At this writing (afternoon, Japan time), fifty-five seventy-five people have been killed due to the heavy rains in Japan.

However, please do not worry about me. My area of Fukushima City (downtown) is fine. I believe the affected areas are mostly western Japan and down south.

I took photos on my walk this morning. You can see things are not bad here. (Although they are very bad elsewhere in Japan.)

Stepping out of our home… The ground is wet. It has been raining but not so much that it is too much. The storm seems to be coming up from the south, and thus the southern part is getting the worst of it. (Especially Okayama Prefecture.)

You can see the dry part and the wet part.

Hydrangeas! I have to admit, when I first came to Japan I didn’t like hydrangeas so much because after June they turn into zombie flowers.

My most recent manuscript is set in the United States…and it has a garden gnome statue in it. I looked closely at this one. Did it resemble my manuscript’s gnome?

…she sat down on the steps next to the rock garden from which cacti grew in crooked lumps. Koral felt the cacti was proof that this part of Texas was a desert. The rock garden was also home to a porcelain gnome with a long beard and a chipped blue cap. Koral wondered how he felt living in a garden of rocks and cacti. Surely he would be happier in a field of mushrooms and toadstools. But he had a huge smile on his doughy face, so maybe he didn’t mind.

I’m guessing the gnome in the photo is enjoying the rainy weather. But our little stone gnome does look kind of stoned, don’t you think? Blissfully happy…

A local high school. Remember, I took these photos very early on a Sunday morning, so all the high school students were snuggly wuggly sleepies sleepies. Except my son, who of course was studying. ;-P

Rain!

A bicyclist in a “kappa” (raincoat.)

Walking home….Good morning, Morning Glories!

There’s a lot of stuff going on in the world right now. Thinking of all the kids….

Kids in Thailand, currently trapped in the cave. Kids in southern Japan, affected by the rain. Kids in the United States, separated from their parents.

Thinking about them all….