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July 26, 2006
Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto!
Our trip is set. Don and I will be going to Japan for 2 weeks in the fall for vacation and to train with some of the Japanese (and not Japanese) martial arts masters. We'll be travelling with Nick & Pam. I'm thinking this is kind of a once in a lifetime thing, but you never know because of the connections we have in martial arts.
We'll be flying into Oahu, Hawaii and staying there for a couple of days. In fact, we'll be at the same hotel that Don and I were at on our honeymoon...the same one where we watched the Pistons win the 2004 NBA championship over the Lakers and made quite a ruckus about it at the poolside bar. I think Pam and I are really going to enjoy the shopping and the sunshine there.
Then we fly into Tokyo and while Nick and Pam are staying with our good friend John, Don and I will be staying at some place that I think is almost like a hostel. You can sleep there and keep your things there, but during the day, you have to be gone. That probably won't be much of a problem since we'll probably be pretty busy. Though it will suck if we just want to relax or take a nap some afternoon. Oh well.
The coolest thing is that we'll be buying swords to use for practicing Iaido. They won't be sharp, but they'll be real. I can't wait to get mine. I was hoping to get a sharp one too that I could cut with, but apparently, those are more expensive in Japan than what you can get in the states. Plus, I'm hoping to pick up one or two pieces of not-so-expensive art that we can hang in the bedroom. And, of course, it'll be really cool to hang around Tokyo and see all the sites.
The flights, I think, are going to be the toughest part of the trip. I believe the flying time to Hawaii is about 11 or 12 hours. Then it's at least another 8 hours from Hawaii to Tokyo. It's a lot of flying time, but I think it'll be a little easier than 14 hours from Detroit to Tokyo. Either way, I'm excited to go. I love Waikiki and I'm excited to go back to Japan...haven't been there since I was 13 years old. So naturally, I didn't get to do anything cool except go where my parents wanted to go. Plus, I wasn't into Japanese food back then. I couldn't eat anything after seeing all those plastic sushi displays everywhere. But now I can and it'll be fun travelling with friends to such an interesting place.
To my readers: I most likely won't be able to update my blog while I'm there, so there's probably going to be a long lag. But I'll try to write about my experiences there so that I can post them when I get back. :) P.S. You can click on the image of the map to see a bigger version.
Posted by Amy at 06:30 PM | Comments (1)
July 24, 2006
Porcarri or Porcarro?
Don and I were invited to our friend Tony's house for dinner. He and his girlfriend, Crystal, cooked Italian food for us. It was really good. There were pasta noodles with garlic and olive oil, spicy Italian sausage with rice, sauteed peppers, and salad. We brought a couple of great bottles of wine to accompany the delicious meal. We had a nice and long conversation over dinner and took a tour of his house--it was huuuuuuuge! It was obviously built in the 1970s and had 4 bedrooms. There were secret doors and room and lots of space (most of his stuff was in storage in the garage). Anyway, it was a very pleasant time. Hopefully, we'll have Tony over next weekend for dinner--unfortunately Crystal won't be there, since she has to move to Connecticut for her job. (Poor Tony!)
After dinner, we went down to the basement to check out Tony's drum set which Don had sold him back in the old days. They were a bit out of tune, but it wasn't like I could tell. We convinced Don to show us his stuff. Now, Don always says the mark of a really good drummer is if they can play the drum part to the song "Rosanna" by Toto because it's a complicated beat that few can get right. (The drummer for Toto is named Jeff Porcarro whose last name I always confuse with Tony's last name, Porcarri.) Anyway, Tony put on that song on his CD player while Don played along. I'd only ever seen Don play a couple of times. Once for our friend Nissen on a classical style piece and another on a video taken from a show on PBS featuring the Nick Strange Trio. So mostly, I had only heard Don talk about how good he is, but I never really got to see his talent showcased. Now, it's not that I didn't believe him when he said how good he was. In fact, I believed him very much. But there was always that tiiiiny seed of doubt.
