Christmas Stocking

It took me a couple of weeks to get around to checking if the Japanese step-down transformer Akira’s mother had sent me would work on my sewing machine after it arrived from the States last month…and then until this week for the postie to finally get through the snow to deliver the replacement transformer we […]

Mama Came Back

In younger days, when I contemplated parenthood, I had this idyllic dream of raising my children in community – surrounded by family and friends who loved and helped to nurture them. My children, I mused, would be confident and relaxed and outgoing…and happy to spend time with any caring adults who came their way. They would […]

Working…or not…

I began writing here a couple of years ago when we landed in the USA and I suddenly had no paid employment prospects on the near horizon. At the time I was searching for a new sense of worth…convincing myself that being at home/unemployable (for reasons of immigration policy, not a sudden lack of competence, […]

Beach Learnin’

They say every day is a school day…and so it used to be for me…now I am seeing more and more that it certainly is for our wee guy. Each day he seems to delight in a new idea, a new word, a new turn of phrase (today – ‘that’s more like it’) or a […]

In The Countryside…

Now that we have been here a few weeks we are finally settling in. Though it is still a pretty quiet affair in that Kazuo and I spend most of each day here at Newbridge while Akira slogs away at the University, and not too much of our days necessitate human contact with other adults…so […]

This Moment

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see. […]

Saying a Fond Farewell

This leave taking has been going on an awful long time really…and is kinda taking it’s toll, both Kazuo and I are fighting off our own special little bugs, and we are all fairly tiredy. But in the interstices, we are still feeling very grateful for all the loveliness (much of it joyously unexpected) of […]

Packing Up and Packing It In

This last weekend was a holiday again. And for once, Akira took Labor Day off work. Of course we spent most of our Kazuo-free hours packing up for the shipping day, which is tomorrow (arrrgh…are we ready? it is gonna be a long night I think). But during our family times, we got out and […]

Big Spring

Last weekend we had our first US road trip in over a year. Somehow time and other scarce resources have just meant we put off exploring more of the countryside until our departure became very imminent. We were not really in a position to venture much beyond the borders of Missouri, and we wanted company […]

Final Destinations

This past weekend was our last real weekend of fun in St Louis. Coming up is a weekend away (our first US road trip in 14 months) and then packing, yard sale-ing and moving occur of the final few weekends. So we made the most of getting out and doing those things we’d been meaning […]