Sunset

Hothouse.

Street lamp.

Baby persimmon.

R.R. Xing

The sun burned off the clouds yesterday. It was the first time in over a week and probably only the third or fourth time in July. I drove northeast about 30 minutes, met friends, and ate dinner at a highway Ramen shop. Very, very good and a huge portion which I could not finish. After eating, we walked around and took pictures as the sun sank. Great lighting and the day had cooled to the perfect evening temperatures. Good company, too.

There and back again

Tokyo

On Tuesday, I took the boy to the airport and he flew to the U.S. to see family. We drove to the local airport, flew for an hour, and took a bus from one airport to another near Tokyo. The first half of this 80 minute ride was through bumper-to-bumper, stop-and-go traffic. Here is a picture of the city. About 7 routes coverged at this point, each running at a different height. You can see two bridges and boat traffic. Surface roads criss-crossed below us. Most of the vehicles were commercial, carrying some form of cargo or another, including our bus. Lots of concrete and metal with bits of green poking up around the rivers. Lots of rivers and bridges. We got to Narita Airport about 3.5 hours before his flight. His flight left about 2.5 hours late. I took the bus back to the other airport (less traffic this time), had time to eat a sandwich, then flew home. It's good to be back. Here is a picture of home.

Home

Summer

A new mask and snorkel!!

The boy cut his foot when we went to the beach.

Last Sunday we went to the ocean and the boy spent the afternoon swimming and snorkeling. He nabbed a couple of fish, including a small blowfish, a hermit crab and some kind of sea snail. The weather was great, a break from the rain and humidity we have been under for a month. He swam all the way out to the raft and, after sitting there for about twenty minutes, dog-paddled his way back. I waded.

June

June was a busy month, complete with visitors, tonsilitis and separated ribs. Here's a recap.

6.04.Sports day at the boy's elementary school. I pulled some rib cartilage helping out the neighborhood tug-of-war-team.

6.11. The World Bazaar at the local community center. Flags of Ethiopia and Brazil. I had China and Japan flags painted on my forearms.

6.11. The World Cup. The local coffee shop owner is a sports nut and the shop was decked out with World Cup 2002 jerseys. Here is some guy from the Poland vs Ecuador match.

6.16.Local fungi at Ye Olde Silke Factory. We took a pottery class and our crafts should be fired next month. I made a cup.

6.18.Went to the aquarium and watched the seal perform. He threw a frisbee and shot baskets. The boy ate ice cream later.

6.21.Students went to a two-hour Taiko drum lesson. They caught on quickly. It was stifling hot. I aggrevated my rib injury while getting jiggy with it.

I came down with tonsilitis over the next weekend.

Gyoukusenji

An inner garden seen through shaped bamboo.

Students from the school visited a local temple, listened to the head priest give a history of the place, drank tea and ate sweets, then strolled through the garden. This window, which is more for letting light in then presenting a view, reminded me of interior design from 30 years ago. It was very close to being a bubble window with abstract art welded across its face. The more I looked at it though, the more interesting the framework became. Today (July 3) I revisited the temple and on closer look, realized that this was all made from bamboo, wowbobwow. I wonder if there are any meanings associated with the shapes.