“Kid Stuff” Day in Tokyo
Today we had planned for Jeff to go see the “Sony Computer Entertainment Building” – i had it in my guidebook and after a late start, we headed off. We didn’t know where it was exactly and even if i had the address, we still had no clue how to get there. So we went in the “general” direction by train, then decided to hail a taxi and then ask him. Well.. our taxi driver could barely speak English but he was the cutest thing trying to help us find it. He called the place, but then they didnt pick up.. then he punched the address in his GPS and took us to some obscure location that seemed very residential. So it was a bust and Jeff was bummed (like how i was when i couldn’t find Loft)… after some moping around we decided a burger was in order. Fresheness Burger was not that good, i must say, but we were hungry so it worked. I did have some more yummy andagi here though!
After that failed attempt, we decided to do some kid stuff and go to Sega’s Joyopolis, which was a big arcade. Jeff was convinced we could take the taxi there, and from our experience this morning, i told him it would cost a bajillion dollars to get us there since Odaiba was ALL the way across Tokyo. So after some reasoning we took the train to that part of the city, then caught a taxi to the front of Joyopolis since, again, our directions in the guidebook where bit vague.
As i stepped out of the taxi (which, by the way, costs about $50, and that was AFTER we traveled closer to the location!) i saw this pink KITTY! Oh so cute! Ok Japan just loves cats, and so i was in heaven. The store behind it was a half kitty store (with kitty related items for cat and for humans) and half cafe, and half pet store! Well i dont think they were selling cats actually but it was a place you can go to to have a cup of coffee and just lounge with the resident kitty cats. I wanted to hang out there longer but Jeff seemed to care less. It was like my mecca.
We got to Joypolis and it was kinda over the top, amusement parky, but we decided we had nothing else to do so got the 1/2 day pass to enjoy all the rides and pretend we were kids once again. Some of the attractions we couldn’t really do because they were narrated in Japanese and required “running” when being told to, and i was too scared i wouldn’t know what to do or would be left behind or something… so we couldn’t do those rides.
Besides the rides and what not, they had a bunch of these coin drop machines. We have these at Dave & Buster’s in the US but these had games within games. It was like 1/2 gambling machine half coin drop. Again, we don’t understand Japanese so we were just guessing at how the game worked. But i think we could have spent a whole lot of time (and money) being addicted to these things with little or no reward at the end!
Across the street was Megaweb, a similar arcade place for kids, but we didnt have time to go check it out. Here is the cool ferris wheel from there.
Japanese Open Air Museum
I used my guidebook to plan the next couple of days. Today we dedicated to going to the Open Air Museum in Kawasaki, which is about a 30 min train ride from Tokyo. Once we got to the town, we took a taxi to the location since we didn’t have clear instructions on how to get there. It was really close to the station.
This photo is of a more modern (compared to all the others i will show you) Japanese house. I think it was from a sort-of rich family. This place is neat because you can actually walk inside the house and everything, you dont have to just stand by the door or anything. Of course we had to take our shoes of in this one because of the tatami mats.
We paid the entrance fee and got a little paper so we could stamp it along the way (yes like little kids).
This house had a couple of guides in them, i suppose they would probably tell you more about the house, except, we didnt’ speak Japanese. =) I think this Japanese family was sitting down for some tea with him.
A water wheel.
A thatched roof house.
A cool shot of the side of the building, and some nice pink flowers.
This contraption was used to get people from one side of a cliff to another. Looks sturdy enough?
Most of the houses wouldn’t let you go upstairs but this one did! The bottom floor was a noodle shop (Oh i wanted to eat there but i wasnt hungry! dang!) and the top floor had museum items in display cases. Can you see me?
We went to the museum on a Saturday so they bad more stuff out and about, like these people cutting down a tree and leveling it off – assuming to use to build a house or something. They also had activities for little kids like making a crate, or plastering a wall with mud.
We walked all the way up this big hill of stairs and came to an old Kabuki theater with stadium seating. We could go beneath the stage where there was a little roundabout thing you pushed to turn the stage in a circle.
We got a little lost after this. We headed to a place where you could use some indigo dye on fabric, i kinda wanted to do it but i also didnt want to get dirty. So we passed that station, then came upon the woods, and a bunch of stairs leading down to the valley. We knew we were kinda not in the right place but it was really nice so we just went with it.
It is so beautiful here!
