節分 End of winter

2017.2.3

梅の花は早春の印ですね。でも、名古屋にしては早くないか?

Plum flowers are the sign of early spring. But, isn't it too early for Nagoya? 

これは名城公園フラワープラザ恒例の梅まつりです。つまり、屋内なのです。

It is an annual "Plum festival" held at Meijo Park Flower Plaza that is an indoor garden.

全景はこんな感じです。何本もの梅の木を根こそぎ掘って飾ってあるんです。ビックリですね。この木たちは2月2日から5日迄飾られてまた地面に戻されるのです。
The whole view is like this. They brought in many plum trees dug with roots and displayed them. Amazing. The trees will be there from Feb. 2 to Feb.5 and go back to the ground afterward.

小さな日本庭園

Small Japanese garden.

このおじさんは長〜いこと場所を専有して写真を撮っていました。私もこれを戒めとしないといけませんね。
The guy were there taking pictures for a looong time occupying the space. I should make him as a good lesson for me.

勿論、呈茶コーナーもありです。ちゃんと飾り付けもされています。

And, of course there is a tea serving with nice display.

どうやら、白鳥庭園から来ているようです。
It looks like all these come from Shiratori Garden.

見ても良し、味わったらとても良し。
Looks good, tastes great.

帰り道に今日が節分だと思い出した。

On the way back, I recalled it is "Setsubun" today. It is the end day of winter in Japanese traditional calendar. Japanese have a custom to throw roasted soy beans to ward off evil spirits and invite good luck. At some shrines and temples, they make big stages on that monk or qualified people throw beans and people try to catch some of them to capture good luck with them. Of course, the qualification of throwing beans can be bought by money.　;-) 

向かったのは大須観音。

Ohsu Kannon that is where I head to.

鳩まで豆を捕まえに飛んできた。多分・・・
Even a dove comes to catch some of them. Maybe...

信心深い或いは節約家の老女が落ちた豆を集めていました。
A faithful senior lady or thrifty lady is picking up dropped beans.

運良く、帽子を使って２個捕まえることが出来ました。

Fortunately, I catch two beans using my hat. 

と思ったが、実はもう一個パーカーに隠れていたのがありました。♡

Having said that, actually there is one more hidden in a hoodie.♡ 

梅は終わった Plum is over

2016.3.17

今日は歩いて農業センターに行った。
梅は殆どおしまい。
でも、他の種類の花が楽しませてくれた。
Today, I walked to the agricultural center as it was a fine day.
Plum flowers were almost over.
But, there were several flowers had me enjoy walking.

ツバキは満開。この桃色は好きだなぁ。
Camellia trees were in full bloom. I like this pink flowers.

赤も悪くないけどね。
Scarlet ones are not bad.

この花は見たことあるぞ・・・。ああ、昨日だ。今日は名前を見つけました。花梅獅子頭
I've seen this flower...  Ah, just yesterday. Today, I found the name of this. Lion mask.

これはクレマチスだな
This must be a kind of clematis.

獅子頭の枝一本
A branch of lion mask.

歩くと暑い日でした。

It was a hot day for walking.

タケノコが。これはこの公園で1番だと思う。
Bamboo shoot!! This must be the first one in this garden.

この花の名前も見つけた。サンシュユ
Also, I found the name of this. Japanese cornel.

2種混合。
This is mixture of them.

昼食もセンターで。　これは名古屋コーチンカレー王様コロッケ付き。コロッケは揚げたてで熱い! カレーも旨かった。

I had lunch at the center. This is a curry rice with Nagoya Cochin meat and a king croquette. The croquette was just fried and very hot and tasty. Curry tasted good, too.

帰り道、コブシがもう咲いてましたね。

On the way back home, magnolia was flowering.

梅は咲いたよ Plum trees in full bloom.

2016.2.27
満開にはまだ数週間かかると思っていた。しかし農業センターのtwitterには満開と出た。そこで、妻と私は混雑を避けるためにも今朝行こうと、昨晩急に決めた。
I thought it would take a few weeks to be in full bloom. However, twitter of Agriculture center stated they were in full bloom. So, last night my wife and I suddenly decided to visit today in the morning to avoid congestion.

天気は上々、空気は爽やかな香りに満ちていた。
Weather was fine. The air was full of refreshing aroma.

メジロが蜜をつつく。
White-eyes came to suck honey.

ロウバイも見頃。
Wintersweet is in full bloom, too.

いつものようにジャグラーが芸をしていた。これはダイススタッキング。私も一時チャレンジしていたが今は休戦中。
As always, a juggler was performing. This was dice stacking. I once challenged this without success.

そして、ここに寄らずにはいられなかい。
And, I cannot stop coming to here.

先日は売り切れだった安納芋にありつけた。
I was able to buy Anno-imo that was sold out the other day.

ツグミも見に来たか。
Thrush came to view plums.

空気は冷たいが陽の光は気持ちよく温かい。
The air was still chilly, but the sunshine is comfortably warm.

いつも近くの神社に寄るのが常だ。そこで大きな白いキノコが切り株に生えているのを見つけた。これも春の兆しかな?
It is our habit to drop in a shrine near the agricultural center. I found big white mushrooms growing from a tree trunk. Is this also a sign of coming spring?

梅は咲いたか? Has plum bloomed?

2016.2.22

天気は曇だったが、さほど寒くなかった。今日は運動のために自転車に乗る日だった。私は、また、名古屋農業センターに言ってみることにした。センターの呼び物のしだれ梅の様子を調べるためだ。
It was cloudy, but not so cold. Today was a day to bike for my exercising. I decided to visit Nagoya Agricultural Center, again. There was another reason to go there. It was to check weeping plum, the feature of the Center.

咲き具合は木ごとに違うようだった。平均だと半分、40%、70%??? 難しいね。大雑把に言えば満開ではないが、がっかりするほど悪くはない。
I found the level of blooming varied from a tree to tree. On average, half, 40%, 70%??? It is hard to say. Roughly speaking, it was not full bloom, but not so bad to be disappointed.

幾つか木はほぼ満開。
Some tree were almost in full bloom.

福寿草園も作られていた。私も数年前に一株植えた。去年までは咲いていたのだが、今年は兆しもない。
Also, there was a small area dedicated for Amur adonises. I planted one in my garden a few years ago. It  bloomed until last year, but I have not seen any trace of it this year.

教育館では盆栽展が開かれていた。
In the educational hall, a Bonsai exhibition was held.

満開を楽しむために数週間後にまた来てみよう。
I would like to visit again after a few weeks to enjoy full bloom.