These Last Two Months

Until these last two months of not writing, I had been blogging at least once a week for 8.5 years. There are, as of this post, 781 entries. That is quite a bit of writing! Although I don't plan on entirely quitting, it's become clear that I need some space from this blog in order to have time and creative energy to put into other areas of my life. Basically, I need to give myself permission to not blog at least once a week.

Ok, so now that's out of the way, what has happened in the last two months? Well, I met up with Connor in Japan. He had a two week business trip there. I flew to meet him at the end of it and we spent almost another two weeks touring around.

My favorite part of the trip was meeting the bowing deer of Nara

I gave travel journaling a go in Japan and really loved it. I'm still finishing up some paintings from the trip.

I spent a lot of time painting the sights. This is Kinkaku-ji, the temple in Kyoto that is covered in gold.

Once we came back from the trip, Connor and I joined a comic drawing group that meets up once a week. I found out they do a yearly anthology. When we joined, there were five weeks until the deadline. I decided to draw an 8 page, fully watercolored comic. In retrospect, that was a little nuts. It's taken a lot of energy, but I'm pleased with how it looks.

Just one of many pigeon jokes in my comic

I'm still knitting here and there. Connor has introduced me to Battlestar Galactica. (The new one.) I've found it to be a pretty good show to knit to.

Kamakura pt 2 - Enter the Daibutsu

Connor is coming home tomorrow. It's been along three weeks without him, but I'm glad he was able to have so much fun with his brother when we wasn't at work.

Connor and his brother had gone to Kamakura earlier in their trip, hence the pt 1 (which is not on the blog), but Connor learned from his co-workers that he missed the main attraction: Daibutsu. I teased him mercilessly for missing the biggest statue around, so they went back to see it.

Connor:

Finally we saw Daibutsu after enduring a week and a half of criticism for not knowing about him the first time we were here.
Did you know that:
-Daibutsu means “Big Buddha”. (I asked a co-worker if the other Daibutsus are all big like this one. He said, “yes, Daibutsu is always big”.)
-He by far attracts more crowds than any other temple in Kamakura.
 -You can buy and drink beer at his temple (possibly contributing to the above).
-You can go inside him for 20 yen (which we did)
Now you know.

In 1923 a great earthquake destroyed the temple surrounding Daibutsu. Only Daibutsu and his shoes survived.

Mason is sitting at a traditional Japanese eating area, where kids and adults can come together as equals. He was tempted by the green tea ice cream, but this is also the place that sold beer.

After seeing Daibutsu we started hiking at the opposite end to finish of what we didn’t finish last time. Along the trail, we passed a small farm with a fence that was doing a poor job of keeping this chicken inside.

You either have it or you don’t. Saw this store sign and thought it the two phrases complimented each other quite well. Although I’m not sure what a store with this motto could actually sell….

They have cornbread! This place is just like Kentucky.

Note from Audry: Connor is from Kentucky. Also, he likes cornbread, not corn bread.

Thanks Connor, for that terrific report. Wish I could have seen Daibutsu myself. At least you aren't going to be mocked anymore for missing it.

Hakone

Connor and his brother visited a Ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) and got to experience geothermic baths. It's like they got to be in Spirited Away! Here is a bit more from their adventures.

Connor:

For some reason there is a Little Prince Museum in Hakone, and it actually helped us figure out which bus to take to reach our hotel since they are right next door.

No one could tell us which bus went to Hakone-Fuji Guest House, but when I told them we wanted to go to the LP Museum, they knew exactly where to go. Thanks Little Prince!

We found this banana a grocery in Hakone. What’s that? Of course it is a banana. It even says so.

The evening that we arrived in Hakone, we decided to try to hike somewhere nearby. "Mt. Kentucky” seemed like a good choice until we saw several hikers coming down the mountain covered up to their knees in mud. They just about begged us not to try it, and we quickly agreed.

Along the way up to Owakadani, we passed this strange tire in the middle of the trail. It is supported by a pipe coming out of the ground that you can peer down and see the bubbling hot water from a hot spring vein.

Owakadani close up. Downwind of all the steam and gas there appears to be a small town of hot spring workers.

Owakadani from a distance. We went through a museum that explained that hot volcanic material is mixed with water to create hot spring bath water, and it is then piped all over Hakone. It takes a lot of work to make the magic happen.

We felt dumb after asking someone if that was Mt Fuji in the background. I don’t think this picture captures how large and imposing it was from even that distance.

Thanks for sharing, Connor!

Now Over To Our Correspondent In Japan

Hello all. It's been a hard week in the Bear Ears household. Connor's grandfather passed away, so he made a quick trip out to Kentucky for the funeral before coming back, spending a day with me, then jetting out to Japan for a three week business trip. His brother Mason is joining him out there, which I am thankful for. Mason has been diligently studying Japanese, which is helping Connor out a bunch. Meanwhile, I'm holding the fort down, seeing the occasional doctor, and also helping Scooter out after he had his surgery to remove several troublesome fatty tumors. (It turned out one was wrapped around his jugular vein, so it is good he got the surgery.)

Connor and I have been able to talk over the phone, which is great. We were actually speaking to each other during the big earthquake that hit Japan. (Somewhere between a 6.9 to 7.4 depending who is reporting.) He wasn't too close to the epicenter, but he was in his tall hotel building at the time and the swaying really worried him. Luckily he is safe. He sent me this amusing email and has given me permission to share. So today's post comes from Connor in Japan.

Connor:
This is our hotel, one of the tallest building in Japan, and certainly the tallest in Yokohama. Our room is on the 54th floor, which puts us in the top “thirdrant” (a new Masonism; think quadrant). We were swaying pretty hard during the earthquake, but Mason wasn’t worried because he read that our hotel was equipped with “tuned mass dampers” just for this kind of thing.

These are 1 yen pieces, worth less than a penny. They are so light weight, they have to be hollow and probably float on water. Mason went on for a good 5 minutes boasting about how he would never pick one up off the street. Later in the evening one of these fell out of his pocket and he panicked in case it had been a 5 yen piece.

Our bathroom is very weird. See exhibits A, B and C.

Exhibit A: There is an area of the bathroom mirror that never fogs after a shower.

Exhibit B: Our high-tech toilet.

The controls of our high-tech toilet. The seat temperature is regulated, so it always has the feel that someone just used it right before you.

Exhibit C: Our bathroom’s volume dial. What does this go to?! The toilet? Mason’s answer: "The speakers, of course.” Why does our bathroom need speakers?!

We found a noodle shop where we didn’t have to speak to anyone to order. You put your money in the machine and push a button that corresponds to your order, and out pops a ticket that you hand to the waitress.

Mason is looking forward to this snack he found at 7/11. We call it the “noodle dog”.

Thanks for your observations of Japan, Connor.!I'm looking forward to hearing more about it.