Two very different days... and Villa Maria

I think what I like about the holidays the sense of freedom from normal schedules, and thus the freedom to do what we want, and how as a result, the days are so unpredictably different.

Thursday I did absolutely nothing all day! Well, apart from a mad rush to Baachan's at 8:30 to pick up Amy for her school session, and waiting around for the tatami man to come and take away the burnt mat, then bring the new one back, and shopping for butter.. And a brief trip to Baachan's again at 3pm, to find the kids all gone to eat ice cream with their auntie and I was not going to complain about that. Oh and karate at 6:10.

But honestly, I did nothing nothing nothing in between, unless you count napping, crunching ice, reading magazines, and finding ways to eat Marmite as a thing. It's wonderful having a day like that. It's not that I didn't have anything to do - laundry to wash and dry and fold, yukatas to iron, Christmas decorations to de-mold, recipes to sort, cupboards to tidy, my wife to kill and Guilder to frame for it - I'm swamped!

But I ignored it all, I didn't even turn on the computer to check email. Utter Bliss.

Friday was AFWJ Journal mailing day. The boxes arrived Thursday night - over 400 copies in four large and one smaller box sat in my genkan overnight. From late morning (after spending the first part of the day helping Amy and Lena to get ready for camp, and bringing them there, and then coming home to find Amy's hat and bringing it back to her) I spend most of the day putting them into envelopes, and sealing them with selotape. Some also had extra newsletters to insert, and some people had to get an extra payment sheet and some had to get two copies. Two trips to the post office to send the overseas copies, then to Kanji's shop to get the wagon to bring the boxes to the courier's, then stickering 383 envelopes and swiping each one separately then finally leaving the shop feeling very, very light indeed at 5:30!

My other goal for the day was to visit all five branches of YokoYama in town in a search for Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc wine from New Zealand. When Katy mentioned that her local liquor store in the wop wops had it, I thought it was just a wonderful fluke. I often check out the shelves at the stores to check for NZ wine, but almost never find it. Then when I asked her where the store was, she said it was YokoYama. NOT just a small local shop as I had assumed, but a chain! A chain that has FIVE shops in and around Nakatsu, including one ON MY BLOCK!

I was quite prepared to take an hour visiting all five (some are a bit far, on the way to Usa), but I found it at my local!!! The one I had least expected to have it, as it only has a tiny tiny wine section. Woo-hoo!That means all five have it. I did not visit them all after finding the stash at my local, I might as well exhaust this supply first! It's a little more expensive that the Satellite Sav Kristin can get at her local supermarket (1280 compared to 800), but it's still a reasonable price.

Being on a shopping high, I decided to go look for a piano.. After checking Yamada and Best Denki, I went back to where I had started two weeks ago, and bought the shopworn, discounted, older model from Deo Deo. It was only 50,000 and in perfect condition. It's a standing one though, with a stool, so we will have to make room for it, but seeing how sad she was about losing her beloved piano, I think she deserves something a little nicer.