Cosmos, autumn sky, rain, and a celebration

“The day becomes more solemn and serene

         When noon is past; there is a harmony

         In autumn, and a lustre in its sky,

Which through the summer is not heard or seen,

As if it could not be, as if it had not been! “

 -Percy Bysshe Shelley-

Cool, crisp air of autumn makes up for the exhausting humidity and heat of summer.

Under the high, clear blue sky with fluffy autumn clouds, I strolled around Hannyaji Temple.

Cosmos flowers were playing around the Stone Buddhist Statues

or Thirteen-storied Stone Pagoda,
having the time of their life.

Refreshing breeze floated in the precinct caressing flower to flower.

My heart was filled with hope and love.

It rained the next day as was forecasted by the cirrocumulous mackerel sky

 in the photo below.

The rain brought record hot October like summer for more than a week.

The next to the summer-like week was sudden drop in temperatures

and consecutive dismal cold days with steadily falling rain.

Weather has gotten abnormal. 

Not defeated by the rain, my eldest granddaughter F’s “Shichi-Go-San” 
was celebrated the other day.

Dressed in formal “kimono”, she had a rite at a local shrine accompanied by the families.

 In the heavy rain, she walked holding an umbrella with one hand 

and tucking up the kimono with the other

to protect kimono from rainwater and dirt.

With F's younger sister Y

The rain was not so bad after all

as I could see 6-year-old’s (soon to be 7)  patience and grace at the shrine

and the miraculous show of light and pouring rain-water on my way back to Nara.

Now that a typhoon passed through, blue sky appeared today.

More about Hannya-ji Temple and cosmos; Pastel colored dancers in the autumn breeze (2015)

Linked to Mosaic Monday