１月３１日（金曜日）２０２５　
　うっすら雪化粧の朝でした。お昼には晴れ間もみえたものの、風が吹く寒い一日となりました。さて２月にはひこね市文化プラザでプラザフェスティバル2025が今年も開かれ、各部門で日頃活動している人たちがそれぞれの成果を発表します。
　
　私たち朗読サークル「ひだまりの会」多賀教室も彦根市の住民がいるため、フェスティバルにこの３年間参加しています。２月２日（日曜日）メッセホール14:55~15:20です。入場無料。ほかの部門は参加グループが多いためか整理券が必要らしいですが、２日の演劇部門は人形劇と私たち朗読サークルの２グループだけなので開始時間に受付で入場できます。

　ご都合がつく方は応援に来ていただけると私たちにとっても大きな励みとなります。朗読の内容は先日、多賀町公民館まつりで発表したものと同じでとても楽しいです。メンバー５人張り切っておりますので是非お越しください！

It was thinly covered with snow this morning. The sun came up in the afternoon, but it was still a windy cold day. Now, February will start tomorrow. Hikone Plaza Festival 2025 will be held at the Hikone City Cultural Plaza Hall this year, too. Many people who belong to a group in various cultural activities in Hikone will give presentations in this festival.

Our recitation circle will be presenting on February 2nd (Sunday) at 2:55-3:20 p.m. at Messe Hall because one of the members is a resident of Hikone. We have been participating in this festival for three years. It's free admission.

If you could come, it would be a big encouragement for us. The program of the recitation will be the same as the performance in Taga-town Community Center a week ago. We are very excited to give our presentation.

１月２６日（日曜日）２０２５
　Kさんから珍しい花梨の自家製ジャムをいただきました。Kさんは京都にお住まいですが、ご結婚前は多賀の私の近所にいらっしゃって今も空き家になったご実家におりに触れてご夫婦でお帰りになります。

「かりん」の名前は以前から聞いていましたが、実物の木や実はまだ見たことがありません。何でもかなり大きく硬い実であるとのことで、後でネットで見てみたら黄色い洋梨のような形の果実であることが分かりました。

　いただいた花梨ジャムはうっとりするような美しい紅色でした。ほんのり花梨の香りがします。味は酸味の中に少し渋みもあるちょっと大人の粋なジャムと表現できるでしょうか。Kさんに伺うと、このジャムを作るのは苺や他の果物とは違って結構な手間がかかるようです。愛情深く丁寧に工夫を凝らしながら作られた花梨ジャム。貴重な贈り物をいただきました。

I received homemade Jam of Chinese quince from Ms.K.O. K is living in Kyoto now, but before she got married, she was in my neighborhood and she occasionally still comes to her native home with her husband where nobody is living anymore.

I often hear the name of Chinese quince, but actually I have never seen both the tree and the fruit. K told me that the fruit is large and hard, so I checked about it on the internet. The shape looked like a pear.

The color of Chinese quince jam is a beautiful red. It has a subtle smell of Chinese quince. It is very good and I might say it has a mature taste which is a little sour and a little bitter within the sweetness. According to K, it takes time and it is a long process to make the jam compared to other jam such as strawberries. K made this jam with love, effort, and creativity. I received a precious present.

１月２４日（金曜日）２０２５
　１月も後半に入り、２０２５年の毎日が滑るように過ぎていきます。
　さて、多賀町の公民館まつりが２５日（土）・２６日（日）の両日、中央公民館「多賀ゆいの森」で開かれます。https://www.hikotaga.com/taga/714/

私が入っている朗読サークル「ひだまりの会」も２５日（土）11:35〜発表をいたします。去年は民話「夕鶴」でしたが、今年は落語作家、くまざわあかねさんの「七福神の大阪ツアー」と、おなじみ「外郎売」をメンバー５人でご披露いたします。「七福神〜」は大阪弁全開の愉快なお話で、外郎売はいささか危なっかしいかもしれませんが、ご都合のつく方は応援に来ていただけたら大いに励みになります。

It is already the second half of January, and every day goes by so quickly. On January 25th and 26, Taga town held the Festival of Community Center.

