On Sunday a friend invited us to a hanami [cherry blossom viewing] party near Kiyosu castle. The weather was great, and it was fun & relaxing to sit under the cherry blossom trees, chatting, eating & drinking.
These are some photos I took afterwards.
Have you ever been to Kiyosu castle? It`s quite small, and it`s not original (it was rebuilt in 1989) but it`s easy to get to by train or car, & you can take a nice walk beside the Gojo River. I recommend it.
Also, the Kirin brewery (where you can take a free tour) is nearby!
Near my house there is a shed full of cows. It`s kind of unusual for this area I think. Anyway, today I went there and took some photos of them. I also took some photos of some of the flowers that were around the shed.
In Australia, cow sheds are pretty smelly [kusai], but this one doesn`t smell much at all.
Are there any cows near your house? Have you ever fed grass to a cow by hand?
(Click on the picture to enlarge)
I took Owen to Iwato Shrine on Thursday morning to look at the cherry blossoms there. They were almost completely open.
There was a group of men there having a picnic under one of the cherry blossom trees. I really wanted to join them, but unfortunately I had to go to work.
The pale color of the flowers contrasts nicely with the dark wood of the shrine, doesn`t it?
On the weekend we went to Kasamatsu No Minato Koen, beside Kisogawa River. It`s smaller than Ichinomiya Tower Park*, but I like it - it has a big, open grassy area, a nice view of the river, and Owen loves watching the trains cross the bridge. Me too - it`s kind of relaxing.
There`s also a row of cherry trees. When we went, the cherry blossoms were starting to come out, but as you can see in this photo, a lot of the buds were still closed.
Have you ever been there?
* You can see Ichinomiya Tower in the background, on the right.
I made this clock from:
- wood I picked up at Mihama Beach in Fukui Prefecture
- coloured glass from the beach in Chita Penninsula which we visited a few weeks ago
- a clock from the 100 yen (A$1) store!
I want to make the hands longer, but if they get too heavy, they won`t turn properly. Maybe I should just leave it as it is. I think it looks okay. What do you think?
These are some pictures we took recently at our school:
1. Big, smaller, smaller, smaller, smaller... BIG & UGLY!!! Eriko, Aoi, Tsubasa, Risa, Rei, Otto.
2. Shimon, Otto & Kosuke, just before heading off to the park to fly the kite that we made.
3. Otto & Student of the Month for March 2011, Risa. Well done, Risa!
Can you guess what these 3 things have in common [mitsu no kyoutsuu ten]? Think!
Clues:
The frog is from a pharmacy/drugstore in Kirio shopping centre.
The orange is from a bar-restaurant in Gifu.
The little ceramic dog is from a shop in Tokoname.
If you think you know, please write your idea in the `comments` section below! I`ll tell you the answer soon...
*** ANSWER ***
All these things were free give-aways:
The lady in the pharmacy gave the frog to Owen when we bought something.
A customer gave a bag of oranges to the master of the restaurant, & he gave one to me.
When I bought something at a shop in Tokoname, the owner gave Owen the dog.
Thanks everyone for your interesting ideas. Some of you were close, but only my mum got the correct answer. Well done, mum!
When we were at Ichinomiya Tower Park on Saturday, there was this 60`s VW `kombi` van which had been converted into a mobile cafe/restaurant - cool, don`t you think?
My younger brother used to have an orange kombi van. He really wanted to be a hippie.
I wonder if he still has it.
I wonder if he`s still trying to be a hippie...
One of Ichinomiya`s most popular places for people of all ages (besides my school, Teragoya, of course) is Ichinomiya Tower Park, next to Kisogawa River.
The weather was pretty nice today, so there were a lot of people there, especially kids. My son really enjoyed the adventure playground. After he played on that for a while, we went & had lunch in front of a stage where a big band was playing jazz music. Cool.
If you live in or near Ichinomiya, I`m sure you`ve been to Ichinomiya Tower Park, right? What do you think of it? Have you been to the top of the 138-metre tower? I haven`t. I heard it moves a lot on windy days like today... yikes! I`m happy enough just to walk around & enjoy the open space, flowers, & fresh air.
I`m sorry I haven`t posted anything on my blog recently.
It`s difficult to maintain a light-hearted blog after the terrible events in north-east Japan.
But I`ll continue from today.
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