Everything Seems Possible After a Day with the Ikebana Ladies

Reiko and Sheryl wanted to attend the May Ikebana program. Curling my lip slightly to indicate mild distaste, I tried to warn them off. "It's a flower arranging demonstration this month."

They were undeterred so I force-marched them a half mile down Kamakura Beach under drizzling clouds to the Prince Hotel. "I would have been happy to drive," Sheryl muttered as she splashed through puddles in her whimsical rainboots.

The demonstration was surprisingly remarkable. Unlike the five other flower-arranging demonstrations I've witnessed since 2007, this one piqued my interest. And interest, as you might recall, is the first step in the direction of a hobby or career.

Was it that Mika Tsujii is a woman while her five predecessors were men? Did the presence of the elderly parents in the audience strike a primal chord that made me more receptive to the daughter's work?

Did her cool poise and utter lack of flamboyance appeal to me?

Or was it Tsujii's simple, efficient, and refreshingly rapid approach to sticking stems in containers that made me think - for a minute at least - that I, too, might be able to slap together a reasonably cohesive centerpiece in less than four hours? This could be something worth trying if I don't have to forsake my beloved books, puzzles, knitting, and the monotonous yet essential cycle of meal preparation, laundry, and housecleaning.

Or maybe it was simply that Tsujii favored hydrangeas, some of the nicest, plumpest, space-fillingest flowers in all of God's creation.

I think it was a combination of all those things but I'm awarding extra points to her parents' presence. Call me nostalgic and sentimental for that's what I am.

Reiko and the Americans toted bundles of hydrangeas home from Kamakura. Reiko carried her flowers by their stems while everyone else seemed to be acting out girlhood fantasies co-starring Bert Parks. This is a cultural difference I will ponder while Reiko and her husband are wandering around Izumo next week on a much anticipated vacation.