Nov. 24 - Village of Happiness Kobe

y husband and I visited the "Village of Happiness KOBE" today.

We decided to go there at 9:00 a.m. this morning.  We hurriedly prepared our camera and other things and left our place 30 minutes later.  

We dropped by 7/11, a convenience store on our way.  My husband didn't go inside the store.  He just asked me to buy food quickly.  He didn't want to miss any chance of taking pictures of a beautiful bird called "kawasemi" or kingfisher which appears in the Japanese garden in the "Village of Happiness Kobe." 

I picked up three packages of rice balls and two doughnuts, and went to the cashier hurriedly.  I was planning to give the two packages of rice balls to my husband and have one for myself.   Plus, we could each also have a doughnut.

My husband's favorite rice ball in 7/11 - it has two rice balls in one package.

We started driving immediately and he asked me what I had bought.  I replied that we got three packages of rice balls, one of which was for myself, and additional doughnuts.  He complained that it was not enough.  Anyway, it took one hour to get there.

Upon arriving at the Village of Happiness Kobe, we drove to P-4 

the nearest parking lot to the Japanese garden. 

I noticed there were some elderly couples who enjoyed sketching the garden with colorful pencils/water color paints.  My husband came to take of the little bird, so he hurriedly approached some men who were carrying long-focus lens and asked if they have already seen the bird.  

I also love taking photos of the kingfisher, but I was too hungry to concentrate on doing so, so

I headed to the hotel complex.  

I knew there were some stores and restaurants in the buildings.

On my way I noticed that they've decorated the hotel lobby for Christmas.

I was very happy to find packed lunches available at a local farm products shop.

There was pickled plum in the middle of the rice, a typical packed lunch.

The "Fishermen's lunch" was only 550 yen and it was with various dishes. 

 

I went for a walk after lunch.

    

The flowers on the ground which were reflected back to the mirror looked like hearts.  

One of the hearts was made of purple flowers while the other, white.

Then, I went back to the Japanese garden where my husband was staying for a while.

I suggested that he also go to the farmers' market while I attended to his camera in front of the pond, but he said no.  He seemed glad when I offered my share of rice balls.  He ate them in an instant.

I asked if he drank most of the tea in the thermos I packed, if so, he should go to the toilet.  I told him that I would be taking photos in his stead.  However, the hard-headed man didn't want to leave the place even for a moment.  He was constipated the next day.  (He had a hard time for pooing the next day.)

We had been waiting for more than 5 hours when a kingfisher appeared out of the blue. 

There were six other male photographers who were carrying their long lenses with them.  They seemed to be as old as my husband who had retired from work.  All of them became suddenly got excited when the bird appeared in the garden.

The kingfisher is said to be around 17-20 centimeters long.

One man shouted "the bird flew to this direction" pointing at it. 
Everyone moved to the same place at once. 

   

Then someone said, "the bird has just jumped into the water and caught a fish. 
He is swallowing it now." 

Five or ten minutes later, another man said "the bird has just caught a dragonfly." 

All of us got so excited watching the bird for an hour.  As we had the same interest, it was easy to talk with the other photographers.

My husband was so serious in taking pictures of the kingfisher. 
He also seemed like a suspcious man.

We were crazy for staying in the park for 6 hours today. 
We burnt a lot of calories despite the colder temperature.