１０月３１日（木曜日）２０１９ 
１０月半ばで日にちが経ちましたが、岩手の友人、Yさんから贈り物が届きました。 「いわて三陸　海と森のなたね油」と、やえはた自然農園のクッキー二種「みそっこ」「HOPI COOKIES（ホピクッキー）」。なたね油は山田周生さんが代表をつとめるユナイテッドグリーンが復興支援の活動で作られているものです。https://www.magariya.net/makers/united-green/ 今年は鹿が入り込んで菜種の収穫も減ったことでしょう。 貴重な油を送っていただきました。やえはた自然農園は花巻市の藤根さんご夫妻が農薬も肥料も使わずに農作物を作っていらっしゃるようで、そこで、このお菓子も生まれたようです。http://yaehata.com/wp/「みそっこ」はその名の通り味噌クッキーでパッケージが３つあって「レモン」「三陸なたね」「マヤナッツ」の味に分かれていました。クッキーがふうせん形で可愛らしくラベルもやさしいです。美味しくいただきました。ホピクッキーは、アメリカインディアン、ホピ族のカチーナと呼ばれる精霊を形作ったクッキーで、一人一人の精霊について丁寧な説明書がついていました。山田さん伝授のクッキーでしょう。山田さんはホピ族と一緒に過ごされた経験があるようですから、今度滋賀にいらしたらその時のお話をお聞きしましょう。先の台風で岩手も大きな被害があったようで皆さんご苦労なさっていることでしょう。滋賀から遠く離れた岩手ですが、ふとしたキッカケが点と点を繋ぎ、思いを馳せることができるのは幸福なことだと思います。Yさん、ありがとうございます。A while ago in the middle of October, I received gifts from my friend, Ms. Y who is living in Iwate prefecture. They are rapeseed oil from Sanriku Coast and two kinds of cookies "Misokko" and "Hopi Cookies" from Yaehata Organic Farm. The rapeseed oil is produced by United-green of which Mr. Shusei Yamada is a representative, for the purpose of reconstruction support following the Great East Japan eathquake. https://www.magariya.net/makers/united-green/ I guess that the harvest of  rapeseed oil must have decreased because recently wild deer entered their farm and ate the rapeseed. I appreciated my friend to send this precious oil to me. Mr. and Mrs. Fujine in Hanamaki run Yaehata Organic Farm. http://yaehata.com/wp/ They are growing rice and vegetables without using any pesticides. They are also making cookies. One of the cookies which I received are Miso Cookies which are balloon shaped and the labels of the packages are cute. They are very good! The other cookies are named HOPI COOKIES. The Hopi are a Native American tribe and the cookies are shaped like kachinas (invisible spirits of life). I learned about six different kachinas by an explanation sheet coming with cookies. I guess Mr. Shusei Yamada gave the idea of making these cookies because he had an experience to be with the Hopi for a couple of weeks. I look forward to hearing more about the Hopi from him when he comes to Shiga next year. Due to the previous big typhoon, Iwate region was also damaged a lot and people there must be having a hard time now. Iwate is very far from Shiga, but I am grateful that we got to know each other by chance. Thank you, Ms.Y.Y!!

１０月２８日（月曜日）２０１９ 
今年１月２８日に仕込んだ味噌が出来ました。正真正銘「手作り味噌」です。去年教えてもらって初めて挑戦した味噌があまりに美味しかったので今年はその倍仕込みました。ちゃんとできているか心配でしたが、納屋から出して壺を開けると、鮮やかな明るい茶色の味噌に仕上がっていました。半分ぐらいを深めの保存容器に入れて冷蔵庫へ。残りは丁寧にならして、その上に冷蔵庫に残っていた板粕を敷き詰めラップで覆って空気に触れないようにして、もう一度納屋に置きました。来年のお正月は自家製味噌を使った粕汁をメニューに加えようかと思っています。I prepared homemade miso at the end of January this year and it is ready now! It is really "Home-made miso". I learned how to make miso from Ms. N.N, a farmer in Taga and I took on the challenge with some other people. I was very satisfied with "my miso" which was preserved in a jar in a storage house and became a very mild and tasty miso, so this year I prepared double the amount of last year. While waiting for ten months until it was done, I was worried whether the process was OK or not. Today, when I took out the jar from the storage house and opened the cover, beautiful bright brown miso appeared underneath. I am relieved and feel so happy now. I took half of the miso out from the jar and put it into another container to keep in the refrigerator. Smoothing the surface of the remaining miso in the jar, I spread sake lees which had been in the refrigerator on top. I then covered the jar with wrap to not let the miso contact the air in order to prevent mold, and put it back in the storage house. I am now planning to serve home-made miso soup in the cafe on New Years Day.

