Sunday, November 4, 2012

quilt time vs family time


The ASIJ auction quilt group met for the first time on the 30th of October. For a quilter who loves kasuri, this is going to be a great quilt. Here is the background ... stay tuned for the rest.














That was the end of quilting for a while. Family time began Thursday evening when Ken and Zia arrived from Oregon.

Ken has not been back to Japan for 16 years and this is the first trip for Zia. We have so many things to do and see.

A new camera came with them, a birthday gift from another daughter and son. I still have to figure out how to transfer those pictures to my computer before you can see them.

We spent a few hours on Friday checking out the birds at the Meiji shrine. Then, on Saturday, joined by Norie and Leia, we set out to an Owl park at the foot of Mt. Fuji.

It was a National holiday, the birthday of Emperor Meiji, and traffic was in creep mode. Ken figured out how to use the GPS navigator on my cell phone and at least we did not waste time getting lost.

The park contained about 30+ species of owls. Interestingly, only one Japanese variety. There was an indoor greenhouse with thousands of gardenias and open areas where birds were brought for holding and shows. There was a section of tropical birds, penguins, and an outdoor area with swans and ducks and emu.

Leia got a 100 yen cup of fish-food and took lots of time making certain every fish got at least one tidbit.















Have you had one yet?
















Although it had been cloudy on the drive to the park, we pulled out of the parking spot into a glorious view of Mt. Fuji. Luckily, there was a place to park and enjoy the view without a background of buildings and power wires




Well, there were a lot of cars .....












And a shot of the old folks ......
















And Sunday afternoon we stopped off at Hamarikyu, the old  gardens of the Tokugawa Shogun and the only tidewater ponds remaining in Tokyo.



We went in search of birds and did find some.









And the shutter bugs found a few willing subjects.



Now, all I have to do is figure out how to download the pictures to my computer.




I hope your weekend was as much fun as mine.

11 comments:

  1. What a wonderful place to go with your family and love the photo of your granddaughter.

    Debbie

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  2. It sounds like you're having a terrific time with your family, Julie. What lovely places you're visiting. The photos are lovely.

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  3. So glad you had time with your family. It is so important. We've had time with ours, but, for different reasons. My FIL had bypass surgery, and we had 12 family members at the hospital. I'm back, to help out for a few days. I'm enjoying my time with them.

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  4. so glad you had a wonderful time with your family xx lovelly pictures x

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  5. So glad you'll have a camera to document your amazing quilt work w/out blurry smudges. Say buh-bye to your old broken one for me! :-)

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  6. I'm sure you've gone there, but we loved Fuji Safari Park. Absolute great time, but the weekends are super crowded so I recommend during the week to visit. Another fav of our is Sea Paradise. We so enjoyed all the aquariums and zoos in Japan. Children's land was another favorite. We found that right before we left, I wish we'd known about it sooner!

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  7. Beautiful photos of Fuji-san. The photos brings back memories of climbing Fuji-san. Good to hear that your son came back for a visit with his wife. A good trip for both of them! Enjoy your time with them!

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  8. We enjoyed seeing these wonderful photos of you and your family. How fun!

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  9. Loved seeing the pictures - especially the one of you and your husband! blessings, marlene

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  10. I loved seeing all the photos of your family having such a wonderful time together! Susan

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  11. I love all the pictures. The places are beautiful!!

    Hugs...Sandra

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