Good day for quilting, but.....

Monday mornings we leave home at 4:am to deliver rice balls to the homeless. 

Today it was dark and raining lightly when we left the house with Nikko and walked to our car, parked under the railway at the end of  many short blocks.

Probably, because it was raining more heavily in town and quite cold, there was a larger gathering of homeless around the station where we deliver. We had just enough packs to go around.

It was around 6:am or so when we returned and I went back to my bed to warm up and catch a few more Zs.

When I got up again, the rain had turned to snow. I had an errand to run in town and my daughter was expected in the afternoon so I set out in the very wet and slippery snow. My footprints were the only ones going down our street as today is "Coming of Age Day" and a national holiday.

Upon returning to my end-of-the-line-station from my trip to town, the platform and gates were crammed with young girls, all dolled up in their finest Kimono, hair and make-up just so, on their way to some big event at the amusement park to celebrate their adulthood. Oh, there were young men too but they were in suits and wearing shoes. The kimono-clad girls were wearing Japanese tabi and fancy zori and were about to go through the train gates into what was then, ankle-deep wet snow!

Too bad I didn't have my camera. Those kimono are the finest and many are rented for the occasion. The weatherman certainly had not cooperated.

I grabbed my camera and Nikko and I stepped out to look at the wintery scene.  My first footprints were all filled in.

The persimmon tree in the park was decorated with snow.

There was one set of footprints going across the park path.

The Keyaki tree at the far end  was like lace and the broad-leaf evergreens were heavy with snow.

The Ginkgo trees are always well pruned so they can take the snow quite well.

 The Cryptomeria, however, was bowing low.

You can barely make out the apartment building through the falling snow.

Nikko loves the snow so I just dropped her leash and let her run.

She dashed in big figure eights and round and round the park until she had her fill.

What a pity that no dogs are allowed in the parks in our ward. She had a great time and no one was there to complain.

We went around and knocked the snow off of the Evergreen oaks, but were too late for a few.

The snow was just too heavy for this tree and several of the limbs had been torn off.

Tokyo doesn't get snow very often, perhaps only once or twice in a winter, and usually it is very wet and heavy. Often it is gone within a day or two.

(Not a whole lot like Cleveland, where I grew up) The public is not really prepared for snow here. Driving is soon a mess. Shovels for removal are not common and this is a bit heavy and wet for brooms.

A couple of kids down the block knew what to do with snow.

And Leia arrived in time to decorate the front of our gate with a snow-bunny.

We had a great visit and a yummy meal that Paul had prepared while I was out. 

Now the house is quiet again. Nikko is curled up in a ball at the foot of the chair, Gloves and hats and jackets are hanging up to dry, I can hear the drip drip drip from the overflowing gutters so I suppose the snow has turned into rain, and another few blocks on my big quilt are about to get some stitches.