The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond

So, off I go for a northern adventure. It is a race against time as it is already late October and snow will soon cover the uplands. You know how it goes. I will get stuck in some lonesome canyon. The snow covers the truck and I am found next Spring.

Things do not start well. I recharge the camera’s battery. The battery compartment is closed by a flap that hinges on two small plastic spigots. I manage to break these spigots. The battery flops around in the compartment, no contact is made to the camera’s vast electronic brain. The camera is useless.

James is good at fixing things. He straps the flap down with industrial duct tape. This seems to work.

I drive to Colusa and check out the wetlands. Lots of birds, especially White Fronted Geese.

No Snow Geese.

However, it is very hard to photograph. The tape does not hold up the battery flap firmly enough and I have to press it up with my thumb.  However it is touch and go. The connection is often lost and the best photos escape. Very frustrating.

Peaceful night in the Colusa campground. Back in the camper!

My phone rings. It is a friend from Okinawa on a Line video chat. She is looking for something in my apartment and we are able to track it down using video. One moment I am in a lonely North Californian camp site, the next I am walking around my place in Okinawa. Great image quality, no sound lag and it is free. I do not understand.

Up early and back to the Colusa Wetlands Nature Reserve.

I then zoom up to the Sacramento Wildlife Reserve. On the drive I spot a skein of Snow Geese flying alongside. Hooray! Maybe the first of the year.,

I potter around the reserve, there is so much to see. I curse all Nikon battery compartment flaps.

I then head for Lassen Volcanic State Park. I had been here before but it was closed. 20 feet of snow. This time I check the website before setting off.  The Park is snow free. All has changed when I get there. It has snowed for 2 days and accordingly all roads in the park are closed. Rats.

A touch downhearted, I head North towards Lower Klamath Wildlife Reserve. Bald Eagles!  As the afternoon advances, the weather worsens. I find a campsite by a lonesome, lonesome lake in the hills. It is cold, getting dark, there is snow on the ground.

Just after I pop up the camper roof, rain pours down and wind howls through the trees. It is grim. I only have a soggy tuna sandwich.

Basta! I head to Redding to get a  warm, motel room. It is a long drive in the dark and driving rain. The Tacoma’s headlights are very weak.

It is dreadful. I go to 7 motels, all full,  before I find one with a massively overpriced room. I am helped by a young lady who refers to me as “Old Timer.” The motels are all on different sides of the Freeway, necessitating endless complex navigation in the dark that often goes wrong. Not fun.

I head North  the next morning. Crater Lake Oregon is my target.  I am driving North in driving rain and it is only going to get worse. I check the weather – heavy rain turning to snow.  Oh dear. I give up. I am just too late. I will have to wait for Spring to savour Crater Lake.

I head for the coast where the weather is supposed to be better.

It pours as I make my way through hundreds of miles of Redwood forest. Very scenic, very deserted, very wet, lots of deer.

I spend the night near place called Legget.

There is nothing to see really. The cloud covers the tops of the trees and the sea is hidden by mist.

I head home. I see a nice Anna’s Hummingbird at a gas station.

I am afraid I mistimed my trip. A few days earlier and it would have been sunshine and blue skies but things change rapidly in them, there hills.

There is something very pleasing about settling in. My room has been communal for the last 10 months, housemates using it for study, reflection, playing with the cat etc. I move stuff out and restart the room with my preferred settings. I feel a bit doggy; turning round and round in my basket until it is just right.

The window panes are filthy. Luckily James has a extendable pole thing and he lashes together a perfect high window cleaning device.

Beautifully clean windows allowing me to sit on my couch and watch the world go by in the Panhandle Park.

James has just come back from a week long adventure in the truck. We take her to the local carwash for her annual shampoo and set.

I go to Apple store on Chestnut to get a new iPad. These places are normally packed, not today, there is hardly anyone there.

On the way home, I get off the bus a few stops early so I can walk by the “Painted Ladies.”

James takes me to the sailing jacket shop to buy a sailing jacket. It turned out that my previous jacket did not keep out the rain at all even though it looked like it did. Impossible to get a replacement in Japan because I am grossly fat and generally big. Not the case here. I have a wide choice of suitable coats. Hooray!

A friend drops me off at the airport

“See you in 5 months.” I say.

” What do you mean 5 months? You will be away for 7 nearly 8 months!”

October 12 2021 to 10 May 2022. She is right. I had always told myself and indeed everyone else that I would be gone for 5 months. Where did I get that number from? 7/8 months seems, well actually is, a much longer time. Oh well.

The trip is fantastically easy. I had been dreading all kinds of Covid related hassle but there was none. Checking in at Naha, the wonderfully polite ground staff says, “Could I see your PCR test please?” That was all for the whole trip. Perfect flights, only slightly jaded by the fact that they stopped serving alcohol in the ANA lounge in Haneda at 8:00 pm. I got there at 8:10 pm.

