秋の日はつるべ落とし (Evening Dusk Comes Suddenly in Autumn)

　まだ気温の高い日もあるが、いつしか、日の落ちるのが早くなった。先日、午後も半ばになってからウォーキングに出かけて、そのことに気づいた。低位置の太陽が地面に写す全身の影が、とてもひょろ長くなる。そこで、上半身の影を塀に這わせて、実物と縦横比のあまり変わらない自分の影を撮影した（1枚目の写真）。午後4時過ぎでも、日が雲に半ば隠れると、もう夕暮れ風景である（2枚目の写真）。「秋の日はつるべ落とし」という言葉を実感する。写真は、2011年10月24日、堺市・鈴の宮公園と石津川べりで撮影。

While I was unaware of it because of fairly high temperatures of these days, the sun now begins to fall pretty early. Going for a walk in the mid-afternoon of the other day, I noticed this. The sun at the low position makes an extremely long shadow of my whole body on the ground. So, putting the shadow of the upper body on a fence, I took the shadow of myself close to the actual aspect ratio (the top photo). When the sun is hidden in the clouds even a little after four o'clock, the scene is already like that of the evening (the bottom photo). There is a Japanese saying, "Akino hi wa tsurube otoshi" (literally, the sun falls like a well bucket in autumn; namely, evening dusk comes suddenly in autumn). Photos were taken in Suzunomiya Park and by the Ishizu River, Sakai, October 24, 2011.