sweets

The other day Yuki came back with this bag of sweets. It was given away at cafeteria. Why?
Fortunately Utsunomiya didn't have a big damage from the big earthquake in 2011. However some spots were broken. For example Yuki's workplace had a bad damage. Unfortunately they caused a casualty, and some facilities were broken. There are three cafeterias, and all of them got a big damage. It took two years to rebuilt three cafeterias. And the other day all of them were rebuild To celebrate the rebuilding this sweet was given away to all employees.

Some people think they are attentive. On the other hand some people might think that it's a waste of money, instead of using money for it, we wish we would get more bonus. The date of getting our bonus is just around the corner.
Anyway there were two sweets in this bag. So for use they became good dessert of our breakfast.

Monday

A new week has started. According to the weather report, we are in the rainy season. Fortunately today it's sunny. So I can hang out the laundry. Well the other day I talked with a Filipino woman. In the Philippines, they also have the rainy season. But mainly it squalls. In Japan it drizzles all day long.

How was your weekend?
On Saturday I attended a one-day lecture. They are nursery school teachers. The theme was child care to nurture the mind. I'm not a nursery school teacher, so I might have been an unusual participant. I volunteer at nursery school so I got this information.
However, the lecture was wonderful, I wish this lecture had been open for parents and adults.

In the lecture, of course, it was focused on children. Mainly the subject was  the word of children, but it must be applied to adults as well.

--------------------
Children always try to get something with a positive attitude. So they find out something new every day. It's sometimes fun for them, sometimes difficult to accept it for them. However through enjoying fun and getting over the difficultites, they bring themselves up.

Well, we think about ourselves.
Adults tend to choose the fixed way (does it make sense?) or not to like change. So it's difficult to find out something new. However if we try to find out something new, even though it is not fun, the attitude makes us positive.  -- and I think it is the best way to keep from being senile.

On the day Yuki and I ate out dinner --- YAKINIKU.

Atelier Inaka

Some people might know that I love visiting cafes. Once a month I play the piano at a cafe Karaku. I like playing the piano, and I also like to visit there and talk with the owner and his wife.
I sometimes visit cafes. I have some favorite cafes in Utsunomiya.
The other day I visited one of my favorite cafes, it's Atelier Inaka.

It's a cafe, but there coffee isn't be served. They serve tea, herb tea and Japanese tea. The cafe is managed by just an owner, who is Mr. T in his early 30's. He was born as a son of a famous Japanese sweet shop in Utsunomiya, so he has brought up with Japanese tea. Though he is young, he doesn't drink coffee and actually he doesn't like coffee very much.
At the cafe he serves at least two cups of tea, and sometimes three cups of tea. So customers can stay there without hesitation.

 

The style of cafe is really unique. There are only six seats. (He organizes the cafe and also deals with dishes. So selling dishes is also his business.)  Since he opened the cafe, two years will have past next moth. I knew a one and half years ago, at that time I was really worried about the future of the cafe. It seems to be successful. I'm looking forward to watching the future of him and his business. If I had a son, I wonder I would have such a feeling on my son.

 

Anyway it's fun to talk with him. Thanks Mr. T.



Monday

How was your weekend? Not so bad. I've been suffering from a little dizziness, but it's OK. The medicine works well. Last week I didn't drive. (It's difficult to live in this area without a car.) I had to cancel one meeting. Anyway I could give all lessons to my students at home.
Two friends visited me in different days with sweets. Talking with friends forgot my dizziness, and I could refresh.

 

Both of them are in the same generation, it means they are in their 50's.

One of them is a housewife. She moved to Utsunomiya about four or five years ago. She seems to get used to Utsunomiya's life these days. She seems to enjoy her life with lots hobbies. Her family has to move a lot due to her husband's job. On the other hand fortunately or unfortunately her husband's parents live here, and they are getting old, so she starts to think to settl down in this place. If she decides to settle down here, I'm really happy. (It means Yuki and I also consider this place to settle down, even though our mothers and daughters live in Tokyo.)

