Flamboyant
In late February in tropical Brazil, red tree flowers were beautiful. Our guide said the plant was named "flamboyant". Indeed, the flowers were very flamboyant. Then I recalled that we had seen similar flowers in Tahiti in December. It was told to be called "Poinciana". I referred to the Web and confirmed that "Royal Poinciana" and "Flamboyant" were the same.

Brazilの熱帯で真っ赤な花を付けた"Royal Poinciana"別名"Flamboyant"が見事でした。

While we were stuck in the town of Machu Picchu because the railroad was washed away, and while we were in extreme distress not knowing what would happen, there came a beautiful wild red bird to console us a little bit.

鉄道路線が洪水で流されてMachu Picchuの町で足止めを食い、これからどうなるのか不安の極致にあった時、ホテルの庭に野生の美しい赤い鳥が来て慰めてくれました。

Diamond Fuji

Again this year, I saw the diamond Fuji, the view of the sunset on top of Mt. Fuji. It happens to occur on several days around the winter solistice when Mt. Fuji is viewed from the summit of Mt. Takao, 599 m. But we must bet that the weather is good enough to see Mt. Fuji, when climbing up first by a cable car then walking up for 40 minutes.

I was going to Mt. Takao on December 19, but, seeing much cloud in the west, I bet not to go. On December 20, I saw less cloud and climbed up. Diamond Fuji was clearly seen except that there was some cloud on the right shoulder of Mt. Fuji.

There were several hundred people on the summit waiting for the sunset, and it was difficult to get a good viewpoint. But I came into the bush to locate myself. After the sunset I rushed to the cable car station, lest I should be involved in the crowd of several hundred people. I started early but ran and passed many people to reach the station earlier than anyone else.

今年も高尾山山頂からのDiamond Fujiを見ました。