Hope in Nottinghill Gate

Kuki had a birthday and her friend from Puglia was there too. We had the usual Hope evening in Nottinghill Gate, dinner from the Aga, wines galore, kids running in and out, multilingual conversation. Kuki's birthday present is the dog on her chest purchased from a breeder in Sussex.

Vietnam finally.....

I made my second trip to Vietnam last week, spending a couple nights in Saigon nka Ho Chi Minh City for an Asian real estate conference. John Suzuki, an high school friend, was visiting in Izu and helped me find a flag pole for my Vietnam flag I bought in Hanoi in January.

As you can see, the flag now flies proudly over the entrance to our Izu house.

I reminded John of one of the cants from the anti-Vietnam war days. It goes like this,

"Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh

Viet Cong are gonna win."

Growing kids

Anton is sprouting still, and Thor has now started putting on height at a faster pace. Where'll it stop?

My beard has reached the "gravitas" length. Someone at an Islamic conference this week in Malaysia asked if I had grown it for the conference. Ha!

We were all together at the Yawatano Shinto Shrine to show my high school friend John Suzuki and his family our Izu local culture. After the stop at the shrine we checked out the wasabi fields behind Ike and had some soba.

My shadow

He found me again, this time on the way to the 606 Club in Chelsea to see Gilad Atzman play saxophone and clarinet really well last night...

Here we are again, old friends.

Sally and I get together for lunch or dinner whenever I'm in London. Today we went to Manicomio in the Duke of York Square for veal chops. Then we went shopping for kitchen stuff for her cottage in Devon.