Had a lovely break from moving activity today with celebrations for Junko's @jyokota 'big' birthday. Bill and her daughter, Alyssa, went all out to create an event that includes some of the main Japanese traditions for this big day as well as some family traditions. Carrot cake (yum) was key -- as were the red hat, scarf, pillow, 'throne', and gifts. Guess which traditions were which!
The start of the day was a quick visit to the Bahá'í temple for Chicago Open House - the only day of the year photography is allowed inside. Great way to start the day.
Main album has one of the temple interiors, taken with fisheye lens.
@hjbenson@summerfield@joysfocus@kchuk@julzmaioro@ludwigsdiana@dide@jamibann@pamknowler@onewing@777margo@beryl@olenadole@domenicododaro@louannwarren@mittens@lyndamcg@cathieg - - First a big thank you to @Taffy for being part of my celebration and documenting it, and now I see why people came over to my project to say happy birthday even when I hadn't mentioned it! And thank you all for your lovely wishes! It really was a special way to blend my Japanese heritage but in an American way. And as I look beyond to the background of the photo, I see the wood carvings my maternal grandfather brought back from Switzerland in the 1920s, and the trunk my grandparents brought back when they fled communism in China to return to Japan. I'm holding a gift from my aunt and uncle in Japan, and surrounded by gifts from Taffy and my family. And here's you'll see a link to the annual carrot cake tradition Taffy mentions above: http://365project.org/jyokota/365/2016-10-10
