The Japanese garden is only open to the public twice a year for a few short weeks and with autumn colouring the leaves , what better occasion for our members to wear their beloved kimonos ?
(as always , click on the pictures to see a larger version that opens in a separate window )
Despite the light rain and cloudy weather , many KDJ NL members showed up for the occasion : From left to right : Jody, Mei-Ing, Dalisha, Youandi, Ben , Stephanie and Yumiko.
While everyone was waiting for more members to arrive , I took the opportunity to take a few photos. On the left Dalisha , on the right Carolien.
Dalisha's musubi.
Dalisha's bird feather hair ornament.
Youandi , wearing a bright furisode.
A closer view of Youandi's musubi.
As soon as most members arrived , we made our way from the entrance to the garden
On the left, Linda. On the right, Yumiko.
The rain had made the paths through the park rather muddy : the higher your geta, the better for you !
The bright autumn colours of the garden were just begging to be photographed :
Here is Youandi taking pictures from the bridge.
Of course the bridge is also a nice spot to pose on : Linda
and Jody.
Jody and Youandi posing together. I got them to open up the umbrella for me, because I liked the way the yellow matches the leaves behind it.
Arriving at the central tea house,
where everybody settles down for a pick-nick.
Maaike and Ben from Belgium.
Jody, Yumiko, Linda, Dalisha , Youandi and Carolien. In the background Stephanie and Mei-Ing.
Linda.
Carolien taking a picture of me through the round window of the tea-house .
Amy ( in the red hakama ) and Jeffrey arriving quite fashionably late ^^.
Linda, Dalisha and Mei-Ing, posing behind the round window in the tea-house.
The red leaved tree behind them was a popular spot for posing.
The dark and red colours of Stephanie's kimono go very well with the colour of the autumn leaves and the darkness of the water.
Stephanie's musubi.
Yumiko showing us a trinket of hers.
Yumiko's musubi.
I used a bit of fill in flash for Carolien in her blue kimono here : it makes the background darker and puts more emphasis on the person herself. I think I'll use it more in future.
Carolien's musubi.
Dalisha wearing a purple kimono with wine leaf motif.
Ben and Maaike, who is wearing an orange furisode and green hakama.
Three shades of ochre and orange : Yumiko, Riga and Mei-Ing.
Youandi in her furisode.
Linda wearing a green kimono and posing with her stole :)
And Linda without her stole.
Mei-Ing , wearing an orange kimono and black haori.
Mei-Ings haori.
Amy with a red hakama.
Just as I was moving around to get a nice background for Amy when she took her beret off, she flipped her hair out. Got it !
Our traditional KDJ NL tabi shot ( well ,mostly tabi :)
Everybody posing for the group shot.
Group shot with showing of the sleeves.
Well, everybody posing for the group shot is what I thought , but we had to do it over : Jody and Amy were missing.
The whole group in the picture : the tree at the back was barely wide enough !
Showing off of the sleeves.
Showing of the musubi.
I nearly decided not go to this meeting because of a cold I'd caught, but I'm glad I did : I would have missed out on taking all these pictures. Till next time,everybody !
