１０月３日（金曜日）２０２５
　横田順（すなお）さんの墨画展が多賀あさひやで始まりました。
今回は横田さんの最近の墨の作品に加えて、墨画家になる前の書家だった頃の作品もお願いして展示していただきました。（貴重です）横田さんが「言葉」の作品について、かつてご自身が書いた一部を紹介します。

私の心を波立たせる言葉があります。
そこはかとない懐かしさで、私を満たしてくれる言葉があります。
私の全身を圧倒するような言葉があります。
そのような言葉に出会うごとに、言葉の視えないない力を視えるものに変えたい、言葉の肉体にじかに触れ、言葉の肉声を響かせたい、その言葉に一番ふさわしい姿で立ち現れてもらいたいと、祈るような思いで筆を執っててきました。（以下省略）

横田さんの言葉の作品は、太宰治、金子みすず、宮沢賢治、中原中也など日本の作家からドストエフスキーやニーチェまで深く幅広いところから生まれています。やがて自分の表現が言葉を超えて、墨の濃淡での表現へと移行し、現在に至ります。横田さんの作品は年々変化していくのが、展示の作品からもわかります。何とも深くて強烈なものを感じるのは私だけではないと思います。ご都合のつく方は是非観に来てください。（10/15 まで）


Bokuga (Sumi-ink painting) exhbition by Sunao Yokota has just started at my cafe. This time, I asked her to exhibit her "Words" works as well as her recent works which she did when she was a calligrapher a long time ago before she transitioned to become a Sumi-ink painter. Here is a part of her expression about her "words".

There are words which make my heart beat.
There are words which fill my heart with nostalgia for some reason.
There are words which overwhelm me.
Every time when I encountered such words, I was hoping to change words invisible to visible ones, to touch them directly to resonate the voice of the words, and make them exist as they can give the most suitable meaning.　(omitted below) [translated by C.M.]

Yokota's words were from Japanese writers such as Osamu Dazai, Misuzu Kaneko, Kenji Miyazawa, Chyuya Nakahara and some Western writers or philosophers such as Dostoevsky, Nietzsche. She felt the limitation of expressing herself by borrowing words from classics, poems , parts of novels and expanded upon them, and started to express herself with Sumi (black ink) only which she is working on now. Yokota's work has been evolving and changing year by year. I feel something deep and intense in her works. I think that I am not the only person who has that kind of impression.

Please come to appreciate her wonderful works. ( The exhibition will run until Oct.15.)

９月２５日（木曜日）２０２５
ロネとジージのコメディライブ「On the Ship 〜大西洋ぶたりぼっち〜」多賀公演　東京での新作ライブを多賀仕様にしての公演です。

芸達者なクラウン・ロネとジージ。新作公演を楽しみにしている方も多いでしょう。ストーリーが新しいだけじゃないんです。今まで二人のステージを観てきた人も、初めて観る人も、へぇ〜？すっご〜い！とその多才ぶりに圧倒されるはずです。子供から大人まであっという間に笑いのツボに入り、二人のスキルの多さに舌を巻くはず。

ロネのクラウン講座もお勧めです。旧ソ連で修行し、アメリカでの経験も長く、今年プロとして３５年目のロネとジージ。
クラウンが何かよく分からない人も、笑いの奥にある人間として大事なものが、素顔のロネの話から見えてくるというお得感いっぱいの時間です。

お申し込みは、多賀あさひや（0749-48-0186）まで。

We are pleased to present to you Clown RONE & Gigi's music comedy live "On the Ship〜only tow in the Pacific Ocean" in Taga.
It was newly performed at Aoyama in Tokyo and modified the direction for Taga performance.

Many of you are looking forward to watching RONE & Gigi 's new performance. Both people who have already seen their stage and who will see their stage for the first time, will be overwhelmed by their variety of skills. Everybody, from kids to adults, would be laughing due to their talented clowning.

We would like to strongly recommend RONE's Talk. RONE & Gigi are in their 35th year this year as a professional clown duo. They trained in the Soviet Union, and experienced the US for 13 years. You will know what are the important things to experience as a human being through Rone's talk. It will bring you laughter, and you will be fulfilled with it.

