隣町の江古田へ行く途中にある調剤薬局の建物にはブドウ棚があり、毎年この時期たわわにブドウの房がぶら下がっています。特に世話をしている様子も見受けられないけど豊作です。
There is a dispensing pharmacy between our district and our neighbouring town, which has scaffolding with grape vines. Around this time every year, the vines are heavy with grapes nearing maturity. I have never seen anyone taking care of the plant, but every year is a bumper year.
This is a heavily built semi-commercial area with narrow back streets. Air movement is poor, and direct sun light is limited. Yet, the leaves never seem to suffer from spider mites but stay healthy.
こんなに丈夫な品種が何なのか分かりませんが、だんだん皮が透き通った感じになってきているので、そろそろ完熟のようです。
Whatever variety this tough plant is, the skin on the fruits is getting translucent, suggesting that the grapes are getting nearly ripe.
うちの近所の庭で見かけたネコ。タイガは顔にネコパンチを食らっても猫好きなので、目が釘付け。
A cat relaxing in my neighbour's garden. In spite of several punches Taiga has received in the face, she likes cats and was rivetted on the spot.
A beautiful ginger cat. Judging by the full upper lip, it looks like a male. In fact, almost all the ginger cats in Japan are male, although I have seen quite a few females in YouTube videos from abroad.
うちの斜め向かいにある小さな公園の栗の木には栗が鈴なり。
A lot of sweet chestnuts growing on the tree in the tiny park almost opposite to my house.
園芸品種ではなく柴栗なので実は小さいです。
This is a wild chestnut tree that you can find in mountains in Japan, and the nuts are small but very sweet.
今朝のローゼル。予想どおり２輪が開花。
As expected, two flowers were open this morning on the roselle plant.
昨日 咲いた花のガクは、これから赤く色づくのを見るのが楽しみです。
It will be interesting to watch the calyx from yesterday's flower turning red soon.
これも、
先日２度目のリンゴの袋外しをしたばかりですが、もう汚損果が出始めています。ただし汚損が発生するのはいつも赤肉種の「紅の夢」だけで、グラニースミスや紅玉は今までのところ無傷です。
I bagged the apples twice this summer. Soon after removing the bags for the second time, dark spots began to appear on some of the red-fleshed apples called 'Kurenai-no-Yume'. Damages are found only on this cultivar and the fruits of Granny Smith and Kogyoku are so far clean.
Including these
これも紅の夢。
and these are all Kurenai-no-Yume apples with damages.
あぁもう、いいや！と思って最初の実を採りました。キズの中心にまるで的のように色の濃い点があるのは、もしかして虫の侵入あと？と思うと気味悪いですが、とにかく確認です。
Feeling helpless, I picked the first fruit shown above. The dark centre looking like a target bothered me. Is there a bug inside? I had to check what it was.
半割りにしてみると、恐れていたイモムシっぽいものはいませんでした。その代わり、キズの部分がゼリー状。まるで人間の場合、外部からのバイ菌などと戦うために白血球が集合してできる膿を連想させました。
To my relief, I did not see any bug wriggling inside. Instead, the dark spot was filled with jelly-like substance. If it were a human body, white blood cells would gang up in order to fight against the intruding bacteria etc, with the result you get a pocket of pus.
