Shrine Sale

In spite of the rainy weather today several of my lady friends and I went to the Machida shrine sale. Many shrines have regularly scheduled shrine sales, and Machida’s is the first of the month. A shrine sale is rather like an antiques fair with furniture and architectural pieces. I am searching for just the right pieces of furniture. I didn’t purchase anything today, as I had no way to get it home, but I have an idea of what I want. I am looking for a step cabinet or bar cabinet for my dining room in a cherry wood, and maybe woodcut screens. You have to get there very early 0700 or so, because things sell fast. There were quite a few people at the sale, even though it was chilly and raining. There were also food stands, yakitori (chicken on a stick) and mochi (sticky rice flour marshmallow stuff which brings good luck to those who eat it and also chokes many senior citizens to death each year), and hot sake (good thing we rode the train!). It was good practice for me, asking questions and then protesting that no, my Japanese isn’t good at all. That is the polite thing to do if you are complimented. For example –

Person 1: You speak Japanese very well!

Person 2: No, no I am not skilled at all.

Person 1: No really, I understand everything you say.

Person 2: No, no my Japanese is awful.

-and so on until someone else interrupts you and you can escape.

I also went to the bazaar at Zama City. My German friend has a rug stall there, so I sat out of the rain and shared some yakisoba with her (real yakisoba with cabbage and carrots, not the awful stuff with ground beef served in cafeterias and mess halls in the States). I did make some purchases at the bazaar, mostly with other people’s money, as I have a lengthy list of requests from home. I found this perfect woodcut for a friend back home; it has this little cat peeking out a shoji screen at a farmer’s field. He will love it. I got a woodcut for myself as well. It is of a persimmon tree, just like the one outside my window (which I mentioned in one of my earliest entries), so I will always have something to remember my tree by. I also found a length of obi material, which is just right to use as a table runner. See what payday will do to you! I did manage to exhibit some small measure of self-control and did not bring home another teapot for my collection.

Watermelon is recognised as an efficient eliminator of collected mineral solids in the body.

Have a great day!!