Bumpy Roads

I am happy that I managed to write over 40 entries in my first two months of blogging, but recently my frequency of contribution has slackened. I think the difference maker is my free time- my schedule was quite busy in February and time to think about topics, etc was a little less. I actually did think of some topics (while driving usually) but they got lost on along the way.

A few mini-topics today


1. Magnolias

I had mentioned these in one of my first posts and it just takes a beautiful day like yesterday for them to amaze me again. The actual blossoming time is pretty brief, but the street (Mokuren dori) just looked amazing as all the trees lining the streets were in full ripe bloom. The blossoms each look so fresh and ripe and fluffy like a full and juicey snowflake on a fresh powder day in the mountains. It was quite nice! I also found some later in the day when driving around the Miyakoda techno area...
2. Comments

A couple of interesting comments inside the blog iteslf and to my e-mail recently. I never shared this information(and sorry I haven't investigated yet) but apparently there is a science to picking your tofu. My old student Yuki that is now living in Switzerland is an expert in these types of matters- she knows about food chemistry! She actually used to work on a tofu project for a food company! Well she says "I strongly recommend you to buy the ones that coagulated by only magnesium chloride.（塩化マグネシウム） You can taste the sweetness of soya beans.tofus that are coagulated by calcium sulfate goes sour when it's heated." -- I wanted to share that, it sounds interesting and I look forward to having a taste test one day soon!
I also had a comment from my Second Cousin? Don Godin. Well, I don't think I have ever met Don before- maybe when I went back to Ontario 10 years ago to visit?- but I think I haven't. Well I am so happy to meet a member of my extended family and never thought I could do so by simply starting a blog!
Oh and a good comment from my sister relating to the Lillooet posts I did a little ways back. Her husband, Sean is quite the juggler and I was talking about his latest feat- she updates "Sean can now juggle Mac, 23 bananas AND the dog!! Pretty good considering the dog's not too happy about it. " -- I guess she does have the same sense of humour as I do after all!
I know everyone can see most of these comments themselves- but my theory is that most people rarely look back at posts they have already seen...

3. On a Sad Note...

This weekend at the end of my Sunday class I heard some sad news. One of the former members of that class had stopped attending a year ago and I heard she was quite ill. Well it seems that last month she succumbed to (I think it was lung) cancer and passed away. She was such a very sweet and happy woman everytime I saw her. She treated our whole class one day and played the shamisen and sang old geisha folk songs (sorry I forget the name of the type of music) for us. Her voice was amazing and the song was beautiful and, to me, more importantly she was so happy to share the song with us! Thanks Kyoko!