Yes, we're alive... 9/27/06

Surprise!!! Yes, it's a blog update. And one that's fairly current, at that. I'll be taking the chronological path with this one as it stretches over a few days.
Starting with last Sunday, we went over to the parent's house to show everyone the Japan pictures. Sorry for those of you in blog land that haven't seen the pictures from our trip yet. I'm working on publishing them, slowly though.
That night we were able to spend some time with our little niece Sofia. Unfortunately, I forgot that my camera was set to ISO 800 from earlier in the day when I was using it indoors without a flash. As a result, the quality of the pictures from Sunday night aren't great. Live and learn, I guess. At least it wasn't a professional picture that someone was paying me for.


















The happy family. :-) I need to work on getting everyone to look at the camera for the photo. Sofia hasn't quite learned the meaning of "Say cheese!" yet.


















Fence update. I'm sure you're not very interested in this. Tough. I need to share the fruits of my labor. Two fence posts are now set in concrete and more rock is in place to fill in the previous mud pit. Next I have to build the fence to replace that temporary 4x8 plywood shown. But the big rush was to set the posts while it is still warm, so now I can relax a bit.


















On Tuesday before picking up Hiroe from school, I had wanted to take some pictures of the building beautification going on at the U. It's obvious they're trying to make it a very reputable institution, at least from a shiny building perspective. However, I ran out of time and just snapped some picks in a rush. This is a building on the river that apparently is destined for better things.












Coffman Union from the river side. What used to be a tired building is now a classy hangout for the students. You can sit and read inside by the fire or relax outside and sip on a cappuccino while admiring the river. The bookstore inside of the Union now resembles an Abercrombie and Fitch.












In other news, the boxes from Japan keep rolling in. Our poor mailman. I gave him a tip yesterday... I hope he kind of likes us again. But with the arrivals it's like Christmas everyday here. Cool!!! Another present for us!


















I kind of went overboard when I packed things in Japan. Hiroe was complaining that one box weighed only 3 kilograms and came with a bowl, some chopsticks, and a can of Japanese mosquito repellant. But I remind her that the bowl was not broken. Yes I was extra cautious, generously wrapping each item and testing my padding by dropping the wrapped item from a height of 1 meter. Then each item went in the box separated from each other item with oodles of crumpled newspaper.












But when the boxes arrived looking like this, I'm glad I was so anal.


















John's wrapping style...













...kept all of this safe in one box.












And it means we can now enjoy tea in lovely cups like these.













Some of the book boxes have not been so fortunate. When a box with books arrives with straps, like this one, we worry.


















The problem is I think several of the boxes broke open in the same general area. When I say several boxes, I mean other peoples boxes too. The molested boxes usually contain a note like this...












Which means that they stuffed everything back into the boxes without a clue as to what goes where. We've received other poeple's photos, books, and even a personal journal. There is a girl named Tiffany somewhere that should soon receive a marriage proposal. We were looking for clues as to who's journal it is so we could send it to them... honest.
All of this is not ours. There are some Japanese comics that I might try to sell on e-bay. Or maybe use for Christmas presents.












We've even received coins. Mostly from Canada and Hong Kong.


















We also received these coins. No idea where they're from. Doubt they're worth enough for me to retire.


















One other event of note this past week is that I've signed up for home schooling via the New York Institute of Photography. The books have started arriving - more good news for our mailman. I have assignments, quizzes, and projects due. It's pretty cool. Maybe you'll see some improvement in my photos in the coming months.

An update... 9/20/06

It's been 15 days since the day last described in this blog. The delay is either a result of being so busy that I haven't had much time to post, or that not much new is going on. I'm sure it's the former since we've been eating out more (out and about and hungry) and trying to get all of the things done on a to-do list that doesn't get any shorter.

Hiroe has been very busy with school, but enjoying it all the same. I'm quite jealous of her days - except the studying late thing. New friends, new experiences, all sorts of shiny new buildings at the U to disappear into.













Lately I've been working on more dog-proofing of our house and yard. I built this fence along the alley to eliminate the visual stimuli that always gets Soba barking. She really just wants to play with the dogs and people that she sees, but I think it comes across as a vicious dog barking. I just need to trim and cap the fence posts then stain the thing white to match the adjoining fence, and it will be done. Oh yeah, and do something with that rock pile...












From the inside. The green fence is to keep Soba from hiding under those trees when she knows we're leaving. Crawling in there in my work clothes to get her is never fun.












