English Hailku 0130

This haiku was introduced yesterday in the newspaper of MAINICH

 

gun salute --

ashes reverberate to

life in the urn

 

It was really difficult for me to understand it.

Did a person pass away? Is he thinking back the deceased person's life looking at the urn?

 

My interpretation is

 

Three-volley salute;

Looking back his life

In the face of urn

 

Well, today's seasonal word of winter is show shoveling.

Thankfully we seem to have no opportunity to do it. This winter is very warm than usual. So we can use water outside without fear of freezing  roads.

go into the yard
water plug doesn't freeze
wash the car

 

Today's drill is "make the most use of a season word"

 

At first, we'll write out what makes you feel that winter is here.

In my case

1 we don't use the water outside, because water plug usually freezes.

2 Even at a supermarket nearby we see lots of kind of chocolate, because Valentine day is a big event in winter.

3 The monthly cost of electricity is very high, because the usage of electricity is a lot to warm rooms and I use an  electric blanket.

4.we are enough to eat Chinese cabbage.

5.My  annual checkup finished without problems, --- January is my birthday month.

 

The next step is that we have to chose one things of them, and it is without season as much as it possible. It means we have to do an opposite thing.

So I chose no.5.

Without breakfast Take a health check; Winter is here

 

The season word is "winter is here".

It has an image of bitter, hard, tough and strict.

 

My friends come!

One day, I was "really" free. Yuki didn't have dinner at home because he participated in  a band practice with younger members than him. Additionally the dinner on the day was a take-out from a convenience store.
Well, so how I did.
I called one of my friends, who lives alone and is in my generation. She said "I drop by after work."
I asked her to come here casually.
Then she came with lots of "convenience sweets".
Too lot, but she said "the expiration date is far".
We were just gabbing, -- and it was almost 7 PM.


So I asked her to have dinner together. She is a kind of a gourmet. But now I am spending a (stingy?)retirement life, and anyway we were troublesome to go out farther (it means by car).
So we went to my familiar small restaurant which is very reasonable and takes 3 minutes on foot. But for her it might have been a first time to have dinner at a such restaurant.
I was really happy to keep our friendship without show-off.

On the other day four senior ladies came to my house. We had a wonderful cake on the day.
So I served tea with "good" tea sets, which are typical set in SHOUWA area, it means they were handed over from my mother in -law. Everyone there knew them and their value.. They are not antique yet. Every one enjoyed SHOUWA atmosphere. But I served the cake with paper dish. I want to lessen washing errands.




 A little time and effort is necessary, and we need cut corners a little.

Do you go to the gym to exercise?

Here in Japan  many senior people go to gym, which is getting usual these days.
In my image the people who go to gym are in their 30's, 40's and 50's, and they like to do exercise. The menus of the training "were" very hard for me who were in the generation.
And nowadays "soft" gyms come out, like my gym. The menu is not so hard.
But even now exercises at normal gym must be hard ---  I thought.
But it seems to be wrong.

The other day I talked with a neighbor who is probably in her 70's. I don't think she likes sports, and (in a small voice she is good at sports). But what made me surprised was that she still goes to "normal" gym.
And I realize current gym states.
They know their usual menus are difficult for people who "get" old. Usual gyms have a long history, so the customers are naturally getting old. They prepare the special menus for the elderly like care prevention, dementia prevention.
They also installed mental programs including laughter yoga not only soft physical exercise.
So she goes to the gym almost every weekday with light lunch. In the morning she does elderly course,  has lunch with the members there. After that she swims lightly and gets a massage. The she talked with the members there watching TV which has a large screen. And she comes back around 3 or 4.

I asked her the price. It costs about 8500 yen a month. It costs about 6000 yen a month at my gym.
The difference of the price is probably that including swimming and massage.
(Well, in her case she has to pay parking lot fee )


Well, well, the rest of story is very important.
Another day I saw her husband at a place.
There it had an exercise section.
I asked him "do both of you go to  ****  gym?"
He said "it is expensive."

