Below is a charcoal drawing of myself done by mother in 1970. I have fond memories of posing for her for numerous drawings and paintings throughout my late childhood and teen years.
My name is Diane Sontag and I write to you from Ohio, my home state, to which I have returned after living in Oregon, Japan, and Sri Lanka, for the past twenty years.
My travel journals are all over the house, in the garage, in drawers, on shelves, in boxes, in closets. I am pulling them out and putting it all here. I look forward to sharing my adventures with you. Life is funny, and travelling seems to bring more than its fair share of humor.
I am also recording life in the present as the development of our children is an ever constant source of wonder. Homeschooling is even more amazing than I thought it would be, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to be doing it, and will continue to do it as long as it is working for our family.
Thanks for visiting and I hope you find some things here to make you laugh, inspire you to try something new, or cause you to do something old in a new way! Diane
I enjoyed your writing and look forward to more.
Thanks, Karen! I am trying to post once a day. So far, so good!
Hi Diane,
On behalf of women everywhere, I want to thank those of you in Ohio who voted for our First Woman President. I have felt very let down by women during this primary, but last nights victories restored by faith.
I look forward to reading your letters. I enjoyed them so much years ago when I read them.
Miss you,
Susan
Diane – Your writing style is wonderful. Keep it coming!
. . . and DANG, you must have whipped that one about the library event out like lightning!
By the way, Mim wanted to ask the magician a question afterwards, and he asked her if she went to school today. She explained that she was homeschooled. He then felt obligated to ask “What did you learn today?”. She wasn’t sure what to say, since we don’t learn at our house by taking on a specific subject each day. She could have said “I improved my piano technique” or “I learned the normal range of the human voice” or “I learned that brushing your teeth helps keep your whole body healthy” or even “I can pay attention for way longer than the average school-attending child”, but she doesn’t see those things as some sort of knowlege nugget that has to be fed back to someone. She just lives it.
I’m gonna sigh again.
Susan,
Watching the political process is always fascinating. I myself long for a multi-party election rather than our 2-party system. Is proportional representation gaining any ground yet? I am encouraged that the Democratic party has us chosing between a white woman and a black man, instead of several white men. That has GOT to be a sign of some kind of progress!
Miss you, too!
Diane
Alice,
Thanks for your comments. I love the phrase “knowledge nugget.”
Even children who attend school are hard-pressed to answer the question, “So, what did you learn in school today?” with much detail. The most common answer is, “I don’t know,” or “Nothing.” In teacher’s college we were taught to always review the day’s topics with the class just prior to dismissal so our students could intelligently answer just such a question – and to assure that the parents would get the message that content was indeed presented!
Diane
Hey! I worked as an AET in Kakegawa as well too! In fact, you were my replacement! Wow…is this a SMALL world or what! I am still living in Japan… and enjoying it very much!
Hello, Theresa! I am so glad you stumbled upon my website. Thanks for stopping by. It will be fun to catch up on our news. I wondered if you had stayed in Japan or returned to Oregon. Now I know!
Dear Diane,
I hope you are well. I found you on Twitter. Although we have never met, I have had some of the same travel experiences as you and find your blog very interesting. Hope to hear more from you soon!
Mark
Hi, Diane, just found this blog thru Joan. Started to look over it. When did you move to Ohio? How are Uphali and the little ones? Yup we are still in Japan. We got caught up in personal growth and stayed her longer than we’d planned, or hoped. Corinne is gearing to go back to school in the Bay Area next September. I’m scrambling to keep up.
Kiotsukete kudasai,
Erik
Hi Erik,
Look at how long it has been since I visited my own blog. Sorry! Life just got in the way of blogging. We moved to Ohio in July of 2005. We are all doing well. Upali and I will celebrate 15 years together in a few months. It is hard to believe our little ones are 10 and 8 already! Are you stateside again by now? Arigato gozaimashita! Diane