MAM Day Nineteen – Blowing in the Wind and Wrapping up Japan

Sometimes I wonder: “Where could the answer be ?”

“The answer my friend is blowing in the wind,
The answer is blowing in the wind.”

Thank you Bob Dylan

Now back to Japan one more time. Mostly Airports and birds.

Outside of Tancho Kushiro Airport – We took a short flight in Japan

Relaxing with a little foot soak between flights. What a luxury,

View from the plane window in the late afternoon.

And before we leave I do have to show you some of the Japanese birds we saw. It was a birding trip after all. Again photos not taken by me but by one of the trip participants. I just arranged them in collages

Kestrel, Great Cormorant and Black-eared Kite

long tailed rose finch and Common Rock Thrush

And last but not least my favorite of all the birds we saw (well maybe except for the Fish Owl) the Common Kingfisher. Smaller and much more colorful than ours.

And now for some parting shots:

The Japanese do love their baseball. That’s a poster of one of their teams.

Our sweet van driver and our patient guide.

And good night.

MAM Day Eighteen – Mostly Japan

I’ll get to Japan in a moment but first…

Did you ever feel like you were running around like a chicken with her head cut off? I did today and then my ceramic chicken got her head knocked off – portentous and I knew just how she felt…well almost.

On to Japan and a few interesting juxtapositions.

I like the roof decorations- the little gnome, the fish which symbolizes resilience, perseverance and courage in Japanese culture (especially the Koi fish), and the decorative rooftop of someone’s home in the hills .

Three contrasting dwellings – top left , a place to camp overnight on a hilltop; top right a temple – home for the gods; and on the bottom a shack, maybe a chicken coop or a place just to keep the truck?

The sculpture is called “Northern Mother and her Child”. No idea why. The child is covering their face with their hands. Bottom left a beautiful manhole cover with birds and plants and fruits. And top left is a metal bird relief in a sidewalk at one of the airports.

Love the calligraphy etched in the stones. Mostly memorials but also just markers of various sorts.

A Japanese maple decked out in orange, the topiary is probably a cypress tree, and do you know what that fruit is? It’s a pomelo.

That’s all for now…

But I had to put in Momo because she’s on my mind. I have to put her down tomorrow…and anyway her name means peach in Japanese and many Japanese name their cats Momo.

Until tomorrow.

MAM Day Seventeen – March Thaw, Bunraku, and Back to Japan

It’s that time of year…

Can you hear the sap plink plinking into the bucket? – maple sugaring time!

My neighbors are boiling sap today. I love to stop by and inhale that sweet maple steam. Ahhhhhh.

Now on to something more Japanesey

When I was in New York I took a workshop at the Japan Society from a master puppeteer on manipulating Bunraku puppets. What fun! Only sorry I didn’t get to see any performances while in Japan. Guess I’ll have to make another trip there.

Speaking of which, continuing on our vicarious journey through Japan.

Two shrines? Well, actually one is an eco-outhouse and the other is a shrine, but for what or for whom I do not know.

Walking down the street in Nagano in the late afternoon. At last a chance to window shop.

On that same street – a Christmas tree in front of a wedding gown shop (yes they do celebrate Christmas in Japan!). The green frog is a sign for a real estate agency. The red sign is an advertisement for a vehicle that turns from a can into a truck??? An odd sense of humor. And the little statue with a red apron is a shrine for the children’s god – Jizo.

The Viking is in a drink vending machine where they sell hot and cold drinks. Don’t know quite what he’s doing there. The panel on the left is a cigarette vending machine even though the Japanese are trying hard to have people kick the habit. Maybe that’s why the guy in the machine looks so creepy. The middle panel is a creemee advertisement. And the Japanese do love their cows even though they don’t eat much dairy at all.

Here’s another bunch of odd things found in one of the hotels we were staying at.

Upper left – can you guess what that is? It’s a self message gadget. On the right is a display case with masks and I don’t know what the other thing is. On the bottom is a bunch of ghoulish creatures in a bell jar. Oh my!

Okay, I think that’s enough weirdness for now.

Until tomorrow wishing you sweet maple dreams.

MAM Day Sixteen A Little Spring and then Back to Japan

At the MAM halfway mark. WOW!