Well Yuki's case he doesn't go to gym yet.
He was going to debut a gym, but before doing it he was involved tennis practice naturally.
It costs 500 yen once. As of now he goes there three times a week.

Usual weenend errnads 0127

I organized a room which is used as my classroom.
Probably from this spring the number of students will be 4 or 5.  All lessons are individual lessons.
It is inefficient thinking about my income. But it is fun to talk with them. All of them has come here since they were little. I advertise my class a little through website, and  inserts in newspaper, until now there is no response.



I also made pre-cooked dishes for this week.
Marinated turnips and root vegetables, stewed Japanese radish with soy sauce; potato salad; and kind of carrots jam.

lunch diary 0127

A new week has started. This weekend it was very warm like early spring. But today it is very cold, and according to the weather report it is going to snow after this.
I'll look back on last week with my lunch.

Monday, I cooked Thai noodle. In Thailand it is cooked with vinegar, but I cooked it with Japanese Worcester sauce. In the morning I went to the gym by Yuki's car. In the afternoon, I studied and Yuki went out practicing golf at a golf range.
Calm winter; Spend the afternoon in different ways After lunch together

Tuesday I did volunteer reading at a library, and had lunch with my friend.
The members who could have lunch together were only two of us. So We went out to a little bit fancy restaurant, but all the tables were already taken. So We went back to the library, and had a casual 500 yen lunch there. Both of us are spending retirement life. So We said to each other " we are told not to go all out by ???" with laughing.
Wearing  a winter hat; Walk out to a restaurant On fixed holiday



Wednesday, it was very cold. Probably it was the coldest day ever. Even such a day, Yuki went to play golf. Unbelievable!
Raw winter's night; Have a sip of thick noodle, Without hesitation




Thursday, a guest came to our house than we expected.
So before he comes we rushed our lunch.
Winter rain; While worrying about the guest Grinding beans




Friday; it was the day for me to take a gastroscopy test. After the test I had brunch at a café.
Yuki took me to the hospital by car, and I walked back to my house.
Warm winter day; Attended my wife A job of house-husband

English Haiku 0123

I didn't know that Haiku in English is constantly updated in a Japanese News Paper.

Haiku in English。

Today's Haiku is

terminal stage

her lengthening shadow

in the park

 

What the word of terminal stage shows?

Does it mean the end of winter or some one is very sick?

If it means the end of winter, I change the word into a simple season word.

 

In the park

Her lengthening shadow

Wait spring

 

How do you interpret the original Haiku?

 

 

Today's seasonal word is "Orion".

These days I read such an article. What happens on Orion?

 

Waiting my child
Coming back by bus
Seeing up Orion

 

Today's drill is that;

1. What image do you have on the moon of this season.

My image is sadness and quietness.

2. What do you like to spend at night in this season?

I like to talk with someone. Well, now the person I can talk to is just Yuki.

Winter moon
Talking with two of us
recall our daughters

At a ramen-noodle shop

Rahmen, it is a typical Japanese dish( or cuisine) -- I admit it, though I don't like it very much.

A popular ramen shop has moved nearby. Even I know the name of the Rahmen shop. We went there. As we expected many people were already waited in a line.
The "person" in the back was an elderly woman. She was waiting in a line alone. It was unusual.
You might be difficult to understand why it was unusual.
Though it is my opinion,  the people who loves Rahmen are mainly the young, men, energetic women.
We happened to start to talk with her. And we decided to have Rahmen together at the same table  to lessen the waiting time.
I aske her about her husband.
She said "he is probably eating rice cake and Miso soup by himself. He doesn't like such a shop where we have to wait in a line. I'm interested why so many people always wait in a line." ( She lives nearby, so after morning errands she came here to have her lunch)

She "loves" Rahmen. She has lots of information about Rahmen shop nearby. And she is kind of "Rahmen freak".
And she ate up one bowl of Rahmen which is as big as Yuki's. Well mine is a half size.

