November Colors

I am learning that fall in the Tohoku area of Japan is much nicer of a season then fall in the Northwest. Living in the Northwest my entire life, every fall I’ve experienced has been dark, cold and wet. Of course there are the few odd nice days here and there, and there are trees that change color, but you can only enjoy it for a short time before the cheery autumn colors become damp and soggy from the rain.

Living in the northeastern side of Japan, I am experiencing a beautiful world of red, orange, yellow, brown and every shade in between. As you may see in some of my recent photos, the land and mountains are blanketed with beautiful colors. This is something that you do not see very often in Seattle. Living in the “Evergreen State,” we get the beautiful lush green hills and mountainsides year round, but we can rarely look at a mountain and see a wonderful color pallet. I think that both can be beautiful, but the one thing that I am really enjoying about fall here is that it is dry! The leaves are sharing their last bit of colorful beauty before they become too brittle as they cling onto their branch before they are swooped away with a cool crisp gust of wind. I’m sure that in the next few weeks, colors will begin to fade, and as the days get cooler the last bits of life will be frozen away as nature anticipates the winter season.

This past Friday I had the privilege being taken to a Saikachi-numa by the Sasaki’s. It's a beautiful lake that happens to only be a 15 min bike ride from my apartment. Unfortunately I forgot my camera that day. The colors were so beautiful and I knew that this was a place I needed to revisit with my camera. On Sunday afternoon, Josh and I (you remember Josh right? One of the MK’s at this church, my Sakunami walk buddy) well anyway, we embarked on another adventure once Church and lunch had finished. We rode our bikes and were met by God’s beautiful creation, yet again. We took our time and snapped some photos around the lake, then made our way back home.

Unfortunately…or fortunately, depending on what kind of person you are, we did not run into any exciding wildlife. I’m determined to find a gang of monkeys or a wandering bear, but so far I’ve had no luck.