A Trip to Kanazawa

The trees in Japan are provided with good support systems when the situation calls for it.  I have noticed that a major factor contributing to Japanese culture is importing ideas and products from other places and then improving drastically upon them and selling them back to the rest of the world.  They have done this with cars, toilets, poetry, electronics, and NATURE!

i never thought of trying to improve upon nature, but Japanese gardens have shown me that no tree or plant is left to its own natural ways.  there is no chance!  chance is for pachinko players to deal with.  the gardens aren't necessarily imported from other places, but the painstaking efforts involved in manipulating all of the life in such a large garden as the one we saw truly is one of the things that makes a trip to Japan worthwhile (among many other things).  some things are so ordered, and other things are so random that it makes one's head spin.   

Jim and Rose Odling at Kenroku-en Garden in Kanazawa. 

the Odlings (my parents in-law) put up with plane rides, long bus rides, long walks, long train rides, long bike rides, and even long boat rides as we toured what places we could during their time here. we had a great time with them, and from what they say, they had fun too.  if they had taken a rickshaw and ridden rollerskates, their collection of transportation modes would have been complete.  ...oh, and don't forget pogo sticks.  
some incredibly well-wrought, lifelike statues we saw in Kanazawa.  they evoke the wisdom of ages, and the advancement of human intellect in Japan and the world.  or SOMEthing. 
this kid is easy to please.  i love Crazy English!
Mandy found fulfillment in life, and i captured it in this photo.  probably the perfect moment for my dear wife.  a cat (that lets her hold it) in one arm, a delicious ice cream cone in the other hand, and the sun warming her face to the perfect temperature.  just looking at her in this state is pure bliss!  a highlight of every trip we take, wherever we are, is the sighting of a cat.  petting a cat is a bonus, and the picking up of a cat is double bonus.  i'm pretty sure we're going to be animal people when we get a place of our own.