_valerian

I do know, but unless I have my futon hanging out, I never think about it and even less care about those few square meters of dirt. But the weeds, oh how they love my backyard.

There are three apartments on the first floor. We all have 2LDKs (2man5sen a month, Oh Thank You My School) and there are 6 apartments total in my building. Behind my building is a large house but behind the part where my yard is, is that big house’s garden. The older woman who lives to the west of my place is related to the older man who lives in the big house. Sometimes in times past she has requested of him to clean out my back yard. He gets into my backyard with a very old, dare I say, Ancient, looking ladder. I mean, it is made of wood and rope- the verb “Lashed” could be used in describing how the rope and logs have been put together. Well as much as free yard keeping is nice, I had this bad feeling about having a 70 year old man climbing over a fence to cut down weeds that some lazy American (me) has needed to do for a while but did not. But this weekend I did! And Inoue san, the older lady next door popped her head out her back door and said that she had called the man that morning to have him cut down those weeds (can you see the fence in that picture? That fence is about 4 or 5 feet tall, dogg) but since I was doing it, he would not need to but should he help? and I was all like, nah, thats cool. I got here in my hand an 800yen recently purchased (30min before) small hand sickle and some gloves, so I will be fine. And she said, It is hot today so be careful. And I was. And I then in about 15 minutes decimated what I learned was a veritable paradise for pill bugs and earthworms. But Dammit, my backyard is clean now. Here is what it looks like:

Oh what is that? Why, it is the main reason I wrote all that- Saturday I bought another camera. I was helping a friend go camera SLR shopping and she went home with a nice little black number, a Nikon FE2, and at MAP Camera I saw this Pentax 6×7 with a 105mm lens and a waist level finder for a price that was lower than just that lens usually is found for. All I wanted was the lens and that waist level finder but I also got a sweet rear lens cap that also can take pictures. The reason that this whole rig was only 25,000 yen (Just like my apartment each month(!)) was because there is a little chain in the body that is used with the TTL finder. The TTL finder is the one with a meter in it. This one’s chain was broken, which does not matter to me but did to the guys who priced the camera. This is the kind of camera that if you were thinking you wanted to try getting into Medium Format, then gosh this would be a good start. It is not an “apparently boring or without meaningful content Canon digital Kiss SLR” (WTF? Oh… ha ha ha) but it is a good camera. And the camera in your hand ready to go? That is the best one in the world for you. I use different cameras based on how I am feeling, what I think I might be doing with them later. The decision is one made from critical thought or on a whim. Mostly on a whim, or sometimes due to weight issues. That is why my F3HP and Pentax 67s usually stay at home. If all y’all have some camera you love and take pictures with then keep on doing that.