Even more fun with visitors

A bit late, but better late then never! A few photos of some of our adventures of last week. The first 2 from Himeji. We went down in the afternoon, after a fun morning where the guests tried there hand at ikebana, with a fair amount of success!

On another day, we went on a bike trip through Kyoto to Arashiyama. Here we are pictured in the bamboo forest, during a brief break.

In Kyoto (another day) we stopped for lunch in a Japanese okonomiyaki place, where we sat, curled up on the floor (Not comfy)

And here are the girls with the helpful young fellow from the Sake tasting excursion!

Two of them have since returned home and we miss them terribly (well, at least I do). Still got one left, thank goodness. I'm glad it was spaced like this to slowly wean me from the company, rather than suddenly taking them all at once!

More photos to come!

More fun with family & friends

A few more photos of the first part of the visit. One is from Halloween. There was trick or treat in the area around our neighborhood and we were happy to participate. The temple is Yashima Temple near Takamatsu.

The girls are going zen, taking a moment for quiet meditation. Here are a couple of monkeys and some sort of wise person (I think).

Here the crowd stands in front of the A bomb dome in Hiroshima. We've had lovely weather for our travels. New photos will be posted soon!

Guests have arrived

The guests have all arrived, safe and sound, with not too much trouble. The first day was spent at the Toyota factory in Nagoya (no photos allowed). After which we took a 4 day journey through Awaji to Shikoku and over to Hiroshima and Miyajima before heading back towards home. Had a great time, but wore out the guests a bit too much. The first 2 photos are in Ritsurin Park in Takamatsu. So many beautiful landscapes and gardens! The third photo is party night at our first stop, a Japanese style hotel in Takamatsu, where we slept on tatami mats. Glad it was just one night! Stopped at the Monkey Center on Awaji Island, only to discover that the monkeys were all gone to the forest and we could not see them.

First stop on the tour was just after getting off the world's longest suspension bridge. Here We get a close up of the type of cable used.

More photos of our fun adventures will be added soon. Please check back!

Miho Museum

Took the women's club trip to the Miho Museum. It took along time (2 trains and a bus) to get there and back. Had a nice little lunch consisting of 2 peices each of egg sandwich and potato sandwich with a tiny cup of some heirloom rice. It was very tasty. Spent some time wandering around the museum, then realized we didn't recognize anybody. Thought we had somehow been left behind, but finally met up with the remnants of our group. It seems alot of our group left early, but failed to fill us in on this option. We finally got home around 5:40pm. A terribly long day! Well, I tried to put some pictures on, but can't seem to do it right now. Will add them later--I hope!

VOTE

That's right! We voted last night! Finally got our absentee ballots, read them over carefully and marked our ballots. Now, if I can just get them down to the post office in time. Fingers crossed!

Wild Boar Attack

Yes, It finally happened! Here's how it went down:
We were walking home about 9:30pm. The rest of the family wanted to go a different way. I knew it was wrong, but they insisted they knew, so I said "you go your way, I'll go mine, and we'll see who gets home first". Travelling on foot by myself, I had just come out of the territory of the Silk Pillow Gang. I said hi to Patches and a few of the others that were lounging on the wall there. As I came around a bend in the road, there it was.......a big pig! I stopped immediately. It tried to stare me down. I managed to get my phone and tried to call the family (knowing they were behind me, since they didn't know where they were going). The call wouldn't go through, so I decided to take the pig's picture. I switched to camera mode and the beast began making a move toward me. I scrambled over a low fence situated to my rear and tried to hide by a tree. Unfortunately it was too dark to take a photo. The pig then came up a walk-way around the fence to make its way toward me. I jumped back over the fence to the road and scurried around the next bend, calling the family at the same time. I got through and found out they were just entering the SP Gang area and told them to be on the look out for a mad pig. The husband & girl came safely around the curve, but the boy had stayed behind to try to lure the pig out into the open. Luckily the pig didn't fall for it and the boy ran to catch up with us, without incident. We walked cautiously the rest of the way home, with no further pig problems.
And that's how I was nearly eaten alive by a wild boar!

Autumn Equinox

There was a nat'l holiday last week for the autumn equinox. Since the kids still had school anyway, the husband and I decided to investigate an ancient hot-springs town called Arima. It had some beautiful scenery and of course the baths. They have 2 types of water: one is iron and salt and the other is a radium and carbonate combination. We didn't bathe in either one, but we did soak our feet in a 'kinsen' spring (the iron/salt one). And my hip hasn't been hurting as much. I think next time I go, I'm going all in and see if I'm cured!