Era's end

End of an era.

This playground served us well for a good eight years. Three kids, countless hours of fun, and more memories than I can count.

But eight years of Japan's hot, humid summers and everything else the weather throws at us had finally taken their toll. The wood was rotting, and it was time to say goodbye.

So I spent a weekend taking it apart. Now, if you've ever lived in Japan, you know how seriously Japan takes trash separation and recycling. Naturally, I assumed that meant removing every single screw, nail, bolt, and metal bracket from the wood before taking it to the recycling center. And that's exactly what I did. Only to arrive at the recycling center and learn that they would have happily accepted the wood with all the screws and nails still in it. D'oh!