Zen Maki Highlights 2011

This was put together by Mr. Free~ one of Zen's assistant Coaches. He's one of the awesome~est people...and doing this for Zen and Zen's team is truly SUCH a gracious thing. THANK YOU FREE!

AND Thank You Zen, for all your work to make such incredible basketball playing!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMgsoD9-fWs

A sunny afternoon at our new home @ Porter Gulch

This is looking at the house from partway down the driveway. That's a hot tub waiting to be nursed back to health there. And yes...lots of yard to the right and further...to be GARDENED!

The feline...Lynx. He's learning how to be a true blue animal~
which means lots of life OUTSIDE the house!

I've only come close to an asthma attack twice since moving in...the cat's being outside- lots-and lots of vacuuming helps. Can you see the cat- attacking Zen's arm? He is a character...you should hear his hissing...maybe I can get it on film one day!!! That'd be cool!

Moved! But still in Santa Cruz County~~

Got back from Japan the end of April, and hardly unpacked...but went right into packing up and cleaning to move in with our old friend Jon. And then there's the dog Levi~ and one more critter~ a furry, big house cat still learning to be an outdoor cat, Lynx.

I got to sell a bunch of our things with a woman who has garage sales most every Saturday, near our condo...and dear friend Val, who I met at tennis and am otherwise now great friends with, joined us for a little chat, and time in the sun too.

AT GRANDMOM'S...I hung the KOINOBORI Ischin got for her 92nd birthday!

May 9th, 1919 Can you see, I could get a balloon that reads "Happy 92nd Birthday"

So where we've moved is a home up Porter Gulch Drive, a mile and a half back from the main road, into the redwoods. The house is furnished already, so Taka and I bought a shed to put together, for all the things we want to keep for the future.

No wonder it was so reasonably priced- $200. for a 6' by 8' shed....but 40 pages of directions for putting it together has meant...it's taking TIME!

First we had to chop out the stump of a tree, back in the corner of where we wanted to situate the shed.

Managed to get Zen to help as well~ a little bit.

Then had to make a foundation-floor~

The walls are up, but then it's rained for the past two days~now everything's soaked, and the past two nights, good ol' Taka proved he's also a great fire maker as well!!! We've gotten to warm up home via the wood stove~

One more bit about my last, recent days in Japan

These are those rape blossoms in earlier photos, that I said were in the salad

fields of these at this time of the year...the colors of the fields make my eyes tingle

One day with Naomi, we went to Nagoya, to KIKUYA I think it was called. Where Naomi found they had the most inexpensive whole wheat flour- which I wanted, but also kitchen appliances Naomi needed for her  "Organic Farmer's Kitchen" job.

It was pretty cool seeing the kitchen lesson room.

Very professional, there was a mirror over the bakers so everyone could see what they were doing

~but it also looked very detached between the bakers and the students.

"Professional" that's what it was.

Another day, with Sheon, we were out looking for Naomi's birthday presents.

She just looked so pretty. Both these daughters always look so pretty. I really am always in awe. I was taking these photos this afternoon, Sheon asked me why, it was the way she had tied her pony tail up with her own hair wrapped around it (how stylish!) and the glistening band, her shades...she just looked so PRETTY (I never looked so stylishly pretty!)

When I was visiting a friend in Nagano, with another friend, we took a walk. There was this resort right near by. In one area they had blueberry farms. I had to take a photo of this sign:

The friend I was walking with, he's VERY intelligent. Yes and his English is fatastic , but even he thought the sign was saying the blueberries were CLOSE! NOT that they had misspelled CLOSED (I movedthe sign to show him that behind the "close" was "open"!)

English is not easy. Neither is Japanese. But here below, Ischin. He's in his corner of the house, studying Japanese literature. On a little carpet I took to Japan from his Great Grandmom. (There's tatami mat otherwise, not good with wheels on the chair) Ischin writes on his computer from right to left, from the top to the bottom...his literature homework, and the book he's writing.

