Summer is Just Around The Corner

The Daily Routine

 

We are early risers here. Mike is up daily at 4 a.m. and is off to the gym by 5:00. I am up too but I don't get out of bed til I hear the front door close. I figure it's nice to let him have that time to himself. Then I love my morning ritual of curling up on the sofa, drinking a cup of tea and checking Facebook. I love to see posts from all of you. Lately it's been wonderful family graduations, and celebrations of every kind, or wonderful photos from friends traveling to far away places. I also note great losses or current worries of friends that are asking for thoughts and prayers. At those moments I stop and send out something positive to the great unknown asking for some light to help those in need. These days it's always dark outside when I get up. Within the first hour I watch the sunrise. My living room sofa faces out to Windows that look out to our back yard . I get a full view of the morning sunlight chase the nights darkness away. Today the sun is bright and beautiful against the large bottle brush trees. When I see this soft mellow light begin to cast its shadows across the green grass it makes my heart full and very grateful. And so begins this day...

A Day Exploring Food Options In Gardena California

Mike took the day off April 8th so we attended to errands in the a.m. and then decided to give equal time to our heritage by exploring Italian/Japanese cuisine We headed to Gardena and meant to check out the "Eatalian Cafe"    but we got sidetracked at "Giuliano's Deli which we had never been to so we had fun shopping and decided to try the big sub sandwich plus some spicy soppressata, some fresh ricotta and some dry cured olives. We grabbed a table outside and had our lunch in the sunshine. We don't know this area well but as it turns out it is just a few blocks from the Gardena Buddhist church where we danced at the Obon festival last August. Then we headed to the nearby Japanese big market formerly owned by Mitsuwa now owned by Tokyo Central. If we hadn't eaten lunch already we could have filled our tummies with lots of yummy looking food here. A fun day exploring the endless possibilities of greater Los Angeles area.

Another Kind of Birthday Celebration

Cousin Tamiko Visits

We had a nice reunion brunch today with my cousin Tamiko and her husband Rick, my sister Jocelyn and her husband Vicente. Tamiko and Rick  live near Santa Cruz and though that's not far we don't see them often.Tamiko is a cousin that grew up far away from all of us who settled on the west coast. She was born and raised in Hawaii. Today she brought over and shared some old family photos. We saw photos of Honolulu and the Kaanapali area of Maui in the 1950's. It was amazing to see places that are so built up now looking very untouristy, quiet and not built up. I also found a photo probably taken in the 1960's of my aunts sitting with the same gold miners at Knotts berry farm that Mike and I sat next to recently. Everybody must have photos of someone they know with those two guys! Lots of old family stories and memories shared today.


 


 


 

 



























 

 

A New Member of Our Family

Our family has expanded. Athena and Mat have a new puppy and we have our first "grand" dog! The kids are over the moon in love with him!

 

 

 

Sofia as Moana