calm Sunday

Yuki has gone to play golf since early morning.

In the afternoon, I'll attend  a Toast Master meeting .

This weekend I checked stock foods in the shelf.  Some things were almost expired.

 

So I baked bread with hard flour.

 

I baked homemade cottage chees cake with my yogurt, and fresh YUZU citrus instead of lemon.





 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

December has come.

This week I'll have individual parents' interviews of my students. 

 



discarding 10 things 1130

These days Yuki and I often talk about our coming retirement daily life.

Did I tell you? He is now taking part in the internship to work at my house. I'm a selfish CEO.

He "has to learn" how to cook, do the dishes, clean, etc.

On the other hand, he has lots of things to do when he retires, like fishing, golfing, creating music, continuing to play tennis, going to gym etc. (the budget is another thing.)

And I also think about the life for two of us at home.

 

While I think I have to lots of things, I want to do lots of things at home.

Discarding 10 things a week is one of them.

These days I add one thing to discard things. Discarding 10 things and clean hard one place, like cleaning some windows, organizing a shelf, like that.

Nowadays, it is my favorite, not my duty.

And it is also becoming his favorite.

 

Anyway I discarded 10 old decorations, and clean the windows in TATAMI room, and put some Christmas decorations at the entrance.

 

　

How do you choose books you read at the library?

Do you go to the library to borrow books?
I often go there. And I chose books with abandon and quickly, like that ;
OK, today I chose some books from the shelves between "a" ( which is kinds of A) and "o" (which is kinds of E").
The books are usually arranged in order according to the AIUEO of authors .
I try to read as many genres as I possible, but SF is not my favorite, period novels are not my favorite, and novels for youth are not y favorite, either.
I like the books whose author or whose character is in my generation, or older.
I like the books which are a life-size story. So the keywords when I search books are retirement, declining physical fitness, and so on.
How do you chose books you borrow at the library?

I met a cool lady!

The other day I had to attend a business meeting. "Had to" means I don't like it.

However there I met a cool lady, who seemed to be over 60.

Though  I didn't find it bad, she didn't put on  make-up (probably), she didn't wear expensive outfit (probably).

She wore a sweatshirt and what seemed to me, a pair of jeans.

The sweatshirt had a logo on the wrist, so it might be a branded one. I'm not good with branded goods.

She looked simple, and cool.

When women are in their 60's ,70's or older, our background seems to reflect on  our face. (Does it make sense?) And additionally physical appearance depends on how much we exercise.

She seems  to be calm, natural and herself.

"To be ourselves (which means we don't change our attitude depending on people) , to be spontaneous  calm,  and  natural," these words are key words of Yuki and my retirement life.

 

We want to pursue our own simple, natural, cool, calm, and  energetic retirement life.

(I think there are too many key words.)

 

Anyway I was inspired by seeing  the lady and became invigorated.

 

With each our mother!

This Sunday, Yuki and I went to Tokyo to see each mother.
My mother, who is 84 years old and I had eel. That is her favorite.
Let me tell you the price. It cost 2100 yen.
Probably it might be expensive as a lunch meal.

\

She ate all of them. I left some rice.
The restaurant opens 11:30. At my surprise, as soon as it opens, the restaurant (though it is not so big) almost full of customers like us. It means senior lady & her daughter, or senior couple. Probably most of senior couple make their livings on their pension, but they eat something expensive without any hesitation when they want to eat outside.
A senior man told me that the reason is they have just a few thing they want to eat outside, so they have no choice. Probably it is right. In my mother's case, her list of restaurants are Sushi, Tempura, or Eel.

And Yuki had KAITEN-sushi with her mother.
Each dish is inexpensive, but the total cost is upper than ours. Thankfully both mothers have a good appetite. They seem to live longer so far.

