Graduation Cake

Big Sister graduated from high school on Saturday. Aunt bought her this cake. The bouquet of roses is made out of a lemon flavored candy. It says Omedetou. That means "Congratulations!" Those are sakura (cherry) blossoms stenciled on top of the cake in pink sugar.

High School English Test

Big Sister is in high school. She recently had to read the Gettysburg Address, John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address, and Martin Luther King's "I Have Dream" in her English class. Each will be on her English test this week. Last year she had to read Martin Luther King's biography published by Scholastic.

Old Denison High School on Times Square

I started taking pictures around our neighborhood here in Tokyo because things were disappearing. Fields that once grew vegetables and shops that sold tatami, traditional bedding, incense, etc. have been torn up and torn down. Life here is changing.

Back in my home state of Texas there has been an effort over the years to preserve old buildings in small towns. Somehow the old high school in Denison, Texas has fallen through the cracks. It was built on the site of one of the first graded public schools in Texas. Doc Holliday had a dentist office down the street.

They have torn down some of it. Demolition has stopped until August 10th. The town is trying to save it. Its picture has been posted on Times Square in New York City. I'm posting it here because I can't be there to help save it or to photograph it in its final days.

Letter from Chief Gregory Pyle, Choctaw Nation Oklahoma