Golden holidays have started!

we have 10-day holiday this year.
It is fun, and---
Anyway I have to prepare three meals for at least two of us. Usually both of us eat only breakfast together.
For these two days, we had a usual weekend.
The first day we organized the rooms, and cooked stake.
Recently the role of cooking stake is Yuk's job.
This way of wrapping stake with aluminum paper for resting the meat is his way.

Yesterday, we went out to a festival, where my friend Was opening her stall,

I bought this her homemade buns and meatball for our dinner.

season word 0426 May Blues

Do you know the word of "May blues"?
I heard in England they have a similar word "January blues".

We have a big holiday called "Golden week", which starts from this weekend this year.
After the vacation some freshmen or new students might suffer from post-vacation blues.
And some mothers also might suffer from empty nest syndrome.

May blues, children being independent, the nest being empty
May blues, take some rest, DAIYOUBU (don't worry)

It is raining now,

These are gadget for my laughter club activity.

 

We volleyed? tossed? balloons without dropping them while laughing ---does it make sense?

Laughter yoga is laughing activity. However tossing (volleying ) balloons caused laughing naturally.

And we pretend to be a animal in turn, and try to make the animal's laughing.

It was fun.

Yesterday two women came, and for one and a half hour we were laughing.

 

Today it is raining. A gardener was going to come but it was put off.

This time I asked him to lower tall trees in our garden to the same height of our height.

It means we are thinking to trim the trees by ourselves in a few years.

Step by step the preparation for our retirement life has been started.

 

 

 

On Tuesdays

The first Tuesday I went to Tokyo.

The second Tuesday I played the piano at karaku, and enjoyed sweets. 

The third Tuesday I did volunteer activity at the library.
And today I hold my laughter club in the morning and recorder jam session in the evening .

Tuesdays are the days of my hobby.

Monday has started

 

Finally my elder daughter left Japan, and now she is in the U.S.A.

You might say "what are doing parents! " , we saw her off at Narita airport.

 

Well, we didn't attend her entrance ceremony and graduation ceremony of the university.

Many parents attend them in Japan. At that time I was said "how cool you are!" and "how independent your daughter is!".

 

Going to a Narita airport was a kind of a short trip for us.

Luckily now we can go there by highway roads all the way. It takes about 2 hours and more by car.

 

We left home around 4:30, and see her off there around 8:30.

And Yuki and I had brunch there --- Japanese style rice soup.

 

And on the way home, we dropped by a famous Japanese curry restaurant.

 

It was a good trip.

 

season word 0419 magnolia

"magnolia" is "magnolia", I know.

Do you or can  you use different word depends on the types?

Magnolia quinquepeta is called "Mokuren",

Magnolia grandiflora is called "Taizanboku",

and 

Magnolia kobus  is called "Kobushi". 

Mokuren is usually purple.

Taizanboku is bigger than other magnolias.

Kobushi is usually pink and bloom with a leaf. And the origin is in Japan.

MOKUREN, continuing long time (in a Japanese style  garden), keep its simpleness

Magnolia, in the current style garden (in Japan), show its elegacne

Tuesday

It is the day of volunteer reading at the library for me.
Today I'm going to take an interview from a NGO group.
It is a wonderful thing, isn't it? --- even though I'm not sure how many people come to the library to join my reading time because of a weekday.
And, on "our" member list there are 7 members in my volunteer group. However the real member is just me. The others are just members on paper, or just helpers. (Probably today one of them will come to help me.)
This volunteer activity has been continued for more than 10 years. At first this activity was done with our children. While our children growing, most of them started to pursue their own life and their own time.
And anyway I'm continuing this activity.
I'm not sure it is being done on automatic pilot. (Does it make sense?) .
Though I don't have a lot of passion, I don't mind doing it.
Is it strange?
Anyway I think my activity helps someone. It is not bad.

Monday has started

I got a qualification of Japan medical herb practitioner, though it is for beginner.

I don't use this qualification for job, just to get more and correct knowledge of current herb world in Japan.

