found a farm of....

plum trees!

mountain of soba!

walking through blossoms....

last of the blossoms.....promise!

on my way home...

can you see the HUGE log sitting outside...? guess it's some kind of workshop, but i never see what.... just like the shape of the building..

last of the cherry blossoms...

the moat that runs around this park (used to have a castle, and 5 moats!) was pink with all the fallen blossom....was beautiful...there are SO many cherry trees in this park....tomorrow, one last photo of the walk way at the top...then no more blossom shots for a while..

same hobby...

only get them for a week.....gotta make the most of the PINK!!!

more blossoms...

raining cherry blossom...

dinner at friends

with beautiful cat...

driving home...

more rain and grey, great for misty mountains, shot from the car on the way home..tired..

blossoms, blue skies..

and a temple..

temple gateway

childrens play park....

looks too sinister for children, calls to mind sun bleached dinosaur bones...or something out of alien....still no sun here : (

cat in pink...

was quite surprised by this little stone cat in very cool crocheted attire! not sure why it is there though. statues of gods and gaurdians are often dressed (to keep them warm, of course) in japan, and given small monetary offerings (this one only has 5 yen so far) but this is the first cat i have seen, maybe the diety of all the stray cats in this park...don't ya just love the pink cap, i want one too!

ikebana exhibition...

too grey, cold and wet for cherry blossoms outside still...anyone know what the yellow ball flowers are?

strolling with cat!

stormy april skies...

look at how dark the sky is...behind me was a pretty blue sky with white fluffy clouds, sure to be driven away by the windy storm coming in from the mountains...oh and this is the back of yamagata station on the right, and a relatively new building (multi-purpose) on the left..

another grey day...

so i stayed at home and finally made the bracelet holder that has been on my list of things to do for weeks, trying to store all my sparkly things so that i'll use them more、 instead of hiding them away in drawers...yay for shiney sparkly walls!! ☆　

evening walk by the river...

nice way to wind down, it was such a warm sunny day, but as night came it got cold, looking at the back drop of snowy mountains made it feel even more so...i love cycling up the side of this river..

always catches my eye..

this is such a funky little shop...selling old fabric, bit scared to go in as it's not so cheap!

making tofu...

my local tofu shop.. they make DELICIOUS tofu here, and for 100yen, (50p/$1.20) i usually walk away with a whole bag! you can see the machines used to boil up the beans and then separate the milk from the ....bits you don't want (okara) then they add nigiri to make the curd. the man in the corner, he's the boss, is frying tofu balls, which i was lucky enough today, to eat hot with soy sauce, if you come when they are frying they usually give you a snack. hot, fresh soy milk is also very good!

freshly made tofu, and you can just see, in the top left corner, the tofu in the vat of water.

more sky..

just love the blue sky (no colour adjustments) against the white

tree,mountain,temple..

beautiful colours..

makes you feel a bit fenced in eh!

yum....dinner

had the most delicious and healthy yet simple dinner of fried tofu sacks boiled in stock for flavour, then filled with a mixture of brown rice, sesame seeds, pickled ginger, fresh ginger, carrot, cucumber, some green japanese herb, citrus peel.....it was sooo good!!!

yamagata factory..

don't know what kind of factory this is, the only bit of the sign i could read was the part saying yamagata factory, but it looks pretty old with its brick chimney .. i see it often on my way home from the bus station... don't you just love what one can do with a tree!

new yoga class in tendo!

bit of bizarrely designed building attached to the train station! its a city residents 'culture centre'.

detail..

been soooo busy today!

so here is my favourite coi curtain, from outside!

Kura

A Kura is a kind of store house, used to keep the seasonal kimono, pottery, scrolls, and dishes safe.