3 in 30 - 2001.03.18 Sunday
Faces on the wall
The weekend was consumed with the annual Mythical Mid-March Madness Melee, also known as the Chili Party. In truth, the chili is not the primary attraction. It is the wonderful people we have become acquainted with during our stay in Japan. We are not the best housekeepers, so we spent a good deal of time cleaning and moving things around so we could invite quite a few guests into our home. Since this is also a busy time at work, we may not have made our house immaculate.
We did have some help in decorating. Paul's pottery teacher/master arrived early. Paul had made some small cups for the party and they had been recently fired, so Inoue-sensei brought them.
While he was waiting for the rest of the guests to arrive, he took some sidewalk chalk and turned the stone wall near our entry into faces. The stones in the wall worked better than the sidewalks or concrete driveway because the stones are a smoother surface.
Jelly beans anyone?
In this snapshot, Paul tries to be the host by offering a bowl of jelly beans to a guest.
From left to right around the room is the back of Mr. Kakuichi-san's head, Arao-san, the current leader of the Ome English Group, two of his friends from his office, Inoue-sensei, Paul's pottery teacher, Ishizaki-san.
This year, we didn't have quite as many guests we have in previous years. You can tell by looking out the window that the weather was delightful. I would suspect that many people who might have come by decided that the day was too nice to be inside, party or not.
group picture time
Pictured with Beverly are Mr. and Mrs. Kuubo, members of the Ome English Conversation Study Group where Paul occasionally substitutes as an instructor. (We won't try to explain that.) They are making the typical posed picture "peace" sign. You can see nearly every teen aged group in a photo opportunity giving this "V" sign.
Behind them is Arao-san with his camera taking pictures. On the top of the china cabinet toward the left, you can see one of the dark blue and white pots that Candy made up at Inoue's Tamagama at Takao-san. It is the one with the white swirls on a blue glazed background. Candy had a busy soccer weekend and was not feeling well for the party, so she mostly stayed in her room.
Oh! Ometeto gozaimasu Saito-san.