She go around in circles, till she's very, very dizzy

Recently I have been filled with a spirit of struggle and strife.  Just half a year ago I felt like I had lost God. It seemed when I prayed as if words left my mouth and dissipated into a room empty except for myself. I finally cried out, "God, why can’t I find You, why don’t You hear me?  How have I left You?”  

Sometimes I don't speak too bright but yet I know what I'm talking about

truffles, and chocolates, and caramels, oh my!

Valentine's Day was introduced to Japan by the candy companies. They marketed it as a day for women to give chocolate to the men in their lives. They gave small store bought giri choco (obligation chocolate) to co-workers and aquaintences, and honmei choco ( true feeling chocolate) to boyfriends, husbands, or to men they like as love confessions. The fun thing is that a month later on March 14, the Japanese celebrate White Day, which is like Valentine's part 2, when men reciprocate gifts to the women they received chocolate from. I never gave honmei chocolate while I was in Japan, but I did make chocolates that I brought into the office to share with all the teachers.  

scarce to be counted, filling the darkess with order and light

More than a year ago I was working on a smocking project.  I then abandoned it as I prepared (ever so slowly) to leave Japan.  I didn't finish it till I was back in the States, but it turned out quite nicely. Here's the finished product.

She sells seashells

So that walk I took last Wednesday when I collected all those shells, here's what I'm doing with them.

First I rinsed all the sand off of them. Then I soaked them for about 30 minutes in a mix of water and bleach. That usually works to get rid of the "I once housed a living organism" stench that usually clings to shells from the beach.

Murder! Murder! Once there's one done

My mom likes to tell the story of when we were at the beach when I was three years old and I disappeared. My mom looked away for just a moment, but it was enough time for me to take off. She went one way looking for me and sent my older cousin the other way. Apparently she found me marching down the beach with my head down, looking for seashells.