A small concert at a cafe

Today it is the last weekday.

What are you planning on this weekend?

Last Saturday, though it is a week ago, Yuki and I went to a consent at a cafe. 

The Cafe is -----

Yes, it is the cafe where they let me put some my Englishpicture books on their shelf.

The books on the photo are for April. They have already decorated on the shelf.

 

Two performers (or more correct words are singers) appeared.

Their music is probably kind of folk songs, I'm not sure what they are classified nowadays.

The atmosphere was very calm and made us relaxed, although we are the oldest couple and the audience is different from usual audience we see at concerts. (Well, additionally, I'm not sure what types of audience is usual, anyway at that time they are younger.)

 

One lady introduced an entertaining song which introduce Utsunomiya. She got a job to introduce Utsunomiya through her songs. Though it 's Japanese, I put her youtube.

 

 

 

The scene is HACHIMANYAMA-park.

Usually around the late of March, cherry blossoms already started to bloom. However not yet this year.

Dormitory

With smiling , my child is entering into the dormitory , her Independence Day .

Only two people in the car (on the way back home), 

    too hard to think about our life (without kids),  tears coming up naturally 

Take-out curry

I'm not a vegetarian. However if you want to have wonderful curry in Japan, it might be a good choice to go to a restaurant where they serve  some things for vegetarians.
To tell the truth, not so many vegetarian restaurants in Utsunomiya.
This "shop" is a shop, not a restaurant where they serve take-out foods (mainly lunch box which we call OBENTOU) for vegetarians.
Though the result comes first, they serve good curry for vegetarians.
I have wanted to have one, though it  is easly sold out quickly and it is sold only every Thursday.
On Thursdays one person from Sri Lankan cooks curry and serve it.
 

 

Of course it's beans curry.

It's spicy and hot, especially the orange flake was too hot for me to eat.

However I really enjoyed it. I thought I should have bought one more for Yuki, even though he would have to eat it for his breakfast next morning.

 

Weekend chore

 

As usual I cooked these pre-cooked dishes for this week. And constantly they have been going.

Additionally I baked sweets yesterday for this week, especially for today (because Laughter yoga meeting with my two neighbors was held just 20 minutes ago and I served it. 

Of course I served it for today's breakfast.

And I also did 15 discarding.
Well, well, these days I managed to do it. thankfully paying off  my efforts, my house seems to be organized better, however we need keep it. Anyway I will change from 15 discarding things to 10 discarding things.
This time I checked TENBUKRO means the top of closet which we seldom open. There is a stock of lace curtains. So  "finally changed the curtains in the sunroom into the curtains we had stored for a long time.
Of course I discarded the old 6 curtains.

high school students' opinions 0327

This school year, luckily I have still three high school students. discussing something with them and listening to them are very interesting.

We including me try to speak something in English ( or we have to, because they are taken my "English lesson"), it's sometimes difficult for all of them because  of not only our lack of English ability but also of difficulty in putting together our mind.

So first we try to put together what we want to talk in Japanese, and translate them in English. Translating English help us to get more clear what we want to talk through forcing subjects and verbs.

1,What do you think people commit crimes?

Not all people commit crimes, even though they might have experienced telling lies or cheating someone.

Some of the reasons are the following:

We might commit crimes when we lose control of ourselves because of poverty, too much stress or loneliness.

Stealing might be seen as an quick answer when we are too tired to struggle with poverty.

Being violent is an instant way to release too much stress, although it is only a momentary relief.

And killing or injuring someone often seems to be caused by a person who feels loneliness and considers himself to be forgotten from the world. It is an instant way for him to get attention from others.

However, it's a sad thing to commit crimes. So we have to constantly discipline ourselves and be aware of ourselves.

(Additionally education helps us to understand why many crimes are committed. So we should study hard, not only for exams.)


2 Do you think printed books will become obsolete with the popularity of e-books?

A boy 's opinion

Probably yes. Almost every body is unanimous in accepting the fact that internet is a part of our lives.

So in the future, almost everyone will use tablets, cell phones, or another devices, and they will know how it will be easy to read books on them.

So I'm afraid e-books may drive paper books into a corner.

A girl's opinion

Though printed books might be obsolete, I prefer reading printed books. And, probably not all senior people will catch up with the new technology.

To tell the truth, this is a period of CDs; however cassette tapes are still used by senior people.

And for me, though I use a tablet, it's sometimes difficult to look at a whole page at once compared to a printed book.

Scrolling the screen up and down often causes losing the place where we are reading.

So I believe paper books will exist side by side with e-books. Many readers like the feeling of holding a printed book more than a device.

What do you think of them?

PS thanks professor Jan.

A friend came.

 

Yesterday, after a long interval , a friend came by my house. Then she was near my house and on a whim she called me. I was at home. And I invited her. There were still 15 minutes before she came. I prepared baking cookies.

