友人達に誘われて
もしかして忘年会やら
ラベルデザイン打ち合わせ会
やらテレマークスキー練習会
を兼ねて峰の原に。

一昨日の雪で一面
本格的な白銀の
世界。　木の細枝の先まで
雪がこびりついて
淡いシルエットの
静かな世界。
午後になり雲も晴れて
標高1500メートルの高原
は青い空に浮かび上がる。

スキー場で
テレマークスキーを練習する。
2時間半ほどで下半身の筋肉は
軋みをあげる。

風呂に浸かったあと
そば打ちと夕食。
ワインを飲みながら。
今後のラベルデザインを
打ち合わせる。

夜が明けて今朝も
晴天。楽しげな
雪だるまのそばでは
チュースケなのか、
チュー子なのか、
ひまわりの種を
ほおばる。
心安らぐ高原の
雪の中の景色。

I went up to Minenohara Kogen
at frineds' inviation for
a would-be year end party,
the discussion on wine lable,
excercise of telemark ski, etc.

There was snow all around over there
by the snowfall the day before yesterday.
The twiggies of the trees were covered
with snow and the scenary was just the
shilouette by the vague color and white
with full of sound of silence. The highland
of 1500 meter altitude was like floating
on the blue sky in the
afternoon when it got very clear.

In the ski slope, I tried
telemark skiing for 2.5 hours which
made my muscles on the legs very exhausted.

After hot bath, I made buckwheat noodles
for my friends and had a dinner with them
chatting over the wine lable, etc.

In the morning today, it was fine again.
I happened to find a squirrle by the
snowman by the inn. It is popular and famous
among the residents and the guests there.
It was cautious but came out for the sunflower
dried seeds.

Such a relaxing and quiet scenery in the snow.

今シーズン初めてのそば打ち会。
自分達で育てた蕎麦を打って食べる会。

心なしか他人の打ったそばより
自分が打ったそばの方が美味しく
感じるのは仕方ないよね。

体裁はともかく、自分達で
打った蕎麦をゆで、冷水にとり
更に氷水で締める。そして会員が
作ってきたつゆと自家製のねぎに
大根おろし。

持ち寄った漬物などもつつきながら
しばし蕎麦談義。1年にそう何回も
打つわけではないが、以前の打ち方
等も思い出しつつ反省しつつ、
少しずつではあるが、上達
してるかも。…いいえ、ちょっと慣れた
だけです。自己満足の世界。

First buchweat noodle making session was
held today whereby we eat our own soba
noodle that we grew from the seeds.
Everybody felt that his/her own noodle
tastes better than others'.

The look was still just a homemade level
but we grew it, made it into noodle, boiled
it, dip into the iced water and prepare it
for the tasting with home made sauce, leek and
radish both made at home without chemicals.

We talked about soba growing process and the
quality of soba powder, noodle and the process,
etc., eating soba and pickles. We do not have
so many such occasions but we feel better every
time as we feel we can make soba noodle better
now. We may have made some progress...oh no.
We have just remembered how we did last time
and we only want to believe that we have
achieved some thing. It is just self satisfaction
though.

夕べからようやく冬らしい
積雪。どかっと降ったわけ
ではなく、夜の間に降り積もった
のだ。
雪はほぼずっと舞っていたのだが、
朝遅い時間になって日が差し始め
てやや暖かくなり、夕方になって
冷え込むというこの土地の冬の
一日だった。

朝は雪のせいで車のタイヤが
道路を踏む音が
極端に小さくなり
静かだ。

車に積もった雪は日陰では
溶け切らないが、道の雪は
溶け、夜になって凍りつく。

雪が舞う間は視界が悪いが
ちょっとした晴れ間や
青空が顔を覗かせることも
ある。さすがに畑仕事に
出る人はいない。

何かの拍子に雪を扱った手は
思いのほか冷たくて、長い間
忘れていた寒さの感覚が
甦る。雪が降ってもあれくらい
できるだろうと高をくくっていた
傲慢さをいやでも実感する時だ。

防寒をしっかりして
外に繰り出そう。
雪かきに、街に、山に、
そして畑に。

We have all the way had real snowfall
for the first time this winter.
It was not heavy snowfall but it
snowed all night and got to about
10cm depth this morning. The sun came late
in the morning and it got a bit warm
and it got very cold in the evening.
It was just another ordinary
winter's day around here.

It was quiet in the morning as the
vehicle could not make
the noises when it ran on the
streets.

The snow on the vehicle does not
melt away in the shadow but the
snow on the roads melts away
during the day and
gets frozen when it gets dark.

The haze of snow flakes took
away the clear vision but we
had occaisonally sunshine and
blue sky. No body is in the farm yard
on such a day.

When I happened to handle snows
by the hand, I felt cold unexpectedly
which reminded me of the winter
cold. I have to regret that I had
felt I would be able to do something
out in the snow field when it was not
so cold.

Let's wear warm and go out for
snow shovelling, to the downtonw,
into the mountains and to the vineyards.

