Note the date... lest we forget.

I quite like green...

Sometimes there are days when work just has to be left undone, and only a hike in the mountains will suffice...

Not that I cannot hike without me iPod playing Waka Jawaka but the missus complains when I play that at home, amongst others...

Peonies & Sushi...

More an amuse geule.....

Nijo - jo Castle gardens, Kyoto

The colours of spring in Japan, the mix of textures of the foliage leave me breathless and I decide that maybe I should put away the camera...



And take out the sketch pad, pencils, watercolours, the tiny easel, the small pot of water, the folding chair from my canvas shoulder bag; bought from the Tate Modern gift shop of course, and...



Try and capture the beauty of the symbol used on the shirts of the Japan Rugby team...



Until I am transfixed by the complex petal pattern of the cherry blossoms that we thought we'd missed... only then to be defeated by the well positioned sign...



Bet Banksy never 'ad this problem...

Writing with Light...

From infinity by Shinkansen to Himeji...and it's castle, made famous by appearing in countless movies of samurai and ninja, storming up it's seemingly endless steps...



But inside, and high in the roof, the last bastion to be defended is the coolest of chambers, the old wooden floor shiny and squeaky - a nightingale floor; so called so that intruders could easily be heard.



I love the light reflecting the frame upon the floor...

Last Night's Sunset Through The Rain

There are times,



When I wonder



Why...



I ever bought



A television.



Never doubted buying a Leica...

More Bonsai Photos *

There was no evidence that a fork lift truck had entered the house in order to position the bonsai, and so I imagine that it was a small army of gardeners, or an army of small gardeners... brought in to do the job. The person walking to the right was a 'normal' sized Japanese woman in her middle age, and I did not ask her name although she did say, Hello....



This was about 6 foot tall or so, 1m83-ish



These were both much smaller again, about 3 foot or so, a metre tall.



Some were exquisite, and their perfume filled the house. Glad I don't suffer from asthma, or hayfever...



The interior walls as in most tradionally designed Japanese house can slide so as to be moved to enlarge or to make smaller, a room. Some of these sliding walls are easily removed entirely.



This specimen was probably no taller than about 1 metre including the size of the pot...

And then.... when I needed to find a loo, I slid open one wall panel/door and found myself in the most beautiful little calm zen garden built between the house I was visiting and the house next door. A tranquil little space, not wasted, in which to chew the fat, chew to cud or just go, "Omm" in, with the neighbours...



* Due to enormous public demand....