Missing Edo

Check out my old-school rose:

That's the second time I've ever attempted this style of rose. (The first time was when sketched this same rose from a tattoo design website.) I am deeply distrustful of my ability to draw flowers. Perhaps it's because I don't have a great affinity for flowers, but I just never progressed much beyond the elementary school-style daisy, a circle with petals around it.

Today's work? I didn't actually take any pictures of today's work. Today I carved a lotus (probably Nymphaea nouchali, but who knows). I did not take a picture because when it was done, I ate my lunch instead. While carving, I thought of this:

That is a photo I took of Ueno Pond. Yes, that's a pond. In the spring, you can rent a boat and row across it. In July, the month I took this photo, no, impossible. I came home from my outing that day and wrote this:

The pond nearly brings me to tears. This is the first good thing that’s happened to me on this day, this pond. In fact, it’s not so much a pond this month as it is a watery field of lilies that are just now beginning to bloom. The leaves of the lily plants are several feet across and have overgrown the pond entirely, standing three or four feet above the waterline. A few early blossoms jut proudly above the giant, gently swaying leaves. The petals of the blossoms are white, but the tips fade into a lurid pink. Each blossom on the pond’s perimeter has drawn a crowd of photographers more insistent than honeybees. The pond is an amazing sight. It goes on and on so that, at some point, it crosses over into unbelievability.

This photo makes me miss Tokyo very much, by the way.