Mexican Dinner

Sunday was a blast. We invited our group of Japanese friends for Mexican Dinner and they just loved it. Sallie made some salsa and enchiladas and I fixed the rest, refried beans, baked corn, chili verde, etc. It all turned out marvelous and most of it was gone by the time everyone left.
Hope we can do it again soon

Humidity has hit

Well, don't know how much traveling we will be getting in this summer. DH plans to climb Mt Fuji in a couple weeks and that will be a great experience for him. Me, climbing anything is just not an option. I want to do one last trip to Sasebo, Japan to shop at the NEX there, and we have to do Tokyo and Kyoto because you can't come to Japan and not do Kyoto. Also, in November we are going to go to our last Sumo match in Fukaoka.

Just have to add another picture of Japanese Gardens

June 17th 2005

I just had a call from Phyllis, bud from Okinawa who said they have had 3 days of constant downpouring rain. When I was in Okinawa last month all it did was rain, so we didn't get out much. Actually if I never go back to Okinawa that will be fine with me. Everywhere we went the food was blaa and tasteless, both on base and off, unless you like fast food and there were tons of those around. We went out for Chinese and everyonne just raved about the food and I thought it was bland and tasteless.
Of course I was not there to sightsee, we were there for a meeting but the only thing worth the trip was the airpost. Every hallway, every window, every knuck and cranny had orchids, the most beautiful orchids. I took lots of pictures but unfortunately they are not in photobucket.
Speaking about orchids. Sallie went to the states for a couple of weeks and asked if I would babysit her orchid. The poor thing was about on its last legs, half the stalks didn't have and leaves and the ones that did were lookin pretty sorry. The next morning I was watching Tipical Mary Ellen on TV and what did she talk about was how to care for orchids. Sallie was watering them from the top. Well I went and got a large flat bowl, filled it with gravel and placed the orchid there. Still lost a couple of leaves but, I think it looked a lot healthier than when she gave it to me.
Sallie is one of the folks that I will miss here in Japan. She is a civil engineer who works for the Marines and I love exploring Japan with her. We never use the same road twice and she knows every back street in Iwakuni.
We also go to pottery class together and what fun that is. I need to bring my camera to show you the teachers work. He and his son are amazing potters and his glazes are amazing.
I am going to miss Japan but I am so ancious to just get home and put ARC behind me.

Japanese Rose Gardens

June is the season for flowers in Japan and there is nothing more beautiful than a Japanese Rose Garden. This one we visited a couple weeks ago.

Cool, figured out how to post pictures. Now the sky is the limit. Need to figure out how to go fix the ones I posted below.

Anyway, back to Little P, our motorhome. I really feel that we can find free places to park at night for our night camp and not spend the money on parking lot spaces that they call campgrounds, will save us tons of money, money that we can use to improve Little P. We need a solar system for the electricty, we need a satellite dish for interent and we need leverlers as we will probably not be camping on level grounds.

So, I am not off to my favorite web site, Amazon.com to look for free campsite books. Wish me luch

Everyday I check in with George and Ms Tioga and today was no exception. He was just going from Oregon into Calif at Crescent City where we were just this time last year.
So looking forward to starting our own adventure. Last night, Roy and I invited Sallie, our engineer buddy and Barry Nelson , whose wife went home for the summer, to join us for Italian night at the club. I ordered the Chipolte Sauce and it was a tad on the spicy side, but I really enjoyed the food and the company was delightful. We will miss our friends here in Iwakuni.
But not enought to want to stay. We have our own Ms Tioga to worry about, but our turtle shell (RV) is a Georgie Boy Pursuit which has been idle for a couple years and will need a lot of TLC to get her into go condition.
I think the maintenace will be up to Roy, but I have been reading up on what needs to be done, just in case and my list is getting extensive.
I need to check to see if I can download my picture so excuse the little detour here.

Recently I found a blog site, The Adventures of Ms Tioga and George. This team also consists of Mr Camera, and Ms GPS and the like, George is the only living, breathing member, but as you read, each member seems to take on its own personallity.
The team has a few simple rules. Tioga gets daily maintenance. The team travels no more than 200 miles a day and they rarely pay for a campground. Also Ms Tioga keeps her speed at under 50 MPH. Each rule really makes financial sence. RV campground parking can cost up to 30 even 40 dollars a night and that rapidly adds up. Folks say well they need the campgrounds so they can have electricity, internet access, etc. but the way George saves money, he can readily afford a solar system. He has a bank of 6 batteries and 6 solar panels which give him adequate electricty for the day. He also equiped Ms Tiogo with Levelors and that is generally a must have for boondocking. He added a larger foot pad on them so they don't sink into the ground.

So, I am so interested in this way of life and hope that I can emulate him at some point. 5 months til retirement. Happy days.

June in Japan

The wonders of Japan still continually amaze me. Yesterday it was summer, the humidity hit us in the face like a wet wash cloth. We watched the track of the first thyphoon of the year, and felt yet another earthquake.
We were in a big 6.7 earthquake last month. We went to a festival in Yamagawa and while we were standing next to the river, watching the prince and princess go by, the earth really started to shake. It was rather funny, because I remember looking down at my feet and wondering why they were moving and I'm a Calif girl, I know about earthquakes.
Anyway, what really interested me was the reaction of the children. They immediately dropped and covered their heads. All of them, in little circles. It was amazing to watch. They are well trained here, much better than we are in the US.
So, I have to figure out why my pictuers are not showing up. HUMM, the rose garden was absolutely beautiful and Im sorry that you missed the pictures.