Wednesday in Japan... the boar

I was born in the year of the Boar,
I love them always have.
In the Sonoran Desert we have Javelinas. They look like Boars but they are
Collared Peccaries (related to the Hippopotamus, woohoo)

They are my people my tribe.
I love them. 


 Here is a Javelina in my yard

And here is a very tiny Japanese boar that son found for me on his trips.
It is a phone charm so very tiny and so kawaii !

He also brought back a temple charm with a boar embroidered on it.

.........................
Here is your pretty for Wednesday
The Texas Sage/Rangers are blooming all over Tucson.
July during the monsoons is their month.
Three different shades of lavender to purple.

These three photos are from my front yard.

Neighbors

 By the gas station
Again picasa had dulled the colors. These plants are intensely colored.

update
I might be somewhat sporadic in my posting and commenting  for the next few days.
I am getting used to two new meds that make me nauseous, fatigued and my brain
(what is left of it) hurt.
yert !

javelina. . . parsnip
music. . . Look After You. .  The Fray

parley view parsnip... reflections

Yea ! Blogger and Picasa are fighting again so I am posting from Picasa web album, so my post will be some what wonkie.  Much like me !

I love the reflection of the monsoon season weather in my pool and windows.

                                        Sunrise from my bedroom window.

                                                        Sunset storm clouds.

                                                    Evening clouds looking west.

 

Afternoon clouds.

           The blue sky reflected in the pool. The pool color changes through out the day.

                                            I love this M.C. Escher effect.

                                          It looks like my pool is in the living room.

                                                     Or I am inside looking out.

                                                       This one is a favorite.



And here is your Monday pretty...
But not a reflection.
I love when the clouds leave these great shadows as they move across the valley.

cloudy. . . parsnip
music. . . Beautiful Day. . . U2

Saturday afternoon at 2:45

Afternoon monsoon storm.
South of my home across the valley to the Santa Rita Mountains
The sky north of the valley, where my home is, is bright blue with fluffy white clouds.
Summer monsoons in Tucson.



stormy. . . parsnip
music. . . Heavy Cloud No Rain,  Sting

Square Dog Friday... a plethora of puppies

Well it's that day of the week already.
Best day of the week if your a Square Dog.
It is in their contract along with the certain amount of chicken strips.
So lets woof it !
yert !

Daughters dogs are vacationing at my home for a week.
So I now have a plethora of puppies running around.


Trying to get them all in the same photo is like herding cats.
But I love this photo. It is exactly their personalities.

Waldie is looking the opposite direction being a princess asking "why am I here" ?
Watson is being a good old dog and sitting quiet.
thehamish is thinking mineminemineminemineminemie my toy ! now !
Truffles is standing still for one second thinking is that toy food ?

Breakfast jail.
Waldie and Truffles eat really fast. 1.0 nano seconds.
I feed them in their bedroom and by the time I can close the door to the kitchen,
they are done and looking for more food.
They are on a special diet and can eat only that food.
Dr. Watson rarely eats breakfast but thehamish need to eat  a certain amount of food
so I can give him his insulin shot, pills and eye drops.

So Waldie and Truffles are in breakfast and later dinner jail
till Watson and thehamish finish their food.

The breeze was blowing and lifted Waldie long ears.
When I see this photo the song " The Wind Beneath My Wings" plays in my head.
And I envision him being lifted and floating around the yard.

What a sweet baboo gud duggie Truffles is.
I still can't believe some idiot threw this lovely dog out the door of their car and took off.
Her back was injured when she was flung out and hit the pavement.
She wags her tail constanly and has such a big smile. All she want to do is sit by someone who will pet her and tell her what a beautiful booboo kitty doggie she is !

Meanewhile The Princess Waldie  as I call him,
is such a little coffee bean all curled up and napping the day away.
He is a fabulous napper.

thehamish who never misses a chance to get some attention,
snuggled on to Waldie's blanket.
I love the look of doom blazing from Waldie's eyes,
lighting blots of fire and damnation !
Run thehamish run run away now !

