Ceremonies: Cherry Blossom Time in Japan

This is cherry blossom finery as worn by the bunraku lady who was there to greet us at Matsuyama Castle way back in 2007. I have been reminded of this because Jenn, David and boys are now living in Japan. How can it have been that long since I was there watching the petals fall? (Speaking of the fall of every petal--I have been shocked to see how the statistics for this blog have gone up and up since I decided to write every day, whether I felt like it or not. It's a little terrifying: I set it to not count the times I log in to fix a typo or clarify something. And the thought that OTHER PEOPLE are actually looking at it (even if that IS the idea of blogs) makes he think I should get more intelligent FAST! 

Or not.

And what  is it about the cultures we belong to? That makes them so compelling? I am now three quarters through Middlemarch (bout of middle-of-night reading last night) and continue to marvel at the richness of the prose and the variety and interestingness of the insights. Besides George Eliot is one of those figures that a woman who has led a conventional life wonders about: Could I have done that???? So today I read about 1/6th of the humonguous book:

Geroge Eliot: Voice of a Century; a biography. by Frederick R. Karl.

Also fabulous! There is a lot known about Eliot's life, partly because she wrote letters to so many people and there is so much documentation of all kinds. She was almost the exact contemporary of Queen Victoria, but did not live as long as the monarch, To be continued, as I find out more of this fascinating story.