Ephemeral, as in Spring ephemerals, the prompt of the day.

So a few glimpses of Spring, a flower poem, and then back to Japan

Adamant waterfall. Water is so powerful when unleashed. Hope we don’t have any more flooding like last year.

Look what I found by my front path – a snow drop! Crocuses soon to follow.

Daffodils… not yet…but I’m all anticipation

Here’s a little flower poem, not ephemerals but they are all flowers that will be in my gardens this Summer (except maybe Jack in the Pulpit).

Flower Song

Forget Me Not

My Bleeding Heart

But with a Ladies Mantle

Cover me

Sweet William

He was not for me

No Jack in the Pulpit

Could convince me otherwise

Therefore do not fear

For though Jack Frost appear

Love in the Mist

Will surely bloom

Some other year

And now back to Japan

A few various scenic shots and some birding spots. Kind of a potluck today. Not in any particular order.

One of the first places we stopped – Nagano – Toyonomachitoyono

Teshikaga – Biruwa Lots of swans and a nice view of the mountains across the way.

A good birding spot with a bench to sit down on. We were there on my birthday hoping to find a specific waterfowl as a birthday present to me.

And there she is! (Again photo not taken by me but by one of the birders on the trip.)

Three little boys playing in Maioka Park while we birded there. We saw lots of Japanese tourists with their families on our trip.

That’s all for now. To be continued

MAM DAY Fifteen – Back to Japan

But first – Spring symphony interlude – a glimpse of Spring to come (symphony was today’s MAM prompt after all)

On Sodom Pond

Now back to Japan and the fish owl

We stayed at a luxurious hotel where people came especially to get a glimpse of the fish owl. The Japanese always know how to arrange things beautifully, from food to flowers to window displays.

Views from the big picture window
at the hotel

A cold and snowy day. I decided to skip the day’s bird outing and relax in this lovely hotel. Maybe even try soaking in the hot springs or get a massage. Have fun fellow birders out in the snow. See ya later.

After a good day’s rest it was time to see the fish owl. At the hotel they fed the owl outside the big picture window at a certain time of night so all the guests could see it. We waited and waited all night long until we fell asleep in the lounge but the bird didn’t come. Oh well, try again tomorrow.

Oh there you are! And a very impressive raptor too.

Thank you for showing up and posing for me. You made it a satisfying day.

Until tomorrow’s next installment, Good night.

MAM Day Thirteen- Amphibian Interlude

It’s that time of year…The frogs will be heading across muddy VT roads to get to their Spring homes.

Many of them don’t make it because they get run over by cars. I collect their dried remains. I find them beautiful in a weird kind of way.

I call this assemblage “Dead Frog Dancing in the Moonlight”

I’m also an amphibian crossing guard directing traffic around the frogs and salamanders when they cross the roads on the first rainy night in Spring.

Sometimes I have to carry the frogs across the road myself.

If they do make it across they lay their myriads of eggs in the relative safety of vernal pools.

Here’s a Costa Rican frog wearing their snail party hat.

“Fossil evidence suggests that frogs and toads, known as anurans (Roman meaning having no tail), have existed since at least the Jurassic Period, with some fossils dating back over 160 million years, and their evolutionary history is being revealed through discoveries like the 111-million-year-old fossil”. They survived beyond the time when dinosaurs disappeared.

The North Branch Nature Center is having an Amphibian art exhibit. There will be an opening tomorrow (March 14). It will be fun to see amphibian art in all different media even if you’re not into frogs the way I am.

Maybe I’ll see you there.

MAM Day Twelve – Japan Continued – Cranes

Photo of a photo in the airport advertising the cranes in Japan

Crane statues in front of the crane museum and observatory.

Origami cranes, the blue ones and the red ones each made out of one piece of paper. How on earth did they do that? They were just in large squares but I made a photo collage out of them, like a quilt.

I could see thousands of cranes looking out from the observatory

Crows on a wire outside the observatory looking towards the mountains.

Landscaping outside the crane observatory. I love the topiary trees and shrubs.

Cranes on the ground at another observation point. Again not my photographs, taken by one of the birders on the trip.

Time for supper but that one’s not for me thank you very much.

