I'm in London this week on business and finally was able to walk around at night and take some shots. I've been to London only once, and that was 20 years ago. I hardly remember any of it.
I ventured down to the Thames and walked around the London Eye, which is a giant Ferris Wheel, and the Parliament building and took some shots. It was cloudy with rain misting, so it was hard to get a clean shot - one without water spots on my lens. The background is kind of an eerie red/orange due to a combination of the lights from the surrounding buildings reflecting up against the low level clouds and some light manipulation on my part.
Download the full photograph by clicking on the image below.
Allow me to toot my own horn here for a minute at how great a choice I made to marry Shelley five plus years ago. Here's the latest reason why.
Anthon has been obsessed with Toy Story and Buzz Lightyear for the past few months. His favorite part of the movie is when Buzz pushes a button and his wings snap out and he "flies" across the room. Anthon wanted his own wings. So Shelley took her belt and fashioned a wooden plank to his back and fastened it with a red bandana to give Anthon wings. Anthon naturally loved it. He had wings. It's totally a little thing, but only Moms would take time to do that. Here's Anthon with his "wings".
As a side note - evidently, the Buzz that Santa brought him doesn't have wings...though the Japanese-language "Buzz" does. Anthon has said many times that he hopes Santa brings him the Japanese Buzz next year. Yes, we've had many talks with Anthon about being grateful for what we have. That discussion hasn't sunk in yet, evidently.
Shelley and I recently attended the year's first Grand Sumo Tournament here in Tokyo. I'm sure you caught highlights on SportsCenter, right? On the surface, sumo wrestling looks like a bunch of fat Asian guys in ornate g-strings pushing and slapping each other inside a ring. But it's so much more than that.
Sumo wrestling has deep roots in the Shinto religion, and started literally as a symbolic wrestling match against the kami, or local God of the shrine. Today, every aspect of the sport is embedded in the Shinto religion from the construction of a shinto temple roof over the ring, to the coordinated rituals that are done before and after matches. One interesting one is done by the Grand Champion(s) (called the yokozuna) who enters the ring, and purifies it by driving away evil spirits by doing the big leg stomp. Certainly a site to behold...on a number of levels that I don't think I need to go into.
Sumo wrestling is going through an interesting time. Because while it is quintessentially Japanese, it is being more and more dominated by foreign wrestlers from Polynesia, Mongolia and Eastern Europe. Four of the last six grand champions were foreign born and the many of the top wrestlers are foreigners. How do officials of this very traditional Japanese sport deal with it? They place limitations on the number of foreigners that can participate, of course. But that's beside the point.
The point is, seeing it live is awesome. I'd seen it on TV a number of times, but you don't get a feel for how strong these guys are, and how much real technique there is. While the guiding principles of the sport underscore a need for little emotion, seeing it live you pick up on intense competition and bitter rivalries that percolate underneath the surface. Plus, as one of my friends put it, it's a great opportunity to remind your wife that she should be glad us husbands don't look like that.
We enjoyed ourselves so much so that we're hoping to head back in May when the tournament comes back to Tokyo. Anyone care to join us?
Click on the pictures above to see a small gallery of photos taken from our nose bleed seats. There is also the video below that we shot of a few rituals and matches. Be careful, they contain images of large, scantily clad Asian, Polynesian and Eastern European men pushing each other around. Best not seen within 30 minutes of eating.
Ella has this little motion when she gets excited where she waves her arms in a circular motion. Shelley and I can't decide whether we should be putting her into swimming classes to be do the butterfly stroke? Or perhaps put her in a row boat to have her do crew? Thoughts?
As you can see, she takes quite the face plant towards the end of the video, but seemingly cheers up when she starts waving her arms again.
Ella has started to say "mama." Shelley is rejoicing. I kid you not, this girl is exploding in confidence and curiosity. She's everywhere, into everything, saying new sounds and for good measure finds being awake so much more fun than falling asleep. We're not as big a fan of the latter development.
I don't feel it's too late to make a quick holiday recap since at the Cannon household Anthon won't let us take down the stockings and Christmas tree. Luckily it's fake.
Christmas - great day, but did I really have to take a vacation day to celebrate Christmas? Yes. Doesn't quite seem fair until you remember that in Japan you basically get the entire week off the following week. More to the point, growing up Christian in the U.S. you really don't know what life is like as a religious minority - but while we're in Japan we're definitely the minority here. It was weird to see life carry on as usual on Christmas day when things basically shut down for the day in the U.S.
We were asked all the time if we were heading home for Christmas and while we would have liked to spend time with family, Shelley and I were excited to forge some of our traditions for our family. So what traditions did we create for ourselves? Well, food wise we ordered hamburgers via delivery...and that night we made shabu shabu at home for dinner. While it might seem more like what Ralphie's family would have done after the neighborhood dogs ate their dinner, but we're open minded people and the food was really good. Christmas was one of those all time great days where from top to bottom it was filled with happiness. Oh and yes, Santa (by way of the local FedEx) delivered our new plasma TV.
New Year's - Most of our activities can best be read on Shelley's blog. I don't have too much to add other than to say how gross my feet must be to have been the main attraction for the Turkish Dr. Fish. They literally attacked me and wouldn't leave my feet alone. I made sure to add that onto my list of things to accomplish this year.
Finally, it was a rarity to see Mt. Fuji with such clarity up so close. For someone who is a sucker for vistas and expansive views, it was really, really cool. If it hadn't been so cold I think I could have stayed up there all day. Anyway, read Shelley's blog and you can get all the low down on the day - here is a short video from Fuji and then the next day at Meiji Shrine. Also, click on any picture to go to the gallery of shots over the holidays.
So now that Ella can crawl she suddenly is terrorizing everything in her sights. Shelley wrote on her blog that Anthon had to trap Ella under her toy basket, like a bear, because she was going after the toys he was playing with (no need to mention that it was her toys in her room).
She was supposed to be napping, but I caught Ella crawling up to the side of her crib and going after the animals in her mobile. She successfully, though quite accidentally, stopped the music and therefore the rotation of the mobile itself, which allowed her to prey on the innocent, multicolored elephant.
After a few weeks of looking like she wants to crawl, Ella has finally put it all together and is crawling. Shelley and I readily admit that our apartment is not ready for Ella to start crawling. I can't tell you how many times she has instinctively gone for the very things we're trying to keep her from - wall sockets, television cords, etc. Ella crawled over to Anthon's shelves and pulled down his camera...the old heavy one that missed her noggin by inches. Good times ahead.
I know the quality of these videos may not be better than what I've posted in the past. Youtube does allow you to watch uploaded videos in "higher quality." If you're interested in seeing that, click on this link to take you there.
