Spring flowers in My Yard

Iris of two-toned purple

Not sure what this ball-shaped star flower is, but it is pretty.

                     The frogs always find rest on the leaves

八王子 Hachioko or town of 8 princes

We went up north on Apr. 28th  and saw these sites while visiting a Japanese church.

We saw several smaller-than-normal motor bikes.  Looked like a little kid's toy.

Henry and Sara sang in the morning service at Kawagoe New Life Baptist Church

Pastor and Mrs. Usuda were gracious hosts. 

 Yoshi, Jun and Rei with Sara. 

Engrish....:-) 

This sporty car sped past--notice those wheel! 

Another fancy restroom at a parking area.  

button Wreath

My mom gave me a box of buttons decades ago and over the years I have collected more.  How to use them?   I bought a leaf wreath and then hot glued the buttons on in no particular order or color, then added a ribbon hanger.  This is small, about 12 inches across.  Simple and easy.  

Bridge Collapse in Kobe

A  120 meter section of a new road being constructed near us that will relieve congestion on the main Chugoku Expressway, collapsed this afternoon.  Could here sirens for an hour, but not knowing what it was all about.  Hubby found out about it when he took the car to our mechanic to get a new battery about 6:00 pm



http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20160422_36/

Sara and I drove right under this section on Tuesday.  I marveled at the way these elevated roads are constructed.  The link above is to a short video, in English, taken about 6:30 pm.  Very tragic.

Retaining walls

Japan is a small island nation with lots of mountains, as the saying goes.  In order to build highways through these mountains, retaining walls are expertly constructed with cement and huge bolts.  These are rather steep mountains.

More PRs along the way

The rest stops have the nicest powder rooms anywhere--rivaling expensive hotels.  Here are some more photos.

Hand washing area 

Each stall was dimly lighted, the center sink appears to be also lighted. 

Outside the above rest stop was this vehicle:

The next stop two hours later

Boys' Day samurai helmet on the vending machines.

Entering City Limits signs along the road

During our travels to and from the Tokyo area, the highway had signs depicting the City Limits of the various places we traveled through.  Each had a unique artwork for that place.

Shiga Prefecture

Ayase City

Isehara City

Oi Machi

Fuji City

Nagoya City

Kameyama City 

Waka City

Enterin Hyogo Prefecture--home!

Vehicle Art

This is a tour bus

Crab anyone?

Tempura shrimp on wheels!! Yumm!!

 A lavender dump truck

April 8

It rained Thursday.  Sakura petals started to fall and soon blanketed the streets like snow.  

April 6, and 7 in Zama

Mt. Fuji shaped construction barriers

Here are a couple of helpful giraffes with shovels. 

A very impressive sakura tree trunk--must be over 60 years old. 

This plaque indicates the tree was dedicated on the 40th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy.  Authentic soil from there was used  in planting this now-huge tree, a picture of which is below.