If It's Thursday, It Must Be Ikebana

Hangers are jangling in Yokosuka closets this morning. It's the third week of the month, wild and crazy times from September until May with YOSC (Yokosuka Officer Spouses' Club) on Wednesdays, Ikebana on Thursdays, and Shonan Ladies on Fridays. This year I'll also be part of the Japanese and American Wives group. JAW meets twice a month, usually on Tuesdays, which was too much of a commitment during my late and lamented CO spouse days.

Since the very nature of jangling supposes more than one hanger, there's no chance of hearing that happy sound at #13 Gridley Lane. But I've made the pleasant discovery that the one dress in my wardrobe drips dry overnight if I hang it in front of the air conditioning vent in the dining room. (The HHG shipment sailed into Yokohama two days ago and they tell me it will clear customs in about a week. I wish someone would explain what "clearing customs" entails when the crates were sealed on G Street and will not be unsealed until they reach #13 Gridley Lane.)

In any event, the social season started with a bang yesterday with the YOSC coffee at CNFJ (Commander Naval Forces Japan) house on top of Halsey Hill. Diane graciously opened her home to YOSC and representatives of Ikebana and JAW (she's pictured here with the Ikebana board). Usually I walk up Halsey Hill but with two newcomers in tow I opted to charge up the steep incline in the Toyota ED which would still be parked up there, taxing the limits of Diane's hospitality, if one of my guests had not shown me how to release the parking brake.

Introducing potentially like-minded people to each other continues to thrill me. It reminds me of watching my children interact with other children for the first time, and I get the good kind of shivers imagining the lifelong friendships that will sprout from these initial encounters. At the very least, I know my charges were more enthusiastic about spending the next three years in Japan when they came down the hill than they were the day before.

I'm off to Ikebana this morning and then I'll start announcing contest winners.