Barbecue

Some pictures from the barbecue Goda-sensei's family put on a few weeks ago.  If ever a family was, theirs is a barrell of laughs.  Good eats, too--give me pumpkin over a fire and I'm a happy camper.  Thank you to the Godas!

Goda-sensei indulges the shutterbug.

That fire was absurdly hot.

Toda a família Goda!

The next day, they took me to 仙巌園, former demesne of the daimyo clan of Shimazu (one of the badder boys of the Tokugawa Shogunate). 

The 150-pound cannon.  (Shimazu was one of the first Japanese groups to use Western weaponry.)

Us under the Pewter-Roofed Gate (鈴門).

Sipping some powdered green tea (抹茶).

Ditto.

This ceremony fits me to a tea!

The inside courtyard of the Iso residence (磯御殿), where the Lord Shimazu used to play foosball and hold frumbling bees.