Jinja and Shoga: Life in the Land of the Rising Sun

   Rainy season has officially been going on here in Japan for about a week or more now...and I'm already done with it! Probably not helping my frustration is the fact that for 2 days in a row the weather forecast has called for either a 30% or 20% chance of showers (yesterday and today, respectively)...leaving me to get drenched both times by sudden HEAVY and prolonged rainstorms.
 On the bright side, rainy season means the appearance of ajisai, aka hydrangea. Ajisai are so common during this time of year that they're considered a sign of the rainy season. Their colors range from dark purple through various shades of blue to pinks and whites. Ajisai have two types of arrangements--mophead flowers, which are composed of numerous small blooms and resemble a pom pom or the head of a mop, and then lacecap flowers, in which the fertile flowers in the middle are surrounded by a ring of brightly colored sterile flowers. Thank you, Wikipedia.
  I'll post a picture of each type; hopefully some time this week it will be nice enough out that I can dare expose our Canon to the elements instead of relying on the poor quality camera on my cell phone.
...In other news, I hear that the Vegas casinos would love to host the Japanese meteorologists for a few days of heavy gambling.

            The mophead type...apologizes again for the poor quality and lack of focus...

                                The lacecap type