Halloween

"Glowing Glasses" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/20 sec, ISO3200
“Glowing Glasses” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは!How’s it going?

Tonight was Halloween 🎃 and we celebrated by dressing up, having a couple of friends over, eating good food, drinking lots of wine, and handing out candy 🍬 to the neighborhood kids.

I was wondering how many trick-or-treaters would knock on the door, and was pleasantly surprised that we had so many! I’d guess that about 50-60 kids stopped by for candy, maybe more. There was one group that came by at around 6:30 which maybe had 20 or so! They were lined up all along our walkway. It was amazing!

Our friends who joined us this evening live in an older neighborhood that doesn’t have many trick-or-treaters. All the kids have grown up. So they enjoyed handing out candy tonight at our house. Lots of fun!

"Cowgirl" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/25 sec, ISO3200
“Cowgirl” Cedar Park, 2016

As you can see, we even dressed Lani up in her cowgirl costume. It was a bit tight on her, and when she was wearing it she was pretty much paralyzed so we were able to get some good photos of her before we took the costume off.

By the way, I was dressed up like a prisoner, while our friends were dressed similarly as thieves. It was a coincidence that we were all alike. 😊

I hope you had a nice Halloween!

おやすみなさい!

– B Barron Fujimoto

At our friends’

"Chicken Pen" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/120 sec, ISO400
“Chicken Pen” Austin, 2016

こんばんは!Hello, howzit?

Today we went to our friends’ house for a dinner party. As always, we enjoyed delicious food and drink and had a great time chatting with friends. It was cool to hang out in their backyard because not only was the weather perfect, but they have an awesome “Austin-style” yard with chickens, garden beds, and a sweet barbeque grill! And the mosquito coils were burning, so there was a nice natsukashii scent in the air.

"Cutey" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO640
“Cutey” Austin, 2016

At one point in the evening, a friend had us sample some Chile Piquin (Chile del Monte) that his father grew in his garden. The peppers were very hot! 🔥 I love spicy foods, and I would rate these as a 6 on the spicy level (1-10). Good heat, and it lasted for a while – maybe 10 minutes. I had never tasted this type of pepper before, but it is definitely on my list of peppers to grow for next Spring.

"Local Brew" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/140 sec, ISO400
“Local Brew” Austin, 2016

Of course we needed something cold to drink, so plenty of local Austin beer was drunk. Hey, it was a party after all! 🍻

I hope you had a nice weekend.

おやすみなさい!

– B Barron Fujimoto

Deck Tomatoes

"Deck Tomatoes" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.5, 1/40 sec, ISO3200
“Deck Tomatoes” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは!How’s it going?

Today’s photo is of some cherry tomatoes 🍅 that we grew on our backyard deck. Every spring we plant tomatoes and peppers 🌶 in our garden, but this year we also filled a couple of large pots with soil and grew a tomato plant and a jalapeño plant. The plants flourished and we harvested lots of goodies! Especially the peppers.

We have a pretty good-sized yard, with three container gardens into which we plant other veggies and herbs, but they are somewhat inconvenient because there are so many mosquitos flying around. I usually have to put on long pants and long sleeves (jacket) and frantically gather peppers while doing a little dance to keep the mosquitos away. It’s terrifying to be leaning in, cutting peppers and hearing multiple mosquitos buzzing around my ears!

So, we’ve been enjoying having the container plants on the deck. The deck is about 10 feet above the ground, so there are a lot less mosquitos, and it’s only a few feet away from the back door, so cutting some jalapeños or gathering tomatoes just takes a few seconds. I can monitor how dry the soil gets from the comfort of our breakfast room and watering them is as easy as dumping a jug of water in each pot. Also I can enjoy watching the peppers grow and ripen day by day. 😊

"Easy Access" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/6.4, 1/100 sec, ISO3200
“Easy Access” Cedar Park, 2016

Next year I think we’ll plant more on the deck. I love spicy 🔥 food, so having fresh hot peppers at-the-ready is awesome!

I hope you had a nice day, and see you tomorrow!

おやすみなさい! – B Barron Fujimoto

Squeamish

"Squeamish" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/75 sec, ISO3200
“Squeamish” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは!How’s it going?

Tonight’s photo is of cowardly me covering the operating table in a scene of a Japanese drama I am watching. Season 2 of Doctor X shows a little bit more gross stuff, so I need to be even more vigilant! Love the show, but hate the blood. 😱

I hope you had a nice day! Especially wishing my Mom a Happy Birthday! 🎂

おやすみなさい!

– B Barron Fujimoto

Concert Night

"Band Concert" Leander, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/50 sec, ISO3200
“Band Concert” Leander, 2016

こんばんは!How’s it going?

Tonight Koa performed with his middle school band as a warm-up for their big performance in December. Their school band was chosen to participate in the Midwest Clinic, which takes place in Chicago. They’ll be performing several pieces, so tonight was a good chance for a dress rehearsal. 🎶

Koa is in the percussion section, and plays several different instruments. Tonight he even played the gong! In the photo above, he’s in the top left corner next to it. He said the gong tonight was “horrible”… they used the high school auditorium’s gong which Koa thought was much worse than his middle school’s gong.

But besides that, he said the percussion section did pretty good! I’m proud of him because he shows a lot of dedication to playing percussion and says he enjoys performing. It’s nice to have the opportunity to take part in such an awesome band program. His school’s band is one of the best (if not the best) in the state of Texas. We’re really fortunate that both our kids participated in band! 😄

I hope you had a nice Thursday!

おやすみなさい!

– B Barron Fujimoto