Impressions

The black-eared kite wheeling and diving over our heads -

 a painting on silk in our machiya in Kyoto.

A heron biding its time on the Kamogawa river -

the red-crowned crane at the entrance to Nijo castle.

The Emperor's picnic set from the 19th century

 in Horyu-ji treasures galleries of the National Museum Tokyo -

a hanami picnic party in Shinjuku park.

This one was very civilised and in fact our bags were searched 

for alcohol as we went in. 

Later on in Ueno park

the blue plastic sheets were spread with less regard to

cherry blossom viewing and a little more to . . .

sake barrels donated to the Meiji shrine Tokyo.

The rather tasteful mini-bar in our hotel room.

Thank you for waiting*

With nearly 600 photos to process,

how to choose?

How even to narrow down?

Sci fi toilet?

(The lid rises as you approach.
The seat is warmed
and an array of buttons, not always in English,
offers cleanliness beyond your wildest imaginings.)

or Mount Fuji?

(Seen on a rare clear day from the Rope Walk
cable car system.) 

(Seen from a boat on Lake Ashi.)

(Seen from the hotel at sunset in Tokyo.)

Puzzling notices? 

or a temple covered in gold leaf?

(The Kinkaku-ji Golden Temple.)

Tasty snacks?

(Bento boxes at the station.)

or tasty snacks?

(At the Monkey Park in Arashiyama.
We are in the cage, not the monkeys.)

* A frequently heard honorific greeting for talking to customers,
people of seniority, or the elderly,
not a concern for any delay, because we never experienced anything
but the utmost courtesy and promptness.

The vanishing point

This is my vanishing point too for a little while.

We're off to see our son in Japan

and when I come back I will be roku juu.

If it is your birthday soon,

this is for you -

Missing you already

Tall Cat comes in twice a day now.

Will he miss us when we're gone?

Perhaps we can find a Japanese cat to adopt.

Sitting under a magnolia tree

This weekend

 I sat under a magnolia tree.

I must have sat there for at least two minutes

Then I thought, I really must get a picture of this

beautiful tree and I got up to fetch my camera.

I sat down again under the magnolia tree.

Then I saw another sycamore seedling

(not pictured)

and I got up to pull it out.

I didn't sit down again.

It's a character

flaw.

The scarves are on the line

Once I'd unhooked the clematis and given the line a wipe

I was able to hang out the first washing of the year

and because I have been well-schooled by magazines, blogs

and even cookery books (I'm looking at you Ms Raven)

I knew better than to put out any old uncoordinated laundry.

I washed my scarves and lamented just a little bit
the lack of a shepherd's hut behind the washing line.

and indeed, the lack of a meadow

 and the beautiful Sussex High Weald
behind the shepherd's hut.

Mr Raven, otherwise known as Adam Nicholson
came to give a talk about the Shiant Isles 
(bequeathed to him by his father Nigel Nicholson)
in the Primary school recently.
I met him another time at an Open Day for Perch Hill.
He was taking the money at the gate. 
They work hard.

I really can't begrudge them.

The weekend

The air was of no temperature at all. 

Skylarks upscaled at our approach.

There was no wind.

Motionless ewes stood distant, expectant, unruffled.

The sea flowed innocently over the sand.

Two swans beat and beat their wings triumphant,

the bother of becoming airborne nearly forgotten.

A castle stood untroubled by its past.

The niche needed no embellishment.

Four daffodils could be spared

for the table.

What ho!

Bertie Wooster: Ha! Do you ever feel like opening the window and shouting

that the world is a wonderful place Jeeves?

Jeeves: Erm. . .no, sir.

Bertie Wooster: Or dancing in the street, scattering rose petals on the passers-by?

Jeeves: Only infrequently, sir.

'There is only one cure for grey hair.

It was invented by a Frenchman.

It is called the guillotine.'

I am going to see this.

Hoping to disprove another of Plum's utterances that 

everything in life that's any fun is either immoral, illegal or fattening.

Toodle-pip!

Shibui

A rainbow mixture of tulips from the supermarket

in my Susie Cooper Eyelash jug with a tiny chip in the rim.

Rainbows from the prisms on the window sill.

SHIBUI.

Simplicity,

implicitness,

modesty,

silence,

naturalness,

everydayness,

and

imperfection.