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Katrina and Jonnie at her art showing in downtown Bend, Oregon
Katrina and Uncle Steve
Fancy toenails on girl at party Mary Ann took me to.
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Greetings,
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I am sitting in my house in Bend, Oregon, surveying all of Katrina's boxes she has packed for her move to Portland. Marty arrived yesterday from AZ, Andy and Kathy brought Steve over from the coast and Jonnie came by bus from Salem. Tom Reed even came over for the festivities. Haven't seen him for a couple years and it is great he could make it over from Portland. Marty treated us to a nice fish dinner in Bend and everyone is coming over in a few minutes for breakfast. A, K, M, and S are staying at Eagle Crest for a couple nights and Tom is staying here at the house.
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We are off for the graduation after we wind up breakfast and check out how to pack up Katrina's stuff for the Sunday move. More later after we get through with the ceremonies.

duane

60210

sidewalk chalk art in Santa Barbara

Still with us

Ain't she cute.

Great "World Pup" pic

Best of show, per my opinion


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Greetings,

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Made it across the pond again and am happily ensconced in my sister-in-law's place in Santa Barbara. Always a favorite. The flight over was easy and smooth, plus quick at only 8 hours thanks to the tail wind. Not many screaming babies, but one did a prodigious poop that permeated the cabin quickly and powerfully. I thought I heard the tell-tale braappp, then all of a sudden, there it was; a colorless miasma that could of felled a Haz Mat team member in full gear. The poor parent got up right away and stumbled his way to the ejection room to rid us all of the foul smelling creator. Not sure how he could see as it appeared that his eyes were watering profusely. It took a bit for the recycled air to be shared by all, but at least it left our section and hopefully worked it's way to First Class. Phew. And the crowd said a hearty Amen once the stench cleared.

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Patty was waiting for me at the customs gate and we only had to stop twice in traffic on the way north. It is nice to be back and nicer still to see familiar items on a readable menu. That is until we walked past a Vietnamese restaurant. Albertsons still had my favorite no sugar added lemon meringue pie and the pizza didn't have fish on it. What more could a guy ask for. Last night Leo BBQ'd some great thick steaks on the grill and with the sweet potato fries and a Negra Modelo beer, it was easy to slip back in the groove.

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I'll be attending the First Thursday art walk downtown then on Friday morning, I'll head down to see my mother and stay with Mary Ann and Paul. Then, on Sunday, I'll head back to SB and then on up the road to Bend to prepare for the graduation experience, once again. At least this time I know we can avoid a possible melee since Becky won't be present to chuck tortillas at someone. Don't ask if you don't know.

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So, today I'll get the bike out and dusted off, fueled up and go for a short ride to compact my spine and pry apart my pelvis to the required motorcycle width. More later.

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duane

51810

Help me. I am old and lost and cannot figure out which way to go.

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Greetings,
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I had to run in to town today for some errands and found this sign after I got off the train near Shibuya. Wasn't sure which way to go. At least it was a nice day and after all the deeds were done, I decided to walk the 5 miles home from Kichijoji. Bummer tho, as I forgot and had worn my worst pair of socks thinking I would just stay around the house. Ow.

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duane

51510

Greetings,

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Last night we were invited to one of the administrator's beeeg houses for an informal Irish combo playing a lot of the Pogues and other Irish and Scottish tunes and songs. The little guy was of Japanese descent and the girl was all American and had graduated ASIJ 10 years ago or so. They play professionally and had several gigs in Tokyo but they always come out to the school to play for her sake.

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They are very good and played for over two hours to the 20 or so of us sitting around soaking up the great music. She played guitar and violin while he played a variety of flutes and penny whistles. The pic above is his case with all the flutes inside. He was quite an accomplished player and they never looked at a sheet of music. A couple of musicians from the teacher corp and another professor from the nearby college showed up with a violin and mandolin and accompanied them for their blue grass set.

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It was quite an entertaining evening to be sitting right next to and in front of the live action. Quite the professional pair. Plus, the host had a nice spread of American snacks of pizza, a variety of chips and dips, chocolate, cheeses and crackers, pita and spreads, wine, beer, and we brought some very popular deviled eggs. What a fun time and we understood every word spoken and knew every edible item on the tables.

