Categories
Recent Posts: M Thomas Apple Author Page
Dear Diary — June 12, 2001
The Blood of Dunbar: The Forgotten Holocaust of the Scottish Covenanters
This is the first of a series of posts introducing the five-part historical fiction novel Unbowed, which will be published in November 2026. All five parts are based on true events and real people – my ancestors. Most students of American history are familiar with the standard narrative of New England’s early settlers: the Mayflower, the […]
“Blood Moon” lunar eclipse across the Americas
Lunar eclipses occur when Earth moves between the sun and the moon and its shadow is cast on to the lunar surface. In Thursday night’s event 96% of the moon will be darkened by the Earth’s shadow at its peak moment. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/aug/27/lunar-eclipse-north-south-america WordPress has gotten really wonky with the “quotation” formatting, so I hope this […]
Top Posts & Pages
-
copyright disclaimer
© Matthew Apple and Taking Leave, 2009-2020. Duplication of this material without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. If you would like to post or copy brief excerpts from the blog, please provide a link to the original URL along with an author’s credit.
Category Archives: family outings
Usagi and the Bear
Since my daughter was a baby, she’s been obsessed with rabbits (usagi, in Japanese). We first had a stuffed sheep doll for her, but she quickly became enamoured of a musical pink bunny whose cord she could pull to start … Continue reading
Posted in baby toys, family outings, Japan, parenting, separation anxiety, trips
Tagged baby toys, child-raising, dolls, fatherhood, Japan, Japanese, Kobe, separation anxiety, trips, zoo
Leave a comment
Family Day? Not in Japan
One of the problems with maintaining a blog about child raising is that the child-raising itself takes so much time that thee is little time to blog about it. If I thought I had little to,e last year while on … Continue reading
Posted in colleague reactions, family outings, Japan, parenting, work
Tagged child care, child-raising, fatherhood, Japan, Japanese, parental leave, Paternity leave, work, workplace hostility
Leave a comment
Nenmatsu-nenshi
I’ve spent the past five New Year’s at my in-laws’ house in Kagoshima, in the southern island of Kyushu. “Family” consists of my wife’s parents, my brother-in-law (who works at a hospital and is usually on call and/or working throughout … Continue reading
Posted in family outings, festivals, holidays, inlaws, parenting, Paternity leave, Uncategorized
Tagged child-raising, fatherhood, Japan, Japanese, Japanese holidays, New Year, Sakurajima, shogatsu
2 Comments
Taking Leave 