４月１４日（日曜日）２０２４　
　２週間ほど前にオデコにブツブツ、初めは何か変なものを食べたかなと大して気にもせず様子を見ていたところ、次第に頬の横や顎の下あたりにも広がってきました。何だろうと今度は真面目に原因を探ろうと化粧品、髪染め、シャンプーを疑い、寝具を干し、カバーの洗濯。花粉症は過去数年なし。謎のまま、やがて就寝中も痒みに悩まされ、赤い湿疹は広がるばかりで、いよいよこれは医者に診てもらうしかないと判断。カフェの営業を遅らせる張り紙をして一番近い皮膚科に行ってみました。

　医院では大勢の順番待ちに先ず驚き、医師が私の症状をマイクに話し、それがパソコンの画像にタイプして書き込まれていく診断スタイルも驚き。処方箋をもらって近くの薬局へ。ここでは症状を書く際「湿疹」という漢字が書けず情けない思い。カタカナで「シッシン」と書きながら、何ともよく似た文字が並んでいるなぁと妙に感心。

　さて、指示通りに薬を飲み、ステロイド系の塗り薬を塗って一日経った現在、かなり良くなっています。去年は股関節の問題で病院に行き、今年は顔の湿疹。何か忘れたけどその前も「お医者さん」のお世話になっています。それが決まって今頃。私にとっての年中行事のようなものです。


    I have been suffering from the hives in my face. At first I thought that was because I ate something wrong and I didn't pay much attention to it. However it spread out although it was only in my face. I started to find the cause. I checked my basic cosmetics and shampoo, dried my bedding, and washed the sheets. I have no allergy to pollen these years.While I couldn't find any cause, the hives didn't disappear at all, so I decided to go to a dermatology clinic.

    There were several things that surprised me at the clinic. One of them was the number of patients in the waiting room. In the examination room, the doctor asked me about my symptoms so I talked about it to him. Then he repeated my words to his microphone to type on the display of his computer. I was surprised at the way he acted which I didn't like very much. After getting his prescription, I went to a pharmacy nearby. There I needed to write my symptoms to get the medicine, then I wrote the word in Katakana "シッシン” instead of in Kanji (Chinese character). Looking at these letters which look very similar, I felt funny about it.

    Well, I took that medicine at home and I am much better now. I visited the hospital last year because I had a problem with my hip joint, and I went to see a dermatology doctor this year. It might be a coincidence but both happened in the same season. Visiting a doctor in this season might be one of my annual events.

４月１２日（金曜日）２０２４

　先日、豊郷のNさんから椿の枝を頂いたので座敷の床の間に飾りました。華道の心得があったなら、枝ぶりを直したり、密集した葉を取ったりしてもっと体裁よくなるだろうなと思いながら適当に籠に入れました。
　掛け軸は福井の日本画家、内海吉堂（1849~1925)の作品。吉堂は多賀には縁が深く、久徳の医師・小菅兎峯に漢詩を学び、後に中国へ遊学して南画を学んだとのこと。私の曽祖父、澤田久蔵も明治の頃に小菅氏に漢詩を学んでいたと何かに書いてあったので、吉堂とも縁があって、この掛け軸が家にあるのかもしれません。
　午後になって、尼子のKさんが小鮎の甘露煮を持って６月の能の会の申し込みに来てくださいました。近江の特産品の小鮎は昨今は収穫が難しくなっているそうです。Kさん自ら調理してくださった貴重な小鮎甘露煮、大変美味しく有り難くいただきました。

    Ms. N from Toyosato-cho brought me branches of camellia, so I put them in a basket and put them in the alcove of the guest room. There must be some rules in a traditional flower arrangement,and it looked much better if I followed that, but I haven't taken any lessons about it. So I just arranged the branches randomly.

    The hanging scroll is drawn by a Japanese painter, Kichidoh Utsumi (1849~1925) in Fukui prefecture. He had a strong connection to Taga. He studied Chinese classics from a medical doctor and Chinese scholar, Touhou Kosuga, who lived in Kyutoku Taga at an early age and went to China to learn Nanga (a school of Chinese painting which became popular in Japan during the Edo period). My great grandfather was studying Chinese classics from Mr. Kosuga in the Meiji period, so they might have had some connection with each other and that is why this hanging scroll exists in my house.

