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This is Page 2 of 2 - the best of December 2008!
posted: December 31st, 2008
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The photos on this page begin with December 7th and go through the 27th - trips to Okutama Lake, Showa-Kinen Park and then Mt. Takao for Frost Flower Photos. There is also a list of Mountains Climbed during 2008. Click on any thumbnail to begin.

Begin December 7th
  On Sunday, the 7th, Kazuya and I went out to Okutama Lake, hoping to see more good fall colors. We were too late for this area though - most everything was already bare. Got some good photos of bare trees contrasted with conifers though. And, the day was so clear - no haze at all! Look at this beautiful sky in photos 1 and 2. In the 3rd photo you can see that there are VERY FEW leaves remaining in the hardwood trees.
Dec07_OkutamaLake_LateFall05RC.jpg
Dec07_OkutamaLake
_LateFall05RC
Dec07_OkutamaLake_LateFall06RC.jpg
Dec07_OkutamaLake
_LateFall06RC
Dec07_OkutamaLake_LateFall08RC.jpg
Dec07_OkutamaLake
_LateFall08RC

  These 2 shots were taken a few hours later, after the sun had moved a significant amount. The location is the same as the very first photo in Row 1 though. Compare the sun reflection on the water.
Dec07_OkutamaLake_LateFall20RC.jpg
Dec07_OkutamaLake
_LateFall20RC
Dec07_OkutamaLake_LateFall26RC.jpg
Dec07_OkutamaLake
_LateFall26RC
End December 7th, Begin December 20th
  On December 20th Kazuya and I went to Showa Kinen Park to witness their Christmas Lights. These pictures show just a very small portion of what there was to see. By the way, the "tower" in the 2nd shot was made up of champagne glasses and they had water running down from the top!
Dec20_ShowaKinenIllumination005RC.jpg
Dec20_ShowaKinen
Illumination005RC
Dec20_ShowaKinenIllumination029RC.jpg
Dec20_ShowaKinen
Illumination029RC
Dec20_ShowaKinenIllumination011RC.jpg
Dec20_ShowaKinen
Illumination011RC

  Here is a shot of two of the champagne glass "towers" and then a shot of a single one of them. The lights changed color from red to blue to green every couple of seconds. The 1st and 3rd shots show the reflecting ponds and the "towers".
Dec20_ShowaKinenIllumination032_BESTRC.jpg
Dec20_ShowaKinen
Illumination032_BESTRC
Dec20_ShowaKinenIllumination030RC.jpg
Dec20_ShowaKinen
Illumination030RC
Dec20_ShowaKinenIllumination042_BESTRC.jpg
Dec20_ShowaKinenI
llumination042_BESTRC

  The first shot here shows a hardwood tree which they had decked out with blue and white lights. The 2nd shot is the same tree, but I zoomed in closer for this interesting effect. The 3rd shot is a small hill which they had decked out with many thousands of lights.
Dec20_ShowaKinenIllumination051RC.jpg
Dec20_ShowaKinen
Illumination051RC
Dec20_ShowaKinenIllumination053RC.jpg
Dec20_ShowaKinen
Illumination053RC
Dec20_ShowaKinenIllumination057RC.jpg
Dec20_ShowaKinen
Illumination057RC

  Here is one shot from the top of that small hill you saw in the final photo in the previous row. The 2nd shot is another interesting lighting effect they created. The 3rd shot shows our Christmas Hams which we bought this year. We also went to our traditional Chofu Market store, as we do every year for our hams, on the 20th of the month.
Dec20_ShowaKinenIllumination068_BESTRC.jpg
Dec20_ShowaKinen
Illumination068_BESTRC
Dec20_ShowaKinenIllumination070RC.jpg
Dec20_ShowaKinen
Illumination070RC
Dec20_XmasHam02RC.jpg
Dec20_Xmas
Ham02RC
End December 20th, Begin December 27th
  On December 27th Kazuya had to work, but I went out to Mt. Takao and I-Ccho-Daira (Plateau). I wanted to see the sunset from Mt. Takao and while I was there I also went to the Frost Flower place to see if they were "blooming" yet. They were - the best we've ever seen! Here are 3 pictures of Frost Flowers.
Dec27_FrostFlower07RC.jpg
Dec27_FrostFlower07RC
Dec27_FrostFlower09sRC.jpg
Dec27_FrostFlower09sRC
Dec27_FrostFlower11sRC.jpg
Dec27_FrostFlower11sRC

