Thursday, September 01, 2011

Choanji

It is 8:15am. First load of washing on the line, second in the washing machine. First cup of tea drunk. And best of all... silence! For the first time in about a month and a half I have the house completely to myself until 3:30pm. Chances are I will waste away most of the day, but it is nice to be able to do that without anyone else watching me do it... of course I love my children, but....
As promised I'll try to do a bit of catching up this morning. It will be very random!
I have a great family in New Zealand who come to visit often. What I'm realizing now is that I should have made a record of all the different places I have taken each person on their different visits over the past 15 years. Every time we sit down to work out where to go each day we seem to spend so much time working out whether I have taken them there or not. Of course there are places we are happy to go every single time they come, but it is always nice to show people new places too.
Kunisaki peninsula is known as "Buddhist Paradise"and therefore there are zillions and zillions of temples all over the place. I enjoy wandering around the gardens of the temples, but sometimes they all become a bit too similar. There was one temple that I knew I hadn't taken Mum too before because I had never been there myself. It is called "Choanji" and I really had no idea what to expect, but as usual it didn't disappoint. I am not usually overly impressed with the temple buildings themselves, but the really peaceful environment in which they are set is what I enjoy - old bells, old statues, STEEP stairs in the middle of the woods. One thing I really enjoy about going to these countryside temples is that you can usually chat with the priest, get a bit of inside knowledge etc. Unfortunately the priest at this temple wasn't exactly a "friendly" type and therefore although we saw him, we didn't even get to greet him. I think it was probably more that he was really busy with the preparations for Obon (the festival of the dead) than that he was ignoring us, but a simple "konnichiwa" would have been nice. I convinced the kids that if they tagged along nicely I would take them to the pool afterwards so they even managed all the stairs without too much moaning. All in all a nice little outing, not too far from home.

2 comments:

  1. I hear you! I love my kids too. To bits and pieces! But I am ready for them to go back to school too. I am ready to have a quiet house again during the day as well. But my day won't come until tomorrow. : ) Branden had school today (half day and is home now), but Noah won't start until tomorrow. And with the typhoon heading our way school might be canceled, who knows.

    I loved the temple pics. And I agree the peacefulness of the temple area is so nice and tranquil, I really like and enjoy that too.

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  2. Anonymous9:59 pm

    Aye! My kids have been grown up for a while now...but i was always ready for school to start again! I had several days that I wasted away right off the bat ...and I enjoyed every moment! Love the temple pictures! I also love wandering around old temples.

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