Obon Festival

I upgraded to Lion OS and I can't say I'm completely enamored. The scrolling is exactly the opposite of what I was used to with the magic mouse, and I often use Preview and the F3 button to look at all my pics at once to get the feel for the blog post storyline and now that doesn't work. I haven't figured a way around it yet. If you know, please share. I'm sorry if none of this makes sense too.

Anyways - I went to the Obon Festival in San Luis. By the way (PSA), San Luis is pronounced like San Loo-es, not San Loo-ee. And we had a real good time. They were doing a martial arts demonstration inside the building which made me laugh (shame on me) because essentially they were wearing helmets and face masks but they were whacking the dickens out of each other. Right over the head. Whack, whack, whack. Very rhythmical. I thought it was hilarious.

The vendors indoors were very rummage sale too. Except the book seller. All sorts of books on Japanese culture, history, food, novels. I went crazy!

Outside there was the food and fun. This bonsai demonstration was really interesting. The son explained what the father was doing. A typical juniper bush was being pruned in a very specific way, both plant and roots, to be a bonsai.    

I'm going to try this, you know I am. I've always wanted a bonsai.

This is the before picture. The plant was a standard shrub in a pot like something you would buy from a nursery.

This is the after shot. 

The father was putting 

the finishing touches 

on the tree.

The chicken dinner was really delicious
too.