Dreamtime - The Japan Trip - 7-25-2015

It has been a lifelong dream of mine to visit Japan and hike Mt. Fuji. With my fiftieth birthday falling this year, it seemed appropriate to finally get this dream trip done. Besides, who knows how much longer I'll be in good enough shape to hike a mountain. I diligently saved (and hacked) as many frequent flyer miles as I could and managed to score a business class pod; Washington DC direct to Tokyo. The trip last two weeks and I did indeed hike to the Top of Mt. Fuji, spent time in Lake Kawaguchiko, Numazu and Tokyo. In the following weeks, I'll be posting about different parts of the trip, but for now, I want to share some photos from the trip. Here's the link.
Photos from the Japan trip on Flickr.

Enjoy!

OK HW

Monster Hail! - 7/19/2015

Yesterday evening, we had a surprise storm whip up. There had only been a 20% chance of rain, but that quickly went to 100% when a late afternoon thunderstorm ripped through our neighborhood with little notice. It started with some light rain, but quickly intensified with high winds and a torrential downpour. Then the hail started. We heard it before we saw it. There was a drumming on the roof that made us look outside and we were shocked to see quarter-size bits of ice coming down. A few pieces were more then two inches in diameter! That's the biggest hail I've ever seen. Here is a little unedited clip of the stuff coming down.

OK HW

A Meager Harvest - 7/14/15

Back in May I planted some radishes. Here's the post when they first started to pop up. Fast forward to now and a few of them have survived, so I have started to pull'em for salads. This was the first one. Although it is misshapen, it taste delicious and I may put in more and see if I can get a second round in before the days get too short.

OK HW

There Goes the Neighborhood, UP! - 6/24/2015

The neighbor across the street is rebuilding his place. The old place was falling down and kind of scary, so we were glad to see it go. The lot was vacant for seven months. During that time we had an unobstructed view of the Cheasepeake Bay, then the building began. We were told the new building wouldn't be any higher. Yeah, right! The old place was only three stories and this one is four. It'll be interesting to see if it starts a trend in the neighborhood. OK HW