Fireworks Festival (Hanabi) in Ashikaga

Shinji and I had a very traditional Japanese evening. We went to an eel restaurant (unagiya) for grilled eel over rice and then spent 2 hr watching the summer fireworks festival on the banks of the Watarase River.

Thunderstorm Aftermath

A bit of the "rainy season" - very pleasant, usually.

Audio from our window at night--JUST LISTEN:

Frogs singing at night(+ one) in the rice paddies on our NE corner.

Tour of a spice distribution factory by lunch group

Vegetariarian Cooking Taught by a Buddhist Monk

The Yamadas invited us to a vegetarian cooking class led by a Buddhist monk at a Tatebayashi community center. There were about 20 members and 4 cooking stations. The menu was somen noodles with sauteed green beans, lettuce, carrots, cucumber, tofu and some seasonings; soup made with konbu (seaweed) soup stock, miyoga (a kind of ginger with cilantro flavor), yuba (for me, the best kind of tofu), fresh young soybeans, soy sauce and sake; and a whole tomato soup made from fresh tomato, yellow and red pepper.
After cooking we dined together drinking mugi cha (tea made from barley). The photos show the noodle dish and the tomato soup, the sensei (cooking teacher) and some of the class members. Click on the photo to see the food close-up.

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.