before they all fall off

As I've mentioned in my last post, we're having a warmer weather in these autumn-winter months here, which makes colors of autumn leaves rather dull than they'd normally be. Leaves need sunshine during the day and chill of the night to change their colors to bright scarlet, orange, or yellow. Nevertheless, I got to view some beautiful tinted leaves up in the mountain in Nagano over the past few weeks, which I thought I'd like to share with you. To view a complete set of photos, click here so a new window will open to start a slideshow.


On the day I arrived at Nagano, we made a brief stop along the way from train station to the house to see a little shrine on the cliff in a wood.

The leaves hadn't colored completely and we thought it'd be only the beginning of the autumn-leaves coloring, only to figure out later that it would have in fact been the peak of this season, as they'd start falling off shortly; trees seemed to let leaves go before they were fully colored.

I was lucky though, having had a chance to get around and drop by a local small temple known as a spot for autumn leaves viewing. And it was breathtaking; I guess the clean air of the mountain area might have something to do with how the leaves appeared, in their clear-cut outlines and bright colors.



Then there were days of rains, which washed off many of the colored leaves in the area, while I was busy working at home, not having much chances to go out very far. We were located in the middle of a hilly area though, and I'd take a short break to get out of the house and walk for a minite or two into a wood, catching a glimpse of ever-changing trees and leaves towards the end of the season.

When I found it too cold for me to go out, I'd bake a little thing at home, like these cookies. These are apple and pear oatmeal cookies, based on a recipe here.

Soft and juicy thanks to the addition of fresh fruit chunks, they were a nice little change from classic oatmeal-raisin cookies as well as being seasonal treats, I think. Also, aren't they looking a bit like autumn leaves themselves? Well, maybe not bright red ones, but rather those brown, fallen leaves....