１０月２７日（日曜日）２０１９ 
ご存知の方からは「なあーんだ、知らなかったの？」と言われそうですが、本日、お客様から教えていただくまで私は本当に何にも知りませんでした。それは座敷の床の間の掛け軸の鳥の名前です。平井東庵が描いた 芙蓉と鳥で、芙蓉が秋の花なので今の季節に合うと思って掛けたのですが、さて、鳥の名前は「シジュウカラ」だそうです。守山から来てくださった親子連れの息子さんが、スマホにある写真を見せてくださり間違いないということでした。ところで、読み聞かせで五年生の教室に行きます。時間の関係で少しカットしますが、宮沢賢治の「よだかの星」を選びました。その話に出てくる「よだか」「鷹」「かわせみ」「はちすずめ」もネットで写真を探してコピーして生徒たちに見せる準備もしました。鳥について勉強した１日でした。Those of you who already know must be astounded by my ignorance but honestly I didn't know about the name of the bird on the hanging scroll in the guest room until today. I learned about it from one of the guests. Toan Hirai (1860-unknown) drew "Confederate rose & bird" and I chose it as a seasonal scroll, because Confederate rose is an autumn flower. Well, according to the customer, the name of the bird is titmouse (Sijyuukara in Japanese). A mother and her son from Moriyama city came to the cafe and let me know the name showing a picture of the bird on the screen of their smartphone. By the way, I am going to Taga Elementary School to read to fifth graders. I chose "Yodaka no hoshi (The Nighthawk Star)" by Kenji Miyazawa, so I will prepare some pictures of the birds in the story such as nighthawk, hawk, kingfisher, hummingbird which I searched on the Internet and I will show copies to the kids. It was an educational day for me to learn about the various birds. 

シジュウカラ

よだか

鷹（たか）

カワセミ

ハチスズメ（ハチドリ）

１０月２２日（火曜日）２０１９ 
道を歩いていると、金木犀の甘い香りがそこはかとなく漂ってきます。立ち止まって「どこに木があるんだろう...？」と辺りをキョロキョロ見回してしまいます。月曜日の朝、多賀小学校へ読み聞かせに行った帰りも、そんなことがありました。秋口から結構長い間、あちこちでこの素敵な香りに出会います。 先週の日曜日（10/20）は年に一度のふるさと楽市で多賀町に住む業者や集落の有志が自慢の商品や特産物を 絵馬通り沿いに仮設にできたテントや特性ブースで販売するイベントがあり、お天気もよく大勢の人で賑わいました。 我が多賀あさひやも、第三日曜のイザナミ市と重なって、餅粉ケーキの店頭販売に加えてイザナミランチ（1373円）も１０食限定で提供し大忙しでした。When I am walking outside this season, I can smell fragrant olives in the air. I always stop and look around wondering where the tree is. It happened on the way back home after story reading at Taga Elementary School Monday morning this week, too. For a while since the beginning of autumn, I encounter this sweet and nice fragrance everywhere. Last Sunday (10/20), "Furusato Raku-ichi" was held in Taga. It is organized once a year during this season by the town and people who run shops or people who come from small villages in Taga sell their specialty products at a temporary tent or booth. It was a clear Sunday and the main street was crowded with many people. It was also the same day of IZANAMI-ichi which is held every third Sunday of the month, so we were very busy preparing both Mochiko cake for selling in front of the cafe and ten portions of Izanami lunch. Thank God. It went so well.

