The Trip from New York to Okinawa, Japan (Photo Essay)

Home safe and sound and here's a quick recap of the journey from JFK International Airport to my favorite place in the whole wide world, Okinawa, Japan.

It all started off with a delicious steak and cheese sandwich.

Then, this humongous Delta airplane headed towards Tokyo, Japan.

A pretty Japanese girl who spoke English got stuck next to me.

She was somebody important, I think. It looked like she was working on a Doctorates Degree, or something.

Trust me. I know a bibliography when I see one.

So, I went to sleep.

The next thing you know, about 13 hours later, there was Japan down below.

The plane stopped and I got off in Tokyo.

Right off the bat, I was lost. But, three hours is enough time to figure everything out.

Tokyo has airports and planes all over the place.  

You just have to find out which terminal to go to for your next flight.

Next time I think I'll take a boat.

Here are all the weary travelers on a small Japan Airlines flight headed to Okinawa.

Looking out the window as the plane was landing in Naha Okinawa, Japan I could see that rainy season was already started.

 Lucky for me, RyukyuRu and RyukyuRusty showed up with some beer and stuff for me at the airport. 

They even had my yellow flip flops waiting for me in the parking lot.

There's one of my feet on the bar.

We had a little party until the wee hours of the morning.

A trip from New York to Okinawa is a big event that seems to take up a whole day.

That got me wondering.

Maybe there's something we could do to make those planes fly faster. 

Visit my homepage for the PHOTO OF THE DAY

 

Photo of the Day from Sleepy Hollow Lake New York

Here is a photo of the day that you don't see me doing very often.

This was taken handheld with the Canon G12 at 6:26AM Apr 22, 2012

f/4.5  1/40  ISO 400 at a focal length of  30mm

The temperature was a blazing 40 degrees centigrade and I was wearing brand new flip flops.

My favorite niece picked me up at JFK International Airport yesterday and dropped me off in the

 Catskill Mountains.

Then, went and got her uncle some flip flops to make him feel at home.

Er else I would have shot those deer at Sleepy Hollow Lake barefooted.

Visit my website for Okinawa Photo of the Day

Travel Photos: It's No Bull. This Bull Didn't Want To Fight

Sometimes this Travel Photo Thursday thing sneaks up on me and catches me off guard,

Like, today.  I had no idea what kind of photos to dig up for everybody to see.

So, I decided to look through the files and see what I was doing back in February 2009.

Here you go.  I was shooting bullfights.  Only, this bull didn't want to fight.

The bull is a little bit nervous because he's new at this sort of thing.

The handler isn't.  Look.  He didn't even wear his flip flops.

The black bull saw his competition being led into the ring.

If you've never seen an apprehensive bullseye before, you're looking at one now.

All you gotta do, if you are a bull in an Okinawan bullfight and don't really want to participate

is run out of the ring.

It's nothing to be ashamed of because you can always tell your friends

YOU TOOK SECOND PLACE !

Flower Photo: Sakura (桜) Cherry Blossoms in Naha Okinawa !

Sometimes the Sakura (桜) show up in places you'd least expect to find them on Okinawa.

Today I was way down south in the capital city when I stumbled across these flowers blooming.

There are probably a million people living down there in Naha that don't even realize they have Cherry Blossoms growing just about in their back yards.

Here I've been hunting all over the northern mountain areas and freezing in my flip flops and there isn't one Cherry Blossom in my hometown, yet.  Dagnabbit !

It's hard to decide whether or not to reveal the location to those city folks.

Hmm...

OK, I'll just give them a hint.

These Sakura (桜) were discovered, today, somewhere in Naminoue.

Y'all city people will have to go outside yer houses to find them.

My recommendation: Wear socks with your flip flops because it's cold out there.

That's all I got to say !

VISIT MY WEBSITE FOR THE PHOTO OF THE DAY

Sunday's Silly Sign (Photo) JAN 22, 2012 Surveillance Cameras

Surveillance Cameras at Wouk

The Sunday's Silly Sign business is getting a bit too risky for this old boy.

If it weren't for some of the leftover spirits hanging around under my skin from last night's 
Year of the Dragon party, I'd probably have been afraid to try sneaking up on this one.

A good-sized zoom lens on my camera made it possible.

This sign is on City Property, not much more than a good spittin' distance from my office.

For those of you who don't know me very well, my office happens to be in a bar.

That's why, I really don't mind going to work, most of the time, anyway.

Well, I been thinking about taking a photo of this sign for quite a while, now.

Only, the Mayor of our town and every City Counsilman around here knows me.

They might not take too kindly to some foreigner shootin' pictures of this sign.

So, I had to come up with some sort of disguise, or something.

Not a problem.

The Chinese Year of the Dragon Party lasted 'til about 4 o'clock this morning.

There were pink, yellow, blue, purple and red paper streamers all over the place from these non-explosive, noise-making, exploding things everybody was shootin off at each other when the clock struck New Year's, last night.  Sorry, no photos.

