📸 Bonus prompt 1 for #mbapr, bubble, suggested by @paulrobertlloyd

My then 13 year old son is captured in a playful moment, blowing a large, pink bubble gum bubble. The bubble is so big it almost obscures his face, highlighting the fun and lighthearted nature of the activity

📸 Day 30 #mbapr #photochallenge: hometown

the Gateway Arch and Old Courthouse parts of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in downtown St Louis, Missouri as seen from the corner of Chestnut and 7th

I’ve lived all over the world, but I carry around my hometown St Louis in my heart wherever I go.

📸 Day 29 #mbapr #photochallenge: drift a sweet matte black E28 BMW M5 seen at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2020 I had a very mild looking version of this same car about 20 years ago that I would sometimes drift… usually inadvertently whenever it snowed 😜

Day 28 of the #mbapr Photoblogging Challenge: community by @stupendousman@micro.blog. Carrying the omikoshi portable shrine through my part of Tokyo and getting close to the community.

The image depicts a traditional Japanese festival scene where participants are carrying a mikoshi (portable shrine). The mikoshi is elaborately decorated in gold with white lanterns and red accents. Participants are dressed in traditional festival attire, some wearing headbands, while others are in casual clothes. They are lifting the mikoshi on their shoulders using two long wooden beams. In the background, there are residential buildings and power lines under a cloudy sky.

📸 Day 27 #mbapr #Photoblogging #PhotoChallenge. I still feel the surprise and joy after getting this bag of my favorite chips from my hometown by a friend.

I wear a very happy suprised look on my face after being given a bag of Red Hot Ripplets spicy potato chips that you can only get in St Louis, but in Tokyo a few years ago.

whew! finally caught back up! 📸Day 26 #mbapr #photochallenge: critter. This fella and his bro were sprawled out in the middle of Washington Av in downtown Golden, Colorado like he owned the place (which he probably did!)

A very large black, gray and white floof of fur in the form of a big Alaskan Husky is spawled out in the middle of a sidewalk surrounded by people wanting to pet him. The dog's face is one of sheer joy and happiness from the attention.

📸Day 25 #mbapr #photochallenge: spine. This very Japanese Shinkansen-looking train is actually the Taiwan HSR (台湾高速道路鉄道) model N700T and forms the spine of Taiwan’s rail network. #trainnerd #trainporn

“A Taiwanese high-speed train with a sleek design arrives at a station platform during nighttime. The platform is brightly lit and a group of passengers waits patiently behind the yellow safety line. The train’s headlights and interior lights cast a warm glow on the surroundings.

📸Day 24 #mbapr #photochallenge: light, as in this random traffic light in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. (Best street tamales this side of the Rio Grande BTW)

📸 Day 23 #mbapr #photochallenge: dreamy This is a picture of Yamba Ohashi Bridge before the Agatsuma river valley was flooded by the new dam just down river. This scene exists only in dreams now.

📸Day 22 #mbapr #photochallenge: blue. Just occurred to me that our trip to Colorado last year had lots of blue skies, and Breckenridge sits on the Blue River.

View from a car driving on a highway with clear blue skies and scattered clouds above, featuring a green road sign for Exit 203 to Frisco and Breckenridge with mountains in the distance.

📸Day 21 #mbapr #photochallenge: mountain. This is Fuji-san as seen from Koboyama overlooking Hadano City. I would regularly ride my motorscooter through the narrow mountain trails connecting my neighborhood just east of where I’m standing to this part of Hadano because of this stunning view.

Fuji-san as seen from Koboyama overlooking Hadano City, Japan

📸💪🏾 #mbapr #photochallenge Day 20: I love/hate the rare times when snow and ice take over Tokyo.

  • ♥ the magical feel of the city.
  • 🤬 slip/fall/busting ass all up and down these hilly streets.

April #mbapr Photoblogging Challenge, Day 19: Birthday — yes, sweet potato pie is valid around here.

Foggy days are always a mood.

Day 18 #mbapr #photochallenge

The level of ** transcendence** that can be attained after visiting a friend’s farm in Colorado is measured in miles, not feet. 🕴️ Day 17 micro.blog #photoblogging #photochallenge #mbapr

Day 16 #mbapr prompt: ** flâneur**… I think it means “people watcher” or thereabouts.

Living in Tokyo, that was my life for years; can’t help it.

I’m a day behind in the micro.blog #mbapr #photochallenge!  Its because I had to fix my son’s micro PC with all its small components. I have the tools but very little patience at times.

Day 14: This isn’t a cactus. It’s durian, a sweet smelly thing I like cold with ice cream in the Singapore heat. #mbapr #photochallenge

Day 13, #mbapr: A rainbow literally shows where my grandparents used to live in University City, MO outside of St Louis, my birthplace. This is just off Page Avenue and Woodson Road. I miss them and that corner of my hometown so damn much it hurts sometimes. 🌈🏡😿

Rainbow in a blue sky as seen over an industrial park in St Louis County, Missouri, USA. The photo was taken from the driver side window of a car and part of the mirror is seen.

📚 Finished reading: Building the Cycling City: The Dutch Blueprint for Urba…

A great primer for anyone fascinated by how the Dutch went from almost losing the war with the automobile in the 60’s and 70’s to becoming the beacon for creating an entire country that is designed for humans first and cars last. It also details how these ideas are being exported to places around the world as more and more people seek to reclaim public spaces from cars.