Katriona's Diary

The middle of April. The plants in our garden are blooming one after another. Surely this is the time when the approach to our entrance door looks best, with white, yellow, pink flowers and fresh leaves :)

Yesterday I woke up early to go to Hakone, the popular travel destination at the west end of Kanagawa prefecture. Hakone is famous for its history - it was the barrier point to enter Edo(old Tokyo) area, on a pass over the mountain, in Edo period(17 - 19 century), has become the popular resort with its cool mountain air, good hot springs and the view of Lake Ashi. There is a famous Shinto shrine on the mountain looking down the lake and on its water there is a very impressive red Torii gate which many tourists want to take photos of. When it's fine and the air is clear you can see Mt.Fuji from the lakeside. My purpose was not sightseeing, but joining a one day kayaking tour. Besides the kayaking guide, 7 people joined it. I met them for the first time but they - one old gentleman and 4 women and one girl - were all nice people, it's fun to paddle with them. We were very fortunate, the weather was fine, no wind, and the temperature was rather high - the best condition for paddling on the mountain lake.







Here in Yokohama most of cherry blossoms are gone now, but Lake Ashi is on the mountain so on the shore we saw many white and pale pink cherry blossoms, and the mild pale green color of fresh leaves of various trees were also beautiful.







We landed this beach, no buildings at all, very quiet and peaceful place. The guide cooked there, we had nice lunch then enjoyed a nap for a while. Then we paddled back to our starting point. On our way to the train station the guide stopped the car at some hot spring. Soaking in a hot spring after long paddling was great :)

Though of course this long day (I woke up at 5am!) made me exhausted! I had to go to bed earlier than usual :) But, this was a good day!

Today I worked at home. It was a fine day. In the morning the air was a bit cool but the temperature has risen in the afternoon. On lunchtime I went out into the garden to pick this twig and put it into a small flower vase.



Now it’s spring, and the beginning of the happy time when I can choose the flower to display :)

It’s windy but sunny today. I went to the office. When I went out from the office building I saw these roadside trees.



I can’t say how beautiful these fresh leaves looked…

The spring weather is really changeable, every day we have different weather, from the warm sunshine to the heavy rain! :( Though on a sunny day, the spring air is fresh and the colours of fresh leaves and flowers are really beautiful. Today is one of such fortunate fine day. In the morning our three garden cats seemed to be really happy and relaxed on the verandah.



We don’t have many flowers yet, but the colours of fresh leaves are the best at the moment. I love this variations of green colours very much.





Some trees are in bloom, the white of flowers and the green of leaves make really wonderful tone of colours. In the backyard now Yamabuki(Japanese kerria) shows its bright yellow flowers, I picked some branches and put them in small flower vases. The joy of spring :)

Today I work at home. It’s a fine and mild day, the blue sky and colours of fresh leaves and flowers are unbelievably beautiful.







This is so peaceful sight, far different from the messy situation of the human societies of the world…

Spring weather is changeable. Recently the weather changes everyday, sometimes every hour :( Yesterday, Saturday morning it was sunny, and I went to Miura Peninsula to join the kayak tour. There was a kayaking guide, and 4 other people. We enjoyed paddling along the coast of peninsula. On the coastline we saw many cherry blossoms on the hill, and listened the beautiful song of Japanese bush warblers on the beach.



Though in the afternoon it has become a bit windy, it's a bit difficult for me to paddle with the fair wind following wave - kayak tends to turn toward the windward so it's easier to paddle against a head wind - if the wind is not too strong, of course X) So, when we returned to the starting point I felt exhausted X( But, generally it was a nice day.

Because I went out on Saturday, today - Sunday morning I vacuumed my room and did some housework. In the morning it was fine but soon it got cloudy then rain ... then middle of afternoon we again had sunshine. And thankfully the temperature is not low all the while. In our garden Shaga (Iris Japonica) began to bloom, Juneberry is now in full bloom :)

After a wet, cold week, this morning we finally have the sunshine! Yay!



The garden cats waiting for their breakfast in the sun :)

Today again I work at home, and sometimes look out of the window. The beautiful fresh green of persimmon leaves and some white flowers (Juneberry and Mansaku) under the blue sky are really a feast to my eyes :)

Today again cold rain. The temperature is under 10°C ... in April! Too cold! Some days ago the temperature was not much cold, I saw many flower buds in our garden but this coldness has stopped their blooming :( Today I work at home, I turned on the floor heating, but without sunshine I feel still cold :(

BTW, these are the tiny flowers I saw on the trail of Mt.Takao on Sunday outing :)







These are not the showy flowers like the ones in the shops but I like these plain, clean beauty of the wild flowers :)

Today I went to Mt.Takao with friends. It's not a high mountain, just 599meter high. Though it's at the west end of Tokyo and easy to visit, so it's one of the most popular mountain in Japan I believe. There is an all paved road up to the mountaintop but we chose the nice mountain trail going up in the woods. It was not much steep, and we saw many tiny flowers.







There is a big temple on the mountain, the paved road is the approach to it.


The view from the top.

I enjoyed walking up and down the mountain still this going our tired me much. Now I need to go to bed...