Mom and Koya

Mom and I spent a day at Mt. Koya, a famous national heritage spot near our home. It takes about 40 minutes to drive up the mountain, at the top of which are many temples, shrines, and a famous cemetery. About 1000 years ago a Buddhist monk moved there and established his own religion, around which the area grew and prospered. In my town there are many who still follow the religion, and it is still a thriving little Buddhist retreat, full of history and the spirits of the ancients.

Enjoy the photos from our trip up there!

A gravestone dedicated to Navy deaths.

In front of the entrance to one of the more famous shrines there.

Some of the oldest gravestones around, so covered in moss you could hardly see them.

Here's the entrance to the main shrine we visited. Koya is especially beautiful at this time of the year when the maple leaves are turning red and orange, my favorite time to visit.

Some of the little jizo all dressed up in their aprons. It seemed they recently got new clothes cause all the aprons looked in pretty good condition.

An ancient family final resting place, some of these were so old they were roped off due to gravestones falling over, making it dangerous to go near.

A procession of monks in training for priesthood.

Some senior monks in their normal attire.

Mom reading one of the signs. Sometimes it was easier to read the Japanese signs and try to translate them then to try and translate the English signs.

Mom and the Bebe..

Washing her hands in some holy water..

We bought an obento on the way up, and decided to eat at this bench, grandma fed the bebe for me..

But about 5 minutes after sitting down we were besieged by a group of tourists who had come from Kyoto. They decided to take their smoking break right in front of us, sort of ruining our lunch time.A particularly beautiful walkway surrounded by koya-trees, or momiji, not exactly sure which.

Mom and the bebe under the lovely trees.

We found this little god-statue stuck in the rocks, with a small tin bowl at its feet for donations.

Mom checking out some gravestones. She was very impressed with the feel of age at the cemetery.

The lake below is full of big fat ugly koi, they were fun to toss bread crumbs at.

Jordan having a breather on the mossy grass.

Mom went off to look at some gravestones, and was gone so long I started to worry that she'd gotten lost, or snatched, or something--you know how it is with graves and cemeteries and disappearing people, but she finally came back, phew! What would I have told Dave??

And so we ended our lovely day up in the mountains, and came home to have dinner with some of my friends who live in the area.

Two weeks with Grandma!

Grandma decided to make the long trip over from California and spend a couple weeks with us, and we were more than happy to have her! She survived the stay with us, but we were so sad that she got quite sick when she got back home. She's up and better now, but we promised that from now on it will be us making the long journey to see her!

We did lots of stuff while she was here, sushi, game center, window shopping, the park, a dance rehearsal, and slower stuff like house-cleaning, crafts, walks, lunch out. We wish Grandma were closer so we could see her more often and we miss her terribly!

Grandma, Chester and the girls at a local Chrysanthumum display. Chester and Grandma hit it off really well, she took him under her charge while she was here, cleaning up poop, going for doggy walks, he even slept in her bed a few times.

We discovered that Grandma loves hanging laundry out on sunny days! Lucky for me, less housework to do--yeah! She even ironed a few of Art's shirts, lucky for him!

We also discovered that Grandma hates taking pictures, and she tried hard to hide whenever she felt a photo coming on.

She tried out a Japanese massage chair at a local game center where we had a birthday party for a friend.
Grandma trying to get Chester to walk on a leash, we still haven't gotten him to do it, the little chicken.
Grandma and the kids at a dance show the girls put on, aren't they lovely! All of them!
Grandma and I spent a day in downtown Osaka, here she is on the train, sitting on the specials seats reserved for the invalid or handicapped--oh yes, and for people with babies! As you can see, she has Jordan with her.
Me and my Mom..
We found out that this year's tree fashion tended towards black, the tree behind us had black ornaments, but we found several trees that were actually black themselves--strange! A sort of Nightmare Before Christmas feel.
We took Grandma out to sushi, we found out that she is like me, she doesn't really like sushi. I can't stand raw fish, or shrimp, or urchins, or crab brains..
Grandma trying to hide from the camera!
Since it was near Christmas, we took some nice pictures..
Here we are again, 3 generations..
And finally we had to take Grandma to the airport and say goodbye, never ever an easy thing to do despite how much practice we've had at it.
Thanks Grandma for making the trip over here, leaving your hunny and puppies for a couple weeks to spend time with us. It will always be a good memory in our hearts! (How mushy was that!!??--believe me, i can do worse!)