Posts from — August 2007

Gregory finally got his cast removed today. Hooray!

A couple minutes of video from last night’s Daimonji Gozan Okuribi, the fire festival at which bonfires spelling out giant kanji are lit on hillsides surrounding Kyoto at the end of the summer Bon Festival to see off the ancestral spirits on their journey back to the mountains, where spirits like to dwell the rest of the year.

Yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far, 39 degrees celsius in Kyoto (over 100 F), so those people up on the hills must have been extra toasty. The fires are lit from east to west starting at precisely 8 p.m. In our neighborhood there are two fires that form a compound kanji, 妙　”myo” and　妙 “ho” making 妙法, often translated as”divine law” . Here is the character “ho” “law” being lit up last night.
daimonji2007.mov (QT mov, 15 MB)

Greg had a little accident a few weeks ago, when we were deep into several straight days of relentless rain. He was running in the house and slammed into the wall, breaking one of the bones in his wrist. He is healing well, but he is going to have to wear the cast for a while. Last week he got the original above the elbow cast replaced with this smaller one.

Here he is playing with some neighborhood pals in the park.

This small neighborhood park will have to do until the big park is reopened after renovations. Hwever, one thing the small park has going for it is a row of blueberry bushes that are beginning to ripen.