Love of Patchwork Quilts and Laura Ingalls Wilder

Mami, a friend in Japan holding one of the Little House books.

It was a privilege to spend the afternoon with friends in their home in Tachikawa, a community in Tokyo's western metro region.    What a surprise to learn that Mami has loved Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books since her childhood growing up on a rice farm in rural Japan!  She was equally surprised that Doug and I grew up near places where Laura's family settled for a time.   My childhood farm is only 39 miles from Burr Oak, Iowa where Laura's little sister, Grace, was born and her family helped run a hotel.   Doug's hometown is 49 miles from Walnut Grove, Minnesota where the Ingalls lived on the banks of Plum Creek.  And now we live in Missouri where Laura spent time both in childhood and again in married life. 

Mami has recently learned to sew patchwork quilts and crochet.   Since childhood I have also wanted to sew, knit and crochet.   Hopefully I will learn those skills in my retirement years and also write my memoirs.  (The first book will be titled,  Life in the Other White House.)    Mami and her husband served a delicious meal in their lovely yard filled with fragrant roses.  There is nothing quite as gracious as the hospitality of a Japanese family.