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Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Mount Rokko laughs


山笑うYama warau/Mountain laughs” is spring kigo in haiku poems. 
It tells soft, bright air of spring mountains.
From late April to early May, Mount Rokko looks laughing
in verdure, soft colors, and the energy to be born into.  


Branches look purplish before budding of leaves.




“To laugh” is written 笑うor 咲う in Japanese.
咲く(to flower) was 笑う(to laugh) in ancient writing.
The whole mountain looks enveloped in peaceful laughters with laughing flowers here and there.


The tunnel of Exochorda racemosa.
When walking in fresher, sweeter air, you’ll find yourself smiling. 


The soft shades of green of tiny baby leaves.



The pink of peach, rhododendron, or azalea flowers reminds me 
of F’s tutu on her first ballet recital.






At the Hase-ike Pond, ripples make distorted pastel reflections 
of fresh maple leaves and azalea flowers surrounding the pond.


The pads of aqua plants have just emerged.
 The baby pads of water lilies are so lovely and serene with purplish hue.
They change colors to green by the time when the aqua plants bloom.
In summer, they spread across the water’s surface, filling it with colors and vibrancy.





The newly born pads of Nuphar japonicum are pink.
The glinting pads in the sun look like jewels of the pond.

コウホネ Nuphar japonicum


The branches of soft yellow Yamabuki, or Kerria japonica, are so slender 
that can be easily shaken by the winds.
Lovely to see them softly swaying in the breeze.


By the way, a darling, opening bud in my family, turned 4 on the 1st of May.


Having attended kindergarten only two weeks, 
Y seems to have developed greater self-control. 
He wants to try new experiences. 
Since last winter, he enjoyed helping his mother to make pizzas.
He makes small holes and pastes olive oil thinly on the dough prepared by his mom, 
and top the one with sausages, tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms, and cheese
and the other with apple, ham, and cheese.



Here you are, homemade pizza is ready.



What made you smile or laugh recently?

Linked to Our World Tuesday

38 comments:

  1. Homemade pizza....yum! Your photos are just gorgeous! I love to take long walks in nature and feel like I have! Thank you so much for sharing.

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  2. Your shots are magical! And that pizza does look good too!

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  3. All your photos are very beautiful with the pretty spring flowers. I love the shots on the water with reflections as they are so unique like creative abstract paintings. I am sure many painters would get inspirations by strolling in that Mount Rokko area.

    That little boy is so handsome and cute to help mummy in the pizza baking. I love to eat Japanese pizzas as they often used slightly different ingredients.

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  4. Dear Yoko - how lovely each and every picture is. The first tree looks like Cercis siliquastrum - Judas Tree which I too have growing in my garden, but I think that mine is just a few days behind yours, as the blossom is not quite open.
    It is lovely to encourage children to cook and take an interest in what they are eating - Y looks as if he is having great fun and enjoying himself very much.

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    1. The first and second tree is Cercis chinensis (Judas tree or Chinese redbuds in English, Hana-zuo in Japanese) which is native to China and Japan. I’m glad to know you have it in your garden and we would share the same feeling toward the purplish pink blossoms almost at the same season though living far away. When I see the blooms of the tree, I’ll surely think of you.

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  5. Dear Yoko,
    I love this: The whole mountain looks enveloped in peaceful laughters with laughing flowers. You can't help smiling reading this or seeing Y's preoccupied looks or breathtaking pictures of the park that is dear and warm in your memory... What else made me smile recently? Today's half moon that looks like a slice of watermelon, tiniest leaves on bird cherry tree I smelled, the book I was reading... Our spring is on the way, only yesterday we saw ice drift on the river.
    Yet, you feel it in the air - spring!
    Thank you, Yoko! hope to see F's dance some day))))
    Enjoy May in beautiful Nara!
    Irina

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  6. I was simling too watching your post....
    Anna

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  7. Well, I have several responses to this post: One is a feeling of calm and well-being brought on by the wondrous natural beauty you have shown. Another is a sense of joy: that tutu of F is so beautiful, and to see Y making pizza is a delight! Again, you have brought us all these healing and helpful feelings and emotions. Thank you!

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  8. Beautiful flowers and trees, and Y is four years, born 1st May, beautiful time.

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  9. Hello Yoko, what focus your young pizza maker brings to his creation...delightful! Your water images are wonderful,I love them all....and the tutu is sweet and special.
    The idea of nature laughing sounds just right to me, I'll remember that...thank you!

    Happy May!
    Ruby

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  10. Your post made me smile - your wonderful photos showing off the beauty of spring. And that lovely little boy, the pizza baker, well actually he made me not only smile, but also hungry! :-)
    Have a great day Yoko!

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  11. Ah !!! what should i say ,last day i went to the doctor and finally today feeling enough better to sit before my laptop and looking at your full of BEAUTIFUL LAUGHTERS is making me smile and refreshing my soul !

    Thank you for such a delightful treat my friend.May God Keep You Smile Always .amen.

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  12. Such beautiful shots, and the wording you shared of the poem really made me pause and think. We don't really get spring around here, so I'm living vicariously through your photography.

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  13. Hi again, Yoko! If you Google "Video Wall" you will get a much better explanation than I can give, but briefly it's a technical feat whereby a number of computers/videos on a wall work in synch and talk to each other. I don't know what they say, though. :)

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  14. こんにちわ

    六甲山の淡い色彩が、春の雰囲気を感じさせてくれます。

    ご家族で和気藹々と楽しまれているご様子が、良く伝わってくる撮影ですね。

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  15. Bom dia, lindas fotos das belas flores com maravilhoso detalhes.
    AG

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  16. This post made me smile. Laughter and flowers combined sound so very poetic, as is the Japanese language. And such a wonderfully healthy and delicious looking treat is that pizza. Well done to your grandson! I would love to share in a bite if I were nearby.

