Yesterday, the third Monday of September, was
'keiro-no-hi'.
It was a holiday but both koharu's mother and father had to
go to work.
I went to her house to spend a day with my grandchildren.
koharu and I went to a nearby park.
We sat in a swing under a big tree.
koharu was excited and said, "It's great fun to have a swing!"
She had been afraid of riding a swing for a long time!
But she was now enjoying a swing!
koharu's brother stayed at home and made a toy for koharu.
He made it with recycled materials.
He is indeed a fine workman.
He presented me a wooden picture frame.
It's so nice. Thank you very much, Grandson.
I hurried to Artist Garden, gallery & cafe,
at Ikebukuro this morning.
I had arrived there before the gallery opened.
I waited in front of the door for 20 minutes.
It was very hot and sweat was rolling down my face.
The gallery was a small one.
There were about 30 Japanese poems ( all handwriting )
were displayed on the wall with illustrations by painters
now in full activity.
I was amazed that each one of those poems was so impressive.
I read them again and again.
They celebrated life, nature, beauty or peace.
They described hope, dream, worries, regrets---
every human emotion.
I stayed in the gallery all the morning drinking a cup of cocoa.