Summers end, painting, and books

I think we’re far enough into September that I won’t jinx myself by saying: summer here wasn’t bad. From what I hear, there’s other parts of Japan and Europe had a rough time this year. But my area was for some reason not too bad. It wasn’t without some miserable days, but it felt less painful than the recent years. I am excited for having energy again. Every fall we realize just how much the hot weather just melts away our energy. And once the weather calms down, we’re able to do more than one thing in a day. I am excited for some good walks. With the milder weather, we ventured to some local festivals. Or at least we payed attention to when they were and remembered this time. One was a mikoshi festival, where people were carrying mikoshi from every neighborhood in the area. We tried to look for our neighborhoods, but it was already parked off to the side when we arrived. Must have finished up much earlier than we arrived to the festival. The other festival with tons of people doing…