Spring Equinox 2012 - March 19, 2012

Each guest received a set of decorated, lacquered chop sticks. We had a sumptuous sushi feast with homemade sushi rice, nori, and a variety of vegetarian toppings such as pickled ginger, pickled gourd, pickled daikon, carrots, avocado, cucumber and spiced kelp. The meal was accompanied by plum wine, sake, lemonade, mochi and it was finished off by green tea ice cream.

We followed this with a session of storytelling. We had four stories; the first was about bee balm; the second was about a distant-future advanced-holonic ocean-forest; the third was a story about the invention of rock and roll by a miniature elephant, a tiny horse and a primitive cat improvised by Joel, and the fourth was an adventure story where a group of xenophytophores had to get a sick member of their village to medical help while escaping prowling jawless fishes and collapsing reefs. The stories were accompanied by improvised ukulele music provided by Joel. Two of the stories made us laugh so hard that they brought tears to our eyes. It was great fun.

We ended the evening with a game of Scopa and then Joel left by bicycle with his ukulele strapped to his back and we walked Jessica to the bus. It was a most enjoyable evening.