Setsubun

Is a festival that marks the end of winter. Hooray, well not so hooray, as I prefer the climate in winter to the dreadful heat and humility of summer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setsubun

We run around shouting, ‘Devils out! Fortune in!’ and throwing soya beans around.

Much beloved Greta is here. https://thequietripple.com/2017/03/25/great-is-an-anagram-of-which-womans-name/

We have a wonderful dinner in Ichiro san’s studio in Ada. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ada+Garden+Hotel+Okinawa/@26.7508995,128.2983789,460m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m9!3m8!1s0x34e4401ed330e98f:0x2c018f8bcf9fe175!5m2!4m1!1i2!8m2!3d26.751331!4d128.2985728!16s%2Fg%2F1tgrzpgq?entry=ttu

Tomomi has prepared an amazing Setsubun meal characterized by lots of wrapped up stuff and minced sardines.

Incredible meal, thank you Tomomi san !

We go for a stroll around 11:30. It is beautifully cool and fresh. The stars are blazing. It is silent apart from the hooting of Scops owls. Ichiro san immediately spots an Okinawan Rail in a tree.

Ichiro san is a magician. It is so dark. I think he feels them before he sees them.

We go for a ramble the next morning.

Another rail! We also saw Okinawa Woodpeckers but I was too slow to get a good photo.

It is cherry blossom time in Okinawa. There are blooming trees and butterflies everywhere.

The party continues the next day. The plan is that Arisa san, Greta and I will have a night picnic on the boat under the blazing stars. It does not work out like that. It rains all day and by the time we get to the boat, it is very windy, cold, damp and the stars are hidden by cloud.