I am a member of a recitation circle in town, and we will be giving two presentations at the Lily Hall. We presented the Japanese folk tale "Yuhzuru (crane at dusk)" last year, and this year we will read "Seven Lucky Gods' trip to Ohsaka" and " Uirou salesman". The former one is written by Akane Kumazawa who is a writer of Rakugo (Japanese verbal entertainment) and it's a very funny story told in Ohsaka dialect. The latter one is from Kabuki and is challenging to us because it contains a lot of Japanese tongue twisters. We, five members, are all very excited about our presentation.

１月２０日（月曜日）２０２５
　今日は大寒。一年で一番寒いと言われる日ですが、日中の気温はそれほどでもなく穏やかな一日でした。
昨日は伊勢大神楽の一行が笛・太鼓で賑やかにカフェにやってきました。お客様が大勢見守る中でお獅子が舞を披露した後、それぞれ頭を噛んでもらいました。魔除け、無病息災、一年がより良く過ごせるようにとの意味合いなのに、なぜか皆さん、噛んでもらうと頭がよくなると思っていらっしゃるようで、ちょっとおかしかったです。


It was the coldest season in the calendar, but actually it wasn't cold that much and a fine day. Yesterday, Shishi-mai troupe came to our neighbourhood playing the flute, drum and bell, and they also came into my cafe. All the guests in the cafe appreciated Shishi's dance which was shown on the street in front of my cafe. After the dance, Shishi bit our heads and we appreciated it very much. It signifies a talisman for good health and a fortunate year, but it was funny that many of them were saying that they would become smarter from getting bitten Anyhow, I was grateful to have this annual January event.

１月８日（水曜日）２０２５
　新年４日目の午後、カフェで使っている電動コーヒミルから突然パン！パーン！と異音がし、同時にガーガーと豆を挽いていたのが急にシャーという静かな音に変わりました。持ち上げて振ってもスイッチを入れ直しても元には戻らず壊れたことがわかりました。８年間使い続けたコーヒミルの最後でした。

　その日はコーヒーメーカーで作っておいたコーヒーがあったのでサービスには支障が出ず幸いでしたが、次の日からコーヒーを挽くことができなかったら、お客様にコーヒーが出せません。カフェの終了後、急ぎ一番近い電気屋へ。案の定、思ったような電動ミルはありませんでしたが、取り敢えず簡単なものを買って帰り、家に着いてネットで通販用のミルを探しました。運良くこれまで使っていたのと同じものが見つかり、すぐに購入。三日目には届き、まずは一安心といったところです。ネット購入の便利さと有り難さをしみじみ感じました。

　昨年末にエアコンのリモートコントロールが１つ作動しなくなり、今回は電動コーヒーミルが壊れました。さて次は？.....色々ガタがきている私自身でないことを祈るばかりです。

In the afternoon of the fourth day of the new year, 2025, we heard a popping sound from the electric coffee mill in the cafe, and it became abnormally quiet compared to the usually noisy sound of grinding coffee. I lifted up and shook the mill to get it to work again, but then I realized that it broke. It was the coffee mill which I had been using for eight years.

Since I had the ground coffee which I made for the customer beforehand, we didn't have any problem with the service, but I needed another grinder for the following days in the cafe, so I headed to an electric appliance store nearby in Hikone to buy a new electric coffee mill. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to find any mill which was similar to one currently used in the cafe. I bought a simpler one among two anyhow, and when I got home, I searched for a better one online. Fortunately, there was the same one which I had been using, so I purchased it immediately.
It arrived two days later and I am relieved because I could get through the crisis. I also appreciated the convenience of online purchasing which I was able to get in a short period of time.

At the end of last year, one of the remote controllers of the air conditioner had a problem, and this time, the electric coffee mill in the cafe broke. Well, I am wishing that the next one which will break will not be me.

