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Tuesday 26th - The very last cafe day!

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 06:55:41 +0100

Thank you all very much for your loyal support, friendship, smiles, jokes, "sashi-ires", and last but not least - hard work and eager talking over the years!

I'm sorry that I have to go - but I just have to go!

The "Master" (who quit his job!)

Summary for the 21st & 23rd!

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 10:08:31 +0100

NO! I'm not lazy. I'm BUSY! And I know that you understand......
Members for the last two day were as follows -
Shelby, Kelsey, Cassandra, Brooklyn, Michaela, Isabella, Brittany,Samantha, Ashley, Valentino, Kelly, Christina, Jade, Monica, Emma and Alicia!
Everybody was fine except of course the "usual" exhaustion from the heat and gardening, or hobby-farming!
On Thursday we tried to figure out the these riddles:

(Sorry, lost the picture of the "Nose"!)

And today we suffered, trying to find the answers for these -

Recently I haven't been posting a lot - but I'm sure you know how much I appreciate your "appreciation", your feelings of gratitude, and I'm so glad to hear & read over and over again from your messages that all of you had a special time here at the Cafe - I am sorry I have to close the world's nicest place for chatting, but I have to move on!

A special thanks to my "personal cleaners" - washing up, vacuuming, wiping and cleaning, even contributing washing up liquid! I think I love you all!!

The "Master"

July 16th, Saturday & 19th, Tuesday

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:20:34 +0100

I am getting busy as you might be able to tell from my recent postings (or rather NO postings!), so this is
a combined one, a "コラボ"!!
On Saturday, Jack, Jade, Jamie, Angela, Ian, Emily, Heather and Miranda showed up! That's a BIG WOW - FULL HOUSE!
And my excuse for NOT blogging on this day? He he he - HERE:

Because we had the first ever "Cafe Nijikai" in downtown Akashi - I had a great time! Thank you sooo much for organizing this unforgettable event!

Our study paper for this day looked like this:

And today the Cafe was comparably quiet - only 4 happy faces! Shelby, Ashley, Alexandria & Tiffany decided to beat Typhoon number six and please me with their company.
Alexandria told us about her "delicious meal" - a stomach camera! But as she is "consuming" one every year, it wasn't so special to her!
Ashley mentioned her experience she had with a very small filling of wine she joined in for a toast, not feeling too well after it!
Poor Ashley - I like wine very much!
Tiffany told us about her first ever visit to the famous Gion Mazuri where she and her sister were beating the heat hiding under a tree, watching the huge "Tachihoko" go by! They later enjoyed a nice, Japanese lunch.
Shelby got excited talking about soccer - and frankly, how can one NOT be excited?? Congratulations!!

And today's paper? Well, this one:

Okay, the storm is coming - better get home!

Thanks for coming,

The "Master" (with the short hair)

July 14th, Thursday

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 12:44:29 +0100

Ladies & Gentlemen (although today it was "ladies only"), time flies! And who were those ladies spending this precious, little left time with me at this world famous Cafe?
First, there was Brittany, who said she was worn out by attending to her "hobby farm". Then there was Sabrina, who was fine, and she had the big news about having met me (by chance, of course!) near my house. According to her, it was bad timing as she had just finished work and was worried about looking exhausted - Sabrina, don't worry, you are beautiful!!
Then there was Brittney, Brittany's twin, who not only shared a very similar name, but also a similar "body condition" - she also was a little tired from getting up at 5:30 every day to weed her garden!
And there was Angela, who was fine, and who brought in an interesting article about a Hyogo company which managed to "mix" cashmere with red chilly peppers to keep the wearer of the cashmere clothes warmer, also to save enery. Apparently, the effect is about +1.5 degrees! Way to go, Peppers!!

Samantha also seemed a little exhausted as she had mechanical problems on the job - her "handy terminal" decided to go on strike, and she had to return to her office so her boss could have a word with the gadget!
There are two things I've learned by looking for either funny, or broken pictures of handy terminals: One - there are NO such pictures, and two - handy terminal is real English, NOT 和製英語!

Kelsey, who recently is always fighting, had to face a whole army of ants in her kitchen - she won the fight (yeah!), but in the process twisted her left knee! Too bad, but she was in high spirits!
Here is a picture of Kelsey fighting the last of the ants, the queen:

(Way to go, Kelsey!)

And today, in dedication to our movie lovers, here are some movie quotes:

DONE!
Good Night,

The "Master"

July 11th, Tuesday

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:10:52 +0100

Hello, people!
Amy's friend is fighting with wild boars in Sasayama, which enjoy messing up the rice paddy! But Amy was fine!
Erica was also "fighting"- but not with wild boars, with FISH! Her husband came back from a very successful fishing trip, bringing with him about 20 fish and another 10 squids! As it was her job cleaning & preparing the catch, Erica was tired today.
Heather is the one with the very healthy lifestyle - she has been following her routine of taking a morning walk for the last 20 years, always in different surroundings as she has moved about 18 times so far! Nowadays, her dog is joining her (or is she joining the dog?). She was sleepy!
In Shelby's house at 5:30 in the morning, a picture fell off the wall due to material fatigue - the string broke! She was very surprised by the big noise, but went back to bed relieved after knowing there was no burglar in her house!
Catherine was shocked to see a young boy about three years old on the train with his young father (about 28 or so) because he looked this:

Okay, just kidding - that's NOT him, but the father had a flashy tattoo on his right arm, sticking out from under his T-shirt, and Catherine thought he might be one oft them.