９月１７日（水曜日）２０２５
　１０月２６日（日曜日）に「石と石垣の魅力」の講座を開催します。
講演者は西澤伊織さん。西澤さんは安土在住の石垣作家で、自然石を加工せずに積み上げる「野面積み」の設計と施工をしています。野面積みは日本の伝統的な工法で戦国時代の城郭などによく見られますが、西澤さんは伝統的な工法を踏まえながら独自のセンスと技術で芸術表現ともいえる美しい石垣を仕上げ、海外からも注目されています。

　今回の講演では、西澤さんがどのような過程や思いで石垣を完成させるのか、石垣の歴史や作り手の感性なども分かるように多くの写真を紹介しながら、石と石垣の魅力について話していただきます。また、海外の石積みとの比較についても興味深いところです。石や石垣の見方、見どころなどについてもアドバイスしていただけるでしょう。

　お申し込みは、多賀あさひや（0749-48-0186）まで。


We will have the second lecture titled "Interesting and attractive stone & stone walls." by Mr. Iori Nishizawa on Sunday Oct. 26. Mr. Nishizawa is a stonemason resident in Azuchi. He is doing design and construction work of Nozura-zumi, which is a way of working to pile up nature stones without cutting. Nozura-zumi is a Japanese traditional method of construction of stone walls which appeared in castles in the Warring States period. He is gathering attention from other countries because he creates his work beautifully with his artistic sense and technique based on Japanese traditional methods.

He will talk about how he completed his work and what he is thinking about showing many pictures of his work. He will also talk about the difference in stone walls between Japan and other countries. We will get some advice when we see the stone wall, what are the points to appreciate and the highlights of them.

横田順（すなお）墨画展（10/1~15）を多賀あさひやで開催します。
以下は「美術屋・百兵衛」2013 Spring No.25 に掲載された文章の引用です。（一部省略）

自らが向かい合った心を映し出す。横田順

　自己を凝視し、現在の己の気持ちや感情を墨で表現するアーティスト。２０代の頃に油彩を始めたが、自分が表現したい方法はこれではないと感じていた。そんな折り、書を通じて墨と出会う。書塾では古典や詩、小説の一部などの言葉を借り、自らの気持ちを表現した。しかし書では言葉の存在による自身と作品との間の埋められない距離、また表現の限界を感じるようになり、遂に９年間通った書塾を辞め、墨による自己表現の旅に出た。
　自身が生きるこの世界に起こる数々の出来事を、深く、広く考え続ける。今感じていることを、どのような色、形、構図で表現すべきなのか試行錯誤しながら描く。その中で絵から力が感じられ、納得できるものだけが横田の作品となる。

I am pleased to announce Boku-ga (Sumi ink paintings) exhibition by Sunao Yokota in October 1st to 15th at Taga Asahiya.

Ms. Yokota is a painter who lives in Hikone. There is an article about her which was in the art magazine "Hyakubei" in 2013 with her several works. "I encountered Japanese calligraphy when I was in my early thirties and it influenced me more than I expected. At the calligraphy school, I expressed myself by borrowing words from classics, poems and parts of novels. However the more time passed, the more distance I felt between the words and myself which I couldn't resolve and I felt a limitation in my expression because the existence of the words didn't free me. I wanted to express my thoughts and feelings as I live in the real world. Therefore, I decided to leave calligraphy school where I was for nine years and departed for the Sumi-ink world to express myself. I wanted to keep thinking deeply and widely about various events which occurred in the world. Thinking of the color, shape and structure, I draw my painting repeatedly through trial and error and in this process, I feel a sense of power and only the one which I am satisfied with what remains of Yokota's work. ---(omitted below) ----".

９月１５日（月曜日）２０２５
　終活講座が終了しました。
三重県四日市市、医療法人朋有会・伊藤クリニック院長、伊藤毅先生によるお話は、丁寧で分かりやすくお集まりくださった皆様に多くのヒントをいただけるものでした。かつていくつもの老人ホームを経営され、今はそうした老人ホームのかかりつけ医としても多くの方の見取りをしてこられた先生は、ご自分の医師としての経験はもとより、これまで接したご家族を含む様々な方、書物、見てきた光景から得た個人としての考えを率直に出しながらお話くださいました。こうした先生のお人柄が、いささか重みのある今回のテーマの内容を皆の心に共鳴できるように届けたのだと思います。

