The cosmos flower field in front of Kita Station, Miyazu City.

I finally went to see Nunobiki Waterfall which I've wanted to see for a long time. But you can only see the waterfall when it has rained or there is snowmelt etc. Since this Golden Week holiday had plenty of rain, it was the perfect opportunity. It's located in Honjo, Ine Town, Kyoto Prefecture. My image of Honjo is a place that has a lot of monkeys and Tanuki (racoon dogs). But it is an origin of the famous legend of Urashima Taro, had a mountain castle (Honjo Castle) in the Sengoku period and also has a beautiful coastline.
ずっと前から布引の滝を見に行きたくて、やっと行けました。降雨日の翌日などでないと流れている滝を見ることができません。今年のゴールデンウイークに雨の日が多くて、いいチャンスでした。布引の滝が京都府、伊根町、本庄地区にあります。今までの本庄のイメージは猿とタヌキが多いところです。しかし、浦島太郎という有名な伝説の由来で、戦国時代に山城（本庄城）もあって、海岸もきれいな場所です。

Takiyama (Waterfall Mountain) Hiking Trail Entrance
To the foot of the waterfall: 870 meters.
To the mountain summit: 1,140 meters
This mountain trail is an ancient road and part of the 2.6 km path that was used for about 10 years from 1949 by junior high school students from Tsutsukawa to commute to school. Before entering the trail, put your hands together in front of the Jizo (guardian diety of children) and pray for a safe hike

I was thinking that this trail went closer to the foot of the waterfall. There are no signs or other markers down it, so if you go too far, the trail becomes a wild beast track and then disappears. I ended up in a really tough place to walk. And if that wasn't enough, I came super close to 2 venomous snakes and had a large tick crawling on my pants. Eventually I came across 3 red pegs in the ground and followed them back up to the trail. It was a bit of a wild detour.
この道が滝の近くに至ると勘違いしました。標識などが何もないから行きすぎたら、道が獣道になって、そして消えます。大変歩きにくいところに入ってしまいました。おまけに二つの毒蛇であるヤマカガシの近くに寄って、大きいマダニも私のズボンに付きました。　ついに赤い杭を3本見つけて、　登山道に出ました。ワイルド・ゾーンの中の遠回りでした。

布引の滝
滝の規模：落差96m、総延長284m
別名：雲引滝、浦島滝、熊野滝
由来：昔、浦島子が乙姫様からもらった玉手箱を開けたところ、白雲が立ち昇り、この山に棚引いて滝になったというで説がある。
Nunobiki Waterfall
Waterfall scale: 96m drop, Total length of 284m
Other names: Kumobiki Falls, Urashima Falls, Kumano Falls
Origin: There is a legend where when Urashimako opened the forbidden jeweled box that he'd received from Princess Otohime, smoke rose up and became this waterfall on the mountain.

思ったより布引の滝が素晴らしいです。
面白いアドベンチャーでした。（笑）
 Nunobiki Waterfall was much better than I expected.
​That was a fun adventure.

Sankin-kotai (alternate attendance) was a system during the Tokugawa shogunate of the Edo Period (1603-1868) where the roughly 200 daimyo (warlords) of Japan were required to typically spend alternate years in Edo (today's Tokyo) and their domain. The idea of this was to financially strain them making them unable to wage war. The daimyo built roads for the frequent travel. These major roads were called 'kaido'. Recently, I walked a section of Miyazu Kaido. It is paved with rocks, which is called 'ishi-tatami' (cobble paved). A large section of this stone pavement remains to this day.
先日、岩戸から普甲峠を越えたところまで参勤交代の道「宮津街道」を歩きました。この部分に石畳がまだ残っています。

数ヶ月前に母が私に洞窟にある滝の写真を送信した。面白そうな滝と思って、検索した。兵庫県新温泉町にあることを知った。宮津市からシワガラの滝の駐車場まで約2時間半かかる。春にシワガラの滝に行って探検するとその時に決めた。行ってきましたよ。素晴らしいところでした。
A few months ago, my mother sent me a photo of a waterfall in a cave. It caught my interest and I Googled it and found out that it was in Shinonsen-cho, Hyogo Prefecture. It's about a two and a half hour drive to Shiwagara Waterfall from Miyazu. At that moment, I decided that I'd go there in spring and explore it. And I just did exactly that. What a fantastic place! Well worth the trip.

