Greetings! It's been a long time. I guess riding my scooter has been way too much fun and it's kept me from updating the Blog. Well, here's quick n' dirty update. About 2 weeks following my successful Honda Dio surgery, we found Bonnie a used Honda Tact scooter for a reasonable price. It took her a little while to get used to riding it, but she really likes it too. They are a lot of fun! Recently, Bonnie's scooter underwent major surgery -- it seems that the 'low oil' sensor was faulty so she ran out of oil and seized the engine. It needed a brand new piston, rings, cylinder and other miscellaneous odds & ends that cost a fortune! But not quite as much as getting a new machine.

As well, about a month and a half ago, our friends (a local church pastor and his wife) gave us their old van -- a Nissan Vanette. They were buying a new vehicle and as is so common in Japan, couldn't really get rid of their old one. So, we became mobile. The first thing we did, of course, was take it on a massive road trip during Golden Week, back in April. We drove through: Nagano Prefecture, Niigata (which is on the coast of the Sea of Japan), Toyama, Ishida and Gifu. From the coast back to Kofu on the return trip took over 9 hours! This trip was huge! But I figure we won't get a chance to see all the prefectures again for a while since we don't have that much money or so many holidays together.

Recently, things have died down in the way of trips, outings and adventures. We've had a few minor trips around Yamanashi, but nothing really notable. I still have to organize some pictures to post online from events earlier in the spring.

Finally, an update on my photo competition entries. The photo contest through the Japan Times yielded a big goose egg.... I didn't even get into the second round. Obviously this kind of thing is extremely subjective, as I entered one of my photos (Dried Persimmons) into another (North American based) photo contest, and as of this writing, it has been accepted for publication in a coffee-table book. I thought that was pretty nice, so I've definitely pre-ordered a couple of copies of the book.