Frogs, blogs and flowery logs.

I haven't written here for a long time now. But, in any case -welcome to Autumn!

I have been working so hard these past couple of weeks, not just at work, but at home too. I have been trying to organise my writing and fill my facebook page   page as well as my other blogs.

Writing is such hard work suddenly when you actually want to and have to get things done, but it is hard work I enjoy.

We are in the middle of yet another bank holiday here in Japan, so I have been lucky enough to be able to get some work done. Today, however, I took some much needed time out to look after the garden. I think the feng shui there is as important as the feng shui in the house.

Some indoor plants. They needed re-potting and love.

Sanservia - A cute indoor leaf plant

Sanservia - A cute indoor leaf plant

This is a great pot. A friend gave it too with ivy in.
I have moved the ivy to a window basket to revive it and
in the meantime put bright greens and flowers in this pot.

I don't know the name of this flower, but it is everywhere these days. Pinks and whites and they grow. I just moved these back to the big pot because the typhoon battered them in the window basket.

The ivy and the 'pot luck' are growing great! The flowers come out when the sun is out.

I weeded lots and lots and re-potted many plants. We shall see how they all turn out, but hopefully they can flourish and keep looking pretty.


I still have my sunflower plant, now it's bigger than me....much bigger! Sadly, there is still no flower. I am still hopeful.....

Along the way, I have come across many frogs that still inhabit our garden. They always make me smile and this time, they are not just bright green, but spotty too.

On the mosquito net, pre-typhoon

Still lurking on the net post-typhoon

Dark frog guarding the pot

Spotty green

Perched on the chair

Hiding in my pot!

Fingernail frogs.

I have seen the tiniest bright green frogs jumping through the grass.

I have also seen tadpoles feeding off a small dead toad.

I am developing an obsession with this little creatures, they are sooooo cute, that I want to put up lots of pictures of them!!

Well, here are a few at least. These guys are in our garden, on the dog walking path. They are everywhere! It's still rainy season, so watch your step! There are frogs crossing!

Scaling the wall 

My camera doesn't have great zoom, so I have to shove it in his face. He naturally legs it !

But, he does stop to pose!

Five minutes later, he is on top of the door post peering down  at us!

Having watched this last frog this morning, I can now understand how this little dude made it to our balcony upstairs!

Now this one was in the garden sink one morning. Of course, we made each other jump. 

The frogs live mainly in the rice paddies, breeding in the huge puddles of water there. The taps to the fields are almost always turned on and it is tempting even for me to want to dip in there on a hot day!

The frogs jump from leaf to leaf, especially in the early morning dew. If you are lucky enough to catch them, it is such a pretty sight. the green of the frogs matches the green of the leaf. It is true nature in action, beautiful and bright.

I snap any picture with my 'point & shoot'. It is handy, and it is, of course, bright pink. It doesn't take a bad shot, and I can get lucky. I am proud to have caught this magical frog the other morning.

So peaceful, until I come along.

I have scared him away with my 'macro' shot

So, while these frogs are everywhere.....

Running away... 

Simply watching the world go by.....

.

                                                Or having a pool party...

...you can be sure, I will be there, snapping at them, with whatever camera I can!!!

So, I was late to work this morning because...

1. There was a frog in my recycling...

2. I had to talk with the neighbours

3. I had to sort out some starving dogs......

Last night, after going to bed and closing the eyes, the iPad beeped, and these days, it is not something I can ignore.

I got a tweet forwarded to me from one of the JEARS team in America! Two dogs, one starving, found outside an apartment in Sendai, not far from the JEARS apartment, in fact!

Here is the picture...http://p.twipple.jp/yRgRG

In fact, it was a forwarded forward of a tweet, such is the love and care of some people.

Anyway, into the night, fighting off the sleep, I had to pass on messages to people nearby. Who could go? What was the situation? And, most importantly, how can I sleep until this is resolved?

When I showed the picture to Ian, I think he was shocked too. They were outside an apartment. Had someone just run off and left them there??

I think I went to sleep at 1am. We (JEARS peeps ) were up messaging each other for ages, and tweeting here and there to get a precise location from the actual tweeter...

Up for (Ian's) work at 5am and back online.

Kinship could go perhaps a little later in the day. It took a good few messages to get this information, not to mention the facebook updates...

Then Lexi managed to phone me (I couldn't call her american mobile phone for some reason). She hadn't realised the tweet picture she had seen last night from another volunteer's mail in the apartment ( I had sent to Kate) was the same report as the messages I was sending her.

'We will go right away' She stated. Thank god!

This is a fine example of team work, people rallying round to support one another, wherever they may be!

The dogs are now fine and have seen the vet (Sasaki Sensei from the other day).

One is dehydrated beyond belief and not eating so much and the other is eating fine and actually seems fine.

Their story? They are, along with owner (at least there is one?) evacuees from Minami Soma, but , as you can imagine, relocation after earthquakes, a tsunami and radiation , is a lot to handle. The owner was sad to realise she had been doing a bad job at keeping her dogs healthy.

One thing I shall ask here is that we refrain from judgement. We can all so easily say 'Oh, but I would have one this' etc, but I must reiterate the circumstances and the sheer pressure on people, not to mention the false advice given from the government. At least this owner is with her dogs, and we now have many friends of mine, of JEARS, who will look in on her to make sure they are ALL ok!

As for the frog, well, that is just part of the countryside life! All the rice fields are full of water, welcoming endless beauties, along with their heavy 'song'.