Bonsai on the Balcony and Man in Fog

I got such a sweet postcard in the mail the other day from David Stafford. Bonsai on Balcony refers to this particular balcony of course :-)) Spot on, David, it looks exactly like you imagined it.

The other side of the card is a story of Monkey Ladies and Kale Rooting Hormone. Kale rooting hormone which, as everyone knows, is an important component of radioactive pasta.

Oh yes, there was a day when I was a Sweet Pea. Then a Sweat Pee. And then just a P. I don't know how David knows all those things but this card got me all wiggy :-)) It must be time for my protein pills...

Mito Kairakuen - Part 3: Bento, tea and flowers

Time to sit down and have lunch with this bento box bought at the entrance of the garden. It's going to be Gyudon (beef bowl) today.

A few meters away, free beverage. I say beverage because I don't know exactly what it was. I've had it before and I almost spat it out because I expected tea but it was more like a salty sour seaweed broth. Not fab.

The free green tea stand. Ah, that's much better, thanks!

Those babies have just been watered, and yaay, we've found the bonsai shop!

So beautiful and very hard to resist. Bao Zhen and I both adopted one of those. Well, one of those at the bottom of the stand, younger and cheaper.

This is Broken on his first day back home. The plum tree's branches are so fragile, I had no idea and was careless, I admit.
Broken did produce very beautiful and fragrant blossoms, though, and he's doing well. One month later and he now has a few more friends to share the balcony with. You can follow their progress here.

Another tree shop.

See you in Part 4…