3 in 30 - 2002.04.24 Wednesday
Out on the streets again, but not very far, this is one of the “buttons” or peony flowers that grow in Takayama-san’s front yard. These are not your average peonys. This one is about 24cm (9") in diameter!
The violet to pink colors contrasting with the bright yellow center is quite an amazing sight. Just after I had taken this snapshot, Shimizu-san pointed out that Sakonaka-san’s garden had several bushes also with huge blossoms. I didn’t get a snapshot of those. Their garden is kind of behind their house and screened by a greenhouse, so it doesn’t invite casual inspection.
I have to confess my association with the U.S. state that produced the Motor City. I lived for the first twenty years of my life in Michigan and therefor some of my thinking and many of my analogies happen to be related to the automotive world.
I realized that I had yet to include a snapshot of some of the support mechanisms of things automotive. Here we have a gasoline stand that borders on Highway 16 where the highway narrows down to two lanes. There are three attendants on duty ready to provide service to customers.
For the younger readers, that service includes pumping the gas, cleaning the windshield, checking the oil, polishing the headlamps, mirrors, and even emptying the ashtray. With the present state of the Japanese economy, we are starting to see self-serve stations opening up, and they always seem to be busy.
Just down the street—I mean highway—from the gas stand is the Pizza California shop with delivery motor bikes parked out front. This franchise seems to be quite popular and we are continually finding advertising flyers in our mailbox for Pizza California.
The prices seem reasonable and there is a good variety, including ingredients that seem to be distinctly Japanese, shellfish, squid, corn, mayonnaise, seaweed. Of course there are the standards of pepperoni, sausage, tomato, cheeses, tuna fish. . ..