The Promised Garden!

Hello interweb minions, all . . . five of you? Maybe? I’m coming to you from the rainiest week we’ve had in a long LONG time. Grey skies, hard rains all day, and if I’m being honest the hardest week I’ve had in Japan (for reasons I shall not elaborate on). That being said, I’ve always felt blogs are not the place to rant, rave, vent, or talk overly about one’s sorrows and hard times. No one wants to read that. So, I will simply say that I’m so grateful for the joys in my life here in Japan, and quote Mr. Bruce Cockburn (can’t do it without winking in mom’s general direction), “I bin through the ringer but I’m ok.”

So! With that cheery precaution out of the way. It’s finally time for some garden pictures! For those of you who do actually read this blog, last summer I started to learn about gardening with my dad. We bought seeds, made cold frames, and did the whole 9 yards. It was an absolute blast. Watching it grow each day, spending quality time with the parental units, and also I may be a tad bit addicted to the sensation of pride taken when one can say, “Oh, all this food – I grew it!” Long ago I walked the fifteen minutes to the hardware/ home store and bought a small green house, some soil, pots, and winterish seeds: kale, spinach, radishes, and broccoli.

The broccoli has only just sprouted, the kale (which I am not sure is really kale despite what I’m 90% sure the seeds said) and spinach are fantastic, and the radishes are now huge sprouts (which I may have been eating on salads because I don’t really love radishes).

This tiny box of greens will hopefully expand come spring. I plan on adding a few tomato plants and some herbs. What with travel I can’t get too genki with the garden dreams, but to do nothing would cause me a far greater loss.

In other news, went skiing for the first time with Colin, Kei, Jamie E., Marie, Gabriella, and Jayka. We all stayed at a big riokan (Japanese style hotel) in Ehime and went to the Kuma (bear ha ha fitting) Skie Land. After a whole day of attempting each, snowboarding and skiing I was left batter and feeling much like I did after attempting to ride the JET community bike cold turkey through Kochi City last summer. Just imagine a real bear trying to ski. . . not a pretty sight – but pretty funny when he falls down laughing hysterically every 4.5 seconds. It snowed heavily, and the sight of snow really helped lift up my opinion of Japan winters. As stated winter without snow is no fun.

So all in all things are on the up I believe. I’ll pick back up, and continue to have a great time here with the family I’m getting ever closer to here in Japan. As one door closes new ones open. Forever beginning there is an end, and for every ending a beginning. The end is where we start from. Love with all your heart folks. More to come.