Sunshine and Clouds

In the past week we have experienced a lot of rain which almost makes me think the rainy season has arrived when it is supposed to this year. Our first year we saw no change in precipitation during the late spring/early summer, and last year, when the rainy season finally did come, it was a month later than it should have been. 

After a week of almost solid rain, the sky cleared a tiny bit during the weekend so that we could have a barbecue for Rosie's birthday on Saturday, and get all of the laundry that had accumulated during the rainy week washed and dried. Thanks for cooperating so nicely clouds! 

Cake stacked and iced with cupcakes skewered to the top.

On Saturday, I woke up bright and early (seriously Rosie, you need to stop waking up before 5 am!) and got to work on decorating the birthday cake. I decided go with a hydrangea theme because they are one of my favorite flowers and this is the season that they are blooming in Japan. I had made 3 round cakes and a dozen cupcakes earlier in the week and frozen them and also 3 batches of icing the night before. I leveled off two of the three cakes and stacked the layers with icing in between in the brown plastic base of a planter pot. I did not level off the dome shaped top of the uppermost layer to give the cake a bit more roundness and height. I fully iced the cake in chocolate cream cheese icing so that it would look like a plant pot. I then arranged the cupcakes on the top of the cake and secured them in place by sticking 15 cm long skewers through them and into the cake. 

Finished!

To ice the cupcakes, I used the star tipped icing nozzle and an icing bag. I put blobs of purple and blue in the icing bag separately and tried not to mix it up too much so that I would get colour variation as I iced. I then took a few hydrangea leaves and arranged them here and there. As a side note, hydrangea leaves are mildly toxic (they contain cyanide), so I wrapped the cut ends in aluminum foil before decorating the cake with them. It was really easy and took me just over an hour to decorate from start to finish.

The only problem I ran into was that over the course of the morning, the temperature in our kitchen rose to 27˚ C and the humidity to 89%. The icing started to liquify and things started slipping so I had to pop it in the fridge until the party.

close up of the "flowers"

After icing the cake, I had to run off to work for the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon. While I was at work, Mr. Oshima took Theo on a tour of our local water treatment plant, something he has been talking about for months. We got to hear all about poop eating bacteria for the rest of the day. Yaaay! 

When I returned home we had a few close friends over for a barbecue to celebrate Rosie's birthday. 

Totally oblivious to the fact that it was her party

William and the Oshimas

First inspection of her birthday cupcake

Realizing that smashing it is so much more fun than eating it. 

Because the weather remained warm and mostly sunny the next day, I pulled out the little pool and let the kids splash around a bit.

This was Rosie's first time in the pool and she loved it.

Also, thanks to a little inspiration from my cousin over at lately léna, the boys and I spent a few hours on Sunday tie dyeing some old t-shirts and a onesie. 

Now I have a few cups of dye left over and my eyes are roving for anything else that could help me use it up. I've already convinced Dustin to let me have fun with some of his undershirts but who knows what else is going to get some colour around here!

Buckets of Rain

I have been told the rainy season in Japan begins in early June but after having been through two Junes in Fukuyama, I have yet to see proof of this. Last year there was about a week of sprinkling, intermittent showers and mild humidity and this year it was just plain hot and dry. Not exactly what I would call a rainy season, especially compared to the torrential monsoons that we experienced in Cambodia. I used to love the rainy season there, wandering around outside in the warm rain soaked to the skin, or riding my bike through the foot of murky water that flooded the streets.

Traditionally, during the rainy season children will hang up teru teru bozu, or shine shine monks, to chase away the rain and encourage the sun to shine. I think they are pretty cute, but seeing how much our garden needs rain I might just tear down any ones that I see.

Enjoying the shade and any excuse to be nearly naked

This year, we have been watering the garden every day and our grass is going dry and brown in some spots. Our house was getting to a toasty 35˚ by noon and the city was days away from issuing water restrictions. But this week, thanks to Typhoon Leepi, we are finally getting a bit of rain. Actually, quite a lot of rain which has been fantastic for everything I have been trying to grow and the cranky hot people that I have been sharing a house with. It has been a fabulous 20˚ or so and we haven't been bathed in sweat at night. So even though it has been raining almost continuously for 3 days, and doesn't show signs of stopping for the next two or three, I say bring it on!

Hot and sweaty baby

A Wonderful Day in the Rain...

