This weekend was probably the last until the very end of the year where I would be able to do a decent amount of cycling, and timing presented the opportunity to return to mountain riding for the first time in over three years. I got to ride through Takao first and see my physician for a regular check up. This allowed me to grab some time in Takao Komagino Teien, the gorgeous Japanese garden adjacent to my hospital. I enjoyed a leisurely ride over Otarumi Pass, a popular ride for many cyclists in Tokyo, and was pleasantly surprised that the…
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Walking around central Tokyo over a couple of days this week, I got to discover a pocket garden filled with Aussie plants, including blooming grevillea and kangaroo paw. This little circular garden created a wonderful whirled of Aus, right in the Marunouchi business district. Flowers weren’t the only wonderful sights of the city. Walking around gifted me plenty of wonderful sights to see. Related posts: Garden of Weedin’ A Pheasant Makes Things Pleasant Bromocalypse, Now! Sunrises Over Far North Queensland Bonzer Bonsai! Catching Up with Some Old Mates Pawing My Heart Out Winter is Here Get Off Of My Cloud!…
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After an Indian summer and unseasonably warm autumn, this morning finally sent a message that winter is on its way, even as the warm weather grevillea in Kangaeroo Corner continued to thrive. We have three grevillea trees in the garden, all of which are fantastic growers. (And a fourth, ground-covering, grevillea that has also done well this year.) Only one of them has ever flowered, though. But, oh how well it has bloomed! The star of our garden began shooting flowers in about April and has not stopped. It currently has about eight buds ready to flower. The onset of…
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Nature conjured up a mystical morning as the warm air over the icy Tama River created a fabulous world of mist. It’s common around this time of year to have mist over the river. The effect creates a surrealistic atmosphere. It’s difficult cycling as visibility is greatly reduced, and my eyesight is already too poor for pre-dawn riding. But the upside of that is being presented with the opportunity to slowly pedal through the fantastic scenery. And the cold, dark early hour of my rides means that I pretty much get to have the sight to myself. Moments like this…
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Don’t be fooled: This post has absolutely nothing to do with birthdays. It’s about doing things again for the first time in a while. The whole day was a series of events reminding me of the past. We started by cleaning the estate garden. We live in what is basically a retirement village that has cheap management fees, and they’re cheap because residents have to keep the common gardens and grounds maintained. When the cleaning was over, it was back on the bike. And I was back with a camera bag on my back for the first time in many…
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Today’s title is more than just a play on words to boast about the beautiful bicycle photos I have been able to take recently. It also refers to what’s going on in my life at the moment. I can’t stop pinching myself to check that I am really going through what’s happening. Essentially, it revolves around the various miracles that have occurred to get me into a great new company, where I am surrounded by extraordinarily talented people and working in an environment so supportive that it is difficult to believe. Hence the pinching. This has brought about such an…
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A long-time wish finally came true with a session around the Kawasaki Velodrome, and though I notched times that were the slowest of anyone on the day, my timing has been pretty fortunate over the past few months. All seemed lost and forlorn at the start of summer, but I was determined to hang on to my career for dear life to ensure that Mrs. Kangaeroo could fulfill one of her dreams. And the fates were on my side, with a new opening presenting itself at an absolutely perfect moment. And it has ushered in a halcyonic few weeks. On…
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All sorts of amazing things are happening at the moment, and I’m taking me time to let them settle in. Biggest is the new job, which is taking up most of my time at the moment and, naturally, has a huge impact on my life and that of those around me. We’ve had some pretty lousy weather recently, being humid, wet and dark, which has had an adverse impact on Kangaeroo Corner, effectively wiping out the kangaroo paw for this year, but also hurting most of the other Aussie plants, which generally like things to be dry and sunny, or…
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It’s getting darker in the mornings, already much more noticeably than before the equinox, which was still less than a month ago. But there is some sort of light on the horizon, literally and figuratively. Although we haven’t seen much of it this week, the sun shines over the horizon at certain photogenic points along the Tama River, enabling some pretty impressive photo opportunities. For an instant, too, it seemed like the long wait for new hope on the career front had finally arrived, too, but it doesn’t seem to have turned out how I had sought. But the rainy…
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It’s been bloody hot the past few days, but I’ve been mostly stuck inside trying to keep up with the onerous demands being laid on me to try to get me to quit. I managed to slip in a couple of rides along the Tama River today, though, and it was totally worth it. Mrs. Kangaeroo also proved today that not only is she as hot af, which has nothing to do with the temperature, she is also as cool af, even if her choice in men is a little skew-whiff. I need salvation, but at the moment, all that’s…