Friday 30 October 2009

giangantic chrysanthemum

in city hall, they are all over the place right now, huge!!

Thursday 29 October 2009

kindergarten halloween....

they were trying their hardest to make scarey faces...

Wednesday 28 October 2009

more scariness...

some dead and dried, mumified, creature on the altar in the temple...what and why? anyone know??? oh and lots of swords were on the walls....again, anyone know why?

Tuesday 27 October 2009

mountain round the back....

of the temple...past the scarey looking stone man with sword...

Sunday 25 October 2009

Saturday 24 October 2009

temple tucked away...

2hours walk from the road up up and up where the bears live, i got my first smell of bear! i've never smelt one before but you sure know it when you do!!

Wednesday 21 October 2009

lama in town...

it's not everyday one meets a lama from nepal in yamagata....

Monday 19 October 2009

just love the names..

this is the mountain spirit shrine on dragon mountain..!

Friday 16 October 2009

up a mountain to relax....

and you can just see the tiny dark square in the middle, that's the highest building in yamagata city, 24 stories...

Thursday 15 October 2009

how i felt..

for some reason this seemed to sum up exactly how i felt today... burning the rice fields...actually smelt pretty good!

Wednesday 14 October 2009

temple of the sun and moon...


a direct decendent from india the home of hatha (sun and moon) yoga.... look another elephant!!

Tuesday 13 October 2009

elephants on shrines...

and very happy looking elephants at that...anyone know why a small number of japanese shrines and temples feature elephants, remanents of the culture that buddhism entered this country from...or did ganesh come too?

Wednesday 7 October 2009

Tuesday 6 October 2009

calorific....

plum tart, it's the most fattening things i have, perhaps, ever made.....also absolutely delicious ; )

Monday 5 October 2009

made bread..

ooh did it take a long time, but it was worth it...yum!!!

Sunday 4 October 2009

special full moon day ...

not only is it a rest day from yoga practice today....but you can see the full moon in the east....
and the sun in the west...at the same time...awe inspiringly beautiful...

Saturday 3 October 2009

moon viewing day..

it's official on the japanese calender....view the moon and eat sticky rice cake balls, did that and tried to grab the moon too ; )