Rain Rain Go Away

Sunny Manitoba this is not. It has been raining for almost 48 hours here and although I was expecting this at some point in Japan, it is still a little much to take. Homes in North America usually have smoke detectors, but our detector (Yayoi's cell phone) went off last night with musical tones interspersed with the feminine voice announcing "jishin desu" translated literally as 'earthquake is' as we experienced at least the second earthquake (probably about a level 3 here) in less than a week. Apparently since the level 9 earthquake that happened a year ago (3.11 - March 11, 2011), Japan will experience a large number of smaller earthquakes for years as the continental plates attempt to stabilize. The anniversary date is tomorrow and television is constantly reminding us and displaying new scenes of what happened then and the cleanup that is still progressing.
The only time rain interfered with us is the day we toured Nagasaki with one of Yayoi's cousins. Since we were transported by car, it was not too much of an inconvenience other that my feet being totally wet thanks to shoes that both developed large cracks in the soles.
So here we are in the family room, with a kotatsu covered "coffee table" with a heater beneath and an electric radiant heater in the corner. The temperature outside may be about 3°C and inside in this small room we have managed to get it up to about 17°C.
We would have liked to have taken the bikes into Edosaki the town nearby, but umbrellas and bikes would be a little cumbersome. So some of the unJapanese staples that we like to have such as bread may have to wait.
Tomorrow we are planning to go to an art exhibit where Yayoi's friend Sumi-chan will be displaying her art.