• Daily Life

    Well, That Was A Surprise!

    Nature delighted me this morning when I went into the garden and found something I would never have expected: Our cherry tree was blooming! This came weeks after most cherry blossoms had flittered away in the Tokyo area and long after we had given up hope of our plant blooming. The little flowers were tremendously enchanting and gladdened my heart and soul. The garden overall is playing a pretty similar role as the April rains bring their nitrates and give the greenery a bit of extra sparkle. I’ve also been lucky enough to install an arch that I hope will…

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    Decidedly Unpheasant

    Having passed a lot of Japanese green pheasants along the Tama River in the past couple of weeks, I decided to burden myself with a cumbersome camera. Of course, I got almost no sight of the avian creatures! That’s not quite true: I saw plenty of pheasants, and heard even more, but wasn’t close enough in most cases to get a good shot. It was bleak and overcast when I left home, and I noticed scattered rain. My pedals (I think) are giving me trouble, too. With my inability to find a new job, it’s adding to my constant stream…

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    Final Blossoming

    Cherry blossoms are about to end their blooming season in Tokyo and I was luck enough to cop a few shots of them on my morning’s ride. The photos I took this morning were of yaezakura, the late-blooming, multi-layered blossoms whose appearance follows the peak of the hanami flower-viewing period symbolized by the someiyoshino flowers for which Japan is perhaps best known. Now I am waiting for more blooms in Kangaeroo Corner. I can see that we should get some azalea in the next few days. And I am absolutely thrilled at the way the bottlebrush is shaping up with…

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    Bye-Bye Blossoms

    Cherry blossom season in Tokyo has ended for another year, having brought bucketloads of delight in the process. Unfortunately, the little cherry tree we have in Kangaeroo Corner didn’t flower this year, probably because of the weird weather I’ve gone on about ad infinitum. Still, I got to do a few rides and saw plenty of the local cherry trees, which remain as delightful as ever even after all these years. I’m blessed to be in Japan, which is a country that never fails to produce something I can find wondrous, which I guess helps to keep me young, and…

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    Floral Flamboyance

    I’ve said it before and will say it again (over and over, I’m sure), but Japan when the cherry blossoms are in bloom has got to be the most exquisitely beautiful place on earth and now, with the flowers bursting into their peak, is no exception. As happens nearly every da, I got to take a ride along the Tama River in the (still) pre-dawn hours. Today was a little different as the cherry blossoms are in full bloom, leading to some delightful shots. Perhaps even more beautiful were the blossoms on the tributary, Kotta River. Related posts: Watch Your…

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    Cherry Ripe For A Ride

    I always look for a sharp way to start of a post, hopefully with some sort of catchy word play that might draw anybody who stumbles across the blog into reading further. I was pretty sure today’s title would play that role perfectly. And then I wasn’t. A cherry ripe is an Australian chocolate bar and for me was also a term used to describe someone or something in its optimal state. And I thought the expression to be cherry ripe was pretty common. But when I Googled for a link to the term to help the SEO, I was…

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    Catching Up with Some Old Mates

    From an early morning to a very late night, I got to spend a day filled with chances to catch up with old mates. Firstly, I raced out to Ueno Park and got to meet someone I originally met while being able to work as a guide for Japan Biking back in 2018. That trip for a group of touring Aussies allowed me to make some wonderful friends and the relationships have endured for many years. It was a delight to meet up and a delightful time ensued. An errand followed that finished up much earlier than expected, but I…

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    Little Things Bringing Great Pleasure

    Spring can never come fast enough, especially now that I’m into gardening and have been able to experience the almost indescribable delight of watching the seasonal transformation of plants. But, having been teased into taking action only for nature to take a U-turn, I’m being drawn to the less obvious delights on show in Kangaeroo Corner. Heading into the last few days of March, my expectation was that we could see plenty of flourishing grevillea, bottlebrush, banksia and protea, not to mention the explosion of pink from Japan’s national flower, the cherry blossom, which transforms the country into what I…

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    Blowin’ In The Wind

    Tokyo spring tends to be windy, and it is blowing up a gale in the suburbs of the Japanese capital right now. This morning I got to fly for a few kilometers, backed by a tremendous tailwind. Of course, barring a meteorological miracle, where there’s a tailwind, there’s almost always a headwind that needs to be addressed. So, while the first stage of the ride literally flew by in no time, the home straight was a much greater grind. Still, it did allow me the time to stop and take a look at the late-blooming cherry blossoms, with a stretch…

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    Marching Onward

    March draws to a close today, ending the first quarter of the calendar year for 2023 in what seems a stunningly speedy period. Time is, of course, relative. Each year, the relative amount of time each period occupies in our whole lives is shorter. So. it’s only natural that time seems to pass quicker. At least, that’s how I think it works. Spring is beautiful in Tokyo, especially when it’s not raining. After a disjointed week for all sorts of reasons, I got to ride this morning as usual. With the spate of repairs that I carried out and diminishing…