Blogoversary!

HTJ is three years old today! We're starting our fourth year with azaleas blooming. I haven't checked the wisteria yet. Read other anniversary posts by clicking on the label below.

Thanks for all the support. Especially from Amy Bodden Bowllan at School Library Journal and the bloggers at Paper Tigers.org.

HTJ's Anniversary And I Found a Pink Phone!!!

Here and There Japan is two years old! I was hoping to have a new look before this anniversary, but maybe it will happen soon. There's much more to come.

My first post was about Ethel, our turtle. She passed away recently. After her funeral at Jindai pet cemetery near Jindaiji temple, Papa and I stopped into a coffee shop. There, on the counter, was a pink phone! I posted public telephones a long time ago. I haven't seen a pink phone for a long time and have never photographed one. I got permission to take this picture.

Pink phones are for local calls. They used to be found in restaurants, some shops, doctor's offices, etc. They are hard to find these days.

Another Spring, Another Year : Happy Blogoversary to Us!

Ethel was my first post last year. Click on the archives to read more about her. She is now eighteen years old. Here and There Japan is now one year old!

Unlike last year, Ethel did not brumate. She did not sleep through the winter. I guess it was just too warm this winter.

Today we noticed our wisteria is blooming for the first time in five years. That's a gift!

Thank you, regular and new readers, for visiting HTJ! There's so much more to show and tell, so come back.

Another Spring

This is Ethel. She made it through another winter hibernation or, rather, brumation. She is seventeen years old. She is older than Big Sister and Little Brother!

In 1991, I took two baby turtles like her to my niece. I traveled 13 hours on the plane with them under the seat. (I called first to see if I could take them.)

The agricultural customs agent at the airport looked at them and said, "These turtles are coming home, too!" I know I looked puzzled because he continued, "They probably came from over in Louisiana." That's next door to my home state, Texas.

Turtles like Ethel can live more than sixty years. Ethel's sister, Lucy, only made it through four winters. Ethel and I have made it a long time here in a foreign land. We must be doing something right!