Snow, snow, and more snow...

Again, we've been hit with more snow, and the temperatures ahead are not suggesting warm weather enough to melt this stuff away. So what is there to do on a day like this??? So far, I've

1.) thrown the cat outside to get a photo of her in the snow. She hated it!

2.) I've eaten two breakfasts!

There's always the never ending duties of house cleaning, but now it is impossible as the cat has decided to burrow in for a nap on my lap for the afternoon.

Maybe I should take a hint.

A Japanese New Year

Only having seen Taiko drumming on the telly for a 2 second bit in a car commercial, my curiosity was peaked. So it was incredible coincedence (and fortune) to stumble upon finding out about the free performance at the annual Mochisuki Festival for the Japanese New Year.Words cannot describe the excitement and exhilaration that courses through your entire being as drummers move their bodies into each powerful swing. It feels like a symphony of thunder, with each crack causing you to hold you breath. And when all goes quiet, all you can mouth in amazement is "Whoa", like Keanu Reeves. Not Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure "Whoa". More like the Matrix, "Whoa", when jumping tall buildings.

Not only was this a treat for the ears, but also for the belly, eyes, and spirit. This beautiful tradition of making mochi was held on Bainbridge Island amidst nature's setting. It was explained that the Shinto believe each grain of sweet rice represented an ancestor's spirit. Pounding the rice was to join the spirits and a time to self reflect on the previous year. Once a rice cake was completed it was offered to the Gods on behalf of what it represented ~ Community.

Unable to get close enough to take photos of the "striking" of the sweet rice or of the rice cakes, (Since I tend to think with my belly and not my head, I gobbled my rice cake before taking a pic crossed my mind.) These last 2 photos were found on a couple of websites. Hope it's okay to share.

All I needed to learn, I learned from a dog

On our holiday quest to find places that were open on New Year's Day, we discovered that many places had not closed. So there wasn't much of a need to log any of these places for next year's "Where the heck are we going on New Year's Day?" list. In fact, I bet this is the busiest day for most restaurants that open to serve breakfast for all of those liquor disabled folk. (But a big boohoo for the liquor disabled employees.)

Well, in honor of New Year's Day and making resolutions, it was watching this doggy, happily chewing on his yellow, beat up ball, inviting all passersby to give him a pat on the head, that inspired my only resolution...

"Simply...Be Content"