Sunday, November 26, 2006

The Other Side of the Valley

We headed out on our bikes again to explore the surrounding valley yesterday, and decided to ride to the "other hills". Yes, the ones on the other side of our valley!


Luckily, the sun shone for most of the day, and the weather was just perfect for bike riding. The first picture we came across was the sun beaming down onto some greenhouses, as we neared our mountainous goal.


We also came across this old canoe in a small tributary of the Chikugo River. We thought it looked particularly Asian.


We crossed this pedestrian bridge, over the Chikugo River.


And when we arrived in a tiny little neighborhood at the base of the lovely mountains, we came across lost of pomegranite orchards!


Hey, those rock walls look a little familiar! This orchard was set among rows and rows of rock walls going up a hillside. It was really a wonderful spot.


I think...

Someone had been working there that day.


We also came across some beehives near the orchard, set against the fall colors.


And a stalk of bamboo caught our eye.


Yes, the leaves are changing.


And they're particularly interesting with small shrines amid the leaves!


We also came upon more Sego Palms -- they grow so easily here!

And so, our bike ride to the mountains made a great Saturday outing, once again.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

All Japan Kinma Championship

We attended the All Japan Kinma Championship last weekend, and had a great time! Will was part of "Team Gaijin", and competed with over 60 other teams in pulling 880 lbs of hay down a track around a tree, and back again! Meanwhile, there were food stalls galore, and a hearty crowd.
The crowd.


TEAM GAIJIN!


THE KINMA.


THE JUDGES.


COMPETITION 1


COMPETITION 2.


"So this is it". The team investigates their Kinma.


Turning it around.


Ready, set, go!!!


!!!!!


Rounding the tree...!!!


Rounded the bend, just before one teammate went down! Unfortunately, Serenity was too busy laughing to take a picture. Ah, too bad!!!!!


The final stretch!


...and the finish line!!! Yes, it was over incredibly quickly, although maybe it didn't feel like that to the team!


Not record-breaking, but not bad, either!


TEAM GAIJIN and friends.

It was a great time, and a good laugh. For more photos of the day, make sure to go to Serenity's flickr site!

Fukuoka Costco

Well, we made our first trip to Costco in Japan, and we've got enough sugar now to last us through the rest of the year. Our shopping adventure resulted in such items as...

2 very large jars of peanut butter
chocolate covered raisins
Christmas M&Ms
3 bottles of California wine
a bottle of Glennfiddich scotch
a very large pumpkin pie
cans of black beans
large frozen flour tortillas
Pace salsa
sliced ham
maple syrup
cranberry juice cocktail
50+ cans of Dr. Pepper
....

Yes, we are loaded with all the caloric intake we've been missing!!! Awful.






We even had oversized hot dogs after shopping...

We both felt slightly ill afterwards. Serenity especially so, with the oversized shopping carts and crowds of people cutting each other off!

Oh, Costco.