Last sunset of 2010, and some nice parallel waves.
[Fuji-san from Kamakura
- and the lighthouse on Enoshima Island is visible!]
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Cricket
James doesn't hold with black and white, so here he is proving that autumnal colour in Kamakura carries on past Christmas.
There are, however, no surroundings that can demand attention over the iPod and furry internet connection while The Ashes are being played.
[Both photos taken at top Zen temple, Kenchoji, on 27th December - my birthday!]
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Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Gavin insists that more images of people should appear on this blog. Wouldn't do to disobey Gavin. Hee heee.
Read more...Tuesday, December 21, 2010
It seems that a popular music band from Liverpool called "now on iTunes" have broken the USA. There were huge banners all over San Francisco advertising them, including the one in the centre of this photo, which looms over Union Square.
Read more...Saturday, December 18, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
As yet another person tripped over the back of my chair in yet another packed San Francisco restaurant, I finally realised that the problem was mine, not theirs. For comfortable sitting the body-hip angle is supposed to be 90-120 degree. Every chair here seems to be a kind of bucket. For a few seconds I wondered why the San Franciscans put up with such discomfort. However, I soon noticed the other patrons and the simple fact that, with a fat enough arse, thighs are raised at the arse end, but not much at the knee end, such that the correct angle is maintained.
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The growth of the Global Environment Change section is what caused me to come to the AGU this year. It has been rather disappointing though, as it seems to contain little climate science and much squealing of the now sadly deranged prophets of doom. In contrast, at sessions on communication that cover areas of geoscience apart from climate, there is such sweet innocence...
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Thursday, December 16, 2010
How to eat breakfast
Californians go to restaurants not to eat, but to proclaim their inner thoughts to all while pushing mountains of food round their plate with a fork. Normally they don't get even get through to the plate, before piling the remains into a polystyrene box. This is carried out and left on a nearby park bench. Whether this for the benefit of the birds or the hobos I don't know, but I do know that we aren't Californians.
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Friday, December 10, 2010
It turned out that the impossible deadline for spending our budget was little more than a ruse by the bureaucrats, and my recent request for the thinking woman's iPad was approved. So, on the way home from PMIP last night, we dropped into work and picked up an apple and some oranges. Just in time for the AGU.
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Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Kyoto is the best
People are always surprised when I say I prefer Kamakura to Kyoto. In Kyoto the temples and shrines are bigger and more beautiful...
there is a beautiful river down which to take walks...
there are even beautiful views of Fuji-san on the Shinkansen ride there from Tokyo.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Kenchoji pond in Kamakura. By our calculations, or rather those of TPE, only early in the morning in summer is the pond free of large shadows when the sun is shining.
Read more...Friday, December 3, 2010
PMIP leaf update
I mentioned previously that many trees including the cherry tree were unusually pretty this year, and turning at the same time as the species more famous for their colour (the gingko and maple). Furthermore there were reports of the best leaf season in Kyoto for a century. It was all looking very promising for the PMIP workshop next week. Unfortunately we have just suffered a massive storm, which has caused many trees to dump all their leaves at once, blocking the drains and causing minor flooding. On the plus side, it is clear blues skies and >20C today, but that wont be much solace for the PMIPpers as they wander through the bare twigs in Kyoto next week.
[photo taken on 21st November, outside work]
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
My friends tell me that the leaves in Kyoto are the best for 100 years, and furthermore that some may still be stuck to the trees next week. Perhaps then, at the upcoming PMIP workshop, those studying the climate of the Last Millennium (tree lovers one and all) should better spend their time in gardens than lecture theatres...
These leaves in merely Kamakura.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Help help help help help. WTF is this beast doing munching on camellias in late November? Heard incredibly low buzzing noise. Dismissed it as not possibly a hornet at this time of year - and anyway the noise was too low. Then appeared possibly the largest Vespa mandarinia japonica ever. BBbbuuuUUUUuuuzZZZZZZzzzz...
That's a proper sized camellia not a puny daisy....
Help!
