DESPITE THE RAINS, LIFE GOES ON....

.....IT WAS A CLOUDY DAY and rainshowers were everywhere as we went out for lunch. Having GYOZA [vegetable dumplings] and CHA-HAN [SINANGAG sa atin, Chinese style nga lang], my companion and I decided to view the COSMOS MATSURI at Asaba-Cho, Fukuroi-shi. It was the last day of the two-day Matsuri where fields of Cosmos were planted by JA [NOKYO-an association of Farmers & the one in-charge of agri produce here:e.g., selling, agri-mix,seeds, et cetera] were a-bloom. ACRES and acres of Cosmos flowers are in bloom,and vehicles of all sorts lined up the long road beside SHOWA Company. Several tour buses were seen and people walked despite the rain, young and old alike. We did walk! We didn't bother bring the umbrellaand walked some hundred meters towards the stalls. Flowers were everywhere. And so were hundreds of people who came and witness the bloom. It reminded me of the SUNFLOWER Festival near our place. That one looked like a miniature of that famous scene where Sophia Loren walked amidst the Sunflower looking for her lost love. Next year, I gotta have that picture taken among the sunflowers, ala-SophiaLoren! MITE GORAN! Alas! I wasn't able to bring my digi-came...and I didn't catch the Cosmos-in-full-bloom..I wanted to save that scene sana... COSMOS are softer to look at unlike the Sunflower which has sharper features. Cosmos comes in different hues of white,pastel pink and magenta. There was a sign that picking flowers are not allowed, although anyone can come a-picking starting tomorrowfor free. Gotta do that, and get the seeds for my garden.... As usual, there were stalls of food and JA produce: early harvest of MIKAN [TANGERINES], YAKIMOCHI*[ GRILLED RICECAKE] dipped in soy sauce!and more.... [----Note* YAKIMOCHI also means SELOS/NAGSESELOS!Hence, my companion said," C, YAKIMOCHI?" then smiled sheepishly....Engs ba sya? hu-hu! ] There was a scheduled MOCHINAGE [THROWING OF RICECAKES]but it was raining so we decided to call it quits. On the way home, we passed by KAKETSUKA Bridge,some 500 meters away from the house.It is celebrating its MATSURI [FESTIVAL] this weekend along with several other towns.KAKETSUKA is famous for its 600 or so year-old YATAI [PORTABLE SHRINE]. It is said that it was made out of a single tree. If that is true then the said tree must be enormous! TONIGHT at around 7, I'll walk towards KAKETSUKA and buy that WATAGASHI [COTTON CANDY]. This one I like; it reminds me of Tatay who used to make them at home for all of us.... Despite the rains, life goes on....