While we were chatting, my oven worked well, we shared "fresh" and "hot" cookies.

 

She has two daughters, of course they are already independent.

Her elder daughter has two children who are still young, and while she continues her full time job as a carrier woman, she and her husband grow their children.

Her younger daughter is also married, however she pursued her carrier without having kids.

 

Not boast, but she seems to be very proud of her daughters. Because they continue their job, even though they are married. She said " I don't like to be a housewife, so I've wanted my daughters to keep their "full time" jobs."

I was very surprised. -- the phrase "I don't like to be a housewife".

And she also said "I had no choice except to be a housewife".

 

--- after she left, I was thinking about my daughters. They are fine, they do their best, however they are not stick to keeping work.

--- because my mother, my mother in-law, and "I" are still enjoying being a housewife though I work a little.

 

Moving

with sadness, or with delightful moving in spring

My friend moves to Osaka, I'll miss her.

A son of my friend enters into a college in Tokyo, so he leaves her home. Congratulations!

my spring garden

Though yesterday, it was very cold, today it is warm like usual "early" spring.
When I hear the word "spring", I'm feeling to want to organize my garden, though I don't like weeding.
However in this season I don't need to weed, just put the seedling pots, of course I need to take the seedling from the pot.
I know garden-lovers (I don't now whether such a word exists or not) take care their soil to soften and fertilize and   plant seeds.

 

In Tokyo today the arrival of cherry blossoms was announced.

Of course not yet, in  Utsunomiya.

I put fake cherry branches on the shelf.

 

Additionally, this books is about "Sakura", but the dress is not ours.

Monday has started.

Though it's a holiday, for us it's a usual Monday.
On Sunday, it was the day for me to read English picture books at the library.

 

I prepared these things.

After introducing Easter, I let the kids to egg (or chick) hunting at the reading corner.

It was fun.

 

In the afternoon, we had our winter tiers changed into normal tires.

Well, well, the tires of Yuki's car seems to be old, it seems the time to "buy" new tires.

I wanted to buy ones immediately at the car shop then, he didn't do that.

I hope he will do that as soon as possible.

 

Then while I was cooking pre-pared dishes, I ds carded 15 little things.  

We did Sunday's job, so we have a usual Monday. Yuki works, and I will go to a beauty salon to get my hair cut.

Diploma

Eigosaijiki of this week was diploma.

Do you keep your deplomas?

I don't know where they are, and Yuki's neither.

Holding a tube with my diploma, I'm smiling in a photo, I know I graduated long years ago.

Kintsugi or kintsukuroi

Yesterday it was the day for Karaku it means I was a pianist at the moment. As usual some audience came to listen to us. -- I played the piano, and Ms.U read some poems. After the 30 minute performing, we enjoyed a good coffee and sweet.

 

This cup is Hasani-yaki potery.

And the back side is --

Can you see the line?
This cup was broken at the big earthquake and the master repaired with KINTSUGI.
KINTSUGI is --- according to Wikipedia
is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, a method similar to the maki-e  technique. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.

Looks KOFUU ---doesn't it?

KOFUU means ancient and modesty.

How do you get the fuzz off your sweater?

My friend came to have lunch together at home. And she started remove the fuzz of my sweater with a razor in unexpected events.

 

She "cannot" eat meat. so I prepared fish.

Though I wrote "unexpected events", before she came I had changed winter clothes to spring clothes.

So while I was talking to her, I talked about my sweaters which I love but had lots of fuzz.

 

So she suddenly said "May I borrow a razor?", and started doing it.
Removing the fuzz seemed not to be so difficult, but rather to be easy. However it takes long time (for me) --- it means for me it looks like to be "troublesome".
She was laughing. And she said "thanks to this lunch, I'll take it to home and finish removing the fuzz off ".

Four and a half hour trip to Mimami Bousou.

A Monday has started. "we" managed to do all things this weekend.
Last Saturday Yuki and I left home about 6:30 and took local trains (We changed  trains just twice on the way to Chiba) to Chiba.

Though I wrote " we changed trains twice", it means, on the day we took a special train from OOMIYA to BOUSOU
This is a special train, it runs just fore times during the spring. So many people who loves trains came to the platform to take photos.

We got to HAMAKANAYA at 11:20.

We came to see this art festival.

Because, yes, our elder daughter T participated in it.

 

 

Bousou is at the bottom of Chiba prefecture, so we saw the sea after a long interval, because we have no sea in Tochigi prefecture.

 

Of course we enjoy fish food.

And  after two hours later we bounded to Utsunomiya. On the way to home, we had to change trains 4 times. We got to home around 7, and had dinner at home ( We bought some cooked-dishes on the way home). As soon as I ate up, I went to bed.
Probably Yuki went to bed earlier than usual -- because the next day he went to play golf from early morning. I also had some things for the new school year at home.

