Indian Take-Out Dinner

Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 18mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO800
“Dinner from Tarka” Cedar Park, 2021

This evening we ordered take-out from one of our favorite “fast-casual” Indian restaurants, Tarka Indian Kitchen. Koa was out with friends for dinner, so it was just for Mariko and I eating at home. Before we started eating, I sent the photo above to him to gloat a bit, and he replied with an unhappy emoji. Later that evening, he said the food looked so good that he and his friends ended up getting food from Tarka later! 😁

First Competition of the Season

“Drumline Competition” Dripping Springs, 2021

Today Koa’s drumline too part in the first competition of the season. It’s always held in Dripping Springs, which is in the Texas Hill Country and home to several nice breweries, so before his band played at 8pm, we stopped at Family Business Beer Company to eat pizza and try some beer.

It was a nice way to spend a Saturday. 😀 またね~

Homecoming Ceremony

Photo info: SONY ILCE-7RM4A, 70mm, f/2.8, 1/500 sec, ISO10000
“Koa, Mariko, and I” Cedar Park, 2021

Tonight was the homecoming ceremony at the football stadium. During halftime, the “Royal Court”, accompanied by their parents/guardians, are introduced on the field, and then the Homecoming King and Queen are announced. It was a lot of fun, and quite an experience, to be on the field with all eyes on us as we walked down the 50-yard-line.

In the end, Koa wasn’t selected as the king, but I think he said he’d rather someone else won anyways. I’m also glad that he got his wish, but also would have loved for him to be Homecoming King. 😄

A night to remember, for sure!

FYI, the photo above was taken and edited by my friend, Jeremy, who is a photographer for the visiting high school. I wasn’t expecting him to be there, but was happy to see him and he grabbed this photo between his official duties. Visit his Flickr page to see more of his photography!

Photo info: Apple iPhone 12 mini, 4.2mm, f/1.6, 1/200 sec, ISO32
“Large Crowd” Cedar Park, 2021

Homecoming Kid

Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 18mm, f/8, 1/1600 sec, ISO640
“Homecoming Court” Cedar Park, 2021

Today I rode my bike, Rossa, to see Koa participate in the Homecoming Parade. He’s part of the senior royal court this year so he got to ride in one of the Jeeps, wave to the crowd, and throw out candy to the kids. He was having a lot of fun as you can tell from the photo. 😊

I have never been to a Homecoming Parade before so I didn’t realize it was all about. It was actually a lot bigger than I thought it was, with most of the high school sports and clubs marching, plus the feeder middle schools and elementary schools also had marchers. I enjoyed it quite a bit!

I’m glad that the COVID vaccines have allowed us to have these kinds of activities again. Still, I wore a mask since there was a huge crowd. I was kind of saddened to see that only a few others were masked up even though the county’s vaccination rate is only at 65%. So even though my family and I are well-protected from the virus, 4 out of 10 people there were not and I suspect many of them will end up sick. 😒