Pictures/descriptions of local areas

Sakura at last started blooming in my neighbourhood.
It was already dark when I came home but I managed to take a few shots.
I'll try to take better ones tomorrow morning...
 

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Nice cherry blossoms! Washington, D.C. will have cherry blossoms soon, too - it must be on the same latitude as Tokyo.
 
Sarapva - that sunglasses picture along the railway track is just stunning! I can easily imagine it gracing an album cover.

misa.j - what an incredible slideshow! I really envy you having access to such a beautiful place. I do hope you'll post some more of your lovely pictures for us all :)

epigene - thank you, too. You've reminded me so much of when i lived in Japan, and the beauty of cherry blossom season in a local area. One doesn't have to go to a popular or famous spot at all to feel the excitement of the scene, for they are all across Japan! I don't know if you know it, but I used to live on the Mukogawa in Kansai, and to see all the families and clubs enjoying the sunshine and playing games under the sakura at the weekend really lifted my heart.

undrentide - i'm sure i've read in other threads on Jref that you are such a sakura fan! It is a magical time, isn't it? Actually, because of what you've written elsewhere, i've thought of you when I sit on my balcony here in England. We have a tree about 3m away - I think it might be apple - and it's just starting to open up, perhaps full-bloom in a week. I shall certainly take some pictures and share them here.

More pictures please everybody!

🌹
 
More Alaska pictures

Here are some more pictures of Alaska, taken in late '80s-'90s:

This is Pioneer Peak, the tallest peak in the Matanuska Valley, from Clark Rd.:




And here are more train tracks (without sunglasses) off the Old Glenn Highway:

 
My final contributions for a week or two...

The first is a duck pond near where we live, and in a sense it's the only one like it in the whole of the UK! (Us country folk have to be proud of what little we have lol!) It's a scan of what was originally quite a nice pic, but my scanner's just a cheapie and it hasn't come out too well, nevermind.

The second image is just a simple change using photoshop, but I prefer it to the scan actually, so thought i'd post it too.




The pic was taken on Christmas Day 2004. The weeping willow trees are of course far more beautiful with foliage.

The ducks are lucky to have their cosy little house there in the middle (I even heard they have a PS3, HDTV and broadband in there, but i'm not so sure about that!)

You can't see it, but behind the willow tree is a telephone box. A couple of years ago there was only one duck left...so sad...he would walk across the busy road to the phone box, thinking his reflection in the glass was another little duckie friend. Happily there are more ducks for him to play with now, and of course the geese sometimes visit for a scone and a cup of tea ;)


 
Very nice English countryside, made of stone! The ducks are lucky to have people who take care of them in such a nice spot. The second picture looks more like an impressionist painting. They both look good for being scanned. Mine seem to have dots on them in places. Here's one of my favorite scanned (and cropped) pictures of two birds at sunrise at the Outer Banks, North Carolina (one of those that you're lucky to be in the right place at the right time!):

 
Update on spring

Here are some tulips in the latest spring weather in Virginia:

 
Took a picture of a tree that I liked.


Path up from a park, also liked it. >_>
 
Thanks, Thor! It looks like spring has not quite started in Illinois yet. The dogwood blossoms are just starting to come out here in Virginia (I'll get some pictures), and now we're getting pollen all over everything.
 
Oh it's gotten pretty warm in my area, and flowers are blooming and etc.
 
I guess some more northern states are starting spring now - I've been watching the Weather Channel where they still have snow in Montana, etc. Here are some dogwood blossoms:

 
Very ordinary photo of kids playing in the park on a warm, spring afternoon (yesterday, April 5, 2007):

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The extraordinary thing is that this park is located on the rooftop of a railroad yard and depot!! 👍
 
Wow, thanks epigene! How big is the railway yard? To have trees, etc. on the roof - that's hard to imagine! They look like cherry blossoms.
 
Is that park really on top of a railway yard? That's pretty cool. More pictures of it please? Especially from outside the park looking into it.
 
Sarapva, yes, they are cherry trees! 👍

This is an aerial photo that had been published in the Asahi Shimbun in 2003:
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The article says that it was created in 1999, in time with renovation of Odakyu Electric Railway's Kitami yard and in response to the call from Tokyo Metropolitan Government to promote "rooftop greenery" in the city. I remember the time when it was still brand new, and the trees didn't look like it will grow any bigger... 😊

The park is on the right side of the stream and is roughly 27,000 sq.m. in size. The buildings on the left make up an exclusive condominium complex. The developers of the complex also complied with the government and created gardens on top of the condos.

