A good day for all.

A good day in our family.

The sports center telephoned and said okaasan CAN join the Hula dance class on Wednesday afternoons afterall - starting tomorrow.

That put her in a panic about what to wear, and how she can't get her Hula skirt made in time. We kept telling her that for the first class it won't matter, and that by next week we'll find a way to get the skirt made.

It's good news though. She was very happy to hear it. Only bad point is that my plans to go out to a far ski resort have to be curtailed - I'll have to be home by 2 pm to take her to the sports center. We only went there once together and I don't think she could make it alone. And he can't walk more than a few steps in ice and snow on crutches.

So. With good news cheering us all up we set out for our day trip to the local onsen village. Okaasan was understandably excited to be getting OUT of the city and going for a day out. We stopped on the way for kaiten sushi and ate loads (this kind of dining experience of course gave okaasan plenty of opportunity to ask a million times "What's that?" when the same plate of fish came round...), and then early afternoon arrived in Jozankei, a small hot spring village 30 km south of the city.

He hung around the hotel coffee shop and read magazines while I took okaasan off to the hot springs. It was sunny and the views were snowy and pretty. Okaasan needed help understanding the taps with their shower/tap options, but apart from that she was fine. Of course - she's Japanese, she's had more hot springs than I'll ever have! It's like teaching your grandmother to suck eggs. Teaching your okaasan to have a hot spring.

I wasn't sure again how much I should sit around with her, and how much she wanted time alone. So we sat companionably a bit in the hot water and talked about the view etc - we even tried on some funny straw hats the hotel provided for bathers to shield out the sun or rain. Wish I had a picture of the 2 of us wearing those!

But I also let her alone a bit, and sat round the corner keeping an eye on her in the mirror to make sure she didn't slip or get confused. She was fine.

After an hour or two we got dressed and joined up with him again to sit in the hotel lounge and chat. Then we drove home. Okaasan looked tired at dinner tonight, it was an eventful day - but I know she enjoyed it. And...we did too.

It was a celebration of our first month together. Yippeee!