Memoirs of a Gaijin: November 2005

best time of year, worldwide!

To Autumn
by John Keats

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,--
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

rumor has it, jakie-o-baggins-spills the third has been seen hiding amongst these rocks

this house was just outside the gorge, but still has quite the view

...

the walk along the gorge (along a stroller-accessible, rubber-like trail with fake wood hand railings) proved quite stunning

there were also a number of delicious edibles offered at the festival: ripe bags of nashi, ringo, plenty of udon, onigiri, and yakitori, and of course this mushroom which runs about 115 us dollars...yikes

but screw that

while mine was more the throw back variety

megan and victoria pulled in the trophies of the day...

a little trout fishing (and by that i mean sweeping a hook through a crowd of hundreds of frightened and captive fish, trying to snag enough flesh anywhere on the fish to pull it out)...

the day offered beautiful colors,

fall is in the air. last thursday was a national cultural day and a good day to head to the hills to see some of the changing colors of aki. these pics come from the lovely chomonkyo gorge in ato-cho. megan, chris and i went up to watch victoria kick ass at taiko and then take a short stroll through the changing of the seasons...