Endgame, it's called.  Another hard phase. Work, as I have known it since 1961, ended on Friday, March 26th. Good farewells, followed by the beginning of the endgame on Saturday: cleaning and sale of a batch of furniture. Followed by finding all the air sucked out of my balloon Sunday. Nearly called an ambulance at one point! By the time the Yankees game in Tokyo got going at 7, could sit up and watch those Yankees win! >>> GO JETER!!!

My ad in Kansai Flea Market netted nobody who wanted my furniture or appliances but three people who wanted the phone lines.....

Oh for a moving buddy, a hand-holder.....this is so hard, folks! Re-read Fear and Trembling by Amelie Nothomb and re-watched the trailer of the film, and re-realized, "it wasn't me." Such a consoling, bittersweet book upon leaving a work life in Japan. I wrote to Amelie when I first read the book a couple of years ago in Paris. She wrote back, wanted to meet, arrived in Paris the day I left. A pleasure yet to come.......

Farewell and community events still fill weekday evenings after work, and so far all on an even keel with really good vibes.

"When I go for the last swim of the season, I never want it to end--I just want to stay in the water forever. But then the sun sets and I have no choice but to get out. Somehow the lukewarm water actually seems to be clinging to me, unwilling to let go. It's as if a little bit of my body and my soul have dissolved, melted away into the ocean. Only when I've come almost all the way out, when my ankles are still in the water, do I finally manage to resign myself to the situation; and even then a faint, aching sadness remains."
                                        --There is no Lid on the Sea  <***>

          --Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, the greatest of Miyazaki's anime and my favorite sits as a plastic model on my microwave, reminding me of all the good qualities that keep me going.

           --Owl-spotting is an activity one can learn at the Eagle River Nature Center in Chugach State Park. My owl collection, reduced, will go with me, but may stay in storage since I'll be seeing the real thing!    <click on image to see more>