Okinawa-rama

Today was a Be-you-ti-ful day. It was the roll your windows down in your car and pump up the music kind of day. Joe's boss's wife, Gaye, (a very cool lady) and I went out for a day of exploration up north. Our goal - a Japanese antique shop nestled in the mountains. We took a windy country road there. Passed roadside stands with flowers and oranges. Ocean vistas. Gorgeous. The antique shop was on the side of a hill. It was enormous, walled and white -- it looked like a Tibetan monastary. Inside the walls, clay pots and statues littered the yard in a pleasing artsy-fartsy kind of way. There were three or four buildings to go into, all Tibetan monastary-esque. You had to take your shoes off before going in. The floors were filthy with dust anyway, so I didn't quite see the point, but anyway... They sold old kimonos and obis and pottery and cabinets and screens and tiles and all kinds of neat stuff. None of which I bought. (Everything was cool and affordable. It was too overwhelming.) I loved the outside, the layout. There were chairs and tables everywhere and fountains. I wish there were a cafe because the view--it was to die for. The whole complex overlooked forested hills that met far below in a small valley. In the valley sat a ribbon of houses and beyond the blue, blue ocean. Preciosa.

On the way back, the pressure of going all that way out and not bringing back anything overcame me, so I asked Gay to stop at one of the roadside stands. I bought two pretty potted plants. The lady who worked there gave me a juicy orange too. When I got home I told Joe to give a plant to one of our (American) neighbors, who got mad at us 'cause we parked our car in her driveway when guests came. And forgot it there...for two days. And so she left us nasty notes. Oops.


Bye!

-kelly