That was sure quashed once he started playing along to Rosanna! In fact, I thought he's even sexier now! It took my breath away watching him bang away on the ol' skins. Plus he makes this really cute face when he plays where he drops his jaw and his cheeks sink in a little. Hee hee! When he was done, I told him (and I was serious) that I thought he should get his drums out of storage and set them up in our basement so he can practice. What a hottie!!! It occurred to me too late that I should have taken a little video, but, here's the picture I took with his phone.
Posted by Amy at 10:58 PM | Comments (4)
July 21, 2006
Work BBQ
Today was another nice and hot day--a blow off day, really. At work, they were holding a little event where you could throw a ball at a target to dunk your team leader...not like a dunk tank, though. A person would sit under a water balloon and when you hit the target, the other end of the arm would poke the balloon. It was really fun to watch. It costed a dollar a ball. I paid for 10 balls to douse Matt, my team leader. Took me 6 tries, but I got him. HAHAHA!! Then it was Frank Laura, the team leader for the Tech team. I wanted to dunk him too, but there were so many people lined up from his team, I thought I'd wait and see if there was time left. Each person sat under the balloon for only 10 minutes. One of the engineers, Christina, went first and got Frank on the very first try. HAHA! She didn't have great throws, but she had awesome aim.
After that, my team left to go to Lea's house. She's our graphic designer and was holding a barbecue at her house. She lives in Fenton, north of Brighton. I always wondered why she lived out there, but when I got to her house, I realized why. Her house is really beautiful inside and she's just across the street from Lake Fenton. We had chicken kabobs (REALLY yummy), hamburgers, corn (which I made), and a bunch of other things. We drank, talked, played bocce (pronounced "botchy") ball and had a great time.
I almost didn't think I would be able to go to her barbecue since we were planning on having Charly and Renee come up to visit for Ann Arbor Art Fair. But they cancelled on us. Plus Don was sort of planning on going out for boys' night out. So the timing worked out well. I've been thinking about having the team over our house for spaghetti night. Not sure what else I'll serve with it besides garlic bread, but perhaps I'll do what Lea did and have everyone bring something. Though spaghetti's not something you really want to eat during a hot summer. I think maybe I'll wait till late September or early October. I think it'll be really fun to have everyone here. Besides, they've never met Don before. I think that sounds like a FINE idea!! :)
Posted by Amy at 11:20 PM | Comments (0)
July 18, 2006
Surprise!
It's been such a hot and humid week...exactly my kind of summer! It can be stifling, but I love the heat and sunshine. Much better than freezing my ass off in winter. This weekend, Don and I went to my sister's surprise 40th birthday party. We missed the initial surprise since it was in Kalamazoo. Don was teaching noon class. We left after class. Took us an hour and a half to get there. Thankfully, they had a tent and there was lots of tree shade.
It was really nice to see so any people from my family. Besides my sister and her family, my parents were there, my brother, my cousin and her family (including her new baby girl), two of my aunts and my uncle. It was fun to see all the kids playing in the pool and having a good time. It seems each time I see my nephew PJ, he gets friendlier and friendlier with me. He made me play catch with him and didn't tire for a long time, at least not till it was time to cut the cake. He made Don and my dad join in. Such a cutie!
My sister wasn't going to open presents at the party, but I couldn't wait to see her reaction. I had bought her a beautiful heart shaped pendant with diamonds in it strung on a gold box chain. She loved it. But I wasn't to be outdone. John, her husband, had already given her a beautiful gold ring with one ruby surrounded by diamonds and presented in a cute piano-shaped velvet box.
We had a fun time and lots of pictures were taken. My brother posted them on the family site. Click here to see them.
Sunday was another sweltering day which I spent with Pammie. It was a great day of suntanning and girl talk, along with the occasional dip in the pool.
