Johnny in Afghanistan!

Captain John Pelikan of the 82nd Airborne gathers intelligence on the Taliban from the villagers of Kshahah Lakhchack in a remote mountain region of the Kandahar province, Afghanistan on Monday, March 26, 2007.

Favorites

Some favorite places and some favorite people!

A few miles up the coast at one of my favorite beaches ...




















The Suzuki's and Pelikan's at our favorite cafe - La Paix

Pack-Out Days

Sherman kept his eye on the movers these past three days, as they packed up our house-hold belongings.

No doubt .... wondering ... where are my toys, and my cozy bed.

The movers were awesome!

Boxes and boxes and boxes ... over 350 items on the inventory! Wow!

According to psychologists, relocation is among the most stressful events that can happen to a person, or a family. Changing jobs goes along with relocation, and is also high on the stressindex. For many people the decision to relocate involves a complex set of variables of a financial, personal and emotional nature. For those of us in the US Military, it's a way of life.

Never-the-less, these factors contribute to the stress in varying degrees, depending upon the individuals involved. Sherman, for example, isn't very hungry today and he is drueling for no apparant reason. Poor guy! He doesn't understand what's going on. But, we mark the days when this part of the moving saga is over, and we're on the other side of it all.

This is where we're headed ... our new home! You can see John and Rondi's house in the background on the left.

Won't it be fun for Karis to walk across the yard to Mimi & Papa's house? What a dream!

Happy Birthday, Jesse!

Happy Birthday To You
Happy Birthday To You
Happy Birthday Dear Jesse ...
Happy Birthday To You

Happy Birthday, Jesse!

Today, March 2nd (in America), is Jesse's birthday. He was born on a Saturday... 33 years ago today, and it was one of the happiest days of our lives.

"Happy Birthday to You" is a song which is sung to celebrate the anniversary of a person's birth. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, "Happy Birthday to You" is the most popular song in the English language! Isn't that amazing? The song has been translated into many languages, though it is often sung with the English lyrics even in countries where English is not a primary language, like here in Japan!
The melody of "Happy Birthday to You" was written by American sisters Patty Hill and Mildred J. Hill in 1893 when they were school teachers in Louisville, Kentucky. The verse was originally intended as a classroom greeting entitled "Good Morning to All". The version as we know it was copyrighted in 1935 by the Summy Company as an arrangement by Preston Ware Orem, and is scheduled to expire in 2030. This was the first known written version to include the lyrics. The company holding the copyright was purchased by Warner Chappell in 1990 for $15 million dollars, with the value of "Happy Birthday" estimated at $5 million ... Wow!

Japanese Girl's Day

March 3rd is Japanese Girl's Day called Hina-matsuri (Doll Festival.) It's a celebration for Japanese girls. (Japanese Boy's Day is May 5th.)

People display a set of hina ningyo (dolls) and props in the house, wishing girls' healthy growth and happiness. Parents or grand parents of a newborn girl buy a set of gorgeous hina dolls unless they have special dolls, which are inherited from generation to generation.
Hina dolls are dressed in Japanese ancient costumes and are displayed on the shelves of a stand covered with a red carpet from the end of February to March 3rd. It is believed that any hina doll display should be taken down soon after the festival day; otherwise girls might have to wait to get married.
Hina-matsuri is also called momo-no-sekku, which means a festival of peach blossoms.