We eventually found our way to some other art museum, and then realized we had actually exited our museum, but found our way back in through a back entrance. But we decided we had pretty much seen the entire thing. We made sure to get all our stamps and then we called it a day!
Lots of Torii, Lots of Lights
Before heading out of Kyoto, we decided to check out a place that my friend Tehani suggested we visit (she helped us plan our trip and lived in Japan for a few years). It is a place called Fushimi Inari and they are known for their endless amount of torii or gates. It was really easy to get to from the train station.
I read in the tour book there would be “stone foxes” and i was excited to see them not realizing what it meant — literally — stone foxes. I thought perhaps a stone fox was a type of live fox? Oh well… they were still cute i suppose! On this day my parents went to Nara where you can actually see and feed deer, so i guess that is where my head was.
It was a beautiful location, with lots of stars and a nice wood setting. I would have loved to come here and spend more time if we werent already so tired from walking and the previous days adventures!
So incredible! It must be quite a job to keep the gates orange and nice looking! We saw them trying to upkeep it while we walked around. Though we did see a few that looked like they had rotten and fallen down.
This part was cool, at the top of the steps we came to a little lake, and there where some little tea shops you could sit down at to take a rest and drink.
Which way should we go? We choose neither actually, we where headed down and where tired but just took the photo! Hehe..
After visiting the torii, we went back to the hotel, grabbed out stuff, and headed for the train station to take the shinkansen back to Tokyo. We were able to get a train that had a little less stops than the one we took over here so it only took about 2.5 hours this time.
My parent said they saw Mt. Fuji on the way over so we made sure we sat on the right side of the train to see the mountain and kept our eyes peeled. Considering the cloudy weather i think we got a pretty nice view! Also thanks to my new camera’s zoom lens!
Once we arrived at Shingawa station we checked into the same hotel we were in last time but we tried to get an upgrade. For a mere 1000 yen per night, we got a ridiculously better looking room. We joked it was the best 1000 yen we ever spent.
I just got my camera and have been dying to take a cool photo of the city using “miniature” mode. This was perfect! Oh i love how everything looks mini! Especially the cars. This is a photo of Shinagawa Station.
After the train ride we chilled in our room watching some TV until it got dark, then we planned on heading to Shinjuku. Before heading off i took this photo of from our hotel room — we had a much better view since we where higher up and it was facing the Tokyo tower.
We took the train to Shinjuku because this is supposed to be the “happening” spot at night time. I also wanted to find this Japanese store called Loft that was supposted to have cool things to buy. But we couldn’t find it because it moved since the tourbook printed. We had fun walking around the nightclub district and seeing all the of lights.
This guy is so cute! That is the thing about Japan, they even make negative things look really fun and cute. This guy means “no walking and smoking” – it was so hilarious because the moment we got into this part of the city Jeff points and says “oh great is the no smoking while walking police!” and he points to a bunch of girls dressed in vests with this little graphic on them. They were getting ready to hand out leaflets to the public or something.
Talk about cute!! The store in our hotel had the cutest stuff to buy – i did so much shopping there. Everything in Japan has to have a face on it!
An Eventful 2nd Day in Kyoto
We decided to take a morning bus tour around Kyoto to see the popular tourist attractions. We stopped by 3 places. The first stop was Nijo Castle – which Jeff was really excited to go to. It is the place where a shogun once lived, and is popular for its “nightingale” floors which squeak whenever someone walks on it to alert the residents of possible intruders! We looked for ninjas but couldn’t see any (they must be good!)
We couldn’t take photos inside the buildings, but mostly it was just big rooms with tatami mats, beautiful old paintings on the walls and rice paper screens to separate the rooms.
We saw a crane in the gardens of the shogun residence. Our tour lady was so funny because she said we could walk around the garden but be sure to not get lost because “it is endless”.
Here are my parents!
Next stop on the bus tour was the Golden Pavillion – probably the most popular site in Kyoto because it is quite stunning. The amount of tourists here are insane! While on our travels we saw several school groups on field trips and it was cute to see they ALWAYS have to wear matching hats! From pre-schoolers up until it looked like middle schoolers, had to wear these hats.
Here is Jeff and i at the golden temple! It is pretty serene… yet… not with all the tourist there! (See below!)
This is taken of the spot where i took the last photo from! Hehe!
There was a nice little pathway through some gardens at this location as well, so we walked it (amongst the sea of people). There were a few spots where people tried to throw some yen into a little bowl from the fence. A good money making scheme for the pavillion, no?