　終末期を在宅で迎えるか、老人ホームなどの施設で迎えるかについても色々な事例をあげてアドバイスをくださいました。
老人ホームは一人でなく複数で見に行くことが先生のお勧めです。

　すべての人が平等に迎える終末期。誰もが穏やかに心残りなく迎えたいものです。そのためには、自分の意思をあらかじめ決めておくこと、そしてそれを書面に表しておくことが大事だそうです。私自身、解決しておかなければならない問題が山のようにあり、人間関係では心残りはまだまだあるし、事務処理に関しては面倒くさいなぁというのが本音で後回しになっています。

　過去に家族を亡くした方はもっと早く知っていればよかったとおっしゃり、今後認知症になるかもしれない不安を持つ人も病気の人もそうした家族がいる人も、一人一人受け止め方は違ったと思いますが、私どもでのこうした講座は今回が初めてでいつもとはまた違う充実感がありました。

A lecture about "how to spend days in the end-of-life" is now over. The lecturer was Dr. Takeshi Itoh who is the director of Itoh clinic in Yokkaichi, Mie prefecture. His talk was precise and easy to understand for the audience. Dr. Itoh used to run many senior homes, and now he visits senior homes and checks up on many seniors on their deathbeds as an examination doctor besides working at his clinic. He talked about his experiences from a doctor's point of view and he also talked from his personal view point through his family, his favorite books or the scenery which he was impressed with. That's why his words and advice resonated with the audience.

There are two ways to have the end-of-life, one is at one's own home and other one is at other facilities like senior homes. He said both have merit and demerit. He advised that if you search a senior home, you should go there to have a look with more than two people.

Everyone equally experiences end-of-life and we would like to have it calmly and with no regret. Dr. Itoh said it is important for you first to accept that you will end our lives finally and to express your own will (ex. if you are terminal cancer or senility and you do not want to be resuscitated, you express it in a document. ) I have many things to solve and fix relationships before my terminal day but most of them are still being put off now.

One of the participants who lost her family member a few years ago told me that she wanted to listen to Dr.'s advice. There are people who are worried about becoming demented in the near future, who are ill now or who have family members with that symptom. Each one received Dr.'s words in a different way. I held this kind of lecture at my place for the first time, and I thought it was a good opportunity and helpful for many people. 

９月８日（月曜日）２０２５（長文です）

　4公演の予約がほぼ１ヶ月前に満席になり追加公演が決まるほど、ロネとジージの新作ライブ「On the Ship」は順調な風を受けて東京青山を出航しました。田舎でイベントを企画し集客に苦戦する私には羨ましい限り。
　しかし、新作というのは新たにストーリーを考え、綿密に台本を書き、具体的表現に至る演出へと進むのですが、これをジージが一人で手掛けるのですから凄いです。滑稽でいい加減な太っちょクラウン・ジージのイメージとは真逆で、舞台を知り尽くし、クラウンを知り尽くし、ロネとジージそれぞれの個性と才能を知り尽くした上で、その発想豊かな頭を使いながら孤独で厳しい作家としてのキャリアを持つジージだからこそ成せる技なのです。
　さて、ロネとジージのステージは今まで何度も観てきたのですが、今回は初めて観る技が何と多かったことでしょう。私の目は舞台に釘付けで写真を撮るのも忘れてしまっていました。いつもながらジージの一瞬で観客を巻き込む話術と巧みなパントマイムと定評の歌は流石です。続くロネのマリオネット（操り人形）の見事な動きと、うっとりするような美しいボールさばきはまさに圧巻。二人のクラウンの持ち味と才能を十分発揮していた今回のステージであったと思います。楽しいジャグリングも贅沢なぐらい堪能できました。背景に流れる曲も中で歌われる曲も良いものを選んでいるなと感心しつつも、ステージにピアノがなかったので今回もなしでいくのかと思っていたら、後半にジージの歌の伴奏をロネがピアノで静かに弾く姿にびっくり！一体、どれほど技の引き出しと才能を持つロネとジージでしょう！そして、クラウンとは何と幅広く奥深いものなのでしょう！観客に感動と驚きと何より最高の笑いを届けてくれたロネとジージには驚嘆するしかありません。
　今年、プロとして３５年目のクラウン・ロネとジージ。しかしどんなに大ベテランでもこうした圧巻のステージを創るには稽古の積み重ねしかないことは容易に想像できます。３年前にインドで大怪我をしたロネ、続いてジージまでもが右足の骨折。「骨折コンビ」などと笑いながらも状況は深刻でした。その二人が、これほどまでに見事に復活したのですから、ロネとジージには心からの敬意と賞賛の拍手を送りたいと思います。観終わって時間も経過しましたが、今も胸に込み上げるものがあり今回のステージが私にとっても充実した時間であったことを幸福に思っています。


