今日は朝から快晴。空気は冷たくても心地よい寒さでした。毛皮をまとったワンコには暑いのか、早朝散歩から帰ったタイガは、日向の座布団ではなく木陰の石の上で座っていました。
We had a clear blue sky all day today. The air was crisp and pleasant. After coming home from the early morning walk, Taiga, with her fur coat, found it too warm and sat on the stone under a shade instead of the cushion in the sun.
ゴールドクリスマスローズの第一花は、たぶん今がピークです。
The golden Christmas rose flower is at its peak of beauty now.
これはこぼれ種からの苗とは言っても、初期のゴールド苗の特徴が良く出ています。すなわち、花茎は短くて直立性、花は横向きに咲いて通常のクリスマスローズのような下向きではありません。
Although this is a seedling from a bought plant (which died out within a few months of purchase), it has all the hallmarks of the golden variety in its early days. After it was introduced into Japan from the UK, a lot of nurseries bred them with orientalis varieties and they began to lose the original traits, i.e. short and upright flower stems, with flowers holding their heads up instead of looking crestfallen.
I like flowers with the stamen at this stage.
豊後梅に似た木が開花中でした。
久しぶりの良い天気なので、午後の早い時間帯に追加の散歩で公園へ行きました。
As it was such a nice day, we had an extra walk in the early afternoon and headed for the park.
売店のある広場に着くとバーニーズのジャム君とレックスがいました。ジャム君はタイガより１歳下、レックスは４歳くらい下ですが、みんな成長して落ち着いてしまいました。
When we arrived at the space with table and benches, we met two Bernese, Jam and Rex. Jam is one year younger than Taiga, and Rex 4 years younger. They used to play with Taiga boisterously but now they are all grown up and mild-mannered.
始めて会った小さな柴の女の子。近年の柴は初対面でも愛嬌をふりまく子が多くて、甲斐犬との違いを感じてしまいます。城北公園で会える甲斐犬の数は、まーったく増えないです。
A new face: very friendly female miniature Shiba Inu. I notice that Shiba Inus are becoming friendly dogs in recent years, which increases their popularity. In contrast, Kaiken dogs are very reserved and the number of Kais that I meet in this park has remained basically unchanged over the years: Kanta, Hina and Sena, apart from Taiga. 
Ume plum trees coming into bloom, another sign of spring.