On the other hand,  It seems to get difficult to walk smoothly. They often make a trip, and sometimes fall down.
To tell the truth, the other day my mother fell down when she was walking to an eye clinic, and delivered to a surgical hospital by ambulance. Luckily she didn't break any bones. She cut her head and got 8 stiches on it. Of course, it didn't need to stay there, just got stiches, went back home, and a few days later, took out the stiches. Now she is fine.
Go back to the story on Sunday. On the day Yuki's mother fell down in front of Yuki. He was very surprised. However she was fine.
We need to care them carefully.

On the day, both of us took our mothers to different places not to meet each other. Though they are friends, but for us it was troublesome to care both of them on the same time.
He took his mother to a big discount shop.
I took my mother a mall.

My mother bought some expensive delicatessen She seemed to be satisfied.
But at the mall, we couldn't find regular soy sauce. They dealt with a little bit expensive kinds of soy sauce. So I took her to a open café and let her wait there.
While she was waiting ( she had no physical power to go another usual store), I went to a convenience store to just a bottle of regular soy sauce.
So it amounted to the cost of expensive soy sauce, though I told her, but she said "I get used to the taste of regular soy sauce.
It is like a short comedy.
Anyway for four of us, it was a good Sunday. All of four had a good sleep at night. Do you understand what I want to say? It includes some irony. Even Yuki went to bed earlier than usual because of exhaustion.

I seem old enough to enjoy this picture.

The wall is changed into new one. So I put away most of old things, and left a few things to enjoy seasons,

I think that the cyclamen picture is suitable to enjoy this winter. 

This picture was written my grandmother's brother, who was an painter.  He was not so famous but he  made his living as a painter .  This  picture was his present to us when we married. It was in winter about  35 years ago. 

I would put this picture somewhere in our house in some winters, however at that time it seemed too heavy or traditional for us to enjoy it. We sought casual things. So for probably more than 25 years it was being kept in the closet.

This time, I put it on the entrance hall. Not bad. 

Yuki said " I remember this picture".

Now, we enjoy this picture. It means we are old enough to enjoy this picture, and In good meaning we seem to be aging well. 

Thanks for your comments.

First I let me say sorry and thanks.
I didn't notice some people answered my questions, and care about my foot, by posting comments.
Though it was an excuse, usually I get notification from this blog site as soon as someone puts comments. However these days it seems not to work.
I'm really happy to get comments from nice people.

Though this weekend I visit my mother and my mother-in law in Tokyo.
After that, I am going to spend usual quite days. So I try to continue updatting this blog.
I hope to talk with you constantly through this blog.

How do you discribe your hometonw?

Since this month my graduating student has started to take my English lessons again, It is not a lesson just chatting in English.

1.Where is your hometown?
2.What is your hometown like?
3.Where is your favorite place to go in your hometown?
4. What is your hometown famous for?
5.What do people do for fun in your hometown?
How do you describe your hometown?

My hometown is Utsunomiya.
It is not a big city, but not in the rural area. It is a middle-sized city and full of nature.
My favorite place is Utsunomiya art museum. It often holds an interesting exhibition, and the building is very wonderful.
Utsunomiya is famous for GYOZA. Gyoza is a kind of Chinese dumplings, you might know the word, pot stickers.
In Utsunomiya, once a year Miya festival is held in summer. Many people look forward to it. And people who work or live in other areas go back to enjoy the festival.

Today it is a holiday, and Yuki is golfing now at a golf course.
I'm at home. And a worker is getting in and out, who is installing a new boiler.
It is the real last step.
From tomorrow, our usual life of to will have started.
 

Now, it is the final stage.

 

Can you hear the sound?

From 8:30, this work has started. Today scaffolding takes away.

Though some small work is left.

So this week some worker comes to my house, too.

Anyway it is the final stage.

It was a good excuse not to go to workout for these two weeks.

From today I "will" or am going to do my daily routine.

a little bit more ? or almost done?

Monday has started, and I'm living in this cave in the daytime.

