Garlic Domestically Produced 日本大蒜

I often make spaghetti aglio e olio for breakfast. This time I got a big garlic produced in Japan. Its price is 398 Japanese Yen before taxation！　As the present consumption tax for food is 8%, the final price is 429 Yen. Garlics imported from Spain or Italy is 200 Yen. JPY 398 is equivalent to USD 3.46, AUD 4.77, HKD 27.06 and GBP 2.58. Do you buy domestic or imported one? I was wondering how much it would cost.

 It is 7 centimeters across in diameter and has 7 big cloves. Each clove is moist and has soft smell. Luckily, I cooked well with a clove of this domestic one.

Merry Christmas 聖誕節快樂

 I hope all of you enjoy this lovely holiday season in good health.

Old Rural House

This old straw-thatched house was built more than 150 years ago. Ninomiya Sontoku, a famous re-constructor of farming areas lived here. 

Last visit was in hot summer a few years ago. This time visit in late fall made me think about lives one and a half centuries ago. In the night, wooden sliding doors were pulled out in front of the wooden passageway and prevented the house from the coldness. In the morning, the doors were removed and the chilled air directly faced paper sliding doors.  

Residents warmed themselves at a few charcoal braziers put on tatami mats. There were no heater warmer than that. 

I think that old houses in this country were built suitable for hot and humid days alone.

There is the shrine for this re-constructor near his house. The tree of yellow leaves on the right side is ginkgo. Ginkyo is called "ichou". This pronunciation is based on Cantonese '鴨脚：duck foot". It's a good naming.

Red maple leaves feast visitor's eyes.

 

98％ Partial Lunar Eclipse 百分之九八躲藏的月偏食

The beautiful lunar eclipse occurred tonight, around 18:00 Japan Time. Though the eclipse was partial, 98% of the moon was hidden in Earth's shadow. This is a very deep eclipse.

This moon shape is one hour later from the first photo. Did you see tonight's eclipse?

Autumn Deepens 秋色加深

Three cherry trees in the center have already lost their all leaves. Those of the left tree have been changing colors.  The best time of autumn leaves is coming near day by day. 樹木葉子變黃變紅； 櫻樹已經落葉。

Now you can enjoy chrysanthemum flowers. This type of growing method is called "three branch standing".  Growers pinch the top in the spring and raise three branches. They make efforts to grow the two of the three to the same height, the one higher and make all flowers as big as possible. The flowers in this photo are 130 to 150 cm high. 

三枝菊花栽培法

This flower has 25cm diameter. I don't know how to grow chrysanthemum flowers excellent. It takes six months from top- pinching to full-flowering.

Walking in the forest park, I found lovely ruby berries shining under the noon sun. This shrub is Cornus officinalis, the Japanese cornel. The berries have been utilized for nourishing tonic medicine. 山茱萸的核果

 

I found a Whisk Fern (Psilotum nudum)! 我發現了松葉蕨: 珍稀瀕危植物 !

When I took a walk, I found a small strange plant on an old cherry tree. (See the red circle.)

At first glance, I thought this was a kind of mushroom. But I have never seen green mushrooms. I thought again and realized this must be a whisk fern. It is very rare to see them in my area. I was very excited about my first discovery.

Whisk ferns like a warmer area. You will, therefore, have more chances to see them in the southern Japan and of course in 

Taiwan, Hong Kong and Indonesia. 

My dictionary says they are on a cliff or a tree. I don't know why they don't grow on the ground. Is it too cold in winter or too damp? The fern I found grows in the place where leaves and broken twigs lay thick on the cherry tree. It would take a few years to become this size. 

Snowy Buckwheat Field 蕎麥開花

Buckwheat blossoms are in full bloom now in my area. 

蕎麥如鋪雪

In the next month, farmers will cut down the stems by machine on a sunny day.

Just watching white blossoms, I can imagine the nutty flavour of its seeds. New buckwheat flour will be beginning to appear on the market in the middle of  November. 

These are my hand-made buckwheat noodles last December using the flesh flour. I am looking forward to enjoying the first time of making them (or Soba) this year.

這是去年我自己手工的蕎麥麵條。

The Time of Rice Harvest 割稻子的季節

Rice farmers reap rice in September and October by machine. Sometimes the temperature rises over 30℃, their clothes are soaking wet with sweat.

I have heard that the most difficult skill of rice growing is to control proper water depth and temperature.

