More on my favorite restaurant...

My Favorite Restaurant

My favorite restaurant is in Japan! And the best time to be at this restaurant is during the cherry blossom time. Tonight we went up to the small mountain valley where the restaurant is located. The restaurant actually consists of many small, traditional Japanese tea houses winding up the valley between beautiful Japanese gardens and ponds.

More Cherry Blossoms

More pictures of the beautiful cherry blossoms in Japan...

Japan in Cherry Blossom Time

I am currently in Japan on a business trip where I was very lucky to be here at the perfect time for the peak of the cherry blossoming. The weather has been perfect and the Japanese team has been taking me to many places to see beautiful cherry blossoms.

These pictures are from the Jindai Botanical Park where we ate some of the best soba in Japan and then walked in the park before heading back to work.

Two Dogs!

Bill and I went down to Klamath a few weeks ago to help out with my Dad's hip replacement and came back with another dog! She is actually Mac's daughter and is a sweetie but has a lot more energy than Mac, so he sometimes gets annoyed with her. Her name is Skye and like Mac, is sweet, friendly with everyone, and a little shy.

San Juan Island

Bill and I went to San Juan Island for Valentine's Day and had a wonderful time. We stayed at the Friday Harbor House and hiked, did wine tasting and just relaxed.

More on Mac

Mac is getting better about playing with other dogs. He likes all people and dogs but just isn't very good about playing - he just doesn't quite know what to do. Here he is playing on a beach on Bainbridge Island.

Mac's Friends

Juliana, Brenna and Brett having fun with Mac!

Hiking on Squak Mountain

The snow finally disappeared in this last week (although came back today) so my friend, Lori and I got out with Mac to hike in Squak Mountain State Park. Beautiful day - sunny but cold (notice my cool hat from Nepal that Adam brought back last year). Mac had a great time rolling around in the horse manure (these are also horse trails). He is getting a bath today :-).

12 Days of Christmas

My friend, Anita, who is a wonderful quilter made me a "12 Days of Christmas" quilt that matched my house perfectly.

Christmas 2008

Christmas Day was wonderful. Lots of snow and good food. Ali and Adam made our traditional cheese grits, roasted asparagus and Kahlua cake to go along with the Honey-Baked Ham. Bill came over and we played "Clue" and watched "White Christmas".