Stylized mountains and lake in Shinshu

Shinshu Blog

Miscellaneous nature-flavored notes from Nagano (信州)

Latest Notes

Inazuma

Summer heat builds through the morning like a slow fever. By noon, the valley shimmers with rising air, and the ...

Garden Failure

This year's garden taught me more about failure than success, which might be the most valuable lesson of all. The ...

Cicada Summer

We've had almost two weeks of stable sunny weather, the kind of high-pressure clarity that makes every morning feel like ...

Blue Longicorn

This morning I found a blue longicorn beetle (Rosalia batesi) on the cabin's wooden deck railing, motionless in a patch ...

Cedar’s Quiet Geometry

Counting spirals is a kind of meditation. The cones don't care if I get it wrong. I trace one ridge ...

Regatta

Today the lake was crowded with more sailboats than I'd ever seen here—sleek hulls catching the morning light, bright spinnakers ...

Morning mist over Chikuma

A thin band of fog lay flat across the river, and the kites traced circles overhead in slow, wide loops ...

A Snake Mystery

I set off this morning down the gravel path from my cabin to the lake. The day before, I'd put ...

Plums at the market

Oblong and bruised and perfect; the vendor says the rain made them sweeter. I thumb the powdery bloom and it ...
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