Spring has really kicked into motion, one of the upshots being that our garden presents us with a new gift nearly every day. Our garden is providing us with a series of new flowers one after another. Hardenbergias have been giving me great delight for a few weeks now, particularly because I grew all of our four thriving plants from seeds I brought back from Australia. But our biggest surprise this year has come from the white paperbark teatree, which we picked up in a bargain basement bin at our local home center and have now been rewarded with a…
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It looks like the last of the cold weather might finally have left us behind in Tokyo, allowing the final few days of the glorious pink cherry blossoms to be enjoyed in warmth. Sunshine might be a different matter. But I think we can finally wave winter goodbye. Temperatures are set to top 20 degrees every day for the next week. Mrs. Kangaeroo and I have got a weekend together. I’m hoping to visit a tulip festival in Hamura. Every year a number of fields are used to create a patchwork of colorful tulips. It’s quite spectacular. It reminds me…
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Arthritis is taking over my body, seemingly joint by joint, with my left foot in particular so painful it’s becoming a struggle to walk, even as the spring makes the prospect of doing so ever more appealing. Arthritis runs in my family and I often teased my mother over her crooked fingers which had been warped badly by the affliction. I’m laughing from the other side of my face now as my digits are pained and twisted. It’s creating something of a dilemma because it has severely hampered my cycling, which had been instrumental in maintaining a semblance of good…
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After a couple of months with wet weekends and pretty much a week of incessant rain, the brightcomp sunshine and lack of wind was too great to resist, so I got out on the Death Machine while I could this morning. I was rewarded with a delightfully smooth ride that was free of any major strife. And even more so by the views of cherry blossoms in full bloom, turning the neighborhood a resplendent pink that complemented the blue sky spectactularly. Replacing the bearings in the recumbent’s handlebars have made maneuvering much easier, and I now feel at ease riding…
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Having been presented with a couple of opportunities last year to look after the delightful border collie Uyu I had begun to fancy myself as a bit of a dog whisperer because of the devotion she was showing me, so I was delighted at the prospects of renewing acquaintances. That opportunity would come from a family cherry blossom viewing at Inokashira Park, which is adjacent to Uyu’s home. Well, so much for being a dog whisperer….Uyu showed she remembered me by immediately dropping to the ground and demanding a belly rub. Then, she didn’t come near me for the rest…
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After three days of incessant rain, we finally got a dry start to a morning, which enabled me to get out on the bike and end up being rewarded with the most extraordinary sights for getting out so early. Wet roads are my enemy as I don’t have the grip strength to brake sharply, and using rim brakes on my bicycle means their performance in the wet declines significantly. So I had an added degree of caution as I started riding, but about a third of the way through my customary morning ride, I began to suspect I may be…
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The fickle spring weather gods afforded me another day of cycling this morning, which allowed me to get out on the bike and take more photos of the cherry blossoms as they near their peak bloom. I got to head out on my bike on the usual morning route I take, and was rewarded with an essentially people-free view of some beautiful cherry trees in almost full bloom and looking pretty, well, cherry ripe! Areas less exposed to the sun are still to fully flower. Today’s forecast is for cloudy weather, and the rest of the week will be the…
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Cherry blossoms have started to bloom in Tokyo’s suburbs. For the most part, flowers have yet to reach peak bloom along my most-traversed part of the Tama River. But in some of the areas where the flowers are at their best, the view is lovely. It was a bonus to be able to see them in flower this morning as I had presumed the entire weekend to be a washout. It rained incessantly yesterday. It gave me time to do some much-needed study for work, which is paying me to take the course I’m doing. I should be putting in…
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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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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…