So, the busiest year I have ever had in my life is coming to a close, but not before one more rush of guests – for new year. At times, in the middle of it, it felt like it was never going to end – every day would start by serving breakfast, then clean up and more clean up, then ironing and making up rooms, etc… As to xmas and new year celebrations – we had two guests here for xmas breakfast and two people checking that day, and we will have five guests here for NYE, with three rooms checking in on New Years Day! We did, however, have 11 guest-free days in December, during which we managed a few days doing no business related catch-up work, which was wonderful, especially as the Autumn colour was so late this year. In fact, so late that our little maple tree out the front still has about 50% of its bright red leaves still attached.

This was taken on the 18th!

This, of course, brings me to the weather. It remained warm well into November, hence the delay in the colouring of the trees.

The news channels have been saying that this year the timing of the colouring is very late and the that first snow fall on Fujisan is the latest ever recorded. All our guests who came here for Autumn during November basically missed out – there was a little colour right up until the last week, but nothing like the first half of December. The other interesting thing I noticed about the colour this year is how intense the colours were, like being on psychedelics! Even now, it is a bit warmer than usual. At a time when every day should be sub 10°C, around 50% of the days are between 10° and 13°C. Ironically, there have recently been some good snow falls on the western side of the country, so it should be a good ski season.

Just after my last posting, we had a friend stay with us for just under a week. We weren’t able to spend a huge amount of time with him, however, we did get one check-in free day where were able to go out (to Otagi Nenebutsuji) and we also managed to get out for a meal one night (to Saishuan Shiraki – yum). In relation to the latter, the owner asked me if I would mind reading something she had written for us to read, which turned out to be a request for help with a new venture she wants to undertake, because she has been finding the izakaya very hard physically more recently due to spine issues. We, of course, said we’d be happy to help, at which she hugged me! Japanese people generally do not make physical gestures like this, so I was surprised. We have made arrangements to meet up with her next month, so more to come on that.

During the last week of November, we took advantage of a check-in free day to head out in search of momiji (Autumn colour, essentially). I had wanted to find some places we had never been to before, so researched via a book we had bought for our guest library which lists Kyoto Autumn colour sites, and the electronic oracle. The first place we went to was Shinnyodo, about 30 minutes drive north of us, a Tendai Sect temple, established in 984CE. It isn’t a huge temple but it is known for its Autumn colour. It certainly lived up to its reputation on the internet and there weren’t many people there, so a win-win.

About a week and a half later we had another opportunity to get out, so I picked two temples from the book – Sekisanzenin an Rengeji. Founded in 888CE, Sekisanzenin is another Tendai sect temple and again north of us, just a bit further on by car. In Kyoto, there has long been a custom of visiting temples and shrines that enshrine the seven gods of good fortune, known as the “Miyako Shichifukujin,” to receive their protection. This temple enshrines Fukurokuju, one of these gods, who represents longevity and wisdom, and is also associated with wealth. He is usually depicted as a little, old man, with a very high dome shaped bald head.

The man writing my goshuin

This temple was absolutely one of the best I have been to in a number of ways; very few people there, surrounded by forest, the staff were very friendly and the colour was stunning. It is now in my top ten to visit. The second temple we visited that day, Rengeji, also a Tendai sect temple, was built in the current location in 1662CE, though it appears it may have existed elsewhere prior to this, was destroyed during the Onin Wars and then rebuilt later at this location. It is small, but has a nicely designed garden and viewing room. Again, there were few people there, but there were so many restrictions about what you could or couldn’t do and where you could or couldn’t go (conveyed by a very officious person), it wasn’t a place I would return to.

After all that – the sublime to the uncomfortable – we decided to go somewhere for a nice lunch; Café Ren, and that was good 😊.

We did visit one more temple to view the gorgeous trees a few days later, Chishakuin, our local Shingon temple, a place we often walk through on the way home, because it is a lovely temple, the staff and monks are very friendly and the atmosphere is very calm. The colour there was also amazing, very intense, and even though it is relatively a smaller stand of trees than many others, it was gorgeous.

Around late October I received a letter from the superannuation fund I am with asking me to complete a form essentially to prove I was still alive. It had taken 15 days to get here from Australia and they wanted it returned, fully completed within 15 days! The main problem was that it had to be witnessed by someone acceptable to the Australian government, and the only place I could find someone suitable was at an Australian consulate, the closest of which is in Osaka. Needless to say, as we were flat out working seven days a week and travelling to Osaka and back would take a large part of one day, this just wasn’t going to happen in time.

So, I contacted the fund agency and they gave me an extension of time to complete my task and said I could send a scanned copy via email, and so on 10 December (with the deadline looming in five days) Craig and I set off for Osaka for my appointment at the consulate (you had to have an appointment), me with passport in hand. After proving I was still, in fact, alive and having it witnessed, we then went to the kitchen street in the Dotonbori area for some items for the business and after had a very nice, lateish lunch. Subsequently, I sent off the fully completed and suitably witnessed form and will continue to receive my super pension 😊.

The massive atrium of the building where the consulate office is (on the 16th floor)

The final non-work or shopping outings we undertook all took place on one day, our anniversary (35 yrs together, 33 yrs married). In the afternoon we went to a performance of Kodo (the taiko troupe) which was, as usual, fantastic (and, as usual, made me want to play). Later that day we went out to dinner at our local vegan restaurant, Silverbacks (always good) and then walked down the road to a bar named Windmill, a place I had been wanting to go for literally years – a beer and sake bar where they play British rock from the 60s and 70s. Turns out the place is run by a man who used to be a solicitor, can speak quite good English and has a passion for music of the period (and not just British). We had a fun time there and will return when we can!

We were in the 3rd row

One final little story; during our December break, I had a list of things I wanted to get through (which I achieved 😊), that included tidying up our garden. As we were picking up all the dropped leaves on the ground (fig, magnolia, bamboo, etc) a small blue and red bird started hanging around – a blue rock thrush. We had seen it before and it had seen us, so we knew it lived nearby. Anyway, it was coming very close to us and was obviously looking for small insects, etc as we were moving the leaves around. Connecting with nature…

Well, we hope you all have a wonderful new year and I look forward to having more time to get out, take lots of photos and then write about it next year!

Cheers for now!

???!!!

Noticed this vehicle up ahead – turns out it had a canon on the front!

Down and down to the subway

Full moon on our anniversary

and I thought they were enemies!

Mother (l) & daughter (r)

Zowie enjoying the winter bed topper

Me employing camouflage techniques