Crane Fly (as Karen suggests. Thanks, Karen)

This is the same insect from the other side of the glass. View the full-size picture b clicking on it.

Stabilisers

This huge bug was hanging on the window. I took some shots from inside as well (may post later). Very long legs. But it has those two protuberances sticking out of its back, which I guess must act as some kind of stabilising mechanism in flight, or they have sensors on the ends of some type.

Mini Pumpkins

Yesterday, there was a big box in one of the classrooms of small pumpkins, some of which were very photographic. But I didn't take my camera to school yesterday. Today I did, and there was a display in the entrance, so I took some photos there. Some girls were standing around, so I didn't really make the best job of it in the limited time I had...

Do insects feel pain?

A-chan holds a dragonfly by its wings. It looks like its mouth is open, screaming. (Click on it to see the bigger version, if you've never done that before. ;>þ)

Wooper Looper

One of the third grade classes has an axolotl in a bottle, er, tank. For some reason, they are called wooper looper (upaa rupaa) in Japanese. There was a huge fad of them in the 1980's. I took this on Thursday.

I wanted to try to get a good shot for a macro, but nothing groundbreakingly brilliant, so will try something else for Abstract Macro.

Sherpet's Leaves

The vice principal at one of my schools is a very keen gardener and she keeps the entrances to the school chocka-block with plants. So this is a tribute to Queenslander Sherpet, who has made a name for herself with close-ups of variegated leaves.

Oh, and after converting from RAW, I just adjusted the contrast and resized it in Irfanview. ;>þ

Chanting

This was a Buddhist priest chanting in Ueno yesterday. Maybe I should have put it in the Leading Lines challenge - my entry is doing very poorly at the moment, but I sort of expected that...

Cowparade

I went to Tokyo today, to a specific palce to take my Free Study for this month. I think I got a pretty good picture. Anyway, I was riding the Yamanote train into Tokyo Station when I saw some cows. I remembered seeing an advertisement in the newspaper about them: Cowparade in Marunouchi. So I went to take some photos of the ones outside the front of the station. There are about 65 of them in the area.

The website is Cowparade, but there's no mention in the archives of the artistic cows I saw in Calgary six years ago(maybe they're a permanent installation, unlike these ones which will be auctioned off).

Seed Hand

This was my weak attempt for the dpc Seed challenge, probably quite rightly not entered (even if I had done better editing). This was what I was doing the other day when the fly was dying. I actually thought that there would be some similar entries but I didn't see any in a perusal of the challenge thumbnails.

Of course, if I'd had the time to put them all over my face ... that would have been very messy, and my camera's autofocus doesn't work:::::

Bagworm

Bagworm, Minomushi
While Typhoon No. 13 was playing havoc on Kyushu, it was just cloudy here ... but maybe it will disrupt my plans to go to Tokyo on Tuesday :-(

When we arrived home today, I saw this minomushi, or bagworm, on the wall. Good thing I had my camera handy. Anyway, I guess it's one of the bags that had been built on the nearby (to humans, at least) hedge. The worm used the bags as a shell, and went inside briefly when she became aware of me (as it is the female which stays in the larval form and remains in the bag).

Large Fly, Close-Up

I was at school today with nothing to do but take photographs, vote on dpc, and do some laminating. The kids were practising for their sports carnival tomorrow. So, in the entrance hall, where it's quite bright, I saw this large fly on the floor - long body, long wings. It just stood there.












I did some Seed shots, then noticed the fly twenty minutes later like this:

Rice Lines

Leading Lines? I don't know where they lead to, but I thought it was worth stopping in the rain and getting a few shots off. So, obviously, rice harvest has started...

Just Sticking My Head In

... because I realised I haven't posted in so long. I haven't actually used my camera much this month. I took some photos of a bonsai tree for the Single Tree challenge, but they weren't of Challenge Standard. So here's a photo from the other week when I went to Senjogahara. Lazy, aren't I?

Deer

This deer was on the other side of the stream near the beginning of the trail when I was going back to my car. It was busy eating so its head was mostly down.

Another shot from Senjogahara. I mean to make a folder of summer photos at dpc - I wonder if I'll ever get around to it.

Burnet

Oh, I've lapsed again.

On Tuesday, being my last full day of the summer vacation, I went up to Senjogahara and the smaller Odashirogahara for a hike and to take lots of photos. It was much cooler up there, too. I haven't finished editing all the pics I wanted to from the summer, but this is one that pertains to a photo in today's paper - showing waremokou, or burnet (it's in the rose family, apparently). It's a harbinger of autumn, I guess, from the accompanying article. This is one of my shots, with a dragonfly.

The Miner

I did a touristy thing today seeing that my summer vacation will soon draw to a close. I went to the Ashio Copper Mine, whcih operated from 1610 to 1973. There were 1300 kilometres of tunnels built in that time. Of course, only a very small section is open as a museum. I might write more when I less tired....

Spring Flow

Another shot from yesterday. Green and cool. I liked how there was a mist floating just above the water, which, by the way, is decidedly delicious.

Spiky Spider

I went on a photography expedition up a mountain today. I saw several of these very long legged spiders. This one had been with its partner hanging on a rope, possibly mating, but I did get a good shot of that. Notice the spike on its back.

New Fireworks

Hehe, it's nice t be on vacation.
We went to my work town's fireworks display on Saturday; we got there much later than I had hoped and found a good spot to take photos. I had imagined wandering around the stalls seeing lots of my students, but I only went for a short time to the end of the row of stalls to buy some fried noodles and didn't see anyone I recognised.

Shrimp

There's a summer exhibition of Okinawan marine life at one of the department stores this month. I feel sorry for some of the fish, being biggish in smallish tanks - like a baby shark (unless it's a very small full-grown one) swimming around with an injury on the tip of it's nose.
This is a variety of shrimp that was less shy than another kind that was extremely ornate.