Nagano colours

Each grass and each tree
takes on a hundred colours.
For these white flowers
blooming on the tossing sea,
there is no autumn season.

Fun'ya no Yasuhide 文屋 康秀
ca. 885? / Heian period

Autumn Harvest

Autumn harvest in Banepa valley, central Nepal. How wonderful it is to have the sweet fragrance of freshly cut paddy assaulting our olfaction. I despair for such pretty places. I wonder how long it will be before some ghastly structures come up in the name of development. That would be a truly bitter harvest.

Tilt and Turn

Tilting tea pots solve the big problem of over steeping the tea, specially in restaurants and cafes. Through a clever mechanism one can brew that perfect cup(s) of tea.

There is a shelf inside the pot into which tea leaves are put and steeped in hot water. Once the brew is ready tilt the pot to let the brewed tea drain to the bottom and finally stand the pot upright so that the brewed tea is not in contact with the tea leaves. Then pour and drink that perfect brew. This picture was taken in Restaurant Fischereihaven in Hamburg, Germany.