It has certainly been a while...

 ...sorry about that. Summer has been (pause) hot. I believe we have had record temps just about everyday in Japan which is unusual for our neck of the woods. Tourists come to Tsukahara to get out of the heat, but not this year. I have been busy around the house doing various things such as painting the rooms on the first floor. I managed to finish most of the stained glass projects in the living room along with installing a glass I made a few years back for the hallway. I'm just now getting around to working in the shop again, at least in the morning hours. I also read a good book, Lime Creek by Joe Henry. Meanwhile, Erika has been busy creating some delicious sour dough breads and such. I purchased some San Francisco sour dough starter from the U.S. It's supposed to be over 150 years old! It's a good thing.

Well I guess I'll share a few picks of what I've been up to. BTW, my mom mentioned I haven't posted in a long time and she was giving up looking at it. SOOOO, I'm posting. If you all had Facebook(facebook.com/george.kimball.984 ) then this wouldn't be an issue. I've been posting all kinds of stuff there. Here's my lame excuse for not posting on blogger, I'm lazy. Life is busy and who has time for social media...besides Trumpsters. No offense, but I honestly can't stand that clown. I really hope Ms. Harris tears him a new a--hole in this next election. Moving right along, I've also done quite a bit of astrophotography processing. It's nice and cool in front of the computer I use for processing. 

Doggies are doing very well. Sky and Holly have settled into their new home and have a routine everyday. Sky's mast cell tumors come and go. It's been a battle, but so far he's hanging in there. Holly is a crazy little Jack Russell who does her best to make us laugh each day. They both have brought so much life and light into our home. One of my favorite things to do is to watch movies with Erika. We love our home theater and use it quite often. Last year we watched over 325 movies. The reason I mentioned this is because last nights movie really hit a chord with me. The movie, Revolutionary Road, brought up some issues that I had not considered since relocating to Japan. Without beating around the bush, I never considered how others thought about us moving to Japan. Did they think we were crazy, irresponsible, wreckless, etc.? Or, were they envious of the fact that we had the guts to go out and chase our dreams instead of living the everyday rat-race and following the rules of society? By rules I mean, work at a job you generally dislike, buy a house and car, have kids, grow old and die. The movie explores the reaction of outsiders and friends at the prospect of a couple leaving the country to find new meaning in their life. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for them as they did not do the research and make the commitment required to change one's life dramatically. The movie explores many other issues, but the one I was most interested in was this one.

So, how about those pictures?

Here's a sample of the newly painted walls in the green area of the house. The paint is more vibrant and durable than the other stuff I used. 

I finally got around to installing this glass in the yellow area of the house.

This is a view of the newly remodeled guest bath. The new colors are make the areas solid and "mature". 

The finished ceiling lamp

Some wall lamps and...

...another lamp

Here's the before shot of the hallway.

Doggies!! Holly and Sky

This is the prototype of a lamp cover I'm making for a ceiling fan.

This is the ceiling fan. The current cover doesn't fit in with the rest of the glass, but that will soon change.

Eagle Nebula taken last October

Inside the Heart Nebula taken October 2023

Helix Nebula taken in November last year

and my favorite, Pelican Nebula. If you look closely you can see at the end of one of the long gas "arms" an upside down"V"shaped object. That's a star blowing back the gas from the nebula at some ridiculous speed. Kinda cool, huh?

Alrighty then, so you're all caught up. I have more pics, but I don't have more time. Thank you for your patience and hopefully I can post again before the end of the...year? Maybe sooner.