off last weekend with a visit over to see the best dog ever. We even got to take the dog swimming, which was great. I didn't take any pictures of the swimming, but here's one from a bit later in the evening.Saturday during the day, I did a little volunteering project at Treehouse. Treehouse is an organization here in town that provides a “wearhouse” for children in the foster care system. Four times per year, kids can come and “shop” for both new and used items of clothing, school supplies, Halloween costumes, toys, holiday presents, backpacks, summer camp items, shoes, etc. Best, it is all free for those kids and their families. How wonderful is that? If you’d like to make a donation, you can do that here.

Anyway, Saturday night was a busy night. First I had a delicious dinner with SYL and Kris. And then Kris and I divided up the cocoa we bought a few weeks ago (surprisinginly, raspberry was not the most popular flavor). After that, I went to a goodbye parting for my friend Yuko. This was a dessert-themed party as well (parting is such sweet sorrow, no?). Here are some pics from the party, starting with the happy couple themselves.Sunday, I went to knitting. Amy’s shawl is done (see above). My baby sweater is, well, not knitting itself. Maybe I’ll put a picture up here when I actually have something to show. Or when the baby turns five.

Monday night I had a break-the-fast dinner at Scott and Meredith’s. So yummy! Dinner featured Scott’s famous challah plus a delicious chocolate cake created by Meredith.This weekend has been a little less crazed. Today I went to a pumpkin patch/corn maze. It was a great day to do this, and, I must confess, this was my first time in a corn maze. This year, the farm had cut the maze in the shape of an airplane (or so they said – it’s awfully hard to tell if this true when you’re in the maze).Finally, we found our way out and proceeded to the pumpkin portion of the day.And then we narrowly escaped an attack by the Great Pumpkin, lumbering across the fields to get us.

Softball

Yesterday I played softball with a group of folks around Tsukuba. Most of the players were from countries where baseball is not played, and many players had never played a game before. I did a brief "baseball 101" lecture to try to get them up to speed with the rules, but things like force-outs and tagging up are quite difficult to explain.

It was a really fun time. We didn't keep score, but my team won in spirit. There are some pictures here.

Some excitement

I just found out that an article I submitted has been accepted for publication. This will be my first publication.