Love this article

Okay I am gonna take another kick at jumpstarting my blogging again! Lots of sick days with Ken this past couple of months, it amazing how quickly the time burns away.

Well these days, every time I check out the news there are layoffs and stories about how the people are affected by them. I thank my lucky stars that I am not suffering just yet. It could be a long haul though...

Well, saw this article while trolling for something for one of my classes and really thought it was quite nice...

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/904842.html

A little more from the Bird and Flower Center

We continued our journey inside to enjoy the many peculiar birds they had flying about.
There was a time in Vancouver when a bird hit a store window in front of me and landed on my shoulder. Just then, some dude rounded a corner and asked me; "You aren't one of those bird people are you?" To which I replied "No I am not". But on this day, I did feel a bit like a "bird person" with them landing on my hands quite freely (looking for food methinks)
Ritsy also gained some friends.Ken was quite interested in all the goings on, and was oblivious to the kiss from his mother.
He was really enjoying the cruising on this day, lots of practice. We enjoyed the lunch buffet there which suspiciously had a lot of bird in the selection...
We had a great time interacting with the birds, the only one that scared Ken was the flamingos. Not pictured here at all. I guess they were just a little too big and aggressive. But everyone had a great day!

End of year trip to the bird and flower center

On December 31st we took a little family trip to neighboring Kakegawa and went to the bird and flower center. I had hoped for a more elaborate and exciting excursion during my winter holidays but a lack of fore-planning and substantial funds had logic presiding. While I was a little skeptical about going to the bird and plant center, it actually turned out to be quite a fun day.

The outside of the building looks like a traditional Japanese warehouse or something like that.
First off, we watched a bird show that featured owls and a couple of parrots. Ken's attention was strongly held.
On the way inside the building, we could see people feeding the birds, including the above pictured aggressive bugger.So Ritsuko and Ken tried to feed him somewhat succesfully...

Thanks for 2008 and Happy New Year!

Thanks so much to everyone that has been reading my blog from time to time! Another great year is over and I hope you have enjoyed my experiences. While my son has taken over my life, and thusly my blog, please bear with me, I am always trying to think of Hamamatsu angles to my topics and anyway, Hamamatsu is still a big part of everything that we do. As are the people that stop by, so one more time, thank you so much and good luck to everyone in 2009! It will be a very tough year for some people, so those that are doing well, please try to think of those less fortunate.

I am also sorry the last 3 months, my posting has dropped off, I have been definitely struggling with the added responsibilities/time management since Ritsuko got back to work. But a new year is always a good time to renew one's efforts- so gambarimasu as they say here.

Opening presents and first performance

On Christmas, while he didn't quite have the process down, he was quite intrigued by his presents and was able to open them with a bit of help.

His second main present was a toy keyboard (that was actually reasonably priced). He had seen it at the store and was so excited about it. Here is a snip of his first ever performance- sounds a little like death metal, or 'noise'- but he is an up and coming artist...