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posted: January 31st, 2011 |
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This page begins Sunday, January 9th - a trip to Jindai Botanical Garden - and takes you through January 28th - a trip to Nogawa Park to check on the progress of spring. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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| Begin January 9th |
On January 9th Kazuya went to Jindai Botanical Garden right at opening time. We wanted to try and find Frost Flowers. Wd found some, but they were so very tiny compared to the ones which we found at Mt. Takao last month (HERE) (will open in new window) that we didn't bother to take a single photo. We did find ice on the main pond (first shot) - which is rather rare for us to see. They also had a couple of little bonsai displays (2nd photo) and several displays of the "Seven Spring Vegetables" (3rd photo). I don't know the names of all of these edible vegetables, but 1 of them is daikon, another is turnip and a 3rd is chickweed. That's all I know.
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 Jan09_01SIPFR_ JindaiBG_IcyPondRC |
 Jan09_08FR_Jindai BG_CuteBonsaiRC |
 Jan09_13FR_Jindai BG_7SpringPlantsRC |
They had a fairly nice outdoor display of Tree Peonies, one of which you can see in the first photo. We went to the Plum Garden and found a few of the Plum Blossoms to be open already (2nd and 3rd shots).
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 Jan09_18FR_Jindai BG_TreePeonyRC |
 Jan09_21SIPFR_Jindai BG_FirstPlumBlossomsRC |
 Jan09_22FR_Jindai BG_FirstPlumBlossomsRC |
Here is one exquisite Plum Blossom in first position. I used the Magnetic Lasso in Photoshop to Lasso just the flower and then used Shadow Illuminator Pro ONLY on the flower. Then I copied that flower and pasted it into a new canvas. I like it - hope that you do too. The 3rd shot has not been adjusted in any way.
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 Jan09_32SIPFR_MagneticLasso _JindaiBG_FirstPlumBlossomsRC |
 Jan09_32SIPFRLassoCrop_ JindaiBG_FirstPlumBlossomsRC |
 Jan09_34FR_JindaiBG_ FirstPlumBlossomsRC |
We took a quick trip through the greenhouse and we found this Calliandra haematocephala to be in bloom, we had never seen it in bloom before. The 2nd and 3rd shots are a flower which I have shown you before. I think I finally got it perfectly this time and I won't have to photograph it again. The 2nd and 3rd images are both 3-exposure bracketed photos of an Amazon Basin Water Lily - Victoria cruziana. I took 3-exposure bracketed exposures in each case and then Tone-mapped them with the Details Enhancer Option of Photomatix Pro. For comparison - the October photos are on Page 1 in Row 1 HERE (new window) and the December photos are on Page 2 in Row 5 HERE (new window).
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 Jan09_54FR_JindaiBG_Green house_Calliandra_haematocephalaRC |
 Jan09_62_63_64FR_TMDE_ JindaiBG_Victoria_cruzianaRC |
 Jan09_68_69_70FR_TMDE_ JindaiBG_Victoria_cruzianaRC |
| End January 9th, Begin January 28th |
On January 28th Kazuya and I went to Nogawa Park to check on the progress of spring. We found the Shibateranthis pinnatifida (Setsubunsou in Japanese) to be barely started blooming. Quite often it is better than this by now. This is the first spring "ground" flower.
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 Jan28_04FR_NogawaPk_ Shibateranthis_pinnatifidaRC |
 Jan28_06FR_NogawaPk_ Shibateranthis_pinnatifidaRC |
Here are 2 more shots of very small Shibateranthis pinnatifida (Setsubunsou in Japanese).
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 Jan28_09FR_NogawaPk_ Shibateranthis_pinnatifidaRC |
 Jan28_10FR_NogawaPk_ Shibateranthis_pinnatifidaRC |
We found some birds, but the only one which cooperated with us by sitting around long enough to be photographed was this Dusky Thrush (Turdus naumanni).
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 Jan28_13FR_NogawaPk_Turdus _naumanni_Dusky_ThrushRC |
 Jan28_17FR_NogawaPk_Turdus _naumanni_Dusky_ThrushRC |
 Jan28_18FR_NogawaPk_Turdus _naumanni_Dusky_ThrushRC |
| End January 28th, End Page 2, End January 2011's Photos |
Here are links to separate web pages - all of them will open in a new window (or new tab). The first link shows some photos of our DVD Collection, an AVI Movie of our Home Theater System and 9 photos of our Sharp Aquos TV. The 2nd link shows our entire DVD collection in DVD Profiler (if you're asking yourself what might be good to rent for the weekend). The DVD's will be sorted by date purchased. You can click on the "Title" Column to sort that way if you desire. The 3rd link shows our entire DVD collection in php DVD Profiler, which is much more sophisticated than the plain vanilla DVD Profiler just above it. The 4th link takes you to a set of pages which show you the FRONT cover-art of our entire DVD collection.
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 February 22, 2009 - DVD Collection & Home Theater System   
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 Please check it out by clicking on the above button. (Click on the "Studies of Plants and Wildlife" link in the new window.) |
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| Thanks so much for taking the time to look at the website this month. We hope that you found something which you enjoyed. You can use the e-mail link below to respond with any feedback you might have. |
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| If you would like to donate to our hiking & traveling fund or show your appreciation for our efforts you can donate through PayPal. A single donation will entitle you to request a single full-sized photo IN THE DONATION MONTH - which you may then use as a desktop wallpaper or whatever. The copyright will be retained by us and the photo will be inconspicuously marked with the copyright symbol (©), year and photographer's name. (Donation probably not tax deductible.) |
