rainy season

Its officially rainy season, so the next 6 weeks give or take will be rain, rain, sun, heat, sweat and mould...on the upside, take a look at the green grass against Long Longs fur...what a beautiful contrast...I also planted some tomato and carrot seeds about 3 or 4 weeks ago and within one week the tomatoes have gone from one to 10 centimeters....I am so shocked! I might get some real tomatoes at this rate....

We took a road trip to the mountains and stayed in a self contained cottage. It was so good to have some fresh air, birds singing, nature crackling and peace and quiet. The area is famous for a few things, onsen, or hot bath and a special kind of cooked rice with beans, black cattle beef, mochi or rice cakes and so it seemed, dog cafes....this means a cafe where you can take you dog, inside, and buy it a plate of food to eat while you eat yours......Long Long was lucky to come on this trip so there was no way he was getting a cafe meal for lunch....:)

The restaurant below, was not one of the dog friendly places. This was the kind of place that really makes my heart beat fast, like looking at a beautiful artwork, hearing a lovely song or eating something truly delicious...

A beautiful welcome with a sliding wooden door that you need to bend over to climb inside............

Inside is all wooden with rice boiling on huge stoves near the door so the smell is not only of rain but warm, slightly sweet rice. The menu was small but the best food I have eaten in a while. Handmade noodles and soups, rice balls with sweet beans, slow cooked veges, crisp bitter pickles, endless cups of warm tea and green tea ice cream with sweet beans.....most delicious, great price, lovely staff and most pretty and serene surrounds. It was also raining so heavily it almost drowned out the talking. Moo got a bit bored but since we have some extra hands at the moment it allowed us all some time to savour the moment.

Then we had to go and poke around outside and catch the rain falling from the water spouts...