The old pictures of Anthony swinging in the park two years ago that I posted last week reminded me of some foliage photos I took on that same outing early in Kyoto's 2006 fall-foliage season. So, I thought I'd use them to kick off Part III of my Kyoto Fall Foliage Preview (prior installments: Part I - Part II).

I was sitting on my bicycle with the wind howling when I tried to get the shot of the leaf... very hard to get, much less hold, focus.

The "nearby photos" link under the picture above brings you to a lot [...]

After a cold snap over the last couple of weeks, the weather in Kyoto has really turned nice, with temperatures in the upper 70s and clear skies. My cold is starting to get better, and being outside just a bit in the glorious weather felt wonderful.

We're still six weeks away from the peak foliage season in Kyoto, so I thought today I'd continue from the Kyoto Fall Foliage Preview with a few shots taken around my place last December 2nd...

That last one is certainly least, but I like the layered colors.

Lots more Kyoto Foliage Fireworks from years [...]

I have been slammed with a cold since yesterday, so today just a short post with some pics from the underground world around Osaka Train Station that I took after my trip to the Nikon Service Center last week (to have my D700 checked... they said it's my memory card, and to have the rubber grip on my D200 replaced).

One of the underground passages near the station had this pleasant waterfall wall...

Earlier in the summer I posted about an old Ohio farmhouse. The house was expanded sometime during its life, but the original part dates from about the 1830s or so, long before plumbing and electricity and, apparently, bolts. In the original attic, you can see that wooden pegs were used to tie a horizontal beam to its vertical support.

Here's a closeup...

It looks as if the wall and roof planks have been replaced over the years, but the huge beams seem original, still showing marks from having been made with, I think, an adze. Here's the same beam as [...]

We had a wonderfully fun day at a themed enjoyment park about an hour's drive away. I have 500 pictures to go through, but for this evening, I'll post one of the last I took, of the car in the otherwise empty parking lot with a fiery brilliant sunset going on in the background.

I was literally walking as I took the shot, carrying a couple bags of stuff from the bakery/giftshop in one hand, while shooting with the other. Hey, it's a D700, and you can't take a bad shot with it, right?

It wasn't actually as dark as [...]