I ended my previous post with the sad tale of having most unfortunately thrust my foot into a large, gooey pile of finely aged cow poop.

The story doesn't end there. In fact, that wasn't even the low point of the tale -- it turned out to be one of those "one of those days" days.

So, to continue the story, I washed it off as best I could in a puddle of what I fervently hoped was water. I was able to get it to appear fairly clean, but then again, the shoe was brown to begin with, so [...]

As I mentioned yesterday, Biei, Hokkaido is a really pretty area, and we went three days in a row. Each day's weather was different, so each had its own feel.

The fields all seem to be in different states, with some recently plowed (deep brown dirt), some green (grass?), some dried yellow dirt. A very few had dotted rows of tiny seedlings that could be seen only up close.

I loved the endless combinations of rows, colors, and shapes, along with the many different types of backdrops. I was forever stopping to take pictures; Fumie is a patient woman.

The [...]

The other day I posted about a koinobori bento that Fumie made for Anthony, featuring koinobori (carp streamers) made from wieners.

Today is the Children's Day national holiday in Japan, for which koinobori are flown. We saw many more koinobori flown while driving around Hokkaido than we do in Kyoto. It was nice.

The ones above are in front of what looks like a small hotel in the middle of nowhere, in Biei, an hour's drive north of where we stayed in Furano. (A bit of search after the fact shows that it's indeed a small hotel with the odd [...]

We're on vacation in Furano, Hokkaido (northern Japan). It's my first time to Japan's big northern island, and it's turning out to be a really nice trip.

It started with the idea of coming to see one of the things Furano is famous for, its huge fields of lavender and other brightly colored flowers. It's apparently spectacular, but due to an unfortunate image / calendar mismatch in one of Fumie's guidebooks, we're here two months early for that. (The other thing Furano is famous for is that it's the setting for a Japanese soap opera that's been running for the [...]

On the same evening we took our family self portrait among the cherry blossoms, Anthony enjoyed his new bubble machine. He hadn't played with it since the day we had a nice hanami drive, and so was really in the mood to bubble.

(In the background, you can see Fumie and the bench on which we took the self portrait)

We're leaving for a trip to Hokkaido this evening. Will bring the bubbler....