It was cool so we went out a little!

The weather forecast looked like I'd have to stay indoors for a few months and wait for the autumn...wait...NO!  The first few days of the week were going to shoot down into cooler temperatures when it would be okay for my medicine--YES! Impulsively, I shut off my laptop; asked Kinya if it would be okay to take a short jaunt outside; headed for my trusty push-cart, remembering to put my compact camera into its back pocket.

I wanted to remember to get snapshots while I was out. But, as I complained to Kinya, the camera lens just cannot capture vivid reds. It has frustrated me no end that the deep red hibiscus looks so blanched in photos. Well, I'll settle for the orange and yellow of the gladiolas spears growing by the roadside! These, to me, are just as attractive as the pricey ones sold in the flower shops.

Even my compact camera picks up the orange of the gladiolas, even if it can't manage red...what is that brick-colored thing in the back? Oh--the Okinawan Shi-sah. Only on this island would you find so many of them finding their way into unrelated photographs. This "Shi-sah" figurine pair guards a popular sushi store: the open-mouthed one invites good fortune while the closed-mouthed one rejects ill fortune.

Over the river on our walk home were the many " climbing carp", strung up in preparation for the popular Children's Day near the beginning of May. There are many carp in this river, not these colorful festive streamers, but real, live swimming creatures. Over half a century ago, this is where Daddy, not the carp, used to swim with the village children.

Nothing has changed. The God Who created the land, sea, skies, flowers, fish, creatures still lives and loves. And He is the Creator Who designed human lenses that capture vivid reds and offers g'zillions of them in pairs for free, unconditionally, to most human infants at birth.