Flowers to sooth the soul...

This very attractive flower is called Edgeworthia Chrysantha...

Was collecting wood for our stove when it caught my eye...

In Japanese, it is simply called 'Mitsu mata' for the simple fact that the branches almost always split out into threes...

Native to south China...

The Japanese apparently use their bark to make paper...

Our mimosa plants are flowering...

The ball-like flowers are very tricky to photograph...

The bees love them so there must be some nectar in those little balls...

Wifey likes this hyacinth plant...

Native to the Mediteranean area...

The blue is so, blue...

We have some 'native' oxalis plants growing in potager...

But my missus bought this specimen from the store...

Quite pretty, and the blooms curl up after they are done flowering... 

And this specie does not spread wildly like the other species...

The muscari in our potager is rather stunted, but very cute all the same, especially the bottomest blooms...

The combination of sparkling blue with a dash of white... wooh, lovely...

Also called grape hycinth...

Native to Eurasia...

Attended a 'thank you' party organized by a graduating class of nurses...

And received a bouquet of flowers...

Thought I'd record this pretty garbera flower before it wilts away...

And why not this white one as well, I thought...

Aren't you amazed at how perfectly shaped these flowers are?

Potager update for mid-march...

Gentle rains continue to fall in the garden...
The sun has yet to appear, and it feels cozy to be at home...
And yes, to be able to spend a tranquil morning at home with the one you love...
Oh, isn't this simply the ultimate bliss of them all?

Meanwhile, we thank god for the privilege to be able to return home safely last week amidst all the commotion surrounding the earthquake...
Like most of the people the world over, we remain deeply concerned with the current happenings surrounding the disaster...

The Japanese have an interesting name to this specimen...
They call it 'Himalaya Yuki no Shita', literally, 'Under the Himalayan Snow'...
Did a check on the net and found that it goes by the scientific name 'Bergenia stracheyi'...
Hmm, I'd probably have difficulty trying to remember this name, so perhaps the Japanese name is more apt for my inclinations...

The winter daphne looks pretty even in the rain...
We have two large bushes of them and they smell so good...
They are native to Japan and China... 

A comet goldfish comes to the water surface in our pond...
They self-breed and currently, we have about 30 of them... 

Meanwhile, the fava beans in the potager are flowering...
This one is the 'wa-se' or 'early harvest' type...

 
The strawberries did not die on us even after being showered by frosts and snow...
Flowers are starting to appear... 

The self-seeding lettuce is growing fine...
Poppy plants, also self-seeding, keep them company... 

 I bought some green lettuce seeds from the store...
This type of lettuce is crunchy and is very popular with the Korean restaurants serving grilled beef...

The corianders are doing super fine...
We are really hooked by their fragrance...

Which brings us to the fried rice my sweeto haato dished up...
Urmm, the tiny little fish, small bite-size chicken meat, garlic, onions, carrots, black pepper, and yes, coriander as garnish... 

While our white Japanese plum flowered some time ago, the red one finally did...
The fruits from the white flowers are big and fleshy while the ones from the red plant are not so...  

Held up in LA waiting for first available flight home

Yours truly would like to thank all you kind folks who wrote in to sympathize, encourage, and console us in this difficult time…

It is really heart-wrenching for us particularly, being residents of Japan, to see such a terrible disaster unfolding as time passes by…

On a private level, we are thankful to god as we are not directly affected by the quake or tsunami…

Our home is in Kagawa prefecture, which is situated on the island of Shikoku, the southwest corner of the archipelago…

My mother in law and relatives are staying in Kanagawa prefecture, near Tokyo…

They felt strong tremors, had some glasses broken, experienced long hours of power cuts but are generally doing alright…

My missus and I are currently in Los Angeles…

We were due to fly back to Japan on the early hours of 12th March…

But our flight was cancelled because Haneda International Airport was closed…

This morning, we contacted All Nippon Airways (ANA) and managed to put our names as standby passengers in a series of flights from LA to Haneda International or Narita International Airport.

Imagine the number of fellow passengers who are in the same position, all equally eager and even desperate to return home…

The earliest confirmed flight that ANA found for us was a flight that departs LA at noontime of 15th March…

If we take this flight, we would reach our home in Takamatsu city at about noon time on 17th March…

We hope ANA can call us up for an earlier flight though…

Anyway, at this point of time, we would like to let our relatives and friends know that we are doing ok although I am feeling a bit fatigue…

(Note: this note is posted in both Potager Y as well as Kedahan-Malaysian in Japan)

In Florida now...

Am on the road now, so no post for the time being...
See On a mission in the US... after an absence of 25 years...