First Summer Festival in My Town is Held

The first summer festival in my town is called miyaichi-sai.
The festival was held in the time between rainy season and hot summer season expressing people's joy of coming summer.

I happened to take some pictures of the very final scene of the festival.
They thanked the success of the festival and prayed their future happiness by clapping hands together.　
This 'clapping hands' is a common way of closing a festival in Japan.

Cafe Visconti

My wife and I went to a Italian cafe on our way back from Utsunomiya Museum of Art.

We had a pasta lunch and a sweets combo.

Espresso coffee was perfectly matched with their Italian dishes.

I drunk three cups of espresso at the cafe.

Green Tea and Japanese Sweets

Right :rice cake covered with bean paste and toasted soybean flour

Right :rice cake covered with bean paste and ground black sesame

Ichijyu-Issai is the name of a cafe, to which we went the other day.

They served delicious Japanese sweets and green tea.

Not only were the taste good, but the contrast of the color and  pattern of cups, dishes and covers of forks between the two plates were beautiful.

It's sometimes hard to find this type of top-notch Japanese cafe in my town.

Canadian Friend, Michel Comes Home

Michel once lived in Utsunomiya for about two years as an English teacher in 2006.

We used to drink beer with other friends at a nearby Irish Pub.

He and his Japanese wife have gone back to Canada, but visit Japan every two years since then.

It was the year 2012 when he and his family visited my home last time.

I remembered many fun moments at that time and the year 2006 to 2007 we spent.

I want to go to Canada someday and visit his home town.