Saturday, September 6, 2008

After a loooooong summer....


On the way to taking the kids to school we pass a large construction site every morning. In Tokyo, they always surround construction sites with large, white, temporary walls. The panels sort of resemble pocket doors and there is always a large opening in the wall through which staff and trucks can enter the site. The opening section always has its own real pocket-door, closable section to it. Often, one of the panels of the white wall is clear glass, allowing passers-by to see into the site and what's happening with the progression of the building.

The site we pass each day is just humongous - we cannot fathom what is being built. But we do know that the glass panel, as of Wednesday morning, the third morning of school, contained a window-box full of flowers. The windowbox was inside the glass and placed low so as not to interfere with a view of the site itself. The flowers are a jaunty mix of autumn asters and mums.

Only in Japan would there be flowers at the construction site. What a sense of renewal. It seems apropos.

Thank you to everyone who helped us make our summer spectacular, whether in person, by email or by telephone, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

The photo here is from the start of the summer - the morning of our neice Alyssa's bat mitzvah. It was wonderful and joyous and the perfect start to a very long and merry summer of fun and visits.

More on that later; now I need to concentrate on being back in Tokyo - on being HOME.