After that huge shopping trip for beads in Tokyo, I return to Gualala, to The Loft, to shop for curtain material and what do I find? These beads with kanji burned into them. They may be Chinese for all I know, but they do look Japanese! I have often felt that our coast, rugged as it is, is the vestige of the break that separated Japan's landmass from ours. Somehow finding these beads here and the very modern 'Western acrylic" beads in Japan brought our two lands back together.

I am still not beading, even though I go on buying beads! since I am crocheting on the big dollie for the GAC show in January. Each foot is 28 inches long. I am sure that by the time I get her done, I will be so glad to return to beading. I am finding out that crocheting makes my hands and wrists tired more quickly and I cannot crochet as long as I could bead. There is something to be said for the tiny weight of seed beads.