Weekend routine 0120

I have lots of turnips which were given, so I cooked kind of "borscht" without sour cream.
In my image, borscht is soup  with beetroots and turnips. I don't have beetroots, so I used borscht soup stock cube.  I also cooked soybeans. And I also baked sweet potato cakes.



This is today's breakfast for us.

I also did 10 things discarding.


One day, I happened to fined a sweater. I wondered if I would buy it or not.
So I "reviewed" my clothes and "reconsidered" which were really necessary.
( Does it make sense?)
And I decided to discard these 5 things. (well, I also discarded a pair of slippers and 3 books, so this weekend I could discard 10 things.)
To tell the truth, I put three of them into a pending box.
So when I go to the shop next time, and if the sweater is there I would buy it.

I often tell my mother "if you find clothes you feel good, without thinking please buy it on site".
The reasons is;
We don't know when we can go there next time.
And more important reason is that;
When she finds clothes or bags, she always say " I have similar one which is for outing, so I would use it as everyday stuff. This time I don't buy this new one".
Probably it makes sense. But these days the clothes she wants are more casual, easier to wear.
For example, she bought a button-down sweater. Compared with her sweaters, the quality was not good, but she wouldn't need to pull it over her head, wash it with washing machine and it was lighter than old ones.
So I suggested her "you put on your good sweater for special outing, don't need to discard it. And you should wear this new one as a everyday clothes, instead of the sweater you often wash by hands "
She agreed with me, and she discarded one thing.

lunch diary 0120

I have still sprained instep, so that I'm not so active.

Monday; on our Japanese calendar it was a holiday, but for two of us it was a usual day.
We were at home all day. Actually I was not in bad shape because of lack of physical exercise.(probably). If I had been alone at home I might have gone out to have lunch at a café for a change. But it was a holiday, and it was a little bit hard to go out with my current leg.
So we had my prepared cooked dishes and instant Miso soup for lunch, and we had rice and rice cake. Probably we had too much carbohydrate.

Coming-of-Age-Day; Having tea on rice simply An elderly couple



Tuesday, we went out for lunch. To tell the truth it was a hard morning.
We went out to book a clinic as soon as we got up. It was 6 o'clock. Then we went to the clinic again at 9:00. Then we went to a shrine to discard (or hand over ) our new year's ornaments. And we had lunch outside.

Dontoyaki is a fire festival usually held on January 15th marking the end of New year's celebrations.
We gather New Year's ornaments and burn them in a big  Sprits of the new year are supposed to go home with the smoke of smoke of this fire.

Donto-yaki: Usual days have started Finally with errands



Wednesday; it was the rest of yesterday's gratin. I cooked with a big head  of Chinese cabbage.
However I have still another head of one. They were presented. I really thank them. But we were tired of them.

Chinese cabbage; Having three times a day Enough already



Thursday I fried pork and bean sprouts. So I grilled fish for our dinner.
Finally I went to the gym and did a light exercise. In the afternoon a friend dropped by here so I had a good tea time.

Air out the futon: The wound heals little by little  Standing at kitchen



Friday; What difference were there between this one and yesterday's one? I fried beef with cabbage with Chinese paste.
In the morning a neighbor comes and had ten o'clock sweets time together.
Both of us "had to " cook for lunch for our each husband. So before noon, both of us said "well we have to go back to our kitchen" with a big laugh.

Chatting at IRORIBATA (sitting by a fireside) Forget our elderly husbands Waiting for lunch alone

Usual weekend errnad 0114

"One" of my new year resolutions is to continue discarding.
So I did. As soon as I opened  drawers which were messy, I could discard 10 things easily.
Well, they were small things.


One of the drawers was a food stock one. There I found a thing which was expired a week ago.
Just "a week ago", so I decided to use. I baked this one with my home bakery.



