a long walk . . . to the front gate, live music, a waterfall and a delicious pre-birthday dinner

前川 お父さん。 no, this isn`t last year`s photo. this was today around noon. he was very happy to be out of his bed, and out of the house for the first time in 5 weeks since he returned from the hospital. he doesn't know or doesn't remember i am leaving tomorrow.


Tempo Feliz. 幸せ時間 　Happy Time. 　beautiful music from wonderful musicians. and did you hear me being interviewed on 81.6? i really wanted to say "thank you" to the Maekawa Family for once again letting me be a part of their Family this Ohanami 2010 but my "interview" didn`t last too long. maybe next time. thank you.


Minoo Taki (waterfall). finally, i made it to the falls for my second and last visit of this ohanami trip.



Tori-den. this is where Noriko took me for my birthday eve dinner. if we had come here tomorrow they would have given me a free dessert and sang "happy birthday" to me. maybe next year. for this cherry blossom visit, this will be my last dinner. gochisosama deshita. and honto ni arigatou gozaimashita. who will make my dinner with me on my birthday?

rainy friday (part 2)

cool and rainy, busy and lazy kind of last friday

yes, i took these while driving Noriko`s Mother and Aunt to the hospital (nothing serious, i hope). another cool and rainy day. already the Helper-san has come and gone as did the friday visiting O-isha-san and Kangoshi-san (doctor and nurse). still to come is the O-furo-san (bath helper) and another Helper-san.

i have never tried riding with an umbrella but it is fairly common here


riding past one of my landmarks, B-Flat Okonomiyaki-ya-san


i know from personal experience that those grates are slippery. if you remember the story from a few years ago while riding to Shikoku via Akashi to Awaji by ferry and then back to Akashi (because i found out i could not ride my bicycle on the bridge from Awaji to Shikoku at Naruto) and then back to Kobe to catch the ferry at midnite to Tokushima in Shikoku, i fell turning a corner in the rain near Mosiac. you can`t tell exactly what happened in this photo but it happened right in front of me. actually a bicylce crossed in front of me and in front of this red scooter as he was turning left in front of another scooter. no one was hurt . . . just wet.

that is how i would have to carry an umbrella while riding. i think i still prefer just getting wet.

a few more from yesterday with the Yamabushi-san

any guesses as to what he is doing?

a good day

it is a good day when you get to walk on the takimichi (trail to the waterfall), meet Takechi-san and his dogs and meet another Shiba-wanchan (puppy), get to see Yamabushi-san and have takoyaki. and by the way, the mountain is now officially open.

Takechi-san, Danny, Look (or was it Luke) and Popo . . . and Tony

along the way

i didn`t make it all the way to the waterfall but i had a nice 5 hour walk. i did make it the waterfall trail as well as up and down a few side streets here in Minoo. around 5pm, i met Noriko around the ekimae (front of the train station). she had a few more errands to run and then we drove to Japan for my gogo tea. on the way home we stopped by Makudo (McDonald`s) for a McFlurry. Noriko used the coupon that came directly to her keitai (cell phone). it was delicious and we saved the last few spoonfuls for Noriko`s Mother who was waiting for our return home. dinner was delicious as usual but not so usual was the entree... pasta. oh, i will return to the ekimae and waterfall trail tomorrow for something very interesting. i hope to make it to the waterfall which may be my last time before returning home (my Los Angeles home).