Fell Fall and Fen at Shiraito no Taki - White Thread Waterfall in Karuizawa

Waves, waterfalls and fountains, all types of white water, are the perfect counterpoint to green scenery, an anodyne for the eyes, a breath of fen air, and this Shiraito Falls, is an exemplar of its kind, with its long arc of continuity, its water has spent six years seeping from the rain fall on Mount Asama, slightly warmed by the geothermal heat of the mountain to form the springhead of the Yukawa River. And yes, each strand is a white thread working, stitching the world together. 

 

Kodachrome Dusk does its Thing Okinawa Style

 Here a pixel fine slice of an Iphone photo delivers the non-contemporary - perhaps it is the salt air, the storm rolling in from east, or a wave of ‘70’s nostalgia that has rendered this image of Nashiro Beach  on the south west side of Okinawa so very Kodachrome, or it might be that land remembers everything. 

Gingham Style ! Black and White Dog Couture

 It’s not Gangnam Style but Gingham Style for this checker be-decked Poochie who is being taken for a ride in uptown Karuizawa.   So many questions , but there is no shadow of a doubt that this is not a a black and white case. 

Is This the Line for the Chattanooga Choo-Choo -Bart’s Busman’s Holiday

 Bart Brassica is, it seems, on holidays, and while he has gone singularly Dutch and Dining Out  (Stand Up Stood UP ) and as been spotted at a diner,  how does he get around?  Here the mystery not so much thickens as coagulates, those with keen eyes will see he is a Oberndorf, a previously undiscovered railway station in Hunterdon County, and at least two of the locals seem to have have taken Grey Zombie potion, while Bart looks at perky as he ever will.  This will take some pondering.

The Stone Water Basin and the Bamboo Dipper at Rest

Inside the New Otani Hotel in Tokyo there is an incredible 400 year old Japanese garden, among all sorts of lovely things is this stone basin, with its bamboo dipper to make an offer of water to to the stone deity standing alongside. But what to make of the narrow shelf of bamboo?  Is it a resting place for the bamboo dipper? A metaphoric half way point?  An aesthetic division of the basin’s circle ?  In any case something to ponder. And it would be a pity not to show more of the garden, so as they say, see below.

 

Next Level - Roof Top Gardens in Tokyo

 Yes,  here we have levelled up with Ginza’s famous Seiko Clock,  having found Mitsukoshi  Department Store’s level nine roof top garden.  An elevated oasis for sparrows and people looking for a breath of green space, and when the Seiko Clock chimes Big Ben’s theme bing bongs, well you get a little bit - sukoshi!- of London thrown in for next level effect. 

Winning Ways - Twin Stars Sparks

Back in the day when my children were small, I read loads of children’s books, and had been known to be so engrossed I would unintentionally stop reading aloud, to go into the top gear of reading silently.  But last Sunday I settled into a sunny spot on the deck, and read Twin Stars, Volume 1 of Charlotte Clutterbuck’s first novel for pre-teens.  Charlotte is a fine poet and friend, so off we set.  Two cups of tea and a half a chocolate slice later, I let out a long sigh of satisfaction . Twin Stars is a terrific read, the characters are complex and engaging, the plot rips along, the social mores are resonant and relevant, the detail is wonderful and of course there is more coming.  If Volume 2 was out already I would have bought it straight away.  Twin Stars reminded me of the joy of reading children’s books, and this one is a gem. 

Many Hands Make Light Work - In the Photon Field

 Granny Eggwhistle says she is sure the new Farm Hand might be a member of an occult, because under hand is one thing but Over Hand like this is unnatural.  But why has Farmer Bart Brassica taken on an extra Hand?  It seems, as he is away on a faux holiday (see double-double-dutching-bart-fakes-fancy.html…)  and has applied the adage Many Hands Make Light Work, though in this case he is thinking the rocket needs to work harder at photosynthesis, and with all this light work, some of it must inspire the Aragula to go for it.  There may be a nothing under handed about the Hand or it could be there is more to the Hand than we can see.  

The Fleeting Fineness of Flowers Down

 Double ruffled tulips are fine examples of the under rated ephemera of fading flowers, they have a wabi-sabi all their own, here the tulips’ touch down reframes their faux Kutani-ware Wedgewood vase - itself a floral fiat of form and pattern. Something about the surrounding crowd of bijou here suggests World of Interiors, and makes me wonder why photographs of wilted arrangements, with their mandala ethos, are not a genre of their own. 

The Sea in Two Minds and an Undertow

It’s easy to forget, or maybe not realise,  that like turning the heel for a sock, the ocean knits itself around corners into bays, here the north eastern edge of North  Stradbroke shows precisely how the sea can be in two minds about flow and crimp and flat where the Pacific meets Moreton Bay. The water on one side is  so seemingly placid but heaven knows, that seam of intersect does not even bother to hide its undertow.

 

Stand Up, Stood Up? Bart Dines Out.

As Bart Brassica is holidaying double Dutch style,  see Episode double-double-dutching-bart-fakes-fancy.html , he has been wistfully waiting at Glenn’s Historic Gettysburg Diner, at which there are 166 vacant seats.  Is so much emptiness  ominous in a diner open 24 hours a day?  Notwithtsanding the lack of customers Bart appears to have been Stood Up by Mavis Eggwhistle, though as Mavis is unlikely to know that Bart Brassica had invited her, as he is working on his Telepathic Powers, after enrolling, but not attending, TelePathy for Beginners, which as he understood the CurryCueLamb, would be mostly acts of contemplation.  So, is this Bart’s last piece of Stand Up?  Will his Curried Lamb Burger ever come? 

Feeding Dandelions to a Donkey and the Donkey’s Auntie

These two Donquettas were not coquettish about dandelion greens, though there was some jockeying, at which they excel, for access, and while this was amiable enough at midday, the next morning, maybe they got up on the wrong side of the stables, but the Aunt was not nice to the niece and vice versa.  If ever I have a to reverse park a donkey I will be letting the donkey do it.  They have nice noses and a fundamental grasp of dandelion delicacy and space. 
 

A Green World in Three Scenes

A Myanmar market stack of green leaves leaning towards  a Fibonacci spiral , two stems of Angophora leaves, thoughtfully snipped off by sulfur-crested cockatoos,  and a tableau of acorn, oak leaf, birch cone and  my  green Lamy fountain pen, all contribute to  a visual paraphrase  of John Donne’s green thoughts in a green shade. 

 

Get Your Skates On , St. Kildering Your Way Into Nostalgia

Pink skates with yellow laces, scuffed toes reflect on their uneven roll call of days along the Esplanade, what can explain their sense of ennui, ready to go but glazed inside the glass, the palms in colonnades reflected, the distant idea of a wooden rink at Ettalong, with its corrugated, companionable percussion?  
 

Blue in the Face

The Blue-faced honey eater may be the only creature that looks good in Blue eye shadow, and being so very dapperly attuned to the cafe colour system it would be hard to begrudge them a few muffin crumbs. Blueberry I wonder?