Rice planting

I'm posting the link to the Japanese blog that talks about our rice planting day from a few weeks ago.

You can check out a couple of pictures there.

Follow this link and click the pictures to make them bigger....

http://ameblo.jp/shigeshigemaron/entry-10260398072.html

What've I been doing?

Wow, I have really been letting this blog slide, huh? Let's see... what have I been up to???

• Saw a Flogging Molly concert in Fukuoka.
• Missed the last train home from Fukuoka and had to stay in a hotel because I was eating ice cream.
• Planted tomatoes, a storm came the next day and blew down 4 of them.
• Planted peppers, eggplants, Japanese pumpkin, watermelon, one unknown vegetable, and a couple of flowers.
• Started replacing the paper on my shoji doors... 2 down, 8 to go!
• Hung noren up in the house and some at the entrance to my future flower garden.
• Got calf deep in mud for a day helping the Takasago family plant their rice paddy by hand.
• More or less finished trimming the trees at my house.
• Aquired several large pieces of pottery to use for plants and my "deer-chaser" water garden, and started clearing the yard to plant flowers.
• Ate dinner with several families around the island during Golden Week.
• Started running with the track club, and then decided that my tolerance for running in circles has become nearly nonexistant.
• Ate black rice for the first time.
• Listened to some great live shakuhachi and koto music, and played some maracca type instrument in front of the audience.
• Enjoyed the beautiful weather and the recent full moon.

Tonight, I'm having a barbecue at my house with the high school teachers. I hope to get more pictures up, but my broken camera is a hindrance at the moment.