May 31 - The Oriental Greenfinch

I washed our clothes this morning.  After I finished washing them, I went to our veranda on the 2nd floor.  I was hanging them to the stainless pole when I found this little bird flying to our pine tree. 

 

I hurriedly went downstairs to pick up my Nikon and came back.  I tried to find the bird, but I couldn't find it on the tree anymore.  I looked around and found it perching (or resting) on an electric wire.  I was happy to take photos of the Oriental Greenfinch. 

 

 

 

 

I visited Fukushima Prefecture alone more than 10 years ago when I saw several Oriental Greenfinches for the first time.  I was so impressed that they looked like dancing above the field which was covered with snow.

I thought their yellow feathers looked beautiful above the white ground.   Whenever I see Oriental Greenfinches, I could still remember my short visits in Fukushima. 

May 30 - The Lavender Park Taka, Hyogo

My husband and I drove north for 2 hours, and visited Lavender Park Taka today.

 

According to the pamphlet, they opened the park in June, 2008.

 

The local people and volunteer members planted approx. 30,000 lavender plants s in a 5-ha. (hectare) area.   

 

They have three kinds of lavenders in the park: Stoechas, English, and  Lavandin.

 

The best season of Stoechas will be from mid-May to ear.-June.

The best season of English will be from mid-June to late June.

The best season of Lavandin will be from late June to mid-July.

 

Starting on June 1, they have been charging an entrance fee for 500 yen for those are over 16 years old or 200 yen for those who are 6 to 15 years old.    

 

Not only do they offer two restaurants, a herb nursey and a herbal shop, but they also provide recreational activities such as "dyeing herbs," "arranging dried flowers" and aroma hand massage services. 

 

We usually visit them in the middle of June in the recent years. This year, my husband retired from his work at the end of April so we visited them on May 30.  We could take advantage of the free entrance.  (Again, starting June 1, we have to pay for the entrance fee.)

 

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Before arriving at the Lavender park, we stopped at Machinoeki Taka for a short rest. 

I liked the paintings on the wall. 

It has a Japanese garden behind the shops. 

Irises

 

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Campanula punctata or "Hotarubukuro in Japanese"

We arrived at the lavender park.

This nursey is located in the front part of Lavender Park Taka.

The wooden board says "Lavender Cafe"

We visited on May 30.  They advertised that visitors pay the entrance fee starting June 1 because of the best season.

We thought that the visit for just two days earlier was good enough.  We completely enjoyed the walking in the park

One "beer belly visitor" took photos of the lavenders carefully. 

To prevent the deer from eating the plants inside the lavender park,

they installed a signboard which says.:

"once you open the gate, pleaase keep it closed.  Thank you!"

 
 
 
 

One gardener was taking care of the flowers. 

catmints

 



Russian Sage

An ornament of dried flower basket in the Lavender Cafe

Dried flower works

The wreath decorations are for Christmas season. 

The green parts were used from the trees in Seattle, WA. USA. 

Hamburg lunch set / 700 yen

On our way back, one black kite blocked our way on the road.

As a birdwatcher, I had a great chance of taking photos. 

 

 

 

We went to a local hot spring named "Seseragi-no-Yu" and rested for a while before going home.

May 30

I felt bad yesterday for the Rarejob. 

Firstly, I took a lesson starting 3:30 p.m. with young tutor in her 30s.  She sent me a messege on "skype" request "please add to your contact list." just after 3:30 p.m.  Why did she send me the request like 3:27 p.m. or 3:28 p.m?

Since it was our first lesson, I made a self introduction.  I'm a 49 years old housewife living in a countryside.......  " she did her self-introduction then.    Secondly, I asked her for making corrections on my articles of my blog?

During the lesson, she seemed to be a good tutor.   But her lesson feedback seemed to be terrible to me.  She wrote that :

"Good Afternoon Kay-san, it is nice to meet you. Thank you very much for taking my lesson today. For today's lesson we had free conversation. You did very well this afternoon we had a very nice discussion about your blog. You were able to express your ideas very clearly to me. You did really well Kay, but there is always room for improvement. I recommend that you read more English articles, books and newspapers so that you widen your vocabulary. You can also practice your listening skills by watching English movies I recommend movies without subtitles. In that way you can really challenge yourself. See you next time."


We are Japanese students were grown up under the circumstances of its native culture.

Young respect elderies.  In case,

May 28 - Oku Rikyu Park