This is Page 2 of 2 - the best of April 2006!
posted: May 2nd, 2006
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The photos on this page continue, starting with April 12th, and go through the end of the month. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
  On April 12th we went for another walk around the ICU campus and managed to get these 2 shots - a Camellia flower and another Gentiana zollingeri. This shot shows the buds. On April 14th we went to Nogawa Park again and found these amazing violets. It is one of the varieties of Viola mandshurica. There are several forms, varieties and hybrids of this particular genus and we are not sure which one it is!
  The first 2 shots are most definitely just a straight Viola mandshurica. By the way you can find a larger size
of the 1st photo in Row 2 HERE. It is 1,531 pixels x 2,000 pixels JPG file and it is 562 KB in size! The 3rd shot is an image of Cherry Blossoms. This tree had the most amazing color.
  All 3 images in this row are that same Cherry Tree. Enjoy, because this will be the last of the Cherry Blossoms until next spring. You can also find a beautiful 2,000 pixel x 1,516 pixel JPG image
of the 3rd photo in Row 3 HERE. It's 542 KB!
  The 1st photo is a bunch of Cherry Petals laying on the ground, looks like snow, eh!? The 2nd shot is a species of Glechoma and the 3rd shot is a Yama-Buki-Sou (local name) plant and flowers.
  The first photo is a closer image of the Yama-Buki-Sou (local name) plant and flowers. The 2nd image is a Chloranthus japonicus and the 3rd shot is a species of Jack-In-The-Pulpit (Arisaema sp.).
  The first shot is that same Jack-In-The-Pulpit (Arisaema sp.) plant, but a bit further away. The 2nd photo is a different species of Glechoma and the 3rd photo is another Gentiana zollingeri - never seen so many buds on one plant!
  The first shot is yet another Gentiana zollingeri and the 2nd shot shows how prolific they are in this one spot which we found. We have NEVER SEEN SO MANY in one place before. The 3rd shot is my newly constructed DVD Shelf and if you click on it then you will be taken to our "DVD Collection and Home Theater System" web page, where you can find a bigger image of it.
  The first 2 shots in this row were taken on our porch! The first shot is a Takao Violet (Viola yezoensis f. discolor). Note the beautiful purplish leaves. The 2nd shot is a Mandshurican Violet (Viola mandshurica) - also taken on the porch! We brought these plants home from the wild, sickly plants on the verge of death and nursed them all last summer and this is what they are now. The Takao Violet blossomed earlier in the season, but the Mandshurican Violet is a high elevation violet and blooms later. The 3rd shot is another Jack-In-The-Pulpit, notice that this is a different species than the one in Row 5.
This shot was taken on Mt. Takao on April 22nd.
  The first shot is a Chrysosplenium album var. stamineum. Notice the difference in maturity of these flowers and those on Page 2 (Rows 2 and 3) of last month's photos. In this shot the hairs you could see last month on the new flowers are gone, the pollen is all gone and the color has deteriorated from bright white to a faded green. The next shot is taken through the woods, of a bunch of Mountain Azalea bushes. The 3rd shot is an Aquilegea sp. or crowsfoot. All 3 of these shots were taken on April 22nd on a climb of Mt. Takao and hike from there to I-Ccho-Daira (Daira=plateau).
  The first shot here is Mt. Fuji, again from I-Ccho-Daira, against a dark sky. The 2nd shot is a beautiful stand of Mountain Cherry trees at I-Ccho-Daira.
  On April 29th we hiked the old road from Okutama Town to Okutama Lake - here are 3 scenes. Note that the trail follows more or less along the Tama River. In the first shot you can see the bridge we crossed to get to this spot, where we ate our lunch. The sign says maximum 5 people at a time on the bridge. The 2nd shot shows the huge boulders in the Tama Riverbed. The 3rd shot is a woods shot on the way back up from the river to the bridge.
  The first 2 shots in this row show scenes along the trail. These 2 shots show the delicate greens of spring. In the 1st shot you can also see blooming mountain cherry trees on the mountains if you look closely. The 3rd shot is a brand new violet which we found. Our book says it is quite rare. It is Viola variegata var. variegata.
You can find a larger size JPG image of the 3rd photo HERE, it's an 838 KB file and is 1,918 x 2,000 pixels in size.
  This is now a link to a separate web page showing a BRAND NEW photo of our DVD Collection, an AVI Movie of our Home Theater System and 9 photos of our new Sharp Aquos TV. By the way - I just finished building a beautiful DVD Shelf - you can see it here and - also in Row 7 on this page.