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| Pomegranate in a lowland garden |
Yesterday the weather forecast was for clear skies. I double checked the local weather forecasts for all the towns surrounding the mountain area we had chosen. Definitely clear skies. We started the trip bathed in sparkling brilliance, gloating over the success of the hunt to come. We entered the mountains. Deep valleys were filled with shadow, yet above us the sun lit the tops of ridges, and we climbed higher and higher, anticipating the rewards. We visited a touristy dam, where the sun played hide and seek, lighting nearby grasses and leaving the mountain ridges in dull and forlorn. We had a picnic lunch. More dark clouds gathered directly above us. A spot of blue sky hinted for us to try further north. A few random shafts of sunlight played the trickster, leading us deeper and deeper into the mountains. We raced the car's engine on hairpin turns and steep slopes. Beyond the next ridge, surely we will have the brilliance of autumn burned into our eyeballs, we thought, again and again, only to go deeper and deeper into the underbelly of dark clouds. We emerged at last at the top of the world, chilled and surrounded by shadow. Far behind us Tokyo lay like a dream, basking in the sun.
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| Tree Dahlia, native to Central America, but now a beloved addition to the gardens and roadsides of Japan. |
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| Looking back toward Tokyo from Shomaru Pass. |
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| The north side of the pass, where we were now too tired to go. |
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