Summer in February

The weather has been ridiculously good in Fukuoka recently. A few days ago I was thinking how nice it was to get some spring-like weather in February, but today it was actually summer-like, with temperatures well into the 20s and clear skies. Unfortunately I had some stuff to do at school and Ena was at work all day, but I did get to go for a quick bike ride and enjoy the weather.

On the weekend the two of us went for a small bike ride into town. We were mainly there to do some shopping and have lunch, but we also stopped at Sumiyoshi Shrine and I took a few pictures. We made a wish for good health on this guy:
And Ena also made a wish at one of the shrine buildings just for good measure:
Its kind of a pretty shrine with a lot of trees along with the bright orange and white buildings:
Recently we've also taken up bird watching. There is a surprisingly wide variety of birds that make the woods outside our window home in the winter months. I've tried to get pictures of them, some of them are quite colorful, but they all move to fast, except for this relatively normal looking one that let me take a picture:

Downtown Fukuoka - rained out

We had a day off together on Sunday and tried spending it downtown. Unfortunately it stated pouring rain in the afternoon, but not before we had done a few things. First we took a walk along one of the rivers near Nakasu Kawabata station:
Then we happened along a shrine which had this absolutely massive float (a portable shrine basically) that they use in festivals:
Then off to Canal City to escape the rain (I think my expression is "nonplussed"):
We stopped at a cafe on one of the upper floors for a drink and cake:
And then we went to see nearby Sumiyoshi shrine and get our fortune told. Thats where the rain started to come down pretty hard so we called it a day after that: