Ellen called to ask if I was available about 4:30 today. She has to go to Ventura for various errands and suggested we sit on my patio and visit. Yes, indeed--I'm always available for her.
Bused to town about 2:30 and got off at Sanjon Street, which leads to The Promenade. I walked that for a mile or so, pleased to see that the pier and swings were open, with lots of strollers and happy children:
I went from there and down Main. Betty called to tell me about the TV shows she watches constantly. She was surprised when I told her (as I had many times) that I only watch from 8 until 9, then I go to bed.
Stopped in Goodwill and bought two DVDs, both horror movies I just felt like seeing. Walked down past the museum and finally boarded the 6 bus, which took an age to get there. Home at 6:00, at which point, Tony C., the landscaper, called me back and said he'd be over to look at the bushes within a few days. I texted Eileen with that information.
As my friend, Pat, knows, I asked son Patrick, and his wife to take a look at her lamp to see what the characters mean and they responded, but were unable to read, as the characters are in "old Japanese." I was interested in the fact that the written language (and, I assume, some of the spoken) changed and was simplified after WWII. (If they had won, maybe ours would have).
This is so interesting to me, as I'm now in the middle of, and absorbed by, Bill Bryson's Made In America: An Informal History of the English Language In The United States. This isn't to be confused with his English And How It Got That Way, for which I've put in a request at the library.
As for Pat's lamp, I think it's a real treasure:
Maybe Pat will elaborate a bit in comments on how she acquired it...
2 comments:
Rosemary,
I, too was fascinated about it being 'antique' as my Japanese neighbor told me. She wasn't sure but thought it was a Sake jug with characters no longer in use. She thought it must be advertising ...but it was difficult to understand her. Later your son and his Japanese born wife concurred.
My husband was stationed in Japan in 1961 for 3 years with his family. I believe they brought it back with them to the states. I never asked what the characters meant. Now the idea that the characters changed fascinates me. My neighbor has lived in the US with her husband (a geneticist) for 40+ years. My husband would have loved meeting them. Thank you for checking into this for me.
Thanks, Pat.
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