Taking a mid-day spin though neighboring Tsunan Town.

Took my camera with me this morning while checking the water in the rice field.

I wanted to get a few photos so that when we're reaping a bumper crop of rice in a few months, I'll remember just how tiny and wimpy our rice looked compared to all the neighboring fields this time of year.

Mona came along, so you can probably guess what happened to the plan of taking photos of anything else. Well, at least there's a green blur of rice paddies somewhere in the background…

Just another quiet morning in the Japanese countryside - checking water levels, chasing a toddler, and watching the season slowly shift.

After seeing the visitors off at Iiyama station, I had time to take a three hour stroll around the Temples of Iiyama, this time to take photos.

The rice is planted. Winter weather has left us. The bikes are out of storage. What more could anyone want?

@yurionsen. Every night we bathe at the local bath. One of the perks of country life in Japan.

The Snow Monkeys are way up that hill, so our inn-keeper in Shibu-onsen gave us a lift in the back of his little white farmer's truck

We have been waiting all spring for the mulberries to ripen. Last week they started, just a few berries at a time – enough that Mona insists on walking to school each day past a tree where we find a handful that have darkened overnight.

The container is so we can have some with our breakfast yogurt the next morning, but we have yet to make it home with anything left in it.