On the way to Miyagi Gakuin University

 This is the driving school at the other end of the bridge. Just after the quakes I showed workers replacing part of the front of the driving school building, a part that had fallen to the grown. Now it appears that they are starting to tear down the whole thing. I mentioned this to my wife and she said that one of the neighbors, who attends the school, had said that the building had been badly damage and had not been being used, condemned by the city.

 As I was entering the campus, I notice some police around a car. There had been an accident and four police officers were looking at the damage. The other car was parked off to the left, where another officer was with the other driver.

 Once in side the school, I stopped here, at this desk in the hall. Scattered around the school there are desks with plastic bottles of alcohol. As you go by, you can squirt a little on your hands and rub it around as protection against the flu and colds. Most schools and many public buildings have provided this service for the past few years.

On my return home, the river was quite pretty, although it as very misty.

Another trip to Miyagi Gakuin University

 On this crisp, windless morning the reflections of the buildings in the river were very attractive. In the distance, however, the weather was different. The mountains that should appear in the background are covered by low clouds.

 Those clouds soon arrived and the day turned rather blue. However, the sunlight did reach the Kannon on the hill.

 The next morning I looked out my living room window and found that world was now white, not blue.

 The view along the river was completely different, too.

 The red flowers were quite appealing with their little white caps.

 Near the bridge I found a spider web that had captured the snow. I am surprised that a spider is able to survive outside in these temperatures. I wonder what it finds to eat.

When I entered Miyagi Gakuin U, I found a film crew hard at work. I suspect that they were filming for some sort of new advertising for the university. Because of the drop in the number of high school graduates (the cause of the aging society), there are now more university seats than needed. This means that, although just about anyone who knows how to breathe can get into a school, the competition for the best students has sharpened tremendously.

A round trip to Miyagi Gakuin U

 For a little variety I went up a different flight of stairs at the Asahigaoka subway station and came out on the sidewalk. From there I had a very good view of the bus depot. The upper three stories have rooms that can be rented for club meetings and that sort of thing.

 Someone has placed a row of planters, and some water, in the underpass between the bus stop and the university.

 From the main entrance road, I could see the building (straight ahead) containing the teachers' lounge and the building where I have all of my classes (on the left).

 The student lounge on the first floor of the building in which I teach has flower arrangements but at this time in the morning the lights are not on, so they were very dark.

 As I left the Yaotome subway station's second floor exit, I notice that the moon was very bright and low in the sky.

 The big apartment building on the corner nearest the station was covered with scaffolding as work finally started on fixing the damage, mostly cracks on the outside.

 On the bridge I stopped and took another picture of the full mone.

When I reach the shrine on the levee, The moon was positioned just above the roof.

Walking home from Miyagi Gakuin University again

 I left the park and entered the bus depot to take my usual bus to Miyagi Gakuin U. While I was waiting, I saw a good example of one of the features of Japanese life. There is no preventative maintenance here. They just use things until they fall apart and they get a new one. This bus is losing paint but nothing is being done about it. It will not be long before the side is in such bad shape that they will have to scrap the bus. I remember when I first started working here. I tried to get my boss to do some simple maintenance around the building, but he could not understand the need for it. A couple of years later we had to have a major renovation project, which could have been easily prevented by some inexpensive and simple, but timely, repairs.

 When I got to school, I discovered that they had hung a Christmas wreath on the gate post at the main entrance.

 After my class was over at 10:10 a.m., I decided to walk home again. I planned to turn right at the gate again, but instead of following the Kanjosen all the way to Yaotome, I would turn off and follow the little river, which is a much more pleasant walk during the daytime. As I walked down the hill, I notice this survey marker embedded in the sidewalk. The plate, below the circle with the cross hairs, contains the name and telephone number of the group responsible for the upkeep of the marker.

 At the corner at the bottom of the hill, there is a used car dealer. It has many more cars than before and they now go up into the woods behind the building.

 This house is relatively new, being built just a few years ago. By Japanese standards it is really huge. I think that the little group of houses all belong to people form the same family, the ones who grow the rice in the paddies on both sides of the road.

 After turning off the Kanjosen, the first large building is an old people's home. From the ads that appeared when it was first opened, it seems to be a private nursing home.

 Across the street there is a small group of buildings contain medical facilities. This is a nose and throat doctor. There is also a pharmacy and a doctor.

This is the end of the nursing home. The building sticking up over the trees on the left is one of the buildings on the Miyagi Gakuin U campus. I think this is part of the attached high school.

Odds and ends

 Walking home from a meeting of the Sendai Book Club. I passed a very inviting little neighborhood bar, however, it was already passed my bedtime so I continued on my way.

Some strange looking lighting along an otherwise dark road. It almost looked like Christmas decorations, although it was not.

Night traffic on my road home.

Look at the fence. See the big dip near the person on the bicycle? The fence was straight before the earthquakes. A section of land over some underground pipes sunk.

This is at Miyagi Gakuin U. I have shown this pond before but never from this height. You can see why it is named the piano pond.

The forecast was for snow and the sky certainly looked it.

It was getting darker and darker and I thought it would snow at any minute.

The Kannon statue on the hill was visible but the clouds were really grey. In the end, however, just on the other days when they have forecast snow, it did not happen.

Walking home from Miyagi Gakuin University

 I was still walking down the hill away from Miyagi Gakuin U and toward the west. Yesterday I showed the park on the other side of the road. This is the rice paddies on this side.

 At the bottom of the hill there is a major intersection. On the on the southeast side there is a large used book (mostly comic books) and CD store.

 Next to the bookstore and right on the corner is a Big Boy restaurant, very cheap with large servings but not very tasty.

 I turned north at the corner, headed for Yaotome. There are rice paddies on that side of the road, too. This is a wall-less shed where they store some of the things needed in the fields.

 This is another shed.

 And yet another shed. This is in the old style with a thatched roof. I drew a picture of this a few years ago.

 The rice paddies on the east side of the road with the tops of some of the Miyagi Gakuin U buildings in the center at the top of the hill. The splash of color in front of these buildings is a gas station.

The woods that are next to the rice paddies are very thick. There is an ill defined path through the woods but I have never tried to take it. A couple of years ago, however, I was an old lady going up the path, so it must go somewhere.

My neighborhood and walking home from Miyaigi Gakuin U

 The morning sun on the buildings across the river.

 The remaining colors at Asahigaoka. Most of the reds have already gone but the yellows are lasting well this year.

 Some of the trees are more brown than red this year, but this goes well with all the yellow.

 I have no idea what plant this is, but it certainly makes it feel like Christmas.

 It's snowing in the mountains as seen from the teachers' lounge at Miyagi Gakuin U.

 Inside the Miyagi Gakuin U campus, looking toward the main gate.

 The main gate. The traffic guard is standing in the middle of the road in front of the guard building.

Leaving the campus and turning right, I walked down the hill and passed a park on the other side of the road.