A. adj. one added to one, ‘twapart’; part two

Sorry for the confusing title. How best to ad-attach a dictionary definition to a post title? I don’t know, haha!

I had a sprite of insight today when I was parading through class at high school. During a routine textbook and vocabulary copying-down and explanation I thought to myslef, ‘Wow, I really enjoy at least knowing some of the backgrounds of English. Root words, Latin, Greek… hmm, I should look more into that!’
And thus the title of this post.

But if any of you have perhaps read on from day one, you may have read that I like to hobby myself with looking up and writing out dictionary etymologies and root words. Well, I had better stop blathering about my interests and just get on with writing about the weekend… (but, hey, I love words!)

Now then, the weekend was the second part (2-part), ‘twapart’ of Golden Week. Right up until quitting time on Wednesday the weather was safe. But after Wednesday, it began to rain. I was suddenly surprised at how chillled the air can become when rain drizzles and sunshine is covered up by cloud. And here I have just survived a gruelling winter, I know..

But luckily I had movies to watch and shows to catch up on. Now, you can’t blame a guy for sitting inside while living abroad in Japan; or at least I would have before. Before coming to Japan I thought that every waking minute should be spent out and about, mixing within and mixing into oneself the surrounding culture. But when work comes to rest, it is just nice to have some ‘inside days’ to relax over a four day weekend. Once in a while.

So with my point made and talk of movies, I was ready to film. To sit and watch movies. Where I previously would wait to visit Sapporo to rent CDs, I have discovered a video rental shop in Rumoi. This now means that if I bus or find myself in Rumoi I can pay pennies for rentals (films or CDs that I want) and then, get this, drop them in the mailbox and have them shipped back at little to no extra fee.

Living in the country(side)? Problem solved.

So with rains pouring down and chilling my sleeping space I reverted to said film-watching and cooking.

And to keep things short and smart let’s press on to Sunday. Sunday we had a little bit of a sunny break. Somehow, and for just long enough, I was able to lace-up and go running. I went around town and then out beside the highway to investigate our roadside rest-stop.

At our highwayside stop, tiny shops have now opened for the season to sell octopus tempura and soba noodles and curry noodles and such. I have committed to visiting every weekend to taste a dish until I have flavoured all.
But on that Sunday I didn’t eat, I was dripping from my run and I wasn’t done yet -sorry for the details.

I was readying to cross the highway to the oceanside when I was traversed by a rather lanky-looking and long-legged fox. I paused atop the dry, scratchy grass for a moment. I am sure the fox would have done the same but he seemed far too shocked and embarassed to follow suit, so the fox kept on toward the roadway -and then was gone. (Not ‘gone’, gone, just out of my sight)

I continued my run down to the water. I was happy to smile at the waves that crash day after day under sunshine or cloudy weather on our Sea of Japan coast. With enough sunshine to inspire me to return again to the water (another time, and maybe with lunch), I turned and made my way home. Of course it was not long after I finished peeling my shoes from my aching feet that it clouded over again.
Just enough respite to enjoy the tail of the long weekend, Sunday.

And that’s it!

I don’t think I have any startling pictures to share, but I will dig through my files when I catch a chance at home.

But, alas it is Monday again. I have not indulged in coffee yet. Today would have been the day, cloudy all day, lazy and stupid in the morning as I clambered across cold floors trying to make sense of what I should do first in the morning hours after a four day weekend.

Either way, all worth it.

Have a very nice week and as always, there will be more to follow.

Ciao

(a hearty family dinner served!)