Meow meow meow meow.... meow?

Japanese cat in a temple
Originally uploaded by catherine.caf

The other night i walked by the temple next door on the way home and heard a cat meow. Actually, a series of quizzical meows coming from the temple grounds, so i peeked in and this fat tabby lounging on a bench looked at me calmly as if saying, "Have you seen her?"

i shook my head no., wondering if I should climb over the fence to find out more, but the feline seemed content so i shrugged, "Not sure who you're referring to but you seem okay." and walked on.

Further down the street, I heard the same kind of meows but from a different cat. Looking around, lo and behold, what if it wasn't another tabby resting under a bicycle. It was gazing down the street, towards the temple. I'm pretty sure the two tabbies could hear each other, but just to make sure, I moved closer to the second cat who suddenly noticed me and gave me the same look.

Making sure that no human was around to overhear, I told it, "Hey, your friend's in the temple grounds. He's alright," and hurriedly continued along in case someone heard me talking to a cat!

Maybe I'm losing it...

お雑煮、おせち料理

お雑煮
Originally uploaded by bagelfire

Had my first taste of this traditional Japanese New Year dish yesterday.

Full of the richness of miso, wine, rice and meat, perfect on a cold winter's day.

More than that; the feeling of togetherness and caring warmth made yesterday's dinner very special indeed. It was a privilege to have been invited into the 霜鳥 household and treated just like part of the family--the distant nephew with the weird Japanese accent :)

Yum, yum, I get hungry just looking at the pictures.