Saturday, June 30, 2018



6月30日(土曜日)2018


30℃を軽く越えるモーレツな暑さの一日でした。昨日、散歩の途中で見つけたコガネグモの巣の白いギザギザが何とも不思議で気になって仕方がなくネットで調べてみました。「隠れ帯」とか「白帯(はくたい)」または「スタビリメンタム」というそうです。機能は多くの説があるようで、クモ自身を大きく見せて鳥などに巣をこわされないようにするため(身を守る)、紫外線光を反射させて獲物を引きつけるため(獲物を掛かり易くする)など。ネットの写真では不思議な形状の「隠れ帯」がありびっくりしました。真ん中のコガネグモは獲物が網にかかるまで動かないそうです。アメリカではE.B.ホワイトの「シャーロットのおくりもの(Charlotte web)」というクモと子豚の友情を語った児童文学が有名ですが、昨日見たクモはちょっと怖そうなのは違うけど、何か話しかけているという雰囲気はシャーロットをイメージしました。It was terribly hot (around 91°F) today. Since I couldn't help but to be interested about the spider web I found yesterday, I looked it up on the web. It is called "stabilimentum” and there are various theories about the function of it. One of the theories is that the stabilimentum serves as protection from enemies such as birds by making the spider appear larger. Another possible theory is that the web reflects ultraviolet rays which attracts the insects that the spider preys on. In the internet photos t here are many interesting patterns of stabilimentum and all are amazing. From the net info, the spider stays in the center and doesn't move until his game is caught in his web. In the US "Charlotte's web" by E.B. White is very famous among children's literature. The spider which I saw was bit different from Charlotte because that spider looked scary but it seemed as if he was talking to me, so I recalled Charlotte from the book.





Thursday, June 28, 2018





6月28日(木曜日)2018


朝から蒸し暑くゴミ出しの後、大田川に添って歩くも空気は飽和状態。帰ってから湿度を見たら83%でした。田んぼの稲は順調に伸びて緑が広がり、向こうの杉坂山は湿った空気で霞んでいました。保育園そばの川の金網に大きなクモが巣を張って真ん中で「どうだ」と挑戦するようにこちらを見ていました。真っ直ぐ伸ばした足の四方向に白い糸がギザギザと絡んでいるのが不思議でしばらく眺めていました。ネット情報ではこれはコガネグモらしいです。攻撃性が強く毒をもっているとありました。そばに保育園があるのでちょっと心配です。それにしてもあまりに立派なクモの巣だったのでシャッターを押しましたが、残念ながら私の技量不足で殆ど写っていませんでした。It has been so humid since the morning. After I took out the garbage to the garbage station in my community, I walked along Ohta river but the air was in the state of saturation. When I checked the humidity at home, it was 83%. The rice plants are growing well and Sugisaka-mountain looked hazy in the distance. I found a big spider which had spun an orb web on the metal fence near the river by a nursery school. The spider was in the center and it seemed like he was looking at me and challenging me saying "how about me? Isn't that amazing!?". A little ahead of his four legs there was a white zigzag pattern and they made me very interested so I was looking at it for a while. According to internet information, the name of the spider is Argiope spider which is aggressive and poisonous. I am afraid that it could hurt children of the nursery school. Anyhow the web and the spider were so impressive to me, I tried to take a photo, but failed because my photo skills were not to the level necessary to capture a picture of it.





Saturday, June 23, 2018



6月23日(土曜日)2018


彦根市にお住まいのTさんから梅の実をいただきました。カフェの近くに車を止めて中から出してくださったのは籠いっぱいの梅の実でした。うちに何本も木があるからとおっしゃって、手渡してくださいましたが、これだけの梅の実をとげのある木から採るのがどれほど大変かご苦労を思うと有り難いかぎりです。家にあるザルに移してしばらく置いておいたら、甘〜い香りが部屋一杯に広がりました。青梅や黄色くなった梅しか知らない私はこんなにフワッとはにかんだようにピンクに色づいている梅は初めてです。しばらくうっとりと美しい梅の実に見とれ幸せな香りに包まれました。あまりにたくさんいただいたので、日頃お世話になっている方にお裾分けします。I received plums from Mr. T who lives in Hikone. He parked his car near my cafe and took out a full basket of plums. He handed them to me saying that his family has many plum trees. I know it takes time and hard work to pick such a large amount of plums from the tree with branches which have lot of thorns. I thank him for his efforts. I moved them to my sieves and left them in the cafe for a while, then the sweet smell of plums filled the room. Since I have seen only green or yellow plums, it was the first time for me to see such puffy-looking and partially pink plums, like a girl's cheek when she got shy. I was fascinated by those beautiful plums and was full of happiness by the sweet smell. Mr.T gave so many plums to me, so I will share those with the people who always help me.


