Welcome to my blog. I document my adventures in travel, style, and food. Hope you have a nice stay!
All in Family
This is the year of my dad's 88th birthday, 米寿 (beiju) in Japanese. Since it's a significant year, we got together to celebrate the occasion at his favorite restaurant, Dal Rae in Pico Rivera, CA. His sisters, most of the Fujimoto cousins, and my mom's sister joined us for a memorable evening.
Irene Winkle (Melody's grandma) passed away in April, and this past weekend we celebrated her life on what would have been her 100th birthday. Other than one grandson who was unable to make the trip, all her surviving descendants were present, as well as her nephew and his wife.
Melody's cousin called the other morning and gave us the sad news that their Grandma Irene had passed away, just four months shy of her 100th birthday. When I met her in the late 1990's she was strong of will and wisdom, and I still saw that part of her when we last visited in November, 2013. During all those years, she always made sure that you saw her smiling and that you felt included.
Every year we travel to the Los Angeles area to celebrate New Year's. As usual, we left a couple days after Christmas and returned on January 2nd. We stocked up on warmth and sunshine, and have since returned to cold and overcast on some days, colder and clear on others.
I've had an interest in genealogy for quite a while. It started with an informal gathering around a table, and while I consider myself to still be a novice, I'm getting better at doing the research. I enjoy learning about the process, and see it as a puzzle to solve.
It's been a year of passages for my family. This past weekend we said goodbye to my Aunt Ida, who was healthy for almost all but the last couple weeks of her 95 years. Uncle Mas, Aunt Ida, Norman, and Kay lived not too far from us in Downey (my Uncle Easy's place was on the way). Because of the proximity, I ended up visiting them pretty often. Auntie was always very welcoming.
When I spoke with my cousin earlier this year and she told me that my Uncle Bob had cancer, I felt, in quick succession, surprise, sadness, confidence, and respect. It's easy to understand the first two emotions, but the latter two underscore how I saw Uncle.
Whenever my family gathers is special, but this past week has been more so as we fondly remembered my Aunt Toshi, who passed away earlier in the month. To say Auntie was a force of nature wouldn't come close to the impact she's had on family, friends, and community.
The past couple weeks have been ones of travel for me, with an emphasis on driving. A couple weeks ago I went through Downey, Phoenix, and Las Vegas, and last Sunday night we got back from a weekend in Spokane. Got to see lots of family, which is always the best part.
A couple years ago I mentioned that I used to help my Uncle Easy with Christmas shopping. I've been going through my old pictures (as part of changing photo management software) and running across pictures of him made think back on my favorite uncle.
As of this afternoon, Lyon Supply is almost completely empty, but there's still a lot of work to do in the new location. The big push is to be out of the old building before the end of the year, so that leaves tomorrow.
We flew down to the Los Angeles area yesterday for our annual visit with my family. Today was mochitsuki, where family gets together to make rice cakes for the New Year. Afterwards, Melody, Tynor, and I drove back to Lyon Supply to have dinner with my parents and my Aunt Frances, and we got a chance to see how empty the store looked.
After almost 20 years my family has sold Lyon Supply, their art supply store. While they're still working there and the name is almost the same (renamed to Lyon Art Supply), they are now employees instead of employers.
Stacia found a stash of photos from my Great Aunt Eiko, so I scanned them in. I eventually want to work them into pages for my family, but for now I'll put them into a post.
It's hard to believe we've already been here almost a week, but so we have. We've hit multiple 100+ days, and will be more than happy with the 20°F drop in temperature when we get back to Seattle.
Another day has passed, and it's hard to believe our trip here is more than half over. We stayed inside the store for the bulk of the day so we were spared the heat.
We just got back today from a quick trip to Spokane to see Melody's family. In addition to Irene, Neal, and Barbara, all the Knoepfel family from IL were there, and it was great to see everyone.
Every parent goes through milestones, and without a doubt one of them is watching your child graduate from High School. Last night Kellen went through his graduation ceremony from Puget Sound Community School, and while I naturally have high regard for him, it's great to see his classmates do, too.
Kellen and Tynor's school has a showcase every year, and this past Friday was the 2009 PSCS Student Showcase. All the senior projects were on display and several students got together to perform or give demonstrations.
Yet another article appeared in last Saturday's Seattle Times about the Japanese American internment during WWII. This time, Kimiko Nagaoka Mukai received her degree from Seattle Pacific University, over 65 years after she was forced to leave the west coast. She was awarded the degree during her 90th birthday party. SPU has identified seven other Japanese American students who were also forced to leave and has been reaching out to their families.