Bread and breakfast

I had too much bread, called syokupan. So I baked breach toast, and

We ate up for our breakfast. To tell the truth, just some pieces left, and it got my snack on the same day. 

According to the recipe, just half of carrot is suitable, however I ignored it. I ground a whole of carrot, and bake it. Perfect.

End of the school year

Yesterday, it was the last lesson of this 2016 school year of my school.

In a week, my school will start, though I don't set a spring vacation on my lesson schedule.

Anyway I'm really relieve that I did all lessons.

And now I also refresh my mind to next year.

Until now, I have no new students, however expect the students who graduat in March, the others continue taking my lesson next school year.

Though I am thinking about my retirement, I like to teach something to people.

Today, anyway, I have to reorganize my classroom. 

 

Spring has come --- though with lots of pollen

Finally I've found that FUKUJYUSOU is blooming.
This FUKUJYUSOU came about 30 years ago, it means at that time my coworker gave it as a present of our new house. At that time it was very small, just like this. And ten years later it was so big. However since then, the root seems to get old, and--- this year anyway one FUKUJYUSOU managed to bloom.
Probably I need to dig the land up, and put some fertile and ---
Will I do that???

 

The other day a friend visited me after a long interval. She brought me FUKINOTOU and the last YUZU which was in her garden. Fresh FUKINOTOU is the best for TEMPURA, however it was too much for only me to have them.

So I boiled them and put some olive oil. I also sliced YUZU into "frozen" honey.

 

Spring has come, though we have lots pollen.

Yesterday I was going to hold a workshop here, two attendees were not in good shape, so I decided to postpone the workshop. To tell the truth, I also had a headache and a slight fever because of the pollen.

 

last Sunday

 
 
 

 

 

I've already put away Hina dolls.

Last Sunday, I went out downtown. It is getting warm, so some events are started to be held downtown.

 

 

I met the couple of the used bookshop owners who deal with my English picture books.

 

Though it is getting warm, a cold wind still brew last Sunday.

I had hot sweet red-beans soup called OSHIRUKO.

On the same day, Yuki and I went out downtown at the evening.

In March, the shops downtown organize some workshops.

Here at a café the lady owner held a workshop how to enjoy coffee for adults.

 

 

After we learnt how tow brew tasty regular coffee, we also learnt how to make coffee cocktail based iced-coffee. 

To enjoy these cocktail we bothered to go there by bus. 

It was a wonderful weekend.----however for me it was still cold, so now I'm suffering runny nose (not because of pollen allergy). I seem to have a little cold.

Hina festival

Though it is a usual weekday, it is the day of Hina festival today.

Probably at many houses with kids chirps hi-sushi must be served for dinner. And at school probably Hina-arare , kind of snack must be served.

Hina festival is the day to wish girls grow healthy beautifully .

To celebrate ealier Hina festival to myself ( though I've already grew up beautifully enough) I had a luck at a cafe where the lady owner serves Hina-lunch for this week.

Today, three girls come to take my lesson, so I'll give them a bag of Hina-arare.

This picture was taken at a house where the owner open a room to show their old Hina dolls only for two weeks.

We visited there last weekend. 

Filing an income tax return

 

This is the article on Today's News paper. The title is "eigo saijiki", which means seasonable words in English.

SAIJIKI is often used as KIGO in Haiku or Tanka which are traditional Japanese poem styles. So I really surprised FILING AN INCOME TAX RETURN (KAKUTE SHINKOKU) is dealt as SAIJIKI. Of course such system didn't exist in old periods.

 

Anyway I already "did" it.

I'm a member of dependent family, so my national pension is paid automatically from Yuki's tax.

And my health insurance coverage is deducted from Yuki's salary.

However anyway I earn some money, so I need to do it.

When I do it, I always reconsider my job and decide "I'll continue my class one more year".

 

One more year, I always rethink , annual tax due month (Filing an income tax return)

---- this is HAIKU

March!!

These are books decorated on the shelf at KAZAHANANO BUNKO and café in March.
Yesterday's evening I went there to take some English books there.
Though people who borrow my books are not appeared, the shop owner and visitors seem to enjoy the collection corner.
When I went there, it was already at night (for me  -- it is past 6 o'clock) and I was so hungry.
So I had dinner there.

 

We call this style of spaghetti "Naporitan". Some people say it is SHOWA-style.

SHOWA means the period from 1926 to 1989. Except my younger daughter all members of my family were born in SHOWA period. Now it is in HEISEI. So SHOWA-style means "a little bit" ( I dare to add it) old-style.

 

Yuki loves Naporitan. When he was in university, he would always eat it at the school cafeteria.



 

 

Well, well, yesterday, in the morning one person came (I'm afraid that another person cancelled.)

And in the afternoon two people came  --- to do laughter YOGA.

I had a good start to do laughter YOGA.