The next stop on the tour was the Imperial Palace. Kyoto was the capitol of Japan for a hundred and about 700 to 1800 (so a really long time!) until it was moved to Tokyo. I didnt realize until this trip how similar those two names are! If you look at the sky in this photo – that is how it looked every single day of our trip! We didnt see the sun at all, but the weather was comfy in the 60s. My parents thought it was cold of course. =)
The tour of the Imperial Palace wasn’t too interesting, we walked around outside on gravel and could look inside to the large tatami rooms. But at least i can show you pictures! This one above is similar to what we saw at the Shogun castle except that that one was all indoors.
There was a nice garden setting on part the grounds. It was pretty expansive, lots of open “gravel” which i am not sure was quite so empty when it was actually used by the Imperial family… anyway, it reminded me of watching the move Aladdin where the daughter couldn’t wait to get out of her confinements of the palace grounds. Haha!
Some neat trees.
Cool buildings, nice detail with the gold! It is a palace, after all.
So our tour ended after Imperial Palace and the bus dropped us off at the “Japanese Handicraft Center” (which can be misheard and Handicapped center, LOL) … basically a big store with lots of touristy items to purchase. How convenient! We did end up buying a few gifts – samurai swords, Japanese dolls, etc. We also ended up eating a buffet lunch there – more cafeteria style but still pretty good considering it was geared toward “western” tastes. You got your typically curry, rice, croquette, salad, tofu (mm, loved this as a baby and still do!) and andagi (japanese donut).
After lunch and shopping the annual Jidai Matsuri (Festival of Ages) parade was going to start. Basically a parade showing customary clothing of various periods in Japan.
These ladies had a nice odori (Japanese dance) performance going.
I like this dude’s wig. There are lots more parade photos on my flickr photo set of Japan.
After watching the parade for a few hours amongst the other onlookers and tourists, we took a taxi ride back to the hotel to rest for a bit. Jeff got hungry and decided to try the “hot meal” from the vending machine. It was fried chicken and fries. It was as good as it looks (so not so good).
Our next venture was to the Fire Festival in the small mountain town of Kurama. We just so happen to be in Kyoto the right time where they were having all of these fesitvals! Though it does seem the Japanese really like festivals (matsuri) because they have several every month it seems.
So after some debate and research, we decided on how we needed to get to the fire festival — by multiple train transfers. It was a little hard since sometimes we had to buy our tickets at automated machines that didnt have english instructions! But Jeff and I worked well as a team to figure it out. (Hey maybe we CAN do the Amazing Race!) It took maybe an hour to get there..coming back was a different story!
Once we got to the town, at about 7 or 8pm i think, there was quite a crowd already. Jeff and i really liked the experience if seeing a small rural town and looking at the residences. Each house had a small little fire going in front of their house (along with buckets of water!).
At this point we separated from my parents and staked out a spot by the bridge – it was soothing to breathe the night air and hear the streaming water beneath is. The moon was also out shining and we could barely make out the woody hillside. The smell of burning wood reminded us of a campfire. About 10 minutes after we go there the excitement started – a barrage of Japanese men in loin clothes hoisting huge torches on their backs, chanting ““sai-rei, sai-ryo!” which means simply “festival, good festival!” (i tell you they love their festivals!)
They stopped for a while by the temple and held up their torches. I think the proceeded up the hill, to who knows where… we trailed behind in the action, then decided to head on out before it got to crowded…
Well that was the game plan but didn’t really pan out. I have no idea HOW many people where there but it took us probably 3 hours of standing in line to finally board the train to leave. Reminder – this is a very small town outside of Kyoto, in the mountains.. this is the “end of the line” for the train, and for this particular event i am sure they run 50x more trains than normal.
Anyway, i am surprised i didnt take a photo of the madness within those hours of waiting. Some people where soooo pushy! We stood in those switchback lines like you are going on an amusement ride. Once we boarded the train we were squished in there just as bad as the daily morning commuters.
I did take this photo of one of the later trains we caught when we were away from the craziness of Kurama. It was a older train that was green and retro! So i used my new Canon color mode to snap a photo.
I totally don’t remember taking this photo, but i guess i caught the Kyoto Tower at night time. Very nice contrast to the other photo i posted. =)
We were SO STARVING after arriving back home at past midnight. We went to 7-11 to get some food (there are 7-11s everywhere here and most aren’t attached to gas stations). The sandwiches hit the spot, and we founds some weird corn candy! I guess the Japanese really have taken a liking to corn after being introduced by the Americans during the war. There is always some random “side of corn” at meals.
