Monday 28 December 2009

Further festivities

On Boxing Day (26th) Katherine and Alice went off to Matsue for some sightseeing and we went to Tomonori and Ritsuko's place for (possibly) the last potluck party of the season.



OK, that photo has nothing to do with what I just wrote, but it's cute isn't it?

Anyway, I roasted yet another bird (chicken this time) and took it along...


We had a gift exchange (I took that Little Red Riding Hood bag) and a nice relaxing afternoon together. H and Tomonori were classmates at school, and now they have sons 3 months apart - the next generation!


In the evening we ate Christmas Day leftovers and goodies brought home from the party; lots of lovely food with no cooking required!


Yesterday was Alice's last day here. Katherine, Alice, K and I went to a local hot spring in the morning while H stayed at home and waited for Alice's luggage to arrive. After lunch out all together there was just time for Alice to sort though her bag before she caught the 3 o'clock bus out of town again. She'd brought lots of Christmassy goodies for us all. Here we can see K holding a tube of Jelly Tots and a bottle of pale ale...



There was also a Christmas pudding. If you are a relative or you know my family well, it may amuse you:


After Alice left, Katherine and I went to the Waterbird Park for an hour. It's become one of my favourite low-key places to go - fantastic views of Mount Daisen and (obviously) waterbirds, aided by great telescopes, and near enough and cheap enough to visit often. I'm looking forward to taking K there when he's a bit bigger and can really enjoy it.


Katherine left this morning and we had a Normal Day. K and I went to the play centre and then went out for lunch with Lisa (OK, maybe not quite normal). H was at work today but now the holidays truly begin. He took last Thursday afternoon and Friday off but for most people they were ordinary working days. While I did all my rushing around pre-Christmas and then lazed around for a few days over Christmas, most people here follow that super-busy/taking-it-easy pattern over New Years, and are now about to enter the holiday season. We're all free now until January 4th, when most people go back to work.

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