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The typhoon didn't come, or hasn't come yet. We spent a rainy Saturday in Fukuoka. Nina likes sembei (soy-flavored crackers wrapped in seaweed) and croquettes with vegetable curry and pumpkin inside. She's ordered one for every day she's here. If not more.

We took the overnight ferry from Fukuoka last night. Nina snuggled on the floor with a snoring samurai on one side and Sierra on the other. Now she's been awake since 4 a.m. We've planned a hike for this afternoon after we make temaki-zushi (hand-rolled sushi). This is the fish-less kind. I'll see if I can get her to eat crab. [Note from later: I couldn't.]

The weather is perfect today. Humid-ish, compared to Portland it's humid, but for Japan it's great. It's not hot yet either. Although, Nina's spread out on the couch in front of the fan. With a blanket.

Okay, we've got to go vinegar the rice. Enjoy our pictures!!!

The cube.

Glow.

Grimace.

One-eyed Nina.

Sunshine Girls.

I got my bangs cut at Kazu again--and I'm beginning to realize I just shouldn't cut them myself!!! They do such a better job. Them with their funny scissors!

Catherine and I have been wondering what "ajisai" is called in English. The flower that is currently blooming in Nagasaki is the hydrangea. (Catherine was right.)

The hydrangea is native to southern and eastern Asia, and North and South America. The greatest species diversity is found in China and Japan. They are shrubs 1-3 meters tall and can be either deciduous or evergreen.

Hydrangea flowers bloom from early spring to late autumn. The flowerheads contain two types of flowers, small fertile flowers in the middle and larger sterile flowers in a ring around the edge of each flowerhead. The color depends on the pH of the soil; acidic soils produce blue flowers, neutral soils produce pale cream petals and alkaline soils result in pink and purple.

Rhododendron, besides being a town in Oregon, is also known among gardeners as azalea. I know azaleas when I see them, I just didn't know they were the same thing as rhododendrons.

Rhododendrons are concentrated in the Sino-Himalayan mountains of Asia (Nepal and east China), North America and a few in Europe. There are a significant number of tropical rhododendrons in Borneo and New Guinea.

Most species prefer acidic soil conditions. They are noted for their clusters of large trumpet-shaped blooms and glossy oval leaves. Like hydrangea, they can be either deciduous or evergreen.

The rhododendron is the national flower of Nepal and the state flower of Washington and West Virginia and Sikkim in India.

All of this information was obtained from Wikipedia here and here.

I found a small American flag in my house.

I put it in my dish drying rack.

That's how I'm celebrating this year.

Mom, just don't bother reading this.

Again this year I have small ants in my living room. There's no food or crumbs around, but I occasionally see one running around on my dining room table. Same as last year, the ants really like hanging out in the inside of my old computer. There must be something sweet in there?!? Like, besides a G4 processor and 60gb of RAM.

Visiting Dawn on Ojika last weekend.

We start with some relatively normal pictures

...but have too much fun with the effects.

Can't touch this!

The Leno chin.

Where's the monkey?

And today at elementary school I found some bird-eye views of my island. Sorry they are pictures of pictures so there's some bad reflections on them.

Aren't you jealous that you don't live here?

My smallest elementary school.

Tomorrow is 4th of July! Guess who said, "That means nothing to me," when I informed her of the proximity of this great holiday?!?

Catherine did.

What a sport!

I just received an email from my friend with some more pictures from the Triathlon Dinner. These are guys I met at my first triathlon in Fukuoka. Some of the coolest people ever.

Me and Yutanpo.

Me and another guy who's name I don't remember.

The girl to my right got first place among the women, I think.

And thought I'd post some pictures from recent video-chats. This is my mom and George.

With Yuki.

My weekend on Ojika was super-fun! We went for a nice long walk and caught up on everything. It's hard to say it, but it's probably the last time we'll see each other before we move to our separate cities. She's moving to Nagasaki at the end of July, and I to Tokyo in August.

When I came home I had a horrible mold infestation! It's the rainy season, and Friday was especially humid. I think over the weekend my entrance turned into a spore-social. Green spores everywhere, including my leather shoes!! Ahhh!!

So I spent hours upon hours this afternoon wiping everything down and cleaning my shoes. I even polished my three pairs of black Danskos and they now look better than before. Now I've got my dehumidifier going full-speed to dry everything out.

I just want the rainy season to be over!!

6 days until Nina arrives in Japan!!!