What an eventful day for sure! It was tiring, lots of walking. But what a fun experience that will most likely never repeat itself again. =)
First Day in Kyoto, Japan
This morning we took the 3-hour bullet train (shinkansen) ride to Kyoto, Japan. The ride was nice and smooth, and fun to see the cities outside Tokyo. Lots of building but also some open land and small lots of vegetable gardens or rice paddies.
Here is Jeff and I on the train. The seats had 3 and 2 on each side like an airplane, and was about 12 cars long. They had separate “smoking cars” which Jeff indulged in.
Once we arrived a the train station we were all starving! But decided to find our hotel first and drop off our bags before figuring out a place to eat. The Kyoto Train station is HUGE – it has an entire shopping mall within it, and more… We got lost for a while and after some back and forth we decided to go to a nice italian restaurant on the top floor of a major department store (yes still in the train station). This photo is of Kyoto tower which you can see from the restaurant window.
I forgot what the desserts where i think mine was a pear tart thing, and this one could be pumpkin?
Here is the Segawa clan in their homeland! Hahah.
We checked into our hotel room, and MY MY what a difference compared to our last hotel! This one was a tiny bit smaller, but the interior was far superior! Feel very good staying here, and also right across the street from the train station so very convienient.
Once we settled into the room Jeff and I decided to spend some alone time and found a temple close by that we could walk to. We noticed a lot of the girls in Japan had little “fox tails” on their purses and bags. I couldn’t resist taking a photo… they are also a big fan of leggings and floral prints (YUCK!) It was fun to watch. The walk there was not too interesting besides that though we noticed the city is VERY clean, and the little houses and shops that go right up the sidewalk are so tiny and cute.
Once on the temple grounds, we shopped around at the fair they where having which happened to only take place one day a month, so we were lucky to be there that day. We bought a few homemade buttons and placemats. I saw a couple of food booths i wanted to try with yummy looking desserts but we had just ate so we didnt buy any =(
Here is one side of the bridge, and then the other… it was leading to the temple grounds.
I love how this photo turned out of a stone lantern. It looks old huh?
Actually i a remembering now it was a pagoda not a temple! I think it was built in 1960 sometime but the “original” was built like in 700 but it kept burning down and they kept rebuilding it!
There where few other buildings that housed some pretty impressive buddha statues. Again no photos allowed! We also noticed they kept buckets of water outside all the buildings, i think it was mandated by fire code but Jeff and I thought it was funny because whats one little pail of water gonna do to a fire? I suppose… something is better than nothing.
Here is an artsy shot of the pagoda for your viewing pleasure.
After visiting the pagoda i convinced Jeff to go to the Eon mall with me that was right across the street from out hotel. We walked around but i didnt see any stores too particularly interesting. On the very top level they had an arcade, with lots of UFO machines (the stuffed animal machines with the little grabbers). AND! We found the print club machines (on my list of “to do” in Japan)!!!
Print club is like a photo booth on steroids. The photo booths can fit like 4+ people, and there are all kinds of backdrops you can choose and you can even write things all over the photos before they get printed. IT WAS SO COOL! Jeff and I had lots of fun with the whole process, and it was especially confusing since we didnt know how to read or understand the instructions in Japanese! We laughed pretty hard about it because there was always a timer counting down, and we panicked not knowing what was happening next…
So here is how the photos came out. Jeff hates the way the computer made his eyes “all girly” – i think they do that to make the girls look pretty but yes i agree it looks weird on a guy! I wanted to do another one after this but couldn’t get Jeff to agree.. bummer it was so much fun.
For dinner we went to the last floor of the department store where they have lots of food vendors. I ate some noodles, but i can’t remember what Jeff ate? Then we slept real early cuz we are still jet lagged! Japan is 16 hours different from Pacific Coast time so quite a difference.
Second Day in Tokyo, Japan
Last night we went to bed really early because of jet lag. My parents were up since about 3am and i think i woke up at about 4:30am. My dad was READY TO GO and while we were kinda up, we were just crusin’ still in our PJs and everything. When we finally got ready to start the day, we decided to go to Ueno Park via train (pretty much the best way to get anywhere in Japan especially Tokyo). Not realizing it was work day and about 8:30am, we headed the the train station amongst a sea of “salary men” dressed in suits. We took one look and said… no way! We arent getting on the train! We decided to wait it out and it was much better after 9am when i guess everyone has to be at work. It was very entertaining to watch. Just when you think not one more person can fit on the train, someone comes running and shoves their body in.