 

Another friend came from the next prefecture. She is also an English teacher. She started the job as a a kind of hobby like me. But now she had to work because of this business depression. This spring she put in lots of money to advertise to get new students. Fortunately the advertizing worked, this spring she got about 20 new students. ( On the other hand I didn't have new students this spring.)

She decided to keep working until she is 65.

Actually I also want to keep this job as a part of senior life. In my case, I want to offer my house as the place where senior people get together and enjoy English.

 

Anyway I talked with each other about our senior life.

 

Well, well, talking about senior life, I feel, the life in my 60's is just around the corner. 

On the other hand, though I talked with my younger daughter who is 23, she seems that her life in her 30's is far away. I envy her !!!

Three types of mothers

This week I met three mothers. They are completely different types.

One of them is 32 years old, and Last Friday the fifth girl was born. (She has five kids and all of them are girls.) Her eldest daughter who is 11 years old, is my student. I love her, and I love her family. Her husband is an office worker. so I think it's not easy to manage their life. However they seem to enjoy their simple life. I know they seldom go out for dinner but they often enjoy having a BBQ. The mother is not a grade-conscious mother, but she and her husband let their kids take one extra lesson. Their eldest daughter takes English lessons and the second eldest daughter does soccer practice. The others are too small to take extra lessons. They educate their kids well. Having five kids is not usual in Japan. And probably it will be probably difficult for all kids to attend university. But I think the five kids can manage their own life. They have enough inner strength.

I also met a mother who is as old as I, but her youngest son is still a high school student. This spring he could enter the highest level  high school in Utsunomiya. She is really proud of him. She is a homemaker and her husband is a doctor. She said clearly "the last work that parents can do is to let (or make) our kids enter into a high level university.
She is a really grade-conscious mother. I don't agree with her idea, or disagree with her idea either. I understand her feeling, though I failed to let my daughters to enter what you call a high level university. And Yuki and I didn't graduate from what you call the highest-level of university.I'm little bit worried about her if her sons would go off the rails.

And at the gym I met a mother who is a little older than I. Last year she was fighting cancer, and now she overcame. There are four members in her house, her husband, her son, her daughter and her. Her son is 26 year old and now he has a part time job. When he was at university he suffered from depression. He managed to graduate from university, but he didn't get a regular job. Her daughter works as a contract employee. She also didn't get a regular job here in Utsunomiya, though she graduated from university in Tokyo because of this economic depression.
But the mother is really active and powerful I like to talk with her. In two weeks we'll go to lunch after the gym.There are various types of people, I know. Everybody is not wrong. Anyway what they have in common is they still live with their kids and busy as homemakers.

My dizziness has started again.

Monday has started. Though I cooked breakfast, I'm not good. Yesterday I went to read English picture books at library. After doing volunteer, I went home and was in bed. Now the medicine is working, but anyway I have to go to clinic to get more medicine.
I hope all events in this week will not be canceled.
Have a nice week.

How to combat depression

Yesterday Tracey came to teach English to our members. Three of us attend it. Everybody made a three-minute speech.
I talked about "how to combat depression".

----------------------------------------------------
Have you felt depression? If you have, how do you combat depression? Some experts suggest counting your blessing as a way to combat depression. Take a moment to mediate on you life and highlight all the positive things. You might be surprised at how good your life actually is, when you summarise the good things instead of the other way around. If you foster an attitude of gratitude, you'll lose focus of all the negative thins and forget your blues.
It's a really positive way, don't you think of it?
However, when we are too sad, it's sometimes difficult for us to imagine positive things.
There is another suggestion. When we are sad, we tend to choose something to cheer us up. However according to Ohio state university researchers tragedies are equally uplifting. When characters betray each other, we feel positive about our relationships. Characters in disgrace make us value our own honer and other qualities. Instead of dwelling on sadness, tragedies let us reflect positively on our selves. I know a proverb that fight  fire with fire. It's a strong way to combat depression, but it might work.
To reflect these suggestions to my life, when I meet positive people I feel positive and it makes me cheer up. On the other hand I'm sometimes tired of doing house chores, especially looking at a messy room. However when I visit my mother in-law's house, it makes me relived. Her house is really messy, so I' always satisfied with my self saying my house is tidier than her house, I'm a better home maker.

