It snowed all day Tuesday. This is the first significant snow we have had this winter. Up until now, we have had a very mild season with warm temperatures breaking records for the holiday. Looking out our front door tonight gives a very different impression. Will will have to dig out Wednesday. Click on the image for a larger view.
Tag Archives: Holidays
Christmas Night, Christmas Lights
Just before midnight on Christmas, Naomi and I went out on the deck to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather. The moon was full and, with high-altitude clouds, encircled in a ring of light. Beyond the moon was a field of stars. (Orion can be at four O’clock.) Click on the image for a larger view.
Happy Holidays
We wish you a wonderful holiday season.
Schoolyard Nativity
A schoolyard nativity scene in Tokyo, with pink rabbits and Winnie-the-pooh. Note the shoe boxes where students place their footwear before entering the school building. This was one of the outtakes from Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Emptiness. Click on the image for a larger view.
Holiday Illumination
Illuminations are part of the holiday season. These lights are in Tokyo where Christmas is less a religious observance than a time to have fun. This is actually a small family restaurant that is in someone’s home. Click on the image for a larger view.
Thanksgiving Dinner
Naomi and I don’t eat meat. For Thanksgivings we made a stuffed kabocha. Kabocha is a well known squash in Japan. You can eat the cooked flesh by itself or stuff the entire fruit. For the stuffing, we used ingredients from our garden: plantain, spiderwort, day lilies, goutweed, and bush beans. We added some vegetarian sausage, mushrooms, croutons, and cheese. (This would be good for other holidays, feasts, or an everyday meal.) Click on the image for a larger view.
Giving Thanks
We wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving.
Today is Thanksgiving in the US. Like many people, we are celebrating the holiday with a meal. We have been using foods we have harvested from our garden. Two dishes I am really looking forward to are an apple pie with cranberries and a blackberry pie. The apples are from our tree of an unknown variety. The blackberries are from our field. Click on the image for a larger view.
Happy 2015
Naomi and I wish you a wonderful and prosperous new year.
By the Japanese calendar, this is the year of the sheep (but not the goat). Click on the image for a larger view.
New Years Eve in Tokyo
New Years is a big deal in Japan. It is simply not a party during the evening of December 31st. It begins then, but will be celebrated for the next several weeks. January is a month of firsts—the first visit to a shrine or temple (hatsumode), the first drawing of water, the first calligraphy, the first day of business, and so on.
This is the main gate to Meiji Shrine, the largest shrine in Tokyo. In the first three days of 2010, 3.2 million people visited this shrine. When you think that most people leave a ¥100 coin (about a dollar) as an offering, New Years is an important time for these places. Click on the image for a larger view.
Snowmen
For our Canadian and British readers, happy Boxing Day—or for anyone else that celebrates the holiday. Click on the image for a larger view.