Fortunately our Wifi is active.

 

 

According to the schedule, the refurbishing of the interior is going to finish today.

It seems to be close to finishing up? or It's almost done?

( I hope someone tells the difference between two sentences. My image is the following. close to finishing up is that we see the goal from the current point, on the other hand almost done is that we see the current point from the goal, and in this case I don't see the goal, so It seems to be close to finish up.)

 

I "used to like" decorating the wall, especially the entrance hall, but I wouldn't put anything on the wall after getting new wall paper, "probably".

 

How many steps did we walk?

Last Sunday we went out seeing colorful leaves  to a mountain which takes 90 minute drive.
We left our house very early morning with some rice balls and hot tea and coffee.

We could see colorful leaves as soon as we got to the foot of the mountain.
The roadway to the top of mountain was covered lots of colorful trees, so it was very beautiful and we really enjoyed this year autumn.
One our aim was seeing colorful leaves.
And the other aim was taking a walk along the walking trail.
We got the information about the walking trail from the net. So we didn't know much about it.
Well, (probably you can guess), it was "not" a walking trail, it was a "hiking trail".
So our outfit were not suitable to the situation.
We just enjoyed the scenery on the deck, and went back to the city.
To achieve the aim, we dropped by an art museum.
This exhibition was held. It was very good.

 

Back of this art museum there are walking trails.

We enjoyed walking or achieved 5000 steps.

 

Then it was noon. We had lunch outside and went back home..

How many times do you have your house refurbished largely?

Depends on your country, or your situation, it must be different how to maintain your house.

Looking back, when my mother (now she is 84) was around 70, she had her house refurbished.
The kitchen floor was changed, the bathroom was changed, and the toilet was changed.
I don't know how much was it.
Anyway what I remember is that "How wasteful! All things are still enough to use".
And I didn't say that " If you can afford to do that, I hope you divert the money to us".

The house is 45 years old, so probably at that time it was 30 years old. It was as old as our current house.
Of course it is right not to have said  the last phrase.

Now, we are going to have our house refurbished. And fortunately my daughters don't say anything.
Yes, it is our turn.

And I remember another thing.
When refurbishing my mother's house was finished, I said
"Where was it changed? I don't notice much difference."
Let me give an excuse.
probably the wall, the floor, and other things were changed, but there were (even now) many things and they covered the new things.
However she must have felt very satisfied.
Now I know her feeling.

And probably my daughters may mention the same thing "where is it changed?" after our rebuilding is finished.

And now my mother said "it was a right decision to have my house rebuilt at that time."

When we bought this house, we have never thought that we would live here in Utsumomiya when we retire.
And in 10 years, we don't know how and when to live.
However for 10 years we will have lived here calmly, and with satisfaction. (probably).

Now while we see this house, we said to ourselves, "we did well".

Season word 1025 Japan series

Today's season word was "Japan Series". I was really surprised to see that. I thought it would a special word for just baseball fans like my mother.

My mother is 84 years old, and probably since the days of my earliest recollection she has been a big fan of Yomiri Giant club. My father he has already passed away, would disgusted. At that time not so many women were fans of baseball.
Now, I'm happy about it, because it is only one hobby for her to listen to baseball games at night.
(She doesn't watch TV these days because of her eye problems)

Let me try to make short poems with this word.

Japan series, having a good excitement  every night, leads a good sleep
Japan series, no one disturbs, live and let-live

we are not grandfather & grandmother, but a senior couple.

Until last month we were always grandfather and grandmother, because we were always with our granddaughter.
Now we are a senior couple.

And in one year, our retirement life will have started, though I will continue my (small) English tutoring school.

Before the retirement day, we are planning some things.
So we talk each  other more than one years ago. It sounds good.
On the other hand, sometimes it is not a discussion, changes into quarreling.

The reason is
He often says "I didn't get the memo." (Not I don't remember. Is it right phrase?)
I often says "I have already told it to you".
We sometimes think that we need to record our talking.