Happy Mother's Day

How did you spend yesterday "Mother's day"?
I called my mother, and Yuki called his mother. On the other hand I got a bowl of flower from my younger daughter, and got a call from my elder daughter (She said later she'll send something.)

Yesterday it was a really warm day. Though it's Mother's day, Yuki went playing golf. (It's OK, because I'm not her mother.) In the morning I did some chores and made some reports. To tell the truth I've wanted to go to an event which was held outside, but I'm not confident of my health condition. (I'm still suffering dizziness a little.) So I gave up to join it.

After having a quick lunch by my self, reading a book, and attended a meeting. The meeting is usually held once a month organized by a young lady. She is really active, so when I'm available, I join it to meet her. Some new members also joined the meeting. I like the meeting, because everybody is always active and cheerful. Usually the members are younger than me and have a job. Yesterday two homemakers came. These days I sometimes feel inferior being a homemaker without a regular job (including raising children), when I attend a meeting with young members. So thanks for two homemakers, I could relax at the meeting.

When I came home, Yuki already came home. He didn't have a bad score (it means not so good score.) I cooked SARA-UDON for dinner. And we watched TV. We had a really relaxingSunday.

Ten-day holiday -3-

The last half of holiday our elder daughter Tomo came here. I was getting better, so we went to Sibukawa city which is in the next prefecture to Tochigi. We went to two art museums.

Shibukawa city is surrounded by mountains. It's like Tochigi, but probably the mountains are higher than ones in Tochigi. The scenery was so beautiful.

 



At the first museum, Tomo could meet her favorite artist and talked with him. The artist makes works using paper like T.

 

 



 

 

The next museums was HARA Museum Arc. It was a famous museum. They usually show modern art. This time they show conceptual art. Unfortunately it was too difficult for us to understand.

 

During the drive I felt dizzy, so I lay down with blanket in the car. However the beautiful scenery made me feel better.

 

Today it is the last day of the holiday. Yuki is playing golf with his friend. I'm relaxing at home. I still feel dizzy slightly, but it's OK. Though it was too bad that I had to cancel two things, I had a good holiday.

 

 

 

Ten-day holiday -2-

After my fever went down, I was suffering dizziness. I was at home quietly while listening to the radio. Yuki was watching DVDs he borrowed from the library. However I had a enough appetite. So we went out to our favorite restaurant.

I ordered grilled fish, and Yuki ordered simmered pork.

 

 

Without doing something special we had relaxing time at home. Of course Yuki drank wine at home with good cheese we bought in TOKYO.



 

Ten- day holiday -1-

We had a ten-day holiday which is called Golden week.
The first three days Yuki and I went to TOKYO to meet our daughters, my mother and my mother in-law.
This time my younger daughter M moved out. Until April she had lived with her elder sister next to my mother's house. And in June, she is going to get married. So using this long holiday she moved to an apartment and started to live with her soon-to-be husband. We helped her moving. It was the last thing we could do as her parents.
Accurately M and her soon-to-be husband Y hand in a document for marriage after the moving. So They already got married, M's family name is changed. And their wedding ceremony is going to hold in June. Am I happy? Am I sad? I have had a really complicated feeling. Watching a couple makes me relieved, on the other hand I feel empty and lonely.

Anyway our stay in Tokyo was busy and good.
Well, well, the next day I came back here, I had a fever. I was going to invite a friend, but unfortunately I had to cancel it. For two days I was in bed. One of the days Yuki went to play golf, and the other day he changed wall paper in the toilet.  Since this house was built, more that 25 years passed. These days we are always thinking to refurbish this house. Three years ago we changed the floor of the kitchen. Thinking about refurbishing is fun, but thinking about the cost makes us feel depressed. We are not venturous people.
Now in the garden our clematis started to bloom

.

Lunch Passport

Recently  an interesting book was published in Utsunomiya. It is Lunch Passport.

