Signs

Signs:  as the song goes "signs, signs, everywhere are signs, blocking the scenery, changing my mind, ..." As I said on FB McD was a disappointment no Diet Coke, only Coke Zero.   Yuck!

Does this mean they chop or cars or do they mean sharing, like renting?

I thought baseball was invented in the US by Abner Doubleday?

Japanese characters like the Power Rangers on a convenience store window.

I think they serve eggs for breakfast here, but I am only guessing.

My local train station.

I was hoping this was a store to rent bicycles, but when I went back by they were selling them.   They were surprisingly affordable.

Maybe they can bring books to me???? Since I don't have a car.

Guess what they sell?   Yes, eye glasses.

Not being able to read Japanese is an endless source of amusement.  You guess what a store sells and it is possible you are very wrong.....or surprisingly right.

Apartment

This is my apartment complex.   My unit is on the first floor beneath the brown balcony. 

The two windows to the left of the balcony go to my bedroom.  In the forground is a small cemetery. The first night I came back from work I saw an older woman dusting the monuments with hand held duster.

This is my bedroom.  To the left of the bed is a large closet and desk.   

This is the shower/tub. To shower you close the bifold doors, stand next to the tub on the floor, and let the water drain under the tub.  The panel on the left side of the doorway programs the tub.

The sink is between the shower and the laundry room.

My laundry room!  Thank goodness I have a washing machine!!!!!!!!

The toilet has its very own room.  The door swings in an arc rather than on a hinge.

The control panel for the toilet.

My kitchen.  Small but efficient.

My living room.

Hummingbirds Learning Center and Garden

Hummingbirds Learning Center and Garden:  Pictured above is HLC taken from the parking lot.

The close up view of the front of the building is a preview of the garden. 

 To get to the quaint entrance gate, you walk down the sidewalk from the parking lot past the white building in the foreground.   

A little statue of Raggedy Ann gardening iis tucked behind the gate.

The picture above is of the garden from across the street.

Our gardening house is tucked into the middle of the garden beyond the grape trellis.  

The furrows are quite long.  The majority of the garden contains fruits and vegetables.  If you look closely you can see a few sunflowers in the foreground on the right.

This is a close-up of the sunflowers.  

Bicycles

Bicycles:  Bicycles are everywhere!  They even have their own parking lots near the train station.   Almost everyone rides pedal pushers as a mode of transportation.  I've only seen one person with a road bike that looks like a 21 speed.   

The bikes have this handy dandy kick stand.  I am guessing the black wire is part of a locking mechanism.  

These handler bar covers protect the riders hands from the sun.

This biker rider has an older child in the back, a younger childer in the front, two bags and an umbrella.    She is waiting to cross the street at a cross walk.

One of my favorite bikers was a women in a three piece suit with a pair of 3 inch high heels!

Hummingbird for Birdie

Hummingbird for Birdie:   At Hummingbirds Learning Center there are many pictures of hummingbirds.  There are drawings and photographs, and paintings.

Here is the most recent import all the way from Mansfield, OH the stained glass Hummingbird made for birdie by Joe.  It looks gorgeous flying proud in the lobby looking for Japanese Morning Glories.

The Japanese Morning Glories are outside my back door.  The Morning Glories Sue and I planted beneath her porch when we were tweens were very small in comparison.  Maybe a third of there size.  The pink in the center radiates outward like the veins of a leaf.  The petals are a very striking shade of light blue, almost an indigo color.   

Pickles

Pickles:  We made pickles today.  Haru and Ushiru cut up the prickly cucumbers, radishes, carrots, and green peppers with zig zag cheese cutter.  Haru added coarse salt and Kokuro added two tablespoons of vinegar. 

Kokuro put the lid on and sucked the air out with a pump to create a vacuum.

Then the fun began.  Each of the children big and small took turns shaking the jar.   

Ushiru was my favorite.  He held the jar still and nodded his head!

Jack and the Beanstalk or Masaaki and the Watermelon Vine

Jack and the Beanstalk or Masaaki and the Watermelon Vine:  In a land of 10,000 yen ($100 US) watermelon Masaaki traded in his hotels for some magic seeds.  He planted them at Hummingbirds Learning Center and filled them with the love of dozens of young children.  They romped through garden riding pedal-less bikes and running a store in a red wooden playhouse. They laughed and ran through the furrows chasing friends in the summer heat.  Pictures of fruit painted on wooden slats showed the children when the fruit was large enough to harvest.  One watermelon exceeded all expectations.  It grew and it grew and it grew until it weighed 10 pounds.  Along came a giant from America  fee fie foe-ing.  Masaaki had no idea what to do.  So he called together all the children and made a plan.  Quickly they sliced and diced the watermelon and shared it with everyone, even the giant. In that selfless act of generosity Masaaki and the children made a new friend.