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Put the Glass in the Darn Dishwasher!!!

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  Please see below for the Japanese translation! These pictures are some of my favorites from trips I have taken over the last year or so. Given that I have not done much photography during these past three months, this is the next best thing! The month of June was truly life-changing for me. I will do my best to capture some of the highlights.  Intimate relationships, such as marriage, have never been easy for me. For a variety of reasons, it seems at times like my mistakes have outnumbered my successes. This realization caused me to look at my Kindle book listing for help. Lo and behold, I rediscovered an amazing book, "This is How Your Marriage Ends," by Matthew Fray.  Please understand that the impetus for this was not the end of my marriage. Rather, it was my way of addressing some of my shortcomings. The good news? The book succeeded big time! I had previously read this gem of a book. However, I do not think that at that time, I was truly ready to fully appreciate t...
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Kashima Here I Come!

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  KASHIMA, HERE I COME!    Please see below for the Japanese translation!  I could not be any happier with these pictures that I took in our own backyard. Thank you, Setsuko, for your amazing gardening skills!     Kashima, here I come! Setsuko and I previously took a short trip to Kashima, a very nice coastal community close to a large lake. We very much enjoyed Kashima and thought it would be a good place for a second home.  In addition, my cycling scene has become quite complicated due to the cycling rules and related insurance guidelines.  Because of the pinched nerve in my neck, I decided to get the following bike.  https://www.icetrikes.co/products/sprint-x-tour-recumbent-trike   While it is a great bike, it is challenging to ride this bike on the bike paths in our current area, as those paths can be very crowded.     As we struggled with these issues, we realized that Kashima would be the perfect solution; ...
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Thank you Stuart and Sachiko!

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    THANK YOU STUART AND SACHIKO!  Please see below for the Japanese translation! These pictures are again from the recent trip I did with my friend Stuart. We have now done a number of trips together. I am so fortunate to be the recipient of the guiding and planning expertise of Sachiko, Stuart's wife, and Stuart! Stuart and Sachiko did a great job of organizing this trip and of making all the necessary arrangements. I think this is one of the best definitions of true friends: people willing to take the time to take steps that inspire those around them. Stuart and Sachiko provided inspiration in spades. My sincerest thanks! Speaking of thanks, I am very thankful for the medicine that was prescribed for me for the pinched nerve in my neck. I have now had that pinched nerve for almost eight weeks. I finally saw a doctor this past week. The MRI and X-ray confirmed the pinched nerve. I have a follow-up appointment in early July. I sincerely hope none of you ever experience t...
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The Best Ever????

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  Please see below for the Japanese translation! This may very well go down as the best photography trip I have ever done. The reason is simple: the cloud shots.  Since landing in Japan three years ago, I have dreamed of capturing a landscape with drifting clouds.  I saw some pictures that a friend took that accomplished that goal; they were stunning! Let's back up! Several months ago, My friend Stuart and I decided to do the Shiminami Bike Tour. This is a very well-known bike route that goes along the Japanese coast. Given my desire to take time to photograph, we decided to spend six nights and seven days doing this trip. We returned from that trip several days ago.  Ironically enough, the most climatic day started with rain. However, we decided to persevere and did the uphill route on our electric assist bikes to the top of the Kirosan Observation Point.  The weather at the top was very erratic: partially cloudy to very cloudy and everything in-between.  ...
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Tremendous Twee!

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  TREMENDOUS TWEE    Please see below for the Japanese translation! I do not think I will ever get tired of photographing Mt. Fuji. These were taken during a picture-perfect day trip last December with friends visiting from Eugene. What a treat!  Speaking of treats, I have discovered what is probably the most powerful teaching tool I have ever used. Welcome to the world of Twee! I recently discovered a wonderful English language teaching tool that is a component of the TOEFL test.  The student is given a sentence with the word order changed. The student needs to put those words into the correct order. This is a fabulous tool for helping students learn sentence structure, grammar, and vocabulary. I then contacted Perplexity, my AI source, and asked where I could find a web site that offers this tool. And so began my love affair with Twee! Twee is an unbelievable AI-driven site that offers close to 50 tools that can be used to build all the key English language sk...
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