    In the afternoon, Ms. K who is a resident in Taga, came to me to buy tickets for the Noh Event in June and she brought sweetened small-sweetfish which is one of the Shiga's specialties. I heard that getting sweetfish from Lake Biwa is harder year by year. Ms.K cooked this by herself. I appreciated her special gift and excellent taste!

４月１０日（水曜日）２０２４　

　ここ数年毎年「多賀あさひや」で公演や講座をしてもらっているクラウンデュオのロネ＆ジージ。そのロネが書いた原稿が評論冊子に掲載されました。クラウン・ロネのキャラクターはぼんやりして失敗ばかり。いつも相方のジージに押されがちですが、講座に参加した方は既にお分かりと思いますが、実はロネはクラウンのみならず和洋問わず演劇についての知識が半端ないほど詳しく、本人はさらりと紹介してくれますが日頃の勉強ぶりはどれほどかと驚きます。

　去年は時期こそズレましたが大怪我で一時はどうなることかと心配したロネジジでしたが、多くの方の支援を受けて再び活動している二人です。そうした時にこのようなロネの知的な一面が出た原稿が学術評論で紹介されたことは実に嬉しいです。


    RONE & Gigi are a Clown duo who have given us performances for these past couple of years. Recently Rone published her manuscript in a review booklet by Univ. Kanagawa. As you may know, as a clown, RONE is absent-minded and always makes mistakes. Therefore Rone is pushed away by Gigi. However, real RONE has remarkable knowledge about not only clown but also about both Japanese and western plays.

    Although both Rone & Gigi had big injuries last year individually and we worried about their coming back, they started acting with big support from a large number of people. In the midst of that situation, we learned about RONE's manuscript in an academic booklet. It is great!

４月８日（月曜日）２０２４

　祇園さんで親しまれている八坂神社にお参りする機会がありました。祇園・舞妓・八坂神社で思い描くイメージとそこが八岐大蛇（やまたのおろち）を退治した素戔嗚尊（すさのおのみこと）がお祀りしてある神社とはちょっとギャップがあったので、説明を読んで正直驚きました。丸山公園の桜も満開。人出は思ったほどでなくゆっくり花見をしながら、奥にある料理やまで楽しく歩きました。

    桜の花びらが時折散るのが見える和室で、京都らしい細やかな設えとサービスを受けながら、目にも舌にも流石と納得できるお料理で贅沢な時間を過ごしました。
　
　料亭の玄関には椿の花で飾られた水盤に小さなお釈迦様。4月8日は花祭りだと友人に教えてもらい甘茶をかけてお釈迦様のお誕生日をお祝いしました。

    I had a chance to visit Yasaka Shrine which is very popular in Kyoto. The image I had about Gion (a district of Kyoto which is one of the most exclusive and well-known geisha districts in all of Japan), Maiko (a woman who keeps the traditional culture of Kyoto) and Yasaka Shrine was something gorgeous. The other one, Susanoo-no-Mikoto who is a deity appears in Japanese mythology and he killed a great snake called Yamata-no-Orochi which was a rough and violent image. I was surprised to learn that Yasaka shrine enshrined this Susanoo-no Mikoto. Cherry trees were in full blossom in Maruyama Park. We enjoyed walking to the Japanese restaurant where we expected to have lunch.

    We had a pleasant lunch time in the beautiful Japanese room with a nice view of a garden where sometimes cherry blossoms were falling by spring winds. We enjoyed the lunch which looked and tasted so good.

    There was a little Buddha on the dish which was full of camellia flowers on the water in the entrance area. One of my friends told me that April 8th is the birthday of Buddha and people celebrate the day by pouring water on his head. We followed the old custom. It was an enjoyable day.

４月５日（金曜日）２０２４

    野も山も桜の淡い色合いが美しく、穏やかな日本独特の景色に見惚れます。さて、今年も６月２日に多賀あさひやにてお能の会を開催します。迎える能楽師の方々は、鵜澤久（観世流シテ方）・鵜澤光（観世流シテ方）・齋藤敦（森田流笛方）・久田陽春子（大倉流小鼓方）・森山泰幸（観世流大鼓方）の皆さんです。

　今回は、平家物語の武将が主人公の能を、能楽師の方が分かりやすい解説を入れて披露してくださいます。謡、仕舞、囃子を間近で鑑賞するのはなかなかの迫力です。能に親しんでいる方も、初めてという方も、どうぞ気楽にご参加ください。

