I started my hydrangea Temple chasing a little earlier this year. Last year I waited until the end of June to visit Meigetsu-in Temple. This year, I wanted to visit a little earlier. Last night, several of my neighbors were discussing going to the Meigetsu-in Temple this morning to see the blue hydrangea. They have young children and were able to arrange child care specifically to visit the Temple today. I was more than happy to tag along! Oh, and give them a small taste of a Julia Tour.
We met at 9:00am and were at the Temple in Kita Kamakura by 9:45. It was already so crowded. My main photo objective was to photograph the steps leading up to the gate. I anticipated a crowd. But, nothing like this!
We were able to walk slowly and the crowd thinned a little bit.
This is the picture I wanted because it matches the wall hanging I recently purchased.
I used the Retouch App to cut out the people. What do you think?
If you have amazing skills with using photoshop or another photo editing app and want to try editing them out, let me know. I’ll send you the original. I ordered an 8×10 photo of my edited version this afternoon. We will see how it looks when it arrives.
Here are a few other pictures from out and around the Temple. The blue hydrangeas are so beautiful.
I remembered from last year how cute the Buddhas were decorated.
The zen rock garden was so serene.
It was fun to visit the Temple together. There has been a big turnover of people in our neighborhood in the past 6 months. These ladies all live at the top of the hill close to us. Here’s our hydrangea selfie!
And then just me. (My tattoo was exposed again this year. No one seemed to care! ?)
I think there is a good chance I will go back this week in the early morning to try and get the stair picture without people. I talked with my Japanese sensei at English class this afternoon and she recommended I arrive at 7:30am. Good thing I’m an early bird! I feel like I need to seize every flower chasing opportunity because I have a sneaky suspicion we will transfer before this time next year. More on that when things solidify a bit more. In the meantime, I’ll obsessively chase flowers!