That mess of streamers gave me the idea and enough courage to go out and nab a picture of this sign.

What I did was set my alarm to wake up real early this morning.

The dogs got walked quick.

Then, I hurried over to the office.

With a pile of those streamers on my head and my camera tucked under my jacket,  I planned to sneak over to the park where this warning sign is posted. 

It was daylight but, with the decorations hanging off me, I figured nobody would recognize me. 
I looked sort of like a crazy person.

As an extra precaution,  I took my yellow flip flops off and left them behind.

Then,  I traveled in not-so-straight-a-line to trick anyone who might be watching.

To my surprise, there was a cleaning lady, or somebody, in the building.

Why anybody would be working in a City Office building on Chinese New Year's Day beats me.

That's crazy.

Anyway, the camera went SNAP, SNAP, SNAP.

The Sunday's Silly Sign photo was done and I got the heck out of there.

Ran straight back to the office, got my socks and flip flops on because I was wet and freezing.

Took those stupid decorations off my head and threw them in the trash.

Now I don't look so crazy anymore.

The words in silly signs, I always like to run a check on them before publishing.

Surveillance, that checked out alright with the Google thing that checks words.

Anybody know what a WOUK might be ?

Hope I didn't step on one with my bare feet while I was in the stealth mode.

I'm gonna go home now.  Take a hot shower and rest up awhile.  Head hurts.....

Happy Chinese New Year !

MORE SUNDAY'S SILLY SIGNS IN THE DOOZIES

VISIT MY WEBSITE FOR THE PHOTO OF THE DAY

Sakura ( 桜 ) Season Is Coming to Okinawa Any Day Now !

It was too cold for flip flops outside today in Okinawa, Japan.

That's a sure sign the the Cherry Blossoms ( Sakura, or  桜 in Japanese ) are going to start sprouting.

The Sakura up in mainland Japan wait for the Spring thaw to bloom.

Okinawa has a different breed of cherry tree.

It takes a good crisp, cold snap of air to get the cherry blossoms blooming here.

Well, it's colder than a witch's ahem ahum, um, heart (?) here, right now.

That's how you know the Sakura ( 桜 ) Season will start, any day now.

There's a brand new pair of yellow flip flops and a bunch of those yellow Mejiro birds waiting for the cherry blossoms to bloom.

C'mon Mother Nature.....

BRING UM ON !

Related Posts:

CHERRYBLOSSOM FESTIVAL OKINAWA, JAPAN (PHOTO ESSAY)

FLOWER: SAKURA OKINAWA, JAPAN (PHOTO) and a LITTLE SECRET 

Photo of the Day:  IT WON'T BE LONG 

Laptop Cooling Tower: The Redneck Version (Photo)

Spring has sprung and the flowers are blooming all over the island of Okinawa.  That means, anyday now, it will get so hot my flip flops will start sticking to the blacktopped roads.  It'll be just like Summer ! 

I love hot weather but, those poor laptops of mine don't.  They started meltdown today.  Not one to present a problem without a solution here's my version of the redneck cooling tower.

Mind you, this is just a prototype the Ryukyu Mike Research and Development Staff is working on but, so far it's an all-systems-go.  If your better half is as fussy as mine about housekeeping you might want to consider spray paint, or something, for the blocks before placing them on the kitchen table.

What prompted this ingenious set-up?  Well, I remember one day last summer, I had a skimpy little cooling tower.  It consisted of a pair of real fancy, custom made flip flops a gal gave me for my birthday.  They were too nice to wear so, I used them to prop up the back end of my laptop.  That gave it about half an inch of air circulation and I put this humongous floor fan right next to the kitchen table.  It worked alright for awhile.  But when it got really hot in the summer my keyboard started sagging in the middle.  I suspect it wasn't getting enough cooling air.

Do you know, if the supposed genious laptop builders had any brains they would make the things with built-in fold down legs.  Then people like me wouldn't have to run around the neighborhood looking for nice clean cement blocks to borrow.  But, it could be they want our laptops to melt so we have to buy new ones every few years.  Not me, Buddy.  I ain't that stupid.

Just in case any of those wise guys try to steal my Redneck Laptop Cooling Tower idea get this:

I AM THINKING OF GETTING SOME OF THOSE PATENT PENDING STICKERS FOR MY CEMENT BLOCKS. 

I BETTER NOT CATCH ANYBODY SNOOPIN AROUND MY INVENTIONS.

GET YOUR HANDS HIGH IN THE AIR WHERE I CAN SEE THEM, TURN AROUND AND WALK AWAY SLOWLY !

If you are one of my friends who isn't a millionaire and it gets hot in the summertime, in your neck of the woods, you have my permission to experiment with this invention.  Friends are good people.

Just  be careful not to drop any of the parts on your toes during assembly. OK ?