While we were killing time between rush hour, we went to Anderson’s Bakery within the train station and got some breakfast. So yummy! I think we have one of these bakeries in San Fran’s Japantown.
I had the most awesome sweet potato pastry, along with some peach juice. My katakana reading skills definitely came in handy, all though, sometimes, for the life of me even if i could read the letters i COULD NOT figure out what some stuff was! I felt like a retard sounding it out all slow….
Here we are waiting for the next train (not for long, trains come very often). We got a Japan Rail Pass for our 1-week stay so we could ride unlimited. It is only offered to tourists. This first train ride we took the Yamanote line – which makes a big circular loop around the city.
We arrived an Ueno Park which i suppose is comparable to Central Park of New York City – but probably a bit smaller. Took a walk around and saw a bunch of stone lanterns.
I forgot what you call these but i guess they are probably something similar to omamori where they are pieces of wood that you leave at a temple or alter as an offering and you can write you wish on the other side of it.
We laughed at this because it is a fake temple – like in Hollywood where they have a facade and then a backdrop of the rest of the building! The painting was quite faded too so kinda obvious but it was still fun.
While in the park we also went to a museum with buddha statues, samurai swords and warrior clothing, old paintings and scriptures, etc. It was weird to see things SO old like year 600? I can’t even imagine… no photos allowed in there so nothing to post.
After the park we went nearby to a little corridor of storefronts called Ameyayokocho. We had a little trouble finding it but with my guidebook we made it. I didn’t think that i would have trouble saying any Japanese names since i am pretty comfortable with the language in that way, but boy was i wrong. Some of the names are just so long, its like, you have to make yourself separate it in two just to say it!
There wasn’t anything too amazing here, just a bunch of little stores selling junk like cheap purses, food and grocery items, arcades etc. They did have and even a pet store and a pachinko parlor though, which was interesting. Japan is noted for their excessive amounts of vending machines, like, do you need this many in this area?
We couldn’t get by an arcade without trying one of the games. Just look a how cute this one is! Oh my all the graphics and writing. The game was a taiko drum but very similar to Guitar Hero where you drum on the beat. Jeff did pretty good at the game, it just kept going.. play song, pass, next song, play, pass, next song. I think we ended up just leaving after a while. We got our money’s worth (yens worth that is – more specifically).
After the shopping and arcade playing we hopped back the train and went to Akihabara, known as the electronic shopping district. Once there we first stopped for lunch. We veered toward curry but someone chickened out and we all ended up at a burger joint. I had a Teriyaki burger, and apparently, its standard to give two chicken nuggests as a side to this! I thought that was funny. Meal was just ok, a fun experience to eat “american” food in Japan.
This is Yodobashi-Akiba, a HUGE electronics store. Well they sell more than that – they have about 8 or 9 floors selling stuff ranging from computers to phones, home electronics/appliance (vacuums, rice cookers, hair dryers, fridges), MP3 players, game consoles, etc. There was also office supplies, beauty supplies and a big toy section. I think i spent a couple hours in there but amazingly DID NOT buy anything! Still a great experience.
We turned in early for the night, a bit tired and still jetlagged. For dinner i think we went to food court again!! But i did snap this photo at 7-11 of what looks to be a hot dog bun with yakisoba noodles in it! Only Japan!
I also snapped this photo today outside of some store… i still don’t understand exactly what they are selling! But it had a cat on it and i liked the Engrish. I think this is the only Engrish picture i took, i didnt really see anything too amazing outrageous — at least not as much as i thought i would/was hoping.
First Day in Tokyo, Japan
After a 7 hour flight from Honolulu Hawaii, and an hour bus ride from Narita Airport, we arrived to our hotel room at Shinagawa Prince Hotel. Not a terribly nice room here, pretty small and outdated, but it will do.
When we arrived it was the afternoon, so we just got our bearings in the city and walked to the train station to check that out, then looked for a place to eat. The area we are in seems like mainly a business section and there were numerous small restaurants hollering at commuters to come eat at their establishment.
So where did we end up eating? At the hotel food court! Cuz we could all get our own stuff…Dad got some kind of steak meal with a bunch of sides.
Jeff got spaghetti and my mom and i got spring onion ramen. It was yummy! This ended up being our “go to” spot for dinner… because well, ask Jeff why! LOL!