I slept all the way to San Francisco. The airport is deserted. I leave my seat, walk to immigration, no line, the guy smiles and says”Welcome home sir.”

My bag is the first to appear and 15 minutes after getting off the plane, I am standing outside. No PCR check, nothing about self isolation.

Yay 7/8 months of adventures ahead!

I have done some consultancy work and receive a nice chunk of cash. I determine to spend it on the finest food and wines for a farewell, farewell dinner. I am off to California in a couple of days and will not return for 5 months.

First to Hanada san’s amazing wine shop. She is so sweet. She gives me a Furoshiki and a very tender card.

Arisa and I go down to the Itoman fish market to stock up. Best sashimi and truly unbelievable fish soup. The latter is more like a stew and consists of a lot of fish bones and crab shells.

A main reason for enjoying these dinners so much is that I can use the beautiful silver cutlery that I used as very little boy and indeed my mother used when she was a little girl etc. etc.

We foregather and drink very rare champagne style sake.

Next comes octopus coctel. This is a Mexican dish that cannot be beat.

Onto the Foie Gras, which Arisa san cooks to perfection.

We are all getting very full but are driven to continue.

Completely over the top. I will only eat lightly boiled eggs and drink water for the next week.

What a wonderful evening. Thanks to Tim and Mary for the cake, thanks to Izumi sensei for the great wine, thanks to Ichiro san for the beautiful pears, thanks to Arisa san and Tomomi san for their support and expertise.

But in the end, is there any greater pleasure than sitting around a well furnished table with good friends and laughing?

Farewell, farewell.

Thanks to Tomomi san for most of the photos.

Off we go into the night to seek the Yanbaru Kuina, with our tummies full of fabulous food and drink, except noble Ichiro san who is driving. So the deal is that the Yanburu Kuina is a very rare bird that skulks around the undergrowth in the hundreds of square miles of the forest of Yanbaru, which is the totally northern part of the island. The chances of seeing one are low as there are hundreds of square miles of forest but very few birds. However we have a secret weapon – Ichiro san! Not only is he a fine painter but is also a first class ornithologist. We drive along slowly, shining flashlights into the trees.

Within 5 minutes Ichiro san sees one! It is in a perfect spot at the end of a branch with no brush in front. We have an excellent view. The Kuina clamber up into trees to sleep. They are scared of Habus, highly venomous snakes that slide and slither around at night.

We keep driving and soon see a baby Scops Owl.

The Milky Way fills the sky or so I am told. I forgot to bring my glasses.

We saw lots of other good stuff but I am still struggling with the new lens and did not get any good photos.

Next day we resume the fun at 6:00 am. Again, we soon see a rail looking for earthworms by the side of the road. I screw up the photography. We go up to a headland to watch the dawn.

We go to a beach.

Back to the hotel, outside of which there is a tree covered with flaming blossom. The blossom are covered with butterflies.

Thanks Ichiro san for guiding us. Such a great trip!

Just to round things up, here is what we ate on the way home.

Click twice on all the photos!

Arisa and I go up to Yanbaru for another Okinawa Rail spotting adventure. Before setting off into the raucous night of the sub tropical forest, we have a truly outstanding meal.

I have to underline that we are totally in the boondocks. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ada,+Kunigami,+Kunigami+District,+Okinawa+905-1503/@26.7557938,128.2617698,19090m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x34e46a9e2f6483c9:0xbd3c293dc0e9f349!8m2!3d26.7505893!4d128.2849463

We are in Ichiro san ‘s house in Ada.

Tomomi san has prepared her own version of Civet de Chevreuil; venison, prunes, onion, red wine and the ingredients that I have forgotten, cooked all day. It is a masterpiece!

To go along with, this she produces a Gratin de Marrons au Canard et Oignons; again her own recipe.

We start by drinking sake that Arisa has brought from her hometown of Imari, a haut lieu for sake. Look it up on Google maps.

Ichiro san has just got back from counting Hawk Eagles in Kumamoto. He brings back bags of chestnuts and amazing pods that grow on vines deep in the forest. They are called Akebi. These he stuffs with minced pork and mushrooms. Unique dish!

Desert is marrons glaces, again handmade by Tomomi san.

We finish with beautiful grapes from Arisa’s hometown – Imari. They are called Shine Muscat. Her Mum sent them across. Japanese eat fruit differently from we Westerners. The way it looks is probably equally important as they way it tastes, er, I think.

I am old but this was one of the finest meals ever! The pleasure was heightened by the uniqueness of the setting.

Thank you Ichiro san, Tomomi san and Arisa san!

We then wildly launch ourselves into the night to see what we can see.

I am fairly good at housework but I am not meticulous, tiles in the bathroom get dirty, grunge gathers in corners, the floors get grimy, the tatami mats gather dust. You get the idea.

