"Thank you, Japan." On take-off from Japan, these words just came out . . . and I found myself using the whole take-off time listing all I am thankful to Japan for. Good friends called during the last 24 hours at my friend's comfy house, and and my very first friends from all those years ago came to the airport. Those good wishes gave me the tailwind to soar into the clouds and leave all the nasty things and bitterness back on the ground. Thank you.     

     A week in Hawaii was barely enough for seeing good friends, touching bases about future work translating and teaching online, enjoying the exhibition 'Japan and Paris' (French Impressionist paintings from Japanese collections of the early 20th century) with a dear friend, who took me, later in the week, to a luncheon featuring a speech by the Director of the museum about the exhibition!  Driving on my own, a couple of beach lazings, an unforgettable dinner by the window at Alan Wong's, "Hawaii's best restaurant" (yes there is one in Japan), a gift from my friend of 40 years and it was over in a flash. ....

    My friend sent me the last installment of Banana's novel....it ended right as my time in Japan did. This quote seems to fit my Mother as much as me:          
      I won't be here to watch the seasons keep coming back forever. No doubt I'll vanish from this world sooner than the willow trees.
       Even having friends and family won't change that... The thought came to me, and then the incredible brilliance of all the things I love in this world...the willow trees, the snow cones, the autumn sea with its cold-looking, choppy waves, the thin, almost transparent clouds, and the faces of the people I love... everything rose up before me...everything. Whenever this happens, I feel like crying. I think about how incredibly short my time here, as a physical person, really is. Considering how brief life is, I've gotten to like being here way too much.
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       If everyone lived life so fully, dealing with the things that happen around them in the same way Hajime does, I think maybe the world. . . .
                                                    ~ There is no Lid on the Sea

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          --Arrival just in time for Mother's Day and an interior garden of flowers (Mom's, my sister's and mine; with nephew) --flowers growing outside will take a while longer.....

           --View from the jacuzzi at home in Eagle River-- yes that IS snow still on the mountains. . . .   

and my other Blog Buddy's blog   

  Thanks again, Richard.

  A fun read and I'm even in it....