Traffic on the way home from Mass became jammed packed once we got near the Okazaki area (of Kyoto), by the throngs coming to enjoy the cherry blossoms. I expected it to be crowded, but was surprised by the number of people milling around the Shirakawa river, with many sitting for lunch. It was nice.

But not everyone enjoyed the Cherry-Blossom Joie de Vivre of the area...

It's a common problem each season.

Anthony took the opportunity to snap some shots as well...

... and as a bonus garnered a wave from some ladies...

What a week it's been. I took more photos today than in the first three months of the year combined, and this is after a ramp-up in activity at the start of the month due to the cherry blossoms and then a highly photogenic three day family trip followed by a fun photographically-friendly play date for Anthony. Suffice to say I've built up a new backlog on top of my old one, but it's sure a nice problem to have.

So today I went to the preschool/kindergarten entrance ceremony for my friend Britto's boy, to snap some photos..... he's an [...]

Anthony started third grade this morning, which means that we had one free day yesterday after our recent short trip to Imabari, so we paid a visit to his kindergarten friend, Monet, who also starts third grade, but at a different school. Monet's sister, May, starts first grade tomorrow.

We all then took a walk through the woods to the next village down the mountain, to visit one of Monet's current school friends.

The first stop along the way was a check to see whether a tepee that Arthur had started to make with Monet and May last fall had [...]

After 430km of driving, I'm ready for a snooze...

Today was a laid back Saturday for me. Anthony was on a trip with his grandparents and Fumie was working on ballet, so I stayed home to try to make a dent in the unending backlog of stuff I'm behind on. But with the blossoms starting to come out in force and the temperature approaching 20°C (66°F), I couldn't resist to step outside a bit with the camera. The mood outside was wonderfully relaxed, an uncrowded, low-key version of the cherry-blossom joie de vivre that I've written about before. It was really nice. I expect next weekend will be the [...]