Is Okinawa like Hawaii

It is really pretty here, but it is not really like Hawaii. The beaches are not near as nice, although the water is beautiful blue and green. When you are at some places looking off the cliffs, it is like tidy bowl blue. Other places you look across and it is green then aqua then blue then deep blue. There are a lot of things on the shores of water, like power plants, Japanese saki brewery, some resorts, industry, military bases, apartment houses, etc. They have a lot of farming industry here also. They grow a lot of sugar cane. They also supply most of the chrysanthemums for mainland Japan. There are chrysanthemum fields everywhere.

Seashells

Check out some of my treasures from my latest beach adventure! NO, I didn't keep the one with that crab in it!

Kokeshi Doll Making

Karen and I went to a craft class to make a Kokeshi Doll. It was fun, and even with no artistic ability mine looks pretty good!

Sunshine

It is Thursday afternoon and the sunshine has finally returned! It was sunny Wednesday and today. I had a service member come in today and tell me that he received a phone call on his cell phone last night from a man that said he was a contractor with the DOD and he was supposed to drop off a VA benefits book to him. Anyway, he made an appointment to meet with the man today at his house at 5:00 p.m. He said he got to thinking about it and decided that it was strange to get that phone call. I assured him that I am the only VA representative on the island! He called security and they told him that companies get military retirees to work for them because they have base access. The military retiree calls and sets an appointment to see someone and then tries to sell them something. It is not considered soliciting because they have an appointment. We decided that I would go to his house this afternoon to be there at 5:00 to see what the man has to say. When I arrived I thought this is crazy, I can't go in that man's house. I had decided that I wouldn't actually go in, I would tell him I would wait outside. Luckily when I knocked on his door, his wife was there also, which made me feel much better. Anyway, I sat there and visited with them until 5:45 p.m. this was a really nice young couple. He is a flight medic. He was a paramedic, and then became a thoracic trauma nurse in an ER in Winchester, MA. Darn, the other man never showed up, I was anxious to introduce myself as the real VA rep! He and his wife were concerned with how this man got his cell phone number. I told him to call me and let me know if he hears from him again.

Rain, Rain go away!

Hey everyone! It is Saturday night and it is raining here! It has been cloudy and raining all week long! Thursday has been the first day here that it has really rained. There have been showers and off and on rain, but not Thursday - it poured down just about all day long! When I got to work Friday morning there were limbs down where I usually park. When I went in my co-workers were talking about how it had stormed, lighting, thunder, wind and hard rain about 3:00 a.m. I slept thru it all!

I have been spending a great deal of my time reading, but last night I decided I wanted to watch TV. I downloaded all my TV shows, so I am current on Brothers and Sisters, next I will catch up on Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice and Desperate Housewives. About the only current TV show I have found here is American Idol. I have watched it a few times. I saw Kris Allen that is who I am voting for!

Take me out to the ball game!

I heard that Japanese baseball games were very exciting. We went to see the Dragons play the Swallows on Saturday. Both of these teams are from mainland Japan. There are several teams from the mainland that come here for their spring training. Anyway, most of the souvenir items that were for sale were for the Dragons. I guess the Dragons are more popular? Anyway, the ballgame started and it was dead silence. I mean every time the pitcher threw the ball it was just quiet. There was no organ and no hot dog and beer vendors walking around. It got a little livelier toward the end, but not much. It ended up being a really close game and if there would have been one more inning, I think the Dragons could have caught up! Let's see, what do you think the mascot for the Dragon's is? Wrong, it is not a Dragon, it is a mouse, that's right a mouse. I don't understand that one! But he was really cute; he had a baseball for his tail! Something else very interesting, there were a lot of American players on these teams! Another interesting tidbit, the team captains, or some special players on the teams get flowers before the game. Maybe that was just a welcome and thanks for playing this exhibition game?

Fish for dinner

Friday night I went with my friends Sue and Patty to eat butter fish. I have heard that this fish is wonderful. I really don't eat fish with bones, I am spoiled, Stephen always makes filets, or he picks the bones out for me. But, I decided I needed to give it a try. I got my plate and there was a whole fish and the head half of another fish laying on my plate looking at me! It was served on a sizzling type plate like fajitas are served on, and there was butter and garlic all over it! I very carefully got the fish off the bones and ate it. It was wonderful. It is baked crispy and then has the butter and garlic. Very good!

They have these wonderful purple sweet potatoes over here. They are very good, and they are purple, my favorite color. With my fish dinner they served tempura sweet potatoes that were great! They also make ice cream out of these sweet potatoes, it is called Benni Mo, of course it is purple and also very good!