I'm just hoping this weather holds up for a while. Last night after martial arts, Don and I went over to Dan's house for a drink. The weather was warm, but shortly after we got there, a somewhat violent storm broke out VERY suddenly. I mean, literally, one second it was calm, the next, the wind suddenly started gusting...HARD! But of course, we also had our own little storm in Dan's house--Dan kept having to wrestle with his GIANT of a dog to keep him out of our faces and from knocking us down. I mean, this dog was HUUUUUUGE!! About the height and length of a great dane and weighing in at at least 125 or more pounds! He's a really cute mutt named Oscar, but just too big for his own good--bigger than he himself realizes.
Anyway, after we left Dan's house, Don and I had to dodge multiple large branches that had fallen in the road. It was JUST like one of those car commercials showing off how great a car handles. We ended up driving around people's mailboxes on their lawns to get around them. I got a twig stuck in my car's undercarriage for a while. But all that rain made for a really nice sunny day today. By the looks of the weather forecast, it'll be pleasantly warm and bright for the next few days, except for a bit of rain on Thursday. I LOVE SUMMER!!!
Posted by Amy at 07:56 PM | Comments (0)
July 13, 2006
Slideshow
Since I couldn't post ALL my pictures from Meaford and was having trouble copying pictures to CD for people (computer was being stubborn and the discs weren't working), I thought I'd make a slideshow video. It didn't turn out as sharp a picture as I'd like, but I can't upload the original file since it's too big. So I had to upload it to Youtube and link to it from here. So when you see the picture of the sign that says "Shangri-La," you can't really see that the little sign beneath it says "Priors." Hope you enjoy it!
Please leave me some comments about the video (either here or on the Youtube page)...I'd love to know what you guys think of it. :)
Posted by Amy at 11:00 PM | Comments (1)
July 07, 2006
Happy 4th of July!
Ok, I know it's been a while since I posted, but it was the holiday weekend after all. We only got back on Wednesday evening and I've only just now had a chance to sit down to create this entry. It was a fantastic and long weekend and Don and I had an amazing time. It's never really summer until we go to Meaford (Georgian Bay, Ontario) and visit the Bucks. All the activity caught up to me the night we got home so I just crashed for 2 hours in the evening. I hated to skip iaido class, but I had to do it--I was SOOOOO tired. Anyway, here are just some of the pictures I took. I'm really getting into taking pictures...I just wish I could have used Nick's camera. As Will Smith once said, "I have GOT to get me one o' these!"
I'll try to get Don to post the rest of the pictures on his Web site for everyone to view. Click on the thumbnails to view the entire image.
Here's Uncle John & Aunt Nancy's cottage where Don and I stayed. The Bucks own five cottages all in a row--Uncle John's dad or grandfather had owned the land and they eventually built all the cottages right there. They even own some land on the other side of the road which doesn't face the bay so that no one can build there.
Here's Jessica with Uncle John. Jessica hasn't been up to the cottages since she was about 11! It was so nice to have her, Brian and Derek up with us. Poor thing was so emotional when she left. I know it meant a great deal to her that Uncle John & Aunt Nancy invited her up. I think it brought back a lot of wonderful memories for her and that it was very interesting for her to see all the changes since she was last here.
Derek really got around here. He sure provided a lot of entertainment and I think he REALLY had a fun time. I know Aunt Nancy enjoyed having him. All her grandkids call her "Ahma" and they call Uncle John "Poppa." Derek was so cute always calling out, "Ahma! Ahma!" or "Poppa! Poppa!" He REALLY loves them! What a darling boy!
This is Kevin Buck (John's son and Don's cousin) & his wife, Anne with their kids, Allie and Justin ("Justy"). I thought this made such a great picture--it'd make a great postcard to send to the rest of the family. Justy absolutely LOVED having Derek around--they became great playmates. Finally, Derek found someone he could play with that was just as rough (if not rougher) than himself.
