I’m sorry I’ve been away for so long. Things conspired to take time away from blogging. That and general laziness. I was, however, in the US for about two weeks in November, so that is a good excuse.
This year I seem to have missed the Fall season, and the leaves changing color. I saw a bit of it last weekend, but somehow I feel like I missed the peak. The previous two years, I went to Kyoto to see the changing colors (last year and the year before). This year I was in Los Angeles, which doesn’t really have any seasons other than “rainy sometimes†and “drought.†I got to New York City at the end of their season, but I was able to catch a little bit of color in Central Park (THE Central Park, not Nagoya’s Central Park)
New York City:
Nagoya Central Park (note the Brooklyn reference):
I went to Boston following NYC, and it was past the peak.
When I got back to Nagoya, I did go to the å¾³å·åœ’ (Tokugawa-en) to enjoy the 紅葉 (fall colors) on recommendation of a friend. I was there with a ton of photographers and couples. It was fun to ride my bike there, although it was a little chilly. I arrived later in the day so that I could also see the illumination. It was also recommended that I see what twilight was like and to take my “expensive camera.†I felt a little like I was cruising because I kept walking around waiting for the right light, and I finally got it.
I’ve never gotten that “smooth water” waterfall look until this picture. That’s the advantage of really low light, a steady hand, and slow shutter speed.
One funny I noticed was a photographer really intent on getting just the perfect picture of a flower with what looked like a really long lens. Little did he realize that just out of frame a hummingbird was stationary. I was able to get a picture of his subject, the photographer, AND the hummingbird.
Last Thursday night / Friday morning, it rained really hard in Nagoya and we had some wind as well. As a result, a lot of the leaves are now off of the trees, especially on the Ginko trees. Thursday night I went to a Jonsi concert and we were able to comfortably walk to and from the venue. It really was a nice evening. Just as we were getting back to my place, it started to rain a little. Then it came down, and cold air flowed in behind it. That’s good, because Nagoya is beginning to look like Christmas – the ice rink is up in Minami Sakae and the Christmas decorations are up.
Today I spent the day shopping for orphans. I’ve done that the past two years (2008 buried in this entry) and did so again this year. It is great that we can do this for the kids and I enjoy the challenge, but sometimes their Christmas list presents challenges for everyone. I had to get a black and red soccer piste jacket, preferably Adidas, Nike, Puma, or Umbro for 3000 yen (38 USD) or less. Ah, right. Well, I found a red and black jacket (apparently piste jacket as well if I can believe the sales person) on sale at the Adidas shop for 3800 yen. Sold! Don’t tell anyone I overspent by 800 yen. Right now I have 4 kids I am sponsoring, and miraculously I found 3 of the first wishes of the kids. Yikes. The 4th wants to be a spy I think because everything he wants is a special spy toy. Not so easy to find.
I hope that I can get back to semi-regular blogging. I still have several things in my queue that I haven’t published yet. I’ll do my best.