　切符ご希望の方は０７４９−４８−０１８６またはtaga.asahiya@gmail.comでお早めにお申し込みください。

４月１日（月曜日）２０２４

    快晴の4月1日。久々に多賀大社にお朔日の参拝に行き、その後、神社裏の御神田の淡墨桜（うすずみざくら）を見に行きました。先日カフェにお見えになった名誉宮司のN様に今が見頃と教えていただいたからです。

    御神田脇に３本の淡墨桜。どこから苗を移して植えられたか教えて下さったのですが、情けなくもいわれを忘れてしまいました。ピンクの桜が開花して次第に墨を薄くしたような淡い色に変わっていくのがこの淡墨桜。まるで水墨画のようです。私がいたボストンにも墓地の桜を見に地元の人が訪れますが、八重の濃い色の桜。この淡墨桜とはかなり趣が違います。

    たんぽぽやつくしも少し前から顔を見せてワタゲになっているのも見られました。先日は庭にモンシロチョウが２羽ひらひら飛んでいるのをお客様が教えてくださり、ようやく明るい春がやってきた感じです。

    April 1st was a clear fine day. After visiting Taga Taisha after a long time, I went to see Usuzumi-zakura at the back of shrine and side of shrine's rice field. It is a kind of cherry blossom but colored a little lighter than regular one. Mr. N, honorary shinto chief priest, let me know that it is a good time to view Usuzumi-zakura.

    There are three cherry trees beside the shrine's rice field. Mr. N told me the story about why they planted it but I regret that I forgot it unfortunately. Mr. N said that it changes the color from pink to off pink when it fully opens. It looked like an ink painting and was so beautiful. When I was in Boston, people loved to go to the cemetery to see cherry blossoms. However the type of the cherry tree was different from Usuzumi-zakra. The cherry tree in Boston had double blossoms and a much darker color.

    I saw dandelions and the field horsetails on the side of the road. One of the cafe's customers let me know that two cabbage butterflies were flying in my garden. I feel that the bright spring has come finally.

３月２６日（火曜日）２０２４

    朝は雨の音で目が覚めるこの頃。よく雨が降ります。昨日の午後は少し明るくなったので止んだのかと思ったら霧雨で少し迷いましたが運動にもなるので思い切って買い出しに出かけました。雨様のパンツとジャケット、帽子、手袋、サングラスでほぼ完璧な格好でしたが、スプレーのように吹きつける霧雨は顔もメガネもびっしょり濡らしました。

    さて、私がこの頃ハマっている食事。それはトーストの上にオリーブオイルを垂らし、その上にスライスしたアボガドを載せて、上から良質の塩をパラパラ。これが美味しい！Youtubeで誰かがやっているのを見て真似をしたわけです。もんぜん朝市でビーツが出ていたので、へえ〜っ？と思って買ってきて、葉っぱと根っこを別々に調理してみました。葉と茎はシナモンを効かせ、根っこはオリーブ油でよく炒めてニンニク、キビ糖、バルサミコで味付け。カリウム、鉄、葉酸など栄養的にはパッチリの食材です。

    昔は口にすることはなかったこうした食材も、最近は国内で作られるほど日本の食生活も変わってきたのでしょう。

    It has been raining since the morning every day. It became a little bright in the afternoon yesterday, and I thought the rain had stopped but actually it was drizzling. I had a little hesitation but I decided that I would go to the grocery store by bicycle. I wore my rain pants, jacket, hat, gloves and sunglasses which seemed perfect for going out, but I drenched my face and glasses.

    Well, I am into toast with avocado for my breakfast. Put olive oil on the toast, then place avocado slices there, sprinkle fine salt on top. Ever since I saw someone do it on Youtube, it became one of my favorite styles of breakfast. I found beets at the local morning market. Beets are a very popular vegetable in the US and I can get them easily at the supermarket but it is rare to see them in my area. I bought them and cooked the leaves and roots separately. I sautéd the leaves and stems with cinnamon, cooked roots with onion, cane sugar and balsamic vinegar. Beet is an excellent nutritious vegetable which contains potassium, iron, folic acid, etc.

    We have never eaten such avocado and beet when I was a child. I am really surprised at the change that those vegetables grow in Japan and we eat in a different way now. Japanese eating habits have been changing a lot since several decades ago.

