Progressively shorter...

Even though I haven't traveled anywhere in the last few weeks, I've still been pretty busy around Okayama. Our friend Tom got back from his pilgrimage on Shikoku and only had two days left in Okayama before he went to a few other cities and then back to England, so I had some good times kicking it with him and a few other people. One day we went on the Kibi bike trail, a great little path through the countryside with temples, shrines, and a 5 story pagoda where we picnicked with real bread, 3 cheeses, olives, apples, strawberries, chocolate, wine, and champagne. It was pretty fantastic sitting in the shade of the pagoda, but it was made even better by the huge fields of purple seasonal flowers in bloom. On his final day in town, we had drinks and jumped off the bridge by the castle into the river, a proper farewell in my book.

Other than that I've just been doing a lot of drawing, reading, studying Spanish, and planning for the whole European adventure coming up in a month and a half. Hopefully I can get a hold of my friend in Vienna, because I want to hang out there for a few days, then go to Prague for another couple days or a week, then to Frankfurt for a day or two, and then to Madrid where I can catch a train to Leon. I'm trying to save money for this whole deal, and I can't believe how difficult it is. My spending habits have become something I couldn't even conceive of a few years ago. I can do it though, even though I still have one big trip left here in Japan. I'm going to go to Takayama, a small and really old city in the North and then to Fuji and Tokyo. I'm quitting in a month and a half, but I still get a 2 week paid vacation in June. I count the days.

Here are some drawings I've been doing, I haven't posted any on this blog for a while. Cheers.