Already 3 weeks ago I attended a workshop by Simon Leach at the Civic Art Center in Walnut Creek, California. He is the grandson of Bernard Leach a master potter from Great Britain. I know Hamada Tomoo, the grandson of Hamada Shoji a master potter an ... Continue Reading
My youngest son Arjan married his high school sweet heart Katie on September the 22nd. They are very happy and were ready to take this next important step. The newly-wed couple Katie and Arjan and the parents. Our little family: Swanica, Maarten an ... Continue Reading
Last week, Adriaan, our son Maarten and I went to Yosemite National Park, which is south of Lake Tahoe and about a 4 hour drive from the Bay Area, where we live. Maarten and Adriaan went up the Vernon Falls and the Neveda Falls, which took them about 5 hours. It was a great ex ... Continue Reading
The weather is quite beautiful at the moment: the sun shines and the temperature is around 80F and at night it cools off so you can sleep very well. The second surgery went very well and the margins are clear. So, we are very happy about that! First mile stone and the surgery ch ... Continue Reading
At the moment, I read quite a lot about breast cancer. They have quite some support groups at Stanford Hospital and also in the Bay Area. It is just wonderful to see how much support there is. Last Wednesday, I went to the Breast Awareness group guided by the nurse of my surgeon. ... Continue Reading
Well, I met with the oncologist, the 2nd opinion doctor, and the surgeon and the great news is that my lymph nodes are free form cancer!!! This is wonderful!!:) The surgeon removed the cancerous mass, but in the margin around are still pre-cancerous cells DCIS, so, that mean ... Continue Reading
Flowers from my sons Roland, Maarten and Arjan and their better halves Cameryn, Mindy and Katie. Thank you so much! Love you all!!!!! . Continue Reading
Two days ago at around this time 3pm I came out of surgery: a lumpectomy. The first thing I did was moving my arm to feel if it was bandaged and it was not! I am so happy about this and thankful, because this means that the cancer hasn’t spread to other lymph nodes. The da ... Continue Reading
I am in the train again on my way to Narita airport to return to the US. Today is a beautiful day and the sun woke me up this morning. We had a wonderful walk on the beach, where so many surfers had already entered the water. There was just enough wind to have some nice waves. ... Continue Reading
On March 8 I flew to the US to be there for 2 weeks to see my sons and do the taxes, and some work and meet with some friends. Our original plan was that Adriaan would join me in the US and we would return to Japan on the 22nd of March.Then on the 11th the terrible disasters hap ... Continue Reading
