Minoh weekend update, the last of this autumn

thousands and thousands of people on the takimichi today. thousands and thousands of people at Umeda yesterday. it was the first time to see so many people on the trail to the waterfall but it was not the first time to see so many people shopping at Umeda especially at and around the Hankyu department store. Noriko and i took her Parents to the Hankyu department store so her Mother could buy some "thank you" gifts. i will explain "what for" in another blog. her Mother said she would never go there again...too many people. her Father seemed lost from the moment we were ready to leave home. i think he saw more people yesterday than in this whole year. we stopped at Hakunoshima
for dinner. it was the first time the 4 of us had been out together in over a year or two (about 8 visits). today was Noriko`s longest break from home with me during my autumn visit. i took her on my tour to the waterfall. we were both surprised by how many people there were there but she has seen more there on New Year`s Day going to Ryuan-ji (temple)(the one by the red bridge). by chance we met Takechi-san (the interesting looking man who is always walking the three dogs). he said "hello" and "have fun" to me. on friday night there was a special about Minoh`s takimichi and waterfall on NHK (kind of like PBS in the USA). and by chance, Takechi-san was interviewed. we found out who that man in the suit and hat who is always walking three dogs at a very brisk pace is named Takechi. he said he is 52 years old and he and his dogs walks 10k a day (about 6.2 miles). more on him later. after we made it back down from the waterfall, thru all the people, we did some shopping and a few errands before trying out the new kissaten (cafe, tea house) called Cosy Cafe Cottage just down the road from Noriko`s home. the owner likes England (but she had never been) so she said she has tried to give it a Cotswald feel. the tables and chairs are antiques from England as are the windows. it was very charming. the cafe only seats about 12 people at most. and, there is basically 3 choices for meals (no, not chicken, beef or pasta). we had a delicious curry rice meal which came with salad, tea and blueberry yogurt for dessert. it took us about 5 minutes to walk back home. i carried in the groceries, grabbed my coat and cassette recorder and said ittekimasu and went back to the bus stop to catch the 440p bus to Senri-chuo for my last "street live". more on that later and the cds i bought. another delicious dinner was waiting for me around 8pm. everyone had eaten but were still watching tv (resting under the kotatsu) until i finished my dessert, abekawamochi. very good but hard to explain at 120a on monday morning so...oyasumi for this last weekend in Japan update.
ps. the autumn colors today were probably at or near their best on the waterfall trail. and we did see a monkey way up in a tree but no sanshouwo (salamanders). and for the first time i (we) saw a couple of O-bosans (kind of like begging monks)(again hard to explain). and i (we) stopped by an interesting building on the trail that was built last year by the founder of Panasonic. more on that later too along with the connection to Confuscious.