Thursday, November 19, 2009

THE SMALL HOUSE IN THE BACK GARDEN

Seseragi my garden, has a Japanese tea house overlooking the pond. During the warm weather everyone likes to sit on the engawa and feed the fish. (The engawa is similar to the Western porch or veranda.) Today the pond is frozen and cold. The fish are at the very bottom hibernating until the spring. When the water reaches 50 to 55 degrees they will swim drunkenly to the surface. I sit and wait for them and count them hoping that they all make it through the winter.