I have been looking forward to getting out and exploring parts of Japan that aren't Fukuyama. Not that I don't love my city, because I do. However, when another teacher at my school asked if I would like to bike part of the Shimanami Kaido with him I jumped at the chance. The Shimanami Kaido is actually an expressway that connects Onomichi in Hiroshima Prefecture to Imabari City in Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. Alongside the expressway is an incredibly well developed cycling route with rest stops, bike rental places, and intense infrastructure all put in place to enjoy the Seto inland sea by bicycle. The forecast called for rain today but we didn't let that dampen our spirits. At ten o' clock we loaded our bikes into his car and started out for our first stop the Kurushima-kaikyo bridge, which is about 6.4 km, and is the final bridge connecting the island of Oshima to the main part of Shikoku.

Kurushima-kaikyo bridge as seen from Imabari City

We had nice ride across the bridge in which I blew through the toll gate not knowing that cyclists have to pay a small toll of ¥200 and had to sheepishly come back and throw my change into the box when I noticed my teacher no longer behind me. Once we got to the other side he kindly bought me lunch at a wonderful little restaurant with a fantastic view and equally fantastic food. It seems everything on the menu comes in little dutch ovens and served with a side of warm bread and a salad with vinaigrette made from locally produced citrus that is to die for.

Deliciously warm melted cheese, vegetables and meat
all simmered in a Dutch Oven.

 After lunch we headed back to the other side, loaded up our bikes and drove to Hakatajima Island where we unloaded our bikes again and proceeded to ride the entire circumference of the  island. During this portion of our ride it began to rain... a lot! We were soaked to the bone by the time we got all the way around the island, that being said I still had a lot of fun and I think he did too. Once we were completely around the island and the rain had subsided, he headed to the car and I continued by bike through a shipyard where they were christening a new ship and finally over one more bridge to Omishima Island and the Tatara Shimanami Koen (Park). There we packed up our bikes and headed over to the Tatara Shimanami Onsen for a much deserved soak in the those soothing hotwaters. All in all a wonderful day.

Ship building as seen from the Kurushima-kaikyo.

Some of the amazing infrastructure build solely for cyclists.

Hakatajima IC bike parking and tourist center.

The incoming rain on Hakatajima.

My fellow teacher at a little rest stop on Hakatajima where we
enjoyed some delicious snacks that Laura sent along with me...
...just the energy boost we needed to keep cycling in the rain.

Ship christening on Hakatajima.

Approach pathway to Omishima Bashi Bridge.

Omishima Bashi Arch Bridge.

Tatara Onsen where we spent some time relaxing after a hard day cycling in the rain.

A Wet Weekend

Typhoon Talas

We had a typhoon that passed through this weekend. The rain and winds started on Friday and lasted until Sunday, making it nice and cool for the first time since I have arrived. We enjoyed the break from the hot, windless weather that we were having, but tragically there are quite a few people dead or missing from this storm. There was absolutely no flooding in our part of town, which surprised me, since during hurricanes in Houston there was always a foot or more of standing water.

My mother, who lives in Vermont, had an insanely destructive hurricane that passed through last week. Here are a few crazy pictures of what Hurricane Irene thought of Vermont's infrastructure.

First meal on our new kotatsu

Despite the strong winds and buckets of rain, we still managed to get few important things done and have some fun. On Saturday we visited Nitori, where we bought a kotatsu, computer desk, an area rug and storage shelves and bins for our closets. Our neighbours were nice enough to watch the kids so we could relax while we looked around the store. I absolutely loved how basically everything in the store was created with tiny Japanese rooms in mind. There wasn't one giant, overstuffed, single function monstrosity in the place. I loved the array of legless chairs and short tables, desks, and couches. Their furniture style was very Ikea-esque, but with most of the legs hacked off.

On Sunday, Karlee left  for a week to visit a friend of hers who lives in Kyushu. Afterwards, Dustin, the boys, and I went to check out our city's Castle. Fukuyama Castle is downtown, about a 20 minute walk from our apartment. We were rained on the whole time, but even William didn't seem to mind walking around in the drizzle. Theo has been extremely excited about going to the castle, so even though we didn't go inside, he had a great time walking around the castle grounds.

Winding our way up the hill to the Castle

Storming the gates

The main castle with Dustin and kids in foreground

The beautiful park in the castle grounds

William doesn't care if he gets rained on, as long as he is outside!