A Late Christmas Present

Dear Diary,

A package arrived in the mail that contained some late Christmas presents from my sister. I just had to share these sweet little Jizo figures from Japan. Jizo are Buddhist guardian figures that protect women, children and travelers. You often see them in big groups along the roadside in Japan. When I was there in 2007, I enjoyed seeing how people would dress the larger figures in scarves and hats as a sign of devotion much as people in Ireland drape the statues of saints with rosary beads.

When I looked at them I couldn't help but think of "faith, hope and charity", their attributes seem to suggest it. That may be mixing religions but I have always found a great deal of overlap between the major religions of the world.

A follow-up to the "pod mystery". I Googled trumpet vines and discovered that the vine does, after a number of years, produce a seed pod just like that. In all the years I've had it, at least 10 years, I've never seen one. So, mystery solved!

And a bit of good news. FedEx delivered the box for my laptop yesterday and the very nice man came in and helped me pack it up properly and took it away to save me time. Now, that is what I call service! We'll see what happens with it.