Maki Nishino

We didn't meet Maki until 1993. She went to a two-year junior college in Japan, then transferred to Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She always wanted to see Oregon, and thought it would be better to stay in the States during winter break rather than flying to Japan and back. So, she called my parents and asked if she could visit for a month. She came back for the next winter break and the summer of 1994, which means she is in Oregon just as often as I am. She calls our home a survival camp, in reference to the hiking, skiing, canoeing, mountain climbing, and other activities that we inflict upon her whenever she visits. However, she is easily able to keep up, so we don't pay much attention when she complains that we don't treat her like a 'Japanese girl'. A Japanese girl who can out-hike most of our American friends doesn't deserve too much sympathy. Maki is also a movie fanatic and an excellent Hearts player (I'm referring to the card game here, but from what I've heard about her boyfriends, it sounds like she may be just as bloodthirsty at the other game of hearts).

Maki and the livestock guardian dogs in 1998: Finegan, age 3, and Anna, age 12