And I also cooked some pre-cooked dishes for this week.

Nowadays I constantly made carrot paste with a little sugar.
I boil some carrots which are peeled and cut with rice cooker. It is very easy to boil.
And as soon as they are boiled, I mushed them and put them into a pun and knead with sugar.
They are very useful.
We usually put them on my homemade yogurt.

lunch diary 0114

Monday, it was my birthday. So we went to a café-restaurant where I wanted to go. It was a cake café restaurant. It was  a weekday, so as expected the male who was there was only Yuki. We didn't care.

The first job of this year; Having lunch with his wife At a cake-restaurant


Tuesday, I cooked rice with assorted ingredients. and the soup was the rest of our breakfast, which was NANAKUSA- soup. The traditional meal we eat on the day is NANAKUSA porridge. Instead of porridge we had NANAKUSA rice cake soup. And we had the rest of soup for our lunch.

New Year soup with seven herbs; Page-a day-calendar Learn the tradition


Wednesday, we ate the rest of the cooked rice.
From the afternoon it was getting warm. But the news we listened to from the radio was not so peaceful.
Winter wind: Unsettled and unrest feeling From the radio


Thursday, I managed to climb up and down stairs easily. In the afternoon we went downtown todo errands.
Break down the ornaments, Reuse the DAIDAI orange Into herb tea


Friday, I cooked vegetable and pork soup from the rest of vegetables in the fridge. We also had the same soup for our dinner, though I added grilled fish.
HOSHINA (dried vegetable leaves) soup; Simple one-dish for lunch Enough

HOSHINA soup, is a seasonal word for winter. HOSHINA means dried vegetable leaves.
In winter we tend to skimp on fresh greens. So people of former days dried some fresh greens like radish leaves and enriched the vitamins of them.

non-story; wrinkles

It is a non-story.
Why men don't care their wrinkles? Or sometimes their wrinkles made them look cool or gentle.
On the other hand women's wrinkles look them -----!!!!
I thought I was not going to take care of my wrinkles, because they are natural process to get old.
However---- I think that the wrinkle of my forehead seems to be thicker than others.

Well, I have "re-started" taking care of my forehead. I remembered I had already some gadgets.

And I also remembered I had a stretch-pole.

Anyway from next week, I'll go to the gym again, though I will skip some machines.

Do you dye your hair?

Here in Japan most people who are in their middle generation dye their hair, not only women but also men do. Yuki also did it. And this time, he decided to stop dyeing his hair.
But if he stopped quickly, his hair must be pudding-like hair. Do you understand this expression.
The upper half of his head is brown,(or faded black), and the lower half is white.
He asked my friend who is a barber how to do it.
"She" recommended to "blur gray hair", which is called SHIRAGA BOKASHI.
It is a kid of way of dyeing, but the hair doesn't turn to black or white. The hair looks mixed with black and white.
He did it once a month, and totally three times. Step by step his hair got white naturally. And the last time he got his hair short, and his hair turned to be white completely.
Than I thought his hair was white.
----
Probably than I thought, his job must have been tough. Thanks to Yuki, and Happy retirement life!

I wrote "he asked my friend ----"; well, well, when he asked her, I also said to her "He would get a haircut at your shop only three times. After that, sorry he would get a haircut at 1000 yen shop".
Of course she said "Don't mind" with laughing.

Choosing a reasonable shop is one way to spend a good retirement life.
In his case, now he has very short hair, so he must often go to get a hair cut. So 1000 yen shop is reasonable for him. Additionally when he went to her shop, it took more than two hours to get a hair cut including blurring. But at 1000 yen shop, it takes 15 minutes to get a haircut and shaving. For him it is another reason to chose a 1000 yen shop.

Well, well, in my case. I dye my hair. Actually I get my hair cut and dye at my friend's beauty salon.
I don't know until when I get my hair dye, it is depend on her. Going to her beauty salon is to visit my friend.  And it is a good reason to chat on and on with her. (Her beauty salon is not so big, so it is all right to chat with her.)

