It Would Be Nice If We Could Read

It is very HOT and HUMID in Japan right now.  It’s the type of weather in which my husband gets brilliant ideas for adventures.  Like going someplace we have never been…….with my mom and aunt who are visiting.....who may rather stay inside the air conditioning playing with grandkids & nieces.  

The other day's adventure was to take us all hiking to find Hinohara waterfall.  Hot and sweaty hiking.  Sounds fun, doesn’t it?

We drove to the starting point easily enough and then decided to just follow the signs…..leaving the ENGLISH directions in the van.  It’s a piece of cake right?  Just look at the map.

Does that say 5.1 kilometers?

We hiked up.  My mom got out her fashionable headband.

My aunt just sat down on the ground.

The spiders freaked me out.

We guessed we might have been going the wrong way.  It was pretty obvious what we needed to do was go back down.

We had to wait around for some other people and watch where they were going, because the signs didn’t help at the bottom of the hill either.

At yet ANOTHER group of signs, we decided to choose the bright orange one.

Fortunately, there were some bathrooms along the way and these signs were much easier to translate. Boys……..

Girls……

FINALLY we found the waterfall!  (Check out the volume my hair still had despite the humidity!)

And my mom and auntie were happy……maybe.

We walked back down the trail still hot and sweaty but lucky for us, there was one more sign and we all could recognize it. 

Thanks Japan, for yet another adventure.



I Want To Be A Photographer When I Grow Up

You might have once or twice heard me complain on this blog, about wanting/needing a new camera.  You will be happy to know that it finally happened!  For Mother’s Day, my husband pulled out all the stops and got me a new Nikkon D3100 with a bunch of extras.  The camera wasn’t exactly here on Mother’s Day though.  It showed up in the mail about 15 minutes before we left for Kyoto, Japan on a little trip. (Which again is why, I haven’t been blogging that much.)

I quickly figured out that 10 minutes alone with the owner’s manual, isn’t quite enough time to learn to be a professional photographer.  Regardless, I am addicted and I have found my new hobby.  Now I can be one of those, drummer, hairstylist, jewelry-designer, clogging, photographers.  Yay me!

I have so much to learn about lines and leading the viewer's eye…….

Slowing the shutter speed…….

Finding things that are visually interesting…….

Portraits…..

Portraits……

And more portraits……

Not perfect.....but much better than my old camera! I am so excited I might just cry my pants. (That’s when you don’t know whether to pee your pants or cry.)  Thanks baby for the new camera.  I love it!  I love you too….even though you are weird sometimes!