Last week the GW came to town - the aircraft carrier George Washington. That means several thousand new people on base, and weeks of protesting by Japanese anti-nuclear groups. The GW is the first nuclear carrier to be stationed here, and as you can imagine, many Japanese people and advocacy groups have a problem with that. It's here just the same though, and it rolled in last week, right in front of our house. I woke early to the sound of helicopters, and pulled on some jeans to join my Japanese neighbors out on the seawall, watching the beast crawl toward the base.

I haven't seen it up close yet, but I'm hoping to soon. Josh played all day at welcome gigs that day, poor fellow.

We've been getting to know our neighborhood, Mabori Kaigan. It's a charming area, lacking only a coffee shop. We're within a kilometer (0.6 miles) of a fish market/sushi place, which is great! The grocery store sells good veggies, fish, snacks, and sake in addition to regular groceries - I buy a lot of stuff there, but for basics like bread and milk I go to base. Ever tried to translate "skim milk?" Not so easy.

Josh is rocking and rolling at work, taking on too much as usual and making a name for himself. The band had their Physical Readiness Tests this week, in which they are made to prove their readiness to beat back the forces of evil through music or something. Josh kicked ass, as you might have expected. It wasn't that long ago that these things were nerve wracking, and now his biggest stressor is the margin by which he'll beat the "Outstanding-High" rating - the highest possible score. He's amazing!

I taught another knitting lesson today, which quickly turned into a trip to our local yarn shop, Puppy Yarns.

Wait, that's not the yarn - that's an actual puppy. I spotted this little guy with his owner in a park near our house, and I took a picture because he's a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a dead ringer for Nemo, my folks' demon dog. :)

Back to Puppy Yarns - we went for sock yarn and left with two giant bags of wool for scarves and sweaters. There was a sale! I got an incredible deal - all this for less than $65:

That's ten, count them, TEN hanks of Rowanspun Chunky, a discontinued wool that will be a sweater or shawl for me soon. That alone is probably worth about $120-150, and then you add in the DK weight - note that I did not choose these colors; they were a lot. But I'll find a use for every one:

I'm in heaven. See you later - I'll be knitting.