Over the past few months, clear, sunny days have become surprisingly rare.

So today, with the evening sky finally clear, I found myself gazing at it, reluctant to let the moment go.

After all,

Cloudy tomorrow.
Cloudy the day after.
Cloudy the day after that.
And cloudy for days to come.

Somehow, lately, here in Japan— or rather, in the area where I live— the number of sunny days has dropped dramatically.

And I’ve been spending far less time looking up at the sky.

For someone like me, who absolutely loves the sky, that’s a little painful.

No, actually, it’s quite painful.

So today, I lingered over the evening sky, wishing I could hold on to it a little longer.

The birds seem to be hurrying home, making their way back before nightfall.

Or at least, that’s how it looks to me.

I don’t really know, of course. For all I know, they might actually be heading out to work!

They fly in little groups of two to seven, seemingly rushing home.

I love watching them do that, too.

And then, I spotted three birds fooling around together.

They looked like they were having so much fun!

Were they like a group of middle school boys? Or middle school girls? Or perhaps a mix of boys and girls, playfully teasing each other?

Whatever the case, they had that unmistakable middle-school kind of energy.

I don’t know what they were up to, but they looked so happy.

And somehow, watching them made me happy, too.

Tomorrow is already November?!

Next month, I’d like to make a little more progress on my journal posts.

There are just so many things I want to write about.

October 31, 2026

mienaimonotachi

みえないものたち