English Haiku 0109

I keep improving my English Haiku with Japanese Haiku.
I'll introduce a modern season word. It is KOTATSU.

Kotatsu seems to become an English word like Daikon.
Over the phone, Feel being with my daughter At heated table

In my reference book of Haiku, there is an interesting practice.
Using spring wind, summer wind, autumn wind, and winter wind, try to make Haiku.
First what animal do you imagine from these words?
Next what scene do you imagine with the animals?

Spring wind -- a mole -- pop-up
Summer wind -- an eagle -- fly higher
Autumn wind --a cricket -- sympathize the sound
Winter wind -- a fox -- huddle


There are my Haikus.

Spring breeze My friend has popped up After a long while
Summer wind Carry away clouds Blue clearer
Autumn breath Sympathize with sounds From leaves and bugs
Winter gust Huddle in the room Only hear sleep-breath

Weekday lunch with Yuki at cake cafe

 

The other day, we had this lunch at a "cake café".

Cake café means, it is a restaurant and a café. There is a main cake shop on the first floor, and on the second floor, they serve casual lunch , cake and drinks.

The café is only open on weekdays.

 

On the day I decided I had to eat cake, because it was my birthday.

This cake shop is one of the oldest major cake shops. So I wanted to go there.

 

The customers there were pairs of senior ladies, younger ladies, and mother and her daughter, and a group of family including a grandmother, mother and a grandchild.

You can guess, Yuki was a only on male customer.

 

There "afternoon tea plate" is very popular. I was going to order it, and most of customers ordered it.

However it was too big for two of us to have it.

So I ordered a cake set simply.

 

There were three little girls. All of them shared the afternoon tea plate. They looked very happy including their mothers.

So we've decided that when this spring my granddaughter comes here, we will take her to this restaurant.

 

We've already listed up some places when they come this spring.

This New Year's holiday was really calm and quiet for us. But instead of it, probably this Spring vacation  would be very noisy and -- make us tired.

 

私の誕生日、平日のクイーンカフェに連れて行ってもらいました。

男性はじいじ殿一人。苦笑してました。敷居が高かったようですが、誕生日ですから。

アフタヌーンティーセット頼もうかと思ったのですが、周り見て、「二人でも」食べ切れない、と判断。無難にランチとケーキで。

2時前だったのですが、--ランチはまだ大丈夫でした。ずっと大丈夫なのかな？

店内は、

シニアの女性お二人とか、同世代女性お二人とか，若い女性お二人とか---

そして，ママさんと女の子の組み合わせも数組。

でもって，おばあちゃん・おかあさん・お孫さんの組み合わせもあり。

そう，今度孫ちゃん帰国したら「連れて行こう」お店の一つになりました。その時はアフターヌーンティーセット頼もう。

シンプルなランチケーキセットはドリンクと500円以下のケーキ一つで600円で提供。とてもリーズナブルです。

お昼は別として、３時のお茶にはまたは連れてきてくれるようです。

そうそう、予約すれば、小部屋が無料で使えるそうです。ちゃんとエレベーターで上がれますから、足の悪い人でも大丈夫。

アラ還お茶の会にいいかもしれないですね

What is "slow life"?

Since today my class starts.
Unfortunately it is difficult to "climb up " stairs, and drive a car, but I can do my usual life except exercise including walking.
So for this week I'm spending "slow life" literally.
According to our Japanese dictionary, "slow life" means, "fulfilling life slowly and calmly".  I thought "frugally" was added.  When the word of slow life started to be used, "frugally" seemed to be included, but nowadays it seems to be changed.
Yuki said, "Do you know the word of "slow audio"?"
I said, "Do you want to listen to such old records with the old audio speakers which are stored in the upper closet?"
We have a pair of good (probably) audio speakers which were used by my father.
He said, "No. Slow audio means, listen to old records with the latest audio sets".
I immediately said " we can't afford to buy new sets, and we have no room for them".
He said " I know".