I missed taking a photo of his computer Japanese writing. I just thought it looked so cool.

I hadn't seen computers do that until I saw Ischin's writing (not that I can read any of it!)

And then there's our cat Sylvester, he makes himself comfortable in Ischin's lap every chance he gets!

Some of the beauty of this Spring in Japan

I went with Yaari to drive the car we were donating for Tohoku area, taking it first to Ina, Nagano.

On this night, getting gas for the drive, to Yoshie's easily I could use my credit card, and by myself do self service in Japanese! I really don't read Japanese, but just enough to get by on (25 years of practicing deciphering!) ...but I did it! It's still a relatively new thing- self service in Japan. And finally they are catching on- to putting convenience stores alongside the gas stations- finally.

It took Yaari and me about four hours to drive the back roads to Ina. We got there after midnight. When we woke up in the morning this is what we got to see, from her bedroom window:

It's very sad, but this friend, ever since the accidents, she hasn't been able to feel good. She told me...whenever she starts to feel happy, she remembers what people are going through in Fukushima, and she'll always feel sad. She doesn't sleep upstairs anymore. She stays downstairs, where her sons are. It's safer to be on the second floor, but she can't stay there, instead, for the sake of her boys, she's camped in her living room.

This is called the Japan Tibet because the mountains look like they do in Tibet.

This area draws tourists, for it's nature.

This was one magnificent house...liket a palace to me. I do believe it's someone's home.

and next door...This place actually had a sign that said it was a "something-something resort". It's not like "resorts" around the world. It's what companies call such places built for their prestigious employees to vacation at.

Across the street- tennis courts! Now THAT'S luxury. You hear about Japanese Salarymen working crazy amounts of time, it's true, but when they get to relax, some of them get to do it like this! (Not that all of the men WANT to be spending time with colleagues, but they're obligated to really).

In Ina, Nagano, Japan, the farmland can go wide and far- for Japan.

This sign looks like it might be saying it's a Cosmos flower field, ("カモス" sounds like "Cosmos" for the flowers, but rather Yaari and I found out it's a lavender field!)

Still we don't know what KAMOS means for this Garden!

If you look closely, you can see leafless short trees. I do believe those are fig trees.

  Below, this is typical of Japanese concreting streams and oceans...but then again, this time I thought about the building up to the right; if that stream were free to have worn down the hillside, for sure the buildings above would have fallen down into those waterways.

I had always thought it was just a money making thing, to concrete EVERY (well almost "every" it seems!) stream and river, and even ocean side.

  And for the tourists, a short walk from Yoshie's was a hotel that has...rabbits housed....

ostriches to see~

and feed...maybe.
They are rather scary, and supposedly their eggs taste terrible. But these are used for their meat~ so we are told.

And ponies...

I felt SO sorry for those dear little guys, I had no 100 yen coins on me to pay for carrots for them (and there were farmers near by watching us!) ...how cruel! Placing these carrots like this in front of those poor bored ponies!!!

In the middle of "nowhere" it's really unique seeing these graveyards. Where whole family's cremated remains keep being added in.

That was a very quick trip to Ina. Yaari and I returned to Nishio before 24 hours had passed.

  A few days later, I would go with new teacher Anita, to meet one student. Her yard is so magnificent, I had to take pictures.

By her front door...old tiles used creatively:

Me and Anita~

The epitome of the perfect garden!

Even inside~

And one night, where Ischin works, at YOTTEKO: with dear old friends Miriko and Harumi here:

And then again on my last night in Japan, again at Ischin's work, with Naomi, and Kahori and Taka (who came back to Japan a few nights earlier) It's another amazing beautiful place, and I'm wishing I could show better photos, but cameras don't do justice

anyway!

Oh these Japanese know how to pose!!!

Below is a photo of Taka's mother. His father took it. She died 23 years ago. There's going to be a special memorial soon. 23 years is another important number for such a ceremony. Taka doesn't know what's with the random numbers.