I am a Mermaid

Hello friends near and far. I have successfully completed my 3rd swim across Cayuga Lake. The lake was warm, as were our female hearts as we doggie paddled, frog kicked, side stroked, breast stroked or free-styled slowly back to the Ithaca Yacht Club. I think by now Hospicare has met it's goal. Thank you to everyone who sponsored my swim. It is such a great cause! The only thing I regret is letting the photographer use my picture on the Ithaca Journal web page. There is a picture of me, in an ill-fitting wet suit, swim cap, goggles, flippers and socks (for goodness sake!) hauling my heaving and tired self up onto the dock. It is NOT a flattering picture. I look ridiculous and strangely rectangular. I must be related to Spongebob Square Pants. But I bet Spongebob never raised money for Hospicare. He probably wouldn't let anyone take a picture of him in a swim cap though.

The weather has been beautiful. I spent the day yesterday visiting my friend Cathryn who is recovering from open-heart surgery. She looks good, and we watched her kids race in sailboats as we sat on a deck over looking Chaumont Bay. She has come a long way in the past 2 months, but still has a way to go. She is an inspiration.

It is hard to believe that soon the leaves will be changing colors here...there is a coolness to the air at night these past few days. I have about 3 weeks before I head back to Japan, and I have mixed feelings about it certainly. Fall, along with the changing leaves, didn't happen in Tokyo until later in November. September and October were brutally hot. I am bracing for the heat and humidity in Tokyo. But currently I am drinking in the open spaces, the bird song, the friendly hugs in town, and the cool breezes.

I know that once I get over there, I will have lots to do. Tokyo Here and Now and the Chiba Singers' Concert. It's just the putting myself on the plane that might be a little difficult. But for now- I am enjoying my status as a mermaid.

Success!

HA! Today I met with some success. Nadine and I got into the lake and swam for about a half an hour- almost down to Frontenac Point and then back. Wet suits are very nice. They keep you a little bit warm and help you float. It was a cooool but lovely swim. Robin protected us from motor boats with his kayak. It was our first real lake swim of the season.

Today is hot and sunny. We left the camp behind.

I got it all cleaned up and we took all our boats home. It was a pain driving up and down that steep driveway for the last 2 weeks, but I LOVED sailing my little sunfish on the lake, and having campfires, watching sunsets, entertaining friends and feeding the ducks. Now it's back to work on the house and property. Robin leaves for Kentucky tomorrow and then back to Tokyo. I will miss him, but I am glad to be spending summer here. It is so lovely.

Pictures from the Camp

Here are some pictures I took while we were staying at the Hog Back Gully Cabin.
Macy enjoying the sun. The sailboat I grew up sailing every summer. My relaxed flip flop feet by the light of the bon fire. Little Evan exploring the beach. My friends and fellow music teachers, Russ, Sarah and their little Evan.

Cayuga Lake

I've finally gotten up the courage to get into Cayuga Lake. I got in this morning, after standing on the edge of the dock at the cabin we are renting for a long, long time. I was looking down at the water, contemplating it's temperature for many minutes. It was shallow, and there was a NO DIVING sign carved and painted into the end of the dock. I am able to do a shallow dive, but erred on the side of caution, and jumped. I touched bottom, and didn't even get my head wet, but I made a lot of sissy-this-water-is-too-cold-and-I'm-too-old sounds as I tried to get used to it. I gasped, and sputtered, I hooted and hollered, all the while Robin stood there on the end of the dock too, watching me act like a baby. Finally, he did a shallow dive and came up, cool as a cucumber and we swam out toward the middle for a minute, and then back. He was done. I sat in the shallow edge and skipped stones after he went inside the cabin, and enjoyed the solitude, the stillness and the sunshine. The lake at the edge is delightfully warm and calming. I used to sit at the water's edge for hours and hours when I was very young. I grew up in that lake and learned to swim by myself at the water's edge. I was very meditative today, skipping stones and thinking about everything, and nothing.



I write about this, because I have only 4 weeks to train for a swim across Cayuga Lake, an event called "Women Swimmin," a fundraiser for the local Hospicare Center. I have done this swim in August for 2 years now. It is a huge challenge, but it is also a real fun and feel good all-empowering women-only thing for me too. Last August, as I was getting ready to head off to Tokyo, I was interviewed by the local newspaper as I was quoted as saying something like, "If I can swim across Cayuga Lake, I can face Tokyo." I am not sure how true that turned out to be, but I do know that for me, facing personal challenges does make me stronger, and helps me really know who I am. The 3 Day Walk for Breast Cancer, the swim across the Lake, the year in Tokyo, all tested my mettle in different ways and I am proud of the way I faced them. I am also deeply grateful for my health, and the ability to face such physical and mental challenges.



