And the random keeps on coming.

From the Hot Men In Hakama file, Ishida no Kentarou Mitsumasa's lovely kataginu kamishimo, posted this morning. Well done, tomodachi!
 

My weird looking, amoebic egg custard tarts were proclaimed delicious by people who actually like egg custard. I took a bite out of one, though the crust recipe is worth keeping for future pies and thought the custard was bland and unexciting. I made didjiman  happy though, which was the point of the exercise, and at least two people are threatening to buy me a muffin tin.

It was a nice, mellow party with good friends. Got to see some of the photographic prints didjiman  is working on, as well as some of the ones by other photographers he has collected, including a couple by Fan Ho and Ansel Adams (none of which are hung up anywhere, of course!) He also bid on and won that scroll of the monkey poetry contest and has promised to make me a good photo print of it. The actual scroll is old and in rather fragile condition. karisu_sama  gave me a slightly belated birthday present: a very pretty set of playing cards with a Heian scene on the backs and the Kings, Queens, Jacks and Jokers as Heian figures.

I was up very late, however, so I let the rain lull me into sleeping late. Should probably got rustle up some tea and toast and try to get in some hand sewing.

Why sewing after a late night with lots of wine is dangerous.

Samurai Eye has been newly updated. http://wodefordhall.com/samurai.htm

Be sure to check out contributions from some of our usual suspects, PLUS a stunning Heian yoroi hitatare and armor from a new contributor who wrote to me a couple months ago from Moscow.

The reason Samurai Eye has been newly updated is that (A) I've been meaning to add this stuff for months and Ishida/Tom's new kataginu kamishimo was an excellent reason to dig out the stuff that needed to be put in and (B) I just sewed one of JAF's collars part of the way on and THEN discovered I hadn't trimmed it to the right size first. Normally this would not be a problem, but I'd machine-sewn in a strip of interfacing FIRST. Rather that contemplate fixing it, it was time to go do something ELSE.

Besides, looking at the Samurai Eye material always makes me feel good. There's good stuff out there. People are making it and wearing it. It flatters pretty much every body-type. It is a happy making thing.

More tea is in order.

EDIT: Random photographic moments. Shot these coming out of Silk Road the other evening: 

The Fujifilm D100 SD gets a little grainy in low light situations, but I rather like this.

I've also figured out that within the limitations of this nice little camera, neon signs can produce some fun pictures, particularly if I manage to shoot them before full dark when there's enough light for the camera to deal with it, but still enough contrast to see the neon itself.

I have no idea what this tattoo parlor on 14th might be like as their front windows and door were papered over, but the pink cherry blossoms appealed to me.