I spent a wonderful day yesterday with #1 daughter, speaking of all things girlie - okay - womanly...Oh alright then - old ladyish from my point of view! Sheesh already! ^=^ What we actually spoke about was Japan, and the strange bond we both feel with that country; Anime - which was paramount in getting my daughter interested in art and also learning Japanese in the first place. The former she was just plain brilliant at drawing, and the latter the school refused point blank to teach - so she learned a fair amount herself. Strange though, was the innate ability she had to pronounce Japanese words correctly with no tuition! Now the same school teaches Japanese, Chinese and Russian. What a difference a few years makes! We spoke of her recent summer in the US and the huge Otakom Cosplay she attended In Baltamore. That's like a Star Trek convention only for gaming enthusiasts and arty types and Anime (mostly) and Manga enthusiasts. Anime I should imagine, most have heard of by now, and Manga is mostly driven by wonderful Japanese artist and writers, who usualy have to publish their own work in the format of graphic novels. That's a simplistic overview, but it just about covers it. My daughter's degree was for Illustration, so graphic novels are of great interest to her, especially Japanese. She has a great stack of them, some quite rare. Just a bit of useless information about Japanese graphic novels....you read them from back to front! ....and we took some photographs! This was one I sneakily shot of her - that's the only way a picture of her ends up digitally encased in my finepix - though I did ask her permission to post it. Dark it may be, but I rather liked the effect. ^=^ Much rain and wind today, so it's off to beach again! That's assuming I can actually get Barney's butt out the door! ^=^ I shall return to play catchup later, dripping wet, coffee on table and wonderful photographic talent on puter screen. If anyone out there can suggest a nicer way to spend an afternoon, do tell! I myself, cannot. ^=^ Thank you for taking the time to look. ^=^