From the river to the bay: I'M HOME :0)

Thursday 24 October 2019

I'M HOME :0)

GREAT TO WAKE UP IN MY OWN BED after a wonderful week in tokyo with rene, sayaka, cal and mara. the time there was exactly what I wanted, lots of time with rene, walking to school with him and the kids, spending time with him at his office, outings to crazy recycle shops, restaurants, parks and lots of time at home. I really got a feel for the rhythm of their day, a very late night family :0) I'm getting over a sudden attack of chesty cough and loss of voice, I'm sure just from tiredness. i thought i'd be really crook on the plane but it's passed in a few days.

Arrived home on Monday - lovely to see Sunny briefly when she picked me up but i was feeling pretty crook with no voice so i
stayed a night in a motel and drove to Bendigo on Tuesday to meet gail for lunch at the Dispensary.

we went to the wonderful Balenciaga exhibition at the gallery, room after room of amazingly constructed clothes with great back up information on cutting, embroideries, other designers influenced by him, animations on the construction of the garments. not my favorite designer but a fabulous exhibition of work by a ground breaking man. we stayed the night and i drove home yesterday.

Xray of the dress below showing the built in

boning and underwear supporting the gown

Bendigo is such a lovely city - beautiful buildings and gardens. i'll stay here on the way home more often i think. the motel we stayed at was cheap and in a great location up behind the gallery.

the Oval motel.

We had dinner
at the Shamrock Hotel
and morning coffee
opposite the gallery before a bit of shopping then i hit the road
- arrived here last
night at six to find that
the automatic watering
had not worked at all
while i was away.

A RECAP of the second half of my week in Tokyo.

early morning cal,

a very sleepy boy

before heading

off to kinder.

this should be a movie but it's not working
here, mara kept us entertained with songs
as we travelled around tokyo :0) a little treasure

I can't remember what was so funny but we're trying to design
a logo with a teddy bear riding a bike !!

in a terrific
bookshop where
i bought some
lovely books
of bird
illustrations
and prints by
hokusai and
hiroshige

AND WE'RE OFF . . . cal doing a good impression of reversing as we head off for a day with Michiko and Takashi, Sayaka's parents. shopping, lunch in a sushi train cafe, dinner at a Thai restaurant set in beautiful gardens around a lake. Some rain, Mara singing, a walk around the park - it was a lovely day.

in a hardware store, one of
my favorite shopping places
in japan, the work glove
department is a joy to
behold! i came back with
a whole range, as usual.

once again, the

manholes are

a feature wherever

we go, this one

features an emperor

Sayaka and Takashi

Mara singing in the rain

Michiko and Mara

Cal and Mara are on the go all day, no rest until they drop into bed

THE SUSHI TRAIN - booth seating and food zooming along to the table on a conveyor belt after being order by pressing a button on a screen. hot tap on the table for self serve green tea, all very efficient. the food is fresh and terrific. Mara developed a little crush on the robot who gave us our table number :0)