戸倉上山田温泉から車で５分がりんご畑のメッカです。昨日もりんご農園に顔を出しました。今年は特に「信濃スイート」という種類が美味しいです。名前通り、甘くておいしいリンゴです。

この写真はふじりんごです。色付きは良いと思いましたが、農家さんに聞いたらふじの収穫は１１月２０日ごろから始まるそうです。そのころはふじの味が一番付くそうです。それまでに、黄色「しなのゴールド」や深い赤の「秋映え」、そして今年に特に美味しい「しなのスイート」を楽しめます。

A quick 5-minute drive from Togura Kamiyamada Onsen will bring you to Kamiyamada's apple orchard paradise. Yesterday I stopped again to visit one of the orchards. This year, the 'Shinano Sweet' variety is especially delicious. Just at the name says, it is sweet variety of apples.

This picture is of a fuji apple tree. The coloring looked good to me, but when I asked the farmer, he said they won't start picking the fujis until around November 20th. Apparently that's when their taste will be at its fullest. So until then, we can enjoy varieties like the yellow 'Shinano Gold', deep red 'Akibae' and, this year's star, 'Shinano Sweet'.

飛田さんのクラウン農園のHPはこちらClick here for Tobita-san's Crown Farm website.

亀清旅館のロビーに花の飾り（フラワー・アレンジメント）は良く置いております。今はフラワーではなくて、フルーツ・アレンジメントを飾っています。親戚や近所の人から珍しい果実を頂きまして、バスケットに入れて置いています。香りの良い「かりん」、ちょうど今が時期の柿（普通の柿も珍しい黒柿も）、不思議な形しているザクロ、そしてさらに不思議な形しているあけび。

ちょっと旬の風情、ちょっと遊び心。ちょっとアート。

Usually in our lobby we have colorful flowers decorated in pretty arrangements here and there. Right now, though, we have not flower arrangements, but fruit arrangements. One of our aunts and a neighbor gave us some interesting fruits, so we put them in baskets and set them out: a fragrant 'karin' quince, some 'kaki' persimmons that are just in season now (including some rare black persimmons), a 'zakuro' pomegranate with its odd-looking innards showing, and a fruit with even odder-looking innards, an 'akebi' which in English is apparently 'akebia', or 'chocolate vine'.

Part art, part seasonal decoration, part playful spirit.

24日（日）のハロウィーンパーティーin戸倉上山田温泉の為のかぼちゃが来ました。隣の松代町の花見さんが毎年、ランタン作り用のかぼちゃを育ってくれる。亀清旅館の玄関にこのオレンジ色のかぼちゃをいっぱい飾って、一気にハロウィーンムードになりました。

The pumpkins for this Sunday's "Halloween Party in Togura Kamiyamada Onsen" have arrived. We are storing them here at Kamesei Ryokan's entrance until the big event. The Kenmi family in neighboring Matsushiro raise the pumpkins for us every year.

With all of these big, orange pumpkins on display, our inn has suddenly taken on a Halloween feeling!

とぐら上山田のハロウィーンパーティーの詳しくはこちら。Click here for more info on Togura Kamiyamada's Halloween party.

亀清旅館が一番長く付き合っているリンゴ農園が宮下農園です。昨日、宮下さんが今年の初のリンゴを持って来てくれました。夏は記録的に暑かったせいで、大きさは小さ目で日焼けされたりんごが出ています。でも、宮下さん達は良く選別しているので、お客さんに自慢が出来る美味しいリンゴの提供しています。

持って来てくれたのは「千秋」、「陽光」、青い色の「しなのゴールド」と、私の一番好きな、尼酸っぱい「紅玉」。

信州の旬の味覚：りんご！

上山田の宮下農園　Tel 026-275-3356
亀清旅館から車で約５分。

When apple season starts here in Kamiyamada, we get delighted by a plethora of varieties. Miyashita-san of Miyashita Orchard came by yesterday with some of the first apples from this year's crop. Two red varieties, "Senshu" and "Yoko", a golden one called "Shinano Gold", and my favorite, the deep red and wonderfully tart "Kogyoku".

