Ballet

So, this is not because I think my daughter is the next prima ballerina with the Royal Ballet. We are going home next week and thereby missing the most intensive training period for the December Ballet Show that M has promised to take part in. SO the teacher suggested I video the class today so that M could watch it, practise, and not forget the steps while we are away. So, in the name of dedication, here is the dance in its raw form. From last year's experience, they will all suddenly look great on the stage, even if it seems far off now!

Twinkle Toes- Nail Art

Finally went and got my toes done today. I've been meaning to do it for a while, but I never had the 2 hours free. My summer holidays which started yesterday have been started off in style with a 3 hour massage yesterday, and an emergency hair dye today which was accompanied by the arty nail do.

I deserve it dammit.

Note, I did not get my finger nails done. Too bloody expensive to get both in one sitting!
I wasn't really aiming for the Liberace look: the gold looked much more understated on the display models, but hey, if you're going to do a thing....

Now all I need is a few nice outfits to go with my feet.

Two Hot New Girls in Hiroshima

Went out for a coffee this afternoon with the girls, and was charmed by the latest Hiroshima debutantes. Young A with her luvly Mummy above, who I thought was teeny until I saw her next to (almost) 2 week old E, below.

Destined to be a beauty like her gorgeous brothers (and Mum of course).

And adorable cheeky monkey O was on hand to remind us what happens when they start to be able to move!

Fred

Before

1 week later

Barber shop

Skinhead Fred

Thank you.

Scottish Visitors bring the Rain

It really has been a real Rainy Season this year.

Don't know if they brought the British weather with them, but we were glad to see our good friends from Scotland the other week.

New addition since we last met, C is definitely a "braw bairn".

"Baby" S wasn't playing when it came to getting her photo taken this time, but she's definitely no baby any more!

And another one of Prince C with his two slaves. Haha!
Great to see you guys. Will phone when we reach sunny Scotland.

Swine Influenza Precautions? 豚インフルエンザ対策？

No.
This is the get-up Weechan had to wear to serve the school lunches at her Japanese primary school.
That's fine, but my major complaint was that I had to iron it. My iron hasn't seen the light of day since Granny was last here!

いや。
小学校の第一周は給食当番でした。それはいいけど、Grannyがスコットランドに帰って以来、アイロンを出さないといけなかったの。原則としてアイロンかけない私ですから、タイミング悪いなあ、と思った。

A Brief Pause in the Rains

It has really been a rainy rainy season, but on the one Saturday where the sun shone, we made full use of it by getting the paddling pool out when the K kids and the F kids came over for lunch.

T was on fine form. I'll keep the other nude shots for private viewing!

Can't believe these 2 are so huge now. S, 9,

I, just turned 7. Happy birthday I. What happened to your chin???

For Granny

Friend Ai-chan came round the other weekend to play, and we had a rare these days dressing up sesh (while the grown-ups watched Wimbledon!). See? I am Tinkerbell!

Head Hunger

After a slight headache drama, which I suspect may have been brought on more by preferring Kim Possible to the prospect of a piano lesson,rather than by the original bang on the head; we went out, came back and a large dinner ensued.

Mairi: "Mummy, I feel much better now, maybe I had a headache because my head was hungry...."

Morals - Hiroshima A-Bomb Education for 6 year-olds

Today Weechan's 4th period class was "Morals". I was interested to see what that was going to be about.
She came home full of tales of a video they had been shown.

"Okori Jizo" or Angry Jizo, is basically a tale of one little girl's experience of the 6th of August, 1945.
I have heard Weechan's garbled version of the story, which has large gaps in it, but it has obviously made a big impression on her. She can't stop talking about it.

I've just ordered a copy of the book above from Amazon so I can see what the message of it is meant to be, but I'll leave you with the words from the mouth of my babe before she went to sleep:

"So if America and Japan were fighting about something, and they both did bad things, then they just have to say they're "sorry", and "that's OK", and we can all get along again with no more big bad bombs"

In a nutshell really.

I'm reserving judgement on what I think of showing this stuff to 6 year-olds, until I see what's in the book, and I definitely have a raised eyebrow about whether it should be shown in "morals" class. But it's hard to complain about any anti-bomb propaganda, when you live in this city really.
We're not going to be here for bomb day this year, so I'll show you a couple of YouTubes I found while searching for a video version of the above story. None of them will make you feel very good, btw, and you probably shouldn't watch in front of any small children you're not ready for that chat with yet.

The first is an cartoon about the message Hiroshima wants to send the world (my interpretation). I think it's beautiful.



This one is about the post bomb hospitals set up to deal with the survivors. The first hospital you see is the Red Cross Hospital where Dr Y works today. It's all in Japanese, but you get a good idea of what it was like here after the bomb.



And lastly one by the BBC reconstructing the day.