It's Alive!
As mentioned in a previous blog entry: I hate sports. Nevertheless, I have to move a bit, occasionally, in order to prevent uncontrolled adding of kilos caused by my beloved chocolate. But: the thought of having to do exercise in order not to get fatter and fatter is by far not incentive enough. I need at least one or two additional incentives to make me do exercise.
One incentive for my weekend bicyling is going grocery shopping afterwards, meaning I have to leave the house anyway to fill my fridge. The supermarket ain't that far away though and I needed/need yet another incentive to bicycle some more than just the 5 minutes to the supermarket. Therefore I have searched and found an additional incentive. I "must" go to the Ikuta Park once a week to take a picture of my favorite spot of trees.
The round through the park, before hitting the supermarket, takes me an hour. I have taken photos of that spot for the past one and a half years or so. That has led to an actually very pretty account of the seasons in Japan. I didn't manage all 52 weeks in 2011, due to business-, and holiday-trips throughout the year, or when the weather was just too sucky. Nevertheless I managed 45 pictures, = 45 weeks. I put the photos starring sequoia trees in the center onto Flickr from January through December 2011 = from winter to spring, summer, autumn and the beginning of winter again. The first photo was taken on Jan. 4th 2011, the last on December 26th 2011.
Since a set on Flickr can apparently have only 40 photos, it's only 40, but they convey the message just as well I think. When watching the photos or quickly after one another you can really see that the forest is alive and I find it quite beautiful. Unfortunately, I missed a bit of spring due to over two weeks absence for holidays in Europe and the jump from tender green to lavish green is a bit harsh. 
I am at a loss now as for what to do in 2012 (lol). I guess I will just continue shooting photos of my favorite spot to see how it changes over the years = a long term study.
Anyway, I thought this was a nice story to begin the new year with, which, even according to the Mayas, will not be the end of the world, only the end of an era
All the best everyone for 2012!
