Hatacho, Kobe, Japan

A multitude of photos in and around Hata Cho. Marvelous sunset.
The fish flags are for Boys Day on May 5. The house roof has the kanji for water. In the country area about three miles from us there were fields not yet plowed that had clumps of purple flowers; a happy budda in front of a restaurant, one of dozens of purple iris ready to bloom in my garden--this one has a crooked stem.  Then an experiment by Sara involving air pressure in which the soda can collapsed with a bang. There's little Karen and her big smile; and a t-shirt that says When God made me He was just showing off.

Happy Parade

This is the front of my latest sweatshirt. Laugh on the horizon. Looks like smiley faces that have been paint balled. This little critter was on the dining table one morning this week. How it got here is anyone's guess. It got put outside. but isn't it cute?! Another bird in our yard, but I forgot what it is called. :-( I need to get a good English-language bird book about Japan birds. These are a pair of gray herons that live in our little valley. I've never seen two together in the same place. Awesome. This is the latest science experiment by Sara. It has to do with cold and hot pressure inside a bottle, which inflated the balloon.

New road crews

Traveling on the toll roads there were numerous road construction sites. I noticed a new flag man at several of them. See if you can spot what is different about them.

Around Nagasaki

A Happy face, fish flags over the river for Children's Day in May Beautiful pink tree blossoms

Nagasaki

We went to see the Nagasaki peace park on Saturday. Beautiful grounds, waterfall and thousands of paper cranes.

Aquarium visit

We visited the aquarium at Sasebo on Friday. It is a very nice place, but nothing unusual. The dolphin show got everyone wet. However, it was more interesting to watch the heron and black kite over in the background. Giant crab, loggerhead turtle, purple lobster, divers feeding the rays and jelly fish We got to play catch with the dolphins after the show.

Sasebo

We took a trip to Kyushu and the city of Sasebo over the weekend. It was a pleasant drive of about 7 hours including stops. Here is one of the multitude of tunnels we went through. There's also some unusual sights on the road like the boat here. Sasebo has some colorful trash trucks and is famous for its Sasebo burger. These things are h u g e. Here is a photo of the one three of us ate...yummy!

Sakura

 Sakura trees were in full bloom on April 5 where these photos were taken in
Kamiyamaguchi  上山口　near the Arima river. 

 Many families were having picnics under the trees; it was very beautiful.

On Saturday the 6th, high winds were whipping through the area so many of the petals were being blown away; heavy rains contributed to the short life of the cherry blossoms.

Spring has come to Hata cho

A daffodil patch nearby

 Forsythia bushes

 Sakura tree in bloom near us--wish we had one in our yard.

The sign here is right under an overpass about 1/4 mile from our home.  The thing is, gun ownership here in Japan is practically non-existent.   It is posted in someone's veggie garden--who would want to hunt there?!?

A baptism 2013

Mrs. Matsuda got baptized today, March 24.  She is 89 years on this earth, but is a new child in Christ!  Praise the Lord for His goodness.