Dog Festa

With Ohanami 2 weeks behind us it's time for another event. It has been a year since we made our exploratory visit to Japan to decide whether or not to live here. On that exploratory visit last April, we witnessed some kind of celebration of dogs which I briefly described in my first blog. Well, I now know what that celebration is and it's happening this weekend. It is called..........




I definitely plan to go with my camera and hope to add to my photo collection of well-dressed dogs.

The local dog store had quite a display out in preparation for this Saturday. This is a two floor store dedicated to animal fashion and seems to be doing a booming business.





Outfits range in the 30 to 60 dollar range and up. Strollers can go as much as 300 to 400 hundred dollars.


And my favorite........


A ventilated sling to keep your dog comfortable while being carried around. Anyhow, I'll be there Saturday and will have more to share next week.
Ja Mata,
Gary


x

Ohanami II

Just a final followup on a wonderful holiday celebration. The cherry blossoms are starting to fall and the celebration from last weekend is winding down, but I have a few pictures that I wanted to share. When I first talked about Ohanami, the celebration of sakura (cherry blossoms), I described people picnicking under cherry trees. So, let me show you.


This was taken Sunday (4/01) afternoon from our balcony.



Quite the busy day for our quiet park.

Obviously people were taking lots of pictures......

And even artists were enjoying and trying to capture the beautiful views.


A final parting shot of a beautiful scene made even more so by its fleeting nature.

The cherry blossoms come and go so quickly and are so beautiful. It is easy to understand why people take time to appreciate that beauty. I remember autumn and the turning of the leaves in East Aurora (New York) and how transitory and beautiful the fall colors were. The important thing is to try to take a little time from our lives to appreciate the beautiful things that nature has to offer.
Ja mata