...to a park, a short bus trip away
There have been many weekends where I've spent one or two days working (not research, unfortunately) whether postgraduate teaching or entrance exam supervision, or...something. As 13 December (Monday, today) approached in my diary, I noted a rarity--not one meeting, not one class, OK an inbox full of emails, but that's all the time, such a rare day. I had a few thoughts...to the beach! Four hours travelling for what might be an hour by the water; slump on the lounge and do timely combinations of reading and sleeping, both of which are needed; or, if the weather is fine why not catch the bus I caught yesterday, the one that goes to the other campus, but get off halfway at Shakujii Koen, one of Tokyo's rather large suburban parks. It was a fine day, I went for this last option. And it was quite nice and sunny but rather windy.
We are certainly feeling winter at the moment but here and there, you can still see the last of the koyo, or the autumn leaves and there were plenty to look at here, over the water, among the trees, all quite pretty. Perhaps someone like me likes them because we don't see a lot of autumn leaves where I come from. Anyway, it's not hard to take a few pics, probably more than one should.
It was rather more crowded than I expected, it seems it is a popular spot for older people to get out and about and do their daily exercise. I probably would too if I lived within walking distance. (I might just try riding one day, probably at the outer edge of where I would ride but maybe...)
So a few pics here to add to the ones on twitter and Insta taken on the fruit phone.
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| Red leaves at the entrance to the park |
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| Of course, there were ducks |
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| Lots of autumn leaves |
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| I think this is boss duck |
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| December berries everywhere |
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| Lots of paths to walk around (next time) |
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| A little mucking around with shutter speeds in the wind |
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| Photobombed... |
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| ...by... |
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| I was angling for this reflection |
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| A rare sighting in the park, apparently |
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| The photobomber, an aosagi, （青鷺）or Ardea cinerea, grey heron |
At this point, a lovely woman stopped to have a chat with me. She comes to the park for a walk 3-4 times a week and this was the first time she had seen one of these in the park. It was a lovely chat, about 15 minutes or so.
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| A bit more playing around with shutter speeds and apertures |
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| Dusk light and reflection |
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| It's a crow but kind of in a maze |
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A day for unexpected sightings though this white heron is more common
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| Last duck of the day |
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Ripples (caused by a crow in the branches above dropping things into the water
with a certain rhythmic regularity that I reckon it had to be playing |
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| And the light wins...end of the day |
So I think we all know that feeling that when we live and work in a particular city, whether it is Brisbane, or Tokyo, or Canberra (to name three where I've spent a bit of time in a non-touristy role), we tend not to get around and take in the sights as much as we might or should. I'm going to try and get around a bit more. This particular park, I have travelled past several times over the last few years. Today, I pressed the button and got off the bus. Certainly the last twenty-two months or so, through Covid lockdowns and restrictions, travelling around has been a little bit difficult. But, I will try to do more.
Photos here on the Canon EOS90D, 70-300mm lens (yes, I took others but didn't change over...) between 2.00pm and 3:45pm.
As always, all photos are copyrighted to me and I would be grateful if you didn't lift them without a request. @psephy on twitter. 😊
