A pox on us all

So, in the last week we have all managed to get some form of sinus cold or infection and while we are mostly on the mend it has seriously affected our blogging schedule... for that I apologize. So while this post may not be as riveting as it could be, I assure you that there are in fact several posts in the works that will be significantly better this one. That being said, here is what I offer you today:

Several weeks ago on on one of my runs, I stopped by the largest Shinto shrine in Fukuyama

 

to test out our new camera in some slightly more difficult lighting situations, namely the dark. The result was some rather interesting photos, that without sounding too self congratulatory, actually turned quite well.

Torii Gate lead up to the shrine itself.

One of the out buildings.

Same out building with a little extra lighting

This is probably my favorite photo. 60 sec. exposure with
the moon in the background.

Finally the entrance to the complex itself with some selective coloring.

Untimely Endings

Over the holidays, two important electronic devices in my life met with an untimely end. Right before Christmas, our camera effectively stopped working. Since I take photos on a daily basis, as a hobby but also for this blog, I found it extremely annoying and inconvenient. We resorted to taking photos with our cell phones which was a shame since I would have liked to get good pictures of Christmas, New Year's, and Dustin and Theo's birthday. Dustin and I had been planning on getting a new camera in the spring, but the sudden malfunction of our old camera made us reconsider our timing. After sifting through our options and doing a bit of research, we finally settled on a camera that suits our needs. It arrived last week and I am extremely pleased with the shots it takes. Now the only excuse for crappy pictures on the blog is my own picture taking ability! Here are a couple of pictures we took from a bike ride on Monday:

View from Tomonoura harbour

Daffodils in January!?

Reporting for duty!

At a riverside park

Tomonoura

The other device that came to a sudden demise was my Kindle. I was reading a book and was obviously pretty engrossed in it when Theo lunged at me, landing with both of his knees on the screen. I heard a loud snap like a twig breaking and about 3 seconds later, the screen looked like this: 

At that moment, I actually found myself stating something my mother said many times during my childhood: "I can't have nice things". Theo was really remorseful and quite empathetic because he offered to take me to a playground and buy me ice cream to make me feel better. I almost took him up on the offer. Fortunately, only the screen is broken, not all of the other electronic bits, and Dustin, being the capable person that he is, ordered a used screen and claims that he can make it as good as new. Meanwhile, after wingeing for a few days about having to stop reading my book at a really gripping part, we decided to get a second Kindle. We had been intending on getting one for Dustin at some point, but since mine is out of commission for the time being, it seemed like the right time. We got a different (cheaper) model than the last one and it is pretty nice. I was able to finally finish my book and have been fueling my daily need for reading ever since. Hopefully we won't have any more mishaps in the next few months. Replacing two electronic devices in a few weeks is about as much as we can handle!

Our two e-book readers side by side

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

We had an absolutely fantastic Christmas here in Fukuyama. I will be putting up pictures of our revelry as soon as I figure out how to get them off of my phone. Unfortunately, our camera, which has been taking terrible pictures from day one, is slowly becoming only able to take pictures that are not much better than a daguerrotype. A recent addition to its ineptitude is the inability to flash or focus on anything even remotely resembling a subject. The photos are usually blurry and hazy unless the subject is completely still, which I am pretty sure my children are incapable of. I have a deep and complex relationship of dislike and betrayal with this camera, which, as you can see, is turning into semi-psycotic anthropomorphising on my part. We finally gave up on the camera on Christmas Eve and opted for taking photos with the only slightly better cell phone camera. In case you are wondering why we bought such a terrible camera in the first place, we didn't. It was given to us as a replacement when our previous camera (which took decent photos) had electrical problems. Sigh.

Parliament of owls with Theo in background

Last week, Theo's kindergarten had a Christmas presentation. It was held at the Reed and Rose Arena, our city's concert hall, and included two plays and multiple songs played on the melodica. Theo and the rest of the children in the youngest kindergarten class performed a really cute but random play. The premise was as follows: All of the animals of the forest are gathered together because they have found a secret cave. A few animals enter it to explore and come out claiming to have seen great sights. They tell all of the animals to go in and see for themselves, but the foxes are too afraid to enter. It takes the rhetoric of the wise owls to persuade the foxes. After all of the animals enter the cave, they discover that it is a magical portal to the North Pole where they meet Santa, his reindeer, and elves. Santa then proceeds to take them for a ride in his sleigh and give them each a present.

Sucking on his paws

The amazing part about this play was that there was about 80 children on stage at one point. Nobody burst out crying, ran off the stage, or hurt themselves. I didn't think that it was possible to avoid at least a couple of incidents over the course of 15 minutes with that many 3-4 year olds, but somehow they pulled it off. Theo played the part of a wolf and looked incredibly bored the whole time. He spent the better part of the play looking everywhere but forward, pulling at his sleeves, and yawning. If you are wondering which one is Theo in these pictures, just look for the most distracted, glazed expression and it is bound to be him.

Studying the floor

Here is a video of the kids with Theo in front and center singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". The video was cut short by William who decided to burst into tears halfway through the song. 

Any advice on what we should get to replace our excuse of a camera?