３月２０日（水曜日）２０２４

    春分の日。天気が悪いと予報で知っていたけど、まさか霙（みぞれ）混じりの雨とは。軒から出るので躊躇しつつも旗日なので取り敢えず国旗を掲揚。その後、雨は止んで一安心。

    お彼岸の時期。ずっと行けていない実家の墓掃除が気になりながら両家の両親とご先祖様に心の中で手を合わせています。

    ところで、先日撮影に失敗した烏骨鶏（ウコッケイ）の卵、翌日、もう一個を割って今度は成功！こんもり盛り上がった美しい卵にしばし見とれました。この貴重で高価な卵はホカホカご飯に乗せて醤油をちょっと垂らして卵かけご飯となりました。勿論、お・い・し・かっ・た！

    It is Vernal Equinox Day. I was expecting it to be a rainy day by weather forecast, but when I looked outside, it was sleeting which mede me surprised. In the calendar, it was the beginning of Spring and celebration day, so I set the national flag in front of my house anyhow. The rain stopped after a while.

    During this season, Japanese people usually visit ancestors' graves, but I had to give up doing so because of the bad weather.

    As for the silky fowl, I tried to break the other one and it worked this time. The york rose up and it was beautiful. Well, I decided to eat this valuable expensive egg raw on hot rice with drops of soy sauce.
We call it "Tamago-kake gohan" and it is a popular way of eating fresh eggs in Japan. It was so good!

３月１５日（金曜日）２０２４

    東近江市のフリースクール設立に関する活動に賛同し微力ながら協力したことで挨拶に来てくださったTさんから珍しいウコッケイの卵をいただきました。私には見るのも聞くのも初めてで、東近江市の丸山幸生という方の出荷と書いてありました。うずらの卵より大きいけれど、普通の卵よりも小さい卵です。

    調べるとウコッケイ（烏骨鶏）はニワトリの一品種だそうですが、皮膚、内臓、骨に至るまで黒色とあります。週に一個ほどしか卵を産まないらしく、二個で普段買う１０個入りの卵が２ケースぐらい買えるほどの高価な値段がケースについていました。葉酸が通常の卵の4倍含まれているそうで赤血球の合成に働く、つまり造血作用に良いとのこと。

    割って写真を撮ろうとしましたが、上手に割れず形が崩れて撮影は失敗。少し形の残った黄身に触ると弾力がありました。オリーブ油で少し火を通して味見。何もつけませんでしたが、確かに味はコクがあり甘みもあって美味しいと思いました。

    高価なウコッケイの卵。あと一個残っています。さて、次はどのようにいただこうかと思案中です。

    Ms.T was actively seeking support for establishing a free school for children who can not go to school, and collecting signatures for the petition. Since I agreed and cooperated with her activity by collecting signatures from others, she came to my cafe and gave me two eggs of silky fowl. I've never seen or heard the name of a silky fowl.It was larger than a quail egg but smaller than a regular egg.

    According to the net info., the silky fowl is a kind of chicken and all of its skin, internal organs and bones are black. In general it lays an egg once a week, so it is very expensive. One egg of this small silky fowl is worth a case of regular eggs. It is said there is four times more folic acid than a regular egg in a silky fowl and this functions in making red blood cells. That means it is good for blood formation.

     I wanted to take a photo of the inside of this egg, but I failed to crack it and the shape was distorted.
However, a part of it still remained in the shape and when I touched the yolk, it was elastic. I fried it with a little olive oil. It was rich and good of course.

    I have one more rare expensive silky fowl egg left. Well, I am now thinking how I will eat it.

３月１０日（日曜日）２０２４

    午前中はFLライトの展示会に行って、午後は友人たちと一緒に青山でクラウン・ロネ＆ジージのライブを観ました。三日目で５回公演の最終回です。

    トンカツまい泉のサンドイッチと白ワインを２回お代わりして開放感いっぱい。遠慮なく大笑いし見事なクラウニングや芸のところでは惜しみなく拍手を送る、客席で音楽に合わせて体を動かしたりダンスもあり。

    ふと、私って以前もこんな大笑いしただろうか、おバカをやっている演者たちを結構冷めた目で見てたんじゃないかな（何のために？）。歳をとったからかどうか分からないけど、今はこんな時はあまり周りを気にせず思うがままに反応しているように思います。一緒に遊べる人は幸せだなと。笑い声も大きくなってるかも。これって結構自己解放に役立ってるかもしれません。ストレスなく自然に反応するって、日本人は苦手な人が多いような気がします。

    I visited the FL Wight Exhibition in the morning, then I went to Rone & Gigi's clown live performance at Aoyama with my friends in the afternoon. It was their fifth and last performance.

