Hi and welcome to week 19. Before I start covering the week that was for me in Kyoto, I want to acknowledge the passing of a very bright light and wit in Australia, whose intelligence and satire I enjoyed immensely over the years. Vale John Clarke.

Here, in Kyoto, things are certainly improving weather-wise. The forecasts into the future are all over 15, with most days being in the high teens or early 20s. Wonderful. Those of you who know me well know that I am not a lover of cold weather and I’ve just had the longest winter of my life. Over seven months of cool to bloody cold weather (to be frank, in an Australian kind of way). The last few days I have been able to have the windows and balcony door open during the day! No air-conditioner – well I am still putting it on at night, because I am soft, but only in the main area.

My plants are coming along; the seeds have sprouted except the sage and I have had a few leaves from my lettuces with my meals. The kids are enjoying their grass crop. Outside the birds are either beginning to nest or furiously building their new nesting homes. Then, there’s the blossom. It still hasn’t quite reached its peak yet, but getting very close. I was very worried over the last three days because it rained off and on for the duration (more on than off) and I was wondering how much blossom would end up on the ground.

Today, however, I had to go do a shopping run and I can report that the blossom looks wonderful. It really did make me realise my winter was over! Funny how the most mundane things, such as going shopping, can be elevated to the most delightful experiences when you are walking in beautiful surrounds. I could wax poetic about this, but after the exceptionally verbose post last week, I think I will let the photographs do the talking for me:

Last Thursday I had to do a cat food run to Fresco, my other supplier of tinned food, and took the opportunity to walk around in the closer areas I know there will be lots of blossom. These include the road and walkway along the Kamo river, a road one block back from the Kamogawa which has a canal running along it and in the Gion area. I got some shots of blossom (as you do this time of year)  and I was lucky enough to come across a photo shoot of a Geiko in the Gion, with blossom. Not an opportunity to be missed, so I got some lovely shots of her as well. As I was returning home along my favourite street in the Gion, I stopped to take a shot of a plant in a pot (research…) and another Geiko walked past me! So, I just had to get a shot of her too. Please enjoy…

Other than the turning of the seasons, there hasn’t been much of any real note here for me this week. The only ‘official’ outing I had was to meet the tax accountant and see if she would be a good fit for us. She was very nice, spoke some English and she had prepared some appropriate questions for our meeting, so I felt very comfortable. During the meeting it became clear that the woman from the International Community House had indeed had a hand in connecting us. For this, I am grateful.

I am going to leave you now with some photos of coffee art, which I took from the tv. They were reviewing a Kyoto based coffee company, which has a number of outlets and uses real coffee machines! One of their baristas recently won a competition for his coffee art, and it is easy to see why. If you’re wondering about how long it takes and if the coffee is cold when he finishes, I can tell you that I watched him creating the horse and it took less than 10 seconds to complete. Not sure about the cat decoration…

Cheers!!!!