This morning Ian and I walked up the hill from my house to his; of course, he had to walk to my house before we could hike together. Once we got to his house I stopped for coffee and toast while Ian had his breakfast. When we finished, I packed the pears that Ian's wife had left for me to take to my wife and headed off, away from my house, to an all day, joint meeting of the JALT Sendai, a local teachers' organization, and three other teachers' organizations. Along the way I took the above picture, looking north over the area where I live. I could not locate my condo, but it is out there somewhere
I took this picture while I was with Ian, just before reaching his house. It had rained but the sky was clearing out over the ocean.
This is a stairway down to the Shrine in the next picture. This is typical of much of Japanese landscaping - you have to carefully watch your step. The idea is connected to Buddhism, I believe. The walker must be in a state of awareness, one of the goals of Buddhism, or he or she will trip over a stone.
This is the Shrine, Benzaitendo, which is named for one of the Seven Gods of Fortune, Benzaiten. She came from India where she was a river god, the goddess of everything that flows: water, words (and knowledge, by extension), speech, eloquence, and music. In Japan she became a protector god, first of the nation and then of the people. Finally the kanji for her name changed to reflect her new role in bestowing monetary fortune. I did not realize all this until I got home and did a little research. I guess I should have stopped and let her know that I had visited rather than just passing by as I did. Things like that are the reason that I never got rich.
This morning Ian and I walked up the hill from my house to his; of course, he had to walk to my house before we could hike together. Once we got to his house I stopped for coffee and toast while Ian had his breakfast. When we finished, I packed the pears that Ian's wife had left for me to take to my wife and headed off, away from my house, to an all day, joint meeting of the JALT Sendai, a local teachers' organization, and three other teachers' organizations. Along the way I took the above picture, looking north over the area where I live. I could not locate my condo, but it is out there somewhere
I took this picture while I was with Ian, just before reaching his house. It had rained but the sky was clearing out over the ocean.
This is a stairway down to the Shrine in the next picture. This is typical of much of Japanese landscaping - you have to carefully watch your step. The idea is connected to Buddhism, I believe. The walker must be in a state of awareness, one of the goals of Buddhism, or he or she will trip over a stone.
This is the Shrine, Benzaitendo, which is named for one of the Seven Gods of Fortune, Benzaiten. She came from India where she was a river god, the goddess of everything that flows: water, words (and knowledge, by extension), speech, eloquence, and music. In Japan she became a protector god, first of the nation and then of the people. Finally the kanji for her name changed to reflect her new role in bestowing monetary fortune. I did not realize all this until I got home and did a little research. I guess I should have stopped and let her know that I had visited rather than just passing by as I did. Things like that are the reason that I never got rich.
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