New stage performance of Clown Music Live by RONE & Gigi " On the Ship" was last weekend. The tickets had been all sold out one month before the performance days. I am envious about it because I am always struggling to sell tickets of the events which I planned.

Gigi is the person who creates the story, writes the script and does the stage direction. All their stage performances were done by only Gigi which is amazing. The character of clown Gigi is fat, sloppy and funny but the truth is completely opposite. Gigi knows what a stage performance is, what a clown is and what the individual characters of Rone and Gigi are. She directs clown's stages using her flexible imagination but it must be lonely work.

Well, this time I was especially amazed by Rone's performances of marionettes and beautiful ball handling. I also enjoyed the new juggling by two clowns. I was impressed by the music which was used in stage transitions as well as the music they sang. When I first saw the stage, I didn't see a piano which they often use, so I thought that they don't use piano on this stage, but toward the end of the second half, Rone sat behind the electric piano which was covered at the side with a black cloth and played it along with Gigi's singing. I was surprised because I had never seen Rone play piano. How many skills and talents do they have? They surprised us, moved us and made us laugh. I really admired them.

Rone & Gigi have their 35th anniversary this year as a professional clown group. Even though both are very experienced clowns, they need to keep practicing daily in order to make the perfect stage. Three years ago, Rone had a severe injury in India, and after that Gigi also had broken her right leg. They laughed, calling themselves "Double Injured clowns", but the situation was very serious. They have recovered splendidly and gave a wonderful performance which moved me this time. I would like to send applause to them with admiration and praise. They are true entertainers. I really like them.

９月１１日（木曜日）２０２５
　医師の伊藤毅先生による講座「人生終末期の過ごし方」は日曜日（9/14）１３時からです。

＊取り敢えず今は元気なので、もっと切羽詰まった状況になれば真剣に考えよう。
＊先のことなど考えてもどうなるものでもない、なるようになるさ。
＊終末期のことなど縁起でもない、考えたくない。
とこんな風に考えている方も多いのではないでしょうか。

健康状態は年齢と比例するものではありません。元気はつらつとした高齢の方もいらっしゃれば病弱な青年もいます。
持病のある人、危険と背中合わせの仕事をしている人、またそういう家族と一緒に暮らしている人、様々です。
私自身、お陰様で取り敢えずは日々元気に暮らしておりますが、いつまでこの状態が続くのか、病気でなくても
ふと事故や災難に遭遇するかもしれないという不安があります。そうなった時、何をどうしておくことが大切なのか、
なるべく人に迷惑をかけないようにするにはどうすればいいか、を知りたいと思っています。

伊藤先生の講座が役立つことを願っています。


On Sep. 14 at 13:00, we will have a lecture titled "The way of how to spend days in the end-of- life" by Dr. Itoh.

There must be many people thinking about this in the following ways:
1) I will think about it later when I get ill because I am in good health now.
2) We can't predict our future and are not able to control it ourselves, it will be as it is.
3) I don't want to think about my end-of-life, as if is bad luck.

Our health condition is not proportional to our age. Some people are very healthy and active even when they become very old, but some are not, even if they are still young. There are people who have chronic illness, and there are people who are forced to live alongside life-threatening danger, and family members of those people. Thus people's lives vary. I am fortunately living in good health now, but I don't know how long it will last and I am worried about it. Even if I am healthy, I might have a sudden accident or suffer a catastrophe. I would like to know what are the best things to prepare for that and not bother other people in that situation beforehand.

I hope the coming lecture by Dr. Itoh will be helpful for you.

