We won’t quite make it till midnight so… as we cuddle in at Tsuchida Cottage (in always sunny Okayama, Japan), Ryoko, Ichiro & me wish you The Best Year Ever in 2021 / Reiwa 3.
fondly xo etc
We won’t quite make it till midnight so… as we cuddle in at Tsuchida Cottage (in always sunny Okayama, Japan), Ryoko, Ichiro & me wish you The Best Year Ever in 2021 / Reiwa 3.
fondly xo etc
5 – count ’em 5ive – new #Ichiro cards for your on-going collection from early Dec. 2020 (Reiwa 2), series includes:
These shining lights continue to connect the centuries of culture & community The family gravestones go back so far the words are obscured / we wash (sometimes), light incense (Nag Champa in this case), clap and bow + bit of a conversation > In this case, namesake Grandfather Ichiro & Grandmother Tomiko’s ohaka / note: this “ohaka” has served as an important destination and part this year’s actions as documented in this archive.
This chair helps strengthen up his back for sitting up and such fun!
5 new Ichiro cards #io in the ongoing series… Coming from the last fortnight in spectacular & pleasantly autumnal Okayama, Japan. 
This assortment includes:
At a special Halloween (safe and all that) gathering at local community centre / for our “trick or treat” station, we did insta-photo with annotations and kids chose stickers (sent by R & S in Montréal) Mama was a Canucks hockey player and Papa rocked lederhosen (possibly documented elsewhere).
Memo: So much awesome stuff arriving in the mail these last days/weeks/months.
We are all very grateful and doing our best to send each of you a proper personalized thank you card.
In the meanwhile, we send our sincere gratitude for your thoughtfulness, efforts and (often excessive) postal rates.
As always, keep an eye on your post box, ya never know when something will come through the portal. 
…Once he stows aboard on a tramp freighter heading through the south seas, he’ll make it… with nothing but his satchel of poetry and pressed flowers. Thanks to Uncle Anders for the Dr. Seuss art.
4 New Ichiro Cards in a busy month catching up on all sorts of life stuff (glasses, ID cards, dentists, construction plans and Ryoko back to work…) see “Personal Musings” for more. Anyhow, importantly, more Ichi-kun! (collect ‘em all for best results)