Haiku--- to continue the eastern theme


Across sandy beach
Bird shadow moves, detach-ed.
Then meets bird: itself.


Lightning strikes! Booming
thunder rolling east to west.
Who is this in bed?


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Title "HANA" "Flower"

Haruno urarano Sumidagawa Nobori kudarino funabitoga Kaino shizukumo hanato chiru Nagamewo nanini tatoubeki	The Sumida River in the warm spring weather; Boats go up and down the stream; Water drops are splashed from the oars; What can one compare the beautiful scene to?
Mizuya akebono tsuyu abite Wareni monoiu sakuragiwo Mizuya yuugure tewonobete Ware sashimaneku aoyagiwo	Can't you see the cherry trees That speak to you, with dews at dawn? Can't you see the willow trees That invite you with their hands stretched, in the dusk?

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Wayback machine dialed to 1962(?) Kunihiko Makita (Foreign Exchange Student) and
I sang a Japanese song he taught me, as a duet for some assembly or something
- (I need some help remembering this). Only a tune and a few words were left in
my brain, and asked Kuni, now in Singapore, who emailed me these lyrics. He said
he had to look them up too, so I didn't feel as bad. I remember it as "Haru-no".
It's the kind of nature poem where you can see and feel the river and the setting.
It reminds of Merry's trip to Tanaguchi Gardens, in some city in Texas .

Update: Kuni sent me the score, and I converted it to MIDI, so you can play it Here.
Also, The orange icon above says "MAKITA" and was from a glass stamp that I got
from Kuni way back when.

I am trying out a new way of hosting my blog.
What do you think?

Last week a friend was visiting from NY and we went to Hamilton Pool to swim. It is way out in the country, a long drive. After we got there we found out we could not swim, bacteria count too high. But we got to sit by this beautiful spring fed pool.This was my first visit and I want to go back when I can swim.On the way home I stooped to buy a bottle of water at Bert and Ernie's, the little country beer store closest to the park. As I left, two Texas ranchers parked their two big white dusty pickup trucks and were approaching the door. Conversation went something like this:
"Today's a hot one?"
"Yep, looks like a long hot summer."
"Yep."

This is a wonderful photo essay on the Japanese garden in Zilker Park, Austin. Tanaguchi Gardens

Well, I guess I'm back. With some coaxing from my siblings. However, in my recent move, I have lost the tiny piece of paper which told me how to post pictures and do other cool things on my blog. I just spent a couple of hours sorting through my desk and trying to create some order. But still no luck finding my crib sheet. I need a good source of info on how to blog. Can any one out there help?