  By the way, if you want to learn more about frost flowers, a phenomenon which is little understood, then the current state of knowledge about them appears to be most concisely summarized here (CLICK - will open in new window). Note that the ice is coming OUT OF a plant stem. A Google search for "Frost flowers" will give you more results than you want to look at. These things are SO AMAZING!
Dec27_FrostFlower20RC.jpg
Dec27_FrostFlower20RC
Dec27_FrostFlower25RC.jpg
Dec27_FrostFlower25RC
Dec27_FrostFlower39RC.jpg
Dec27_FrostFlower39RC

  Here are 3 really amazing shots. The biggest of these flowers can be about 9 inches (23 cm.) tall and about 3 - 4 inches (8 - 10 cm.) in diameter.
Dec27_FrostFlower45RC.jpg
Dec27_FrostFlower45RC
Dec27_FrostFlower50RC.jpg
Dec27_FrostFlower50RC
Dec27_FrostFlower57RC.jpg
Dec27_FrostFlower57RC

  Here is a shot of Mt. Fuji from I-Ccho-Daira. This shot was taken at 2:47 PM. When I got back to the summit of Mt. Takao there were many photographers lined up to take sunset pictures. By listening I discovered that - just by coincidence - today is the day of "Diamond Fuji" - the day when the sun sets right over the top of Mt. Fuji! So - get ready. The 2nd shot in this row was taken at 3:59:29 PM. The 3rd shot at 4:00:30 PM.
Dec27_ICchoDaira01_FujiRC.jpg
Dec27_ICchoDaira01
_FujiRC
Dec27_MtTakao_DiamondFuji03RC.jpg
Dec27_MtTakao_
DiamondFuji03RC
Dec27_MtTakao_DiamondFuji04RC.jpg
Dec27_MtTakao_
DiamondFuji04RC

  First photo taken at 4:14:44 PM, 2nd shot at 4:16:48 PM and 3rd shot at 4:17:52 PM. The 3rd shot is the closest to a DIAMOND that I witnessed.
Dec27_MtTakao_DiamondFuji11RC.jpg
Dec27_MtTakao_
DiamondFuji11RC
Dec27_MtTakao_DiamondFuji16RC.jpg
Dec27_MtTakao_
DiamondFuji16RC
Dec27_MtTakao_DiamondFuji19RC.jpg
Dec27_MtTakao_
DiamondFuji19RC

  The first shot in this row was taken at 4:18:55 PM, I think this is the best shot of all. The 2nd shot was taken at 4:19:45 PM - notice the blowing snow on the summit of Mt. Fuji. The 3rd shot was taken at 4:20:08 PM.
Dec27_MtTakao_DiamondFuji24_BESTRC.jpg
Dec27_MtTakao_Diamond
Fuji24_BESTRC
Dec27_MtTakao_DiamondFuji29RC.jpg
Dec27_MtTakao_
DiamondFuji29RC
Dec27_TakaoSan_FujiSunset01RC.jpg
Dec27_TakaoSan_
FujiSunset01RC

  This final shot, with Mt. Fuji on the left, was taken at 5:05:11 PM, and I left right after this shot. It was cold and the wind was even colder on Mt. Takao. Brrr!
Dec27_TakaoSan_FujiSunset42RC.jpg
Dec27_TakaoSan_
FujiSunset42RC
End December 27th, End December 2008's Photos, Begin Mountains Climbed
  Here you can find a list of all the mountains which we or I alone climbed during Calendar Year 2008. Note that 33 mountains were climbed during 2008 - although not 33 different ones.

