Winter

I've been posting very rarely lately; I apologize for that. Got a dozen half-written posts that I never found the energy to finish. I've mostly neglected the books I'm in the middle of reading and I haven't baked anything for the past couple of months. Haven't taken much interest in photography either, lately. This listlessness will eventually pass, though, and I will pick up this blog and my other interests again.

But I haven't been completely inactive. Here's some winter shots of Osaka, using the new Kodak Portra 400 film and the Rollei 35. It's been a grey, depressing and bone-achingly chilly winter. This week has been worse than most. But perhaps the spring is no longer so far off.

Waiting for spring. Umeda, Osaka.

Yellow Gingko leaves along Midōsuji boulevard. Beautiful in a way, but wet and chilly.

Cold, miserable rain. Perfect time for a coffee break. Nagai, Osaka.

Nail salon, JR Umeda.

JR Umeda station. The sun and the warmth will return.

Bonus giraffes:

Giraffexcavator in Umeda.

Giraffe mural on a parking tower corner overlooking a school in Minami Senba, Osaka.

Huge, Friendly Duck Is Back (And We're Leaving (but only temporarily))

The Huge rubber duck that floated by Nakanoshima island in Osaka this summer is back! There's a winter light festival happening along Nakanoshima southern beach, from the western end up to the City Hall, and the enormous rubber duck is also back for a repeat appearance. Which makes me inexplicably happy. The festival is apparently up until the 25th, so if you happen to be in Osaka, there's still a chance to go see it.

It's my favourite humongous friendly rubber duck, really. Surprisingly difficult to photograph, though. By the way, if you happen to go here, there's a really good, inexpensive Indian restaurant in the basement of the building just next to the duck. You can take the stairs from the riverside right to the back entrance.

In other news, we're leaving for our winter holiday in Hokkaido tomorrow morning. Which partly explains my relative silence here - I've been trying to finish up some stuff before we leave. We're going to Akan national park again, then to Sapporo for a couple of nights. It should be a lot of fun; I've been looking forward to this all autumn.

The trees along Nakanoshima are decorated, and there's some hot food stalls and things like that as well. Dress warm; the wind along the river is freezing.

There's some Christmas-themed displays as well. We only got this far before the cold got the better of us, so I don't really know what it looks like towards the City Hall.

One guy brought his parrot for a photo shoot. He had a padded cage and only brought it out for a minute or so. My guess is, he's making a New Year's card.