natsukashiiiiiii

thank goodness we didn't lose all of our photos during our move back to CA.  our laptops and backups were stolen from the mail, with the exception of one little 320gb hard drive had *most of our photos... well up until last winter anyway.  here are a few random shots that took me back . . .
I need to move on, I know.

last post for a while.

We're packing like crazy, attending farewell parties, and trying to keep our cool through it all.  4 days left. 

We estimate being back in beautiful CA in a couple of months (mid september?) 

I'm unplugging and shutting down my computer now to ship it to my parent's house.  But I will have Internet sporadically over the coming months during our Asia travels, so look for me on facebook and send me email messages (please!!) 

have a wonderful summer!!!!  and see you in the fall . . .  <3

 

そがどんの傘焼き

Soga Don No Kasayaki, or umbrella burning festival ~ just down the river from our house last weekend -

that time of year

goodbye flowers from Ben's high school, and a picnic with sparklers // another summer week gone by.

 

last typhoon

didn't think we'd have to contend with a typhoon during our last week here.  Ma-on's predicted path is supposed to skirt the coast of kyushu, so we should hopefully only get some rain and wind...

////// update - the typhoon passed us by and brought lots of wind, and a little rain.  no problem ! //////

our home.

cleaning, packing, saying goodbyes... only 2 weeks left of this life.

counting down

had an indian thali last night with some of my favorite people, and then couldn't resist taking what will be one of my final puri kura.  We are leaving Kagoshima in one month . . . on July 26th ! ! !

aloha summer !

goodbye to spring plums hanging in the trees, rain (I hope,) and a lot of belongings (time for some major trips to the give-away!!)

hello humidity like nowhere else!, the beach (although it didn't happen last weekend,) sunscreen, mosquitos, and farewell parties

夏至 or げし

June 21 was the summer solstice, and kagoshima (and I!!!) welcomed it fully. The rain stopped after going for about 2 weeks straight and there was a special concert at the park held to celebrate! Supposedly, they're held all over japan for げし, the first day of summer. I loved the evening heat and really peaceful atmosphere.. . japan I'm going to miss you.

It's still sunny today, and I am hoping it will hold up as longs as possible. . . or at least until the tomorrow so we can go the beach!

end of spring 花

pretty in purple =

dreamcatcher

almost exactly a month ago, before this miserable rainy season began, there was some amazing weather. we went to what is officially called, a "peace gathering," up in the mountains with some friends.  It was like a miniature festival, the kind that can only exist in Japan.  We met some interesting folks, listened to music, saw loads of teepees, ate good curry, bought some tibetan jewelry, and . . . sunbathed !

RUST !

found these photos that I had stuck up a long while ago. they were printed out in this little format from my mini SD card from my cell phone.  They're from our first year when we were living out in the countryside.  I bought that bike from a little bike repair shop; it belonged to the owner's wife who didn't need it anymore.  and oh! those steep steep rusty metal stairs leaving our apartment... ! 

orange

I swear my hair isn't as orange as it looks here!  but I did lighten and cut it last weekend. 
took these purikura last night after seeing the new pirates of the caribbean.  I had low expectations, and thought it was entertaining enough ;D

お母さん

a hairless home

I'm so happy Manju made it safely back to CA with my mom ! I was like a nervous parent seeing him off at the airport and every time he looked at me from his cage I wanted to cry. Thinking he'd be in the cargo area first for a 2 hour flight to tokyo, and then a 3 hour wait in tokyo before his 10 hour flight to LAX scared me more than I can say. He was a trooper though, and made it out just fine and is settling in well at my parent's house in Westlake. I'm getting more and more excited every day to move back!

these were the last film shots of him before his travels. Every day our house seems to have less and less fur flying around and stuck to furniture/clothes. soon it'll be all gone.

visitor

since the first couple of days my mom was here it rained (at least the typhoon passed us by~,) we decided a good dry activity we could try was to see the city aquarium (finally, after almost 3 years living ten minutes from it!!)  Their most impressive creature was definitely their whale shark.  and I liked all of the tanks that had local Kagoshima sea life too.

the rest of the shots here are from a very perfect sunny & warm day when we went up to kirishima.  we strolled around the shrine and hiked to a waterfall.  My mom leaves on monday, so I'm happy that we have one more weekend together (! !manju is moving to CA with her monday too!)  We'll see them both in a couple of months though!