Peony

Peonies this morning

Yuki

It's hot rather than warm these days.

My cat Yuki which hates the cold goes out to bathe the sun.
She is finer now than in cold winter.




Under the stone lantern

Peony; (Bo-ta-n)

Peonies bloomed today.
It rains when they are in full bloom　every year.
I hope it is fine while they are blooming.

A nice shot?

Taking pictures of birds is very difficult for me.

But I happened to be able to take these flying swallows.

At first I tried to take birds that had perched on electric wire, but I couldn't as they flew away soon.

As a result I could take this one.

Nest of swallows

These are the nests of swallows.

They make their nests near the ceiling to keep the eggs from snakes, sparrows and so on.
Now there are two nests in my house.
One is in the storehouse and the other is at the entrance of the other building.

I can see a tail of a swallow in the nest of a storehouse.
They must be warming the eggs now.


In the storehouse



At the entrance of my house

Proverb 35

Slow and steady wins the race.


There is a famous old tale;(u-sa-gi to ka-me) in Japan too.



'Ivy geranium' in the green house 0'5. 3/13

Pond

This is a pond near my house.

I took it in the evening on last Sunday.

The water is used for farming in summer, so it is a very important pond for the farmers.



18::49
The picture above was taken at 18:52 on last Sunday.

Boiling bamboo shoot

Taking a walk in the yesterday evening, I saw a woman boiling bamboo shoots in the open air.

She was using a pot called 'ha-ga-ma' which isn't used in our daily life these days.
We put rice bran in the water with bamboo shoots when they are boiled.
In this picture, the rice bran is boiling over.

This is one of the rural sceneries.


　

Earring?

My friend gave me this plant a few years ago.

But I didn't know the name of it.
The flower isn't so beautiful, but the shape is rare.
It looks like earrings.

So I asked someone in 園芸ナビ and I knew the name of this plant.
It is Yo-u-ra-ku tsu-tsu a-na-na-su.

Orchis;(Shu-n-ra-n)

Shu-n-ran bloomed this year too.

It isn't so gorgeous as other orchids but it is popular among the orchis fanciers.
This one hardly increases in my yard.


＊The picture above is Periwinkle;(Tsu-ru ni-chi-ni-chi-so-u)

New leaves

These are new leaves shining in the sun.
They look so fresh and beautiful.



Mo-mi-ji



The leaves of a pomegranate tree;(za-ku-ro)



The leaves of a sour persimmon tree;(shi-bu-ga-ki)

Japanese cake

This Japanese cake is the product of this confectionery.

The Japanese values the sense of the season very much.
So the Japanese-style confection workmen create the cakes with full of the sense of each season.
This is also the seasonable one.
Wrapping of the cake looks like a carp streamer and the basket made of bamboo is nice too.

Of course, it tasted good!!

In the field

We see these spring flowers in the field.

I used to play with them in my childhood, long long time ago !!

Clover


Chinese milk vetch


Celery-leaved buttercup；（Taーgaーraーshi　or Ko-n-pe-to-u)


Strawberry

Proverb 34

Pride goes before a fall.

Now a TV drama 'Yoshitsune' is being broadcasted by NHK on Sunday evenings.
'Heike' that prospered very much at a time is defeated by 'Genji'.

It is a good example of this proverb.



Gerbera in a green house 0'5. 3/13

The sign of early summer

The season of cherry blossoms will end soon.

Now swallows returned from the south this year too and are flying busily.
Seeing the swallows, I feel the comming of early summer.

There are a few nests of the swallow in my house.
They lay about five or six eggs at a time and raise them twice or three times each year.

Before long I will be able to see the pretty baby birds.



* The picture above is some young leaves of hydrangea;(a-ji-sa-i).