little bits of darkness in the garden

I'm preparing for my third funeral of the year, this one entirely unexpected and unfathomable. First that, then the election and November coming down like a grey curtain of rain over everything. My friends are changing their nationalities, or trying to, or complaining that they can't. The world seems at odds with itself, with everything.

The garden is too wet to go out into. The ground is mud, and the grapes are rotting on the vine. It's too wet to clear them away. The air is clammy and dull.

So. Now is as good a time as any to explore a curiously dark story about a beautiful mossy forest in Japan. I first found out about it from the Kurosawa Corpse Delivery Service series, which mentioned both the beauty of the Aokigahara Forest and how it is now used, as a final destination, by many Japanese people.

This is from quite a garish news channel, but there is a gentleness and a determination about the geologist monk who presents the piece, as he does one of his usual rounds of exploration, persuasion and discovery. There are warnings on the way in, and the preview image is indicative.

Watch only if you are calm and aware.