Friday, June 22, 2018



6月22日(金曜日)2018


カフェをしているとお客様にいろいろなことを教えていただきます。先日スケッチ画家の松居清恵(きよしげ)さんがお見えになり京都の美術館に行ってきたとお土産に絵はがきを2枚下さいました。無知な私には松居さんがおっしゃった画家の名前がよく聞き取れず3度も聞き直してやっとオットー・ネーベル(1892-1973)だと分かりました。お土産の絵はがきは展示会のポスターにもなっていて「イタリアのカラーアトラス(色彩地図帳)」と題がついています。イタリア各地の景観を色彩で表現しているそうです。もう一枚は、ワシリー・ガンディンスキー(1866-1944 )の「複数のなかのひとつの像」です。抽象的でどのように見ればいいのか実はよく分からないのですが、いくつかのパートのどこをとってもカラフルな色の組み合わせで、真ん中のニワトリを思わせる部分は少しパンチがきいてアクセントになっていますが、それでもどことなく穏やかな気持ちになる絵です。Since I opened my cafe, I have been receiving various knowledge from guests. A couple days ago, Mr. Kiyoshige Matsui who is a sketch artist dropped by my cafe and gave two postcards to me saying he went to Kyoto to visit an art exhibition. To be honest I have very little knowledge about painters, so I needed to ask him three times for the name of the artist. It was Otto Nebel (1892-1944). One of the postcards was the same one which appeared on the flyer. It is from "Italian Colour Atlas (1931) ". They say that he expressed the scenery of various Italian places with colors. The other card is a piece by Wossily Kandinsky (1866-1944) and the title of it is " One Figure among Others' (1939).It is abstract and I can see many parts with colorful pieces. There is a bigger and vivid colored part in the center which is shaped like a chicken and it makes a impact but still I feel calm and pleasant looking at it.




Friday, June 15, 2018



6月15日(金曜日)2018


梅雨に入ったようで、朝から雨。裏庭にアジサイが咲いています。「ヤマアジサイ」と言う種類でしょうか。雨の中のアジサイを撮りたくてフード付きのレインジャケットを着て裏に行ってみました。やはり梅雨にアジサイはピッタリです。カタツムリがいれば完璧なので「で〜んでんむ〜しむし…♫」と歌って探してみましたが残念ながら見つかりませんでした。It seems we have entered rainy season. It was raining since morning today. Flowers of hydrangea are blooming in my back yard. It is probably a kind of "mountain hydrangea". Since I wanted to take a photo of hydrangea in the rain, I wore my rain jacket with a hood and went to the back yard. As I expected, hydrangea is a perfect match for the rain! I thought it would be perfect if I could take a picture with a snail, so I tried to find one by singing a children's song of "Denden-mushi (snail)". However I couldn't find it unfortunately.