    I drank two glasses of white wine with a cutlet sandwich on my seat which I ordered beforehand from Maisen restaurant. I was so relaxed during the show and laughed at the funny scenes, gave an applause to their good clownings and artistic skills, and swung and danced from the seat. It was a really happy time.

     I wondered if I did the same thing before. Did I laugh out loud? Probably I looked at the stage with cold eyes before. (For what reason did I do so?) I am now enjoying the show without worrying about other people's eyes. I feel happy to react to the performance and enjoy being with clowns. I think this is a good way to open myself and to be free without any stress which many Japanese people can not do.

３月１０日（日曜日）２０２４

    パナソニック汐留美術館で開かれた、建築家、フランク・ロイド・ライト(1867-1959)の展示会に行きました。FLライトは日本では帝国ホテルなどを手がけたことで知られるアメリカ近代建築の巨匠です。    

    自然の地形に呼応する様々な建築物が７つのテーマに分けて解説、写真、図面で分かりやすく展示されていました。浮世絵のモチーフや構図が使われていたり、横の線が印象的な建築は耐久性にも強く関東大震災にも耐え、美術的、文化的、構造的に今日の課題と共鳴して、建築の専門家から一般の人まで大変注目され会場は入場券を手にいれるのが難しいほどの盛況振りでした。

    今回は米国の５万点を超える資料が調査研究され、日米共同で整理編集された結果で、この展示の企画編集者としてワシントン大学建築学部教授のケン・タダシ・オオシマ氏の名前が大きく出ています。実はオオシマ教授は私が米国H大学で日本語の仕事を始めた時の学生で、以来欠かさず季節の挨拶を送ってくれています。今回の展示会の入場券も特別に美術館の方を通して手配してくれました。大村理恵子館長によるとオオシマ先生は日米建築交流史のエキスパートとして関係者の尊敬を集めておられ人望の厚い方とのこと。

　今回の展示でFLライトの勉強を少しできたことと、立派な先生になられたオオシマさんを誇りに思えたことは大きな喜びです。

    I went to an exhibition of Frank Lloyd Wright ((1867-1959) at Panasonic Shiodome Museum in Tokyo. F.L. Wright was a great American modern architect who is famous for designing the Imperial Hotel in Japan.

    Various architectures by Wright which adapted to the natural terrain were divided in seven themes, and well exhibited with explanations, photos and beautiful blueprints. Wright collected many Ukiyoe (Japanese wood prints in Edo period) and got many inspirations from them in his motif and composition. I was impressed by his horizontal lines. It is such a beautiful and tough structure which withstood the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923. Artistically, culturally and structurally, Wright's work addresses current issues, so the exhibition got people's attention from architects to common people and the museum was so crowded that you couldn't get tickets to enter easily.

    According to the brochure, more than 50,000 documents and materials in the US were researched and organized by people from both US and Japan. Dr. Ken Tadashi Oshima, Professor/Director of History Theory, Deprt. of Architecture of Univ. of Washington, is the person who planned and curated this exhibition. As a matter of fact, he was a student of my Japanese class at Harvard a long time ago, and he took care of my ticket to visit the exhibition. Ms. Emiko Omura of the Panasonic Museum, said to me that Prof. Oshima is an expert in the Architecture History of Japan-U.S. Exchange, and he is respected by many related people as a warm, trustworthy person.

    I am grateful to learn about F.L.Wright in this exhibition and to know that Oshima-san became such a respectable professor, and I am very proud of him.

