Simple Life

 Here are some pics from our trip to the grocery store this week.  I was thinking that I hadn't taken you all grocery shopping with me yet, so here we go!  This is a local store, one that we walk to from our apartment.  It take about 15 minutes to walk there.  Needless to say, since we walk there and back, we only buy a few things at a time. Above, the produce section.  It is small, as the store is pretty small.  Much of the produce is the same, but of course lots of different things too.  I still don't know what 90% of the different stuff is.  I have a lot to learn.  Below, tofu.  Japanese people eat a lot of tofu.  Some eat it in thier dishes, soups, and even plain or just with soy sauce on it.  It comes in the traditional blocks that many of us are used to at home, as well as puffed up fried blocks (the yellow looking things in the picture).  These are fish patties.  Basically fish meat that is grou...

Jason's best friend from the time he was 4 years old came for a visit last month.  Dave was here for 10 days.  It was great to see him.  While he was here there was a lot of touring and such, one little trip took us to Asakusa to visit the Sensoji Temple.  Here is what one website said about the temple: "The legend says that in the year 628 , two brothers fished a statue of Kannon , the goddess of mercy, out of the Sumida River, and even though they put the statue back into the river, it always returned to them. Consequently, Sensoji was built nearby for the goddess of Kannon. The temple was completed in 645, making it Tokyo 's oldest temple." -Japan-guide.com Sounds good right?  It was amazing, but so busy!  We could barely walk there were so many people.  None of the pictures that I have to share can even begin to allude to the massive size of the temple or the masses of people there.  But, here is what I have anyway.  Enjoy! ...

I have a set siblings from each of my parents first marriages and a set of step-brothers from my step-dad of 23 years. Altogether I have 6 siblings, 3 brothers, 3 sisters.  None of these brothers and sisters are my full sibling, each only sharing one parent or none in the case of my step-brothers.  I am on only child with many sibs.  Growing up each of my brothers and sisters lived under the same roof as me at one point or another, except one - my oldest brother on my Dad's side.  He was never around when I was growing up. He was a busy teenager and kind of a punk.  Rightly so - he didn't really belong anywhere.  My childhood home was no place for him as he and my Mom are just not cut out to be even near each other and his own Mom was busy having her own life and not too concerned with raising children from a previous marriage.  So, he grew up chipped and broken. We had no relationship to speak of until later - he was in his early 20's and was shippe...