Things I See When I Run From Zombies (flashback Friday)

I'd read great things about the Zombies, Run! app, but my phone is too old an crap to run it. Last year I discovered that I can use the 5k training version, and since I can't actually run further than a block without collapsing in a gasping heap it was probably the better choice anyway. So, I loaded up some tunes and headed out. While most of the episodes are timed and will just interupt your music when the time is up, the prologue episode goes by songs. This was a bit of an issue... what was estimated to be a 45 minute work out took me an hour and a half. My playlist contained Iron Maiden, Amon Amath and Blind Guardian~ the guitar solos alone are the length of a whole pop song! Still, I loved the app and I loved exploring my neighbourhood. I saw so many awesome things on that first day that I was hooked (it was that time I encountered a wild pheasant). As soon as I got pregnant the running had to stop (I started vomiting 12 hours after conceiving and didn't stop until just before his head emerged), but here are some pictures from the couple of months I kept it up.

Misty farms

Caution: snakes

Stabby bamboo of death

Bloody moon

I had no idea there was a shrine in the middle of that patch of trees

So Cyberpunk- Koi under and oily film in what looked like an abandoned gated community

Hobbits?

Early sakura

Terrifying-alien-egg-plant

Oranges rotting on a tree before falling into the well. A sweet, sickly odor fills the still air. Zombies are close.

Old roofing tiles reclaimed by nature

I swear I heard moaning behind me...

Definitely a zombie lair

Hiding in the walls, perhaps

Wild wisteria

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Ninja Village [Roll of 28 (20, 21, 22, 23)]

Nice view while looking for fleas

Reason #2 for the long time between photos is that my older sister came to visit so we have been busy hanging out with monkeys, ninja and playing in the snow.

Love Japan's sunny winters

We were chased by this ninja, but Tiger defeated him

Ninja horse rides

Ninja star range

Family fun

Ninja Turkey!

Take that!

It all got too much for Papa

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Roll of 28 (17, 18, 19)

Kuri is keeping an eye on the snow to make sure it doesn't come any closer

We had a mini-party to celebrate six months since Tiger moved here, and played a cracking game of Ultra-man Karuta.

And we played in the park. It wasn't the most photogenic couple of days.

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Roll of 28 (15)

and then our neighbourhood built a kamakura snow house.

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And Then it REALLY Snowed [Roll of 28 (14)]

I'm way behind, but I have been taking pictures. I just haven't been able to get to the computer much to share them. Reason #1 being, it snowed for real. Heaviest snow our elderly neighbour could remember. School was on, of course, but the man person couldn't go to work because:

Yeah. We are technically a semi-tropical climate here. Our house is designed to withstand tropical cyclones, not snow. Carport all over the suburb met a similar fate.

The dogs had fun though!

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Roll of 28 (13)

Still snowing. I always feel like Mr Tumnus when I use an umbrella in the snow, but that's the done thing here.

The red new growth on this blossom tree looks brighter than ever against the snow and black branches

I'm not the only one who thinks the snow is magical. Two little boys disappeared into these bushes and came out the other side as snow-boys.

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Roll of 28 (12)

Since it's been all snow and ice lately, I had the great idea of making some lovely ice crafts from pinterest and leaving them on the way to school to make the other kids excited in the morning. It half worked... the crafts were pretty but Tiger decided that they needed to be an ice fort for various power rangers/kamen riders/ lego people. Oh well!

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Roll of 28 (11)

While we haven't been suffering from the snow like the people up north, we did have some unusually heavy snow yesterday and it was still in tact when I walked the dogs this morning. Luckily it's just enough to be exciting for kids and look pretty, although the clumps of snow falling from roofs and the sun warms up is making Kuri go berserk.

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Roll of 28 (6)

A rainy walk with the dogs this morning.

The mountain lurking behind the mist is called the mountain of departed souls.

We tried to drive up it from this side once, and very quickly realised why.

Barren winter fields.

Hello, heron. Pretty cold in that water today I bet.

Checked the weather to see if the rain might stop. It did... but only because it turned to snow.

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Setsubun [Roll of 28 (3)]

There's a nice introduction to setsubun traditions here.

Happy start-of-spring (in theory) Japan!

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Roll of 28 (1)

This tree is around 2000 years old. The hollow area underneath is the size of 6 tatami mats; about the size of the average bedroom.

I'm giving this a go:
"The rules are simple: take pictures, and post one a day for the month of February. The posted picture must have been taken that day." 
The idea is to cheer up the shortest, and in this part of the world, coldest and generally unpleasant, month of the year. Although my photography leaves a lot to be desired, I'm hoping the beauty of my surroundings will make up for the failings of the photographer. And so, without further ado, here is photo #1.

It's setsubun on Monday (see last year's post about it here) so we visited a shrine to get some beans. The shrine itself dates from the 800s. One of the things I love most about living in Japan is being able to stumble upon such old, old places.

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Shiba Plan of Evil (Winter)

They were a lot more snuggly when they were puppies

It's hard to keep warm in a Japanese house. We usually try to pick a single room and do everything in that one room, with the doors closed all over the house in a short of attempt at airlocks to keep the warm air in and the cold air out.

You can't tell, but in three minutes she is going to jump up and insist that she will ACTUALLY DIE unless I let her into the hallway, which she will sniff once before deciding to come back to bed.

All through summer the dogs happily sleep throughout the day in whatever comfy spot they choose. As soon as it gets colder, they develop the urge to roam, getting up what seems like every ten minutes and asking to be let in and out of room for seemingly no purpose other than to ruin my life. They particularly like going out to the garden and then waiting exactly the time it take for me to get back under the kotatsu before wanting to come inside again.They scratch at the door and whine as though they will die of cold if I don't open the door immediately. I jump up (again), open the door and then... they just sit and stare at me while all my warmth gets sucked out into the garden and the wind blows into the house.

I hate clothes on animals, but her first winter Kuri's undercoat didn't grow in and she couldn't stay warm, so we had to put this coat on her. I promise it was necessary!

Shiba are evil.

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Bus or Steam Room?

It wasn't raining. Those drops of water are inside the bus, not outside

After being sick for such a long time, I decided to take the bus the work for a while until I felt stronger. It didn’t take long for me to remember why, although driving in Japan is scary, my PCX is my best friend. Japanese buses and department stores are ridiculously overheated in winter and overcooled in summer. Apparently Sweden is the same. If you have to wait at a bus stop in winter of course you’re going to rug up, right? Then the bus arrives and you get on with your coat, beanie, gloves, scarf… and the heater is pumping forty degree air and the windows (here in my little corner of the world, not all over Japan) are all rusted shut. The windows inside become so steamed up that if you sit on the window side your shoulder and scarf become damp. The heat intensifies the smells of the elderly, who seem to make up a majority of bus passengers around here. It's a combination of artificial perfumes, baby powder and that internationally ubiquitous potpourri old lady scent with an undertone of something metallic. It isn't that it is a bad smell exactly; I assume that if you had a close relationship with a grandparent it might even be a nostalgic smell. The problem for me is that you can’t escape from the steamy oppressive air by opening a window and there’s never enough room to get your coat off. You emerge sweaty and red faced, stepping out into the freezing air that turns your wet scarf into an icicle around your neck. I think I’d rather just snot inside my helmet after-all.

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