A walk by the river

Near our apartment there is a beautiful, spacious park called Hiraoka Koen, where cherry trees grow and the path meanders through empty green fields and thin forest. It is still wintery here, and the weather is very cold. Spring is coming, as evidenced by the white and black skunk cabbages we found blooming amidst the brown winter remains of bamboo, plants, and trees in the undergrowth below the bridge.