Category: Slice of Life

Late game

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Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/125 sec, ISO5000
 Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！

Hi! Tonight Koa had a late baseball game (8pm – 9:30pm). The sky was a bit stormy but luckily we didn’t get any rain and the kids got to enjoy their evening contest. As you can see from the photo, the colors in the sky as the sun went down were pretty awesome… the photo was pretty much SOOC (straight out of camera) with a tiny bit of sharpening and clarity applied, but I didn’t touch the vibrance or saturation, and I think the camera was on standard Provia film simulation. At any rate, we enjoyed about 10 minutes of this sky before it got dark. Pretty cool, huh?

Koa’s team lost but Koa had a good game, getting a hit, an RBI, scoring a run, and having three outs at second base… one on a blistering line-drive. The late games are kind of interesting because when we leave, it’s usually almost 10pm and there aren’t a lot of cars left in the parking lot. It’s a completely different feeling compared to the ending of the early games when there are a lot of other people arriving and the parking lot is still quite full. I like the late games! 😄

Have a great evening! おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Sunday tasks

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Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO640
 Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！ Hello!

Today was a good day – there was a mix of household tasks completed, movie watched, and yummy food eaten. A great combination!

In the kitchen, I repaired a leaky water line that goes to our refrigerator. Our fridge is about 10 years old now, and the plastic tubes that bring water to the filter are getting less pliable, and one of them developed a crack. It has happened once before, and the quick fix is to remove the small part of the tube that has the crack, then connect the two ends together. Happily, couplings are available at the hardware store for about $4, and it is a quick fix. But really, the whole tube should be replaced since I can see more leaks springing up soon. But I’ll spend the $4 for the quick fix for now.

The second task I did today was to put a metal cover on the hole in our counter-top. When we replaced our kitchen faucet, we were left with two extra holes. In one we put a dish soap dispenser, but the other one was just empty. So I ordered a metal cover for it. Can you believe that such a simple non-functional piece of metal cost $10? Craziness. Anyways, that went in without problem and now the sink is complete. Yay.

I mentioned that we watched a movie. It was Cloverfield. I thought it was okay, but I don’t like movies where the ending is left unresolved. And this movie’s ending was left in the air. But the special effects were cool! 😛

Lastly, the good food eaten… One of our friends came over to kick back and watch the movie and that always means yummy food! In the picture above, Koa is working on peeling a shrimp, which was cooked in garlic and olive oil. Those shrimp were yummy!!! And to accompany the food, plenty of beer, wine, and champagne were consumed. And because of that, I am sleepy!

So…. おやすみなさい！ I hope you had a nice weekend… let’s have a great Monday!

– B Barron Fujimoto

Bright day

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Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/15 sec, ISO6400
 Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！ How’s it going?

Today I spent the first half of the day at the baseball fields watching Koa’s team play back-to-back games in the bright morning light. It’s only April, but the Texas sun is already strong. In fact, I got a nice sunburn on my arms! Koa’s team lost both games, but they had fun and scored a decent amount of runs. Tomorrow, Koa is playing in another one… the All-star game! ⚾️ He was one of the players chosen to represent his team, so that means 3 games in two days. And on top of that, Monday night, he has another regular game! so 4 games in 3 days. It’s crazy! Normally there are not so many games in one stretch, but there were a couple earlier games that got rained out, so these are make-up games. I think Koa is going to be one tired player!

Today’s photo is of my latest Instax prints and the cool set of markers I use to take notes on them. I love the Instax prints so much. They have a wonderful charm about them… Even my mediocre photos look nice when printed on instant film! ☺️

I am about two-thirds of the way through Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City, and I am enjoying it a lot! It’s interesting and fun… a nice light YA read, and great for a change of pace. I recommend it. In fact, I am going to read more right now before I sleep.

おやすみなさい and take care!

– B Barron Fujimoto

Friday!

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Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO1000
 Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！ It’s Friday!

I’m not sure when it happened, but Friday nights changed from a time to celebrate and go out for dinner and drinks, to a time to just relax at home. It’s kind of a different celebration I guess… 😊

But I enjoy it nonetheless! Spending the evening reading a good book… it’s very cliché, right? But I look forward to it! 📔

Today’s photo is of our black and white cat, Anko. Kittens play so much, but they tire out easily. It’s part of their charm. 🐱

Time to read! おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Fly above

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Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/300 sec, ISO200
 Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！ Hello, how’s it going?

I am doing well… my workload is getting back to normal and the stress level is going down. It feels great! I feel like I am the plane in today’s photo… finally getting over the storm and moving on. ✈️

As I sit here listening to music, I realize that I don’t have much to write about tonight. And I am not gonna worry about thinking up something… just going to cut it short right here and take it easy. 😊

Have a wonderful evening!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

 

Aquarium update

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Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO4000
 Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！ Good evening!

Tonight’s post is about our aquarium that we’ve had for several years now. It’s a plain 10-gallon glass tank, simply decorated with some rocks, a nice piece of driftwood, and a “Pirates Cove” skeleton accompanied by his jug of rum. You know, the classic!

For fish, we currently have three tiger barbs, although one of them wasn’t looking too well this afternoon, I wouldn’t be surprised if we lose him the next couple of days. We also have several live plants, which are relatively new. I always had plastic plants in my aquariums, but thought I would give some live plants a try. I really like them! They are easy to take care of, and look nice.

But lately our tank has been overcome with some brown algae. In order to combat this, I picked up several Malaysian Trumpet Snails which are supposed to be great tank cleaners – eating algae, dead leaves, and even fish poop. 🐌 We only have about 8 so far (our local fish store gave us some of theirs free of charge) but they are working hard! You can really see a difference on the parts of the tank they have been active in. But what I am looking forward to is for them to have baby snails (it should take a month or two) and then we’ll have a snail army to clean the tank! Apparently they all come out in the middle of the night and do their work. 🌛

I’ve had an aquarium of one size or another for most of my life… all fresh water type. I have fun watching the fish and taking care of them, but the new snails are by far the most fun things to watch. It sounds funny, right? But they are fascinating!

Anyways, that is tonight’s aquarium report! Have a good evening and we’ll see you tomorrow.

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto