Some Photos - Karuizawa

Karuizawa

To continue, Dad cooked risotto on Friday night - he is a bit upset he couldn’t get arborio rice- so he pops into every grocery store we pass -even Lawson’s- to see whether they stock it!

We went to visit Jun at his school and he gave us a lovely tour. It is set in a fabulous forest - great buildings. We met lots of people who were all very friendly. It is quite near a volcano which is depicted on the signs with smoke coming out of its top - bit disconcerting!

Jun had a rehearsal for the school play. He is Roosevelt in “Annie”. We went to this hotel which was very old and was a favourite of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Lots of photos of them and in their little museum there was a piano on which he played!  We had afternoon tea then went back to pick up Jun. Dinner was at a restaurant in town- very interesting. They brought the different meats on a board and you chose what you would like.

By the way, we stayed in a beautiful hotel outside of town. It was in the forest surrounded by these magnificent houses which were the summer houses of Tokyo people. They were set on large blocks but none of them had gardens, just grass (sort of) and very tall trees dotted all over their grounds.  They don’t seem to have to worry about fires here.

Sunday was another lovely day starting with Dad and I going for a walk - and visiting a delicious bakery - and then going back to the hotel for proper breakfast!  I meant to mention that we walked in falling snow! We picked Jun up again and did a bit of sightseeing. First we went to a semi circular waterfall. So cold that water was dripping in stalactites!  Then we drove off to see a stone church. Very Beautiful!  We couldn’t go inside as there was a wedding. There was a man in a suit sweeping leaves from the path outside the church  - no wind thank goodness!

Off to lunch at a super noodle and tempura cafe. Jun had to go back to school and we caught the train to Takayama where we are now.

That’s it for now. I am going to attach photos and hope you make sense of them. Some of them are from Tokyo.

Cherry Blossoms!!!!!

Hello from downtown Hiyoshi

We are on our way to Karazuiwa today having had 2 days in Hiyoshi with Paul, Maki and Sara. We arrived in Tokyo about noon on Thursday and met Paul who took us for Lunch at the Oak Door, our favourite restaurant. Paul went to a meeting and we headed off to Asakusa to see a temple - Tokyo’s oldest temple. Pretty busy area with a street of tourist shops leading up to the temple. After that I found this street where restaurants and catering people come to buy all things for their business including the plastic food you see in the restaurant windows. Amazing shops full of crockery, cutlery, knives - huge array. We went back into town to meet Paul then to Hiyoshi.
Friday morning we took the dogs for a walk - rather we walked with Paul and the dogs. Sara went off to school and we had a quiet day around Home apart from a trip to the wool shop (Sara is going to learn to knit) and lunch in Yokohama.
Now we are going to see Jun at his school. It is a bit north of Tokyo and in the mountains. It is expected to snow there tomorrow morning!  I have seen a bit of the beautiful blossom and should see a lot in Takayama.

Love to everyone-

The gate to the temple.

The temple.

Em’s birthday

hi Claire was trying to email these photos around without much luck so I thought I’d put them on the Blog and see how that goes

Check out the picture on the cake 😂

All the way from Rivett

Now build something to put boots on

Cricket and jumpy jump fun

Some more Christmas fun

Merry Christmas

A few photos of lunch at Mt Martha

Our boy just graduated year 6

Oh it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Welcome to our winter wonderland  

Don’t ask what James was doing.  

my poor shed roof

Pools open

and it’s freezing 

MacStock

some photos from Bright 

rail trail to Wanddandehamamlamama

cafe time at Wandiligong 

the campsite

Georgie 

The loons

Bernie being hardcore - this took three takes

Brace yourself

some before and after shots

BBQing in Britain

Benji's trip to England and Ireland

Hi All

Benj has put together a slide show of his recent adventures for your enjoyment.

Click on the first photo to enlarge it then click on the arrow on the right hand side of the screen to scroll through to the right

Cheers
Dan

Benji's Trip to England and Ireland

Summer Solstice

Beth's Christening

Sunday was a busy day - Father's Day for breakfast, Beth's Christening for lunch and Solomons birthday for dinner - much to celebrate. It was properly hot - 29 degrees (the roads are melting) -  and a beautiful day all round.

The christening service was lovely, in a tiny church on the edge of Romsey with a vicar who had divine baby calming talents.  Dom and Emma, Brendan and Nene were godparents - you have at least 3 here - 2 of the same gender plus 1 of the opposite.

Andy went with his favourite BBQ strategy (invite an Aussie) and put Dom and Brendan to work on the barbie while he sorted everything out,  Em made a salad that everyone raved about and I ordered a cakre from Waitrose - my special skill.  The paddling pool was very popular, money well spent ;)

Love days like that.  There are some photos here
http://www.mcinerney.tv/new-gallery-2/

Definitely my daughter....