Wednesday, September 30, 2020

9月29日(火曜日)2020
畑の隅や道の脇にコスモスが揺れています。最初に目に入ってきたのは淡いピンクと白の集団。しばらく行くとこちらはもう盛りを過ぎたのか濃いピンクの花が緑を背景にまばらに咲いています。同じ時期、まっすぐな茎の上に鮮やかに輝く曼珠沙華が田んぼの脇に並んで存在感を出していますが、コスモスはまるで違った世界です。花びらは透けて見えるほど薄く、長細い華奢な茎の先にふわっと開いている花。30を過ぎたばかりの若さで亡くなった下の兄がいつか「コスモスは花とその名前がよく合ってる」と言ったことがあります。どの花が好きだったのか聞いたこともないけど、以来、コスモスは兄の花と決めています。ひょうきんで大らかで家族のみんなに好かれていた兄。五人兄妹の下二人の私たちは子供の時は毎日喧嘩、大人になってからは妹思いの頼りになるお兄さんで大好きでした。優しい兄は先に逝った母のそばに兄妹の誰よりも早く行ってあげたのだと思っています。Flowers of Cosmos are blooming in the corners of vegetable gardens or on the sides of the small roads. When I was walking, first, I saw a group of pale pink and white cosmos and second, I saw dark pink cosmos blooming sparsely probably after their peak. In this season, we see red spider lilies shining which have long straight starks and they are lining up at the side of rice paddies to show off their presence. On the other hand, cosmos is in a totally different world. It has thin petals and the flower opens softly on top of thin stalks. My brother who passed away when he was just over 30 once said to me that cosmos is a name that is fitting both for the flower and the atmosphere. I haven't asked him what his favorite flower was, but since then, I think of him whenever I see cosmos. He was funny, generous and loved by every family member. He and I are the youngest two siblings of five brothers and sister. In our childhood, we were fighting every day, and after we grew up, he was reliable and generous to me and I loved him very much. I think because he was such a generous character, he went to join my mother who had passed away, earlier than all of us other siblings.










Tuesday, September 29, 2020

9月27日(日曜日)2020
どこもでしょうが私の地域でも、墓地へ行く道の草取りや川の清掃といった作業が年に数回共同で行われています。今年はコロナの影響でほとんどの作業が中止になりました。多賀大社の脇を流れる車戸川のゴミや泥を取り除く川浚(ざら)いも年二回ありますが、春の作業は中止で秋の作業だけ予定通り実施が決まり、今朝がその日でした。朝8時から町内から各家の代表者が作業をすることに。事前に回覧板で予定が知らされていて私もカレンダーに書き込んでいました。…が、朝になっていつものルーティンでカフェのケーキを焼いて、いなり寿司の用意をしていて、作業のことを何とすっかり忘れてしまうという失態。つまり「スッポカシ」をやったわけです。気が付いたのは9時前。大変!と慌てふためいて長靴はいて川掃除の道具を持って川へ走るも川上にも川下にも人の姿既になし。川はきれいになって流れています。町内の総代さんに謝りに行くと、「よく雨が降ったのでゴミは流され大したことなく30分で終わりましたよ」とお叱りもなく寛大に対応してくださり、とりあえずは安堵したものの、老齢化が進み作業に参加できる人も年々少なくなっている中で一人抜ければそれだけ残った人の負担がかかるというもの。申し訳ない気持ちの朝の顛末(てんまつ)でした。I think it is the same for any community in Japan, but people in the community here share the work a couple of times every year such as cutting weeds on the way to the graveyard, cleaning the river nearby, etc. Due to the coronavirus most of the work was canceled this year. We need to clean the small river beside the Taga Taisha two times a year, and for that the spring work was canceled but the fall work was set as scheduled, which was this morning from 8 am. I was informed about the day beforehand and I put the memo in my calendar. This morning, I prepared Mochi-ko cake and Inari-zushi for my cafe as my routine, then I realized about the community work. It was before 9 am. Oh! My! Goodness! I dashed to the river putting rain boots on and carrying the tool for cleaning, but nobody was there both upstream and downstream and it seemed that they had all finished cleaning. I went to the representative of the community to apologize for not attending. He said it was done in only 30 minutes since we had heavy rain the past few days and most of the garbage and mud were taken away by the water. I was relieved by his generous words but I felt bad because it must have been harder for the people participating in this work due to the small number. People in the community are getting old year by year and many of them have become unable to participate in those kinds of work, so even though I am not young, I wanted to be a member of the workforce.








