As I mentioned in my previous post, Anthony and I just flew to my folks' place in Ohio, from Kyoto.

The 12-hour flight went as fine as a 12-hour flight can go. We actually took off ahead of schedule(!), and made more time during the flight, so we arrived half an hour early. Kudos to Northwest for that.

We had a couple of hours in Detroit for customs/immigration, and to make our connection to Cleveland. Everything went smoothly, so we had time to check out a fun fountain in the middle of the main terminal.

The red thing above is [...]

The flight is full. There were only a few seats left the other day, and looking yesterday, it seems they've all gone. Ugh.

We normally take Untied Airlines, but the Kansai - San Francisco - Chicago - Cleveland route is really unfun – too many segments – so this time I'm trying Kansai - Detroit - Cleveland on Northwest. This itinerary shaves something like five hours off the travel time.

The last time I flew Northwest, in 1990, my luggage got mistakenly put onto a later flight, one that – also mistakenly – crashed, killing seven passengers and one crew [...]

As I wrote in my story about my visit to a Japanese High School, part of the visit was a group discussion with students about a wide variety of issues, including what they want to become later in life. The girls that hoped to raise a family said so somewhat sheepishly, as if being a mother wasn't "real" work.

I corrected them, pointing out that motherhood is an unsung, unappreciated, demanding job that society gives little credit for, but should. After Anthony was born, I called my mom and said "thanks, and sorry", because you really don't get it until [...]

Today was harvest day, time to reap the crop of cherry tomatoes Anthony has been "tending" (by which I mean, letting us tend) for the last few weeks.

It was fairly warm in Kyoto today – 36°C (98°F) in the shade – but the humidity was uncharacteristically low, so it was fairly pleasant if you were in the shade. At least, I think so... I never left the air-conditioning of the house! 🙂

I did notice from the living-room window a guy fishing in the little river. He was there for hours.

I also noticed the cherry tomatoes that Anthony and Mommy planted in a pot on the veranda were moving along...

Someone found a cool way to walk the dog...

We took the opportunity to enjoy a [...]