Best holiday wishes

Got our Christmas package from the little brother today.  If he were any cooler I'd keep my beers in him!  Thanks Ben, and bonus points for keeping with the reason for the season. Can't wait to use them!

Christmas!

Phase one is in the can...K's stocking duly stuffed and gleefully unstuffed, a fine Tennessee breakfast of grits sausage and eggs consumed.  Presents have been opened and appreciated (excellent work mom and dad! ) and we are now preparing to take our new Christmas shoes for a Christmas walk.
This afternoon we have to pick up Christmas cakes at the French bakery and then its tripartite family Christmas party time! There will be Christmas champagne, Christmas crab, and the traditional (in Japan) Christmas bucket 'o KFC!  Big fun for all and a rough Saturday for many. 
  To all of you out there, have a fine family Christmas and remember that we here in the Land of the Rising Son are thinking of you!
Merry Christmas everyone.

Deep Breath

Just finished teaching my last lesson of the year. Feels good to be done, if only till January. All I have to do now is wait for the imminent arrival of the big S, and I don't mean Santa. K is literally dreaming about labor now, which is good because the blessed event could come any day now and visualization is good practice. Everyone is excited here, a little anxious as well, especially me. Tense with anticipation...deep breaths...deep breaths.

Getting closer

Things are coming to a head here in the land of the rising sun. K has about a month left until her due date, and is getting less and less comfortable with each passing day. She's a trooper though, and is trying not to let it get the best of her. she's not above using her condition to wheedle favors out of me tho.
To wit, last weekend we put up our (fake plastic ) Christmas tree. At her insistence, it was put not in the living room as I suggested but in the dining room. The living room is a Japanese style room, while the dining room is western style, and she prefers western. Huh.
Its getting colder here, which is made painfully evident by the lack of central heating. Its COLD in the house in the mornings, so cold in fact that I've begun insisting on a hot breakfast. Miso soup and rice? Okay! I made sausage eggs and grits this morning, damn fine Too.
Stay warm folks!

Rust in peace

Came across this nugget while cleaning out my studio.  Sounds like theres an overabundance of iron in the groundwater...

Firey fall foliage

Had to turn around and go back for another look at this scene. The way the setting sun sets off the rich scarlet of the maples made them seem illuminated from within. A very pleasant break from the evening commute!

Watch out!

Took K and the captain out to see the fall colors today, and was greeted by this warning.  Sometimes I forget I'm living in a truly strange and wonderful place. ..things like this serve to remind me.

Happy Birthday

Happy 250th to Guinness! May we all live so long!

Sony? Really?

Just acquired a PSP the other day...its a pretty nifty little gadget, but I`ve no games for the sucker. Any recommendations for something that isn`t lame?

ooooooh.......

The nice thing about getting gifts is that the people you care about have a chance to do something they feel is nice for you, and you get free stuff. The bad thing is, you don't get to choose the stuff you get.

Totally Eclipse

I'm sure by now everyone is sick of hearing about our solar eclipse last week...but bear with me. Where we live the eclipse wasn't total, only about 80%. I took my camera to the local schoolyard hoping to get some dramatic photos and hopefully not sear my retinas. It was a cloudy overcast day, which made it difficult to get a clear shot. I realize now tho that a clear shot would have been dull compared to what I ended up getting. The diffusion offered by the cloud cover makes for some fantastic evocative images, don't you think?

Finished!

Time 4:30pm...beer thirty!

Halfway there...

bricks...

Constructorr

the pad for my patio as of 8:30am.

McMystery

Got this free with my Double Quarter Pounder meal today. I cant even begin to fathom the import...some Erisian prank!

For my dears...

duh.

Putting in a ceiling fan in the bedroom...this illustration made me laugh.

Coming together...

Tomorrow we move in to the new house. Today I dug a garden in the front yard. I planted tomatoes, goya, and an assortment of herbs. The ground is red clay and heavy...took a lot of work to break up the soil. Earned my beer today!

More house pictures

yes, we have bears.

News of the New

We have begun the process of moving in to the new house. For the time being we are concentrating on nonessentials such as winter clothes and old books. Our goal is to be finished by the end of golden week.

I am really excited about our yard. The olive trees are in and looking healthy, and the japanese maple i didnt even realize we had is beautiful. Ive got an herb garden in the works and there is talk of a screen porch. Ahhh...

Some of the Shodoshima sights.

'tis a lovely place. Funny thing tho...the theme played on the ferry as it pulls into port is a karaoke version of the Pointer Sisters' "Jump". Could it be because life on Shodoshima is about 20 years behind the times?

Come sail away

On the ferry to the little island where K's grandmother lives...our annual spring pilgrimage. The island, Shodoshima, is famous (in Japan) for its olive groves. We are planning to pick up an olive tree to plant in the front yard of the house we just bought...

field trip!

No classes for me today...instead I went with the younger kids on a cherry blossom viewing excursion. Beautiful weather and a natural hot spring foot bath made for a fine time. They were all over me in freeze tag tho...

Wedding 2.0

Yesterday was K and my second wedding anniversary. To celebrate the occasion, we decided to stay home and have a nice dinner and a relaxing evening. To that end, I prepared a very nice, yet simple, repast. Yellowtail steaks with a sesame/wasabi/black pepper crust, asparagus, and some lovely french bread. Accompanying the food was a very nice Reisling we picked up in the Finger Lakes last summer. If you ever head up that way, be sure to stop in at Lamoreaux Landing, excellent white wines!
She was impressed as was I, having never really cooked with fish before. If you want to try it, I recommend soaking the fish in sake for about 30 minutes prior to applying the crust...helps cut the fishiness and adds some sweetness to the fish. Nice.
There was cake and questionable champagne afterwards, then we curled up in front of the TV and promptly fell asleep. A good evening all around.
Today we are off to look at cherry blossoms with the Captain, then the family anniversary party this evening. Glad we took it easy last night!

mmm...

Yesterday was little
brother Shingo's wedding. I got pressed into service as best man at the last minute...twas a bit of a shock, but all went well. The reception was the usual stilted japanese affair complete with a running commentary from the hired MC. Apparently even parties require a system and instructions. The food was good tho...highlited by lobster sashimi. Yay!

more judo...

Wore my new black belt to judo practice for the first time today. It felt a bit strange...like wearing your dads shoes...I guess I need to grow into it.

Good News, Everyone!

On Sunday I had the test for my black belt in Judo, and I passed. I am officially a black belt now...on paper anyway. I still don`t own an actual black belt yet, but I gots mine on order.

It was a lot of work and a lot of fun pursuing the black belt dream...took about a year and a half, two to three days a week...but now it seems I`m really just beginning to really understand Judo. What seemed like an end has become a beginning. I`m looking forward to delving further into the Judo world and actually becoming proficient at some of the techniques I had to learn in order to perform the Nage no Kata.

In other news, its off to Gifu Prefecture this weekend for two days on the slopes and three nights in the hot springs...who`s a lucky boy?

The Japanese Elvis! He`s my father-in-law`s favorite, and pretty durn cool. Ladies and Gentlemen, the great Kayama Yuzo!

how to beat the winter blues...

Fried stuff on sticks and beer for lunch! Keeps you warm...

We went to the temple today to pay our respects to Ks ancestors. Nice day for it...

found art?