. Becky had to attend training all day Sat and Sun, so I got to get some shopping and laundry done. My A1 coffee, recently supplied by visiting Diane, is running low so I will have to go back to my local supplier by the end of the week.

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One of the counselors here at the school has gone on a weight loss program of cutting out half of his usual carbs and walking like a fool. His longest walk was taking the train clear down to Tokyo station and walking home - 24 K's. I like his idea but can't imaging doing that kind of distance. And here I thought 4 to 5 miles was a long walk. Now he has me motivated. I can imaging getting off the train at Ogikibo or maybe even Shinjuku in time and walking home, but Tokyo? No way. I suspect this new effort may bring a lot of cool pics of the waysides.

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duane

51310

Greetings,

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Last night was Men's Night Out. The 5 of us met at the Musashi Sakai platform for the run to Kichijoji at 5:30pm. Standing there near the spot for the first car was this gma and her gson. She said he really likes trains and she brings him there every day just to watch a few come and go. Whenever one would come to a stop and disgorge people before swallowing up a like amount, he would wave his little arms all around in excitement saying "tain". That is of course, Japanese for airplane.

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We talked for a while until our train came and he gave us a nice wave goodby. I just love interacting with this little local kids. The start out very cautious and afraid of the nasty Gaijin but almost always warm up to some minor inquiry. Invariably, the parent thanks you for taking their picture. Cute kids.

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Speaking of which, I only had 3 little high school cuties today for the Advance Placement World History test. They was most pleasant and even giggled at my attempts at humor. I always try and get the kids to lighten up a bit before the tests begin. 3 hours later, they thanked me and went on down the hall. No tests tomorrow, but I do get to sub for Becky as she needs an extra days rest to fight off a terrible cold she acquired from her teaching partners.

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We went to a new rib joint in Kichijoji for our dinner and, as luck would have it, they even served beer. They even gave us multiple servings. How nice. The ribs were quite good as was the onion soup and the apple pie/ice cream. Definately an overdoing it evening. But, we solved the world's problems for another day and had a nice and cozy (super jammed packed) train ride back. Where do all these Japanese come from?

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duane

51010

ASIJ AP Physics testees.

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Greetings,

I had a very lazy day sitting in the chair watching the clock tick by the minutes while the students were frenzied over their AP Bio and AP Physics. For a small school, they had 40 some kids taking each test. Lot of very high end kids attend here.
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Not much else going on after our local 4.0 earthquake that shook up the house and our nerves. Since the epicenter was so close, it was quite sharp but brief. Now we had a tiny taste of the "expected any day now" BEEG one. They feel that a 8.0 something is due to hit Tokyo around 2010.... or earlier. Right.
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We heard from Ryker that he arrived at Bagram in A'stan finally and has to stand i nline 1 1/2 hours for each meal due to the crowded conditions with the SURGE going on. He said they were supposed to be issued ammo, but didn't get any and were told to keep an empty magazine in their weapons so it looked they were loaded. Sounds like General Barney Fife is running the show. If they don't give any thing to shoot back with by the time he gets to his outpost, I will have to complain loudly and often. Maybe they just don't trust our troops being together. Oh well. He said the airbase was rocketed just before he got there. Apparently that happens a lot since it is surrounded by mountains. I have a feeling we are going to hear a lot about incompetencies in the force.

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I get to proctor all week and build up gas money for the bike this summer. Every bit helps.

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duane
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Little Fuchu festival participants

Squid ball vendor

Nana dresser

One of many portable shrine type floats

Young kimono reveler

Butt end of a float

Big one under the lights

another float

nuther

cool mask

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Greetings,

The 2010 version of the Fuchu-shi night parade. No road apples for this show, just a lot of semi-loaded, beer drinking float pullers with their accompanying drummers and flute players. Noisy as all get out but very Japanese. We stood by and watched 12 or so floats slowly meander down the main street near the train station before they went to their performance parking areas to carry on the noise.

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We left that scene just before my ears filled up and toured one aisle of street vendors. Shuffling all the way due to the giganormous crowds. At least we had a nice Chinese dinner just before the big rush. I've been back home for an hour and I still hear my ears ringing.

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duane