Anthony's hair has been getting quite shaggy, so we finally took him for a haircut today.

Today's cut was a smoother event than when he was younger...

I'd done that one myself, and perhaps the next one as well... his hair grew slowly but unruly...

A year later we tried a place that he and I have been going ever since, Deco, a small shop down the street. The first time we went there he sat on Mommy's lap...

At three and a half he got his hair cut at a different place, but mostly since then it's been Deco.

I've mentioned that we made a short trip to Awaji Island at the end of last month. It's a short two-and-a-half hours by car south of Kyoto; after passing over the longest suspension bridge in the world and getting off at the exit near the rest-stop Ferris wheel, a few kilometers further along the coast and we arrived at The Westin Awaji Island hotel.

Because Anthony's school gets off a few days earlier than most prior to the start of the Golden Week holidays, we were actually traveling opposite of peak time, so we had almost no traffic. Yet, despite [...]

I've been dogged by a mild cold for the last few days.... maybe some flowers will brighten things up. These are from our trip to Awaji Island last week, including one from the Awaji Flower Review that we visited last year.

From the "and now for something completely different" department, changing my razor's blade cartridge today reminded me that I've been meaning to write up a recommendation.

Let me start out by saying that I hate shaving and it hates me. For years and years I tried all kinds of electric and disposable shaving methods, and always ended up with hacked up skin and/or a bad shave. Ugh. The least offensive for a long time was Gillette Sensor, so I'd stock up at Costco to save on blades, change often, and suffer.

But last summer, on the recommendation of my dad, [...]
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I'm always fascinated at how one can lie with the camera, taking advantage of the fact that as far as the photo is concerned, if it's out of frame, it doesn't exist. I do it all the time, excluding utility wires, ugly urban visual blight, etc., when I'm out and about with the camera.

At the "Yabusame" mounted archery rite at the Shimogamo Shrine in Kyoto, I was amazed, as I often am in these "oasis of nature within the city" situations, that even though we were in Kyoto city proper, the nature was engulfing. Kyoto has a lot of [...]