Fortunately our goal is the same, it is to live peacefully.

To avoid such meaningless quarreling, we learnt the importance of Japanese.
So I bought this book.

The title is "practicing Japanese".
It is really interesting.

 

at home

Coincidently, I had time to have a tea with my neighbor at home.

Though each of us had some sweets at each home, we went out to buy special Japanese fresh sweets by car.

And I had no Japanese tea leaves , so she brought Japanese tea leaves to my house.

 

This teatime was not scheduled, we happened to have a tea teim.

It was good. And I felt so happy to have such a neighbor.

It is not easy to recycle.

Since my grand daughter and daughter left here, about two weeks have passed.
Time flies quickly.
As soon as they left, I started organizing Ah-chan's things.

Luckily her clothes were given to a (young) mother's circle.
Probably they will be used.

Her buggy was given to my friend who recently had a grand daughter.
She lives in next prefecture. She managed to take it and it was a good reason to see each other.
We haven't seen each other probably for 5 years.

I took many English kids books to a book café which deals with kids books.
I took some Japanese books for young mothers to a cook café which deals with adults books.

To tell the truth, I needed some efforts to find such people and place what try to use Ah-chan's things.
It would be easy  to discard those things quickly on a garbage collecting day, however they had some sentimental value to me. I wanted to use them for someone.

The last thing is this try cycle.
I asked another friend, however she wanted to buy a new one for her grandson.
I understood her feeling.
I also asked some city facilities, but they didn't accept my donation.
Of course I tried to take it to a used shop, however it was too old to be accepted.

 

Now I'm thinking to donate it for a NPO to pay some money including sending fee.

Money and the thing are donation. It doesn't sound bad. -- though it costs higher than one I bought .

 

 

Season word 1018 mackerel sky

 

"Mackerel sky", I learnt this word this time. Japanese word is "UROKO-GUMO", Uroko means fish scales, and GUMO (or KUMO) means clouds. And in an academic cloud field, it is called "Cirrocumulus".

 

I also found an interesting site.

 

UROKO-GUMO, it inspires my appetite, go to a fisher market.

UROKO-GUMO, a little bit scary, storm foreboding

 

 

Volunteer reading at the library in October

Yesterday I did volunteer reading at the library as usual.

This time some couples of mother and kids, of course came, and some adults (ladies) came.

So after 30 minute English book reading, we had a chat time using this article, and talked about Japanese season words.

 

 

Autumnal Equinox Day :  Most of the women were not from this city Utsunomiya including me. However they try to visit their family graves. The day is for us to remind us of our ancestors, and eat traditional sweets "ohagi".

 

Community Chest : it was interesting, because no one knew how to use the money donated. And everyone accepted that though it is donation, but it is paid automatically from our residents community fee.

 

Cosmos ; yes, it is the season of cosmos now. There are some famous parks with full of cosmos. Probably this weekend, in some parks, cosmos festival must he held, and at the end everyone will be able to take cosmos free.

 

Railway Day; We know the word, but we don't do anything on the day. In a big city there are may railways, but here just two railways.

 

If some adults join me next time, I will be able to organize such a chatting time.

It is fun.

well-drained sandals

I don't know how we say this type of sandals even in Japanese. Anyway Yuki bout them at a DIY center, They are well-drained. We always leave two pair of sandals outside at the garden entrance door. So after raining, of course they are soaked.

Even though it may be cold to wear them in winter, they are very suitable gadgets.

 

This Sunday I attended our Toast Master's Meeting, while Yuki trimmed the garden.

One of Yuki's role when he retires, is to maintain our garden tidy. So he already started to try it little by little. However unexpected things has happened. Now I'm suffering from stiffed shoulders, and he also feels a pain on his arm. So it is a little bit difficult to use big scissors. He bought an light electrical trimmer. It works. However it seems to be difficult for him to use it on a stepladder. For these years , we always ask a professional gardener to lower the trees in my garden which are able to be maintained by ourselves.