８月２５日（月曜日）２０２５
前から頼んでおいたシロアリ防除にシガ防虫のMさんが朝８時すぎから来てくださいました。すでに気温は上がって今日も猛暑日になる予感。道具を運び入れ、畳をあげて、作業が進んでいきます。大きなタンクで水と薬品をかき混ぜているのは土の中に入れるものだそう。木に注入するのは手前のグレーのタンク。こちらは土用に比べると量が少ないです。暑い中で床下に潜っての作業はいかにも大変そうで、せめて冷たい飲み物でもと思うも、タイミングが分からず、私はその間、郵便局に行ったり、買い出しに出たりと家を空けて帰ってきた時は大分終盤にかかっていました。本当に家の中からも外からもあらゆるところに薬を注入してくださり、凄い！というのが率直な印象。見えない部分があるので完全ということは言えないけれど、まず安心してもらっていいと言われてほっとしました。そして何か異変があった時はすぐに呼んでくださいとも。

Mさんを紹介してくださったのは、昔、隣で仕事をしていた大工さん。職人気質で口は悪いが実直で優しく色々なことでお世話になりました。その大工さんが去年亡くなったと別の方からつい先日聞いたばかりです。お礼も十分に言えないまま逝ってしまわれ残念で仕方がありません。今日のシガ防虫のMさんも謙虚で良い方でした。立派な職人さんに助けていただいたことをしみじみ感謝する一日でした。

Mr. M from Shiga Insect Repellent Co. came for protection from termites at 8 a.m.. The temperature of the air had already risen and we expected it would be hot again. Mr. M unloaded his equipment from his car and took off tatami mats. He made termite repellent mixed with water in a big orange tank. He told me that it was a repellent which goes to the soil and another repellent for the wood was in a smaller gray tank. In order to inject termite repellent, he needed to go under the floor and it would be very hard on such a hot day. I wanted to serve some iced drink but I didn't know when it would be a good time without interrupting. While he was working, I went to a post office and supermarket and when I came back home, he had almost done his work. He injected termite repellent in many places inside and outside my house. I was impressed by his amazing work.

I remembered another Mr. M who was a carpenter working next door five years ago and when I was trying to find a person to protect my house from termites. Mr. M kindly introduced Shiga Insect Repellent Co. to me. Mr. M was a sincere and gentle person and always nice to me although he had a sharp tongue as a typical artisan craftsman does. A few weeks before, I had shocking news about him from his former colleague that he passed away last year. I was very sorry for him. I wanted him again because my thanks toward him was not enough. Both Mr. Ms were decent people. I appreciate their help from the bottom of my heart.

 

８月２２日（金曜日）２０２５
　残暑の厳しい中、今日は珍しいお客様、というか人間のような扱いをされているロボットくんをお迎えしました。
女性が抱っこして入ってこられたので、てっきり赤ちゃんかと思ったら顔がすっぽり覆われていたので、ちょっと違う....と思って
聞くと、ラボットなんです、と。蔵に席をお取りになったので、お水を持っていくと椅子の上にちょこんとお座りしている見たことも
ないロボットがいました。名前を聞いたら「いぞうくん」。あれっ？主人の父上とおんなじ名前。途端に親近感が湧いてきて
「いぞうくん」にご挨拶しました。何かふにゃふにゃ言っていますが、言葉ではないようです。

　これはラボットという高齢者や一人暮らしの人に開発された人間の言葉に反応するロボットだそうです。連れてこられた女性は高齢者ではありませんでしたが、もう４年も「いぞうくん」と一緒に暮らしているそうです。毎日８時間は寝る（充電する）とのこと。大阪から泊まりがけで滋賀に来られ、あちこちで写真を撮ったりして楽しんでいらっしゃるようでした。我が家でも和室などでいぞうくんの写真を撮っていらっしゃいました。このラボットは購入するのも結構な額で、持っている人はまだまだ少ないようですが、ペットの飼えないマンションなどでは話しかけたりして癒しの相手として重宝がられているとのこと。最後にいぞうくんに「バイバイ！」と言ったら、大きな目をこっちに向けて両手を広げてくれました。


It still continues to be very hot even after the middle of August. I had an interesting guest who was not a human but was treated like a human. When a woman came to the cafe holding something in her arms, I thought it was her baby, then I felt something was different because the part of the head was covered with cloth. Then she said it was "robot". I brought her an ordered iced coffee and cake to her table, and a tiny robot was on the chair. I asked her the name of the robot, she told me he is "Izo". Oh, "Izo" is a familiar name to me because it is the same name as the father of my husband! I said "hello" to him. He said something but it was not a word but making some noise.