携帯がほぼ壊れて
しまったので、買い替えに
行った。軽い気持ちで
行ったのだが、躊躇してしまった。

携帯が高いのだ、平気で
3万だとか5万だとかしている。
中には1万円台のものもあるが、
最低2年契約プラス何とか割り
というのを4つ以上契約しない
といけないとか。しかも
機種変更にはペナルティーが
課せられる。

以前携帯電話は0円で、その分
通話料金に上乗せされており
頻繁に買い換えるユーザーと
そうでないユーザーとに不公平
があるので、それを是正しなければ
いけないという、総務省の行政指導
があったのは知っている。

で、携帯電話は高くなり通話料金は
下がったのか？　携帯電話は高くなった
とよ～く実感できた。でも、通話料金
が安くなっているという実感はない。

今の契約内容を見せて、安くなる
プランを提案してもらったが、安くなるか
ならないかは基本料金を高めに設定して
2年間は契約に縛られてその上
高いハード代金を払わなければ
ならない。大体料金体系が
複雑すぎて「何割」というのが
沢山あって、その基本料金が
積み重なって、結局今の
毎月の支払いより安くなるという保証は
無い。もちろん人それぞれ使い方は違うし
現状でも毎月の支払い額は使用頻度によって
違うのだが。それにしても
通話料金が大分安くなったという
実感はなく、
通信業社の業績が悪くなったとは
聞かない。本当に安くなったのか？

どうも納得できなくて
買い替えを躊躇してしまった。
それにしても選択肢はあまり
多くはなさそうだな～。

My cell phone is almost
out of order and I have to
change it. So I went to
a phone shop to buy a new
one and change to a cheaper
fare plan. But I was hesitant.

Cell phone is so expensive.
New ones cost more than 50,000
yen and each one costs over
30,000 per unit. There are cheaper ones
but I have to be bound by the contract
for at least two years and to keep
at least four different reduced rate
contracts.If I change a model during
first two years, I have to pay a
penalty.

Befreo cell phone cost zero but the
higher rate was applied which caused
unfairness among the users who changes
the models frequently and who changes
less frequently. So the Ministry of
General Affairs ordered to change such
unfair situation.

Then has the cell phone cost more and
has the rate become cheaper ? I surely
found that the cell phone became expensive.
But I did not fee the communication rate
became less expensive.

I showed my current rate plan to a shop
keeper and asked her to recommend another
one which would lower the cost. But no one
was able to tell if my bill would become
lower because it would depend on how often
I use the phone and on what kind of rate plan
I would enroll. I have to sign a higher base
rate contract and be bound by two year contract
as well as pay higher cell phone price.
The rate plans are so many and complicated.
I wonder who can explain all the plans ?
In any case no body can guarantee that my rate
would be lower. Of course I admit that the usage
is different from one person to another and
even my current bill is different from one
month to another depending on the usage.

But anyhow, the fact is that I don't feel
the rate has become cheaper and that
I have not heard the
communication companies' operating
results are worse.
I wonder if the rate become cheaper?

Therefore, I was hesitant to renew the
cell phone and the contract at the shop.
But the problem is that there seems
no choice for a samll user like me.

三重県からデコポンが
届いた。甘く、酸度が
低く、実はしっかりして
いる。変な形だが、そこ
を逆手に取った名前が
親しみやすい。
かんきつ類は今年は不作と
聞いていたが、これは
とても美味しい。

品種名は「不知火」といい
熊本の地名によるらしい。
誕生したのは長崎だが
熊本に持ち出されて栽培され、
そこの農協がデコポンという名前で
商標登録した。
糖度13度以上、
酸度1以下のもののみデコポン
と呼ぶらしい。
その後各地で栽培され、
何とかポンと呼ばれて売られて
いたが、普及を図るために
その基準を満たしたものを
デコポンと呼んでも良い
という事になったらしい。
という、ややややこしい
経歴の持ち主。

九州のものというイメージがあったのだが、
三重でも作られていたとは知らなかった。
いかにして三重のブランドとして確立
してゆくのか。その戦略には
大いに興味がありますね。

Dekopon, a kind of hybrid of
orange, was sent from Mie Prefecture.
It tastes sweet with low acidity and
the texture is rather firm. A strange
but very friendly name is cute. I heard
citrus fruit is no good this year but
it is very delicious.

The variety name is Shiranui which is
taken from the growng area in Kumamoto.
The fruit was born in Nagasaki but the
rootlings had been taken to Nagasaki
and grown there. The name Dekopon is
a trademark by JA in Kumamoto.
The fruit of which sugar level is
over 13 degree and the acidity level
under 1 can be sold under the name
of Dekopon.

The same fruit is grown in many other
places and is called xxx-pon depending
on the growing area however, the
trade mark owner JA allows other growers
to use its name in order to widen the
market so that the consumers can
recognize Dekopon. It has a really
complicated history to date.

I imagined Kyushu penysula at the
site of the work Dekopon and did
not know that it was grown in Mie.
I am very much curious how Dekopon
is marketed as the produce of Mie
now and in the future.