Jeff an I walked around the hotel for a bit after dinner – there is a dolphin museum and an aquarium, a roller coaster and other amusement rides, lots of shops and a movie theater and bowling alley! The room itself left something to be desired but overall its not bad. So not very eventful first day, but we got there and have a while to explore!
Grandma’s 100th Birthday Celebration
Today we had a luncheon at a Chinese restaurant in Ala Moana Hotel with all the family for my Grandma’s 100th birthday. All the grandkids where in attendance!
I think my grandparents really love Chinese food. And i must say i don’t! I never liked it as a kid. I remember it made me feel “funny” and only now i realize it was massive amounts of MSG that made my heart race. Anyway, there probably wasnt any MSG in the food, but it was still too exotic or just not the great tasting to me. Though at times it was a bit entertaining. Look at this squash soup! We were afraid it would fall apart and spew onto our laps.
All the grandkids sat at the same table and i think we were all on the same “boat” as far as not really liking the food.
We showed my grandma the scrapbook we made and she loved it! She started looking at the photos and asking her about them to be sure what they where and who was in them, and she remembered all the details. I was so happy she enjoyed it. All of our hard work paid off.
Here is the whole family (plus grandma okuda snuck in hehe!). From left to right, standing: Scott (youngest), Robert (oldest), Garret (middle), Aunty Sandy, Uncle Allan, Me (youngest), Susan (oldest), Jill (middle). Sitting: Grandma Okuda, Grandma Segawa, Dad (Donald), and my mom (Jerrie).
Here is a shot with just the grandkids and grandma.
Looking at the scrapbook again – a nice photo.
My Aunty Sandy made my grandma a nice photo frame with our family mon on it (Japanese emblem). The photo on the left is probably when she was about 20 or so.
OH YES! After all the gross food i was so looking forward to the CAKE! I kept yelling, “where is the cake!” “I want the cake!” “Lets just have cake!” etc, etc. It was so good. Damn, i love cake. Strawberries are my favorite too! It kind a reminded me of our wedding cake. =)
I had my sister take a photo of Jeff and I by this nice orchid. Came out nice. <3
A Weekend in Hawaii
We arrived on Friday night to Hawaii. My parents and my sister Jill picked us up and we headed straight home. Didn’t do much that night besides hang out and sleep early (least Jeff did, i think i stayed up).
My mom had a “project” for Jill and I – to make a scrapbook for my Grandma’s 100th birthday using all her old photos. Scrapbooking is something i have done before but maybe only once or twice – not the avid scrapbooker at all but i was happy to do it, i like these kind of projects!
Best of all i got to work with my “creative” sister. We collabrated very well! We picked out all the photos, organized them by decade, and then decided how the page was going to be laid out. We got all our supplies from Wal-mart. We worked ALL DAY on this sucker! I was hoping to go to the beach at least once while we where here. Poor Jeff was bored out of his mind, just watching some baseball since it was the playoffs.
Once the scrapbook was done, i did get to hangout with Quincy and his friend Trey. We of course went karaoke! Jeff actually ended up singing some even though he said he wouldn’t… here they are singing Bohemian Rhapsody (mamma mia, mamma mia!!!) It was really fun! I miss my “brother” Quincy. I am glad i get to visit him when i come home, i dont really have too many friends back there anymore.
After karaoke i was hungry so we stopped by Zippys and i got take out fried noodles. I miss Zippys so much, even thought their food isnt like fantastical, its still LOCAL…
La Jolla Garden News
We have a raspberry plant in the far corner of our lot. I think its coming over from the neighbors, because its completely random. But it produces from pretty good raspberries. We forget to check in on them often enough. Today there was quite a bit of nice ripe ones that were edible, but also quite a bit over-ripe. Its fun to grow our own fruit. We need to get more fruit and vegetable bearing plants.
In other garden news, we had a guy come and chop down our nice (and half dead) birch tree this week. We are so sad, even though it had no leaves, it was still pretty! Our neighbors complained about it and so we had to get rid of it.They thought the tree might kill their children (sooo over dramatic).
We also pulled out another stump on the side of the yard today and found a giant salamander living under it. Can you spot him in the photo above? I can barely see him, and i know where he is! We felt bad that we destroyed his home! Poor lil’ guy.
This is me, hanging out in my garden gear (it’s hot today!) and posing on the stump of the old birch tree. (I am pretending to be a sad dead tree, can you tell?)