Chris arrived home via the Philippines, where he saw a lot of cool places and islands and bought me this tablecloth! It matches other tableware we have really well, including this tea set his parents gave me for Christmas last year. Tablecloth: Philippines, chopsticks: Singapore, candlesticks: South Korea, bamboo napkin rings: Pineapple Post in Jacksonville…
Ports of Call Tea Party
Flower Market—More Delightful Than the Fish Market
My friend Jill invited me to the Oak City Mall flower market Wednesday morning. We both got tons of flowers to decorate our homes for our returning husbands! There are some flower shops down the street from my house, but a whole market sounded too good to miss. And the prices were better, too! I…
Look for Me When The Winds Change
I have no idea what Japan’s weather is really like because the locals say we had a warm winter, a late spring and a cool summer. Produce costs are double what they usually are, say my English students. Last Saturday was the hottest day of the summer with highs in the mid-90s, a bajillion perfect…
Postcards From the Red Square
GUM and St. Basil’s Cathedral Church inside the Kremlin GUM and the national history museum I think The famous Russian ballet performs here. St. Basil’s Cathedral at night
What’s Big and Soggy and Headed Your Way?
It’s an earthquake…it’s a tsunami…no! It’s a typhoon or something! The Japan Meteorological Agency provides this helpful map for all those people who say, “Right, where do you live? Uh-huh…and where’s Tokyo?” Tokyo is the left side of that red area. The red peninsula is Chiba (high wave warning). Tokyo prefecture has a high wave…
Postcards from Ireland
A couple weeks ago my friend Kristin and I watched the indie hit musical Once which got rave reviews on NPR a few summers ago. I found it at the library and rented it. The music was nice; the plot was ridiculous and boring. Anywho, in this one scene the guy gets the girl to…
Lizards Across the World
This rainbow lizard was spotted in Northern Florida and Southern Georgia and is unrelated to the following story. This next lizard lives or died in Singapore.This one time when we were little-ish my dad told us that women wear geckos as earrings on some other continent by letting the lizards clamp their toothless mouths on…