Book Club Field Trip

The Book Club took a field trip to the Ritz Carlton for High Tea. We had a glass of champagne (tiny) and a plate of 4 savories. Then the tea (mine was a lavender infusion) and the three tiered tray of sweets. (sorry its sideways). The hotel was decorated beautifully. It was a nice day out.

Concert

The girl had an orchestra and choir concert at school last week. There aren't any photos of her playing the cello but here she is during the choir part. She sang a solo which was quite good, if I do say so myself!

Mountain Hike

    The husband, boy and myself went on a 2 hr. hike across the mountain. We left from Ashiya and ended up in Okamoto. It started out fairly cool, but as we scrambled over rocks and pulled ourselves up by ropes and a chain, we began to feel warmer and took off some of our layers. Along the way we saw some inoshishi happily grazing in the woods and some others resting in the dry creek bed. We finished the trip with a nice lunch in Okamoto, then took the train home.

Inoshishi

Coming home one Saturday night about 10pm we heard a rustling noise near the fire station and it turned out to be a family of wild pigs! We backed away slowly trying to make our graceful exit from their territory when a group of wedding party goers came down the hill carrying their gift bags. The pigs made straight for them and we were able to slip away into the night.

Ikebana Certificate

Just to let you know, I finally got my Ikebana Certificate! Woohoo!!

Culture Day

Japan Culture Day was this past Wednesday. The kids had school but the hubby didn't work and I didn't have my usual Japanese lesson. We decided to head into town for some husband and wife culture time. We enjoyed the Sorakuen Garden in Sannomiya which was also having a chrysanthemum exhibition. We also had a nice lunch in a small jazz club. Walking back through the shopping street towards the train station we happened on to this man. We have seen him before. He stands on top of this truck and spouts hate speeches to anyone who will

listen. He has an armed guard with him at all times. No one seems to be listening to him, but that doesn't seem to phase him.

KWC Trip to Nara and Yakushiji

Trip to Nara (ancient capitol of Japan). Here are some sort of re-enactors outside the palace. Had a nice vegetarian lunch, then went to Yakushiji to see the temple of the medicine Buddha. Another great day out!

The Party that Wasn't

Here are photos of some cool halloween party food I made for a party that was cancelled due to a typhoon. The family enjoyed it anyway!

Yamazaki Hike

Went with some friends on a mountain hike in Yamazaki. It was a great day. The hike was pretty tough and we were sort of lost for awhile, but it all worked out fine in the end. Had a nice lunch afterwards. A nice day out with friends!

KWC Trip to Herb Garden

KWC took a trip to the Herb Garden. First is a photo from the ropeway that we took up the mountainside. There is also a sideways pic of a banana tree and of my lunch plate. While there we saw an exhibition of pressed flower art. Amazing!

Kappo

Went to Osaka this weekend and happened on to this street festival. It was a gorgeous day. There was lots to see and do. Here are just a few photos. Sorry about the cat one, I can't figure out how to turn it.

Big Beer

In Japan lots of things are quite small like roads, toilets and packages of green beans. But Here I found something quite large. I can barely hold it up its so heavy!

The New Season Begins

Well, Once school starts all my activities start back up as well. Had our first BBC meeting of the new year in September. We read Six Suspects. Here we are posing, Charlie's Angels style. KWC also got started in September. As you can see we had a nice crowd for the opening meeting. And CHIC had a welcome back 'Fall Fling'. Here you see the hubby and myself all dressed up and ready to go. There's so much going on I hardly get a chance to put anything on the blog. Gomen Nasai!!

First Day of School 2010

School has started at last! The girl was not ready in time to take the photo at home so it is just the boys. A few of the kids consented to having their photo taken at the bus stop, but a few opted out. Fine with me. I had to capture my girl's first day of her last year of high school!

My Birthday

The girl had been sick and I had taken her to a doctor who diagnosed the illness as tonsilitis, on the 10th. He gave her a shot and 4 types of pills to take. The next day she broke out in hives, so I took her to another doctor, who prescribed another pill. On my birthday I took her back to the first doctor to tell him about the hives and suggest that she was allergic to something he gave her. Well he was having none of that but did give her another shot because she wasn't getting better. After this shot, she did perk up and while I was out of the house in the afternoon, she made this lovely cake for me! After the cake eating, I opened ny numerous cards and gifts. Thank you to all of you who remembered. The boy gave me this cool disguise set. We are pictured here modelling it. The next day we went to Osaka to an art museum, then to an IMAX show. After that we took a water taxi to the area of Universal Studios and had a wonderful dinner at Bubba Gumps. It was a very nice birthday.