misc Archive

A month has passed since Tom came to our house. He used to be thin and tiny, but now kind of chubby around his waist. Very energetic - sometimes too much. However, he got really sick after he got vaccinated last week. No vomiting or anything, but he looked dull and moved so slowly, just kept sleeping without eating or drinking for 2 days. He got better gradually after that, and now he is perfectly well, just like before the vaccination. Now I sometimes miss "slow Tom" when he dashes around and tips over his water bowl, but still so glad he got well. Today, we received from Amanda some nice toys for Tom. Now he is so mad about them!

A new family member! We have adopted a three month old kitten from vet and named him Thomas because he looked Thomas. He kept meowing at first - I guess he felt lonely or scared of the sudden environmental change. Now, he got pretty much used to his new home, relaxing, playing around. Lively naughty boy - I guess our ducks will be in danger in the near future.

Next weekend, we are leaving for Texas.  My wife used to be an exchange student, and her host family has invited us to stay.  Actually, this is the first time I visit Texas, so I'm really excited.  As you see on the photo, my travel duck is also excited, now asking the durby duck (with an origami cowboy hat) what it is like in Texas.

Top 20 things I wanna find in Texas

 1. horses (ranch and rodeo... yee-haw!!)
 2. cows (longhorns, shorthorns, any kinds... even holsteins are cute)
 3. buffaloes (are they considered as cows?)
 4. cats (we must visit Amanda and Dan's house to be surrounded by them)
 5. hats (yes, a cowboy hat, felt or straw)
 6. country antiques (lucky if I could find a nice Christmas ornaments)
 7. books (when I travel, I always visit a bookstore to look for a souvenir)
 8. music (wanna get a Christmas CD of country, bluegrass, rock... any style we can feel Texas in Christmas time)
 9. supermarkets (great places to discover the culture of the region)
10. drug store (vitamin tablets, teeth whitening... prices are more reasonable than in Japan)
11. Tex-Mex cuisine (tacos, nachos, fajitas...)
12. steak, BBQ, fried chicken (meat, meat, meat...)
13. tequila (I love it... but no, no, not that much!)
14. Dr.Pepper (I heard they got more variations in the US)
15. IHOP breakfast (why not eat breakfast for dinner tonight?)
16. architectures (like all the other tourists, wanna see something huge or funny or historical...)
17. ball games (Dallas Cowboys, Texas Rangers... )
18. UFOs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo-dx35bCvc)
19. beauty of the nature (flowers, sunset field...)
20. rubber ducks (Howdy, y'all!)

I hopefully wanna make more than half of the above, but our stay is only for a week, so... wish me luck :-)

There are many cats living in Ueno Park. Most of them are fat and beautiful somehow... I guess somebody is feeding them periodically, and also I suspect they are just too friendly toward anybody who walks by. Since a lot of people are visiting there for viewing cherry blossoms, they should take care not to get too fat. So... I was there for chery blossoms, but I just couldn't help shooting cats photos!

The last one is my neighborhood who is extremely friendly. When I crouch down and look into the finder, she runs toward me, puts her forefeet on my knees, and looks into my camera lens... would you sit still?

Beautiful Sunday afternoon. Crisp weather... cold but pleasant. Best day for hanging around.

Time passes so quickly... Niko-chan is 2-year-old now.

2009 is "year of the cow"... the photo is "Elmo Cow" taken at CowParade Tokyo last year.

I had an eye surgery so called LASIK last month, and today was the first month checkup. No problem was found, and I am pretty satisfied with the sight myself. (The photoes were shot near the clinic)

It's Christmas time! As usual, we visited Sendai to join the party.

http://www.cowparade.com/
CowParade has come! It's the public art event taking place in major world cities every year. (Now is the third time in Tokyo.) Each city's local artists are provided with the same base cow sculptures of real size... they can paint them, dress them, remodel them... do anything anyway to make them art objects. The cows are distributed over the city center... so, why not, photo shoot time!

Hearing that Keroko-san has given birth to a girl, we visited Sendai to see the newborn baby.  With the new SLR, of course!  I wonder how many photoes I have taken... probably more than a thousand shot.  She is just so cute, and really good at being a model.  I guess she even likes the shutter sound.

A nice photo shot with a bouquet.