kids and pink clouds

Well, the earthquakes have picked up again in the last few days. We've had quite a few strong shakers, waking me up at night and prompting me to turn on the news. Yesterday's 7.1 killed four more people. It feels like the gods are picking off people a few more at a time.

And today, the nuclear accident was raised to a level 7, the same as Chernobyl, and the highest level on the scale. It doesn't look like the radiation output is nearly as bad as Chernobyl at this time, but it's worrying that it's now on the same level as the disaster that left, according to a Belorussian acquaintance, 30% of Belarus uninhabitable.

Also, Governor Ishihara was reelected and wants to shut down pachinko parlors to save energy.

Yet we keep plodding along. We have to work and live and there is so much still to do. The cherry blossoms are just rounding the corner past full bloom. Last Saturday at Yoyogi, we folded some cranes for the Architecture for Humanity donation. They've reached their goal of 100,000 cranes for a $200,000 donation, but will still accept cranes postmarked by Apr. 15 for a massive art project they're making with the birds.

Last week I dropped off some "comfort backpacks for kids" that the Girl and Boy Scouts were collecting, filled with school supplies and snacks and flashlights and other kid-friendly things. I really wanted to give to their effort since I was a Girl Scout for so many years and it gave me so much. I didn't share the effort, though, since the project just had a local drop location and no address. But now Jen B has shown me a similar project, putting together boxes for kids in Ishinomaki. It's a great project - check it out! Contact Nicole for the address or ask me.