A New Cast of Characters

This blog is not complete without pet stories. Since I am lacking firsthand stories about my own pets, (who are happily hanging out at a friend's house in Okinawa) I am going to talk about my parent's pets instead.

This is Sienna:

She's a 100 pound doberman who can't sleep without her Blankey. She holds Blankey in such high regard that she will mope in the laundry room when Blankey gets a bath.

Sienna also thinks she is a lapdog:

This is Sienna trying to fit in my dad's lap. She is a bit large to be a lapdog.

My parents have two cats. Their names are Neptune and Romeo. They like boxes.

They like boxes so much that my mom leaves boxes around the house for cat beds.

Neptune is a very small cat.

But he has very large paws. In fact, he has an extra toe on each foot. He is a skittish cat. He's afraid of almost everything (but not as bad as Rambo!).

Romeo is not afraid of anything. He loves everyone.

I just realized that all these photos have pets sitting on my dad. Apparently he makes a nice pillow. But the pets do sleep other places too.

This is Neptune sleeping in the fruit bowl.

Have a good day!!

The future is today...

I just wanted to let you all know that tomorrow is here right now. Twenty years ago having a phone you carried with you, your own computer or a personal navigation system were only for the rich and famous. Today alone I have sat in a car that spoke to us and told us where to go, talked to my wife via a cell phone (somebody's SECOND cell phone I might add), and also drove in a car while me and another guy both had laptops in our lap. The whole situation made me laugh and I thought I would share it with you all. I miss you all and hope to see you soon.

Home Again Home Again!

I'm back in Colorado for the summer!!

This is Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods - taken by my dad.

On Tuesday I had the longest three hour plane trip ever. I left Okinawa at 11am and got in to Colorado at 1pm three flights later. I didn't sleep the night before so that I could sleep on the flight over the Pacific. But then the guy in front of me put his seat back so far that he practically had his head in my lap and I couldn't move, much less sleep. So I have been sleeping a lot since I got here. And spending money. And eating greasy American food.

But seriously, you don't realize how convenient American shopping is until you spend five hours walking around a Japanese store looking for salt and pepper shakers and then come home with a pair of flipflops two sizes too small. I went to Barnes and Noble and spent roughly $60 in less than five minutes of shopping. After that I cut myself off, but I couldn't tear myself away from the books so I spent another couple hours reading in the store. Then I went to Hobby Lobby and was so overwhelmed by the craft selection that I couldn't make any decisions.

Driving is an adventure again too. I drove roughly three blocks to my best friend's house (it's on the far side of a hill and I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it to the top of the hill without being adjusted to the altitude). In the process I stalled the car, managed to turn the windshield wipers on instead of the blinker at every turn, and had a really really hard time staying on the correct side of the road. But me, the car, and the squirrels all survived.

I'll check in again soon!

More On Pete

I have been avoiding the subject of Peter's deployment, but this week he DID deploy, so there will be more Peter updates on here now (as was the original intent of the blog). Some, like the one below, will be from him. I'll try to fill in the gaps since his internet access will be sketchy.

Peter says to reassure everyone that he is fine. His flights were uneventful, to the best of my knowledge, and no, I haven't heard the story of the lost boarding pass yet. I'll let you know when I do, because I'm sure it's amusing. He described the area where he is working as "hot, dirty, and full of dicks - I have testosterone overload already." He has a temporary room until he joins his company, and that room has no key. He doesn't have a roommate or an address yet. There are only two pay phones out there, and neither works well, so Peter probably won't be making many phone calls, but he does have internet access in the lounge and he hopes to get a laptop this weekend, so check back here for more updates. He spent the day today working in the clinic treating soldiers who got heat exhaustion on their fifteen mile hike. Apparently that was fun.

As for me, I'm doing much better than I expected. I have lots of support from friends, family, and coworkers, and I've been keeping busy. Yes, I have been eating, and if you doubt that I'll start keeping a food log on here. I have also been sleeping, although slightly less regular hours now because I'm not working. I am also indulging in the usual lonliness therapy - a pint of Ben and Jerry's and a pedicure.

We Love you Peter!

I'm herrrrre!

Hello all,
Well, I made it here in one piece. I'm in beautiful secluded 62 area at Camp Pendleton. I have joined my unit and look forward to all the work that lies ahead of me (not really though, I just lie to myself to keep my spirits up). The flight here was uneventful except for a misplaced boarding pass in Osaka which gave me minor heart failure. I should have access to computers most of the time when we're in the rear but, I don't expect to be here very often. I will keep in touch with you all as often as possible through this. I miss you all and thank you to those of you who are looking after Kristin.

The Gardens of Nijo

There were big gardens at Nijo castle, which are apparently as much of a tourist attraction as the palaces are. There were gardens at each palace, between the palaces, and then orchards between the outer and inner fortifications.

The backsides of the walls around the castle were gentle slopes covered in trees. It made the inside of the palace seem much less like a fort. In both the photos above, the outer wall of the castle is just behind the trees.

There was a pond in the garden between the two palaces, complete with waterfall. It was so serene there.


This next photo is a little wildflower (aka weed) I found on top of the main watch tower.


This photo is of a path running through the orchard between the outer and inner walls of the castle.
Japanese gardens are built for serenity and peace. They are not nearly as showy with flowers as American gardens are. The flowers are accents, and they spend a lot of time making the trees, dirt, and rocks just as pleasing to the eye.

Whew, It's Not a Temple Photo

I have more Kyoto photos today!

