５０年前、母を自転車に乗せて来た記憶が蘇る

　昨日午後４時頃から、高崎市木部町の土手経由で、藤岡市へ繋がる「鏑川橋」をウォーキングしました。誠に近代的な橋で、川面から高さがあり、自然の中にあって空気がよく、殊に景色は最高です。また、ご覧の通り、歩道の幅が２.５mほどあり、車が通れるほどの広さです。ここでは自然に足が前へ進みます。

　前方の山は上毛三山の一つ「榛名山」で、私は過去に各峰々の山頂を極め、それを思い出しつつ歩きました。最も感動した光景は、雌岳から水沢山を眺めた景色で、その姿はフェイスブックの最初に掲げてある写真です。ここは比較的楽に登れるのでお薦めです。

　下を流れる大河「鏑川」にはロシアからと想われる渡り鳥「コハクチョウ」が多いときには５０羽ほど飛来し、川面で羽を休めます。今年も、飛来するのは１２月中旬と想われます。

　実はこの一帯は亡き母が幼少の頃に住んでた地域で、５０年ほど前に生涯に一度だけ私は母を自転車に乗せ、先祖が作った神社を二人でお参りしたことがあります。

　この鏑川の畔で、子供であった母は母親に手を引かれ「ハレー彗星」を見たときの感動を生前によく話しました。「尾がすごく長く美しかった」と言ってました。おそらく１９１０年に出現したときの「ハレー彗星」と想われます。

Dear my overseas friends who are interested in astronomical phenomenon

　Yesterday around 4pm, I walked along the Kabura-River-Bridge, which connects Fujioka-City via the bank in Kibe-town, Takasaki City. It's a truly modern bridge, high above the river, surrounded by nature, with good air quality, and the scenery is particularly spectacular. Also, as you can see, the sidewalk is about 2.5m wide, enough for a car to pass through. Here my feet naturally move forward.

　The mountain ahead is Mt. Haruna, one of the well-known three mountains in Gumma prefecture, and I have climbed each peaks in the past, so that I walked while remembering that experience. The most impressive sight was the view of Mt. Mizusawa seeing from the summit of Mt. Me-dake, which is shown in the first photo on this Facebook page. I recommend you to climb it due to relatively easy to climb.

　Noy change the subject, but about 50 migratory birds which are believed to be from Russia, fly to the Kabura-River, which flows below, and rest their wings on the river's surface. This year, they are expected to arrive in mid-December.

　In fact, this area is where my late mother lived when she was a child. Once in my life, about 50 years ago, I took my mother on my bicycle and we visited a shrine built by our ancestors here.

　During her lifetime, my mother talked about how moved she was when she saw Halley's Comet as a child on the bank of the Kabura-River, with her mother leading her by the hand. She said, "It had a very long and beautiful tail." It is probably Halley's Comet which appeared in 1910, I guess.

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