The grains of japonica rice are rounder than indica.

"Rice ears bow down lower as they bear more." This is an old admonition same to "The boughs that bear most hang lowest."

 

The Mid Autumn Moon 2021

Last night on 7 pm, I took some photos of the special moon. 

Ancient Chinese people thought the August full moon in the lunar calendar was most round and beautiful in the year. Yesterday was just that day.

The full round means no lack. In this night people in today also wish for their family being safe.

I wish all of you good health and happiness!

First Arrival of Autumn Fragrances

The sky is becoming bluer and clearer. Osmanthus flowers are open now. This would be one of the biggest gifts by nature after we have managed to pass the too hot summer. Many schools and parks in my city have its trees. You can enjoy the fragrance easily and fully while walking on the street. You would see two kinds of Osmanthus. 

This tree has cream-colored flowers, named Silver Osmanthus銀木犀. The leaves have small thorns.

Osmanthus is a subtropical plant. It's hard to see them in the northern areas in this country. 

This orange Osmanthus is the other kind named Golden Osmanthus 金木犀, a variety of white one.  The leaves have no thorns. Its fragrance is deeper than white.  Chinese call this Red Osmanthus 丹桂. After returning home, I made coffee.

 

Exhibition Of Minerals

The central museum of our prefecture holds the exhibition of many useful minerals and rare ones during the summer holiday of schools.

This is "pyrite" combined with iron (Fe) and sulfur (S). As people in old days saw its yellowish color and often thought this mineral was gold, pyrite was called "fool's gold". Pyrite has a cubic crystal system. I am always surprised at its artificial looking big cube.

Here you are. The is "natural gold nugget".

All gold medals at Tokyo Olympics were made from gold used in industrial components such as circuit boards and connecters. Is it possible for humans to discover or make a new element that is more beautiful than gold which was called "sweat of the sun" in the Inca Empire?

In this exhibition, I realized many ores contain sulfur. Have you ever seen this ore?  Cinnabar (mercury sulfide) is combined with mercury (Hg) and sulfur (S). Chinese alchemy used this to make a medicine of perpetual youth. It is horrible to take a medicine of mercury. 

In

In many countries, this reddish ore has been used to make a vivid vermilion pigment.

 

A Path In The Cedar Forest

In the end of July, I went to the natural park. The summer of 2021 is terribly hotter than 2020. We have suffered continuous heat attacks 33 - 34℃ since the rainy season ended on 16 July.  I woke up earlier and arrived at the park on 8 am.

I chose this path for the first time. The air was still cool and I didn't meet anyone during my walk on it.

 

The contrast beauty of cedar's reddish barks and green leaves attracted me very much in silence. The air in the conifer forest is simply marvelous.

A Bud Of Lotus

July is the season of lotus blooming. The original of this lotus called "Oga Hasu" was a seed excavated at a 2,000-year-old archaeological site. Professor Oga succeeded in its germination. Plants have an amazing ability to survive.

 

Summer Solstice

One month passed after mandarin oranges bloomed. It's the summer solstice today.

"O blithe New-comer! I have heard,

I hear thee and rejoice."

-To the cuckoo by William Wordsworth-

Cuckoos come to Japan in early spring while they come to Britain in spring.

I am looking forward to hearing their songs every summer.

Half a year has passed. We have noticed the normal days are special.

Thank you for coming to read my posts.

I wish you good health and safety.

 

Raise High The Arched Beams, Carpenters.

This is the entrance gate of Daichuji Buddhist temple located in mountains.

Passing through the gate, I got a view of the main hall in silence. Ａ guide book says lots of young Buddhist priests studied Zen 100 years ago. This temple was founded in 1466. The present buildings were newly constructed in 1902.

I looked up the roof and found two beams carved excellently.

You can see a carp in waves.

The priests had meals in this building at the time.

Garden with Sand Stream

                               

This large garden has no pond or stream. Visitors enjoy the garden beyond the green lawn and the water in a square shallow pool reflecting trees and the sky. This architecture seems unique. 

The sand is reddish. Gardeners pattern streams and eddies forms by them. Some stones are set vertically. They might represent a mountain.

There is a stone path in the sand stream on which no one walk. I just imagined walking on for meditation. Where does this path lead to?

Beside the garden, this small building is preserved. The explanation says this is a farmer's barn in old days.