Memorial Day

Yesterday, I had hoped to go see the memorial at Arlington West created by the Veterans for Peace--every weekend volunteers put crosses in the sand, one for each soldier killed in Iraq. We didn't quite get there--but the sad thing is that they put it up every weekend, and not just on Memorial Day, because every week people are dying in Bush's senseless war. And while over 3000 of American troops have died, close to 20,000 have been injured, and over 650,000 Iraqis have been killed. Rest in peace.

~~~

Maiya and I did however go to Venice Beach together. It was surprisingly empty, especially for such a beautiful day. We had a delicious lunch that Tony packed for us while he and his friend Hector rode their new skateboards on the boardwalk (I'll ask Tony to blog about being 3 times the age of most of the skaters-his words). Maiya and I enjoyed sharing lunch, hanging out, digging in the sand, and putting our feet in the icy cold ocean.

After we went to the beach, we went to Hector's. He had just bought a little wooden boat and let us test it out in the Venice Canals. Here they are carrying the boat 1/2 a block over to the canals.

It was very fun. Do you see that we have one regular oar, and one broken pizza oven spatula? I know, I know, Maiya is not wearing a life jacket, but I overcompensated by asking Tony if she was ok about once every 10 seconds, and turning my head to check her halfway between every 10 seconds, and trying to feel assured by the fact that the water was barely 2-3 feet deep, but praying that we wouldn't have to jump into the brackish, dirty water, and trying to keep the boat going straight with 1-1/2 oars, and trying to keep from complaining about the pain in my arms and shoulders, and trying to keep from laughing because it was just so much fun.

Let's work together to end the War. Peace. Out.

Vote for Reid!

Check out this cute video and vote for my cousin Rod's son, Reid. Reid is trying to win a trip to the Austrailia Zoo--he wants to be the next croc hunter! Steve Irwin's wife and daughter are going to judge the top 50 vote-getters. Right now, Reid is in the top 30, but he needs your votes. You can vote once and hour and I've voted about 10 times so far. He's a cutie.

http://freetrip.australiazoo.com.au/?p=watch&v=6goa3exv

Post-Pilgrimage Fun

After spending all day at the Manzanar Pilgrimage, afterwards, we went back to the motel and hung out in the swimming pool for 2 1/2 hours. Hanging out with us were children of the Manzanar Committee, two boys, Sam (age 6) and Miro (age 3). The big pool was "icy code" as Maiya kept saying, but it didn't keep her from going in the pool about 10-15 times. We were going back and forth between the jacuzzi and the big pool. It was lots of fun. Even though it's been 2 years since we did swim class at the Y, Maiya enjoyed kicking and paddling around the pool, with me holding her trunk and walking back and forth in the shallow end. She also had fun jumping from the edge into my arms over and over again.

The day after the pilgrimage, we drove up to Whitney Portals, which is about 11 miles from Lone Pine, and is near the base of Mt. Whitney. They have a little pond stocked with trout, which we watched people catching fish every few minutes. It was great that in addition to taking Maiya to the pilgrimage, we were able to go to the mountains and had a little bit of fun before heading home.

Mama's Day for Peace

This beautiful child made me a mother... these are some of my favorite photos. May 2005.

Did you know that mother's day originated as a call to peace? http://mothersdayforpeace.com

KuidaOsumi the OG

I just remembered that this site was originally a geocities page! So, if you want to see where we started from, take a look from the early days (last updated March 2002): http://www.geocities.com/kuidaosumi. The look has changed (hopefully for the better), but the content and ideas behind it are pretty much the same nowadays. The main difference is the addition of Maiya into our website and our lives.

I just updated the main website and added some photos to Maiya's Home Page. If you haven't seen it, it's a month-by-month look at her cute smiling face, and the slowly, but surely increase in the length of her hair. And no, she hasn't had a haircut yet!

I've been wondering what to do about kuidaosumi.com. I don't really update it much anymore--there's some linking issues I haven't felt like dealing with. I've been documenting our lives for over 7 years, but only updating the site every 3 months or so. I need to renew the domain name--don't know who else would want it but I don't feel real inspired to update it, given how much easier it is to be here on blogspot. What should I do? Let it go? Keep it for posterity? What do you think?

Manzanar 2007

Maiya's 2nd trip to Manzanar

Meeting Grandpa Walt on his way to
Lake Crowley's Opening Fishing Weekend.

Beating the 90 degree heat.

Visiting with traci at the Manzanar Committee's tent.

This is Ken Koshio. He performed Sukiyaki at the pilgrimage.
Stay tuned for photos of me with his son at the pool.

Dancing the Tanko Bushi with daddy.
Going for a ride with Mama after the pilgrimage.

The big taiko drum after the pilgrimage.

This year we drove up for the weekend, leaving on Friday evening and driving up to Lone Pine. As usual, we stayed at the Dow Villa Motel. On Saturday, we went out to the pilgrimage. I acted as stage manager, a role I filled for many years when I was active with the Manzanar Committee. This year's pilgrimage was dedicated to Sue Kunitomi Embrey, the chair for over 35 years, who passed away last May. Over 1,000 people came to the pilgrimage this year.

After the pilgrimage, we went back to the motel and spent 2 1/2 hours in the pool (photos to follow). That night, Tony & Maiya hung out, went and got a pizza, while I went to the Manzanar After Dark, a program for young people that I started back in 1997. It was organized by our friends Traci & Mari. They showed our friend Tad's film, "Pilgrimage" which led into the intergenerational discussions. It was pretty amazing that close to 250 people attended the evening program, culminated with poems written that evening by participants. It was really great that we were able to take Maiya again this year. She had a fun time playing with rocks and some other children who came. Hope you will join us next year. Peace. Out.

Join me for a Cuppa Soy?

Welcome to Cafe Maiya

I'm not sure exactly what Maiya's saying, but one thing's for sure, she's supporting immigrant's rights, joining the Great American Boycott, and she's sure about it.

Happy May Day!!