it's not life that matters but the journey...

I think we've gone backwards in time. It's been so unbelievably cold and miserable outside - it feels more like mid-January than mid-March. Well technically it's not Mid-March yet, but the last two weeks have been so warm it might have been May! However, the last few days - ever since Friday afternoon - have been so cold and cloudy, and the temperature has dropped at least 10 degrees. I haven't gone out of the house since Sunday - with it raining all the time, I just chose to do my walking DVD instead of walking around the neighborhood yesterday. And today, I just sat inside all day, using as many heaters as possible and drinking hot tea and coffee all day just to stay warm! Miki and her daughter came by again today, and we chatted for a few hours - it's always fun to have them over! After they left, I studied for awhile, then just watched a few Oscar highlights on the internet (yea I know I said I wasn't interested, but I'm always curious about the fashions and the presenters)... it was fun to see Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal both looking so gorgeous, and Robert Downey Jr. looked just adorable! and of course I was happy to hear that Jeff Bridges won for best actor, and even happy to hear Sandra Bullock won - I like her. I caught the little tribute to John Hughes, and I have to admit getting a little teary watching the clips from his movies. I grew up with John Hughes movies, and consider them a big part of my youth, so I was saddened when he died last year. It was fun to see all the actors together again, though might I say that Molly Ringwald looked a bit stiff when she was reading her intro? She looked a little like a deer caught in the headlights! Was she nervous or something? I could comment more about the Oscar winners overall, but since I saw only two of the nominated films (Precious and Avatar), I don't have much to say that has any merit.

Anyway, I want to post some pictures that I've taken lately, including some pics and videos from the all day charity concert we attended on Sunday. The concert was organized by a piano player named Shimura-san (who Masahiko has played with quite a bit) to raise money for the earthquake victims in Haiti; Shimura-san invited many local musicians who he has personally worked with. I guess he got the support of many local businesses to pay for the venue, and any money collected as donations at the concert would be sent to Haiti. We left our house at 8 a.m. and drove an hour to a very rural place in the Izu Peninsula (not near the coast though). Masahiko played standard jazz with a bunch of talented musicians in the morning, and then there was a variety of music throughout the day including some Dixieland jazz, some Japanese Enka performed with guitar, a very interesting Japanese female vocalist who had a penchant for 50's era American songs (e.g. "Save the Last Dance for Me" and "Johnny Angel"), and a harmonica group (that we skipped watching)... the best music, at least for me, was a group of three men (two guitarists - one of whom also played banjo, and one who also played mandolin - and a stand-up bassist), who performed a variety of American country, bluegrass and folk, including some Earl Scruggs, and standard folk songs like "Beautiful Brown Eyes", "This Land is Your Land" and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone." They also did an amazing version of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" with both banjo and mandolin. Their harmonies were so good, and if you didn't see them, you wouldn't even realize they are Japanese - they really mastered the sound and feel of traditional American folk music! I should have videotaped their performance, but I was too mesmerized to get the camera going. I did, however, videotape another interesting musician, a guy who played a traditional Chinese instrument called a Niko. If you've seen Chinese movies, you've probably heard this instrument - it has two strings, and slighly resembles a violin in it's sound - though it has a melancholy, haunting sound that is so beautiful.

Here is a clip of a beautiful song, played by Mr. Shimura on Piano, and the Niko player (I don't know his name). Just click on the thumbnail below and you can see the video:



It was really interesting that so much of the music played on Sunday strongly reminded me of my dad - especially the Dixieland, and the folk and bluegrass. My dad loved Dixieland Jazz, and he used to spend whole entire weekends going to jazz fests in Sacramento and other places; the group in the morning did an amazing version of "When the Saints Go Marching In" that I'm sure my dad would have loved. I like to think that perhaps he was there with me on Sunday, listening, and that's why I was flooded with thoughts of him. I was close to crying in the afternoon when I heard all the folk and bluegrass, which was some of my dad's favorite music. He owned tons of records by Earl Scruggs, and absolutely loved the old folk standards. It was hard because I didn't want to start crying in front of a bunch of strangers; yet it was also nice to know that my dad's spirit could be felt in that music.

anyway, I've got a slight headache tonight - maybe from the weather - so I think I'll finish this post and go to bed. But before I go, I'll leave you with some other pics that I've taken recently



Some pretty yellow and white flowers I saw on my walk (on a nice warm sunny day):



Fuji-san covered with snow and framed by trees:



The bell-shaped pink flowers outside of my house's entrance (I'm not sure what these flowers are called, but I think they're so pretty):



Making okonomiyaki a couple of weeks ago with Miki, Maeko and Masahiko:





A waffle-shaped cookie with cream in the middle (don't ask me why, but I thought it was interesting):





I hope everyone else is having better weather than we are here. Thursday's supposed be sunny - but then after that it's more days of rain! I can't help but be a bit depressed - I want to see the sun!