Temple Visit

Normal routine's today, Yasuko and Koby were off to school while Evan and I stayed and had breakfast. I went and worked in the garden a while removing all of the weeds from my row of soy beans and green beans. Everything is looking good, and starting to produce. I have peppers forming, melons, cucumbers and tomatoes so far. I also made another windmill out of a plastic drink bottle and put it by the corn, maybe it will keep the crows and foxes out (??).

Yasuko came home at lunch time and Evan wanted to ride his bike, so I helped him get started while he rode around the school grounds. He can't start by himself yet but can ride for a while before he comes to his normal crashing stops. We rode until he got tired then he came back in. Yasuko had to go back to school when we were finished.

At 2:30pm when Koby came home he had some homework to finish and then get ready for Japanese class in Higashikagura. We left at 3:10pm to make our 3:30 appointment. We studied time, dates and calendars today, it was a very difficult class for the both of us. We had to leave a little early today because Yasuko and I were invited to the Buddhist Temple in town for a dinner and meeting.

We stopped and got some milk on the way back and brought it home to put in the ice box, I had already wore nice clothes to my lesson to save time, we got right back in the car and I dropped Koby off at Fujita-sans house, I looked down the road and saw Yasuko waving at me, the Temple is about a block from Fujita-sans house.

I found a parking place and then Yasuko and I went inside, everyone else was already eating, so we hurried and sat down and started our vegetarian meal (Buddhist), we had a salad, mountain vegetables, and vegetable tempura with miso soup. It all tasted great, but we had to hurry to catch up. At 6:00pm it was time to go to the main room and take our seats. A Buddhist monk came out and chanted for a while, and then we had a short break.

After the break and monk from another temple came in and talked for about an hour, he talked about how everybody has suffering in their life, from the richest of people to the poorest, and that we all have to learn to deal with it, that it is a part of this human existence, and the only time suffering stops is when we leave this physical body.

The temple was beautiful, and I was allowed to take pictures of the alters, although none of the pictures came out and were too dark, maybe I will have another chance someday. After the meeting we picked the kids up at Fujita-san and came home. Koby finished his homework while Evan cleaned their room. They both were very tired and went to sleep soon after laying down.

Yasuko and I were not too far behind them.

Temp: High - 78
Low - 59