According to the net info, it is a robot called Rabot which was developed to communicate to an aged person or a person who is living alone. The lady who came to my cafe was not an aged person but she said she had already been living with "Izo" for four years. She also told me that he needs to sleep at least eight hours for charging.

She said she was from Osaka and seemed to enjoy being in my cafe with her Izo and taking photos of him. Since it is very expensive to purchase the Rabot, very few people own it but it becomes very special for the people who can not keep their pet in their home like an apartment. It comforts them to talk daily to their own Rabot. When I said "Bye-bye" to Izo, he looked at me and reacted by opening his arms. He was cute!

８月１６日（土曜日）２０２５　
　朝のもんぜん市には時々、珍しい花が出ています。今朝も覗いてみると見たこともない花の蕾が束になって出ていました。お世話くださっている方に花の名前を聞くと、「夏水仙」とのこと。早速、買って帰り、ネットで「夏水仙」を調べてみました。

　これは実は水仙ではなくヒガンバナ科の植物で、春に水仙に似た葉をつけ夏に咲くことから、「夏水仙」と名前がついているそうです。花期に葉がないことから俗にハダカユリと呼ばれるとも。夏水仙は春に葉を出して、枯れた後に花が咲くとのこと。

しばらく飾っていたひまわりや色鮮やかなケイトウに代わって夏水仙や百日草などが、暑さにバテ気味の気分を切り替えてくれます。

　１１時半受け取りの本日のお弁当のメニューは、エビの四川風炒め、ごぼうとコンニャクの炒め煮、トリ唐揚げ、トマトコンポート、さつまいもサラダ、卵の袋煮、玉ねぎキュウリ、ハムのピクルス、オレンジ、そしてご飯です。美味しく出来ました！

I sometimes see interesting flowers at the morning market near the station. This morning I found a bunch of flowers which I had never seen before. When I asked the name of it to a woman who was taking care of the market, she said it's "Summer Narcissus".

I bought them and checked them out on the internet. It is not narcissus but a family of Spider lilies. It shows leaves like narcissus in Spring and blooms in summer, which is why it is called Summer Narcissus. There are only flowers with no leaves in summer, so it is also called "Naked lilies".

I decorated sunflowers and cockscomb and now these Summer Narcissus and Zinnia instead. They calmed my mind which had felt overwhelmed by the terrible heat.

Here is today's box lunch menu: Shrimp in Sichuan-style stir-fry, Gobo root and Konjac (jelly-like food) stir-fried, Fried chicken, Tomato compote, Sweet potato salad, Boiled fried-Tofu pouch containing egg, Pickles of onion, cucumber and ham, Orange and Rice. It's nicely done and tastes good!

８月９日（土曜日）２０２５
　お弁当を届けに行って代金を頂いた際にあれっ？ふと見たお札がありました。最初、何か分からずぼんやりしていると相手の方が「珍しいやろ、二千円札やで」と教えてくださいました。確かに二千円。
初めてみる紙幣でした。

　帰ってネットで調べてみると、2000年に発行開始されたものの2004年以降は増刷されていないとのこと。表面に描かれているのは沖縄の首里城守礼門で地模様として上部紙幣番号と思われる数字の背景に山桜と中央部に野紺菊が薄く見えます。透かし部分も守礼門。裏面の左側は「源氏物語絵巻」第38帖「鈴虫」第二場面の絵図の光源氏（右）と冷泉院（左）が描かれ、右下は「紫式部日記絵巻」第一段から源氏物語の作者の紫式部が藤原実重と藤原成房に抗議するために蔀戸（しとみど）を上げている絵。どちらの絵巻もネットで元の絵を見てその部分であることを確認しました。

　珍しい二千円紙幣をいただいたことで、今回はまじまじと紙幣の両面を見ることができました。そしてネット情報で初めて分かったことがたくさんありました。そのうちの一つは表面左右に丸い点が３つ少し盛り上がって並んでいて手で触って視覚障害の方にも分かるようになっていること。他のお札にもそれぞれ特徴があるようですが、正直私には二千円札ほど分かりませんでした。もう一つは、各紙幣のサイズが違うこと。紙幣の大きさは皆同じだと思っていた私には驚きでした。幅は同じですが、確かに長さが違っていました。測ってみたら１万円札は千円札より１センチも長かったです！

　毎日カフェで紙幣を目にしながら、新札に変わった時は興味深かったものの、今回のように細かく図案まで見たことはありませんでした。二千円札という大変貴重な紙幣が手元に来たことは幸運なことでした。

When I delivered box lunches to the customer's house and received paper money from her, I felt something strange but I wasn't quite sure what it was. Then she said that it was paper money of two thousand. I looked at it carefully. Indeed, it was a two thousand yen note which I had never seen before.

