Frogs sleeping in the roses

After the rice fields (tanbo) are flooded, it activates all the frog eggs that have been lying dormant since last fall. At night with all the frogs singing, the noise is incredible. These 2 have climbed out of the tanbo and are nestled in the roses. In the daytime they sleep, getting ready to sing when it gets dark.

A paper bird in on a glass shelf.

Need a new hobby? Paper can be interesting.

Origami swan.

Rice Planting Season

It is rice planting season now in the fields next to the house. The traditional way was to plant by hand but now they use small tractor type machines. The photos above show the farmer loading the seedlings and then planting (click on the photo to enlarge)

Bowling Party

This week is the last week of the Marronnier (Michelin) School for the Philippine and American children. It will be closed after tomorrow. Jeff is the principal and he invited the parents and us to the school BBQ on Friday and to a bowling party/tournament on Saturday. We all had a good time in spite of the fact that the children will now all be going their own way for their education.

Rice Fields on NE corner

This picture of the flooded rice field, behind our house, updates the spring preparation.

Spring Rolls="haru-maki"

Here is a video demonstration for making Southeast Asian fresh spring rolls. Some vegetables (asparagus and spinach) are cut and parboiled and used with other fresh veggies and sliced boiled shrimp--(also a dab of canned tuna for accent) all assembled into a thin rice-paper wrap and rolled neatly; they are later cut down the center, diagonally and served with a miso sauce and/or a soy/vinegar sauce. A picture is worth a thousand words. huuummmmm...We also made shabu-shabu, today.

Summer weight kimono have arrived at the mall

This beautiful array was lined up by the mall escalators. Click on the photo, and see the farthest most point where the children play.

These are in focus, mostly; click on these four pictures to see the wonderful detail

Rice Planting Season

Now it is after Golden Week and the rainy season has come. It is also the time for the rice planting. There are many small rice fields or tanbo in the cho. First the fields are tilled and the rice plants are started, usually under small plastic tents to protect them. You can see the young rice plants before planting above. Then the fields are flooded and planted with the rice seedlings. Normally this is done now with small mechanized planters rather than the traditional hand planting. We will follow the changing of the seasons with photos from the same field.