And today's quotes? Well ,these:

If you're curious what is supposed to be funny about the picture, please look up "kinky" in the dictionary!

Thanks for coming, and see you soon!

The "Master"

July 9th, Saturday

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 12:24:43 +0100

Hello, Ladies & Gentlemen!
It's late, I just finished a very important meeting (true!!), and I'm a little too tired to write long stories today....
But I want to thank Brooklyn, Emma, Hannah, Courtney, Michaela and Mike for coming in today!

Today's paper:

We had a nice time with delicious coffee jelly & many happy faces!

Good Night,

The "Master"

July 7th, Thursday

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 13:34:39 +0100

Today was my 14th wedding anniversary, and on a day like this it was really nice to see so many faces here:
Kiara was fine, Catherine, too, and she told us the funny story about the stupid American who actually thought she could smuggle her husband out of prison inside a suitcase! Tiffany felt okay, and she said that an angle had smiled at her - maybe this one?

Lindsey was a little exhausted having just come back from her first-ever visit to Hokkaido where she noticed signs at public baths in English, Chinese and Korean telling people NOT to wash inside the water, NOT to take towels inside, and there was one more, but I forgot.
Abigail was "a little fine" (now, that's a new one!), Cassandra, too, and Heather explained her long absence by telling us dream stories about her various trips abroad by planes and cruise ships.
And now I'm getting sleepy and need to hit the road, but not before posting today's "paper":

Good Night!

The "Master"

July 5th, Tuesday

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 10:46:01 +0100

The "Master" really, really appreciates so many noses showing up on every single Cafe day after his coming out, and also everybody's understanding of the situation.
Kelly was fine, and she told everyone about a dream she had some weeks ago about the Cafe being closed for renovation of the building, and a note on the door informing visitors that the "Master" was doing a "Sozai" shop in the neighborhood! Well, it turns out the Cafe WILL close, and the "Master" WILL start another job, although most probably NOT "Sozai"!
So - Kelly IS psychic, then?
Crystal told us about a "Beauty from Behind" contest - in other words, ladies with nicely balanced, good-styled backs. Crystal was moved by this event, as the winner was a lady in her forties, beating many, much younger rivals. At this point, I was unsuccessfully trying to find a matching picture.
Heather was fine, so was Angela, who told us about her not-so-healthy female neighbour who asked her (or ordered her?) to sweep in front of their houses!
Chelsea was amused buy the beautiful 1m long snake which enjoyed a free ride on the Shinkansen! Why amused? Because even dogs & cats have to pay ¥270 to ride on it!
Amy just got back from Nagoya, where she had to be a servant & maid for about 5 days at her daughter's house, and therefore was a little exhausted.
What else? Oh yes, while typing this blog, I could feel the earthquake at 19:18 - it was shaking fairly strongly, haven't felt one for a while. Could you notice it?

Our paper:

(I can see the "Japanese" in point one (when it comes to speaking in English!), and myself in point three!)

And the cake, called "Cake":

Okay, have to pack!

The "Master"

July 2nd, Saturday

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 11:00:41 +0100

WOW! 7 (in words "seven") nice people showed up today - Daniel, Crystal, Alicia,May, Jade, Kelsey and Miranda!
I' m glad to be able to "report" that everyone was fine!
Kelsey brought in a story about "Mizutorizousan"- a device to absorb the moisture from the air and other places during the hot & humid summer month. It contains a powder ( a chemical) which, when absorbing the water, itself becomes liquid. Kelsey was told by a friend not to dispose of this, as it was useful to kill off the weed in the garden. Well, she tried, and - voila! - all the weed died! On first thought, this might sound like great & useful information, but on second thought it worries me, wondering how poisonous this chemical must be......
And here is a picture of this "water-sucking-elephant":

Daniel brought in a very old looking book by Hermann Hesse (as it's a German author, and I'm Germ......), and explained a quite difficult episode from it about a mountain slowly disappearing....creepy! He said that now that he's older, he understands the book a lot better than before.
Alicia had a heart-warming story about this fellow being lost in New Zealand:

It's an "Emperor's Penguin", and they are usually met in Antarctica, NOT New Zealand! The report said that after some treatment he (or she?) will be released into the wild again! Good luck to him/her!
Miranda had news about loads of turtles crossing a runway a JFK Airport on the way to their breeding grounds, disrupting some traffic.
Crystal brought in a really expensive, professional looking camera to take some pictures of us, as the Cafe has entered its' last month.
Okay, it's starting to get a little long - let's have a look at today's material, and then hit the road:

All right, let's enjoy the last month!

The "Master"

June 30th - Thursday

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 09:24:11 +0100

A little tired Madison and Breanna, and a kicking Courtney chatted with me about, well, me, and the sad death of the unique Detective Colombo actor who was over 80 and suffering from Alzheimer. Breanna mentioned that that TV show was the only show her whole family could enjoy together, so she has some nice memories which again made her feel sad although she didn't know him personally.
And why was Madison a little tired? Well, she and Breanna spent almost the whole day together (from around 9:30), speaking, chatting, talking, communicating with lots of tea, coffee, food (?), cake (?) etc, so both of them didn't even touch today's yogurt muffin!
Courtney, as usual, had some news about yet again another unusual item, but this time NOT a vending machine, but a beer jockey made entirely of ice! Just click on the handle and enjoy!
Well, this is it - thank you for supplying the link to this picture:

(For details, click on picture!)

Okay Summer, COME!!

Today's funny sayings were again quite amusing I believe:

That's it? Yep, that's it!
Thanks for coming.................

The "Master"