Thunderstorm

There's a CRAZY storm moving through right now-almost constant rumbling thunder for the last 45 minutes! Amazing!

HURRAY! BBQ!

After searching off and on for about two years, I finally found one: a mini Weber BBQ grill (well, OK, it's actually from Coleman company, but close enough). I wanted a small grill to put on the veranda (or balcony or deck or patio depending on your local dialect; in Japan, "beranda" seems to be the most common word). I had the usual color from America in mind: black. However, Japan is the culture of "kawaii", which basically means "cute". That's a long, complicated story, so click the link if you want to know more. So, there were no black BBQs. The choice was light blue, or . . . pink. No, I am NOT joking. Obviously, I chose blue. I will be BBQing hamburgers soon. They will NOT be cute.

Another storm in "Thundertown"

I've probably mentioned this before, but some people here have told me that Utsunomiya's nickname is "Thundertown" because of the frequent lightning storms during the summer. Well, it's that season, so here's a short video. From our balcony on the sixth floor, we get a pretty good view of the area. The storm was far enough away that no thunder could be heard, but we definitely heard some earlier in the day! Very low quality video, but you get the idea (cell phone camera, bad lighting, etc. etc...) I'm looking forward to this evening, because there's a firework show not far away, and we may be able to see it from here!

(Video is offline right now...)

America 2011 Pictures 7 (conclusion)

We spent a lot of time just relaxing with family, and enjoying my parents' hospitality, which included a delicious Thanksgiving in April--thanks, Mom! And thanks, Gayle, for your always delicious lemon meringue pie! (There's a picture of one of our meals together that's very blurry, but I liked everyone's smiling faces, so I'm including it anyway...)
My father is an excellent woodworker and craftsman; you can see the amazing detail of his handmade deer figures and ship model. It's a model of the USS Constellation, which has a special connection to my father. That ship is the oldest surviving vessel in the United States Navy, and is now a floating museum. In the late 1980s, my father was part of the team that cut the huge pieces of wood that they needed to restore the ship.
On this trip, I sorted more boxes at my parents' house, and brought back about half of my musical instrument collection. In the picture, my sister is holding one of the more unique pieces that's now in the "Utsunomiya Branch" of my museum.

I think that's all the America pictures for this year, so on to other adventures next...

Fish Head Soup

The next-door neighbor gave us some delicious fish. He included the head, which is frequently considered inedible in America, but is the source of fish head soup in many other places in the world, including here. Nozomi made some wonderful sushi, some great fish and chips, and fish head soup. We're just about to have it for lunch. This topic, of course, made me think of a famous (infamous?) song from many years ago....
Click this link if you want to have a strange song stuck in your head.
(Or click THIS link if you want to watch the whole, bizarre video.)

Rude earthquake

A very inconsiderate earthquake woke us up at 3:55 a.m. last night. News reports say it was 6.4 or 6.5 (MY report says it was strong enough to shake the dishes in the cupboard, but nothing fell down). News reports say there was no tsunami danger, serious injuries or damage (MY report says after the quake I couldn't sleep well, but now it's early afternoon and I just woke up from a one-hour nap, so I feel much better).

America 2011 Pictures 6

A few more pictures from our walk along the river near the Sundial Bridge in Redding.

America 2011 Pictures 5

Activities while we were in Redding include playing games, jumping on a trampoline, laughing until we cried, eating lots of chocolate, eating In-N-Out burger (twice; I thought about going once more, but didn't really have time), eating Mexican food, and taking the infamous jumping pictures.

America 2011 Pictures 4

My sister (Jane), Nozomi and I drove to my cousin's house in northern California and spent a four-day weekend with family relaxing, playing games, walking, talking and just having fun. The city of Redding has a VERY hot climate during the summer, so it was actually good timing to visit in the spring this year. The first afternoon, before some of the other family members arrived, we went for a walk along the Sacramento River; the wild flowers were blooming and it was very enjoyable. Paula (my cousin) mentioned that the section where we walked was much more attractive at the time we visited (she's used to seeing it in the summer when it's so hot that there are very few green plants). The water level in the river was unusually high, which made the walk across the bridge a bit unique. Near the end of our visit, we returned to the river and went to another section of the trail where there is a bridge designed by a creative architect. The bridge also functions as a sundial, and has become a bit famous as a local landmark. The design really is quite interesting.

America 2011 Pictures 3

Our visit this year was shorter than in previous years, so our Portland stop was shorter too. After attending New Vision, we went out to eat with a big group and had a delicious lunch (Doran & Vineeta, sorry you couldn't make it-I assume you must have been out of town). I didn't think to take any pictures there-oops! Later, we had a video game extravaganza at the Robertsons-I have "getting ready" and "final pose" Brady Bunch-style pictures from there. We spent the evening on the East Side having a great dinner and playing games at the Porter Aguilar household. (Kwirkel? Quirkle? Kwerkul? Who invents these names?!?!)
Thanks again, everybody!

America 2011 Pictures 2

We just finished a great visit with family from San Jose, California, but before I post those pictures, I've got to finish pictures from the America trip earlier this year, so here's part two:
My parents and Nozomi and I took a trip to the beach and stayed a night at the Driftwood Shores resort. The weather was rather stormy when we arrived, but it was actually interesting to watch the wind and the waves from the hotel balcony. We went shopping in old town Florence for souvenirs at some interesting shops. We spent most of the evening at the hotel having dinner and playing games.
The next day, we went for a drive along the coast stopping at Sea Lion Caves (there's a live webcam on their site that I'm linking) and then drove further up the coast and enjoyed a delicious fish and chips lunch. We also took a walk along the jetty (sea wall) near the town of Florence before we headed back to Eugene/Springfield.
Thanks for a fun trip, Mom & Dad!

Fun time with guests

Nozomi & I had a fantastic time with our guests (my cousin and her family). In spite of not scheduling TOO many trips other than our weekend in Tokyo, the time went quickly and felt pretty full, so sorry I haven't posted any pictures yet; that's coming (eventually, like I usually say...)  Elaine, Tim, Taidgh and Alex, thanks for visiting, we had a great time, but next time, don't forget your Playstation games *wink*.

Fun In Tokyo

My cousin and her family are visiting us, and we are having a great time taking trips in the local area, and further away from Utsunomiya. I was hoping to post some photos, but I accidentally left my camera cable at home, so I can't transfer them from the camera to this computer yet...
We met Nozomi's sister, Kaoru, for lunch today and enjoyed speaking Japanese, English, and Japanglish together. Pictures soon...
Unbelievably, by chance, we saw a friend from church in the music store across the street from the Hachiko statue in Shibuya-in a city of over 10,000,000 people! Akira, amazing, see you next week!
More later...

Lighthouse Concert

We had a good time playing at a youth event this afternoon. Thanks to everyone who participated on and off the stage!

America 2011 Pictures 1

The end of March and beginning of April, Nozomi & I traveled to Oregon and California. It was a little shorter than our previous America trips, but we managed to get lots of visiting and activities packed in. We missed part of the cherry blossom season here in Japan, but made up for that by seeing the peak of the season in the States. I'm going to group these pictures by topic, so this theme is (obviously, I think) "Throatwobbler Mangrove", uh, I mean "Luxury Yacht", oops, I mean "cherry blossoms". (silly Monty Python reference there-check Google if you don't understand and want to know....)