This year's unusually warm summer resulted in smaller fruit sizes and a number of apples with sun damage. But the Miyashita's went through all their trees and took out the worst ones. So come and try apple picking, and enjoy the abundance of Kamiyamada's nature!

Miyashita Orchard is only 5 minutes away by car from Kamesei Ryokan. We gladly provide shuttle service.

戸倉上山田の周辺の田んぼは稲狩りが始まっています。田んぼを高い所から見れば、金色の波になっている収穫前の田んぼと茶色土が残っている狩った後の田んぼと干してある稲の列、色と模様のモザイクになります。

私の大好きな風景です。ずっと見たくなっちゃう。農家さん達の稲刈りの作業のリズムを見て、なんとなく落ち着きます。（そう言っちゃうと、「何もしないで見るだけなら、手伝って一緒に作業しろ！」と言われっちゃうのかな？）

The rice fields in and around Togura Kamiyamada are starting to get harvested now. The farmers are trying to strike the right balance between letting the fields dry out enough to work them with waiting for the rice plants to mature. With rain scheduled for tomorrow, I noticed more farmers out in the fields today cutting down the plants and stringing them up to dry.

I love the look of the rice fields in this mix of golden waves of ripening rice plants contrasting with the brown dirt of the harvested fields, punctuated by rows of rice fronds set out to dry. I could watch this scenery all day; it's especially with the relaxing slow, steady pace of the farmers working to harvest the crop. Of course, they'd probably get angry at me for just watching and not helping with the work.

戸倉上山田温泉から車で4，5分でぶどう畑があります。9月はぶどう狩りの時期なので、亀清旅館でその採れたてぶどうをデザートとしてお客様に出しております。私は何度も買付しに行った事があるし、うちの子供達やお客さんも連れたりするけど、今回は初めて亀清の中井さんと一緒に行きました。若手の清水で、本人からお客様に周辺の面白い所の案内が出来る様にまずは本人が体験する必要がある。と言う訳で、清水がぶどう狩りをしている写真です。

ぶどう狩りは農家によって、来週で終わるところもあり、10月の頭まで続く所もあります。温泉＋ぶどう狩りはどうですか？

Our onsen town, Togura Kamiyamada is fortunate to have U-Pick grape orchards just a short 4-5 minutes away. Here at Kamesei Ryokan, we serve our guests fresh-picked local grapes as dessert with their dinners during the month of September which is grape season around here. I go to the orchards on a regular basis to buy grapes directly from the growers. And every once in a while I take our kids and even sometimes our guests. This time, I took Ms. Shimizu, one of our room attendants here at Kamesei. It is important for her to be able to give local sightseeing and activities advice to our guests, and the best way for her to be able to do that is to see and do herself. That's why she is picking grapes in this orchard.

Depending on the grower, the season will run until early October. Some are already starting to finish up, though, so if you want to enjoy an onsen + grape picking holiday, you'll have to hurry!

中島農園の詳しくはこちら Click here for details on Nakajima Orchard

クラウン農園の詳しくはこちらClick here for more on Crown Farm

９月になりました。上山田では、ぶどうシーズンになったという意味です。昨日は去年に付き合い始まった中島農園に行きました。採れたてぶどうは三種類を農家で直接買って、そしてうちの板長が色合わせでデザートとしてお客様に提供しております。県外の方が特に喜びます。こんなに新鮮なぶどうは東京じゃ味えない。実は、今回、東京からの親子のお客様を連れて行きました。「ぶどう畑に入るのは初めて！」と喜んでくれました。

私も一年ぶりでぶどう畑に入れて、喜んだ。旅館若旦那の仕事は布団引きだけじゃない。信州の豊かな自然も楽しめるのが嬉しい所ですね。

It's September, and here in Kamiyamada, that means grape season. Last year Kamesei Ryokan started buying grapes directly from one of the local growers, Nakajima Orchard. Yesterday I went to buy some freshly picked grapes for our chef to serve the guests as their dessert. We buy 3 different varieties, so Chef Takei can make a colorful arrangement. Guests from out-of-prefecture really like being able to eat freshly picked grapes. You just can't get grapes this juicy and flavorful in Tokyo. Actually, I took a father-and-son party of guests with me to the orchard. It was their first time to actually be in a grape orchard. They were pretty excited.