Of course I need to update the knowledge and information, but not to need to study deeper or more wider.

 

Monday has started.

It is non-scheduled day in a while.

I made this wreath using the bay leaves in the garden.

 

 

Last night I cooked quick dinner using caraway seeds, and fresh herbs in the garden.

And I also "weeded" doku-dami.

However it is used as tea, and doku-dami herb water.

So I've started to dry them.

 

On the other hand I bought this book.

 



This book is for herb and fairy stories.

For example, "The Little Red Riding Hood took "elder flower jam and syrup" to her grandmother."

 

Herb has been used since early times. So it is no wonder that many kinds of herb is on many fairy or folk stories.

 

So now I'm organizing a herb & English picture book meeting.

Sounds fun, doesn't it?

 

 

 



seasnoal word 0412 schoolchild's backpack

 

We call this bag RANDOSEL.

Its origin seems to be in Germany.

Now it is one of Japanese cultural things.
I know, it is heavy.
I know, it is not so inexpensive.
However this bag is continuing to be used.

When I was a child, or my daughter were child, they used to have two types, black ones, and red ones. Of course black ones for boys, and red ones for girls.
Usually it is sent from grandparents to their grandchildren.
It was easy to choose, just considering the cost.

Nowadays, they have various colors, so we can't deny to hear the favorite of their grandchildren.

RANDOSEL, it got difficult for grandparents to chose one, because of various colors
RANDOSEL, it got heavy again, because of the change of education system.

When I was a girl, I remember it was very heavy.
And when my younger daughter was a girl, the weight of the bag seemed to get lighter, because the education system of Japan changed. They didn't need to take a lot of textbooks to school.
And currently the education system has also changed or to go back to our area.
It means the weight of the bag seems to get heavy.

Yesterday, in this area the entrance ceremony to elementary school was hold.
I saw many parents and children wearing a nice suit.

another season word Buddha's birthday

 

You might think most of Japanese people are Buddhists.

Well, actually we take in lots of things involved with Buddhism in our daily lives.

However this festival is not so familiar. We enjoy Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day, and nowadays Easter. But this "Hanamatsuri" is not so familiar.

Once, coincidently, I have joined this festival at a temple.

Usually April 8  falls on a weekday, so, if we are not so interested in it, we don't notice the "quiet" birthday.

 

 

season word farewell gift

 

 

In English, the word "gift" is used of SENBETSU.

However SENBEGTSU is usually "cash" in Japan.

 

What a suitable word for us this is.

This Friday I go to Tokyo to visit my mother and my mother in-law.

 

Yuki also goes to Tokyo on business.

In the day time I meet my mother and my elder daughter. -- it is a kind of send-off party.

And at night Yuki, my elder daughter and I have dinner with my mother in-law. It is also a kind of send-off party.

In one week, my elder-daughter goes to America and stay there for a while.

 

For both of our mothers, they are a good opportunity to have "meat".

And for my elder-daughter it is an opportunity to get farewell gift.

 

cheery blossom season has gone.

This spring our cherry blossom season came earlier than usual, and has gone earlier than usual.
However we had lots of nice days for enjoying the season, so lots of people must have been satisfied with SAKURA of this year.
Actually this spring I really enjoyed SAKURA.

Because, the Sakura season felt on spring vacation for kids.
So Ah-chan came here to stay with us for about a week.

On weekends, we went out to climb a hill and enjoyed lunch box under Sakura trees.

 Of course we "had to" go shopping. To be surprised, in the mall there was a real Sakura in the food court.

 

Though on the weekdays, Yuki went to work as usual, and I had lessons in the evening.

So we usually went out with lunch boxes in the morning.

We went to a big park near by.

We went to a child center nearby.

This year thankfully I really enjoyed Sakura and spring vacation with my family.

 

To tell the truth, this summer Ah-chan family moves to Thailand because of her father's job.

Probably they will live there at least more than 3 years.

So, this year's Sakura gave us a special memory.