Yesterday evening, we had a mini picnic on the grounds of the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, under the cherry blossoms that overlook the Kyoto Biwako Canal. Fumie prepared a snack and Anthony brought the BBQ play set he got from his Uncle Marty and Aunt Marci (which I could swear I blogged about when he received it, but I can't find it, so must not have.... [UPDATE: I have now]

The picture above was taken around sundown, with the help of a tripod and a timer, but during the short noontime stroll I took when taking pictures of [...]

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We ran out of milk at lunch time, and in stepping out the front door on the way to the convenience store, for some reason the view struck me in a way I hadn't noticed before. So I got the milk, then went back to take a picture.

Living so close to it, the gate certainly has appeared plenty of times in photos on my blog, including:

Two views (snowy and sunny) of the main gate of the Heian Shrine Fire Department Parade, and my new D200 Camera The main gate of the Heian Shrine, from a different angle Weddings [...]
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We took a meandering drive today to see some blossoms, and then a nice ride up into Kyoto's northern mountains. Some of the areas we visited were so beautiful it just hurt, because I wanted to capture the beauty and I knew there was no way I could. So, instead, I took a few pictures, and just tried to enjoy it.

We drove along waterways for a long time, up the Kamo river, then the Takano River, then across to the Kamo river (the 2nd "Kamo river" being written differently than the first). The whole way was lined with cherry [...]

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After a day of cold drizzle yesterday, today (Easter Sunday) was glorious: sunny, warm, and cherry trees laden with blossoms. The area were I live was crazy-crowded, but I didn't have to endure it much because I was out most of the day.

I attended Easter Mass at 10am, which was full of mixed emotions because when I got there, I found out that the head priest, Fr. Asada, passed away this week. Every time I carried Anthony while going to receive communion, he'd pause to bless Anthony, then pat him on the head with a kindly "good kid." He'd [...]

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It's not only cherry blossoms that add color to spring in Kyoto. Kawabata Street, which parallels the Kamo River as it slices north-south through the eastern part of Kyoto (kawabata means "riverbank"), is lively with botanical color. There are blossoming trees of some sort or another pretty much its whole length, and also vibrantly green wispy weeping-willow type trees, and on top of that, the hedge that separates the walkway from the road becomes fiery red for a short time in the spring.

It's really beautiful, but hard to get a nice picture of because although in real life one [...]

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