The following are photos taken on the same day, from the stairs that lead up to the park and looking at the cherry trees that line the stream (called Nogawa River).
The view of the condo complex behind the trees:
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The view of the stream from the same spot but looking in the opposite direction. I think you can identify in this photo the light-blue colored bridge in the news photo:
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Yes, I will try to take photos of the depot itself (possibly with a view of the trees on top) the next time I pass by the place! 🙂
 
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Beautiful pictures y'all!! 👍

I can't understand people complaining about the lack of nature in Japan.. Those pictures are all very pretty Epigene, thanks!!
 
Yes, it's amazing that trees can grow on top of buildings! There must be a few feet of dirt for the roots to grow into?! What a good use of space and a way to bring nature into a city! The aerial photo really shows how it's placed. Any other pictures you might get, epigene, would be good to see!!
 
Thor - many thanks for your contribution! It's really very nice to see your interest in things that many people take for granted. Keep up the good work and keep training that eye!

epigene - thank you so much for your posts here - they are an exceptional example of what we can share together through the internet. Also, thank you for indirectly reminding me of the beer 'gardens' on top of some places in Japanese cities in summer - that brought back wonderful memories of summers (and birthdays) past, and has made me even more determined than I am already to return to my beloved Japan for a visit in the nezxxt month or two.

Keep those great pics and descriptions coming, good folks of the forum!

😇
 
I've taken some more pics of the rooftop park to show that it is actually located on top of storage structure in a railroad yard.

Since I've taken 7 and wanted to add comments on them, I've uploaded them in my Flickr album. The photos aren't very good (since my old digital camera is about to disintegrate), but I think they show what the structure looks like.
epigene's Flickr album

I also have other photos uploaded in the past to show my online friends. Please feel free to check them out! 😌
 
Thank you very much, epigene - the pictures are wonderful! Such different varieties of blossoms. The railway park looks really interesting and modern. Japan certainly has some pretty places! 👍
 
Such a great thread! More photos please everybody, this is fascinating stuff!

(I'm having pc pic problems myself now, will post again when I can)

😇
 
Hey, great pics all.
Sarapva, that sunset (rise?) is STUNNING!

The first two were taken in Shinjuku Gyoen in the height of Sakura season this year. Sugoi, ne?

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I love the contrast between the sakura and the daffodils in this one...

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These two aren't exacly my area... I visited Kyoto last month and was lucky enough to catch Hanatoro - a festival of light and flowers. These two pics are of sculptures on display in one of the parks - the first one is made of flowers, the second of orange and lemon slices!

flowers.webp

Oranges.webp
 
Very nice pictures, storeyinallinanyways! Japan has some nice parks. Are those cherry blossoms in your avatar?

Thank you - it was a sun rise picture (with the two birds)!
 
Hello!! My brother from Japan was here a while ago, so we decided to go on the Spido boat, which gives a tour around Rotterdam and a part of its great harbour. (The biggest in Europe!) And here are two pictures:



This is the Erasmus Bridge. You can see the Willems Bridge behind it, with the red pillars, and the "Hef" is on the right, the green one. The Eramus Bridge was designed by someone from Amsterdam and built by Belgians.. Needless to say, there were some troubles with it in the beginning; when the wind was strong, the bridge was trembling, which was pretty scary. The "Hef" is actually a bridge which is not in use anymore. It was a bridge for trains, and the middle part could be lifted (like in the picture) to let boats through. It's a beautiful piece of art.



This is Hotel New York. Yes, the little building in the middle. It was the starting point of the Holland - America Line, which many people used many years ago to seek their luck in the land of opportunities.. I was there a few days ago for some sort of meeting, and you can really feel some sort of tension there.. There must have been hundreds and thousands of people, eager to get on the boat to America.. Leaving their family behind and all.. Anyway, so it's an interesting building. The buildings on the left and right are.. Well, new buildings. I think the one of the right is the Monte Video, which sort of tried to cature a New York kind of look. It's a very expensive place to live in I believe, but has everything in it, from a super market to a whole fitness facility. (I now realize that it might sound really standard to some people across the ocean, but to us prudent Dutchies it's pretty new..) 😌
 
Very nice pictures, leonmarino! At first I thought the building on the right was leaning, but probably just the camera angle! It sounds like a really modern apartment building - I'm not familiar with apartment living, but I don't think that kind of thing is standard here. Maybe in big cities like New York there might be something like that ...

I'm going to post a couple more pictures I took recently. The first is a pecan tree behind my parents' house. It produces pecans every summer, but the squirrels get most of them (we see them running up and down the tree, getting the pecans and then going off somewhere to bury them)!




And this one is looking up into the new leaves of a maple tree:

 
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