Packages!

One of my very few regrets about living in Japan is that it costs so dang much to send/bring things from the States. Every package that anyone sends me ends up costing the sender nearly as much as whatever is in the box! This is true the other way too (from Japan to wherever) but I don't send out packages very often.

For more than 20 years my mother regularly sent me food packages (and I'm afraid I have never taken up the custom and sent food items to my children in the States). She would include chocolate chips, peanut butter, tomato paste, cake mixes. As Mother grew more "settled", my sister-in-law took over the job, but a few years ago the US postal service stopped offering surface mail overseas and everything became airmail so packages are becoming far and in-between.

When visiting the States, I have tried to cut mailing fees by taking everything but the kitchen sink back with me in my suitcases. A few years ago I bought a huge nesting suitcase set so that I could carry one big suitcase to the States and then carry two suitcases filled with goodies back to Japan. The suitcases even expanded and a lot of fabric got carried back to Japan too! The strategy of large nesting suitcases backfired though and the past two years I have had to pay extra for overweight baggage at the airport. So I have to pay for my lovely items either way; the post office or the airlines.

Last week I received a very large box filled with sewing supplies from Mary in Indiana. The sewing supply box arrived while I was in the hospital and Tetsu brought it to my hospital room and I opened it with roommates watching. Thread? Bobbins? Quilting stencils? Fabric? Do you own a store, Tanya?

I have never even SEEN the pre-wound bobbins that Mary sent and I'm anxious to get back to my sewing machine and try using them. The thread I will share with my quilting group. All that lovely thread will last us awhile, don't you think?!


And yesterday another box arrived from Indiana, this time from Mary's sister, Pat. Pat is my good friend/nearly family member whom I find I have ties though my grandparents who lived in Indiana. Pat had asked me what I wanted from the States and I mentioned my mother's long ago food packages. Pat's box was filled with.... chocolate chips, peanut butter, tomato paste etc.! I will dive into Pat's wonderful food item box and make a batch of peanut butter cookies to start with! And spaghetti for dinner which will please Tetsu to no end! (He has already found the M 'n Ms.)

Thank you Pat and Mary! I am thrilled with both of your boxes and recognize all love you put in choosing items for me. I know the post office workers appreciate your patronage too. The postal fare alone has paid for the post office's air conditioning this month!