Colored Leaves 2022

The change of seasons were very rapid this year. A month ago we had suffered hot days without cool breeze. Now leaves have been changing their colors. 

Plants never miss signs of nature.

Heart shaped round leaves are shining like a gold medal. They might enjoy whispering. Is their topic people walking under the tree, who are worry about many things in their lives?

Looking up the autumn sky, I forget to breathe....literally breathtaking. 

I sometimes think about how far we have been from nature. Some say nature is our teacher, she is always ready to teach us wisdom. Have we been a good student for the last one hundred years? 

 

Good Rice Reaping

Farmers have finished rice reaping.  As this summer was very hot and had many fine days, the rice crop is very good.

Some of them operate an enhanced combine harvester that  has a function to perform the threshing treatment on the spot. 

Straws are used for feed, compost. Farmers often spread them on the vegetable field to protect the growth of weeds and the appearance of harmful insects and also to keep the ground temperature warm.

Many persimmons have survived typhoons and strong winds.  

I do not know whether they are astringent or sweet.

唐君毅先生寫「懷鄉記」介紹他的故鄉四川宜賓有＂嘗新＂的習俗。秋收時的嘗新要先餵狗。因為穀子是狗帶來的。你們聽過沒有？到了農曆十一月，日本神道神社都舉行＂新嘗祭（漢日語法不同，好多詞彙翻倒）＂感謝天神地祇。東瀛還保存著同一稻作信仰呀。

 

 

 

Coffee House On Highlands 高原的咖啡店

This coffee house is located on a hilltop. A mistress selected  this place and designed the house and the garden so that the guests can enjoy the drinks and cakes made by her elaborately in a comfortable environment.

Little apples have turned red earlier than on the level. I will show you her cakes next time I visit.

 

Flagrant Olive Flowers Have Opened 桂花才開了 秋天到了

Have you enjoyed a fragrance of autumn yet?

The day before yesterday I took a short walk in the night and smelled flagrant olives for the first time this year. The flowers usually open in the middle of September. The very hot and long summer would have them hesitate to decide when to open their flowers.

It's 1st of October today and the highest temperature was 29.4℃. You will get sunburned only in a ten minute walk. 

Flagrant white olive.  We call silver flower. 銀木犀

Fragrant orange-colored olieve. We call golden flower.　金木犀

好花偏占一秋香

 

Weight and Spiritual Power 蛇形繩子和神力啞鈴

Today I went to Hoshinomiya

shrine. A rice straw rope hanging on the stone gate looks like a snake which was a sacred animal in ancient times.

 

Have you ever seen stones or metals in some Shinto shrines? I saw a round stone at Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto. People come there to pray to realise their hopes.

If you put up the stone and feel it is light, your hope will be realised. On the contrary, it's not easy to realise your hope when you feel it heavy.

Most of all will concentrate their strength and put it up. They will feel lucky.

Hoshinomiya says that you will be able to strength your spiritual power when you stand on this octagonal stone and put up the dumbbell.

Good Growth

In spite of too high temperatures, rice has been growing well.

The new rice is sweet and tasty. 新米和烤秋刀魚好食呀。

 

 

Searching For the Cool 找涼爽去水邊

The weather is still a bit too hot.  The temperature went up to 34℃ or 93°F today, the humidity was 70%. It's so muggy.

I rode a bicycle and came to this waterside. While I was in a residential area, I felt the wind was been sending from the hair dryer.  Riding the bicycle along the water, the sensible temperature went down suddenly. I enjoyed the cool here!

Sunflower Field

The sunflowers are at their best now. A volunteer group grows them every year. In 2020, the first year of COVID-19 pandemic in this country, they discontinued growing the flowers to protect visitors from the infection.

 Since the last year, the group has put boards requiring visitors to wear a mask and keep distance. They have not built an observation deck either to avoid concentration of visitors.

The yellow in this year is same as that of before the pandemic and before the war. Times have changed.

年年歲歲花相似

A high school counselor shows two categories.

What you can change:

yourself, thinking, action and future

What you cannot change:

others, emotion and things that happened in the past 

Have a nice weekend!