We made 96 pumpkin cranberry muffins this morning.  Only one had a flag with a name on it.

Yesterday was cold.  We saw a lot of bands.  One was outside.  We were outside too.  All of us, the band, myself, Shannon, and a couple hundred other people none of whom we knew but could presume that they have good taste in music. Some had nice bad haircuts, and at least one wore a bowtie.  It was underneath the Kennedy Expressway.  Not the part where cars drive through but a safer no-driving area which was fenced off for the occasion.

The first six days went like this: we took the train to O'hare, flew in a real airplane, landed in Tokyo, saw a Corbusier building, saw an imperial palace which was surrounded by a mote, walked a lot, saw a cemetery, slept on a futon in a 3 tatami room, brushed our teeth, sat on pandas, took the bullet train to Kyoto, looked at bicycles, stayed in a temple with fancy toilet room slippers and a sweet rock garden, had Texas Toast across the street, saw kimonos being made and paraded, saw a dude we recognized, walked through a million more temples and gardens, stumbled upon the Japan Media Arts Festival, spent three nights at a ryokan where fish swim under the glass floor, ate French pastries near the train station, saw lots of statues wearing bibs, watched school kids drink magical water, stared at dancing cats, walked and saw more Kyoto stuff, sat, walked, and walked, and hopped, climbed, walked, rode, wore our yukatas, slept, strolled through a garden, admired the fish, ran from a bee, watched the fish flakes dance, and rode the train back to Tokyo.

This post was supposed to start with "Let's take a look at how awesome Japan is... " but, alas, the film we shot is out for processing and apparently today the machine is "down" and I don't know when it will be done but here's a preview of some of the digital shots.  Future posts will have text with the pictures. These are from all over the place.

We haven't been posting because we've been in Japan. Lots of stuff soon.

Ode to Roxanne Being Dogsat in Groveland

Oh Roxanne the clever, adorable dog,
Look at you sitting, you're such a lap-hog.
My parents will spoil you, you know that they will,
And toss you the occasional fish oil pill.
Blah blah blah something about a frog.

Hey there, big dogs, check out Roxanne!
She might be small, but she can write with a crayon!
Can you all do that? I rather think not
(but nevertheless I like you a lot).
So anyway, have fun with Roxanne.