I now have to return to Germany, So let’s take one last look around……
It’s January, so hello, what’s this – daffodils? no doubt introduced by the Dutch…..
水仙
And say what you will about cherry blossoms, long before they appear, we get plum blossoms – here in Hodogaya Park….
梅の花、ほどがや
Varieties all carefully labelled….
Thankfully, Latin is the universal language for plant classification….
What a nice surprise to see these on a random walk before lunch….
lunch? That hints of food. It’s hard to describe just how important beer is here…it often accompanies a ramen or udon soup…like this one….
おいしい食べ物の数々…
or this one….
..and at the local onsen (which is on the old Tokkaido road)….
……….a famous woodblock print by Kitagawa Utamaro 喜多川 歌麿 has been slightly adapted…….
素晴らしいビールの数々。
At this point Aki-san needs a huge “Thank you” for lending me her second ‘cello 🙏. Tomoko and myself played some duets in Hoshikawa……..
アキさん、チェロをありがとう🙏🙏🙏
…and even managed some Mendelssohn with Emi-san in Higashi Rinkan. Maybe I should not have drunk a Kirin beer beforehand, but a least the room was soundproofed. Playing music in Japanese houses is not a given. At least one member of the audience was prepeared to give a standing ovation(1 yr-old Koutaro-chan). Get the audiences early, that’s the message…
子どもたちとメンデルスゾーン！
Bye, Bye. Sayonara, Mata ne……
Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.
“….Let’s get this ceiling done today, right? Yeap, I’ll drink to that! Prost!..”
今日は天井を仕上げましょう！乾杯
“….steady as she goes….”
ご注意ください
👉 There’s no doubt about it. It’s hard, cold work on a building site in Germany at this time of year. Sometimes the work is heavy and rough, at other times it’s exacting – carefully measuring walls and corners with a hand-held cm guage.
This is the view from my desk, so I can hardly avoid it.
This is a view from a cable car in Kobe…on the same day….
一方、同じ日に神戸では
👉 It can be odd to have these two climates, cultures and time zones impinging on my consciousness on the same day. Yes, my teacher Miki-san has just had a day out in the forest above Kobe, near Osaka. The leaves are changing colour…..
紅葉
….and there is even the occasional flower!
…and it is only a little bit fresh at 13°c. It is bright and dry….
Photos: みきさん
👉 Whereas here the tough little robin perches boldly in the naked branches of the Offenbacher Stadtwald…..
Photo: Kilic Ummahani ロビン – オフェンバッハの森で
👉 We had started out our hike at the Goethe Turm (tower) in Frankfurt Sachsenhausen. Being the first Advent, the Weihnachtsmarkt there was just about to open. But we first covered about 12km through the forest before we paused, and then at the Oberschweinstiege….
ハイキングの後の暖かい火
– what a name! It is in fact a very civilized Ausflugsrestaurant (“day outing restaurant” badly translated) north of Neu Isenburg.
…my fellow hikers wanted to hear about my profession….😂
これがバイオリンの弾き方です😂
👉 So it’s not all gloom and doom in Germany’s dark December. Our book group enjoys an Indian meal in Seeheim- Jugendheim…..
読書会 – 寒い冬の日のもう一つの趣味
…discussing the merits of “Orbital” by Samantha Harvey. I’ve already mentioned this in my October blog, and was quite enamoured by it….https://wp.me/pgFtpk-o6….. However, with at least two of our group having worked with ESOC (European Space Operations Centre) opinions were mixed……..
👉 Eat up your greens! my mother used to say. Well will this do? A nice Broccoli from Aldi to ward off the winter woes……
母はいつも「野菜を食べなさい」と言っていました
👉 Or maybe a Feuerzangbowle? That classic German alcoholic concoction which invoved setting a sugar loaf on fire over a glass of mulled wine. Here seen in action near Bensheim Auerbach…..
フォイヤーザンゲンボウレ（翻訳不可能）…燃える砂糖が入った熱いアルコール飲料
Along with Glüwein, it’s an antidote to all those forbidding castles…..
陰鬱なドイツの城…👻
👉 But hey ho, time for a silly selfie…….😅
Apart from snuggling up on the sofa with a good book, my other antidote in these dark days is music. The BBC has however become un-cooperative for ex-pats ………
それは複雑です……..
👉 So it’s up to us to make music. Here is “music minus one” Pianist Sabine agreed to be my “sparring partner” for the Andante from Mendelssohn’s Trio Nr.1…without violinist ☹️. The latter is in Tokyo waiting for a real rehearsal with piano, violin and ‘cello…….!
The View from the Towers 塔からの眺め 