{"id":1856,"date":"2011-09-28T12:44:19","date_gmt":"2011-09-28T03:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2011-09-28\/1856"},"modified":"2011-09-28T12:44:19","modified_gmt":"2011-09-28T03:44:19","slug":"highlight-of-yesterdays-mountain-ride-friendly-farmer-lady","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2011-09-28\/1856","title":{"rendered":"Highlight of Yesterday’s Mountain Ride: Friendly Farmer Lady"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

As I mentioned<\/span>\nyesterday<\/a>, I went on<\/span> a scooter<\/span> ride into the mountains of Ikoma in\nnorthern Nara Prefecture. The highlight<\/span> of the trip was chatting with the\nlady seen above, at some rice paddies and vegetable fields in the\nmountains near the border between Osaka and Nara prefectures.<\/p>\n\n

We got to chatting about all kinds of things, including how nice it was\nout in the country, and what a perfect<\/span> time it was to see the rice fields,\nas they're brimming with mature rice waiting to be harvested. She even laughed<\/span> at my jokes, which is rare among people of any age and\nbackground... when talking about language (she doesn't speak a word<\/span> of\nEnglish), I offered<\/span> my standard joke: “Why, English is easy.... heck, in\nAmerica, even kids can speak it<\/i>!” but instead of groaning and\nrolling her eyes like most people, she burst out laughing.<\/p>\n\n

Eventually she turned to go back to her work, and I to<\/span> my camera...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 82mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

From time to time we chatted further, and I stole<\/span> some shots of her as she shuffled up or down the street...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>3200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nQuick with a Laugh<\/span><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>3200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I didn't realize it at the time, but that's her husband in the vegetable\ngarden in the background. As I turned<\/span> my attention to some macro shots of\nrice still on the plant, I could<\/span> hear her voice wafting up from below...\n“and he has a boy<\/span> in third grade, he said”...<\/p>\n\n

When I popped back up to the road, the husband waves me over with a few<\/span>\nwords of English and we chat a bit.<\/span> The lady shows<\/span> up with an apron full of\ngreen peppers for me. The husband<\/span> then starts cutting stalks from a huge<\/span> plant\nand shoving them at me, then another, and another.<\/p>\n\n

I didn't know what the first two were, but I recognized<\/span> the last one as\nshiso<\/a><\/i>,\na large<\/span> very fragrant herb similar to cilantro. It smelled<\/span> wonderful.<\/p>\n\n

Then the wife came up again with a bundle<\/span> of scallions, which smelled\namazing<\/i> I never<\/span> knew how good fresh scallions could smell. (The\npowerful and exquisitely yummy fragrance was all but gone a few<\/span> hours later, so\neven fresh scallions at a farmers<\/span>' market are unlikely to be fresh enough\nto experience their true aroma.)<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f<\/span>\/8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nBountiful Harvest <\/span>\nof my mountain scooter ride\n<\/div>\n\n

I was worried about being able to get this all back to Kyoto on my\nscooter, so excused myself before their generosity surpassed my ability to transport.<\/p>\n\n

Later, from a rise further down the mountain, I looked<\/span> back toward their plots...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 70mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f<\/span>\/3.5, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nView From Afar<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 200mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1600 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nWalking Home<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

After having taken her portrait not long after we first started\nchatting, she said something about sending her a copy,<\/span> mumbling it as if\ntalking more to herself than to me, because, I suppose,<\/span> she didn't think it\nwould be okay to ask. But of course<\/span> I'd bring her a copy!<\/span> It's a small<\/span>\nvillage and if she's not at her fields, I'm sure I<\/span>'ll be able to find her\njust by showing her photo around. She said, then, that she'd have to\nprepare a gift<\/span> for my eventual visit, to which I replied<\/span> that merely being\nable to come out to see the rice fields was my gift.<\/p>\n\n

Continued here...<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I mentioned yesterday, I went on a scooter ride into the mountains of Ikoma in northern Nara Prefecture. The highlight of the trip was chatting with the lady seen above, at some rice paddies and vegetable fields in the mountains near the border between Osaka and Nara prefectures.<\/p>

We got to chatting about all kinds of things, including how nice it was out in the country, and what a perfect time it was to see the rice fields, as they're brimming with mature rice waiting to be harvested. She even laughed at my jokes, which is rare among people [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}