Dr. Watson enjoys all the cousins
but at his age napping takes up a good part of his day.

...................

and just because I can
here is your pretty for the weekend.

Early morning sunrise

taken through my bedroom windows with my phone.

the colors here are so dull compared to how intense they were.
Picasa alway dulls the colors down when I post.  I can't figure out why ?
But it is frustrating.

sunrise. . . parsnip
music. . . Catch Us If You Can,  Dave Clark Five

extra extra extra post. . .

When I woke up this morning this is what I saw from my bedroom window.
Temperature at 84, blue skies, fluffy white clouds = a lovely morning in Tucson
during the monsoon season. It will only be around 100 today Woohoo !
Beautiful !

Photo from Monday's post, the two views of and from my bedroom.

lucky . . . parsnip
music. . . I'm From The Country,  Tracy Byrd

Wednesday in Japan... packaging

My Wednesday post about life in Japan.
If you have read this blog for any length of time you know my love of Japanese packaging. From the quirky and fun to the sublime.



Gift wrapping from the Ghibli Shop at the Nishinomiya Gardens.
If you have seen the movie "Totoro" there is one part where Totoro gives the two sister a gift of seeds wrapped up in a leaf.
The shop has taken and idea from the movie and designed a reusable wrap.
Even the everyday paper and plastic bags witch I forgot to include are also wonderful.

Yes, Please !

Crackers from my wonderful DIL's Mum !
Soft off white designs on a plain white box.
Beautiful !
All the information, blah blah blah is on a slip of paper inside the box.
Needless to say this box will be reused for a gift.

Tiny bite size crackers about the size of a quarter.
The rose color one is umeboshi (pickled ume, plum) dried soy bean, pepper, soy glazed, sweet glazed one and my favorite a dried shrimp one.

On my last visit I saw this display of small mochi sweets.
I wanted to buy all of them but only picked the small boxed one.

I could not resist

 what a hoot !

the little bite sized mochi.
Kawaii !

...................

Here is your Wednesday pretty for the day.

Baby quail following their Mum.
When you first see the babies they are about the size of you knuckle to the tip of a thumb.
Little brown pebbles scurrying after their Mum, Dad brings up the rear !

 and here is the cottontail from the other post heading for the water dish,
under the sweet orange tree.


ume. . . parsnip
music. . . The Wind Forest, OST My Neighbor Totoro

parley view parsnip. . . monsoon clouds

My Monday post about what is going on around my home in Tucson.
.
Early morning storm blew in, not the norm for this time of year.
The usual monsoon day starts with sunny blue sky and fluffy white clouds appearing over the mountains lazily floating over the valley.  As the morning turns into afternoon, thunderhead clouds start building up till the typical fast moving rainstorms appear.


Morning rain on the pool.
Just had the paloverde tree cut down that was left of the tiny pool house.
As much as I don't like cutting down any trees on my property, this tree was badly trimmed by the former owners and had become a danger in the strong winds that zoom through this area.

and the fountain in the front yard.

An hour later the storm was gone,
sunshine, blue sky and fluffy clouds moved in.

In the pool for my exercise between the storms.
Gud old dug Dr. Watson keeps me company while laying in the hot sun.
It must feel so good on his old bones.

Beautiful clouds

reflected in my bedroom windows.
This room looks north over the pool to the Catalina Mountains.

ummmmm yes, I am in the pool watching the clouds float by.

The clouds building up over the Catalina mountains,

reflected in the living room windows.

Here is another view 

reflected here

and here again, in the living room windows.

The weather has been somewhat cooler just under 100 so it has been quite lovely.
A real treat for us desert dwellers.

............................

And here is your pretty to start the week

A Paloverde seeding growing in my garden.

cloudy. . . parsnip
music. . . Rainy Night In Georgia,  Brook Benton