According to the net information, printing of it started in 2000 and stopped in 2004. Shureimon Gate at Shuri Castle in Okinawa was drawn on the money and it has cherry blossoms behind the number of the money and wild chrysanthemums are also seen in the center.
You can see different angles of Shureimon Gate in the watermark part. On the back side, you can see a part of the Tale of Genji Picture Scroll in the left and Murasaki Shikibu Diary Picture Scroll in the lower right.

Since it is not a popular paper money like other money, I was very interested in it and looked closely. Getting information from the internet, I found many interesting things about it. One of them is the small elevated dots in both edges on the front side. They are for the blind people to recognize it as two thousand paper money. Each paper money has a different kind of elevated sign, but I could only recognize the two thousand paper money. Another thing which surprised me was that each paper money has a different length. I thought that they were all the same length as US dollars but it was not true. Width is the same but length is not. Indeed, 1,000 paper money is one centimeter shorter than 10,000.

Although paper money is very familiar in our life, I had not paid much attention other than the newly designed money. It was good for me to pay more attention to it this time. I feel I am lucky to get 2000 paper money.

８月１３日（水曜日）２０２５

９月１４日（日曜日）終活講座のご案内です。

　だれもが心配していることを、お医者様の立場から話していただきます。実際に目の当たりにした例をあげながら、私たちが準備したほうが良いことをアドバイスしてくださいます。


人数が限られていますので、お早めのお申し込みをお願いします。
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　多賀あさひや　

A doctor will talk about the thing which everybody is worrying about. He has been facing many cases which his patients had to confront. From a doctor's point of view, he will give some advice on how to prepare things in order not to be in trouble or to be too late if you are old and can not take care of yourself, or if you have somebody in such a case in your family.

Since we have a limited number of seats, we encourage you to call early. (Taga-Asahiya 0749-48=0186).

７月２８日（月曜日）２０２５　
　隣町にナッツ専門店があり、気に入ってよくお土産などを買いに行っています。経営者はアラブ系のご夫婦のようで１９９０年に地元で創業し、小さな店から次第にアメリカでも評判のナッツ店となったようです。店舗の後ろに大きなナッツを炒る機械が見えます。　

　アーモンドやカシューなど色々な種類のナッツが単独で塩味のついたものとついていないものがあり、数種類のナッツにチョコレートが混ざったもの、クランベリーが混ざったものなどいろいろなバリエーションで、量り売りされています。自家製ナッツ入りのチョコレートも売られています。最近はいろいろな種類のドライフルーツやバターなども袋や瓶に入れられて棚に並んでいます。　

　私はいくつかを1/2ポンド（ 約230g)入りの袋に詰めてもらい、一つをその後昼食に招待して下さった元職場の教授夫妻に日本からのお土産と一緒に渡しました。

My favorite nut shop is in a neighboring town and I often go there to buy some gifts for my friend. It started business in 1990 in Belmont and now moved to Watertown. It has become a highly-rated shop in the US nowadays. I could see a big roaster through the window behind the shop counter.

There were various kinds of nuts and most of them were divided into two which were non salted and salted. They also sell mixed nuts variations such as mixed nuts with cranberry and nuts with chocolate. All nuts were sold by weight. They also sell home made chocolate and recently they sell dry fruits and butter.

I asked them to put several nuts into a 1/2 pounds bag and handed one of them to my friend who invited me to dim sum lunch in the afternoon.