Tomorrow I am going to visit my dear friend Cathryn who is recovering from heart surgery. She has faced serious physical challenges due to a heart condition for her entire life. She is a woman with amazing spirit, a zest for life, a great sense of humor and a wonderful family. She inspires me with her strength, faith and courage, and how she faced the last days before her most recent surgery. (It was a scary time, and across the miles between the US and Japan, she was comforting me.) She is doing very well now. I am thrilled by her progress this week, and am hoping that the doctors will set her free before too long. I tell you this, because it's how you face the challenges in life that counts.



So, I will now have to get serious about my training schedule. The swim is in early August. Last year 250 swimming women raised more than $75,000 for Hospicare. That is a celebration of LIFE, my friends. That is loving your neighbor. That is taking care of each other, strangers and friends alike. That is the strength of women who swim. That was what I was thinking about today, as I sat on the beach and skipped stones.



If you would like to sponsor my swim, please go to: http://womenswimmin.org/
You can sponsor me by clicking on "Make a donation." and then type in my last name in the search window. By sponsoring me, you will be caring for people who are facing the biggest challenge of their lives.
Thank you.

There's no place like home...

We've been in the Trumansburg/Ithaca area for 2 weeks now. In that time, the boys have all found summer jobs, I've attended a retirement party and an anniversary celebration, I reunited with my dog, have been to Rochester, have painted some of my house, trimmed bushes, and have moved all (almost all) of my stuff back into my huge old house. Whew!

Everyone asks me, "So...how was Japan?" How do I possibly answer such a question? I've taken to giving the short and mostly true answer: "Fun. Great. A wonderful experience." The longer answer is reserved for the closest friends- they are the ones who really want the full version. In truth, my 10 months in Japan ran the gamut. It was fabulous, fascinating, energizing, exciting, empowering, and at times, terrible, frustrating, exhausting and also lonely. We all had our personal struggles. The boys had some serious rough patches, and Robin worked and traveled A LOT. But overall it was a good year: one we will remember and cherish. I had everything that made me who I am pulled out from under me the day I stepped onto the plane, and I had to figure out who to be. It was tough at first, but after the initial shock (cultural and personal) wore off, I relaxed and had a great time "floating." The turning point came at Christmas and I give my nieces a lot of credit for that. On one of the last days in Japan, Sarah and I went on a Women's Group white water rafting excursion. On the way up to the Nagano area we did an exercise to find out what we were all most proud of. My response: I conquered Tokyo. In my own very small way, I became comfortable enough to get anywhere, ask directions, take the metro and Japan Rail, hail a cab, order in a restaurant, and relish my new experiences. Tokyo started feeling like a second home.

However. There is nothing that compares with the feeling of putting on a favorite, comfortable old pair of shoes when your feet are a little weary. And that's the way coming home has felt to me.

I've made some great friends in Tokyo for whom I hold loads of affection, and am glad that I get to go back for just a while longer.

Now, I will soak up the starry night sky, get in some kayaking, listen to the song birds, hike the rim trail, marvel at the huge expanse of my lovely green lawn, enjoy friends and mentally let down a little. I'm off to Wegman's!!!

On our way...

It hardly seems possible that 10 months have passed since we stepped off the plane on August 14th, 2007. Many cool and interesting things have happened- there were many new "firsts." Language lessons, conquering the metro, new friends, taiko, onsen experience, matsuri, the Women's Group at the American Club, bike riding to the grocery store, walking in the typhoon, museums, shrines, gardens, Mount Fuji, Kabuki, earthquakes, singing the Brahms Requiem, playing for Forum, ate the best sushi in the world, experienced an international school, graduation, traveled to Thailand, swam in phosphorescence, went white water rafting, was a minority...we traveled by train, subway, car, escalator, elevator, shinkansen, bus, taxi, gondola, cable car, sailboat, motorboat, elephant, and jet plane.

And now, weary from visitors and full of expectation and happiness to see old friends, we depart for home tomorrow afternoon. Sayonara, Nippon. Hello New York!

Wedding pictures from Sunday at the Meiji Shrine

Since Sarah and I were white water rafting on Friday, she missed the tour of Meiji Shrine with Lap and Robin and Chris and Julia. I took her there on Sunday. It's a favorite destination when we have visitors. It's close, it's lovely and has great historic significance in Tokyo. There was a display of bonsai trees there that we had heard was pretty amazing. Some of the trees are older than I. A couple of them are 200 years old. We were wondering how the care of the trees gets passed along from generation to generation.

We also witnessed a wedding procession through the grounds of the shrine and enjoyed looking at the traditional Japanese wedding clothes. The bride was lovely. Enjoy the pictures.

Today is Thursday. It is raining. Time to find an indoor activity. Packing, perhaps??