Back in SD

We are back in San Diego, and as promised here is a view of all the stones that David bought in Japan. Ira said this photo of the blade actually made him understand and "see" why it was named "Swordblade". Can you see it?

Swordblade


This one above doesn't have a name...yet. Suggestions?

Dragon's Egg

David had called this one the dinosaur egg, but I prefer dragon, perhaps Targaryen LOL. 
 

The three in the middle are David's the two on each end are Ira and mine. They looked so good together, David couldn't help himself from trying to buy ours. I told him he needs to plan another trip to Japan and buy some with Dawn to fill his collection because we really like ours. 

Ira picked the rough chrysanthemum on the left and I picked the hut stone on the right. For scale, the hut is maybe 6 inches tall? I'm sure Ira will correct me, I'm terrible at gauging measurements, LOL.

It's been great to be back in San Diego. Ira is back at work finishing up the big re-pots that were left. I didn't take on any wiring projects this time, but I did collect some moss and shred up some top dressing. Both David and Ira were appreciative as it can be a laborious time consuming but crucial final step in the re-potting process.

I didn't mind as it was warm and sunny and easy to do while chatting with the two of them. Mostly I took the time to get caught up on all the things that you don't do while on vacation. 

You wouldn't know it by this picture but Kobayashi was really happy to see us. Of course he was extra excited to see Ira, even David commented he didn't get as candid a reception as Ira did when he got home. Ira says it's because he always let Kobayashi set the terms of engagement, which basically means he spoils him, LOL. 

It wasn't all bonsai this week though. We got caught up with our friend Shanda. We had a lovely dinner at a new restaurant in Pacific Beach Slowly. You can click the link if you're interested. We shared a bunch of appys and two main dishes. They were true to their name and allowed us to slowly enjoy our dinner, very Italian! 

Sweet and Slow Pork Chop

Yadi's Signature Chicken

Our waitress was lovely and told us that the kitchen took pictures of our main dishes as they thought they were extra pretty. We agreed! They were delicious also.

Now that I wasn't sick and contagious, we were also finally able to catch up with RC and Sara and meet their new baby boy "Kaivon". I hope I spelled that correctly, it's pronounced KAY-vahn.  We had a really fun time catching up. 

The last thing I'll leave you with is this photo of a bug that was in the pool. It was SO big the boys felt compelled to point it out to me.


Not including the antennae, from head to tail it was probably 4 inches long. David said he thought it was a Jerusalem cricket or a potato bug. Whatever it was, it was huge!

Stay tuned for the next one from the Huntington Botanical Gardens.

A dopo!





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