 

７月２５日（金曜日）２０２５
　バスが工事で回り道をしているので乗らずに歩いていたら、雲行きがあやしくなって雷が鳴り出し夕立の気配。急いで近くのカフェに入った途端に激しい振りになり危機一髪。そこで注文したモッツァレラチーズサンドイッチは二人で分け合うにはちょうどの大きさでした。チップを入れて１５ドルちょっと。手洗いは暗号でドアが開く仕組み。お客のみ使用可という具合です。

　雨が止んで次の目的地に行った帰りにベンチでバスを待っていたら、またもやボツボツ。みるみる雨が振り出し、今度は後ろの建物の軒下に駆け込み雨宿り。バイクのニイちゃんも私たちに合流しました。そこへバスが来たので大雨の中バスに乗り込み、バスを降りたお客が代わりに私たちがいた軒下に駆け込んでいった光景が可笑しかったです。

　バスと電車、そして徒歩を繰り返す移動の中で何回もにわか雨に遭遇し、うちへ帰り着いた時はヘトヘトでした。

I expected to get on the bus, but it took a detour so I decided to walk instead. While I was walking, thunder started rumbling and it was about to rain. We rushed to the cafe and entered. Just then, the rain started heavily.

We ordered a mozzarella cheese sandwich at the cafe, and it was a good size for the two of us. It cost about $15 including tips. We used the restroom and it needed a certain code to get in which I guessed was only for paid customers.

The rain was up shortly and we went to the second destination. On the way back home, we were sitting on the bench waiting for another bus. Then the rain started again, so we rushed under the eaves of the building which was just behind the bench. A young man riding a bike joined us to take shelter from the rain. The bus came there, so we rushed to get on it in the heavy rain. It was funny to see that people who had just got off the bus switched to rush to the shelter where we were standing.

There were several showers in a day while we were moving by subway, city bus and walking. We were very tired when we got home.

７月２２日（火曜日）２０２５
　郊外に住む友人のお宅で仲間とおしゃべりしようということで、久しぶりにレンタカーをしました。事前にオンラインで予約しておいたので車の引き渡しは訳なくできましたが、小さめの車を予約しておいたのに、今回もそれより大きい車を当てがわれ正直ありがた迷惑でしたが、それよりもエンジンがボタンで掛かるのは分かるにしても、ギアが脇ではなく前のハンドルのそばのボタンを回すようになっていて乗った時に「なにこれ？！」と悲鳴をあげたくなるぐらい戸惑いました。兎に角、エンジン、ブレーキ、アクセルだけ分かれば運転はできるので、シートの位置を動かす操作だけ教えてもらってスタートしました。動き出せば別にどうということはなかったのですが、音楽を聴きたいと思ってボタンをあちこち押しても聞こえず。エアコンだけはかかったのでまあまあ快適に４０分ほどで目的地まで辿りつけました。

　さて、伺ったお宅は築１００年ぐらいの古い家を改修し、台所もテラスも明るく素敵になり、且つアメリカならではの丁寧に細工された部分と日本から持ち込まれた古い家具や食器がご本人のセンスの良さでため息が出るほど素敵に見せられていました。昔の仕事から離れ、皆それぞれ打ち込むものを持ちつつ日本との繋がりの中で時に苦闘しつつも暮らす仲間との会話はあっという間でした。チーズとフランスパン、スープ、もう一人の友達が焼いて持ってきてくれたベリークランブルというブルーベリーと桃のデザートにアイスクリームが添えられて美味しかったです。

　ドライブウェイにテスラが置かれていたのですが、見せてもらっておけばよかったと後で残念に思いました。

I rented a car after a long time because I wanted visit my friend's house in the suburbs to get together with members who already retired but they used to teach Japanese in Boston. Since I requested a car online beforehand, I could get the car smoothly although the size of the car was bigger than I expected. I was a bit confused because the layout and the way of driving were different from the car which I used to drive. The gear was not located beside the seat but near the steering wheel and it was a small lever. Anyhow I started and I didn't have any problem driving and reached my friend's house.

The house I visited was built 100 years ago and it was remodeled partially. The kitchen became bright and modern and led to the terrace. Since it was an American old house, there were many hand-made parts which were so nice and my friend brought some old furniture and ceramics from Japan. They were nicely decorated in the house and I love them all.

All members gathered there were already retired and each one found other things to get immersed in now. The host served baguette & cheese and soup,and another friend brought berry crumble which she baked. They were so good!
It was a really nice gathering. I saw a Tesla parked in the driveway and it was my friend's. I should have asked her to show the inside of it to satisfy my curiosity. That was the only thing I regret.