MY CAMERA MADE IT OUT

You thought I wasn't going to be posting as much? I thought so too. But I seem to have overdone it--duh--so found myself in bed this morning all sore with a dull headache. (OK, the "dull head" is something I was born with, but the sore muscles are DEFINITELY witness to good, honest work!)

Anyway, last week, when the temperatures went down at least a few hours in the early mornings, I had gone down to the river to look at some wildlife and not posted any of it due to all this other stuff going on, so here's a little bit:

I wanted to see if my favorite hibiscus was still where it was several years ago. The popular hibiscus is a large, bright, red one; I've fallen in love with a tiny, dainty one that hangs upside down with streaks of white, kinda looks like a tiny valentine for someone on walks, I think, not a healthy bloom to be plucked and placed behind the ear...IT WAS STILL THERE! On a future post, I want to tell you about Senchi, a friend I made there.

There were waterfowl here before...no Swamp Pigeon (only pretty pigeon on nearby post)...but I saw an egret! It had flown quite a ways from the congregating place downriver, I knew. An old poster told of hunt for a snapping turtle nearby, but all I could see in the river were little carp...wait...THAT WAS A TURTLE HEAD--THEY HADN'T CAUGHT IT YET!

"I kinda don't think they ever will," a yellow flower seemed to say. Flowers don't talk, I told myself, and looked again. It was a pretty dragonfly. Butterflies were still around, but most dragonflies were gone by Oct. "Please don't run away. You're so pretty! I thought you were a flower--one of those yellow spears!" I knew I'd get feverish if I didn't go home soon so headed back.

I'm going to have to start to learn the name for the wildlife I see everyday. The first photograph looks like tiny peaches, but I KNOW they're not. And the red flowers bloom all over the place, and I just call them "those red flowers" and Kinya knows which ones I'm talking about.

LAST FEW HOURS

This was part of an e-mail to my sister yesterday:

The gas man was supposed to come turn off our gas at 5, and we were supposed to go to Omiya at 6:30, but it was 5:30 and he wasn't here. I asked Kinya if he wasn't coming after all, and he said he'd said he'd be late. I'd hoped we could be early and maybe stop by and say hello to my friends at the park. I could go now, he said, just be back by 6:30. I'd been hoping he'd say that and had been wiping myself down with a Gatsby sheet, making it cool, rushed off to the park--God kept it amazingly cool today!

There, I said out loud--and I didn't really care if people around me thought I was looney for talking to the animals because I was going to be moving anyway--I was moving, going to Omiya tonight so had to say goodbye, would not be coming to the park anymore.

And Jannie, call me crazy, but I think the animals responded and came out! I'm attaching photos of Snorkel the turtle, Speckles the carp,

Alabaster the egret, and Peter the Kawasemi, but there were much more. The crow, GBH, various dragonflies, spider, sparrows and pond skimmers were out, and probably the mosquitos, altho' I never see them. But I had to hurry because I had to go back home by 6:30. And altho' I usually don't take photographs of the Kawasemi--and he knows that--this past month, I've asked if I could take pictures to remember him by, and he seems to pose for me. He did so today too.

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When I got home, Kinya brought me out here to Omiya. First, we ate at a Mcdonalds, then we checked in at a really. nice hotel he'd found for me--one of those that has security elevators you have to put the card key up on a panel to operate, and you put the key in the pocket in the wall at the door to turn on the room lights.

But the first thing I did when I got to the room was find out if they had Wi-Fi then get MCC prayer meeting. Of course I was late--they started 7:30, and it was already 8:30--but they were still going strong, so I got to ask the Japanese group for prayer as we went down to Okinawa, then switch to the English-speaking breakout group. Did I tell you the head deacon of that church is the grandchild of the chairman of the mission committee that was part of Daddy's ordaining committee, also prayed for his ordination service? We were done with everything by 10:00.

I took a nice hot shower in the hotel's nice little bathroom...ahhh. But then I didn't think you'd be that interested in seeing a photo of just the bed, so I took a picture of the hotel's complimentary bottle of water, which I use to take my medicine. And in packing, our house wall clocks got taken down, and I learned to keep looking at the cellphone for the time, so Goya-Boy, the mascot you gave me, takes his responsibility seriously to remind me to take my medicine every time the cell alarm rings!

Tomorrow morning, Kinya and Keima are supposed to come around 10 AM and call my cell. I need to check out by 11 (they cannot come up on the elevator, since I have the key!) I will go down, and we will bum around the stores and probably eat at Mac again, take our limousine bus at 1 for Haneda. Our flight doesn't leave until the P.M., and people are worried typhoon might make the flight cancel. We shall see. Either which way, I need to have my quiet time and get some shut eye and be all purtiful by tomorrow's tyfoon, yes?