Friday, September 25, 2020

9月24日(木曜日)2020
5年前に帰郷してから私の足代わりになってくれた自転車とついにお別れしました。この自転車、中学に入った時に父に買ってもらったもので半世紀は優に経っていますが、長い間物置に眠っていたものを近所の影山自転車のおじさんに見せたら「ええ自転車や、まだまだ乗れる」と言われ、タイヤを取り替えブレーキを直してもらって大活躍。彦根へ買い物に行く時、図書館に本を探しに行く時、夜中にコンビニに走る時、私の愛車となって支えてくれました。さすがに錆びつき、カゴも中学の時に転んで歪んだまま、前を照らす電気はいくら漕いでも時々消えたりのまことに覚束ない光でしたが、年月の割には車体は頑丈で影山さんもサイクリストの沢さんも今どきこんなしっかりした自転車はないと太鼓判を押してくださっていました。しかしながら、買い物に行くには近江線やJRの鉄道を交差する道路が下に潜っているため上り坂が一回か二回、図書館に行くのも上り坂。膨れたバックパックを背負っての帰り道は正直憂鬱。先日、ふとした折に使わせてもらった電動アシストの自転車のあまりの快適さにびっくり。以来、加速をつけるも坂を登りきる時にはほとんど止まりそうなぐらいになる我が身と古自転車が恨めしくなっていました。愛着のある自転車もそろそろ潮時かなと思い、友人Hさんの車で手伝ってもらって本日電動自転車に買い替えました。今、古自転車の位置にピカピカの電動自転車が置いてあります。嬉しいというより寂しい今の心境。古自転車の方がどう見てもカッコイイと思うなんて余程ヒネくれてます。さ、明日から我が新車を楽しまなければ。Today, I said goodbye to my bicycle which I had been using to get around since I came back to my hometown five years ago. It has been more than fifty years since my father bought it for me when I became a junior high school student. It was in the storage room for a long period of time and I showed it to the owner of a bicycle shop near my house. He said that it was an excellent bicycle and works very well still now so I had him replace the tires and fix brakes. Indeed it helped me a lot when I went to the grocery store in Hikone, when I went to the library, or when I dashed to the convenience store at night. It became rusty, the basket kept distorting since I fell while on the bicycle in junior high and the light was weak and sometimes didn't work. However, the body was still very strong and both the bicycle shop owner and Mr. Sawa, a cyclist, were saying that it is a valuable bicycle which we do not have nowadays. In my real life, I have to go up the slope one or two times when I go to grocery stores in Hikone, I also have to go uphill to the library and it takes so much energy for me who is carrying a heavy backpack with groceries or books. The other day, when I had a chance to ride on an electric assisted bicycle, I was amazed at the ease of it. Since that time, I was unhappy about riding my old bike when I went up the slope which made me nearly stop near the top because of my weak muscles. I thought that it was time for me to change my bike to an electric assisted one so I went to Hikone to buy a new one with my friend who helped me to carry the old and new bikes by her car. Now a shining new electric bike is in my house in the place where the old one was in before. In fact my feeling is sad to lose my old familiar bike rather than pleasant to get a new one. I might be twisted and abnormal because I definitely think that the old bike is nicer looking than the new one. Anyhow, I will enjoy my new assistant from tomorrow.