Actually, I was excited to -- it was the first time for me to see the orchard in a year. Being able to enjoy the natural splendor of Nagano is one of the perks of being a ryokan proprieter here!

中島農園の新しいＨＰはこちらClick here for Nakajima Orchard's new website.

8月の天気は異常に荒かった。お盆が終わってから、温度が下がらず暑い月でした。上旬に豪雨で亀清旅館の裏に洪水になった。それで、８月の最後の日で、また豪雨で、ボランティアー消防の方々が出てきましたが、今回は洪水にならなかった。雨が止んだ後、千曲川の上にこんなに綺麗な虹が出ました。虹を見て、安心しました。これで天気が少しでも普通に戻るかな？

This past August was a rough one weather-wise. Record high temperatures that have continued unabated even after the O-Bon summer festival. And, earlier in the month, a couple of flashes of torrential rain storms, one of which resulted in minor flooding in the back of Kamesei Ryokan. Yesterday, the last day of the month, decided not to disappoint: unseasonably warm temperatures during the day, and in the late afternoon, another rain squall. The volunteer fire department was deployed, but fortunately no flooding this time. And after the rain stopped, a beautiful rainbow came out over the Chikuma River. Perhaps a sign that the weather will be returning to normal?

地元の上山田のぶどうは少しずつ注目されてきています。亀清旅館は去年から、農家から直接買って、お客様に新鮮なぶどうをデザートで出しはじまりました。今日はその農家の一人が亀清に寄って、今年の初採りのぶどうをくれました。一年ぶりでその美味しい事！

農家さんによると、この頃が異常に暑かったので昼と夜の温度差があまりなくて、そのせいでぶどうの色付きが遅れているそうです。やっぱり、この暑さは人間だけじゃなくて、植物にも影響がある！今日だって、長野で記録の温度だったそうです。

シーズンは9月から本格的に始まる予定なので、それまでに色が付けばいいよね。取り敢えず、今日のお客様はラッキー：初採れのぶどうを食べれて。

Our local Kamiyamada grape growers have been steadily gaining recognition. Here at Kamesei Ryokan, last year we started buying directly from some growers and offering the fresh-picked grapes to our guests as dessert during the season.

Today, one of those growers stopped by and gave us a carton of sweet, juicy grapes -- the first of the season. She said that the hot weather, especially the lack of difference between afternoon and nighttime temperatures, means the grapes' coloring isn't coming on very well. So it's not just us humans that are suffering with the heat -- plants are having problems too! Today was apparently a record hot day here in Nagano. Hopefully temperatures at night will cool down so the grapes get their color by the time the season kicks in on September 1st.

For now, our guests today enjoyed first-crop, fresh-picked grapes with their dinners tonight.

Japan's O-Bon festivities take place from August 13th to the 15th. It's a time for families to gather, often to make trips to the 'haka' (family grave) to pay respects to members who have passed on. As O-Bon finishes, it marks a psychological end to the summer holiday seasons. As if symbolize this shift towards the cooler days of autumn, today I spotted this red dragonfly in Kamesei's naka-niwa garden. Red "tombow" as they are called in Japanese typically start to come out in the fall.

Hot, summer-like weather is here for several more days, but this autumn visitor seems to be saying that O-Bon is over -- get ready for fall!

今日、亀清の中庭にこの赤とんぼを見つけました。黒いトンボはこの夏、ずっと見ていました。亀清のロビーにもよく遊びに来てくれる。でも、赤いトンボは今年、初めて見たような気がした。女将社長に聞いた：「赤いトンボは秋のトンボでしたっけ？」　それはそうだ。お盆は昨日でちょうど終わったから、秋はいつ始まってもおかしくない。夏の様な熱い天気がしばらく続きそうだけど、赤いトンボが示しているように、秋はそのうち来ます。