鷺池 Sagi-ike Pond in the early morning

Now at the end of August, temperature still soars up to around 35 degrees C in the afternoon, while mornings and evenings are getting cooler and air is different from that of mid-summer.  Early morning walk is so refreshing. 

In the early morning,  sunlight is already dazzling but air is still cool.   At Sagi-ike Pond in Nara Park, both tourists and local people enjoy early morning walk in the shower of cicadas singing.

Branches are swaying in the morning breeze.

The sound of the morning changed.  In the early August,  Hyalessa maculaticollis (ミンミンゼミ)  were vigorously singing all day long, but now they are gone and different species Tanna japonensis (ヒグラシ) sing in the early morning or evening.  Before long, Mermen opalifera (つくつく法師) will start chirping.

Ukimi-do is a hexagonal gazebo situated at the center of the pond. 

These flat pods containing seeds inside are fruits of Nemunoki, Albizia Julibrissin, or silk trees, which were blooming in July.   From the photo, we can understand Nemunoki is a species of legume. The flowers bloom from June to July in dense inflorescence as you see in Lullaby of 合歓木 Silk Tree.

As I showed in the past posts, Sagi-ike Pond is beautiful and refreshing with various flowers in season, autumn foliage, or dusting of the snow.  If you'd like to see more about Sagi-ike Pond, this link contains all the posts about the pond including this post.  

Japanese Crape Myrtles have been vibrant all through the summer.   September still feels like mid-summer in Japan, and when Crape Myrtles cease to bloom, I feel summer at last wanes.

Posts more about crape myrtles:
Japanese Crape Myrtles
Summer explosion of 300-year-old Crape Myrtle

This post is linked to Weekend Reflections