Canoeing!

Monday, my DH and I went canoeing. We went to Ding's Dock in Waupaca, where you can rent a canoe and go on a 3 hour canoe trip. (A three hour cruise! Watch out for desert islands!)

First, they take you to the start on a pantoon boat, with your canoe.

The weather was perfect -- not too hot, not to cold, no wind.

The majority of the route was smooth water. Some places were shallow enough that we hit rocks on the bottom. When we got stuck, my gallant DH would get out and walk the canoe through to deeper water.






































Here is a little water lily. We see them on the Trestle Trail in Menasha, too. I had never seen them in the wild before this year.

Here is a sign, telling us we are on the right route.
































At one point, we encountered a family of five in three canoes who had left before us, but had trouble getting through the rapids and more rocky areas, so we ended up passing them. Being in only one canoe made it less complicated for us, but it was a little hazardous having that many canoes in a small and rocky area. I hope the parents try this again by themselves once the kids have grown up and I hope the kids appreciate the parents doing this kind of thing with them.

At the end, there is a phone with a direct line to Ding's Dock. Just call, and they come an bring you back to your car. By the time the pickup van came, the family we'd passed had reached the end, so we all rode back together. My DH and I are already planning on doing this again next year.

Mameshiba

Anyone who likes Monty Python will agree that British humor is different from American humor. Maybe I should write "humour".

Anyway, Japanese humor is really different. For one thing, the Japanese language is very conducive to puns. Also, characters or mascots are very popular in Japan. Hello Kitty is probably the most famous. But there are others. One that I encountered was Mameshiba.

"Mame" means "bean". Shiba is a breed of dog. And "mamechishiki" means "trivia".

Pictured above is a Mameshiba key chain. It looks like an edamame (soybean) pod. The little beans inside are attached so you can pop them out an infinite number of times. The company that makes them also makes a bubble wrap key chain that you can pop infinitely, and one that is like ripping open a Fedex envelope.

Anyway, besides keychains and plushies, there are some cute mameshiba videos. The first is here, subtitled in English. I really like them, but I guess it will depend on your taste. So, go take a look.

There are some language tidbits for those of you studying Japanese. Before anyone starts to eat a sit down meal, for example, they say "Itadakemasu!". This is said before meals, like grace. The after meal phrase is "Gochisosama deshita", which the girl in the second video says. It means, literally, "It was a feast," although she doesn't mean that! The man in the fifth video also says it.

In the fourth video, the woman is stirring natto. Natto is fermented soybean and either you like it, or you don't. I tried, honestly, but I don't like it. It's supposed to be very good for you, but I'm afraid it's something you have to have eaten from childhood. It seems that people in Kanto (the area around Tokyo) like it, but people further south don't like it as much.

Anyway, enjoy the cute videos!