Surprised by Beauty

Lately I've been restless, tired of traffic and crowds, wishing I was in the backwoods of Wisconsin or the old Lumberjack Trail in the Thumb of Michigan (even if just for an hour!). . . but this morning, God gave me a great gift. I went running in the morning rather than the usual 10pm, and the small iron gate I usually run past was actually open. I entered. . . and was surprised by beauty! I stumbled upon Utsunomiya Prefecture Museum and Central Park, which includes a Japanese Garden, a Western Garden, a Rock Garden, a lake, many trails and many carp. . . and it's all within 2 minutes' walk from my current home. I can't believe I've lived in Utsunomiya for over a year and never knew of this place! Enjoy the photos. . . and Heidi, if you're reading, it was "so beautiful it made me want to cry ;))" ha! You and Jane will never get over that comment, but it was true. . .

Surprised by Beauty Part II. . .

Be afraid, be very afraid. . .

Thought you might enjoy another taste of the culture here. Need to fill your water bottle? Just use one of the numerous faucets on this elegant bird. . .

Inspirational Cookware

I've found it-- the best element of my new house, a genuine specimen of inspirational cookware!!!!! While washing this pan, I discovered the best comedy English yet. . . the funniest part is that you can actually kind of imagine what the "Chartier" people were trying to say (it just came out all wrong). Something in the way of a subtle compliment, like, "We know it's not the pan that matters, and your cooking is so good that there's no improvement possible, but. . ."

Cool House. . .

I've decided to post a few photos of the house I'm renting until December. It's huge by Japanese standards, and I have the place all to myself-- the coolest part of the house is the genkan, or entryway, with its loft and strange-looking chandelier. AND I have real Japanese paper window-screens! As I now have space to cook again, I've been experimenting with my rice cooker. . . in the photo, I think I'd added dry millet and lentils to the rice before cooking. Pretty tasty too, except that the texture made me feel a little like a foraging forest creature. . . hope there's space in my suitcase for my rice cooker, I can't live without Japanese sticky-rice, whatever the low-carb advocates might say. . .

Queen

This Sunday morning we lost one of our best horses-- Queen (my favorite mare and Goto-san's horse, see previous post). She was only 3 and had amazing potential.

Charenge!

Ok, let me know if anyone wants to import some of these chopping boards. It's a shame that in the U.S. we only have chopping boards made of REGULAR plastic!

Comedy T-Shirts Continued. . .

The shirts say it all. . .

Comedy T-Shirts

"Because anyone sometimes has trouble" "Do you have any appropriate goods to relieve you?" "You'll have your favorite places, of course. You'll be relieved for sure when you visit there."

Browsing the T-shirt section of a local discount store never fails to cheer me up. Medium size cotton T-shirt: $2.99. The English printed on that T-shirt: Priceless.

Can you believe I found a Packers T-shirt in Utsunomiya? Well, it's Lions colors. . . My all-time favorite is one I affectionately remember as the "Ominous Giraffe T-shirt". Covered in cartoon giraffes, it warned the world "The day of the fate is waited for!" Now remember, with the Real Eyes VividWorm, you too can Charenge Exciting Sport Fishing. . .Hmmmmmm. . . ok, gotta go, I'm having the Secret Cookie of Deliciousness for dinner. It's Immediately To Easy Eat.

金曜日の学生と私の山

For our weekly Friday night class, my students and I decided to leave the English center and go out for a classy dinner. I spoke Japanese, they spoke English, we had Chianti and a smashing time! Every time I go out with new friends, they always ask if I can use chopsticks ;) Then I tell them that I've eaten every meal with chopsticks for the past 13 months, and I now find a fork and knife rather unwieldy. . . The other photos are from Chuzenjiko, the mountain lake-town that I run away to on occasion, and Gunma-ken, a neigboring prefecture with spectacular landscape.

Wisconsin Backwoods. . .

Dad, Mom, Levi, Matt and Faith (and Tucker). . .

Queen

This is Queen, my most recent training horse and an awesome mare. She has Haflinger blood and thus a great trot, but we re still working on getting her hind end under her for more push, balance and power. We alternate between long-and-deep work and balancing back. Her first dressage competition is in October! These photos dont really do justice to the horse, since she has much better contact now, but at least you can see a little of my favorite horse, and the arena I ride in every day!

Onsen and a giant plastic swan (huh?), but not together. . .

During Obon holiday, Lee and I went to Chuzenjiko, the mountaintop lake about 1.5 hours from my home (see previous posts. . .). We planned to camp, but as I’m currently without a tent, that proved a bit difficult, so we spoiled ourselves and stayed at a small onsen hotel instead. The Yumoto Hot Springs area has excellent onsen, very hot sulphur water, which stinks (literally) until you begin to associate the stink with the smooth, soft skin it promotes! Since there were no other people there and we had the onsen to ourselves, Lee and I took the opportunity to get some photos so that you (poor deprived foreigners) see what you’re missing. I go to one of the local onsens nearly every day. The onsen I frequent has 5 indoor baths (a cold bath, a mineral bath, a massage bath, an electric-shock deep-muscle therapy bath, and a black-silica bath) and an outdoor bath, also a regular sauna and a salt-sauna (which I love, it’s like a regular sauna but you scrub yourself all over with salt and your skin feels GREAT afterward!) Most onsens have indoor baths and outdoor baths. First you sit on one of the stools and shower, shampoo, brush teeth, etc., and then you soak in the baths for as long as you want (for me, usually 1-2 hours), usually moving from bath to bath and (in a very hot onsen like this one) occasionally dipping in the cold bath or taking a cold shower. Of course you`re usually with many other people (yes, it IS separated between men and women. . . unless you go to the most remote areas, which I haven`t had the opportunity to experience yet ;) The onsen hotels usually have great food, and this one was no exception—owned and run by a small family, we were served full Japanese dinner and breakfast by a cute little grandmother and grandfather! The rooms have tatami flooring (heavy woven-straw panels) and we sleep on futons (thin matresses on the tatami). This is the fourth onsen hotel I’ve stayed at, and it’s definitely my favorite! The other photos show yet another venture into the realms of absurdity (which happens quite often living in Japan. . .) we took a giant swan-shaped paddle-boat onto the lake—which explains why we’re laughing so hard. It’s impossible to keep a straight face when you’re paddling around the top of a mountain in a giant plastic swan.

My Tochigi-ken. . .

Here are a few photos of the natural beauty of Tochigi-ken, the prefecture I live in. The mountains surround me, and I live within five minutes of Shindin Koen, a forest park with TONS of trails (of course, we can’t ride horses there! Blast!)