3 in 30 - 2001.11.10 Saturday
Leaf pile
This week's 3 in 30 only took about 15 minutes because it has been cold and raining. Being a little uncomfortable hurries the process. The fall season in this part of Japan lasts for a while so we will probably see some more fall pictures.
This one is looking over a fence into someone's back yard. On a daily basis, people usually sweep up the fallen leaves and discard them. It looks like the cleanup of these leaves was interrupted by the rain.
There are some very typical back yard elements in this snapshot. To the left out of the picture is a carport. The only way you could tell is that part of the concrete is dry. The building in the background is an outbuilding with an exterior style that dates back at least several hundred years. Very thin sheets of wood are held in place with the vertical strips. On the riser in front of the building are some bonsai trees. Many years ago, I believe I took a picture of one of those trees in springtime bloom and used it on the front of the UMUC Asia website.
Persimmons
Persimmons ripen late in the fall and provide a delightful orange color to trees even after all the leaves have dropped off. The fruit is delicious too. Decorative and delicious.
In December we will see many persimmon trees without leaves, and dozens of ripened fruit hanging yet from the branches. One of our friends at UMUC has a persimmon tree which he picks about this time of year and begins making "kaki" bread. This is a bread made with persimmons much the way one would make Banana bread. We have not yet been so fortunate to be given any fruit this year yet, but I noted today that it was selling at our local veggie market for ¥150 per 1/2 dozen. (Kaki is the Japanese word for Persimmon)
Now that I think of it, a persimmon tree graced the front page of the UMUC website too.
Nearby maple
One of our neighbors has this Japanese Maple by the side of their house.
The green leafed bush behind the maple is a gardenia.
Just last week we learned that another neighbor, who always had seasonal flowering plants in front of their house, were moving away. It took a while for me to figure it out, but their new house is also in the Matsubara-cho neighborhood, so we may again have some snapshots of their flowers. Bev was melancholy that they have left our small area, as she always enjoyed the flower lady’s flowers. A woman that we never really became acquainted with, Bev would frequently see her nurturing her flowers; her black and white cat lazily gracing the middle of our short street. We will miss their presence even though we exchanged greetings less than a dozen times in the 10 years we lived here. The language barrier sometimes is extreme.