I left the house in time for a slow walk to the bus, got to my neighbor's driveway and turned around and came back home. Freezing rain is much more frequent here than in Chicago where it was always too cold in winter for rain. I bought new boots at L. L. Bean, which were supposed to be good on ice; they weren't any different than my usual shoes. Can't blame L. L.; it was the sales person who made up the story.

I'll miss the Chinese landscape painting class but hope to arrive in time for a lunch date and the Japanese scroll painting class. Last week the professor said something that contradicted what I had written in my paper: that is, scroll paintings usually didn't have backgrounds. I plan to spend time in the library looking for my reference. Unfortunately, I did not footnote it.

I've started planning my Japan trip, at least to the extent of making a two-week reservation at the Palace Side Hotel in Kyoto. To my amazement I found out one of my Israeli friends will be in Kyoto at the same time. I'm really delighted. Without the blog and the internet we would have been ships passing in the night.