Wendy says the swans are back, one baby only. Maddox is getting really cute. He 'talks' now and when I say "Hi, Maddox, its VAL" he says "ah" quite appropriately!
Trevor is driving the Tesla to St. George, Utah, today to visit a friend. He has been so helpful in getting ll my papers in order for La Costa Glen. I will see a nurse practitioner at Dr. Armato's office when I return, and hopefully she will certify me sane and in good physical shape. The TB test came out negative, but TB is coming back I hear.
Japan 4
Yokohama is hot in the summer, so it was de rigeur for the foreigners to go to Karuizawa in the Japanese Alps. The men would swelter during the week, but take the train up every weekend to be with their families and enjoy the cool mountain air.
The summer I turned 5 we had rented a typical Japanese house, with matting on the floors and sliding shoji doors, with opaque white paper panes. My mother cooked lamb chops on the built in hibachi in the kitchen. I slept on the floor, Japanese style, within a mosquito tent. Before I went to sleep my father would come round with the 'flit gun' and spray the room for mosquitoes which were a serious concern. We had a koi pond in the garden and our cat, Brownie, fell in once, trying to catch a fish. I had a rabbit which lived in a cage made by my friend's older brother, Peter Jackson. It was all very exotic for a four year old.
On July 31 that summer my parents gave me a birthday party. I remember the guests sitting around a table in the garden, with a large cake in front of me, and blowing out five candles. The sound of those voices singing "Happy Birthday dear Valerie, " was quite thrilling and I remember that moment vividly.
There was also a pony hired to give the children rides. The pony's name was Asama.
Asama was named after a nearby volcano, which was intermittently active that summer, and would shower ash from time to time. At the party my friend Linda Jackson fell off the pony! I remember that very well too!
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