Until a few years ago, we had no problem to do things on a stepladder. Now we have a little bit problem.

If we lower the trees more, they won't work as a role of fence, though we can trim them.

What should we do?

Good grief!

This time last year, I participated in a  walk-rally with my family Yuki, M, Ah-chan and me.
Though I walked about 3 km, I didn't feel any pain.

However, -- in the last few days I took a  20 minute walk wearing walking shoes.
Then the day before yesterday (just three days passed), I felt strange pain in my feet.
I asked the doctor, who cares for my stiff shoulder about the pain.
He said "I don't see  any special problem, probably the pain caused by fatigue of your  feet. Did you do anything hard suddenly?"

Until last May, I regularly   walked for 20 minutes as much as I could.
Even while M and Ah-chan  were here with us in this summer, I couldn't do my regular walking.  But I went to Tokyo  a couple times, and every time I walked more than 7000 steps. Additionally on the day we saw them off at Narita airport, my pedometer on my cell phone showed 7000 steps. However I never felt such a pain during those days.

My doctor said "there is a difference between normal walking and brisk walking.
Probably I walked too briskly, and my feet muscles which are usually not used must have been surprised and exhausted .

On the other hand, I thought, probably my shoes are the culprit. It must have gotten "old".
So I bought a new pair of walking shoes on the way home after  my shoulder and feet treatment.

I did a good shopping.

 

How many years do you keep such a "Eau de Toilette"?

I'm not used to using such a  "Eau de Toilette", and perfume etc.
So I'm not familiar with  perfume companies. However I know the name of Yves saint Laurent, and probably Yuki know it, too.
I got these bottles, probably 7 years ago from a French madam.
I knew it was expensive, so I have kept it  without using it .
However----

Do you know how many years such things are kept the quality?
I searched on internet. According some websites, it seems to be three years.

Ok, I clearly give up using it for me.
However --- what should I do?
I thought the bottle would be useful.

However the splay is very tight, so to throw the liquid away, I have to brake the rid. It means it will not be used as a splay bottle.

 

 

Anyway I took the bottle from the shelf, and put it in the bathroom.

About the other one.

I throw the liquid away, and put some my favorite aroma oil with my home made dry lavender petals..

This small bottle changed into a new one with my favorite perfume.

 

At Karaku

 

Yesterday it was the day of Karaku, I staged a small concert.

After it, we (I did it with a reciter) had a relaxing time with coffee and cake.

Though we did 30 minute concert, we were there about three hours.

 

For these three months, I came back home as soon as I finished the performance.

Now I have a lot of my own free time, it means I have no one to talk to when I come back home quickly.

It is a quiet house.

 

I have a question.

I'm  happy if some one explain or correct the sentences.

Example sentence
The application should have been mailed before yesterday.

Q1, Does the day mean the day some one posted a letter? or the day when the letter arrive dat the office?
Q2, Though according to the explanation about Q1, what difference are there using by, or until instead of before ?

Our usual life

Last Sunday it was our usual life, though Yuki didn't go golfing.
I organized the room where Ah-chan and my daughter used for these three months.
My daughter doesn't drive so she "sometimes" or a few times use a bike which has a child sheet.
So autumn clothes, and the helmet are left. They are still clean.

Fortunately I found a young mother who wanted to use them quickly.

 

I made usual pre-cooked dishes for this week.

This time they are just for the two of us. So it didn't take  much time.

 

 

I also put away 10 things.

 

 

While I was doing usual Sunday chores, he repaired the fence.

He went to a home center nearby, and changed the board fence.

Our family life of four is over.

Ah-chan (our granddaughter), M (our younger daughter), Yuki and me lived together in summer and it is over.

