Richard's sword collection

So here is Richard. Richard and Belinda are some of our best friends in the world. (I refuse to make a list and put them on top because of all of my other friends reading this blog! :-) Let's just say we are very close!) Richard asked me to get him a "sword" while I was in Spain. Yet, the only sword I could manage to legally get through customs at the time was one about the size of a letter opener. Now, I make it a point to find him a sword-letter-opener whenever I go to a foreign country. In return? He and Belinda always show us a great time when we go to Punta Gorda! Jared and I always have a room at CHEZ-RICHARD ET BELINDA....

Richard makes a great taco-nacho-cassarole thing, and Belinda makes fabulous pancakes! Who could ask for more?



In Tokyo, they seem to keep Christmas trees up for a very long time. I haven't figured out if it's a "winter" thing, or a year-round thing. Maybe the Japanese just think that Christmas trees are pretty and we're crazy for only keeping them up for the month of December!



Jared and I standing in front of the "love boat"...which I guess is an appropriate name, because he likes to call me Julie the cruise director.



I never thought Jared would get into Karaoke so much! He has the twang of Merle Haggard and Conway Twitty! But we were all blown away by Sonya, my Karaoke host for the evening, as she sang the Carpenters with such grace and precision!



Japanese fishing pond at Ichigaya on the way to Kameido.



Here are some very interesting signs here in Tokyo. I guess if you WALK and SMOKE you might get cancer. That's the only thing I can figure out. Because you can ride your bike, talk on your cell phone and put on lipstick while holding an umbrella in the rain in high heels and a skirt. And you can also smoke in any public place (restaurants included) as well, and that's OK too. So it must be that you can catch cancer if you smoke and walk. So they make THAT illegal. That's it!



Here is another sign you wouldn't see in the United States. And as a result, I see many dogs here wandering around aimlessly wondering where to take a pee.