Anthony got a new cousin today, but last week got a new member of his own little family, a stuffed plush pig he's named Buta-chan (ぶたちゃん, which essentially means "Little Piggy" in Japanese). He's a gift from one of Fumie's ballet friends, Aoyama-san, who has never met Anthony, but sort of fell in love with him via my blog.

George and Buta-chan became fast friends, so I may need to get another plush-toy passport. As I write this, Anthony, George, and Buta-chan are all sleeping together.

Anthony learns one new kanji ("Chinese character") a day in school, and it just [...]

In my previous posts about this weekend's visit to the gardens of the Eikando Temple in eastern Kyoto ("Holy Cow, the Gardens at Kyoto's Eikando Temple are Gorgeous!" and "More From Yesterday's Trip to the Eikando Temple") I purposefully chose photos devoid of (or mostly devoid of) people, but in fact it was quite crowded.

I detest crowds. I grew up in rural Ohio, and am definitely not a city person. The crowds leading to the Eikando Temple were oppressive, made worse by the fact that it's right next to the Nanzen Temple, itself noted for its fall colors (as [...]

I still haven't gone through all my photos from yesterday's trip to the garden at Kyoto's Eikando Temple, but I wanted to show a few more, so here are some from the middle of the batch. Like yesterday's most of these are best appreciated with a large, wide-gamut monitor.

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I visited today the Eikando Temple gardens, nestled in the base of the mountains at the far east of Kyoto, about a 15-minute walk from our place. I'd been there before and thought it was really pretty, but I must have been stupid or blind (or on parenting duty with an impatient kid to look after) because today it was FREAKING MIND-BLOWING AMAZING.

Just *WOW*.

My photos don't even come close to doing it justice.

The temple is famous for its fall colors, as I found out the first time I drove by during the proper season, posted in "Colorful [...]

We went out for a family bike ride today, sort of repeating our bike outing last May, though today was quite brisk... cold, windy, mostly overcast with occasional moments of bright sun.

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