I went to explore the old castle town of Izushi, Hyogo Prefecture. It's only an hour away by car. My three main goals of the day were to see the torii gates of Arikoyama Inari Shrine, Climb to top of the 321 meter high mountain where the inner keep of Izushi Castle was and then to have Izushi soba for lunch.
出石城下町を探検しに行きました。宮津市から車で1時間ぐらいかかります。私の三つの主な目標は有子山稲荷神社の鳥居をみること、有子山城跡（出石城跡）の本丸がある321メートルの山に登ること、昼食に出石皿そばを食べることでした。

It's time for my autumn adventure. Due to Covid-19, I decided not venture very far from home this time. And thus I decided to go and check out the Midono Waterfall.
秋のアドベンチャーの時間です。新型コロナウイルスのために遠いところに行かないことにしました。こうして味土野ガラシャ大滝を見に行きました。

残念ですが、妹が来日する前に自分の足を骨折した。そのため、そんなに遠く歩けなかった。それでも、色んな所に行って、いい休みができたと思います。
Unfortunately, my sister broke her foot before coming to Japan. Because of that, we weren't able to walk that far. Even so, we were able to visit many places and have a good holiday.

Day 1: 自転車で天橋立に行きました。 We went to Amanohashidate by bike.

私の家に一番近い山は宮津市の八幡山です。私のドアから（往復）1時間以内歩けます。勿論、私はいつも色々を観察しながら、ゆっくり上っていきます。山頂で下記の絶景を楽しんでから、帰って、仕事をします。
The closest mountain to my house is Mt. Hachiman, Miyazu City. It takes less than 1 hour return from my house. Of course, I take my time observing different things while going up. I get to enjoy a fantastic view at the top, then come back home and work.

5月8日にシャワーを浴びていた時に私のふくらはぎにいるマダニを見つけた。怖い！できるだけ早く除去した方がいいので、今回自分で除去した。しかし、引っ張ってはだめ!!!引っ張って除去しようとすると、体液を注入したり、顎体部がはずれて残る可能性があります。病院に行けない場合はこのやり方が一番いいと思います。厚紙に「V」の形を切って(私はゴキブリ団子の箱を使用した)、「V]の狭いところをできるだけ近くにマダニの頭につけて、紙でマダニの頭を回す。私の場合は2回転以内にマダニが頭を私のふくらはぎから出した。ホッとしました！マダニが怖い！最近SFTSが京丹後市に発生しました。嫌だ！マダニに噛まれないようにもっと注意をしましょう。
When I was taking a shower on May 8th, I noticed a tick with its head buried in my calf muscle. These things are scary. Since it is best to have them removed as fast as possible, I decided to do it myself this time. However, you mustn't grasp them and pull them out. If you try to pull them out, you might squeeze their body fluids into your body (along with any viruses) and/or you might leave parts of their jaw in you. I think this method is best if you can't go to the doctor. Cut a 'V' shape into some hard paper (I used a cockroach bait box). Then slide the 'V' up against the tick as close as possible to its head. Then rotate the tick with the hard paper till it pulls its head out of you. In my case, the tick pulled its head out within 2 rotations. Phew! That was a relief. Ticks carry some nasty viruses. Recently, a case of SFTS was reported in Kyotango City near here. I was not happy to hear of a case so close to home. Let's be extra careful not to get bitten by a tick.

ニュージーランドの最も有名なデザートはパブロバです。クリスマスと特別の時に食べます。私は作ったことがありません(母と妹はいつも作る）が、妹からパブロバの素をもらいました。私の(ベーキングが得意な)生徒さんと一緒に挑戦しました。
Pavlova is New Zealand's most famous dessert. We usually eat it at Christmas and other special times. I have never made one (my mother and sister always make them), but I was given a pavlova mix from my sister. I took up the challenge to make it with my student (who is good at baking).