３月７日（木曜日）２０２４

    膳所焼美術館、春季特別展では９日まで膳所焼はもちろん江戸、明治、大正、昭和の雛人形を観ることができます。JR石山駅から京阪電車で２つ目、瓦ヶ浜駅すぐそばの茅葺きの風情ある門が美術館入り口。

    館長の齋藤友佳子さんがそれぞれの雛人形と膳所焼や茶道具を丁寧に説明してくださいました。齋藤さんのお話で勉強したのは、京都は男雛が右で滋賀の私たちのところは江戸風で左。三人官女のうち一人だけは既婚者であること（眉毛を剃った女官が一人いることがその証拠だそうでこれにはビックリ）

    茅葺き屋根の茶室が見えるお庭も立派で、「陽炎（かげろう）の泉」と呼ばれる蹲（つくばい）は水滴が水面を打つ度に何とも澄んだ美しい音が聞こえます。これは水琴窟とよばれて蹲の下に大きな瓶（かめ）が仕込まれているからだそうで小堀遠州の洞水門が起源となっているとのこと。

    膳所焼や茶道具も素晴らしく、最後にお雛様の膳所焼の茶碗でお抹茶をいただき、その爽やかな後味が心地よく、帰路につきました。

    At Zeze-yaki Museum, you are able to appreciate Hina Dolls of different eras, namely Edo, Meiji, Taisho and Showa. The museum is close to the second station from JR Ishiyama station and it has a very nice thatched roof gate.

    Museum director, Ms. Yukako Saito, explained about each Hina doll, potteries and tea utensils displayed at the museum. I learned many things from her explanation, for example, the display position of emperor and empress is different between Kyoto and other districts that were influenced by Edo Shogunate.There is a married lady among three official ladies who showed shaved eyebrows and this fact made me very surprised!

    The Japanese garden, which has a thatched tea house, was beautiful and there was a stone wash basin which was called "Heat haze fountain". When water drops there, you hear a very clear small metallic sound which is called Suikinkutsu. It was very strange, but the reason for it is that there was a jar underneath which made that beautiful sound by echoing.

    Zeze-yaki pottery and tea ceremony utensils in the museum were also very nice. Ms. Saito served Matcha tea for us with very nice Zeze-yaki pottery with which Hina doll was drawn. It was so good and I left the museum with a nice feeling.

３月６日（水曜日）２０２４

    今年度最後の読み聞かせをうっかり忘れる寸前で思い出し胸を撫で下ろしました。

    小３の子供達に選んだ本は「しっぽのはたらき」（福音館書店）。くもざる、にほんざる、いぬ、うし、リス、きつね、カンガルー、かなだやまあらし、とかげ、ガラガラヘビ、いるか、などのしっぽについて子どもたちと謎解きしながら読んでいく本で、大いに盛り上がりました。

    読み終わって「皆んなにはしっぽがある？」と聞くと、「ない！」「昔はあった！」と色々な声。どうして今はないのかなとの問いにはしばし沈黙。実は事前に私も勉強しましたが、動物たちの絵もいいし楽しい本でした。

     I almost forgot the last day that I was supposed to read a book for the third grader children at the local school but I was relieved because I remembered.

    The book I chose was "Function of the tail" (published by Fukuinkan). They introduce the tails of spider monkey, Japanese monkey, squirrel, kangaroo, canadian porcupine, lizard, rattlesnake, dolphin, etc.while questioning about something of the next appeared animal. Children were excited answering the question.

    After the reading, I asked the children if they had tails. They responded quickly " No!", others said "we used to have one". Then I asked why they didn't have tails now. This time, they took some time to think. I checked about the book beforehand but I enjoyed the reading very much. The drawings of the animals in the book were very good and it was a fun and nice book.　

３月５日（火曜日）２０２４

　もんぜん朝市で見慣れない枝が売られていたので名前を聞いたら「サンシュユの木」とのこと。先の尖った小さな黄色い蕾がたくさんついている枝で、早速買って帰り、枝だけでは寂しいので庭の月桂樹の枝と一緒に壺に挿しました。

    「さんしゅうの木」と聞こえたので、頭に浮かんだのは「庭のさんしゅ〜う〜の」という歌。宮崎県の民謡「ひえつき節」の一節。調べると「庭の山椒の木　鳴る鈴かけてヨーホイ」とあり「山椒」と書かれています。山椒は普通「さんしょ（う）」ではないかと思いますが、どこを見てもこの漢字が使われていたので私は思い違いをしていたようです。

    いずれにしても、この木は葉より先に枝いっぱいに黄色い花をつける早春の花木。秋になると赤い実をつけるというのがまた不思議です。冷たい雨の１日でしたが、蕾をつけた枝があるだけで心が和みます。

     I found an interesting branch at the morning local market. A woman at the market told me that it was Sanshuyu (Japanese cornel). Since the branches with many tiny yellow buds were beautiful, I bought and put them in the vase with laurel branches.

