Oh, what a beautiful day...
After 3 days in a hot, stuffy hospital, it is great to be out. Since the leaves are just budding, and the jungly undergrowth hasn't grown yet, it seemed a good time to take a hike up the hill behind our house.
This is the view as I step out our back door. The hill consists of very hard clay. It is a favorite material for making roadbeds. When we moved to Ajigasawa in 1985, this hill came right out to the street- our lot was under tons of clay. When we bought it in 1995, the quarry was half it's present size. I think the owner has sold off all his holdings. He left the ridge on the right, as it is the path up to an old Shinto shrine. At the back, he is at the edge of a forest reserve. I walked back to see the stone that commemorates the establishment of the reserve, over 100 years ago. There is a narrow gravel road in, and it is a VERY quiet and secluded spot. I started to get the willies when I saw scratched-up places around tree roots, especially as the claw marks seemed kind of big- kind of bear-sized (don't laugh- I met a bear cub near there a few years ago). Time to go home.
But first, a view from the top. Warm, lazy, hazy spring day- and ,no bears.
It is slow work out here in the country, but there certainly are compensations!
As the Psalmist said, "The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places." (Psalm 16:6)
This is the view as I step out our back door. The hill consists of very hard clay. It is a favorite material for making roadbeds. When we moved to Ajigasawa in 1985, this hill came right out to the street- our lot was under tons of clay. When we bought it in 1995, the quarry was half it's present size. I think the owner has sold off all his holdings. He left the ridge on the right, as it is the path up to an old Shinto shrine. At the back, he is at the edge of a forest reserve. I walked back to see the stone that commemorates the establishment of the reserve, over 100 years ago. There is a narrow gravel road in, and it is a VERY quiet and secluded spot. I started to get the willies when I saw scratched-up places around tree roots, especially as the claw marks seemed kind of big- kind of bear-sized (don't laugh- I met a bear cub near there a few years ago). Time to go home.
But first, a view from the top. Warm, lazy, hazy spring day- and ,no bears.
It is slow work out here in the country, but there certainly are compensations!
As the Psalmist said, "The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places." (Psalm 16:6)
posted by John Elliot | 11:06 PM
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