a walk in the late autumn woods

 

 

photos: bruce behnke 2022

persimmon season

It's persimmon season both in Japan and the U.S.

What to do with so many persimmons all at one time?

At Kenrokuen, turning them into dried fruit is a great idea.

At Yuya Onsen they become decorations.

And some are just too difficult to reach.

...and then winter comes.

photos: bruce behnke

all rights reserved

print: Crow and persimmon in the snow, Tanaka Ryohei (b.1933) - 2008

hidden away?

 

This idyllic scene exists along a stream cutting through hard minerals in a hidden valley in the mountains of Aichi Prefecture, Japan.  

Our world is filled with so much beauty, yet how often do we notice it? 

Celebrate it?  

This beauty is not really hidden away.  

This valley is not really hidden away;

 It's just waiting for you to enjoy it.

photo: 2022 bruce behnke

a temple garden

 

Narita-san Buddhist temple garden.

成田山新勝寺

photo: bruce behnke 2022

taking the peaceful path

 

there are many roads to take you to your destination.

why not select the peaceful path?

photo: bruce behnke 2022

Fujiyama today 10/27/2022

Fujiyama on October 27, 2022.  Snow makes an appearance.

photo: bruce behnke

making peace with what you find

The proposition that we can look into another  heart with perfect clarity strikes me as a fool’s game. 

I don’t care how well we think we should understand them, or how much we love them. All it can do is cause us pain. 

Examining your own heart, however, is another matter. I think it’s possible to see what’s in there if you work hard enough at it. 

So in the end maybe that’s the challenge: to look inside your own heart as perceptively and seriously as you can, and to make peace with what you find there. 

If we hope to truly see another person, we have to start by looking within ourselves.

~Haruki Murakami

   from the short story "Drive My Car"

photo: bruce behnke 2022