Wrapping up March

I didn't do very well with blogging this month...  And I'm afraid I'm not going to be doing any better in April.  Tetsu and I have been getting ready to go to Indiana and California and we are leaving on Monday.  We will be in Indiana a week and then in California about 10 days.  We have had SO many problems with reservations and appointments and tests and luggage issues (do we have to carry four suitcases to Indiana when we are going to be using only two of them.  Let's get them to Takumi's house.  HOW?!) but our departure date is now in sight.  

Animal care has been arranged.  John will be delivered to the vets on Saturday and he will have to readjust to life with them for three weeks.  A neighbor girl will come in morning and evening to feed our cats.  We haven't been in the States in three years and so all the animals are older and their care is different but we will leave the vets number for the neighbor girl.  

Actually we had a scare yesterday when our morning schedule got discombobulated and instead of me feeding the animals, Tetsu did while I took John for a walk.  HOWEVER when I got home Tetsu reported that he couldn't find Cleo!  What!!!  Cleo is our oldest cat and is limping around anyway...  Could he be in distress and hiding?  And it occurred to me that Cleo didn't come to sleep with me that night but I had thought that it was because the nights are no longer so cold.  When had we last seen Cleo?  More searching the house and calling, then I headed outside to look for him though we couldn't figure out how he might have gotten outside.  To make a long story short, we FOUND Cleo outside hiding behind some boards.  He must have slipped through the door when Tetsu was carrying plants outside to air and water and the poor kitty had spent the night outside.  He was brought in, loved up thoroughly, I apologized profusely for not even noticing he'd been gone for over 12 hours.  And now Cleo is cuddled up content with Mi again.  My poor old kitty is getting the extra loving he needs.

Why am I posting a Halloween photo?  This week I had my LAST day at the preschool where I've taught for the past 16 years.  I had told them at the beginning of the year that I planned to stop teaching and as it turned out, for the past two years because of Covid, I actually haven't seen the children too much.  Whenever the government had issued health warnings, the pre-school (and schools) curtailed all outside activies and so the classes I taught were canceled for three months, on again for two months, off again for two months etc. etc.  I had seen the children in November and December and once in January but then the preschool cancelled until the restriction was lifted this past week.  Just in time for me to come in, play around a bit with the children and say good-bye.  They made me a card with pictures of all three classes and the pictures we'd taken at Halloween (with me in a witch's costume) were included.  So I guess I'm officially retired from teaching!  I still have two ladies classes but we haven't been able to have a class since the beginning of January either.

One class did arrange to go out to lunch the day after Covid restrictions were lifted, and we enjoyed ourselves at a fancy french restaurant!

Doesn't our dessert plate look delicious?  It was!

My art pages this month included drawing with water color pencils and spraying water over the page.

I doodled myself.

I finished an online course on Typography.

Another Typography lesson.

Art materials I use.

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Of course I must have a monthly Luka update!

Leiya tried to make banana bread or cookies or something with Luka recalling the good memories she and I had baking together.  I don't think I tried to start quite this early with her though...  Luka ate a lot of the dough before it got baked.

There seems to be a play area in a nearby mall near Leiya's house and Luka is now getting the experience of meeting and playing with other children.

But he's always got his good friend the bear with him.

In five more days we are going to be able to give Luka hugs in person.  I wonder if he'll recognize us as the iPhone screen figures that are often playing peek-a boo with him...  I'll report on that later though I'm not going to carry my computer with me around the world this trip so you might not hear from me for awhile.  

Please pray for us though!  Flying, Covid, making connections in the airports, meeting up with people, driving freeways.  Am I ready for all this?  YES I AM!