I contact a house cleaning agency and a couple of days later, the wonderful Ai san shows up. She bustles me out and tells me to come back 4 hours later. What to do for 4 hours? Take photos of birds of course.

Such a good morning as there are lots of birds on the triangular pond again. The new lens is excellent.

I get back to a different apartment, it is spotlessly clean and sparkling. So uplifting; thank you Ai san.

To overflow the cup, Ginowan City sends me a book of vouchers that I can use to buy stuff in local small businesses. The idea is to stimulate the local economy post Corona, as Covid is known here. I hope Hanada san’s wine shop takes them.

Tomorrow, all Corona restrictions are lifted in Okinawa. This means we can drink in restaurants and have parties at home. Hooray!

Not much to report really, mainly dentistry and sailing.

Former colleague, Natori san, who now works for Medecins sans Frontieres in Tokyo, sorry can’t find accents.comes back for a visit. We go for a very bracing sail.

The weather is perfect, blue skies, er, blue sea, 30 degrees. However perhaps too much wind, gusting to 15/16 knots and the seas, although blue, are broken. I am concerned that this might be a bit much for Natori san as this was to be her first ever sail. Is it a good idea to go out?

It was a dramatic sail, rough water, high speeds, plenty of heeling with the combing very close to the water. I need not have worried. She took to it like a duck to water. In fact all the Japanese women I know are intrepid sailors. Well done Natori san!

The next day Arisa and I go for lunch in a Mexican restaurant that is about 5 mins walk from our respective apartment buildings. Very handy thing to have.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Taco+Maria/@26.2878466,127.7527262,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipO7udtER-68fVnrt9fNpXGRwx17SjHn_iyibXcd!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipO7udtER-68fVnrt9fNpXGRwx17SjHn_iyibXcd%3Dw408-h306-k-no!7i4032!8i3024!4m5!3m4!1s0x34e5135c8792c325:0xe0ff5ced6262acd7!8m2!3d26.2874967!4d127.752926

Not the real thing but a lot of fun. Arisa is the best in all things.

Let’s switch to dentistry. Monday, I go to have the semi permanent crown put on my implants. Great fun as always; they take the best X-rays.

I will be leaving Okinawa for 5 months soon. The final, permanent, crown will be welded on when I get back. It is a long business.

Today, I went to the other dentist to have what I thought was to be the final stage of months of root canal work, the welding on of the permanent crown.

In France and the U.S. my crowns were glued on after maybe 15 mins of adjustment. It is not like that here. It took 2 hours of repositioning, fine tuning until they were finally satisfied. Amazingly scrupulous.

The nurse places colored paper between the crown and the upper teeth. “Tap, tap, tap.” then grind, which in Japanese is “Giri, girl, girl.” They must have done this 50 times. They take delicate grinders to the crown and the crown seat so many times. I feel like saying, “You know, I think that will be OK.” but they have such high professional standards. By the way, this is State medicine. I pay next to nothing.

Anyway they finally glue on the crown but, thanks Google translate, explain that this temporary glue. They want me to spend some time with my crown to see if we, you know, bond. I have to go back next week to get a dose of permanent adhesive if my crown and I have not fallen out. State medicine.

Sunday 19 September – what a beautiful day! The sky is a clear blue, the sea is, well you know, blue too. It is 30 degrees.

The only glitch is too little wind to sail meaningfully. I generally clean up the boat and chew the fat with Kiyuna san, who gives me another silk kimono belt, which I have learned are called Obi. Again this new Obi features Tsuru. It also has motifs of pine trees, bamboo flowers and cherry blossom. Pine trees and bamboo represent longevity, he explains, and sakura is, as you know, drenched in symbolism.

It is very hot, non sequitur coming up, so I decide to drive North to the paddy fields of Kin to practice with my new lens. There are tons of birds for the first time in ages.

There are lots of waders, which I fail miserably to photograph. I have to learn how to use the new lens to its full potential.

There are also loads of Whiskered Terns but they are feeding above the taro crop and very hard to photograph. I stick to Egrets whom sit more or less still.

It gets dark as I drive home. Looking to the West, there is the most remarkable sunset. Looking to the East, the Harvest Moon is rising in the darkening sky. So good.

A little more wind please.

I love tempura but have never been able to cook it successfully. My attempts have always been soggy as opposed to crisp. So disappointing. I have suspected that the oil is never hot enough.

On a recent boat picnic, a friend produces absolutely perfect deep fried batter chicken drumsticks. She explains that you can get specialized tempura pans that have a thermometer so you never drop stuff in until the oil is perfectly hot.

Amazon and then a couple of days later my tempura pot arrives.

It works so well! I tempura all my meals. Tempura mushrooms, cauliflower, fish, chicken, prawns, spam. Such fun.

Last night I did deep fried chicken, not really tempura, and salad.

Everyone should have one.