There are 85 restaurants in this book.  A person with this book can eat lunch which is usually served at around 1000 yen, for 500 y3n.. It is a discount book.
Utsunomiya is not a big city,  and the downtown is getting deserted compared with the suburb. But  it's easy to walk in the downtown, and it must be fun to walk around with this passport.
Yuki and I were so interested in this book.

So of course we tried to use them on Saturday.
I really understood we are one of those ordinary people, because many people were waiting in line to use this book. The restaurant we went to was a famous Chinese restaurant. We were really surprised that this restaurant was introduced in the book. I asked the owner why this restaurant was on the list. The owner said  "we help to make Utsunomiya an active town and attract people to downtown". Actually because of this book we went out of our way to have lunch like other people.

On Sunday we went out to have lunch to another restaurant we've never been to.
The restaurant was not well-known so not many people were there. But the restaurant was more crowded than usual. The owner said "thanks to this book, our restaurant became better known by people."

 

We usually don't go downtown, but  these days we see many people walking with this book. This book can be used until the end of June. For a while we must to try enjoy walking downtown with this book.



being dedicated to our parents

After a long  time I baked bread with a bread machine. I could wake up surrounding by a good fresh bread smell.
In today's news paper the tragedy in Boston was reported. What a sad story it was! A 8-year-old boy who came to cheer for his father was involved and killed. What a sad father he was!  He cannot stop grieving for his boy's death. And the boy must have been dedicated to his parents to come and cheer.
Recently I learnt the word filial. I don't know how to use it exactly. But in Japanese being filial to our parents is OYA KOUKOU. We love the word.
In today's advice column of the newspaper was about being filial. The adviser said to  a woman who is in her 70's, and is really worried about her daughter in her 40's, "you enjoy your own life. You need not to be involved in your daughter's life. Showing your happiness of living by yourself is the last thing you can do to show your love to your daughter. After parents pass away is the time when kids show their appreciation to their parents."

Actually, seeing my mother and my mother-in-law who are living actively and happily makes me relieved and happy. On the other hand I often want my daughters to come back  home. If we lived together again, many troubles probably would happen.  But I want to go out somewhere with them though I don't often go out with my mother or my  mother-in-law. Anyway a ten-day holiday is just around the corner. I'll go to meet my mother and my mother-in-law. Because I'm filial to my mothers.

Massage

Have you ever get a massage at a company or clinic?
Last fall I had a bad neck ache. I went to a bone-setter instead of an orthopaedic. A few years ago, I also had a bad one, at that time I went to an orthopaedic, but there I got some cold compress, painkiller, and got electric cure with warm heat. So this time I went to a bone-setter. Since then I go there once a week.
There I get 15 minute massage with finger pressure and kind of chiropractic, 15 minute electric cure and 15 minute riding on a whole body rolling machine.
These things are kind of treatment, so I can use my health insurance. So it's reasonable.

In Japan there are various massage styles, such as Thai massage using oil and aroma, Korean massage using something, acupuncture, and so on. I sometimes (once or twice every six monthr) get  an one hour chiropractic massage which comes from America, though it is expensive because it's not a health insurance treatment. The chiropractic massage makes my body soft and stretched with pain. I like it, it means massage without pain makes me feel short on fun.

The other day I went to bone-setter. There I met one of my friend. The bone-setter was so crowded that we had enough time to talk together. Going to clinic with high fever is not fun, but going to bone-setter  is fun if I have a time. Until summer comes I seem to need to go to bone-setter.

Cherry blossoms

This year cherry blossoms started to bloom earlier than usual. Though they has started to fall, we could enjoy seeing cherry blossoms last Sunday.

Can you see the tree? It's a weeping cherry tree.

 

The interesting thing is the place. It's in the center of the ground of a elementary school.





The day we visited a small festival was held. It was fun.

This tree is called KOUSHI-zakura. Zakura means Sakura, cherry blossoms. KOUSHI means being filial, or  a devoted kid.

It has a folk story. Once upon a time a sick father and a son managed to live together. The father had knew his life would be not so long. There was a cherry tree by their house.It was winter. He wanted to see cherry blossoms before he died. So the sun wished strongly if the tree could bloom. One warm winter day, the tree bloomed, and on the day the father passed away. So the tree was named after the devoted son.

