Full Moon JAN 25 2016 Over Okinawa

It Didn't Show Last Night

 

 

Severe weather hid the moon from us on the 24th but, here is is now.

Some people even said, they saw snow, sleet and hail, over the past 24 hours.

Now, folks in Alaska and along the east coast of the USA probably, know what snow looks like.

To me, it's this white stuff, that plies up and has to be shoveled off the streets.

That's one of the many reasons, I live in Okinawa and, not in snow country.

Y'all stay warm and safe.  I got the moon tonight and, it's time to go celebrate.

Travel Scene: Could it Snow in Paradise ?

Maybe If Hell Freezes Over !

 

 

Usually, I like to post images of sunshine filled locations on this island.

But, lately the wicked weathermen have been predicting cold and even, snow.

What's up with all the global warming, everybody screams about ?

It felt like it was freezing as I walked towards the office this morning.

Bundled up in a parka, I started wishing I had some gloves to wear; it was cold and windy.

Luckily, a daughter came along and drove me halfway in her heated van.

Looking at the dashboard, she pointed out the outside temperature to me.

It was 9 degrees Celsius.  That's cold, when you have a strong ocean breeze.

At the office, I had to search for a conversion chart, online, to see how cold it really was.

Over at Conversion Metric Org they tell me:

 9 °C = 48.2 °F

Here I am freezing, wearing an Alaskan parka and, socks with my flip-flops.

Weather dudes are saying the temperature tonight will drop down to 6 °C.

6 °C, and that's a blazing 42.8 °F  !

So, I figure there's not much sense investing money in snow shovels, around here.

The photo above was taken from the second floor restaurant Kaminuhama.

It is located on Okinawa's west coast in Onna-son.

Checkout the Nabee Beach Website for more. 

Can't read Japanese ?  Press the American flag on the right and, get English.

 

Cherryblossom (桜) Festival Okinawa, Japan (Photo Essay)

The photos will have to do the talking because I'm still worn out from the hike up Nago Mountain in Okinawa, Japan yesterday. It was cold, windy and rained a few times but, was one of the best Cherryblossom (桜) Festivals I've seen in a long time. Look and enjoy.

Getting lost for a while in the mountains, thinking we could beat traffic, my trusty driver from Texas (Rusty), spotted this scene. So, we pulled over and snapped a few shots of the sun.  

Wherever it was shining,  it never hit us. We managed to miss it all day.

Here's what we ran into as soon as we parked the car and entered the walkway leading to the mountain. It was an international conglomeration of festival goers. Look. I think one guy was all the way from Italy.

And the first thing you smell isn't people. It's all the chicken yakitori (chicken on a stick) and soy sauce cooking on charcoal fires. But, there was a mountain to climb so, I didn't eat.

The stairways going up the mountain must be made for people with smaller feet than mine. I had to stretch my legs and go up two at a time. I have no idea how many steps they have but, I know I'm not in any hurry to go back and try it again today.

If you really need to know how many steps there are, maybe, somebody from Wikipedia can tell you.

Or, ask a kid. They count stuff like that.

Everytime you think you have reached the top of the mountain, you find more stairs to climb. In front of that concrete lantern is a cherryblossom sprig. The red, white and blue balls you see strung out above everything are paper lanterns. They're made by Orion Beer Company, my favorite beer, just in case you ever want to buy me one.

See that girl with the umbrella?  She must have popped into a dozen of my pictures while I was trying to compose a great shot. I kept this one, only because she wasn't moving and, she was a little bit cute.

But, I really don't like girls in my pictures, especially when they've been rained on.

I'll go back someday and get you a good picture when she's not there and it isn't raining.

Did I mention it was cold ?  Well, here you go. It was so freakin' cold they had a snowman and kids in winter clothes playing in the snow. It's not supposed to snow on my tropical island.

They imported the stuff or had a machine making it.

I've never seen snow here, before but, I'm glad they had it to keep the kids busy. It's hard to pick your nose when you're busy making snowballs. Ever notice that ?  All kids should have snow.

This was the best part. They had sleds and trails with snow on them. People were lined up, waiting to hop on a sled, or whatever they call those things.

They were having a blast. It reminded me of the Swiss Alps.

Only thing was, I kept looking around for the ski lift so I wouldn't have to walk all the way up the mountain. They didn't have one.

There weren't any blue skies to shoot but, I wanted to get some pictures away from the crowds and found this suspension bridge. This is another shot I'll have to go back and try on a nice sunny day.

Nago City and the bay are down below the cherryblossomed railings on the bridge. That'd be the East China Sea out on the horizon.

I killed some time here waiting for sunset. I zoomed with my lens a few times and as far as I could tell, the Chinese were staying on their side of the ocean. So, don't worry. I'm always checking.

This is what I was waiting for. The sun went down, the wet girl that kept popping up, must've got cold and went home and I got to set up right in front of the stairs.

The guy with the cell phone camera was holding still and I caught the whole scene with half a second on my camera shutter.

All I had left to do after that was get a close up shot of a Cherryblossom (桜) or two and I'd be happy.

The freezing, the cold, even the rain didn't really matter. Everybody on that mountain had a good time. The Nago City Cherryblossom Festival in Okinawa, Japan only happens one weekend out of the year. It's a special event and worth some sore muscles to climb that mountain. I've got a picture to prove it !