Monday, June 11, 2018



6月11日(月曜日)2018


ホタルブクロと菖蒲(しょうぶ)をS.Kさんからいただいて、すぐに写真を撮ったのですがレポートが遅くなってしまいました。ふわっと優しいこの花が何か分からず名前を聞いて「ホタルブクロ」と知りました。うつむいて咲くボタルブクロの花は関東は赤紫、関西は白が多いそうです。名前の由来を調べると二説ありました。一つはホタルを捕まえて花の中に入れて遊んだのが由来とする説。もう一つは提灯のことを「火垂る袋」と呼ぶ地方があり、形がそれに似ているからという説。キキョウ科の花だそうです。紫の菖蒲もピンと背筋を伸ばしてイキで、こちらまで気持ちがシャキッとしてきます。Ms. S.K brought me Hotaru-bukuro (Campanula punctata) and Shoobu (Acorus calamus). Since it was the first time I saw these gentle puffy flowers, I asked what their name was to Ms. S.K. She let me know that it is called Hotarubukuro (lit. bag of fireflies). Flowers are blooming pointing downward and the purple flower blooms mostly in the Kanto area of Japan and the white one in the Kansai area. I was curious about the name of Hotarubukuro. According to the web, there are two reasons. One is because people used to play by catching fireflies and putting them into these flowers. Other is because there is a region where people called a type of lantern Hotarubukuro (bag of firefly) and this flower is of a similar shape. The stalk of the purple Acorus calamus is nicely straight and it makes me feel refreshed.




Thursday, June 7, 2018



6月7日(木曜日)2018


昨日一日降り続いた雨も止んで今朝は朝陽が差していました。久しぶりの朝の散歩です。神社は木々も石も露に濡れてしっとりと美しく、太閤橋の前は菖蒲でしょうか、鉢植えに紫の花が清々しく咲いていました。新しく幾何学模様に舗装された絵馬通りですが、裏の大田川沿いの道は落ち着いた風情を保っていて見る度にほっとします。参拝を終えていつものように横から森に入ると鳥達の賑やかなさえずりが聞こえてきました。石橋の下はいかにも森らしい暗い静かな流れの音。贅沢な自然の音に包まれると何故か深く自己を感じます。散歩の途中にどんどん雲が出てきて。見ると清涼山の上に青空はありませんでした。しかし、家に戻ってきた時はまた陽が差して、H.Nさんが持ってきてくださった紫陽花と半夏生(はんげしょう)の鉢植えが輝くように美しくカフェの玄関を飾ってくれていました。It was raining all day long yesterday, but it turned to a fine day with sunlight this morning. After a long interval I took a morning walk today. In the Taga Taisha (shrine) trees and stones were beautifully wet and there were many iris pots in front of the arched bridge with some fresh purple flowers. Although the main street (Ema-doori) was paved recently with a geometric pattern, the back street along the Ohta-river is kept as before and I feel relieved whenever I look at the view. I prayed at the shrine and went into the woods as usual. Then I could hear various kinds of bird singing and under the stone bridge in the woods, I also could hear the murmur of a brook. Surrounding these rich sounds of nature, I felt deeply my own presence. During the walk, many clouds appeared and there was no blue sky over the Seiryoo mountain but when I came back to my home the sun came up again. The pots of Ajisai (hydrangea) and Hangesho (lizard's tail) from Ms. H.N were shining beautifully in front of the entrance of my cafe.







Sunday, June 3, 2018



6月3日(日曜日)2018


6月になったので床の間の掛け軸を新しくしました。今回は涅槃図です。涅槃図とは釈迦入滅の様子を絵に描いたものですが、実は掛ける時期が分からず、遠縁のお寺の方に聞いたら掛けたい時に掛ければいいと教えてくださったので思い切って今月の掛け軸にしました。掛け軸の木箱には「金岡の筆也」と書いてありますが表具などから見てそれほど古いものではないと思われます。沙羅双樹の下に横たわる釈迦を囲んで諸菩薩をはじめ全ての生類が嘆き悲しんでいる様子が描かれています。また右上には母の摩耶夫人(まやぶにん)が天界から降下していらっしゃるのが見えます。Since we have entered into June, I changed the hanging scroll in the alcove. This time it is a painting of Buddha nirvana. Actually I didn't know when it should be taken out to the alcove, so I asked a woman who is my distant relative in a family of Buddhist temple. She said that it is all right to hang it whenever you like, so I decided to hang it as a scroll of June. Looking inside the wooden box where the scroll was stored, I could recognize that it was drawn by Kaneoka. Judging from the mounting of the picture, it seems old but not "historically" old. Depicted on the scroll is Shakamuni entering Nirvana under a sal tree surrounded by ten great descriptors, while a group of Bosatsu (Bodhisattva), animals and insects all lament his death. On the upper right, you will see that Maya (the mother of Shakamuni Buddha) is coming down from heaven.