Kasuga

In front of every single shrine there is an offertory box where you throw cash usually, a five in coin, prior to making your wish or ptaying to the God inside the shine. The rope are connected to bells that are rung to catch the attention of the God. 

This particular shrine is quite small, and typically receives only tens of visitors on a daily basis. During The New Year's holidays, several hundreds of thousands of people will visit this shrine to make their offering and to pray for a happy new year and to offer thanks for the previous year.

I like to visit this shrine at night when there is solitude.

Tombstone

Took Dale for a walk tonight through the local cemetery. It was really hard to get a decent shot in the pitch-black darkness!

It's a lot cooler at night for the both of us! Am glad we're the only ones here at this time!

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

River Table

Took the puppy to a park that also serves as a natural reserve for some of the native wildlife that used to live and barely continues to survive in the urban jungle of Yokohama.

She loves to jump onto chairs, desks, and picnic tables. 

She is not so hesitant these days when it comes to jumping down from high places. 

As always, her favorite place to play is in any brook, creek, stream, river, or pond. 

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Rest Area

At the top of the hill in the park, there is a rest area where we can enjoy a beautiful view looking west and southwest.

It was really hard to make sure the puppy would stand still long enough to catch this photo. She is so full of energy and very rambunctious.

Even when man tries to modify nature and cut a tree, life makes its glorious effort to survive and live regardless of man.

It was an overcast day today, but for a brief moment, the sunshine broke through the clouds and shined on this tree.

The Fujii blossoms at the top of the hill have a slightly different tone, almost purpleish.

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Cave Border

At the top of the park, there is a small lake that is very dark and very deep. I let the puppy swim in the lake for a little while. It was her first time to ever actually swim in water where she couldn't touch the bottom.

The lake is fed by these small streams that run through soft limestone forming caves that would seem adventurous to me if I were much much younger. These days, I would be more afraid of slipping and breaking a bone!

I wonder why there are so many steps leading down into the streams and creeks that feed the lake.

If I were alone, and was wearing the right type of shoes, I might be bold enough to go inside this cave to find out what's inside.

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Fuji Stairs

Took the puppy for a walk in a nearby park that also serves as a natural preserve.

The park basically consists of an undeveloped mountainous hill. There are lots of steep stairs to climb and many different paths to follow.

There are several rest areas in the park or you can stop to take a breather. During this time of year, we can see the drooping blossoms called Fujii.

Likely due to the difficulty of hiking through the park, we don't often see garbage strewn all over the place.

I have always had an attraction to ferns. I wonder if they make me think of a Jurassic period.

One thing I like about this area is that many trees have different kinds of blossoms that I have never seen before.

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Stepping Stones

Another local park in the neighborhood also serves as the nature preserve. I don't know why they have stone steps leading down into the river, but maybe they are for cleaning purposes?

All along the river, we can see several stone steps going down into the water.

I am glad that they chose to use huge stones for the steps instead of building moder-looking cement and steel structures.

Although the puppy doesn't need stairs to jump down into the river, she really likes playing on stairs. It doesn't matter whether we are at the shrine or at this river!

Pix4Japan by R.D.S. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.