The Little Prince—a lovely story

I've finished reading ‘Le Petit Prince’
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery,
(アントワーヌ・ド・サン＝テグジュペリ)
who was a French writer and pilot.

I read it not in French but in English and Japanese.

I read two English translations—
one translated by Katherine Woods(1886-1968)

and the other translated and published
in the year of 2000 by Richard Howard(1929- ).

Katherine Woods' English is simpler than Richard
Howard's English, I think.

Richard Howard seems to try to explain in detail
for us.

内藤濯 (1883-1971), a scholar of French,
first translated ‘Le Petit Prince’ as
「星の王子さま」.

Yes, this is such a lovely story.

It is full of meaning.

I was impressed by the following passages.

★What makes the desert beautiful is that it hides
a well somewhere…

「砂漠を美しくしているもの、それは砂漠がどこかに井戸を
隠しているということだ。」

★ Whether it's a house or the stars or the desert,
what makes them beautiful is invisible!

「家でも星でも砂漠でも、その美しさを成り立たせているものは
見えないのだ。」

★What I'm looking at is only a shell.
What's most important is invisible.

「今ここに見えているのは外見にすぎない。いちばん大事なのは
見えないのだ。」

★But eyes are blind. You have to look with the heart.

「だけど眼というものはよくみえないのだ。心で見なければいけない。」

Why don't you read this story?

today's birthday flower-- Sep. 23

I woke up early this morning
and switched on the radio.

The program 「ラジオ深夜便」 was on.

I learned today's birthday flower is 「彼岸花」
and its flower language is “meeting again 「再会」.

Oh, the words 「彼岸花」and「再会」remind me
of my dear husband who passed away at the age of 33.

How I wish I could see him again!

On the way back from today's Friday English class,
I happened to see 「彼岸花」.

to the National Art Center, Tokyo

The day before yesterday, Mrs. M and I met
at the south gate of Shinjuku Station.

Then we went to Roppongi and enjoyed

Venetian Renaissance Paintings from Venice, Italy.

They belong to the Gallerie Dell’Accademia,
Venice.　（ベニス・アカデミア美術館所蔵）

The exhibition was held at the National Art Center, Tokyo.
（国立新美術館）

The word ‘Renaissance’ reminds me of Firenze,
Florence in English.　（フィレンツェ）

Firenze was a leading center of the Italian Renaissance.
It was a birthplace of Renaissance.

I remember those famous artists such as Raphael,
Michelangelo, or Leonardo da Vinci.
（ラファエル、ミケランジェロ、レオナルド・ダ・ヴィンチ）　

I appreciated their masterpieces in Milano or Firenze,
when I went to Italy 10 years ago.

It seemed to me that the artists of Venice were trying
to paint everything as it really was.

The artists of Venice were bold and active
in their paintings, I thought.

I wished I had visited the Gallerie Dell’Accademia,
Venice! （ベニス・アカデミア美術館）

Thank you for coming with me, Mrs. M.
You are always so kind to me.

I walked 14236 steps in a day.
Sorry to say, I got rather tired.

today's English Class at Kominkan

Today I had a good time in Friday English Class
at Kominkan.

First, we enjoyed riddles.（なぞなぞ）

Our American teacher told us some riddles
and we tried solving them.

Why don't you guess the following riddles?

1. What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries?
2. What can you catch but not throw?
3. What kind of nut has a hole?
4. What begins with E, ends with E and has one letter?
5. What goes around the world but stays in a corner?

After the game of riddles, we enjoyed the matching games
of 11 idioms and restaurant expressions.

These games are good exercise
for the brain, I think.

(today's flower---four-o'clock　おしろい花）



(the answer to the riddles)
1.TOWEL （タオル）
2.COLD（風邪）
3.DOUGHNUT（ドーナツ）
4.ENVELOPE（封筒）
5.STAMP（切手）

to koharu’s school festival

koharu, my granddaughter, is a second-year student
in a public high school.

I can't believe it!

She was only 6 months old when I came to live
in Tokyo.

Yesterday I went to koharu's school festival.

As I often writes, she belongs to a brass band
and plays the oboe.

I arrived at her school around 11 a.m.

First I went to koharu's class event---おばけ屋敷.

I wanted to go into the room and see おばけ.

But I gave up the idea, because there was a line
of people waiting in front of the room.

I went outside the school and had onigiri-lunch
in the cool shade of trees.

The brass band concert started at 2 p.m.

The hall was full of people.

koharu played the oboe and conducted a few pieces
from Star Wars and Mary Poppins.

She also invited us to join the concert by shaking
handmade plastic-bottle-maracas which had been
delivered at the entrance..

She explained to us how to shake the maracas
to the music.

Her way of speaking was excellent!

koharu is not my baby any longer.

She is growing up to be a young lady.

It's natural that I should grow older.