[Taken with 300mm telephoto from far faaaar away]
Friday, November 26, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
uh - oh. The leaves are turning in Engakuji (Kamakura), which means they are probably out Kyoto too, a fact confirmed by the national leaf nowcast. So they'll all be fallen off the trees by the PMIP workshop which starts in 11 days... So, just in case any PMIP people do look at this blog - here are some consolation leaves.
Read more...Friday, November 19, 2010
The leaf season seems to be different every year. This year all the trees seem to be turning together and the non-momiji are very good. Usually trees like the cherry turn brown and the leaves fall quickly to the ground a few weeks before the gingko and momiji turn brilliant yellow and orange. Here at work the main concern is whether there will be anything left on the trees in Kyoto for the PMIP3 workshop in early December,
This photo was taken around 1000m altitude on a walk in the mountains last weekend with Joel, our super-human friend from Oz. James was kind enough to carry my camera and spare lens most of the time, giving me the chance to not getting too far behind but still take some photos.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
To counteract the chaos of yesterday's pic, a more ordered urban environment [Oxfooooord, England].
Read more...Wednesday, November 17, 2010
The area near work is presently even more attractive than usual, as there are some works underway. Round these parts they drill deeply before erecting a structure of any size, because the ground, reclaimed from the ocean, is so soft. On the other hand the houses appear to have no foundations at all, which is not so encouraging come the earthquake...
Read more...Friday, November 12, 2010
Stoat is feeling blue, because it is so grey outside in his country. So here is some blue to help him feel less blue.
This was a morning of dentists, but I did not photograph them. Instead I photographed the dazzling sights along my journey. Starting in Yokohama at 9am, I then got transferred to the big dental hospital in Tsurumi. Got back to work by 2:30pm. The speed with which these things happen here never ceases to amaze. (I have complicated teeth due to having tried to eat a Harley Davidson motorcycle in 1997.)
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Dragonaphobes look away now!
Dragons are almost as common as spiders in Kamakura. They come in a wide range of sizes, tend to be more serpentine than dinosaury, but are mostly tame and friendly. Read more...
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
After all the scary buddhas and terrifying spiders, I'd better show something fluffy. Blonde fluffy child and blonde fluffy dog, at a village dog show in middle england, and curiously not in the dog-handler lookalike round, although, of course there was one...
Read more...Monday, November 8, 2010
Arachnaphobes look away now!
As I have remarked before, despite being the size of your hand, the nephila clavata, tends to build her webs above head height, presumably so that she doesn't have to keep rebuilding it all the time. Thus, taking a good macro shot is usually impossible. Off the beaten track in deepest dankest Kamakura, however, the webs are strung about the low bows of the trees. Eeeek!
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Sunday, November 7, 2010
How to make mochi
Mochi is rice pounded until it forms a glutinous mass. Very nice dried and toasted with sweet beans, at New Year it is eaten in soup, from where it suffocates a handful of old people each year. The idea is to pound the rice like you were trying to kill it, while missing the fingers of your partner who turns the rice over in between each stroke.
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Friday, November 5, 2010
Wednesday was Culture Day
Although some believe the best way to gain enlightenment is to eat just one grain of rice a day, all the living monks at Kenchoji, that we visited for Culture Day, were pleasantly plump. Do you think the two statues are of the same man?
Monday, November 1, 2010
The lotus have been cleared from the large pond at Hachimangu, but curiously they remain on the smaller one, giving this heron one last chance for a discreet bit of fishing.
Read more...Saturday, October 30, 2010
We never did buy an iPad. I'd called it "an iPod for the over forties", and soon enough I realised we aren't yet sufficiently over forty, as we can still read tiny iPod fonts. At the same time I started to refer to the MacBookAir as, "the thinking man's iPad". See appropriate photo of men thinking.
It is such a good feeling when other people take your ideas and run with them... the new MBA has an 11 inch version! If only we still had that extra budget to use up; I'm sure they would have been allowed in the rules...which must mean they are boring and useless?
Friday, October 29, 2010
Ely Cathedral - the best thing in the Fens. As you can see, there's not that much competition for things that rise above the horizon. Must remember to call one of our next daughters Etheldreda.
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