１０月１７日（木曜日）２０１９ 
９月下旬から１０月上旬にかけて見てきたニューイングランドの初秋を紹介します。 市街地から少し離れたところにあるマーケットで、いつもトマトや新鮮な野菜、果物、花、チーズ、パンなどが豊富にあります。奥様が日本人だと聞いたことがあって、日本食で使う野菜なども結構そろっていて、きのこ類も豊富です。そこにマツタケがありました。日本では貴重なマツタケがこんな風に無造作に置かれることはないのでびっくりしました。そっと手に取ってみると確かにマツタケ。でも香りはそれほどではありませんでした。ワシントン州やニューハンプシャー州で採れるそうですが、アメリカの人はマツタケを食べる習慣はないので店頭に並ぶことは珍しいです。１ポンド（約450g)$19.98(約2000円）で他のきのこより割高ですが日本ほどではありません。マーケットの外に小菊の鉢植えや大小のかぼちゃ（パンプキン）がたくさん置かれてアメリカらしい秋の光景でした。お客は好みの大きさのかぼちゃを買って帰って玄関に置いて、ハロウィンが近づくと中をくり抜いてジャック・オー・ランタンを作って当日の夜は仮装した子供達を迎えます。Let me introduce early autumn in New England, where I was there for about two weeks. I went to a grocery store which is located a little bit away from downtown Boston. The store usually has many kinds of tomatoes, fresh vegetables, various kinds of fruits, flowers, cheese, bread and so on. I heard that the owner's wife is Japanese, so we can find many vegetables used in Japanese cooking. They also have many kinds of mushrooms. When I visited this grocery market, I found Matsutake mushrooms and I was surprised because they were placed in a display box carelessly. I gently picked one of them and examined the exterior. It was certainly Matsutake, but the smell was mild. I heard that Matsutake mushrooms are picked in such places like Washington state and New Hampshire state in the US. Since people in the US do not have a custom to eat Matsutake, it is rare to find them in a common grocery store. The price is 1Lb=$19.98, it is expensive but not as high as Japan. Outside of the market, there are small chrysanthemum pots and pumpkins of various sizes, all representing fall colors. Customers purchase the pumpkin of their favorite size and bring it back to their home. When Halloween is approaching, they make a Jack-o'-lantern to welcome kids who will wear costumes and visit their house to get candies.

１０月１６日（水曜日）２０１９ 
実りの秋をいろいろな方が届けてくださいます。今日は栗、柿、ゆず、サツマイモ、レタス、菊菜、かわいいカブを彦根の友人ご夫妻からいただきました。視覚的にも茶、オレンジ、黄緑、赤、緑、白と豊かな収穫の秋を楽しむことができます。全部、自宅の農地で採れたものだそうで、ずいぶん力のある農家さんだなと感心します。Many people brought me crops from their fruitful fall harvest. Today, I received chestnuts, persimmons, Yuzu (citron), sweet potatoes, lettuce, kikuna (crown daisy), baby turnips from my friends who are a couple living in Hikone. Visually we can enjoy the colors of these fruits as well, which is a mix of brown, orange, yellowish green, red, green and white. My friend said that they are all from their farmland. I admire my friends who are really capable farmers.

１０月１５日（火曜日）２０１９ 
台風一過、今日は秋晴れの美しい１日でした。 ご近所から今年も柿をいただきました。 嬉しいことに枝付きの柿の実です。床の間の飾りとしても秋らしくて素敵です。 台風で大変な被害を受けた地域は家を失った方、家へ帰れなかったり後片付けなど で途方に暮れているいる方が大勢いらっしゃることを思うとこんなに穏やかに過ごしていることにいささかの後ろ めたさを感じます。日毎、寒くなっていきます。心細いことでしょう。We had nice autumn weather with clear skies after a heavy typhoon had passed. One of my neighbors kindly gave me persimmons this year, too. I am glad to receive them with branches because they are nice ornament for the alcove in the guest room. While I am appreciating such beautiful autumn days, I feel a little bit uneasy because there are people who lost their houses, can not return to their homes or who are in a quandary about the endless work of cleaning their houses from mud as a result of the previous typhoon. It is getting colder day by day. I am simply praying for them.

１０月１４日（月曜日）２０１９ 
台風１９号は大雨と河川の氾濫で東日本広域に大きな被害を及ぼしました。平穏な日常が一瞬にして様変わりしてしまうこうした災害の恐ろしさに唖然とするばかりです。かたやラグビーW杯戦では日本がスコットランドに強靭な力で勝ってベスト８に残ったことが明るいニュースとして沸いています。ところでYourubeを見ていたら、ジェシー・ノーマンの画像が目に入ってきました。アメリカ人のオペラ歌手ですが、久しく彼女の歌を聴いていなかったので何かと思ったら 先日ニューヨークで亡くなってその追悼のための画像だったのです。私は２０年以上も前にボストンで一度だけステージで彼女の歌を聴いたことがあり、CDも少し持っていますが驚くほど豊かな声量がどこまでもどこまでも続き説得力のある彼女のソプラノに魅了されました。インタビュー番組を見ましたが、語学が好きで、ドイツ語、フランス語、イタリア語など多くの言語が話者の話し方で微妙な地域がわかるほど堪能だったようです。医学や社会事業にも貢献して音楽以外の多くの人々からも尊敬されていました。車椅子でステージにあがっている姿を見ましたが近年はもう歌っていなかったのでしょうか。７４歳でした。しばらく遠ざかっていた彼女の歌をまた聴きたいと思います。Typhoon No.19 caused a lot of damage in wide area of eastern Japan by the heavy rain and river flooding. We were stunned when we looked at the change from peaceful daily life into a fearful disaster. On the other hand, in the Rugby World Cup, the Japanese team beat Scotland and progressed to the final tournament, so people are excited by this happy news. By the way, when I was watching Youtube, Jessye Norman, an American opera singer appeared on the screen. Since I haven't listened to her singing for a long time, I wondered what happened with her. It was her memorial video. She passed away on Oct.1 in NY. She was a great soprano opera singer and I had a chance to see her at Boston Symphony Gala concert more than 20 years ago. I was fascinated by her extremely rich voice and presence. I watched her interview on a TV program and discovered that she was very fluent in foreign languages, such as German, French, Italian at such a high level that she could even distinguish the local dialects. She also contributed to medicine and social matters greatly and was respected by many people outside of music as well. Apparently she had been using a wheel chair until recently and I wonder if she had not been singing during those final days. She was 74. I would have liked to listen to her singing again.

