Having just returned from a trip Stateside with Anthony, I'm reminded that I neglected to post these photos before leaving. Before the trip, I had posted about Curious George's new passport; these are from the same photo session in early July, where I took the photo for Anthony's new Japanese passport. (We'd renewed his American passport last year.)

Anthony was hamming it up, as you can see, but we eventually got one for his passport. Even in the one directly above, he's still smiling too much for a Japanese passport, so we had to tone it down.

Until you actually [...]

My body is back in Japan after a month in Ohio visiting my folks with Anthony. Unlike my trip out, my luggage did arrive with me, though I seem to have lost my brain somewhere during the 22-hour trip.

We came through Tokyo Narita on Sunday evening. During the flight back out, I was surprised to notice how stratified the clouds were: as we ascended, we would pop through a layer of cloud to find clear air, but another layer above. I took the photo above while in the second such "sandwiched zone".

10 minutes later we were a mile [...]

Last year I apparently neglected to get a picture of Anthony in front of the tree he planted when he was one year old, or if I did, I neglected to post it. This year, almost six years after planting, I was thankfully reminded by kind readers (not only once, but twice) not to miss the chance.

And then we were done, and he drove away to play...

Bags are packed... heading back home to Kyoto first thing in the morning, after having spent a month here in Ohio. Door-to-door will take 22 hours.

Anthony went jogging with Grandpa a couple of times last year, finishing one lap around the lake the first time, and three laps the second time.

Yesterday Anthony said that he was going to run six laps with Grandpa today, and to encourage him I told him that if he could, I'd give him a toy on the first leg of our flight back to Kyoto tomorrow. (I already have the toy and had planned to give it to him... it's just that now he thinks he's earning it 🙂.)

It had finally let up after having rained all morning, [...]

I've posted before about my admiration for Bill Bryson's writing, in both "Renewing my Visa with Bill Bryson" and "Good Photographers, Bad Writers". My favorite all-time book – the one I'd want if I could have only one – is A Short History of Nearly Everything. One clue that he's a great writer is that the subject matter of the book can be completely uninteresting – the very essence of boring – but he makes it enthralling. I cite as example his books on hiking the Appalachian trail (A Walk in the Woods) and on growing up in the 50s [...]
View full post »