Blue Tamago

Well I did say that the 6th month would be the last in the Grow With Me series, but quite a bit has changed in the 7th month and I had to include it. For starters, Penguin has discovered that if he stands on things, his crow can travel further. So you will find him atop the compost bin, on the vegetable patch, on the table, on the chair, anywhere up high and crowing his little heart away. One of the biggest changes is that the two boys are constantly fighting! You can read what we came home to one day here . As the days went on though and we observed the two, we noticed that Buffy was often the one to initiate the fights. Looks like in this photo he came off second best. Penguin is the type just to defend himself, but when Buffy presents himself with this lion-look neck flare, Penguin retaliates. Both try to spur each other. Incidentally, in the chicken world this is called flogging, I wonder why, I thought spurring would have been more appropriate.  Anyway, they can't do a...

Kyoto! What other place has dogs manning the cashier? Took a day trip from Nara to Kyoto Station. We left Nara using Kintetsu-Nara station (which is not a JR line) and cost us 620 yen and took us about an hour. We arrived in Kyoto Central station and headed straight for the tourist information centre. From here you can get free maps of Kyoto and best of all, buy a day bus pass. This pass costs 500 yen and if you buy it from the information centre, you get a bus route map with your ticket. These bus passes are worth it as each bus ride, regardless of the distance, will cost you 230 yen. Also at the tourist information centre are handy notices telling you which is the best bus to take for certain attractions. It was around lunchtime when we arrived in Kyoto, so onto the bus to Nishiki Market. This market is one long covered alleyway, full of fish and pickles (oh so many pickles) and a great photo opportunity area. It was also a great place to get snacks to eat for lunch! ...

 Yup, Nara is known for deer   So began our third day in Japan. Walking on the way to the conference centre with hubby, we took a detour, past the Kofuku-ji temple, or the 5 story pagoda, and saw this sign. No lab there, just a toilet :P The conference held a green tea ceremony. It wasn't terribly exciting as everything was done behind screens. So we just sat down, got served some wagashi, which were pretty but tasted like compressed icing sugar and served a big cup of frothy green tea. I got given the pink cup as I was a girl. It was bitter, but not too bad. The wagashi is supposed to counter the bitter taste I think. After dropping hubby off, I went to Kasuga Taisha shrine. If you go early in the morning, it is nice a quiet, later in the day and you get loads of tourists and schoolkids. Lots of lovely stone lanterns line the path up  Cheeky deer looking for food And here's the shrine    Nearby there was another temple or shrin...