    I remembered a song which had the name of these flowers but later I found out that it was a different
flower. Anyhow, it is an early spring flower which has branches full of yellow flowers ahead of leaves.
In the fall, it has beautiful red fruits.

    It was a cold rainy day but I was happy looking at the branches with these beautiful tiny yellow buds.

３月３日（日曜日）２０２４

　昨日は朝から雪が降ったり晴れたりの繰り返しで訳が分からなかったお天気が、今日は上天気、気持ちの良い１日でした。カフェにお出でくださるお客様も多く賑やかな桃の節句でした。

    Yesterday the weather was unstable and alternated between the snow falling and the sun shining repeatedly. Today, however, it was clear and beautiful weather all day. March 3rd is the Peach Festival (Doll's Festival) and it was a pleasant day with many customers in the cafe.

３月１日（金曜日）２０２４

    月が変わった本日、カフェの看板とも言える暖簾も新しくなりました。染色家の北島桂子さんの作品でご本人が持ってきてくださいました。琵琶湖に朝日が昇る情景をイメージして作りましたとおっしゃった北島さんの暖簾は前のとほぼ同じですが、色合いが深くなったのと「多賀あさひや」という文字の白抜きが消えていました。

    カフェの暖簾はこれで３代目。初代の暖簾を作ってくださった永源寺の野田浩二さんは残念ながら数年前にお亡くなりになったのですが、今日は奥様の公子（こうこ）さんも一緒に来てくださり久しぶりに３人でおしゃべりできて楽しかったです。

    カフェは８年目に突入。新しい暖簾が届き気が引き締まる思いです。

    It changed to a new month and we also had a new shop curtain, today. It was made by dyer, Ms. Keiko Kitajima and she brought it to me. She made the previous shop curtain too, and the new one is almost the same design as the previous one which she said she imagined the sun rising from the surface of Biwako (Lake Biwa). The new one is a deeper color and the shop name is no longer a white outline.

    This is the third shop curtain and the first one was made by Mr. Kouji Noda who was also a dyer from Eigenji and sadly passed away a few years ago. His wife, Kohko Noda came to my house with Ms. Kitajima, who is a friend of Mr. and Mrs. Noda and we all had a pleasant conversation. I was very happy with that.

    This is the eighth year since my cafe opened. I felt refreshed and motivated to work harder looking at this new nice shop curtain.

２月２３日（金曜日）２０２４

    前日の夜、ボストンから滋賀に帰って、翌日はJA湖東女性「輝く女性フェスティバル」から
私たち多賀の朗読サークル・ひだまりの会がお招きいただいたので「耳なし芳一」と「夕鶴」の朗読を参加者８０名ほどの前で朗読しました。会場となったJA湖東本所の立派な施設に私たちはびっくり。終わって「ちょこっとパン屋さん」のマフィンとクッキー、それに植田農園の章姫という立派なイチゴをそれぞれにお土産にいただき嬉しい限りでした。

    夕方、大急ぎで彦根に買い出しに出かけましたが、強い向かい風で自転車は遅くいつもの倍ぐらいの時間がかかっているんじゃないかと思うぐらいでした。スーパーの前に止めてある自転車が強風で何台も倒されていました。

    帰って、座敷にささやかながら我が家の古い雛人形を飾ったら一気に春の気配が漂い始めました。

     On the night of the 23rd I came back home from Boston, and went to ”Festival of radiant women" which was organized by JA(Japan Agricultural Cooperatives) Kotoh because the recitation circle which I am belonging to was requested to recite two stories which were "The story of Mimi-Nashi-Hohichi" by Lafcadio Hearn and "Yuzuru (The twilight heron)" by Junji Kinoshita. The audience was about 80 women. JA Kotoh has an excellent facility and we were very happy to be there. After our performance was over, we received muffins and cookies as well as two packs of strawberries.

    As soon as I returned home, I went to Hikone to get groceries by bicycle. There was a very heavy head wind and I thought it took twice as long as I was used to. I saw many bicycles in front of the shop had been pushed down by the wind.

    After I came back home, I displayed old Hina dolls in the alcove for the Dolls Day in March. Then I felt that spring suddenly came to my house.