Sunday afternoon selfies in Kyoto - on ancient and modern traditions

 Late November is autumn in Japan

Japanese acer

OH ( my other half) and I didn't realise what a big thing the atumn leaves are to the Japanese until  we arrived at our first world heritage temple in Kyoto.

It is BIG.

Four star big....

On a par with cherry blossom season.

autumn colour forecast

Time for dressing up and taking selfies under the acers.

Kimono hire and selfies is the way to go. Mixing the traditions of the past with those of the present.

But you will have to wait your tun for the best tree.

While you are waiting for the best branch, you can practice your selfie pose.

And then compare notes with your friends

kimono selfies

Watching these antics lead me to a degree of hair envy.

I realised that I just couldn't compete with the young Japanese.

Jeans and hiking shoes don't cut the mustard.

Grey hairs and an absence of adornment shows a lack of self respect.

I needed a make over.

But didn't get one.

I could not compete with these beauties.

traditional hair style for kimono

Elegant and poised.

kimono and parasol

traditions, old and new

No way was OH going to look on adoringly as I posed in the autumn sun.

He would probably adopt an expression a bit more like this guy (below), who seems less impressed with the game.

No leaf selfies for us. For we had work to do.

Temples to visit. Trains and buses to catch.

Crowds to negotiate.

Sites to see.

Sunday afternoon in Kyoto

And I mean real crowds.

There are a lot of people in Japan. Especially on a Sunday afternoon in Kyoto.

Arashiyama bridge, Kyoto

No time to sit and ponder.

This is a land of wonder. Crowds or not.

And we were here to see it all....( well most of it, anyway) .

The fancy clothes and hair would have to wait.

paying respect at Kiyumizodera temple, Kyoto, Japan

Lady with chrysanthemum

The trees were a riot of colour for the whole of our trip, and my camera/phone was mostly pointed skywards.

Japanese acers

As usual, my holiday snaps don't give a really good impression of where I have been.

These trees could be almost anywhere.....

Japanese maple in autumn

OH has promised to buy me a selfie stick for Christmas. He can see that I have stick and hair envy....

Who knows what might transpire.

I might get some images of myself that are better than the one that he took of me, posing in front of the Pacific Ocean, wearing impossibly dull clothing....

 I jest.....

but you already know that.

curl custard and placenta powder; some beauty treatment back at the ranch

 My other half is away.

swanning around the world apparently doing some 'work'

meanwhile back at the ranch the buidlers are here again.

A new loo.

It is progressing slowly, as building always does.


I need cheering up.

It is lonely in the empty house . Even the mice are dead.

I have decided to attend to my hair......to spruce up my ageing locks a little.

Give OH a bit of a surprise on his return.

Starting with curl custard.

Everyone loves custard.

 then some placenta

 so much choice

what colour shall I be?

and who do I want to look like?

a bit of fertilizer of course

and a dash of mayonnaise

I hope I look happier, and less disdainful than these ladies by the end of all this. Some of them have a nasty case of alopecia.

I will have some luscious curls

locked in with some gel

and maybe a bit of orange too

or green..... goes with the fertiliser

and then some lovely nails

so that when OH returns, I can open the door and fill him with wonder at my new look,

and fetch his pipe and slippers.