Sayonara and Hello

.At home and recuperating from a day of heavy travel home. We left Japan at 4pm Tokyo time Saturday, and arrived home at 3pm local time, still Saturday. Ah, the magic of time zones. A wondrous trip was had by all. In a month's time, perhaps we'll have managed to absorb just how amazing this trip was.

There's a lot of elaborating to do. I hope to update the past couple of days' postings shortly, as my head settles back into routine here. I'm also downloading a few thousand photos, ready to choose a few for your viewing pleasure.

Our last of several surprise visits this week was Aunt Kuniko and her husband meeting us at the Oita airport to see us off on the first leg of our journey home. Mother knew it was a possibility but had encouraged Kuniko not to come, as our flight was to leave very early. But there she was, determined to see her sister off. Very sweet.

It was absolutely beautiful in Oita and in Tokyo today, very warm and sunny. To arrive home in 51F semi-rainy weather was a bit of a let-down, but my flowers are liking it. The daffodils are over but the forsythia is still going strong and a couple of early irises are in bloom. Camellias continue to make a strong showing as they have off and on since January. Nice floral welcome.

But back to Japan.... I'm sure you didn't come here to read about flowers. :) More to come soon. If only I can keep my eyes open! And remember how to use a standard U.S. keyboard....

p.s. The geisha photo is obviously blurry, so you may not want to bother clicking to enlarge it. But I loved this moment as she looked upward and laughed lightly, maybe at all of us ungainly gawkers so unreasonably excited to see her. It seems fitting that she is blurry and a little surreal... not of this world.