Here's a view of the shore leading into the water from the Bucks' cottages. The water is beautifully clear and clean--absolutely NO seaweed to get tangled in. Love that! Only thing is that it's kind of hard to walk on all the rocks as you go out for a swim, so it's better if you wear water shoes. The water was 65 degrees--cold, but very refreshing, since the days were so warm and sunny.
Derek loved climbing on all the boats they had on shore. Altogether, the Bucks own several boats of all kinds. Derek always liked climbing into the kayak just to sit. He also liked climbing up onto the catamarand to play. I think this time, he was in need of a nap. What an absolute angel he is!
This is a view of the picnic/firepit area from the deck of John & Nancy's cottage. This is where all the Bucks gather at night after dinner (which we usually eat outside) to sit around the fire. We have drinks and talk the night away--I think it's definitely the best part of being up here.
Tom, John's oldest son, owns a beautiful yacht called "The Kare's Away"--a play off his wife's name, Karen. He gave Don a chance to drive it around the lake a bit. We drove down Sunnyside Beach to a point just off the military base shore. We anchored and took a nice little swim in the lake. I always love taking rides on The Kare's Away.
These are the horses we rode at a place just down the street from Sunnyside Beach. On the left is Pinto Boy, the one I rode. Quite the ladies horse he is. He loves getting all the attention from us girls. I specifically requested to ride him since he was so great last year. Last year, he was so fond of me, he didn't want to leave me to go into the stables. Jessica, Mary (Don's cousin) and Kim (Mary's daughter) accompanied me and this time, we had a pleasant, relaxing ride, though I wish we could have run the horses a bit.
Here's Don's cousin Mary. After riding the horses, she took us to a really beautiful scenic point on one of the nearby roads. It overlooks the town of Meaford and the bay. Very breathtaking. I had hoped to take an online sign language course before I came to Meaford again, so that I could sign with Mary and her other daughter, Amanda. They usually don't join us for the fire because they can't read people's lips. I was hoping I could change that, but I hadn't had a chance to take the course. I'm still going to try though.
Don and I took a nice long walk the first full day we arrived. We just went down the road where the cottages are. I ended up taking a few really nice pictures like this one. I got lucky and caught this butterfly looking for flowery sweetness.
Here's another I took during our walk. One of the neighbors owns a piece of land across the street from his cottage (like the Bucks). The landscaping he did is the most beautiful landscaping along the entire road. It's an open field of grass with a long stone gate with Chinese dogs sitting on either side of the gate entrance. In front of them is a Japanese Maple and a circular patch of flowers. The man was leaving just as we passed by and he was gracious enough to invite us to walk around his garden, since he saw me taking pictures. People here are so nice!
This is just a view of the river that runs into the canal in downtown Meaford. The canal has a small marina that opens up into the bay. It's where Tom keeps The Kare's Away.
Fire makes such a great subject for photography, don't you think? It's unpredictable what kind of color or flames you'll get. Nice!
Don had just a little bit of Scotchy-wotchy left in his bottle of Oban 14-year old single malt. He said he's always wanted to drink it straight from the bottle and I thought I should get proof. haha!
And lastly, here's a funny Mongoola face that we bought in a little boutique at Blue Mountain, about 40 minutes from Meaford, where we had dinner. John, Nancy, Don, me, Judy (John's daughter) and Kelsey (Judy's daughter) met Tom and Karen here on their way back from dropping their son Jon off at the Toronto airport. Dinner was really delicious and Don picked up the tab as a way of thanking Uncle John & Aunt Nancy for taking such good care of us over the weekend. We put the face on the front porch of our house to welcome our guests as they enter.
John & Nancy invited us to come up more often and Don offered to come up during Labor Day weekend to help take the docks in as an excuse to come back. It'd be great cause I'd love to come back. Hopefully it won't be too cool by then.
Posted by Amy at 09:00 PM | Comments (2)