One last fence to build and I will be done. I plan to make a nice soild gate to replace this board, then add some low fencing continuing to the front of the house. This area will be for Hiroe's garden. Lots of sun and protected from the rabbits and racoons that ate the strawberries, raspberries, sunflowers, and such in the front yard this summer. We just might be able to have great salads and snacks from our own garden next year. :-)


















But my task list is getting longer. The boxes (20, I think) that we shipped from Japan are starting to arrive, 14 of which contain books. I think I'll need to make at least two more bookcases. Our office will quickly become our library...












Also working on a "theme change" in the house. Since we moved in, my favorite picture (the big one in the center... of a scandanavian training sailboat) has been on the mantle.












I had one of my scenery pictures from Hokkaido blown up - and it's ready to frame. For no good reason I set it on the mantle over the sailboat. Hiroe likes what it did to the room (went from a room of despair to a happy, cheerful place). I guess I know where it will eventually be when I get it framed. On the bright side, if I keep changing our decoration themes for the better via photographs, I'm sure she'll continue being supportive of my little photography hobby, right?

State Fair (visit #4) 9/5/06

State Fair trip #4. The last one, I promise. Hiroe got her giant sized corn dog. Not sure how many of these she ate over the last four trips to the fair.












This group was talking for quite a while while the guy held this giant abominable snowman. It was likely won on the Midway in a game that involved knocking something over with a baseball or water or something.


















Then it was handed over to this guy and everyone left. Sucks to be him...


















Then we headed for the skyride.































































I saw this one and thought it so appropriate for the fair. Don't miss the max weight notation...


















Saw this at the exit. Elvis has left the fair.

State Fair (visit #3) 9/4/06

On Sunday the 4th we went to the State Fair, again. For the third time. This is the second year in a row we've gone twice in one day (granted we had a one day free parking and admission passes).

For me the only reason to go is for food variety and people watching. Both are, well, interesting. Sweet Martha's Cookies is growing. That's the place that sells pails of cookies that you can never finish and don't taste good the next day. Didn't buy any of them this year either.













I asked Hiroe what this was. About all that we know is that it's not from Japan.
























































Notice that Dad and daughter are keeping a bit of distance between them and Mom. I wonder if she wears that hat year round.












Yo.












As I mentioned... people watching people.












This was part of a parade. Something about motorized bar stools.













Hiroe and the cow agreed on a black and white theme. The guy in brown wasn't as prepared.


























Pondering the fair.


















Then it rained. So we left.












And Hiroe received a warm welcome. Again.

doria's and the boat 9/3/06

Ok, ok, ok... I know, I'm not keeping up with the blog. This post is about our day a week and a day ago. Recently I've been spending a lot of time working with our Japan photos and building a fence. Another fence in our yard. One that we hope will decrease the Soba barking problem. Not sure if it will help. But that story is for another day, when I get caught up to last weekend. On the photo side, I've finally figured out how to post photos with the same color quality I see in the image before posting it. You might notice the photo in the last post is washed out. It took some digging in Photoshop to figure out how to maintain the color. For now, suffice it to say I'm happy. :-) Now, on to our Saturday September 3rd.

Went to see Yokko's friend Doria, her kids, her parents, and her sister. We spent a lot of time talking with Doria's father, Kirk. He recently worked at a rail yard in St. Paul and it was fun to listen to someone sooo enthusiastic about life experiences. He showed us his web site where he documented the job, the trains, the tracks, etc., etc.
Later we made pizza. It was great. We took some home. It was even good days later.














Later in the day we went on a St. Croix river boat cruise. It was a request of Yokko, while she was in town. The whole family went.












I was concerned that the cruise would not be as good as a Mississippi river cruise since you don't have the locks and the buildings to enjoy. But in the end we ate great food (with a second trip to the buffet) and enjoyed speculating about the background of the other passengers... something more suited to a bar, but hey, the boat had alcohol.































I liked the image of this guy. Don't know who he is, but he was captivated by sand or the empty dock. Or something. The hat kind of made the photo for me. It says, "Big Bertha."












Oh, and there was some discussion in Japan about what instrument I could play at Anton's wedding party. I have a musical disability in that the last instrument I practiced playing is a trumpet in the first grade. But, alas there is hope! I think with a little practice I can play the washboard. Note the guy that's second from the right.













Hiroe said I should run the idea past Kana first. So, Kana, what do you think? Can we form a trio? You and Hiroe on the recorder, me on the washboard. Sweet!