１０月１０日（木曜日）２０１９ 
小学校の読み聞かせのボランティアを時々していることから、校長先生からお昼の給食を 一緒にどうぞとのお誘いをいただき、本日２年ろ組の教室で子供達と給食をいただきました。 多賀小は母校で私の時も給食はありましたが、昔とはずいぶん様子が違っていました。 それでも給食当番の子供達がエプロンと帽子、マスクをつけて、みんなの器に食べ物を入れて あげる光景は同じで微笑ましく、昔もこんなだったかなあと懐かしく思いました。 多賀小学校の給食はまわりの学校からうらやましがられるほど美味しいと聞いていたので、試食でき たことは幸運でした。今日のメニューは炊き込み御飯、具だくさんのスープ、もやしや鶏肉が入った酢の物、それに牛乳で、評判通りどれも本当に美味しかったです。器がちょっと残念でしたが、私達の時はアルミの器だったので、それよりはよかったです。食事中は子供達の好奇の視線と質問攻めで照れるのと元気な声に圧倒され、久しぶりに賑やかで愉快な経験をしました。Because I have been a reading (story telling) volunteer at Taga Elementary School, the principal invited volunteers to a school-lunch with kids. Today, I went to the school to have lunch with children in the second graders' classroom. It is the same school which I went to, and when I was a kid, the school lunch was already provided, but I found many differences between now and then. Even so, I recall my school days looking at the kids putting on aprons, white hats and masks and serving food into everyone's bowls. I heard the reputation that the school lunch at Taga Elementary School is pretty good, and I was lucky to be invited to the school. The menu of today was rice seasoned with vegetables and meat, clear soup with seafood, tofu and vegetables, vinegar dish with chicken and vegetables, and milk. As predicted from the reputation, all of the food was good although the bowls were made of plastic and they made me feel a little disappointed. But I thought plastic containers are better than aluminum ones which were used at my time. During the lunch, I was a little shy and overwhelmed by the curious gazes of the children and their random questions but it was a lively and pleasant experience which I hadn't had for a long time.

１０月９日（水曜日）２０１９ 
陽射しも吹く風もすっかり秋の気配になりました。大型台風が近づいているのが気になります が、取りあえずは穏やかな一日が過ぎていきます。 いつもお世話になっているH.Nさんが切れてしまったカフェの注文票を大量にコピーして 持ってきてくれたのですが、お土産にこれも大量の菊を運んでくれました。ずいぶん土壌の良い 場所に植わっていたと思われます。台風が来たら倒れてしまうからと大人の胸あたりまである生育の いい枝をきれいに束ねて下さっていました。優しい友の気遣いに感謝するばかりです。たくさん いただいたのであちこちに惜しみなく飾らせていただきました。秋の香りでいっぱいです。I fully feel the autumn season in the sun light and wind. Although I am worried about the big typhoon approaching Japan, anyhow the recent days have been calm and beautiful. Yesterday, Ms. H.N. who is my friend and always helpful, brought a bunch of copies of order sheets I keep in my cafe. She also brought a big bunch of small chrysanthemums. The branches were very tall which reach my chest region when I hold the flowers. I guess they were planted in rich soil. She tied up the long branches neatly and gave them to me saying they will probably fall down when the typhoon hits. I appreciated her thoughtfulness. Since they were so many branches which I couldn't hold at once, I put them in various places in my house. Now my house is filled with the smell of autumn!