The gift of friendship

On Tuesday the years fell away and I was happily back with my friend, Cynthia, from Wabi Sabi Quilts.

The foreign community in Tokyo, and Japan as a whole, is one big revolving door. 

You never know when greeting a friend, how long it will be before they depart, taking a chunk of your heart with them.

It is also an unknown if or when you might get to see them again.

I was so happy that Cynthia could give me a day of her short stay. For once the weather was warm and spring-like. I had to carry my jacket until returning to my home station later in the day.

We met near the place where she is staying and took a short train ride to Kamata and a large fabric and craft store ... or I should say "stores" as they have different stores in the area selling different craft items.

Cynthia came with a number of items to hunt down, and we pretty well covered four floors of the building carrying fabrics and sewing supplies. I was able to hunt down pencil leads to re-supply my marking tools and get a new spool of thread to replace the one I used up earlier in the week.

Cynthia managed to fill a couple of shopping bags with the items on her list ... as well as a few things that jumped off the shelves saying "Me too!"

We finally sat down for a nice lunch and time to catch up on the last few years. Cynthia brought me some Maple syrup (the real stuff) and some fabric bits, but the biggest gift of all is her friendship.

Last night I marked and cut a few bits to add to the scrappy blocks I am now working on. A sampling of them can be found in this block.

Today I was able to add another row to the growing quilt.  I think this is quickly becoming a memory quilt.

The days seem to fly by. 

Evening service tomorrow evening that includes the choir ... and Easter will bring two more services that include the choir.  Happily it will also bring my daughter, Norie and Leia.

And, speaking of Leia,

This morning I had the special treat of the first sweet tones from this little harpist. 

This picture was taken at the end of the year and we were able to acquire a harp for her to use for practice.

Listening to the soft chords plucked by these gentle hands really made my day. I thought of my first daughter at age three playing variations of twinkle twinkle little star on a small violin, followed by her five siblings as they added one or the other form of music to our lives.

The gift of friendship, like the gift of music ... what joy for all.