Kyle and Bre in Japan: Sakuramochi, snowflakes, and other things snowy

Bre got this Sakuramochi from the convenience store on campus by her office. The leaf wrapping the mochi is a Sakura (cherry tree) leaf that has been salted and pickled. The mochi has sweet bean filling. It was very fun to eat. According to the Wikipedia article Sakuramochi is traditionally eaten on girls day near which also happens to be around the time of the Sakura blooms in the spring.

Bre and I made several paper snowflakes for the holidays. I like the way this one looks with the light from the curtain coming through behind. It gives the paper an interesting fabric texture.

Bre and I went for a walk today. The snow has been piling up here. These first photos are supposed to give you an idea of how much snow we have. The snow piles between the sidewalk and the street are very high because that is where the snow gets pushed. There are street snowplows that help it get higher and there is a snow blower that goes down the sidewalk. The snow-blower goes by around midnight whenever there is fresh snow. I have also shoveled out in front of our apartment building several times to make the pile even higher.

Here is Bre, my human measuring stick.

In my earlier blog posts I have talked about the heated sidewalks and carports. Here you can see what happens at the edge of the heated area. The rest of the snow(in the places that are not heated) never seems to get totally shoveled away. I have a theory of why the edge of the heated area seems so high. I think it is because the water from the heated area flows under the snow at the edge and then refreezes. This buildup lifts up the snow.

I took this photo to try to give you a better idea of how tall the snow edge of the heated area could be. As I was taking the photo the mailman happened to drive by on his motorcycle.

This is a view of the hospital parking lot. In the distance is the pile of snow where it has been pushed by the snowplows. All the large parking lots in the city have the same giant pile of snow.