Well, nowadays "slow" seems to include  "high quality, and expensive".

The other day Yuki got homemade "dried persimmons" from his senior tennis mate.
Making dried persimmons is one of the ways to eat sour persimmons. There are two kinds of persimmon trees. One is astringent persimmon and the other is sweet persimmon. The former one might be edible but not eatable. They need to be processed somehow .

In his garden, there are some sour persimmon trees. But  he bought special sour persimmons to make those.
If he used from his garden, it wouldn't have made any difference.
In his case, he enjoyed current style "slow life".

Anyway I'm having my slow life with my sprained ankle.
I believe this ankle would carry way all my bad luck of this year.

 

 

walking diary New Year's holiday

I look back on my New Year's holiday again through my walking report.
Now I have to stop walking for a while, but I will continue waking exercise this year. It is one of my New Year's resolutions.

 

First I went to a gallery in Tokyo. When I go to Tokyo by train,  I have to walk even though I don't want to.

Naturally I walked 10456 steps.

Counting days to New Year; From a station to another Over ten thousand steps

 

New Year's Eve, I looked for a button-down sweater for my mother. But I couldn't find any suitable one. One is a little bit thin, the one is a little bit short, another one is "too" expensive. I walked 8082steps.

A button-down sweater; Old mom's face coming to my mind From shop to shop

 

 

 

Happy New Year.

We had a calm quiet day. In the afternoon we went to visit a shrine on a hill (or I can say on a mountain.) I walked 6089steps.

The first sunrise; From our children's window With two of us

 

Next day, we went to Tokyo to meet all members by train.

I automatically walked 6089 steps.

After we went back here, we went out to see seven good luck gods.

But, I sprained my ankle at the first temple.

For a while my walking exercise is stopped.

 

lunch diary New Year's holiday

Yuki's and my "usual" retirement life has started.
Well, I look back on our lunch (or feast) of our New Year's holiday with Haiku.




Monday, we had "SANO" ramen noodle.
Ramen noodle is one of our Japanese culture. There are various types of Ramen. "SANO" ramen is one of them. It is famous for as curly fresh noodle. ( I don't know whether it is right expression or not) n.

To tell the truth, it was not so bad, but, we thought it was a little bit expensive.
Anyway, we could go to a famous restaurant. It was a good experience.
New Year's ornaments: Cut some bamboo Bind them with straw



Tuesday, it was the New Year's Eve. No one came back to our home. So we went to see "the movie" ; Star Wars. Though no one came, my elder daughter spent with my mother in Tokyo. It made me very relieved.
New Year's Eve Old mom spend With her granddaughter



Wednesday, we had a calm and quiet new year.
I served our feast with special plates,  which were put away on the same day.
New Year dishes; Take care of special dishes For two of us



Thursday, we went to see our relatives. As usual my sister in-law, brought her homemade New Year dishes. They always made me amazed.
New Year dishes; Mom sits at the head Seeing all members



Friday, I made this lunch box and we went out to visit shrines and temples.
However at the first shrine I sprained my ankle.
Seven Good Luck Gods;  A calm weekday Happy golden life
Well, golden  life means retirement life. Does it make sense?

Additionally on Saturday I went to see a doctor.
I went out at 8:15 in the morning, and came back past 12.
I have a sprain fracture on my right foot.
Sprained my foot Drove away my bad luck; Lazy New Year's weekend

Happy new year!

Happy new year !

We have a calm quiet new year at home.
Thankfully, we could see a beautiful sunrise this year again.
Then I prepared special breakfast for two of us.

After our breakfast, Yuki wanted to spend a lazy day. I wanted to do it but after some basic morning errands.
So as usual our small quarrel started. It can’t be helped. It is our usual life at home, additionally, when we have a plan to go out, such a quarrel has never happened.