 

In the backyard KATAKURIs were blooming. Do you know the flower of KATAKURI?



 

We used to get starch from the stalk of this flower, so in Japanese starch is called KATAKURI powder. Now it's difficult to get from them, so starch is mainly made from potatoes or sweet potatoes.

On the way home we dropped by a private home which was opened just for two days.

There was a BUDA statue in a wonderful garden.

It' was a wonderful weekend. Now a new week has started. let's enjoy this week.



Dinner with our neighbor

The other day Yuki and I had dinner with our neighbor Mr.M &Ms.M in our house.

I don't know whether you believe or not, it was the first time to have dinner with four of us. Ms.M and I sometimes have a tea together at each house or at a cafe. But for Mr.M it was the first to eat something at our house.

Probably not so many Japanese people have dinner with neighbors together. Do you often have dinner with your neighbors?
Why we invite our neighbor?
We got a lot of meat from my friend who lives in Sendai. The meat was brand meet called SENDAI beef. It seemed to be difficult to eat all of them up with Yuki and me, and it was delivered on frozen condition so that it was difficult to  cut and share them with my friends.

We had a really good time with Mr. & Ms. M.
Did I tell you? I have been caught with empty nest syndrome a little. But fortunately I have lots of friends. And Yuki is also making friends through playing golf and playing the guitar apart from colleagues.
But we also want common friends. I know some Yuki's friends, but from them I'm Yuki's wife, and Yuki know some my friends, but he is Mieko's husband. We want have common friends directly. So We were really happy to talk with Mr. & Ms. M.
If we have common friends, our senior world will be more fun.

Cherry blossoms

Here in Utsunomiya, now it's the middle of cherry blossoms season. I don't know why Japanese people love cherry blossoms, but I love cherry blossoms.
When our daughters lived with us, we would often go on a picnic to see cherry blossoms with lunch boxes in this season. Since they left Utunomiya, Yuki and I have gone to see cherry blossoms in HACHIMANYAMA park. It is one of our annual events. (Seeing colorful leaves in fall is also one of them.)

In the early morning of last Sunday we went to see them. We were lucky because we could see them before it started to rain.

 

We saw cherry blossoms quickly (because it was cold, and we were hungry), then we went to a good restaurant to have breakfast.  The restaurant is a little bit expensive, but on Sundays they serve breakfast at a reasonable price.

 

Bread is better than the songs of birds.

 



An exhibition of Tomomi and other two freidns

This week, my elder daughterTomomi is holding an exhibition with her two friends.

Last month she held her personal exhibition, and displayed large works. This time she displayed small works.



 

The gallery is in Kichijouji, which is in Tokyo, and very popular among young people. So she and her friends seems to focus on young people. Their works suit to them.

 

I used to go Kichijouji, when I was young. Yuki also used to go there. It was about more than 30 years ago. Still now some shops, cafes,  and Jazz cafes, which we would go there  are kept being run. I'm very glad to see them.  In Kichikouji there is a famous Japanese sweet shop. Since I was young it has been famous, and there is always a long line waiting. On the day I went, there was also a line waiting. I don't like to wait in a line, but this time I felt some nostalgic, so I stood in a line.

 

It made me happy that the town where I used to go and play has still been lively and active.



 

 



Extreme Sports

The other day I read this book at an intensive reading meeting.
Do you know extreme sports? What extreme sports do you know?
Such sports are introduced in this book; aerial ballet, aggressive in-line skating, BASE jumping, BMX bike riding, canyoning, cave diving, hang gliding, snowboarding, street luge, wake boarding, zorbing.
I know some names, but I thought some of them are just just fun things not sports.
Have you tried any of these sports?

Anyway a common thread is "danger" (or you can say excitment).
I found an interesting report.
Do you know the word T-type personality?

Ts tend to be extroverted and creative, and crave novel experiences and excitement. Most of this type seems to be a man. It seems to be related to Y chromosome. Ts have more of an enzyme which makes themselves excited.