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  17. The mountain will continue happy all spring, Yoco :))
    Beautiful all the photos. And very handsome, your grandson.
    It made me laugh today, my son, came to spend the dyad the mother who in Spain is Sunday 7:))
    Good weekend, my friend.
    Besos.

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  18. Ha Yoko,
    Wat prachtig al die kleuren van zo veel verschillende bloemen
    ik heb met plezier mee gewandeld..........
    Zo lief deze jonge pizza bakker,ziet er lekker uit!!
    groetjes Christiene.

    Ha Yoko,
    What beautiful all those colors of so many different flowers
    I walked with pleasure ..........
    So love this young pizza baker, look nice !!
    Greetings christiene

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  19. What made me smile recently? Looking at the photos of Y, concentrating intently on the important business of pizza making. Lovely.

    Alphie

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  20. Such lovely spring images.
    Your words: The whole mountain looks enveloped in peaceful laughters with laughing flowers here and there. I find to be perfect and poetic.

    I enjoyed the water reflections, they are dreamy and peaceful.
    Happy Birthday to you 4 year old.

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  21. Reading this post today made me smile, Yoko! I would love to take a big bite from the pizza, it looks so delicious. The flowers in bloom indeed look like they are laughing in peace, such a bountiful of colors and those reflections on water are surreal. Belated happy birthday to Y, his expressions while making the pizza are priceless!

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  22. Your photographs of the blossoming trees are truly lovely. Especially the reflections on the water, beautiful. It seems that even here in Canada, the trees are laughing as the blossoms have lasted such a long time.... but we have had a cool spring, with no hot weather to kill the flowers. Your little grandson is very handsome, and will be a great connoisseur of pizza when he is an adult!

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  23. Your photographs of the blossoming trees are truly lovely. Especially the reflections on the water, beautiful. It seems that even here in Canada, the trees are laughing as the blossoms have lasted such a long time.... but we have had a cool spring, with no hot weather to kill the flowers. Your little grandson is very handsome, and will be a great connoisseur of pizza when he is an adult!

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  24. What a happy and smiling post to welcome in the new growth! And happy birthday to Y who is also full of life and newness and growing fast!

    I really love your photos, Yoko. They are so wonderfully artistic. The first plant you show looks most unusual to me because of the two colours, yellow and dark pink. (I suspect that the yellow colour is the shade of the new leaves, and is not part of the flower. Am I right?)
    English people sometimes talk about a smiling landscape. It is usually sunny, and summery, in a landscape that is gentle rather than mountainous and dramatic. A smiling landscape surrounds you in the sun, allowing you to be happy. Your smiling mountain does the same.

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    1. Yes, you’re right, Jenny. Flowers bloom before the sprouting of new leaves. When most of flowers pass their best, baby leaves appear.

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  25. Boa tarde, perfeito olhar púrpura para conseguir belas fotos de flores com belas cores, parabéns para a sua filha e muita felicidade.
    AG

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  26. It is raining in our town. Rain drops are tapping on the windowsill and I don't know why I thought about you. Probably, because water reflections occupy so much spase in your world vision. Anyway, seeing these blossons, even though I've seen them before, soothe and inspire. Thanks a lot, Yoko, good night!

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  27. おはようございます。素敵な写真ですね。光の捉え方が抜群ですね。御孫さんに囲まれてたのしそうですね。

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  28. Beginning for the beautiful flowers, continuing with the article of ballet and finishing with the pizza, everything in this post is round. This one is a post full of precious curves. And it does not have to be a chance because by any motive some people says that the most beautiful curve of the human body is the smile.
    One of the last occasions in which I smiled my small pupils had discovered abundances of amazement the rainbow-coloured effect of the refraction of the light in a CD projected against the wall. Curiously all this also is very circular.

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  29. Yoko, olá querida amiga!
    Cada vez que venho te visitar, meu coração se enche de ternura, por tanta beleza que eu vejo no seu blog. Mais uma vez, parabéns pelas fotos, são realmente extraordinárias!
    Por momentos, eu me senti nos jardins de Monet em Giverny, mesmo sem ter visitado pessoalmente, apenas por fotos e vídeos.
    E parabéns para o pequeno e belo garoto, pelo aniversário de 4 anos, e pelas belas pizzas produzidas, que estão muito apetitosas. Bravo!
    O que me fez rir recentemente? Foi hoje, na hora do almoço: meu marido gosta de imitar algumas falas e gestos meus, que são muito dramáticos, até engraçados, pois tenho ascendência italiana, portanto, sou muito exagerada nas atitudes. Quando ele fica a imitar-me é muito engraçado e sempre dou boas risadas. Eu e ele.

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  30. So lovely said "... When walking in fresher, sweeter air, you’ll find yourself smiling..."
    I find myself smiling walking along the alley, seeing the beauty shared, the delight of Spring captured in so many colors of blossoms, among soft shades of green of leaves, with baby pads of water lilies, shades of various pink pf flowers... And great homemade pizza recipe. Happy b-day to the little one!
    What impressive post and wonderful pictures captured!
    Have a great and so sunny Sunday! Alexa

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  31. ピンクの水草、今頃はきっと緑色になってますよね。感想あるのだからコメント書いても許されるでしょう???
    やっぱり日本語はいいね。

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  32. Hello Yoko! I am so glad to have found your blog today. I first arrived here through your post on the narcissus field in Kobe, which I thought of visiting later this year in September. You have so many beautiful pictures of flowers and scenery, and I enjoy your writings as well. You do emulate the character of the lotus flower very well :) Lots of love to you!

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    1. Hello, A. Thank you for your visit and leaving a kind comment. Hope this blog will be helpful for your planning a trip to Japan. With best wishes.

      Yoko

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