古自転車

自転車後ろ

自転車拡大

自転車拡大

新旧自転車

電動アシスト自転車












Monday, September 21, 2020

9月20日(日曜日)2020
パソコンの電源を入れると画面がピンクになりまったく先に進めないという事態になり、カスタマーサービスの所在を知り電話で対応してくださった方のアドバイスでパソコン本体を修理サービスに出したのが18日(金曜日夕方)。その間、古いパソコンが何とか頑張ってくれましたが、何と今朝(20日)修理が終わって手元に戻ってきました。超スピードサービスです!祈るような気もちで箱を開けて中のパソコンを取り出すと新品みたいに綺麗になっています。ディスプレイユニット(液晶パネルとディスプレイハウジング)を交換したと修理報告書に書いてありました。画面だけでなく文字盤も綺麗です。そして、肝心のデータ。ああ、私の煩雑なデータがそのまま画面に残っていました!神様、修理の方、そしてFBに投稿しパニックになった私を励まし、温かいアドバイスを次々にくださった皆様のお蔭です。心から御礼申し上げます。これからTime Machine というバックアップ器具を備えて何かあっても慌てないようにします。I had an unexpected thing happen to my computer in which the screen was pink when I turned on the power and I couldn't do anything, so I called Apple Customer Service. The service person gave several instructions but they all didn't work. I sent it to the Repair Service Center as he advised on 18th (Friday evening). For the time being, I used my old computer which was very slow but worked anyhow. I thought it would take a week at least for repair, but it returned to me this morning (20th)! What a quick service it was! When I opened the box, I felt like praying for there to be no damage to my old data. It appeared to be a beautiful computer and I knew that they changed the display unit which was written on the repair report. Oh, thank god! All files and photos stayed on the display randomly which were the same as before! I really appreciate Apple repair people and friends who gave warm words and several suggestions to me when I was panicking during this incident. I think that there is a lesson that I should prepare for this kind of incident by backing up data frequently.














Sunday, September 20, 2020

9月18日(金曜日)2020
2日前の夜、ノートパソコンの画面が突然ピンクになって機能不全に。ニュースや情報を得たり、調べものや買い物をしたり、メールやFBで人と交流したり、 生活の80%ぐらいといっても大げさでないぐらいパソコンに依存している私は、この突然の出来事に大慌て。依存する割りにはITに無知で設置も人任せにし ていたので事態に対処できずパニック状態です。遠隔地にいる相方に尋ねようにもメールができないし、外地で購入しているので誰に相談すればいいか分からず 途方に暮れるばかり。そのうち殆ど電話にしか使っていない去年切り替えたスマホにGメールの機能があることを思い出し慣れないながらも必死に通信を繰り返 す。翌日、草津にMACの代理店があることを友人に教えてもらい、更にアップルカスタマーサービスに電話して操作の指示をあれこれ受けるも回復せず、結局 修理SVCに送ることに。情けないのはこれまでの記録が消えてしまうこと。ただ残してあった古いパソコンが何とか復活しメールなど取り敢えずは機能することがせめてもの幸いです。それにしても一時間以上も忍耐強く電話で対応してくれた男性には頭が下がる思いです。彼らには何でもないコンピューターの世界に私の ような無知な人間が入り込んでいることに不安は尽きず、便利さと不自由さの紙一重のところにいるという感じです。The night before yesterday, the display of my computer turned pink suddenly and didn't function any longer. I usually get news, information, do some research or shopping and do email or facebook with other people by computer, so this unexpected incident made me panic. I might be a person who depends on the computer for 80% of the tasks in my daily life. I wanted to reach my husband who set up my computer when I bought it about a year ago but I couldn't because of this trouble. Then I remembered that there is a G-mail function in my Smartphone although I usually use it as a phone and do not use other functions much since I bought it last year. I sent emails to my husband to get some advice with my smartphone with my full effort. The next day, I got information from my friend about an agency in Kusatsu city, and the agency suggested that I call Apple Customer Service, so I called them. The male customer service person instructed me several ways to solve my problem, but they all didn't work at all. He finally suggested that I send my computer to Apple Repair Service although I might lose all memories in the computer. It is so regrettable to lose memories, but I decided to follow his advice. The only thing I was relieved about is that my old computer which I have not been using since I bought a new one is revived and able to use email and other functions although it is slow. Anyway, I thank the customer service person who assisted me for more than an hour on the phone. I feel uneasy to be in a high technology world which makes use of computers and the internet, which must be very familiar for them. I am receiving tremendous benefit from those technologies but at the same time it causes much stress and uncomfortable feelings.