Tomorrow the fish owl. Until then…

MAM Day Eleven – More from Japan

Today we’ll take an ocean voyage looking for seabirds

Heading out there in our van. Looks like it’s going to be a chilly day.

These animals seem very familiar. Taken from our van window.

An encounter. This wonderful photo was taken by one of the other birders, not me, but I couldn’t resist including it.

On our way we stopped at an oceanic museum describing many of the creatures found in the sea in Japan.

Awww. No, they’re not alive. The miracle of taxidermy.

Definitely a wet and windy day for our intrepid birders.

These are the fishing boats. Which one will we be going out on I wonder?

This one! Hang on tight it’s going to be a rocky ride.

These waters have a boundary between Russia and Japan. Two not too friendly countries.

Taken rom the Japanese side of the sea. The mountain is in Russia.

Back to shore. The Japanese love their motorcycles, many of which were manufactured in Japan – Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki. Sounds like a chant.

MAM Day Ten – Back to Japan

Make the impossible possible, the possible easy, and the easy elegant.” -Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais

Quote for the day! And a good one I think for MAM. Helped me create these posts.

On to the castle…

You have to cross the bridge over the moat to get into the castle – that is if you are a warrior.

Another view of the castle with a reflection in its moat. Such elegant architecture for an edifice built for protection against enemies.

Two guardian warriors, one from the 17th century, the other an actor showing us how the guards protected the castle.

Can you guess which is which? And isn’t it interesting, look closely, they’re both wearing masks.

Outside the castle the shrubs are being protected from the snow by straw like we protect our shrubs with canvas or wood in winter. They look rather ghostly.

Though the shrub protectors are really quite harmless of course.

Outside the castle grounds people and their animal friends.

Time to go into the castle. Take your shoes off please…but be ready to have cold feet. The floors are really cold

A view looking up into the upper floor of the castle

The castle is guarded not only by warriors but by gods. The people have to put offerings – food, flowers, incense, etc. in the castle so the gods will protect them. You can see the offerings in the recesses of the castle.

Here are some prints of warriors and battles hung up in the castle which was designed as a museum of sorts..

View from a castle window. Juxtaposition of modern and ancient.

At first glance I thought this was some kind of Japanese board game, but no, it is ammunition and the box it was stored in.

Now we are strolling out on the street by the castle

What a gnarly old tree festooned with rope and tassels. A survivor of many lopped limbs

Hope you enjoyed the tour through the castle.

Tomorrow maybe a boat trip looking for seabirds.

MAM Day Eight- Egging me on

Taking a break from Japan today. Don’t worry, I’ll get back to the castle and the cranes tomorrow. Just couldn’t resist the prompt for today. EGGS!

I love eggs. Eat ’em for breakfast almost every day, especially poached.

Though sometimes I do get a little bored with them and have to jazz them up a bit. And one day a double yolk appeared. My lucky day!

Especially since I am a fraternal twin and came from one of two
eggs together somewhat like that double yolked egg, I felt a special kinship with it.

Don’t think I ever cooked it. Not sure what I did do with it.

I just found out that Helen of Troy was born from one of the “twin” eggs laid by Leda as a swan. Or that’s how the myth goes. Who would have thought, another twin story! The saying “ab ovo” Latín for “from the egg” meaning from the very beginning comes from that myth of Leda and Helen of Troy.

Eggs in the wild – frogs eggs in the hand, bird egg nestled in a wasp nest (I put it there myself of course), moth eggs laid on a leaf and wasp’s eggs parasitizing a caterpillar.

Waterford crystal egg. my parents liked to collect them. Something about the perfect shape of an egg attracts artists to make art from it.

So as the saying goes “I won’t put all my eggs in one basket“

Did you know that the origin of that saying goes back to Miquel de Cervantes’ quote in 1605 by Don Quixote: “It is the part of a wise man to keep himself today for tomorrow, and not venture all his eggs in one basket.”

I wonder if he was talking about his relationship with his prostitute friend Dulcinea?

“Ab ovo ad mala” for my stories of the egg – a saying like from soup to nuts only the Romans started their meal with eggs and ended with apples or other fruit.

Enough ovo-musing for today.

A demain.

coppsky

musing on nature and life