六臂如意輪観音 sits elegantly in a dedicated building called 観音堂 of 橘寺. He/She has a gorgeous 光背=kohai, decorative metal structure set behind Buddhism statues to express light coming from sacred bodies, fully shown to public eyes when Mei-Shun and Shin visited him/her years ago. However, it was covered with square fabric this time, made him/her look much smaller. Or he/she might feel like playing hide-and-seek.
Mei-Shun loves 橘寺. Shin prefers 飛鳥寺. In detail, the former admires 六臂如意輪観音 while the latter 飛鳥大仏. Thanks to heavy rainfall on Saturday, air was washed up for clear Sunday. Starting from 石舞台, they enjoyed cycling with rental bicycles assisted by electric motors. Oh, we can see pretty 蓮華, Astragalus sinicus still left on rice paddy ready to be watered.
熱川バナナワニ園 hangs Wani-Nobori, streamers with alligator printing. At the hospital Mei-Shun stayed 2 years before, you would find in the lobby a gorgeous arrangement of 五月人形=gogatsu-ningyo, samurai dolls to celebrate Children’s Day. When Mei-Shun was one of them, she has never seen it at boy classmates’ homes. Carp streamers outdoors looked more popular, yet shrinking economy might not be able to afford them.
It does not mean to say good-bye but hello. So she is the youngest among the Yellow Card. Her closest sister moved into a vase throne with sweet pea maids of honor. And another princess in our garden has finished her performance, gives her kimono little by little to a friend still asleep at her feet. The latter is called 姫空木=hime-utsugi, also a princess to put on white dress early in May.
Just beautiful, isn’t she? Our garden princess has made her pink dress shining more and more day by day to reach this goal. Rain, gale or even storm cannot hurt her beauty. Speaking of which, Mei-Shun’s mother told her younger daughter the other day that Queen Peach, mother of our princess, looks deteriorating these days. So they also have life expectancy while alternation of generations has been firmly established.
東山魁夷(=Higashi-yama Kai-i) is one of favorite artists for Shin, Mei-Shun and her late father. Since his works on fusuma, paper sliding door of 唐招提寺 are exhibited at a museum in Mito, they planned to drive there today expecting less crowd. Oh? you have a TV conference from noon? Hum, it is the first of four-day off for him. He would be allowed to do as likened, yet half tomorrow followed by none on Sunday.
Here is 治部椀=jibu-wan, simmered vegetables, duck meat and 簾麩=sudare-fu, wheat gluten cake shaped like a bamboo blind dressed with thick starchy sauce served in a soup bowl. This is one of favorite dishes for Shin and Mei-Shun at a restaurant in Shinagawa, while reminds the latter of a cooking book she bought in preparation for marriage. It featured 治部煮 among ABCs of Japanese cuisine.
Mei-Shun continues piano practice, yet only 10-15 minutes a day. That means no progress in technique, even deterioration maybe. Refreshing breeze is necessary for Ms. Piano. Some of her favorite scores have many sharps and flats, while played in “Largo”. “Allegro” or “Presto agitato”, represented by the third movement of “Sonata quasi una Fantasia” by Beethoven, are never for her. Soothing music, not so complicated — oh, how about the one in animation films?
They look so cute, don’t they? When Mei-Shun saw them at a green grocery shop, she immediately fell in love. She brought this couple to home, took a photo as follows below and … put them in a basket for Madoka-chan. However, 春一番=haru-ichiban, the first southern wind blew in a speed exceeding 8m/sec. after 立春, prevented her from visiting the club. Actually, she meant to go there yet gave up on the way. Scary sight of yellow “fog” seemed to make anyone feel upset.
It is 酉= tori, rooster as mentioned before. Shin and Mei-Shun have made it a rule to visit Fukushima Airport at the beginning of the year. They are always happy to see twelve cute 干支 animals made of paulownia sawdust there, while a tabby kitty joined this year. Apples, another target were not available, so they chose kumata-pan, buns with sweetened bean paste filling. Yes, sweet … coated with white sugar, sized in your palm. It may easily make you round-shaped like our 丸酉!
meishunkikunoe 