Monday, September 14, 2020

9月14日(月曜日)2020
虹の大橋を見ました。7時前に家を出ていつもの散歩コースで多賀大社の杜を出てしばらく歩いていくと、正面に虹。虹を見て心が踊らない人はいないと思います。もっとよく見たいと進んでいっては写真を撮り、障害物のない広いところへ出ると、さっきは確かに60度ぐらいまでしか見えなかった虹が何と大きく大きく半円にくっきり西の空を渡っているではありませんか。私のカメラでは全景を納めきれない見事な虹の大橋です。こんな完璧な虹を見せてくださった神様に感謝せずにはいられません。よく見ると虹の外側にもう一つ大きな虹が薄くかかっています。明るい未来を予感させる虹。龍神様の化身とも言われる虹。今朝は特別な朝でした。I saw a great rainbow bridge this morning. Leaving my house just before 7 a.m. for my morning walk, I went through shrine woods and kept walking along my regular course, when a rainbow came into my sight ahead of me. I think it is the same for everybody to be excited when seeing a rainbow. I took many photos of the rainbow stopping at several spots and came to a wide area with no obstacles. There, seeing the view took my breath away. It was a huge half circle rainbow over the west sky which I have never seen before. Wow! I thanked God to give me a chance to see such a perfect rainbow. I tried but I couldn't take the whole rainbow with my camera. I looked at the rainbow carefully, then I could see another rainbow vaguely outside the original one. Rainbow is a symbol of hope. Someone says that the rainbow is the incarnation of the dragon god. It was a super special morning.






9月13日(日曜日)2020
昨日、夕暮れ時に30分ほど短い散歩に出ました。陽はもう沈んでいましたが、外はまだ少し明るく西の空は夕焼けが残っていました。黒い雲が無造作に低空に飛び散って何とも怪しげな雰囲気。一体明日は晴れるのか雨だろうかと考えながら空を見上げて歩いていると辺りの明るさはどんどんなくなって代わりに家々の電気が目に入ってきます。黄昏(たそがれ)とはよく言ったもので、知った人に出会っても「あなたはどなた?」と聞かなければもう誰か分かりません。昔の人はこんな時間は足を速めたでしょう。とっぷり日が暮れたら道が分からず大変です。今はといえばポツンポツンであるけれど街灯があったり、200メートルほど先にあるコンビニの強烈な光が届いたり、時折通る車のライトに照らされたりして行く手に困ることはありません。それでも、途中で羽虫が顔に当たって、びっくり。相手も驚いたに違いありません。何がしかの灯りに助けられながら太田川の橋近くまで来て左手の神社の森の中を覗いたら真っ暗。じっーと覗き込めど一点の灯もない闇の世界でした。今も衝撃となって心に残っています。Yesterday at dusk, I took a short walk for about thirty minutes. The sun had already set but it was still a little bit bright, and I still saw the sunset glow on the western sky. The dark clouds scattered mysteriously low in the sky. While I was walking and looking up at the sky wondering if it would be clear or rainy tomorrow, it was getting darker and darker and the light from the windows was coming into my eyes instead. Twilight is "TASOGARE" in Japanese which indicates the time that you can't recognize who is in front of you and need to ask who they are. In the old days, people must have rushed to their home before it got dark otherwise they would have trouble finding the way. Now, we have street lights although there are not many in my town, strong lights from a convenience store which is 200 meters (o.12 miles) ahead of me, or car lights, and all of these help me to find the way. Although we have something happening in the evening, a small winged insect hit my face, and it surprised me. I think the insect was also surprised. Anyhow, when I came back to the small river near the shrine, I looked into the shrine's woods on my left. It was so dark and I couldn't see anything there. it was total darkness. Since I have never seen such darkness, it overwhelmed me.







