Tokyo

It started out as a casual conversation. Seats, "wide open" on Chris' flight for his business trip to Japan. I told him, "I should go with you." At first I wasn't serious, too many appointments in the week ahead. Tom and Kim both encouraged me and I thought about spending time with Chris, such a rare opportunity once your son is married with a family. And of course, I am always curious about the world and how people live in different places. Well, it became a reality and it was well worth the time and loss of sleep.
We left on Monday at 2PM from Chicago, O'Hare and arrived at Narita, Japan on Tuesday, 4:30 PM. Literally time flies! Chris is consumed with work and I spend the next day touring Tokyo. The town has very few tourists since the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. The large Greyhound type bus had five tourists for the morning tour and two for the afternoon and this is the tourist season when the cherry blossoms are in bloom. I enjoyed the beautiful Japanese gardens.



I learned that 73% of Japanese are Buddhists and 84% are Shinto. This means that some adopt both religions. Usually beginnings are celebrated at the Shinto Shrine with birth and wedding ceremonies while illness and death involve Buddhists rituals.

This is a Shinto Shrine, the Meiji Shrine. Once you walk through the gate you become emotionally pure and before you approach the shrine you wash both hands and rinse your mouth at a well. Saki is also used to purify one's self as part of the cleansing process. The worshipers toss a coin into a money box, clap twice to summon the gods and pray then bow before they leave. There are no visible gods or statues at a Shinto Shrine.


These are Saki barrels.


A Shinto wedding has taken place, the wedding party is posing for a picture. The bride is in a traditional gown.
The first Buddhist Temple we visited had a cemetery where six shoguns are buried but the public is not allowed in that area.

On the side of this temple are many small statues of children. A family who has lost a child will dedicate a statue to the temple. They will decorate the statue. The family name is next to the statue.



I only took one picture on the river cruise. Both sides of the river have landscaped walkways.

The second Buddhist Temple is the oldest in Tokyo, Asakusa Kannon Temple.

Before the shrine is a shopping street that has been here for hundreds of years with small shops on each side. The colorful shops sell quality items of Japanese miniatures, paper, fans and many souvenirs. This walkway is usually so crowded it is hard to walk to the temple, but not today.
This next picture is of a large pot of incense thought to be the breath of Buddha. The people direct the smoke to an area on their body where they need help, some direct it to their heads so they will become smarter.

There are several buildings and gardens around this temple, one has many Buddhas, one for each symbol on the zodiac.




This was a wonderful day in the warm sunshine and our guide, Saudi Son is so knowledgeable and gracious. We shared a typical Japanese meal together and by the end of the day I felt like I was saying good-bye to a friend.

I did get time to browse the upscale shopping area but didn't buy a thing! So unlike me. I really enjoyed the short time I spent in Tokyo and found the Japanese people to be very respectful and kind. So before you know it, I'm back on the bus and heading to the airport. So thank you Chris, for this time together.

Smiles

If you want to feel important, go visit your grandchildren! I love how they greet you and make you feel so loved. In March I saw all seven grandchildren within one week. It's very therapeutic, must be from all the smiling.
I first smiled when I watched Claire and Hudson at ski lessons. They are skiing for their second year and ski over moguls and around cones with ease.


There is something very sweet about the closeness of twins, these pictures capture it and make my heart smile. Claire and Hudson and Tucker and Cooper are such little buddies.


The smiles keep coming and daddy was the big smiler when he had all his children surrounding him for his birthday celebration and the cake his children decorated.

When the time comes for me to leave, my smile droops a bit but I leave with smiling memories and looking forward to seeing three more smiling grandchildren.

Who wouldn't smile looking at this picture I call "cousin love." Conley and Jack love playing together, Jack seems to think Conley lives at our house, he usually walks in and asks, "where's Monley?" Natalie, who is scooting around quickly, climbing stairs and standing by furniture has all of us smiling at her innocent ways. Just look at that face. She makes us all smile when she plays in the princess tent with with her brother,Jack and cousin Conley.



I'm a happy grandma and here are seven smiling reasons why!

Discovering My Ancestry

Living in the city of my husband's family, I took on the identity of his culture, faith and of course sir name. The children were mostly compared to members of his family and still are recognized by their Dutch heritage. I have grown to love so much of what I know about the CRC (Dutch) faith and really thank God for bringing me to knowledge by faithful preaching and personal study of the Bible. We visited the Netherlands almost eleven years ago to look up his roots and even have a book on the family ancestry that goes back to the 1500s, albeit written in Dutch.

