john and hiroe: October 2005

butternut squash from farmers market and leek 10/29/05

our friend carrot-top (on the left) 10/29/05

morning photo, the leaves have fallen, winter is coming... 10/28/05

Walker 10/23/05

A walk in the sculpture garden.

A really really big fish.

Find Hiroe...

wood cutting party? 10/22/05

Saturday. A day to play...

Yes, it might be getting colder. Yes, it was also cloudy and grey.

It seemed the day was destined to be, well, blah.

So, we decided to go to my aunt's woodcutting party. More of an obligational thing. I think the purpose of the party was to work.

Good thing there were plenty of people there to do the work. We were able to find other things to do...

I think she liked it.

buca di beppo 10/21/05

fun with leaves 10/20/05

And the leaves begin to fall. We've started our daily ritual of collecting and bagging the leaves. Soba is enjoying it. She loves to jump in the leaf pile and hide her toy there. Most times she can't find it again. Another thing she enjoys is jumping on the bag that I'm collecting leaves in. Spilling leaves everywhere. She's definately not a gardener. Though she loves to dig holes.

house painting 10/18/05

So the house still isn't fully painted. Despite having all summer to work on it. Despite enlisting my brother and sister to help. Despite help from Hiroe. And now we're hearing weather forecasts that mention snow. Hopefully there will be about 3 more warm days to finish it. If not, the neighbors will just have to live with a chameleon house on their street. Blue like the sky, white like snow, and yellow like the sun. Fortunately for us, we don't notice it much. We mostly come and go through the backyard where the house looks all yellow. And once inside there are no reminders of the job not finished. Oh well.

autumn leaves 10/17/05

And the leaves continue to turn. This one in our garden was especially nice.

Pumpkins 10-16-05

While returning from a shopping trip we noticed the pumpkins for sale at our neighborhood garden shop. Worth a look, we thought. Especially when we want to carve pumpkins in preparation for Halloween.

As it turns out, they had a great selection.

Many, many to choose from.

But in the end, we didn't buy one. We'll go back as it gets closer to carving day.

A beautiful day 10/16/05

A beautiful October Sunday. A great day to walk the Stone Arch Bridge...

Night 10-13-05

And, of course I had to try night shots. Not a very impressive subject. Sorry.

Fall colors 10/12/05

There's an (annoying) comedian in the states known as "Carrot Top" because of his red hair. Seems he has a fan. And it's in our front yard. The Carrot Top fan club. Membership: One.

Monday sight seeing 10/10/05

So you're probably going to get tired of scenery pictures. The frequency of scenery pictures will decrease as I figure out all of the camera settings. But maybe this is an opportunity to enjoy shots of Minneapolis. Maybe sometime soon, we'll roadtrip or fly someplace new and I can add some interesting photos to the mix.

The entertaining part of this next photo can't be seen. It's shot from top of the hill in Prospect Park, the highest point in the Minneapolis, St. Paul area. Hiroe really enjoyed going here as it gave her a chance to laugh. "THIS is the highest point???" Mt. Fuji it's not.

Lastly, this is from the Lake Street bridge over the Mississippi. This is a good spot to watch the fall colors. It's also the bridge where someone almost ran into the back of my car. Most likely he was checking out the colors while describing them to his friend on the phone. Idiot.

Cirque Du Soleil 10-9-05

While driving around on Saturday, we noticed this huge tent in front of the Walker. A big party for a rich family? A city party that we hadn't heard about? A new art display?

Upon closer inspection we noticed that it is Cirque Du Soleil.

Ah, we had heard it was coming. Of course I wanted to return to take some photos. And Hiro wanted to visit the Walker. So on Sunday we returned. After looping around the block several times trying to park Bastie, we found a spot. Hiro noted that if we circled many more times in the car, we'd make butter.

Camera and new lens ready, holding Soba's leash, we headed to the tents. Walking Soba and doing anything else is very difficult. You'd think she's a bloodhound on the track of a wanted burglar. Or a race greyhound trying to follow the mechanical rabbit. On a positive note, her pace helps you reach your destination quicker.

Sadly, when we arrived I realized a photo would be difficult. The only way I could capture a good picture of the incredible tents is while driving on the highway at a high rate of speed, while looking over my shoulder. Needless to say, I didn't even ask if we could try that. Alas, this is about all of it that you could see at one time.

Every once in a while you learn something new about the one you love. On that day we both realized that the other one also wanted to see Cirque Du Soleil. We had never talked about it before. Too bad, it looks like a lot of fun, and it's probably hard to find tickets now.

Soba's happy life 10/8/05

Our Soba... always willing to be an action model for John's pictures.

She's recovering well from the surgery... even though the wire holding her jaw keeps catching on things. You can see the missing tooth in this picture. Or should I say the spot where it was. It's the lower left canine tooth.