１月６日（月曜日）２０２５
　新年が明けての数日間はお天気がよかったこともあってか大勢のお客様のご来店がありました。お手伝いのかたの数を増やしたのと私自身が奥の台所に引っ込む手間をなるべく省けるように段取りを改善したつもりでしたが、家族や友達どうしが一気にお見えになると、結構すごいことになります。それでも、機転が効いてよく動いてくださる頼もしい助っ人の皆さんのお陰で我がカフェは大きな問題を起こすことなくお正月を乗り切ることができました。私はもっぱら作るほうに徹し、注文を間違えないよう集中し、パニックにならないようまずは落ち着くことを心がけていました。


　さて、今日は今年初めての定休日。気分は一安心ですが、明日のランチやお弁当用の買い出しがあります。しかし外は雨。それでも雪でないのが幸いと、お昼前に意を決して完全防備で出かけました。滋賀のデパートが出している年賀はがきの抽選クジで当たった３０％、２０％割引の買い物をするのも楽しみで途中のショッピングモールへ立ち寄りました。私が欲しかったのは日常の靴とカフェで履くサンダル。それに、少し上質のカーディガンかセーター。靴とサンダルは取り敢えず買いましたが、気に入ったウールのセーター類がありません。明るい綺麗な色を探すのですが、どこを見てもベージュやオフホワイト、またはブラウン系の色合いばかり。去年はまだあったように思うのですが、今年は割引券があっても買いたいものがないのです。似合う似合わないは別として、気分によって赤系、青系、黄色系のものが着たいのですが、選択肢がなく結局洋服の買い物は諦めました。


Since the first few days of 2025 were sunny, we had many customers in the cafe. I asked two ladies to help and that helped me better prepare what was ordered compared to last year. However, when we had a family group of 13 members, or a party of five or six at once, it was a chaotic situation. Nevertheless, the two amazing ladies handled it very well and we could overcome it without any problem.
I, myself, tried to concentrate on making what the customer ordered and to not panic at any point.

Well, it was the first day off in the new year. I was relieved for the day but actually I needed to go to the store to get meat and vegetables for a lunch reservation and take out dinner for the following days. It was raining but much better than the snow day. Just before noon, I decided to go out by bicycle with rain pants, jacket and cap. On the way to the supermarket, I stopped by a shopping center. I had some winning numbers on the New Year's lottery card which could get me two 30% off tickets, and two 20% off tickets, so I wanted to do some shopping.
I wanted to buy shoes, mules and a nice sweater or cardigan. I got the first two items but couldn't find my favorite colored outfit. I looked around the area but eventually I gave up on buying a sweater which made me a little disappointed.

１２月３１日（火曜日）２０２４
　大晦日の日、カフェには遠方から多賀大社参拝の方が多くお立ち寄りくださいました。新年は参拝するのに列を作って順番を待つのに比べれば年末はゆっくりお参りできるので、毎年この時期と決めていらっしゃる方も多いようです。私自身もお正月は余裕がないのですが、年末はお客様とちょっとしたお話ができるのも何よりと思っています。


　さて、去年は夜中１２時近くに多賀大社に行って大勢の若者たちのカウントダウンのような参拝におどろいたのですが、今年は８時すぎに一年のお礼参りに神社へ向かいました。何と私が行った時は境内は私一人。拝殿に近づくにつれて後ろから何人かが歩いてこられました。この一年、無事に過ごせたことを感謝し、家族を含め周りの皆の平安を祈りました。途中、長く離れましたが、こうした立派な神社のそばに再び帰って日々過ごしていられるのは幸運なことだと思いました。


On the last day of the year, many people who visited Taga Taisha stopped by the cafe and most of them were from outside of Shiga. They chose this day to visit the shrine rather than on the new year because they avoid the crowds who come for the first visit to the shrine. Since I have no time to talk to the customers on the first couple days of the new year because it is too busy for me, I am glad to have time to talk to them before the end of the year.

Well, I visited the shrine at around 8 p.m. to give my year-end thanks. Last year, I visited at just before the midnight and I was very surprised because it was very crowded with younger people and they did the way of praying like a countdown at Times Square in NY. In other words, they waited in front of the worship hall and when they hard the drum which let people know the new year, they started throwing the money to the shrine and prayed. I had never seen such a way of praying at a shrine and it was not the Japanese way. So I went to the shrine much earlier, at around 8 p.m. this time. When I got to the shrine, nobody except me was there. I thanked God that I was able to spend the year safely and prayed for peace and health for my family and people around me. Although I was away from my native town for many years, I came back and have been living in a place near such a grand shrine. I feel lucky about this.