Almost Umaji

The rice is almost cooking in my rice-cooker. Whenever anybody asks me if I can cook, I reply, No. But I can push buttons with the best of them.

Since I have no hot water in my kitchen sink, I am also boiling a kettle on the stovetop so I can do my dishes. I swear, every time I turn around there are more dishes in that sink. I don't know how. I am going to mix up the rice with some beef and sesame seed mix I bought yesterday, then wrap it in nori. And maybe make some soup... oh. I see how that works. Like just now. Experimented with a little dashi (fish stock) to see the taste because I'm going to make miso soup later. Then poured soup base into a different cup, apparently just for the joy of washing it out later. Two new dishes in the basin. One more added to the chore. That makes THREE dishes. In the Basin. @$F%!! But wait. There's more.

Yesterday I beat the cold by taking a wild bike ride through Yasuda out towards Umaji-mura. Umaji is a tiny village up the mountain about 14 kilometers off the main road. I road out about 4 of those kilos and then came back. It was pretty much straight up the mountain at that point. But I took some pics.

the road out towards Umaji. That road goes up and then just keeps going.
It winds around the mountain like an obi around your kimono.
If I had a kimono, I would show you, but I don't. They're expensive.

Here is where the road branches off to Umaji and Sanase, I think.
But don't quote me on that.
The bag of rice was apparently left for the temple, pictures of which
will follow shortly.

I can't quite express the beauty here. It's austere, it's solitary, it's crystal-winter-clear, but it's not
something that happens everywhere or everyday. The sky is icy blue and the wind is like clean
water, freshly melted from an ice-cap, drifting down to drown New York.

The road looking backwards. I was nearly run off the road by logging trucks and
regular people just trying to get through their day. Maybe I shouldn't have
stopped to take so many pictures.

Everywhere on Shikoku, there's a temple or a shrine or just a little statue of some unhappy-looking fellow.

Case in point:

This dude has about 37 cents at his feet.
They are generous givers, his followers.
And he looks pretty pissed to be out here
in the cold.