Monthly Archives: April 2012
Rice Bread & Kogomi
After the fire brigade opening festivities, I visited a friend who runs a great little “Farm Inn” – basically a regular house that is liscened to accept payment for room and board, but it is not on the same level as a Minshuku or Ryokan inn, which have much stricter regulations for kitchen and customer …
Japan’s most extreme skateboard park
I have been trying to post much more frequently, and with photos from that day or the day before. I find myself looking back at past years on my blog to see what was happening then, and with my memory beginning to fail, I thought I really need to keep better records. Of course, this …
Spring
I feel like I can finally say that Spring is here. Today was amazing – aside from knowing that I *should* have been sitting diligently behind the computer doing grown-up work, I was out much of the day enjoying the first real non-wintery day in over five months. As you can see the cherry blossoms …
Daily Mona
Mona takes a break while gathering sugina, the the green sterile stems of horsetail. Most of the fertile horsetail that she was gathering earlier in the month has already shed its pollen to the breeze, and don’t make such a nice snack anymore. The green stems are not so tasty, but supposed to be rich …
First day in the field – Preserved daikon
We spent our first real time this year out in the back garden doing something other than shoveling. Well, at least Tomoe was doing something other than shoveling. She spent a few hours digging out a pile of daikon from where we had buried them five months ago. The dirt and snow cover kept it …
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Part Time Driver & Assistant Guide Position Open
Things are changing fast and furious here. Some really great, but sudden opportunities have fallen onto Tomoe’s plate, so I am suddenly in need of some extra replacement support with One Life Bike and Hike trips. We have two trips already scheduled for the last week of May and mid June that will require a …
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Tsukioka Omiya
This is the small shrine and local meeting hall near our house where all the neighborhood business and festivals take place. In the first photo on the right you can see the remains of the dondo-yaki which was burned on little new year day. I was in Michigan at the time, so didn’t attend the …
Waffle Back by Popular Demand
Enough people ordered Tomoe’s waffles last time, and enough people liked them, that she is offering more. This time it is not to use up over-stocked ingredients, rather because she will be firing up the waffle makers Thursday to make some for a special order, and thought it would be good to open it to …
Snow Progress
I know I sound obsessed with the snow, but it is either that or all Mona. There is not much else to take photos of when we go for a walk, and I am really interested in keeping a daily record so I can better predict what the scenery will look like in the event …