まだ見れる桜 The scenery of cherry blossoms is still spreading out

４月２４日　(金）

金曜日はハードな日ですが、やはり公園の桜の状態が見たくて早朝に出かけてきました。
とにかく見事な風景。頂上にまだ白いベレー帽をかぶっている男体山を前方、シダレから八重にバトンタッチされていく様子が土手から眺められました。真っ直ぐな道も光輝いています。まさに日光市の歌の文句がそこにありました。
　　♪♪　男体山は日に映えて　若い命が息吹いてる　
　風が導く行くてには　明日への道が続いてる。
　　　♪♪・・・・
Friday is the busiest day for me but I couldn't help going out for a walk early in the morning to see those cherry blossoms in the park.They are still enjoying their world. A beautiful scenery of cherry blossoms changing from weeping ones to double ones along the causeway was spreading out in a neat and dynamic way. Mt.Nantai in the front still had his white beret on the top and the causeway in the center was straight ahead to the future. There I found the lyrics of " the song of Nikko city".
♪♪　Mt.Nantai is shinning reflecting the rising sun
Young life is coming out
In the direction the wind takes us is spreading out the way to the future
........

娘の家族が来晃して賑やかな週末に Cheerful weekend with our daughter's family

4月18日～19日

A small but beautiful cherry tree
now in full bloom in our back yard

In a local park in Kobyaku

A beautiful and peaceful landscape
in Kobyaku with our little grand-daughter
in the center admiring the huge flying
carp streamers far back

この週末は長女家族が来晃。あと２か月で３歳になる孫No4　と新小三年生になった孫No2 が一気に静かな環境を賑やかなものにしてくれています。平素あまり台所に立つ必要のないば～ばはこの時とばかり、あれこれ頑張っています。桜の季節を一緒に楽しんでいます。（No2の孫息子は今度ピアノ発表会でママとの連弾をする由で我が家でも特訓中。かたやNo4はジェラシー真っ盛りでワンワン号泣中。）

Our regular customers wandering
around finding something to eat
in our back yard

そして彼らが帰路についた後、孫達がボールで遊び回った庭には今度は常連客が。草の何を食べているのか、いういうと夢中で食べあさっています。
April 18～19
This weekend is welcoming our daughter's family from Soga. Our grandchildren, No.2 , a third grader, and No.4, going to be 3 in 2 months, are just active and they make us busy but happy. I have been doing lots of kitchen works which I usually don't have to do. So nice to be able to share with them such a beautiful season here.
Right after our daughter's family left Nikko for Soga, our regular customers took over our back yard where we had been playing football with our grand-children during this weekend. Without any careful attention, they are deeply concentrated on picking up something from the weeds. I wonder what they are eating.

孫息子とサッカーに興じる私。まだ相手になれる！
Here is a grandma enjoying football with her grand-son. She is tough enough to play against 8 years old boy!

桜桜桜 All cherry trees around

4月14日（火）

４月の気候は本当に不安定で不安。そんな中、今しかないという思いで、日彫会（日光彫の同好会）のメンバーが揃って近くの今市中学校、今市工業高校の豪華な桜のパレードを見て来ました。どんより小雨模様の中でも、桜はあたりを華やかに明るくして咲き誇っていました。

Ａｐｒｉｌ　14
Under such an unstable weather in April, we, members of Niko-Bori (wood carving circle) decided to go out for admiring cherry blossoms planted along the school grounds of Imaichi junior high and Imaichi Technical senior high. The cherry blossoms are enjoying their full bloom making the surroundings so bright and graceful.

高田家の古木シダレザクラ鑑賞 Appreciation of the splendid view of the weeping cherry tree

4月12日　(日）夜の部
今日は宇都宮でのお昼に続いて夜は日光で夜桜見物の絶好のチャンスを得ることが出来ました。「古木の桜はなにを見てきたか」という本の中で『高田のシダレザクラ』として紹介されているそのシダレザクラを鑑賞。高田家が代々このシダレザクラを私財を投じながら愛情を持って屋式神のごとく大切にお世話されてきて約４００年の歳月を得ているという。余りの迫力と豪華さで圧倒されるほど。今回は宇都宮から小林さんご夫妻、地元の松尾さんとホームステイ中のデンマークからのトリネさん、インドネシアからの３人の学生も加わって感激を分かち合いました。高田先生のこの古木の桜保存と徳川幕府時代からの由緒あるご自宅の母屋の保存にかける情熱を何とか日光市が支えることは出来ないものかと模索が始まる。地域創生の立派な資源がここにもある。ご夫人のお琴の演奏もみんなで聴かせていただき、先生ご夫妻のおもてなしに感謝した春の宵となりました。


April 12 (Sun)　Evening time


This is the most gorgeous and overwhelming weeping cherry tree I have ever seen.
It has been well cared by Takada family since about 400 years ago when the Tokugawa shogunate was prosperous. We were invited this evening to share the beauty of this old cherry tree in full bloom now enjoying its brilliant appearance under the big lights. Mr.Takada is also the owner of the old traditional house which must be as old as the cherry tree. The both the cherry tree and the house should be officially cared by the local community so as to attract visitors especially from foreign countries. It's time to take action to support Mr.Takada's strong wish to reserve this big treasure under the official sponsorship for the sake of revitalizing our city, Nikko. Mrs.Takada kindly gave us an extra hospitality by playing the Koto in a sophisticated tatami room. We appreciated their warm hospitality.

