Seasons eatings

After putting whatever wasnt coming to Okinawa with me into a box and handing my case over to Finnair for repair, I had time for a quick bowl of noodles with seasonal mushrooms.

Pie in the sky

Items exclusively available at the airport, including Swiss rolls with a cloud pattern.

Captain electric mouse

Pokemon shop at Osaka airport.

Take me with you 2

Moomin bags at Osaka airport.

Take me with you

Moomin case at Osaka airport.

Kitty!

Hello Kitty being used to promote a pilgrimage tour. We also saw one dressed up in the livery of a local department store.

And bang

I was glad I had plenty of time at Kansai airport. I might have had time to make a connection to an earlier flight, but things happenned.

I picked up the phone. I asked about storing my case at one of the luggage storage and forwarding places, and it was possible to leave things there for two weeks which meant I didnt have to lug gifts and warm clothes arond Okinawa. It wasnt cheap, but I figured it would be worth it. I found a place selling folding bags and got a large holdall, then repacked what I needed into it.

Thats when I noticed that one of the feet on the side had been smashed right into the hard case.

The lady at the information desk called the Finnair office and one of them came down to look at the case. She noticed that two of the feet had been knocked in. So in the end, my stuff went into a cardboard box and into storage, and Finnair took my case away for sepair. I just had time to exchange my rail pasr and grab some lunch before geeting the flight.

HEL/KIX

Safely arrived at Osaka airport. Cases at baggage reclaim all had their handles carefully turned towards the outside of the belt for easy retreival.

Japan, I missed you!!

And one of my favourite drinks is still on sale too. :)

Kitty, kitty everywhere

I walked down to the shops at the other end of the out-of town shopping centre again, which seems to be a convenient way of getting a decent walk while doing something that needs to be done anyway.

Hello Kitty star drink. There were blue cans of Spongebob Squarepants bubbly drink too. Nice segregation, Aldi.

Kitty will keep you dry.

I first noticed "plant stem cells" in skincare over New Year when I was stuck at Gatwick waiting for a delayed flight and spent the time reading boxes in Boots. The first thing you learn in biology is that plant and animal cells are very different, so I'm somewhat baffled as to how plant stem cells are supposed to do anything at all to the skin on my face. (If you've read Ben Goldacre's excellent Bad Science, you'll know what I'm thinking.) But this may be taking things a step too far, especially the facial scrub.

New leaf, old leaf

After a number of phone calls and emails (my fault for getting things wrong on the application form) I am a card-carrying member of the Genetics Society!

I wound up work at the desk around 6:00 pm yesterday and headed out for a long walk to check out the local Aldi and pick up a few bits and pieces.

Haribo Smurfs at Aldi.

And traditional edelweiss shirts.

Frogs. Not the most interactive of pets.

Same goes for lizards.

The local garden centre sells cobblestones.

So much colour.

Even though a lot of the vegetables were gone, there was no reduction in the number and variety of plants.

I think these were a bit too purple for the mobile phone camera.

A half dozen little lavenders.

I hadn't noticed these before, but the garden centre also had maple trees.

They didn't look very healthy...

And the price tag was a lot more than the little one I got.

I thought these were cacti...

But they turned out to be Alpine plants! Very interesting.

Although I'd gone to the garden centre to get boxes and earth for my radishes, I decided against it. The seeds will keep until next year, and even if they don't they were just a few francs. I should concentrate on getting things right with the stuff I already have. I noticed little black flies in the soil and it seems like they're a sign of over-watering, so I held off over the past few days and the salad leaves are coming on like nobody's business. Neglect it is.

Ikea were selling off terracotta pots so I got half a dozen small ones - they seem to be sold out of the bigger one I wanted to use to repot the maple. I got a little stand for it and it's now outside my office window to cheer me up when I see it's lovely distinctive leaves.

Every forest begins with a single tree

Back from Dublin and had a great time celebrating Dad's birthday, catching up with him and Mom, and seeing friends.

The classic subversive housewife apron.

The obligatory Irish version of "Keep Calm and Carry On".

Not sure if this stuff ever existed outside Ireland - blast from the past found in the carvery of a local hotel when we went out for lunch.

Flash onto reflective plastic at night is not good for actually seeing anything, but this is a "look out for hedgehogs" poster at the local station.

I went to the large shopping centre at the other end of the industrial/commercial zone beside us yesterday to get a diary to use for gardening, as I seem to be accumulating more plants and actually keeping them alive. There's a massive multi-story Migros and I ended up going up to the top floor instead of down to the stationery and food floors. I was going to turn back when I realised I was in the sports section, but then saw the hobby section and wandered in there to see what they had. Then I spotted the gardening section and went to see if they had radish seeds as they were touted as easy to grow in the container gardening books I got delivered to Dublin. I stopped to admire some herbs in pots... and behind them I found something very familiar!

There were two trees from one supplier, in these shallow, wide pots, both of which were looking a little worse for wear, and four of different varieties from another supplier in more normal pots.

Never seen anything like this one before - green and pink leaves!

Gorgeous frond-like leaves. There was another like this one (photo didn't come out).

But the one I walked away with was this one - the leaf shape is just what I think of as quintessentially "maple". They were even on sale, as if my rubber arm needed more twisting... I got lots of friendly comments on it - really must start learning German seriously. -_-;

So, scouring forums and shops online for advice on what size of pot and type of soil to use for it, and will head out and get that later today and get it set up in a non-full-sun spot on the balcony. It will be a challenge since I've only just managed to sprout salad leaves and herbs, and keep adult plants alive, but it just makes me smile every time I see it.

Week in review

We headed out on Saturday to a shopping centre at the other end of the industrial area.

It was back-to-school time. Who better to hide your mistakes than Kitty?

Looks... totally not legit. But they did stock a funny-looking German/Swiss German version of Memory.

Swiss national day (1 August) approaches.

Doesn't look much like German, does it?

Patriotic hampers, I assume filled with Swiss goods.

Dawn & Simon came up on Sunday and we headed out to one of our favourite places, Miyuko's. Seen on the way, this sign claims there are no sharks in the river Limmat, but that you should still be careful about swimming. Very understated compared to Bern's giant octopus.

The unassuming outside of Miyuko's.

And our wonderful afternoon tea, served with Earl Grey, Chinese flower tea, and lemon and ginger tea.

Thinking of our friend Colm!

I finally planted my salad leaf seeds on Sunday night.

Went out for dinner with my OU friend Alison on Wednesday. This is our favourite quasi-Thai place's idea of a burger. (Not pictured, three dipping sauces and fried noodles.)

I forced myself to have dessert - black sesame and coconut ice cream!

I couldn't believe it on Thursday morning when I saw that my salad leaf seeds had sprouted! Here's the Osaka purple "mustard" and mizuna.

Swiss chard (has not sprouted yet) and mibuna.

Oriental greens and mild micro leaf mixes.

And mesclun and spicy micro leaf mixes!

Plus my Ikea herbs and chives.

And the large Korean mint is budding! It would be lovely if it got more flowers.