She is 84 years old!

What a beautiful day!
It was the ideal weather for hiking today.

I enjoyed climbing Mt. Takao.
I went up a mountain trail, Inariyama-course.
I went there alone.

When I took my first rest, a lady, who was also
walking alone, talked to me.

She said to me. "Shall we go together,
if you don't mind? We'll have more fun, I think."
Of course I said , "Yes, with pleasure."

We enjoyed walking.
We enjoyed talking.
We enjoyed eating.

It was amazing that she was 84 years old!
She looked far younger for her age.

She climbed a lot of mountains both in Japan
and in foreign countries, she said.
She was going to America again to enjoy mountain
climbing in July.

I thought of the first part of the poem "Youth"
by Samuel Ullman

Youth is not a time of life---it is a state of mind;
it is a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination,
a vigor of the emotions, a predominance of courage
over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over love of ease.

Will I see her again?
Probably no.

I enjoyed ichigo-ichie,
just "a once-in-a-lifetime meeting."

koharu has caught a cold

koharu, my 7-year-old daughter, has been coughing
since last Saturday.

She had no fever but she was in no condition to go out.
She was absent from school today.

I stayed with her at home until her mother came back
from her work.

koharu had a good appetite after taking a nap.
She will soon be all right, I hope.

(mini-bara I saw on my way back)


(my grandson's junior high school at dusk)

weeds growing in the paths

I made a long detour to my daughter's house..
I enjoyed walking and watching weeds growing in the paths.
I love this kind of detour so much.

The holiday season is drawing near.

first sanshou-no-mi

My daughter bought a young Japanese pepper tree,
sanshou in Japanese, at a festival about 9 years ago

It was ten centimeters tall when she bought it.
It has grown up to be a big tree.

koharu is looking forward to butterflies' coming and
bearing eggs on these leaves of sansho.
koharu loves insects very much.

All the leaves of this sansho will be gone as it does
every year.

This sansho has had first berries in these nine years!
Isn't it amazing? I am greatly excited.

polling day

Today is a polling day for city assembly members
in my city.

I was surprised to see few voters coming to vote
when I went to my polling place.

I'm afraid we'll have a light poll.

On my way home I stopped by for a little talk
with a farmer.

He was taking care of his vegetables.

This is a picture of kinu-saya beans. How lovely!