Blue Tamago

Aaah! Time flies and it's been so hectic recently. Still trying to get the old house ready for rental and bring all the bits and pieces still left there up to the new house. Plus trying to get the new house into some sort of livable state. Hmmm...looks like chickens DO have some sort of teeth like projections at the back of their beak? Speaking of beaks, Buffy managed to break the tip off his beak. Probably from fighting through the fence with Penguin. Intact beak Broken tip At least it was just the tip of the beak and nothing further back. This tip should grow back in time. I think of beaks like a fingernail, with your nail bed and the hard nail growing out of it. Buffy broke the nail, but I've heard of chickens breaking the beak further back and it leads to bleeding and potential infection. Buffy has a large amount of scabs on his wattles and comb. He doesn't get that he will always lose a fight with Penguin and Penguin has no wattles ad his comb is a lot...

We started our morning off with the famous morning markets in Takayama. There are two markets, one located in a square in front of Takayama Jinya (hence called Jinya-mae market) and the other along the river bank of the Miyagawa river.  We visited the Jinya-mae market first. We were confronted with a handful of stalls, mainly selling local produce such as vegetables and local arts and crafts. We bought some zori, traditional cloth sandals for 1000 yen. It was handmade by a very old looking lady. Funny thing, the sandals don't really fit properly...anyway, happy to support her in her endeavours. We also bought some sarubobo amulets from her. These are figurines that you will see everywhere in Takayama.  They are supposed to be a protective amulet for children. Have to say, ours looked very handmade in comparison to what you could get in the shops. Beware though, many of the items in the shops are now made in China. At least from this market, we know it is made in Japan! ...