猫達
この８月末迄、ストックホルムの郊外５０ｋｍ程の森の中にいます。ここの所、連日快晴ですが、気温は日中で２１℃、朝晩は１２℃と涼しいと言うよりも寒い感じです。２０００㎡位の各敷地に開発された別荘地ですが、道に沿った別荘の行き止まり、そこから先は自然保護の森が数キロという環境です。
そこに一人で寂しいかと、しかし猫２匹と騒がしく暮らしています。雄猫(黒)一歳の名はＫＯＴＩＫで、ロシア語の猫。雌猫(茶)二歳の名はＮＥＫＯです。飼い主夫妻が日系とロシア系で、こういう名前になっています。猫を飼ったことがないので新鮮な体験の連続。呼んでも来ません。耳とか、或いは尻尾が動くのが精々の反応。しかし、家中本当に静かで、私がパソコンに向かっていると、モニターが光って動くのが興味を引くのか、足音無しで、突然キーボードに乗っかって来ます。夜は、気が付くとお腹の前に一匹、背中に一匹と、川の字で寝ている。猫は、変な仲間です。

Cats
I am staying in a middle of deep forest 50 km east of Stockholm centre in this summer. The weather has been fine, beautiful, ２１℃ and 1２℃ in the mornings and evenings. It is rater cold than cool. The cottage is in the developed area, each site is ca 2000 ㎡. The place I stay is situated at an end of a passage so my neighbourhood is a natural forest reserve of a few kilometers’ width.
To live alone in such an environment can be lonely but it is quite noisy and vivid with two cats. Tomcats (black), one year old, is named KOTIK and she (brown), two years old, is named NEKO. Kotik means in Russian “cat”. Their owners are Japanese and Russian therefore so they are. Since I have never had a cat, it is full of fresh experience. When I call, they don’t come, just they react slightly moving their ears or tails. However, when it is nice and quiet, and I work with my PC, he or she comes quietly and sits on the key-board. Perhaps, light, motion and noise attract them. In the middle of the night, I realize one cat sleeping in front of me and another cat back side of me. These cats are cute mates.