I also found another interesting report. We can be able to classified into 19 types. Which type are you?
Well, in Japan we love to classify people according to blood type. My blood type is O, so it is said the O blood person is easygoing.
Additionaly many people love holocope. When we open a magagine or newspaper, we can easily know how our luck is today.

Calm Sunday

How was your weekend? I had a calm Sunday.

Here in Japan cherry blossoms finally started to bloom. Some people might think that why Japanese people are so excited blooming cherry blossoms. Anyway we love seeing cherry blossoms.

Sunday afternoon, I went to an art museum.
At the art museum, an exhibition of MINIMAL was hold. Do you know the word MINIMAL? It seems to be a shorten word of minimal art. There were not only pictures but also 3D-works. I really enjoyed.

After that I dropped by KARAKU where I play the piano once a month. I'm really happy to have such a familiar tea-room. I talked with the owner for a while.

At night we invited our neighbor, and had a YAKINIKU party ( kind of  barbecue inside of the house). These days we seldom have a chance to have YAKINIKU at home, because there are two members in my house. So We had a good time.

 

And we ate too much, So this morning we had a light breakfast. But it was a little interesting. Can you see two yolks? These are not two eggs, there are too yolks in an egg. We got special eggs.

 

A new week has started. Have a nice week!

 

 

 





Monday

How was your weekend?
I didn't know that yesterday it was St Patrick's Day. In Japan the day isn't so familiar yet, but in some big city St Patrick Parades are held.
When did I notice the day? It was a concert.
Yesterday I went to a guitar concert organized a group. When I arrived the place, some people were wearing green clothes. And though I had thought it would have been a guitar concert, it was an Irish harp and guitar concert.

 

 

Did you celebrate St Patrick's Day? My friend Jan sent me a photo of corned beef.

She said

"Cooked for 8 hours in the slow cooker.

First, red potatoes, carrots, onion and some dark beer for the liquid. Then add the corned beef and sprinkled with pickling seasons. At 7 hours add wedges of cabbage for another hour."

Thanks Jan. If I had been with you, I could have enjoyed the day with you.



 



Do you know the shape of your kneecap?

Now I'm suffering from a bad pollen allergy. Though I take medicine, I'm not so comfortable. What I can say is my favorite phrase " it can't be helped."

Well, yesterday I had Tracey's individual English lesson. I learned a new word, which is "kneecap".
When I was asked "do you know the shape of your kneecap", I didn't understand the question. She wanted to show an example of having no meaning.

Anyway after she left home, I checked my kneecap, It was ellipsoidal.

Japanese love to talk about four seasons. And we are proud of having wonderful four seasons. So it's a usual question  for to ask foreigners who come to Japan how many seasons you have in your country? Actually I asked the guests from East Timor and they said that they had two seasons, which are the rainy season and the dry season.
When I met Tracey, probably I asked her the same question, and she said they had four.
I thought it was a natural question.
For her it seemed to be odd. She seems to think that asking the number of seasons has no meaning.

Do you think it's odd when you asked the number of seasons?

East Timor -2-

After visiting YUNUSHIGAWA, we went  to NIKKO which is one of　the  World Heritage sites. Have you ever been to NIKKO? or have you ever heard about NIKKO?
We visited TOSHYOUGU in NIKKO.

This is YOUMEIMON, the most elaborated gate with white poles, which has been mainteined for about 400 years.

This is called "Sleeping cat", which is a symbol of peace.
We  walked there for around one hour.

Well,, do you know what is the most major product in East Timor?
It is coffee. We got coffee from them.

 

 

The last day of their stay in Tochigi, a farewell party was held, and they made a presentation. Before coming to Japan, they had thought Japan would have been affected by radioation first and it caused Tsunami. And now they understood, first a big earthquake affected us, and Tsunami occurred and gave IWATE a lot of damage. On the other hand in FUKUSHIMA, because of the earthquake an atomic power station was affected. Unfortunately still now  it is prohibited to get in within 20 km of power station. But the food in the marketplace is safe, because the level of radiation in the food is checked.



