Into Year 2!

After a long absence I am returning to my blog!!! As regular readers will recall, we took a trip to mainland Japan in July! After our August plane ride above Okinawa, I realized that my camera batteries were in need of charging but no charger was to be found! Come to realize, it had decided to live out the rest of it's days in Kyoto. But thanks to the sleuthing skill of my best friend Holly, who located a new charger for me in Washington state...I am back in business!

On October 23rd, we entered our second year here on Okinawa! We feel settled and are enjoying our surroundings, the continued warm weather and our friends here on Island. We are also looking very much forward to traveling to the UK at Christmas to see my family in Oxford, where my sister Vanessa is reading literature for her junior year.

What follows is an assortment of pictures from the past few weeks. Of Aubrie, my friend Tali's lovely daughter, who was born in June and who reminds me with every visit that time has passed! She is holding her head up all by herself now as you can see and is a joy to snuggle!

Also some pictures from the Futenma shrine....close enough to our house to be on Adrian's running route. While you sometimes can get the impression with houses of worship that they are from another time...the shrine still smells of new shellac! It is very beautiful and is a working house of worship. We stopped in on Veterans day and witnessed what appeared to be a christening of some kind. The father was holding a baby and the priest, Shinto we thought, read prayers from a scroll and shook a baton with papers tied to it around the dad and baby. Also by the father, a little 3 year old big sister was watching her dad for cues and bowing dutifully whenever it seemed the right moment. Very cute! And mum, in true Japanese fashion, was manning the video camera!

Also in this collection, some pictures from the most recent ball! Yup, while November says Thanksgiving to most, it says BALL SEASON to the US Marine Corps! This year marks the 232nd year for the Corps. We have one more coming up which should be good fun!

Also, this past Friday, we took the opportunity to get some chums together for my 25th which this year falls on an inconvenient Tuesday. Some pictures of our evening out at a little bar we like are also included!!