And then the leaves began to fall

It’s time for my favourite season of all: autumn. After a couple of weeks of this miserable rain cloud that hung over Fujiyoshida chilling it to a premature 10 degrees, there was finally a beautiful sunny day. Not to waste it, I hurried outside to finally enjoy a bit of warmth if not the last before winter sets in. As Fujiyoshida is at a higher elevation than Otsuki (about 1000 meters above sea-level) that will come sooner than I’d like.

With a package of tissues stored safely in my back pocket (a cold was coming on) and my favourite notebook and pencil, I set out for a little park on the hillside. It’s famous for sakura but since I’d never made it there in time for the pink I thought I’d go for its red counterpart. I was not disappointed. After needing to consult google maps more times than I want to admit I found a little spot up a windy road that looked as if I was going, through someone’s property, and ended up in this lovely little park perched on the edge of the town overlooking the town. The day ended up surpassing me expectations when it became drastically hot and I was dressed in a sweater. Knowing I should be glad for the heat I persisted knowing I had come for a reason. I snapped a few pictures, prayed at the little shrine and settled down at a picnic table to write a short story about a priestess and a koi fish by hand. When I write it’s often on the computer but there is something so good about writing by hand. If only my hands could keep up with my mind then I’d do it more often but as it is I can punch out a few thousand words by keyboard in an hour I'll stick to that for my books. 

 

 

Regardless, it was a nice change to be outside while writing and I soaked up all I could from the inspiring place and headed home.