as you wander through my dreams,
do our yesterdays greet you?
this aged soul wonders …

Iphone 16: f1.6 1/120s 104mm ISO40
as you wander through my dreams,
do our yesterdays greet you?
this aged soul wonders …

Iphone 16: f1.6 1/120s 104mm ISO40
Through the years
I’ve become used to sorrow,
There was not one spring
I didn’t leave behind
the flowers.
~Izumi Shikibu*

*cited:
The Ink Dark Moon
Trans: J Hirshfield & M Aratani
Morning haze
jewels of rain, falling
in a dream

This morning we have a few clouds and a very bright autumn sun. It is a bit chilly outside so I declare it to be a pajama day so that I may go on a walk-about through an imaginary landscape.
Today I would color the landscape’s sky…hum…various shades of pink? Yes! A pink sky with lavender clouds that has water vapor made from the calming scent of lavender.
Trees…I would like triangle and round trees in this landscape of pink skies, baby blue grass, dark lavender rivers, and golden mountains. The rectangle and curvy tree trunks gray. The leaves splattered with the colors of garnet, jade, and sapphire.
What colors would you use to create your imaginary landscape?
It would be wonderful to have a rainy day. I image children running about in the lavender rain with green rain boots, red rain coats, and orange rain hats.

Can you imagine us in our rainy day outerwear jumping into lavender water puddles and seeing the water spraying blue and red water drops all about us? Can you picture us collecting small sticks and gravel to build dams in the small streams of water that flow along the sidewalk?
And dragonflies with iridescent wings of blue, green, and purple darting here and there between rain drops? No! No!”They would be saying, “we simply cannot have our wings dampened and dirtied!”
I must say dragonflies are very proud insects.
A rabbit or two would have spots of blue and red rain drops on their white fur. Some of these spots blending together, as rain drops often do, and creating circles and rivulets of different shades of lavender.
Oh what might you say if you saw white rabbits and gray field mice all wet from the rain that colored them with blue, red, and purple spots and rivulets?
When their parents saw them, I imagine they would click their tongues, smile, and join them in rain play? It would, indeed, be a wondrous day!
I picture robins, blue jays, sparrows, and finches gathering and showering in the rain. The crows though are hopping and cawing in celebration of this rain storm while keeping dry under the picnic shelter. Ants, spiders, and worms hear the thumping of the rain drops and feel the quaking of the leaves as the rain drops reached the ground. What a noisy invitation to come out and play!
Shall we put mud pancakes and gritty lavender tea on today’s tea party menu? I heard that gritty tea tickles the tongue. I’m sure the crows would be delighted to have us join them in the picnic shelter.
Who shall we invite for tea?
I hear bees politely excuse themselves from play and tea as they hurry home. The queen sent out a royal order; all worker bees are given a day off from work as they do like to nap during rain storms.
Can you imagine ants, spiders, and worms opening their mouths to drink in the water as they play in the rain? And rows of bees snuggled in fluffy quilts in front of a fireplace?
Hum…that’s a cozy thought.

Nikon D750 f/4.5 1/2,500s 85mm 100 ISO
I’ve had a bit of a problem with my computer so my submission for Raj’s black & white lesson was on the back burner for the past week. I decided to challenge myself during this lesson by using a 50 mm lens and manual focus during a rain storm. The outcome of my exploration with various f-stops was hampered by the – sigh – a very limited experience and trust with manual focus.
Nikon D750 f/5.6 1/30s 50mm 200 ISO manual focus


Nikon D750 f/5.6 1/30s 50mm 200 ISO manual focus


Before the rain, I decided to explore the interactions of the histogram and shutter speed in the Nikon D750 while photographing the arrival of autumn.
f/7.1 1/6s 300mm ISO 200


spring rain-
all things on earth
becoming beautiful
~Chiyojo (M Ueda, Far Beyond the Field)

spring rain…finally

rain falls –
a memory of last year
left by a cloud

In an old temple
deep in Mount Koya,
Kii Province,
I listen to raindrops
falling from a cedar tree.
~Ryokan*

*cited:
Sky Above, Great Wind
Trans: K Tanahashi
Springtime rain!
Almost dark, and yet
today still lingers
~Buson*

this image is available through Turning Art
*cited:
Haiku Master Buson
Trans: Y Sawa & E Shiffert
Nothing
in the world
is usual today
Sorrow is…
evergreen

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