This morning I left the house at about 5:30 a.m. and as I cross the bridge over the river the scene was quite beautiful. This picture does not really do it justice, but you can probably get some idea from it. My apartment is in the large buildings on the top left. The lights in the stairs are still on because the sun has not yet risen. This was the coldest day so far, about 6 degrees Celsius, but is was clear and bright once the sun got up a ways.
About an hour later, 6:30ish, we were entering Shinrin Koen (Forest-Woods Park) when we noticed the clouds over the mountains to the west of Sendai. Again the colors were beautiful.

We have added a third person to our Wednesday walks and he is a watercolor artist, actually teaching some classes. He constantly points out places where the colors, especially in the morning sunlight, are particularly interesting. And, of course, with him pointing out colors, I have started paying more attention to them myself. Also I am now much stronger so the physical aspects of the walks are not as tiring and brain numbing as before, meaning I can pay attention to things other than putting one foot in front of the other.