My daughter in law recently asked me if I was going to post the pictures from our trip to Nova Scotia, Canada, the birthplace of both of my parents. It was last September that we made the trip to Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia and searched cemeteries and visited with people who would have known my parents and grandparents. For me, it was such joy to remember that I am really not Dutch and have a heritage to be proud, although not all the ancestors rose to prominence, some were even notorious.

This is the land, awesomely beautiful, if you want to visit, look up The Cabot Trail. When I look at this picture I remember why my parents loved it so much. I visited 3 times as a child, the last time as a junior in high school, 48 years ago. Oh, I'm practically telling you my age.
Our first stop was Halifax, I had never been there before. It is a small town for the capital of the province but a wonderful waterfront (lots of international seafaring commerce) and well known Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. I must publish what happened to the pirates of long ago, they would be hung in cages after death along the sea shore to warn other would be pirates. It is a piece of family history that we had a pirate in the family that mercifully "walked the plank" off the coast of Barbados.

We had expected a beautiful color tour at this time of year but it was really green and I must say we had some cloudy and cold rainy days. After leaving Halifax we drove across the Canso Causeway, a road built from the mainland to the island of Cape Breton, my last crossing was with my brother, mother and father who have all died, a feeling of sadness came over me. Our first stop was the town of Baddeck that houses the Alexander Graham Bell Museum, he was a friend of my grandfather Burke. We stayed at a great inn, visited the Gaelic College and an evening at the "ceilidk", a Gaelic word meaning visit or gathering of music and dance. The evening was spent listening to "down east" fiddle music that played in our home when I was a child. I loved every note, every step of the Irish jig.

We were eager to move on and drove to Englishtown. The photo is the ferry once owned and managed by my great grandfather, Torquill MacLean. He ran the ferry for 50 years, first rowing across with carriages and the horse swimming behind the boat. This ferry is named after him who was respected and loved for his dedicated service.


We visited the cemetery and took pictures of the grave stones of my grandmother's parents and siblings before we happened upon a woman that gave me the greatest gift.



Katherine is a life long resident of Englishtown who assisted Bonnie Thornhill in bringing to publication "The Road to Englishtown" a history and genealogical sketches of Englishtown, Victoria County Nova Scotia. I was amazed that anyone would take the time and effort to prepare such a book. This book contains the ancestry on both sides of my mother's family. She invited us in as we stepped on her porch unannounced and spent over an hour discussing names of people I barely remembered of my parent's family and friends. She even knew my father's family from Ingonish!

Next we visited two women, Marie and Dot who are relatives of my mother's cousin's wife. Surely we would enjoy a cup of tea but we didn't expect a wonderful meal! That is the hospitality of Cape Breton!

We traveled the Cabot Trail along the northern French coast and then to the south when the sun came out at Neil's Harbor.



The wonderful scent of the sea and pictures of fishing boats led us to the restaurant for seafood chowder and crab meat sandwiches. But can't stay long, its on to Ingonish.



This is my father's home town. His father was the businessman in town and actually had a thermometer and medical book so was also known as "doc". The beach has not changed but my father's childhood home is gone and his brother's old Victorian tourist home now looks modern, with the large porch missing and the spruces cut down. The pier was busy years ago with fishermen cleaning their catch and now all is quiet.

The island behind me in the picture was once known as Burke Island and was used to pasture sheep. My dad told me how he loved to ride his horse bareback in the ocean and of course walked miles to school in the very deep snow. I think life was a little easier for my mother in Englishtown for I don't remember her complaining about the snow.
This next picture is the Keltic Lodge that was once a private home. It is now a beautiful and expensive golf resort. Along with the Cabot Trail it is one of the reasons people know of Ingonish.


Before leaving Ingonish we visited with a family who knew the Burke's and then searched through the cemeteries for family gravestones. Then on to Sydney, a city where my mother wanted me to attend nursing school. I think she was looking for an excuse to visit her homeland. We returned to Halifax and dined out with newly discovered cousin, Mary and her husband, Donald. I had also talked to her sister and brother when we stayed in Sydney. This was a wonderful trip! Now is the task of piecing all the information together along with the Dutch side and making an interesting family history for our sons and their families.