下野農園 A very special restaurant named Shimotsuke Nouen

4月12日（日） 昼の部
今日は臼井芳美さんのお誘いで宇都宮の下野農園という素敵なレストランに湯澤さんご夫妻と初めて伺いました。日光宇都宮道路伝いの美しい桜を愛でながらカーナビのおかげで無事に到着。ここで月に一回、料理教室をやっておられる芳美さんと合流。支配人のお話を直接伺うことも出来、このお店が特別なお店であることに納得。まだ、４０前の若さで、いろいろなキャリアを積み、地方創生、活性化という大きな目標を持って歩き始めている志の高い方であることを知りました。ビュッフェスタイルで新鮮な野菜サラダの数々から始まり、ポテトを豚肉で包んだテリーヌにクレソンの花を載せた前菜、ダッチオーブンで蒸し煮した那須の豚肉をメインに選び（何とこれには麩入りおすましと五穀米がついていました）、デザートは那須産のフレーバーたっぷりの紅茶ゼリーと柚子のシャーペット。どれもこれも豊かで新鮮な味で何ともありがたい、感謝の気持ちが湧き出る料理でした。舌鼓を打ちながらの４人でのお話も留まる事を知らず、みんな前向きで意欲を持って人生に挑戦されている様子に接し、栄養と意志の力をいただいた日となりました。話が終らなくて二次会を芳美さん宅で。これまたお手製の素晴らしいショートケーキと香りの漂う紅茶が別腹に入ってお話は更に奥深く続き、心躍るおもてなしをいただきました。多謝。
April 12 (Sun)　Lunch time
Mr.&Mrs.Yuzawa and I went to join Mrs.Yoshimi Usui who was waiting for us in front of the restaurant named Shimotsuke Nouen in Utsunomiya. The view of all those cherry blossoms along the highway between Nikko and Utsunomiya made us feel happy with their beautiful appearance and this happy feeling made us more excited upon the talk with Yoshimi-san and the manager of the restaurant telling us the story about this restaurant. All the food was so tasty and even appreciative due to the freshness of the local materiel which might have been selected carefully. I especially enjoyed talking with my companies today over such delicious and good quality food. Our talk or chat kept on going until we moved to Yoshimi-san's place 10 minutes drive away from the restaurant for having another delicious home made short cake. I had a wonderful time with them. I was given very rich nutrition both physically and mentally today. Thanks God!

東照宮等山内見学 EECC activity

４月４日(土)

ウイークエンドの自由時間を利用してトリーネさんと世界遺産ツアーバスの手形を使って山内を見学。EECCのメンバー３人がジョイン。このバスは利用価値大いにあり。ただ、おもてなしサービスの現場を知って・・・大勢の観光客を迎えている中、まず地元民が姿勢を正すのが先決とみんなで話し合いました。東照宮に参拝すると、神前結婚式に遭遇。トリーネさんが感動。彼女は日本のしとやかな文化が大好きとのこと。奥の院への石段から眺めた東照宮各棟の屋根の輝きにも感動。咲き始めたヤシオつつじや参道のミツマタの花木の美しさにも感動。山内での昼食を済ませて最後に屋台で売っていた昔の味とＰＲしているたい焼きを味見して大感激。しとしと雨の中で少し寒さもあったため、暖かい出来立てのたい焼きは効果抜群。4,5時間かけてのゆっくりした山内見学は彼女にとっても貴重な経験になったようでした。お疲れ様。

April 4 (Sat)
Taking an opportunity of her day off during this weekend, I took out Trine for sightseeing of our world heritage site together with three more ladies from my class. We took a world heritage tour bus for the first time to have a new experience. This bus system is well operated with rather reasonable price (￥500 for one day free ticket) and convenient, but it's regrettable to find that the way they meet and deal with visitors might give some troubled impression to the people from outside...very disappointed. It's a matter of hospitality. On the premise of the Toshogu Shrine, we were lucky to encounter a divine wedding ceremony which gave an extraordinary impression to Trine. She seems to love genuine Japanese culture. The view of all those architectures with brilliant roofs which we had from the steps toward the grave yard up on the hill was just marvelous. Along the front approach to the Taiyuin Temple were there Nikko Yashio azaleas which were about to bloom. We enjoyed light lunch in the shop on the premise and especially the hot crepe-like Taiyaki cakes on the way back at a kiosk along the back approach were so delicious and good to our almost freezing fingers due to a bit cold drizzle. We spent a several hours for our tour this time in a slow pace. I'm happy to have been able to share a good and precious experience all together.
Have a good rest!

EECC の活動 EECC activity

4月3日(金）

本日の英会話クラスにデンマーク人女性が参加。昨年日光にホームステイ滞在したJohnnyと同じステイタスでICYE(国際青年文化交流）から来日したもの。３か月の滞在予定で日光のデイサービス施設にホームステイしながら介護のお手伝いを経験しているボランティアワーカー。クラスではソフトでスウィートながら積極的にアシストしてくれました。クラスにいい刺激をもらいました。昼食タイムにはＥＥＣＣメンバーの一人が指導する書道にも関心を寄せました。

Our EECC(Enjoyable English Conversation Club) welcomed a Danish young lady today who has been in Nikko since last month. She came to Nikko through ICYE just like Johnny who was here last year. She will be here for another two months working as a volunteer at a Day Care Center where she home-stays. She made the class more enjoyable and effective with her positive attitude to communicate with each other. We were very happy and so was she.

She showed her interest in caｌligraphy instructed by one of our EECC members during lunch time.