How Bazaar

This rainy weekend marked our first Yokosuka Bazaar, a massive two day sale. There are actually small sales held almost every weekend with some of the same vendors from this weekend, but this is the mother load with goods coming in from all over the eastern part of the world. It’s a fantastic time to Christmas shop (and just shop in general but don’t tell Kimono Hubby I said that because he thinks I have tamed that down… and I have, mostly). And shop we did. We went Saturday and bought many gifts and threw them on the bed for me to wrap and get ready for shipping. After returning home, I decided I had to go back on Sunday to pick up a few more items that people totally couldn’t live without. Have no doubt that the majority of gifts we have purchased will come from the Bazaar this weekend. So no returning them. Don’t think you could even if you tried. There is always regifting which I would never know about. But you don’t really do that... do you?

Speaking of gifts! KH returned from his carousing with trinkets for me which I made him hand over almost before he took his shoes off to enter the house. There was a pair of Shisha which look like a cross between a dragon and a dog, one with his mouth open and one closed. The legend of the Shisha goes back to the ancient rulers of Okinawa and how they used Shisha to ward off evil spirits. I never knew I needed Shisha to help with this until I had them! I also was given a Ryukyu hand blown glass bowl and hand blown glass necklace. Ryukyu glass is a traditional craft in Okinawa which dates back prior to World War II when Okinawans learned to make glass to create medicine bottles. During World War II, sadly the Okinawa glass industry was nearly destroyed by the bombings and local craftsmen had to rebuild from scratch. American forces had left behind a lot of glass bottle waste which the Okinawans collected and began melting down to make their glassware. The recycled glass had a lot of air bubbles in it which has become a signature of Ryukyu glass but was initially thought to be a defect. Today, these pieces are considered works of art and I am quite certain you have seen Ryukyu glass in the states.

So yes, I’m a bit spoiled. I have a damn good husband who has a knack for picking out meaningful and interesting gifts.

Hopefully you will all the say the same about him and I went you receive your Christmas presents!