cleaning out the phone

Getting a bunch of photos off the phone, I found a few to post.

Some things never get old. They stop drawing my notice, but they never get old.

We got a snow storm.

Kiyomi made yakisoba with a fried egg on top. Very recommended, along with most foods that have a fried egg on top.

A fine 500 yen ramen and fried rice meal.

Last week was the Ume-matsuri, or plum festival. I took a few photos, including this one of the old timers enjoying some sake. These are the neighbors that don't remember what the war was like here because they were actually fighting it elsewhere.

In the center are the former (with mask) and current (folding arms) neighborhood association presidents. They are both named Maeda, but aren't related.

The Ume-matsuri includes what is called a "stamp rally." People go to different neighborhoods participating in the festival and collect a different stamp from each on the pink paper you see. Something is fun about this. Really fun. The guy stamping is a former cop that tells me great cop stories when there is a drinking occasion.

Cotton candy. Fixing the cotton candy machine cost a couple hundred dollars last year (according to the 2009 neighborhood association financial report), but this year's sales made that back and then some.

Keeping the sake warm. Japan does not have stringent liquor laws; suffice it to say there was no checking of IDs.

Also for sale at the festival were home-grown fresh and pickled vegetables.

Like the man on the right, I was tasked with directing traffic. Our skinny road gets even skinnier with thousands of revelers and large buses coming through. Our direction of traffic helps us to feel better about the chaos that ensues, which is possibly exacerbated by that direction.

This is ramen from a place called Deura. With minced white onions instead of the usual green onions, and a little oil on top, it becomes Hachioji Ramen.

I took this picture while waiting for the Boss (I have been driving for him on Thursdays while handling forwarded client phone calls and doing some translating). I took the picture because the smoker on the right was clearly wearing a Gary Crowton-era BYU jacket. This greatly pleased me.

Kiyomi made a delicious beef-wrapped asparagus.

Now our neighborhood is in a glorious spring.