Surprisingly busy, for a week with no classes. I’ve gone to the health club every day, and I’m about to go again. I drop in on the other Tai Chi class for an hour of moderate exercise. I figure that anything that keeps me standing and moving for an hour is a good thing, even though I now know this is not really Tai Chi.

One of my fellow Osher students is very interested in starting an Osher-Pittsburgh blog. He doesn’t know how to do it himself so he’s been after me to help. I think it’s a good thing, in principle, but I also think we have to be very careful about making sure we don’t claim any official status. We haven’t been blessed; in fact, we haven’t even asked for the blessing.

But we started the blog. I set it up and I’m hoping he will do most of the writing–or get other Osher participants to work on it. I’ll post a link when there’s something interesting to read.

While I was in techie mode I set up another blog for myself: Japan Journey. I am planning to go to Japan before the end of this year. After all of the studying I’ve been doing, I want to take another look at the country, the temples, the works of art. The blog will be an account of all of my plans, the resources I use to make arrangements, and finally, the trip. Right now, it only contains a list of links.

Both of these blogs are on WordPress.com. Although similar to Typepad, it has many different features. It’s been fun exploring them and figuring out how to use them. I like keeping my techie skills polished.

I took a brief break from editing my father’s writing and instead, spent time scanning his drawings and some photographs I want to include in his book. Here is a photo of my mother and father when they got married in 1929.

I wish I had more of my father’s drawings, and I’m sorry he didn’t use materials that would last longer. The paper is getting brittle and the inks are fading. Here are a few of the drawings he put with his writing:

This is a sketch of the loghouse he lived in as a child. This was in the Carpathian mountains in what is now Poland.

This is the mill his father owned. Both he, and his sister, labeled the mill "Trochina." I don’t know if this is the Polish word for a mill, or what this means. I tried to look it up but didn’t find anything.

Finally, this is from one of his stories. He was trained as an architect and he was a superb draftsman. You can see it in this drawing.