自然のことをメインにした祭りの場合、がっかりが多いかもしれません。今日、お客さんは二組を森「杏の里」に連れて行きました。千曲市の代表のイベントなので今は杏祭りが開催されています。正直って、天気は晴れていたなのに、黄砂のせいか空気があまり綺麗ではなかった。そして、谷の上の方の杏はまだ２，３部しか咲いていなかった。それでも、お客さんは大喜びでした。（実は、私も！）というのは、花が咲き出した杏の木の色はかわいらしいだし、あんずの里の雰囲気は落ち着いていて、自然でいいです。「もっと宣伝すべきだ!」と写真をぱちぱち撮っていたお客さん。最後は「連れてくれて、有難う!」とハグしてくれました。（あんずソフトアイスもくれた!）
本当に今日の一日、二日間で咲き出したばかりなので今週末（４月１１日、１２日）あたりは最適だと思います。

Whenever you have a major event based around a natural event, you often times set yourself up for disappointment. Right now, our town is in the midst of one of its biggest events -- the apricot blossom festival in Mori's "Anzu no Sato". I took a couple groups of guests there this morning. To be honest, the sky was a little hazy, and the flowers were only at about 20-30% at the upper end of the valley.
However, our guests were thrilled by the apricot blossoms (as was I!). Their delicate pinkish white flowers timidly starting to bloom were so beautiful, and the pastoral setting of the valley makes for a delightful scene. "Chikuma City needs to advertise this festival more", said our guests as they went about taking hundreds of pictures. At the end, they were so grateful for me taking them, they gave me a hug! (They also bought an apricot-flavored ice cream cone! I'm not sure which I enjoyed more.)

As the blossoms have really just started blooming this past 1 or 2 days, I expect them to be in their peak for this weekend, 11-12 April.