Mountains Climbed in 2008
No. Date Mountain Name Elev., Ft. Elev., M. With?
1 01/04/2008 Mt. Takao (#41) 1,965 599 Kazuya & I
2 01/04/2008 Mt. Kobotoke-Shiro-yama (#13) 2,199 670 Kazuya & I
3 03/08/2008 Mt. Takao (#42) 1,965 599 Kazuya & I
4 03/16/2008 Mt. Kagenobu-yama (#5) 2,385 727 Kazuya & I
5 03/16/2008 Mt. Kobotoke-Shiro-yama (#14) 2,199 670 Kazuya & I
6 03/23/2008 Mt. Takao (#43) 1,965 599 Kazuya & I
7 04/12/2008 Mt. Tsuru-Ashi (#2) 3,005 916 Kazuya & I
8 04/12/2008 Mt. Mazu-Kari (#2) 2,900 884 Kazuya & I
9 04/12/2008 Mt. Ko-Myou (#2) 2,618 798 Kazuya & I
10 04/15/2008 Mt. Takao (#44) 1,965 599 Alone
11 04/16/2008 Mt. Kobotoke-Shiro-yama (#15) 2,199 670 Alone
12 04/20/2008 Sougaku Mtn. (#4) 2,480 756 Kazuya & I
13 04/20/2008 Iwatakeishi Mtn. (#4) 2,602 793 Kazuya & I
14 04/20/2008 Takamizu Mtn. (#4) 2,490 759 Kazuya & I
15 04/26/2008 Mt. Sougaku (#4) 4,400 1,341 Kazuya & I
16 04/26/2008 Mt. Gozen (#4) 4,610 1,405 Kazuya & I
17 05/17/2008 Mt. Takao (#45) 1,965 599 Kazuya & I
18 05/22/2008 Mt. Mitake (#22) 3,048 929 Alone
19 05/22/2008 Hinode Mtn. (#9) 2,959 902 Alone
20 06/08/2008 Mt. Takao (#46) 1,965 599 Kazuya & I
21 06/14/2008 Mt. Takao (#47) 1,965 599 Alone
22 07/12/2008 Mt. Muttsu-Ishi (#2) 4,852 1,479 Kazuya & I
23 07/29/2008 Mt. Takao (#48) 1,965 599 Alone
24 07/29/2008 Mt. Kobotoke-Shiro-yama (#16) 2,199 670 Alone
25 08/04/2008 Mt. Mitake (#23) 3,048 929 Kazuya & I
26 08/09/2008 Mt. Choukai (#2) 7,336 2,236 Kazuya & I
27 08/12/2008 Mt. Ubagatake 5,479 1,670 Kazuya & I
28 08/12/2008 Mt. Gassan 6,509 1,984 Kazuya & I
29 10/12/2008 Mt. Moto-Shirane (#2) 7,123 2,171 Kazuya & I
30 11/02/2008 Mt. Mitake (#24) 3,048 929 Kazuya & I
31 11/02/2008 Hinode Mtn. (#10) 2,959 902 Kazuya & I
32 11/21/2008 Mt. Takao (#49) 1,965 599 Alone
33 12/27/2008 Mt. Takao (#50) 1,965 599 Alone

End Mountains Climbed, End Page 2
  This is a link to a separate web page showing some photos of our DVD Collection, an AVI Movie of our Home Theater System and 9 photos of our Sharp Aquos TV.
    November 11, 2007 DVD Collection,
Movie of Home Theater System
& Sharp Aquos TV Pictures
(new window)

Kazuya has his - blog all updated now and it is very beautiful. If you want to take a look at it you can find it HERE. (Click on the "Studies of Plants and Wildlife" link in the new window.)

2009 USA (176 KB) and Japanese (178 KB) Refrigerator Door Size Calendar PDF's


(will open in new window)

Thanks so much for taking the time to look at our photos from this month. That's all for 2008. Any feedback is always appreciated. Go To Page:


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