Beach Photos

 The iPhone is magic. To take photos in the evening, you used to have to use a tripod so a camera would be steady enough to allow a longer shutter time. I took the following images with a 2 second shutter holding the phone in my hands. Must be AI.

Birds

 We walked around a neighborhood lake while Natasha and Oleg were at work. There was plenty of wildlife to photograph and nothing I would see back home. The cool thing about taking such photos using your iPhone is that you are immediately informed what it is you have  photographed.

Muscovy Duck

Egyptian Goose

American White Ibis

Green Iguana

I was excited when I spotted the first iguana. We see lots of lizards in Hawaii, but not Iguanas. As the day warmed they were everywhere. The younger ones are a bright green and they run in a fast, but unusual way. I have heard stories about iguanas falling out of trees when the temps cool, but I had not thought how they get into the trees in the first place. Fast climbers. They act very much like squirrels when you get close and they move behind the trunk so you can’t see them.

More Lakes

 We made a quick trip to Florida (Ft. Lauderdale) to visit Oleg and Natasha so I thought I would create a few more entries to the travel blog. These are our friends we first spent time with in Russia who moved to Colorado and then to Florida. The flight from Minneapolis to here seemed almost short in comparison to the last few times we flew and was much more pleasant that our other recent trips. Because of the government shut down we were concerned with delays or cancellations but at least getting here was easy.

My photos for this post may seem unusual. I took the first leaving Minneapolis because I was trying to capture the colorful leaves.However, we had been airborne for too long before the idea occurred to me, moved too many miles south, and most of the leaves had lost their color. I gave up on that idea. However, when flying into Ft Lauderdale, I noticed the many water ways and decided I could create a contrast between the Lakes of Minneapolis and the whatever the water features in Florida are called.

Long Way Home

 I have never been a fan of long plane trips. I have great difficulty sleeping while sitting and knowing that a trip will present this type of challenge works on my head. The trip from Tokyo to Minneapolis is direct, but takes 11 hours. We have already been told we will be delayed by two hours without further explanation. I could use a latte.

We spent the last two days of our trip making a diversion from Tokyo to Odawara to stay in the bed and breakfast owned by Cindy’s interpreter from 22 years ago. The most unique part of this experience was staying in an authentic Japanese home. Yes, the toilet has the weird water thing and you take off your shoes when you enter, but we don’t wear shoes at home. I always wondered if I could sit on the floor around a table when eating. I decided that I could, but standing might become a spectacle for all to enjoy. The home had authentic tatami mat floors, paper room dividers, and futons for sleeping (no wooden frames). The sheets are unusual in that the top sheet is designed to hold a blanket. There is not much padding in this arrangement so I was comfortable on my back that on my side. Something like camping with a sleeping bag and no air mattress. Some photos follow.

Coffee - Japanese Pour-over Style

 I have yet to figure out how to describe the Japanese style of packaging and working with goods we would likely encounter in a very different way. Yes, the Japanese are tea drinkers, but they also consume coffee and believe the American version is too weak. There are Starbucks and the cold lattes we had were familiar and suited to the warmer weather.

Anyway, to prepare the version of coffee I consume most regularly, the approach makes use of the pour-over technique. I am a nerd enough to know about the intricacies of the pour-overs when made for a higher price in shops - the initial splash to open the coffee and let it breath, etc. The daily approach is more like the approach when you make pour-over coffee by the campfire with a plastic gadget you position over your cup and a paper filter holding the coffee. Here is the Japanese version. You buy a bag of these individual envelopes that open to reveal a bag of coffee surrounded by a cardboard sleeve that you open to place over your cup. You then pour hot water from your hot water pot over the bag using whatever technique you prefer.