Unfortunately many tourist spots and food in Japan have been hit by harmful rumors. We are really happy for their coming without fear of harmful rumors.

East Timor -1-

Do you know the country of East Timor? It is the first country to be independent in 21st century.
 The group consisting of about 44 members came to Tochigi prefecture to visit affected areas from the big earthquake which occurred two years ago through the Foreign Minster international program. Northern Tochigi was affected by the big earthquake, and now mostly they were rebuilt. They learned  how to rebuild their farm, shops, houses, and factories, and what measures are taken against earthquakes since then. And to experience a real Japanese life, a home stay program was organized for the last three days.

Two ladies came to stay with us at our house.
Fortunately they loved our sticky rice.

They stayed in Japan for ten days, and for the first 7 days they had no fun time. This home stay for the last three days was their fun time.
 In East Timor they have two seasons , which are the rainy season and the dry season.
Now in  Tochigi, we are still in winter. It means we can see snow when we go to northern Tochigi.
So we went to YUNISHIGAWA, which takes one and half hours  by car from here.

Ta-da!

KAMAKURA festival was held there. Can you see snow houses like igloos? We call them KAMAKURA. "KAMAKURA" is a snow house, about 2 meters square. The Kamakura tradition dates back over 400 years when small snow houses were made for the Gods and filled with food and Sake, which shelters an altar dedicated to the God.

Wedensday

It's a season of pollen. Many people are suffering from pollen allergy. Last night one high school student came in red eyes. She couldn't bear runny nose and itchy eyes and went to clinic. It was the first day to take medicine, it means she was too sleepy to take my lesson, though she said that the medicine which wouldn't make her sleepy had been prescribed.)

Actually I'm also suffering from pollen allergy. Though I take medicine, I feel listless. I thought I would caught the flu from Yuki, but I don't have a fever, not have a sore throat. 

And about Yuki, he has recovered. Fortunately he didn't suffer from high fever. Anyway he had to stay home until today. So he is contacting with his office via Internet. He cannot go out to play golf. Playing golf is his most important hobby. The next important hobby is playing tennis, of course he can't. Anyway he has to stay in his room quietly. So he works at home.

These days I often think about "parent and child" and "family".
Have you ever thought of the difference of two words?
The other day my family who are Yuki, our two daughters and I had a photo taken at a photo studio. It was the first time to have a formal photo taken.
On particular days like Adults day we went to a photo studio. But we didn't have a family photo taken. Because my mother or my mother-in-;aw was with us. I thought if we had a photo taken with only my family, my mother or my mother-in-law would be sad. And if we had a photo taken with my mother or my mother-in-law (It's rare that both of them are with us.) would be sad. So we had missed the chance to have a family photo taken.
I think my mother and I are permanently parent-child. Yuki and his mother are permanently parent-child. But our family consists with Yuki, M, T, and I.
Is it wrong?

Now our family is separating, probably our daughters make their own family. If we should live with them, we could keep our family. (Does it make sense? It's difficult to use subjunctive mood correctly)

Well, I got chocolate of Leonidas. Do you know Leonidas? In Utsunomiya we don't have a shop. So I'm really happy to get it.

March came

Now it's March.  Hina festival (March 3) has gone, so I put off Hina-dolls, and decorated  something to celebrate Easter.

Today Yuki is at home, it is unusual. Why? Finally he has touch of a flu. In the morning he went to clinic, and antiviral Tamiflu was prescribed to him. He has not a high fever now, but still has a slight fever. I hope he will recover until tomorrow.  We are going to have guests from East Timur this weekend, but if he doesn't recover, we have to  cancel it.

Well, what would you like to eat when you have the flu or have a fever?
I don't like to cold myself, so I usually drink lots of hot green tea, and like to eat hot UDON (Japanese noodle.)
I bought some oranges and a  big bottle of water with Vitamin C. He likes to have something cold.
I heard in America, people who have a fever usually drink coke. Is it right? I think it's not healthy.
Anyway he has enough appetite, so I sauteed beef for him for dinner.

Be careful not to catch the flu.