A walk on the hillside

A mega typhoon hit our shores about a week ago...

Shikoku, especially Kagawa Prefecture, where I live, has always been inflicted with a shortage of water supply...

The authorities were furiously trying to urge the inhabitants to conserve water as the reserves dipped dangerously at the 15% level...

We were, in other words, almost gasping for rain to fall...

Then came Typhoon Number Four...

The winds slammed our walls... blew our persimmons off the trees... ripped the leaves off the bitter gourds... and tore off a large branch of our wild sakura tree...

The winds and rains scrapped almost throughout the Japanese archipelago, bringing deaths and destruction...

And it filled our water reserves to a full 100% in just a matter of two days...

The morning after was a Sunday... and my sweetheart invited me for a walk in the hills...

She of course, go for walks almost daily along this path...

And I could not turn down a good offer...


So, with camera in hand, I caught this ivy colony clinging on the rock walls just minutes from our home... the fresh greens looked so crisp...


Further up the hills lay a forest of pine trees... I could just stand there, gazing.. and letting my imagination roam free...


Some steps away from the forest is this view of our humble little house in red...
The Japan Inland Sea was still pretty choppy and ships were not a-plenty...


An Iranian family has a second house up in the hills... I sneaked into his garden to steal this shot of an artichoke (sp?) bloom... this one was a little smaller than my clenched fist... and it looked so pretty...


Was surprised as my sweetheart introduced me to this beauty of a, probably wild black berry...
Took a bite at one of the ripe ones and the taste? Somewhat sweetish and sourish...

Note: Yours truly is slated to shoot to Canada (Prince George, Edmonton, and Calgary) on 23rd July, Monday... woooh, am looking forward to this visit as it will be my first time to step foot on these lands...

Parrot-fish, Dottyback, Blenny, Scorpion-fish, & Leaf-fish

The parrot fish is a perennial favorite among divers, I believe...

They are swift swimmers during the day, so photographing them is quite a task...

However, come nightfall, they settle down for some 'shut-eye' (actually 'open-eyes' as you can see)...

In other words, they become very easy photo targets as they snooze away...

Sometimes we can see a film of mucus surrounding their bodies, which serve to protect them from preys...

Size, about 50 centimers?

This guy is called the 'Pale dottyback'...

Was quite fascinated with the way it rests on the finger coral with its leg-like fins...

Unlike the parrotfish, this guy tends to take periodic breaks once it settles on a coral... we only need patience to sneak closer for the shoot... size was about 15 centimeters...

Am not sure about this little baby...

Looks like some kind of blenny...

It has half its body inserted inside a hole on the rock corals...

Quick movements frighten the fish so we have to move very slowly to get close... Size, maybe less than 10 centimeters...

Is this a scorpion fish or a stone fish?

I would imagine, scorpion... size was about 40 centimeters...

This fellow was motionless throughout the shoot...

The only movement came from just the eyes...

Hmmm, I think this guy would look better on a plate, nicely dressed up and garnished with fresh onions and tomatoes...

This Leaf fish is quite like the scorpion fish above... predatory, that is...

They lay still, waiting for the opportune time to snap at their prey (usually smaller fishes)...

This lovely specimen was about 6 to 7 centimeters... pale-whitish... range of colors include deep green, black, brownish, etc...