Lazy Ass 2011

On my days off last year while recuperating from the operation, M and I spent a lot of days hiking around the area. One day we went to Kita-Kamakura, where we dropped in on Enkakuji, and the temple grounds were ablaze in autumn colors. We hiked over the mountains from there all the way to the Daibutsu (the crowds were a shock after the deserted trail).

I don't know what it is about a new year, but every January I find it extremely hard to get back into posting, even though I want to do it. I feel like I should be trying to do something new, and I have no ideas, except that I don't want to Twitter.

So much happened between early November and now that I've forgotten much. Though I do remember a few stories from the year-end parties and the beginning-of-the-year get-togethers:

Shirley MacLaine used to rent a house in the next village.

One of Marina's school friend's dads in his 30s passed away from a brain aneurism while attending his kid's judo match, leaving his wife with five kids under 10 years old.

A few years ago in a little cove on the other end of our village, a construction crew unearthed a climbing kiln from the Kamakura-era (1185–1333) that had been used to fire roof tiles. They would ship the finished product down the coast, where the tiles were used on a famous temple. The property owners had the crew tear it up, filled it in, and built a few ugly houses in its place.

And there's a place just down the coast where sea turtles come on the beach to lay their eggs. This year I'm determined to go wait overnight to see them hatch.

I've spent the last two weekends building a deck, but progress has been halted thanks to dull and broken drill bits. I decided to use Ipe wood, since it's about the densest wood you can get and I wanted something that would stand up to the salt and wind. It's not only extremely heavy, but impossible to burn. I finally found a drill that was cheap and stayed sharp--it was meant for plastic--but after 100 or so holes, it also bit the dust. So I'm on a hiatus until next weekend.

M gave me a 200mm lens for my camera, so I can basically hang out the window and blast away at

Mt. Fuji, which never ceases to awe, despite the fact that we see it every day in the winter.

The Izu Peninsula, across the bay

Tateishi, the "standing rock." I finally saw a postcard featuring the Hiroshige print, and it looks exactly the same as it does today. It even shows our beach, and a row of thatched-roof houses right where our house is now.

And the herons, seagulls and cormorants swarming the beach in front of the house--all sharing the same breakfast of baby sardines. I'm usually gulping breakfast about this time, as the sun just starts to light the water.