Stopped off at Shikoku Karst in the Tengu Highlands for a break on our (very) long drive up to Matsuyama in Ehime. The views were outstanding.

view from top of a mountain of surrounding peaks and clouds view from top of a mountain of surrounding peaks and clouds view from top of a mountain of surrounding peaks and clouds view from top of a mountain of surrounding peaks and clouds view from top of a mountain of surrounding peaks and clouds view from top of a mountain, there is a large chalet type building and a road up to a tunnel.


Had most of today off so took my parents to Yasui Valley in Niyodogawa Town. Had a walk up a nice short trail before the rain got too heavy.

A valley trail with a slow flowing stream down the centre of the shot and many trees with leaves of various hues. More pink blossoms in this shot of the same trail. a two tiered waterfall surrounded by trees. a closer shot of the two tiered waterfall nice green foliage climbs up an old tree branch with red and brown leaves on the ground. interesting plant leaves cover rocks on the side of the valley view down the valley from a raised bridge another shot of the narrow river through the valley


Visited a Portuguese bakery in a neighbouring town for the first time today to buy some bread (being a European baker most breads are vega n) and brought home the photographed loaves. The broa was so deliciously dense that it made me want to eat it with a barley stew and as luck would have it we had very fitting ingredients in our fridge.

a wholewheat and rye loaf and a brown rice flour and rye broa on the brown bag from the bakery. a selection of seasonal, colourful root vegetables and a jar of unpolished barley sits atop a brown wooden chopping board sliced broa on a brown plate a bubbling barley stew in a big pot a bowl of stew with a chunk of broa nestled under some veggies soaking up the soup

Categories:

My in-laws’ just hosted a Shinto ceremony at their house, a very rare opportunity and one with much respect placed upon it and accordingly them.

The family had our own personal ceremony and now after lunch the roadshow is off to the local schools before returning to Ōmura shrine.

various folk, some in Shinto attire are unloading a very shiny mobile shrine from the back of a white kei truck. same folk, still maneuvre-ing the shrine from the truck. the mobile shrine, very old, is a shiny structure of gold black and red, there is a gold bird on top and various red torii gates around it.


Tonight’s dinner was a pumpkin and barley stew using ingredients from this village! Turned out to be very tasty.

A black pot holds an oranges hewed stew of pumpkin, barley, carrots, onions, celery, parsley, celery leaf, cabbage and spinach. A white bowl with brown rim holds white rice, the pumpkin and barley stew and some toasted French bread.

Categories:

This morning we climbed a mountain near our house to clean the grounds of a shrine for a ceremony later today. The shrine is on the site of a former castle/fort, apparently. Was a good but sometimes challenging climb for the older group members and the decline was super dangerous and the older lady in attendance slipped about a dozen times which was pretty scary.

That’s the second of the village mountains I have climbed in the past few weeks and definitely my second favourite..

A simple shrine constructed of wood and corrugated metal sits in a wooded area at the top of a small mountain, sunshine bursts through the trees illuminating the area.


On a business trip to Tokushima and looking out the hotel room window this morning and I saw this..

.. objective for today is to find “The Morag”..

(Agnes is an old-fashioned Scottish name, rarely used these days, provokes the image of an old lady with blue-rinsed hair and a two-wheeled tartan shopping trolley)

(Apologies to any Latinx Agneses, no offense intended.. I have a feeling it’s still a common name and adorned by many young people of Iberian decent)

a largely white rooftop view from an 11th floor hotel room, one of the taller buildings has a sign on each of its visible walls saying "The Agnes"