There are two palace complexes in Kyoto. One is the Imperial Palace, which was the Emporer's residence when Kyoto was the capital of Japan. It isn't open to the public. The other is Nijo Castle, the official Kyoto residence of the Kyoto Shogun (the local feudal lord).

Nijo was built during a time when the Emporer's power was weak compared to the power of the shogun. The Imperial Palace was a very modest, easily defended construction. Nijo was built to flaunt the power of the shogun in the Emporer's face. It actually consists of two palaces. The first one, Ninomaru Palace, was built to be the residence of the shogun at about the time when the capital of Japan moved to Edo (Tokyo).

It was rarely used as a residence, but the shogun did stay there when he happened to be in Kyoto, and it was filled with elaborate paintings and carvings as a status symbol. There were more than 3,000 paintings inside, which are in the process of being restored. I couldn't take photos, but to my untrained American eyes, the paintings looked a lot like this (from Ginkakuji):
The carvings were on the outside, and they looked like this:

So elaborate!

There is a second palace further inside the walls, Honmaru. The Emporer paid a visit to Nijo and this was built later as a place to entertain him. It was not open to the public, but apparently it is even more elaborate, because the shogun was trying to make his palace more impressive than the last one the Emporer visited. I think the shogun may have had some vanity issues.

These palaces aren't nearly as visually impressive as the castles we saw later. However, they were uniquely designed inside because the shogun that built them was paranoid. The floors are specially constructed "Nightingale Floors" that squeak when people walk across them, making it impossible to sneak up on the shogun to kill him. I don't mean squeak the way the floor in an old house squeaks. These floors emitted a high pitched squeak that almost sounded like a bird call. The castle also had false walls and secret rooms where the shogun's body guards could hide to protect him. There were also several moats and a maze of walls and gates separating the palaces.

Outer Gate

Ninomaru Gate

Inner moat and "dungeon" (it just looked like a watch tower to me)

These palaces had beautiful gardens, but I will post those photos next time.

Clearly I am Not Over the Spiders Yet

For the past few weeks, one of the gigantic spiders was sitting on my neighbor's window. This window happens to be directly across from my parking space. So every day I got a nice view of him. And every day I congratulated myself on the fact that the spider was not sitting on MY window.

Then he disappeared.

I noticed his absence and double checked my car. Giant spiders on my neighbor's windows are cool, but giant spiders in my car are not okay. But there were no spiders and I went on my way.

Guess where the spider was?

On my front door!! Three flights of stairs are quite a hike for a spider! (Or for a human with grocery bags). I was impressed by his dedication. But the dedicated spider is no more. I refused to enter the house until Peter disposed of it.

I also refuse to speculate on what will become of me when I find giant spiders while Peter is deployed.

There will be more Kyoto photos when I have some time to get more scanned in. Here is an Okinswa sunset photo to tide you over in the meantime:

Summer in Okinawa

It's officially summer in Okinawa. How do I know this? Because it is so humid that our air conditioning blows steam. There is a little cloud around the AC unit. The humidity also condenses all over the windows. By condense, I don't just mean that it steams up the windows. I mean that our windows have their own private rain storms on them. Our cars heat up so much that the AC can't cool them down before we get to our destination. I can't wait to get home to Colorado, where the air is cool and dry!

The Not So Silver Pavilion

Are you sick of temples yet? It took roughly three days of non-stop temples before they started blurring together for us. This is Ginkakuji. The Silver Pavilion.

It was built as a retirement palace for the son of the shogun who built Kinkakuji. Like father like son. It is called the Silver Pavilion because it was originally supposed to be silver plated. But I guess something happened to cancel that plan.

The real attraction at Ginkakuji is not the pavilion. It is the zen garden.


That is sand, meticulously raked into a pattern representing ocean waves approaching Mt. Fuji. That's right, the cone is sand too. I'm not quite sure what happens when it rains.


This brings up a cultural difference between America and Japan. I can't think of many Americans who would take the time to meticulously place each individual grain of sand. Or who would want to spend the time arranging beautiful sand, for that matter.

Here is another cultural difference (an another tourist attraction at Ginkakuji):

This is moss. Apparently there were fifty different kinds of moss at this temple. We don't know what they were because we couldn't read the sign. However, the moss is very well tended. There were swarms of caretakers on the grounds. There to SWEEP the moss.
To pick up leaves off the moss. The effect was very calming. But it required a lot of work.

Here is the most exciting tourist attraction at Ginkakuji:

US!! We were a school project. There were large groups of Japanese school children there, looking for people to practice English with (and probably admiring the moss and the sand). They asked us questions, like "Where are you from?" and "What do you like about Japan?" They took photos of us. And then, they whipped out a packet of essays - in English - about Japanese culture. They presented the essays to us, then gave them to us as a gift. We were impressed.

Here are a few more photos from the temple:

The watercolor paintings on the inside one of the temple buildings.

The Japanese students, peeking at us through a window.

An arial view of the pavilion, taken from the top of a hill on the temple grounds.

And speaking of the temple grounds, here is another view of the moss.
Ginkakuji.

More photos to come over the weekend, but my posting will be slow next week because I'll be working full time. A math teacher at the middle school is going to be out for the rest of the year (only two weeks really), and I have made a good enough impression that I was asked to take over her class. This is a milestone for me, because it means I've graduated from being a sporatic substitute to a long term sub who can be trusted with a class of my own. The only downside is that my first long term assignment is with a SPED class and I was not born with enough patience for most of those children. Next week will be an adventure!