Last week Fumie and I visited a picturesque temple called Ryouanji. I've put together a little photo collection from the trip.

Fumie has a green card (permanent-resident card), and while the CIS (new name for the INS) has its rules about who may hold it and how it may be used, yet it seems that the Customs and Border Patrol have their own make-up-as-you-go ideas about it..... but won't tell you exactly what they are.

The CIS/INS says that one can leave the US and still return using the green card so long as you return within a year. However, if you don't intend to live in the US again, you may not use the green card (must abandon it). In [...]

Rummaging through some photos on my picture archive, I came across this picture, which I took with my cell phone this past January when I ran across some mugs for sale in my local grocery store.

There were various types of mugs, all of the "spring is full of flowers" and "happiness is a teddy bear" ilk, except this one, which said:

I thought it was sort of funny, as it was obvious that no one there knew what it meant.

What a difference a few days makes. The two pictures above were taken six days apart, one before the blossoms had bloomed, and one after. (Actually, I have another picture taken just two days after the first which shows equally barren branches, but it's not as perfect a match location-wise.)

Here are a few more comparison shots: one, two, three.

There was some sun in a few of my cherry-blossom pictures, but for the most part there was very little sun this cherry-blossom season, and I was sick for most of it. I finally uploaded my [...]

Truly, the cherry blossoms are quite pretty around where I live (map), thankfully neglected by the majority of both tourists and locals alike. While sitting with Anthony under some blossoms yesterday, I thought about how many have tried to put the feeling into words, and how they certainly must have failed. Not being one to pass up a chance to fail miserably, I've given it a go myself:

            Oh humble Cherry Tree             Passing the year in quiet slumber             Alive after the long winter             Heavily laden with Spring's finest glory             Beauty beyond the grasp of words             Not retarded crap like [...]