I did a little photoshoot today with recent MBA graduates Taran and Kate, doing some traveling before heading into the workforce.

I'm out of practice of late, but they had such nice smiles and an easy-going nature, so it was a breeze. I've a bazillion photos to get through... for the moment, here are a few.

I'll post more later, but for today, I'll end with this wigglegram:

Continued here...

Sorry for not posting anything recently. I've felt remarkably unmotivated in all things lately, but found some inspiration in an email from someone asking about this mountain roller slide that I'd posted about some years ago. Now that I'm into cycling (though currently generally unmotivated about it), I thought I'd ride to the location to see whether it's still there.

Here's the ride:

Along the way I came across a lovely lotus field in the middle of the suburbs.

Next was to explore a short but steep (and nicely-paved) climb I'd seen here. It starts under a new expressway bridge...

I had a pleasant evening yesterday, with a relaxing boat ride on the Katsura River, in the Arashiyama area of Kyoto. An elementary-school friend of Manseki was in town and invited Manseki, who in turn invited some friends, which included me.

I took the subway and tram across town. At the final station, there's a "Kimono Forest", a small but well-done art installation...

I then met up with others at the boat dock for the two-hour ride...

Arashiyama's famous Togetsukyo bridge has been seen on my blog many times, including here here and here, but never quite from this angle. [...]

A friend in Kyoto that I've known for years has recently opened a second location for her shop, Tea Ceremony Camellia, which offers tea-ceremony experiences in English. Her new location, Camellia GARDEN, is quite picturesque, and after many missed tries to get our schedules to converge, I was able to stop by for an hour the other day to try for some photos.

We didn't have any plan for any specific photos, and didn't have much time, so I just went for some of the low-hanging fruit, to help build ideas for a real photoshoot some day.

Here's a hastily-made [...]

The other day in "March’s Higashiyama Hanatoro Lightup", I mentioned a business called "Happy Bicycle" (web site / Facebook) near the Yasaka pagoda.

The shop is run by a guy from Chile who chats amiably with customers as he crafts a wire into the shape of a bicycle. Other than the pedals, he uses just one piece of wire for the whole bike.

He's got all the different styles... mamachari city bikes, kids' bikes, mountain bikes, race bikes... I even noticed a pennyfarthing.

I had a nice chat with the proprietor, but unfortunately didn't take all that many pictures during [...]