Greetings from Japan

[ChattyKathy]

Geo,

This will embarrass you perhaps but you can take it and I can take the consequences. I ran by the house on my lunch break for a quick check of the mail received and what did I find but a box from you from Japan! Of course that had nothing to do with why I went to check the mail in the first place. Yeah, right! :)

Now I bring this up in part because we were talking of it openly in chat and in part because I want these folks here that love you to see more of you.

I quickly opened it up and read your letter then started tossing peanuts aside to get to the goodies. I found more things than I could even look at (due to time) but I did see a beautiful lacquered tea caddy, a fabulous scarf with beautiful paintings on it, a mask to ward off evil spirits, some tissue in case I ever have to use the restroom in Japan and they not have any toilet paper, a receipt so I could see what it looked like but I don't even know if it is a receipt for what you sent, a men's magazine :unsure: but a real quick glanced found no naked people. And there was still a full box of stuff. I left it on my desk at home with peanuts all over the floor so when I return tonight I can enjoy the whole thing all over again. :)

Now, why did I tell you this in open? Because if you could put together a box of things like that, pick out a beautiful tea caddy and woman's scarf for me (your buddy) then what in the world could you pick out for a woman you had interest in? Geo, you ain't got a problem in the world dear! I've told you that before in private and now I just told you it in public.

(((geo)))

Kathy

[Kit Sober]

George,

Marlon Brando's Sayonara was on TV, and I thought of you, and wondered if you might stay over with your own Hano Ogi(?).

Glad you made it safely back, and hope the spring blossoms will be an expression of new hope in your heart and life.

[George Aar]

You gals are too sweet.

I do have a lady-friend in Kobe, though she's more an onna no kyodai (sister) than a Hana-Ogi (reed flower, I think). Maybe I'll have to go back in the fall. The weather's wonderful then...

[ChattyKathy]

That would be a wonderful idea Geo!

[ChattyKathy]

I asked Geo if I could post a little bit of an email he sent me. It describes a couple of the gifts mentioned above and I had to smile about the scarf. Enjoy Geo's descriptions......

The "scarf" is actually supposed to be a carrying cloth sort of thing that

you would wrap a gift in. You'd wrap the cloth around a present of some

sort, and tie a decorative (and VERY strong) knot in the ends of the cloth

to form a sort of handle to carry the present in. Every Japanese woman I

know is very adept at tying some really intricate and hearty knots. I guess

all that time tying their obis gives them plenty of practice. But, please

use it as a scarf if you like. Now you know what it really is, though.

Here's a link to a tea ceremony site:

http://home2.highway.ne.jp/hinachan/sadookokusai_e.htm

It gives you a bit of the how-tos and whatnot. I've only done the whole tea

ceremony once that I can remember. A samurai was expected to be an expert at

it, as well as be able to compose poetry and haiku. Of course he also had

the right of "kirisute", meaning he could kill whoever he wanted for no

reason whatever, but it's nice to know that they had their softer side too,

I guess? Anyway, the basics of the tea ceremony are: heat the water, mix the

tea with the water, whisk it, and serve. The powered tea is a bit more

expensive than the regular leaf tea, but Motohide wouldn't allow me to get

anything but the powdered type once he saw the tea caddy. "Anything less

would dishonor the container". Must be a Japanese thing.