Monday, September 7, 2020

9月7日(月曜日)2020
台風10号は明け方当地にも強風と激しい雨をもたらし、朝の中学での読み聞かせが中止になるかと心配しましたが、幸いすぐにおさまり予定通り生徒たちの前に立つことができました。今日は先日朗読サークルで取り上げられた滋賀県野洲地方に伝わる民話「めおとヅル」を読みました。始まる前に階段脇のベンチに腰かけて時間待ちをしていると男子生徒が数人一段飛ばしで階段を上がっていきます。いつの時代も見られる光景。今や高台の中学までたどり着くのに息を切らしている私は「お〜っ」という気持ちで彼らのエネルギーに拍手を送りたくなりました。帰り道、多賀大社に寄ると、この間まで蓋がしてあった参拝の前に身を清める場所(手水舎(てみずや)というそうです)が、今までの柄杓(ひしゃく)がなくなって、竹筒を通して水が使えるようにしてありました。「頭は帽子を乗せるためのものではない」とよく言われたものですが、「なるほどなあ」と時代に添った工夫に感心しました。Typhoon #10 brought strong wind and heavy rain in our town early this morning and it made me worried about the cancelation of today's storytelling at Junior high school. Fortunately it soon passed and I gave a story for the students as scheduled. I chose a local folk tale named "a couple crane" in Shiga prefecture. While I was waiting for the starting time, I saw some male students going up the stairs by skipping one step. It is always the same that boys go up like that, I wanted to applaud them for their energy as it is difficult for me to even come up to the J.H School which is on the top of the hill. On the way back home, I stopped by Taga Taisha (shrine). There is a water place where people clean their hands and mouth (purify themselves) before worship. Due to prevention of coronavirus spreading, it was closed by covering the area, but I found it was opened again but in a different way. We don't need the tool for scooping water any more. I have been hearing "The head is not only for putting a hat on. (Use your brain.)" since I was a child. Indeed, I admired this smart way which is appropriate for the current situation.







Sunday, September 6, 2020

9月6日(日曜日)2020
かつてない風速の台風の接近で不気味な不安がありながら、今日は曇り空に陽がさしたり雨が降ったりの不安定な1日でした。梅雨の長雨の後、猛烈な暑さの8月が駆け足で通り過ぎ、早9月に暦が変わりました。床の間のしつらえを新しくしました。掛け軸は平井東庵の芙蓉とシジュウカラ。この時期に合っているのかどうか自信ありません。芙蓉は季語が初秋ですが、シジュウカラはどうも夏のよう。花は近所の野菜市で買ったウドの花。ビロードの肌触りの赤いケイトウは部屋のアクセントに。薄紫の花は「角虎の尾」だとお客様で来てくださった地蔵町のYさんに教えていただきました。花に似合わず勇ましい名前です。コンペイトウのような赤い花は千日紅(センニチコウ)。これもYさんから名前を知りました。8年近く続いた政権が首相の持病悪化のため急遽変わるという思いがけない事態に、マスク生活がまだしばらく続きそうな中で色々なところで色々な人が暗中模索しています。季節は同じように巡ってきますが迎える生活は去年と同じではないこと。自身も変化しているので当たり前ですが、受けて立つ力をどうやってつけようかと考えます。Due to the approaching typhoon which is the strongest we have ever had, we have been experiencing uneasy and unstable days with occasional sunlight between clouds and showers. After the long rainy season, August passed very quickly with terrible heat, and now the calendar has turned to September. I changed the alcove display. The hanging scroll which has drawn on it a cotton rose and great tit (Parus major), is by Toan Hirai. I don't know whether it is appropriate for this season. I got some flowers at the vegetable market near my house. The flowers in the alcove are called Udo whose stalks are edible when they are under ground. Red cockscomb with a surface like velvet became an accent of the simple Japanese room. The pale purple flower is loosestrife for which the Japanese name literally translates to "tiger tail plant". I learned the name from Ms. Y and thought, "what a gallant name even though it looks elegant". The tiny flowers which look like sugar candy called Konpeitoh in Japan are globe amaranth. We are in an unexpected situation now where our prime minister, Shinzo Abe whose administration continued for almost eight years, declared his resignation because his chronic illness got worse recently and it surprised me. We are expecting more restraint in daily life to protect coronavirus and many people seem struggling here and there. The fall comes again but our life will not be the same as last year. I, myself, am also changing every year physically and mentally. I wonder how I can get more energy in the face of this uncertain situation in the world.