The day before yesterday, they left Japan for Thailand. And now they have started their new life with our son in-law (which means M's husband or Ah-chan's father.)

 

Last week the four of us went out for a special dinner.

For Ah-chan  it was the first time to have French dinner with a formal knife and fork.

Her main food was hamburger stake, so it was not difficult to use them.

She tried to eat ketchupped rice which was  wrapped in omelet, it was really difficult. So she ate it with spoon as usual.

 

As you see, the table cloth was perfect white.

We tried  hard to keep the white while we were eating, and of course they accepted our somewhat messy manner.

 

 

They have a special room for a family like us in the restaurant, so we really enjoyed it while we let her experience such a special dinner.

 

Well, the two of us are backed to our usual life.

Homemade sweets

I failed making yogurt, it turned into cottage cheese. Do I baked it with eggs,milk,and fresh cream.

One of weekly prepared dishes was steamed pumpkin. Usually I made soup from it. This time I baked pumpkin pudding. 

season word 0920 Autumal Equinox Day

Do you know that the daytime is a little longer on Autumnal Equinox Day?

 

 

Daytime is longer.

 

SANMA-bowl

 

Sanma , pacific sauries are seasonal fish of autumn in Japan.

The most popular way is grilled pacific sauries.

This year I ate the first pacific saury at a restaurant.

It is said, if you eat the first catch of something (in this case pacific sauries) this season, you will enjoy a long life. (Well, many Japanese people are already enjoying their long life)

 

 

My daughter's baggage were sent to Thailand by plane.

There are three baggage of suitcases. Their leaving day is approaching.

 

 

repairning sofas by ourselves

 

We have two sofas in the living room. They are not so expensive, but we've been used them for more than 7 years.

Since this summer the artificial leather has started to become ragged, because of this unusual heat, aging or someone's playing on them hardly.

They are not so expensive, however the size is a little bit unique. (It took long time for us to find this suitable sofas to our living room.)

If we asked for a craft man to repair them, it would cost more than twice of the price we bought.

So we decided to repair them by ourselves.

We bought  artificial leather. It cost about 8000 yen.

 

 

Of course they are all patchwork.

So I covered them with good soft fabric cover.

 

It was Sunday's afternoon job for Yuki and me while Ah-chan and my daughter were outside.

I've managed to catch up with this strange weather.

Even Yuki is saying " it is a tough weather, isn't it?".
For these days "suddenly" it got cool, and according to the weather report in a few days hot weather will come back again.
However we've managed to catch up with this strange weather.
And Yuki came to like herb tea.

When we don't have an enough appetite and are not in good shape, I pick up some lemon balm, and add it to some elder flower I bought . Pepper mint must be better, but they have gone in my garden.

Sometimes I have a headache.  So I made my ordinal lavender oil. The lavender was picked up in June.

And I also drink lavender tea with echinacea.

 

 

On the other hand, I take Japanese herb medicine with is prescribed, which means I use our health insurance.

My nearby doctor is good at dealing with Japanese herb medicine.

season word 0913

"Be Kind to Animals Week" is from September 20th to 26th this year.

 I didn't know that it started in America.

 

These days "pet problem" seems to be getting bigger.

While people are enjoying a long life, some people seek pleasure for pets and some people have to give up to feeding pets.

And here in Japan it is usual to find pets at pet shops. But they don't care the pets who are abandoned.

Then, it is getting a problem how the pet shops gain their goods(which means animals).

 

 

Karaku September

Anyway, I did it, though this Saturday my finger hurt. (chip fracture)

 

Why?
As soon as I started with Ah-chan in the park, I fell down and landed on my hands.

That's it.

 





Discarding 10 things

While my daughter and Ah-chan staying, I keep discarding 10 things once a week constantly.

Additionally, whey they come in June, I discard lots of things to make room for them.

 

Discarding 10 things is my and Yuki's weekend routine. Ah-chan knows it.

So I asked her to do the same thing about her things.

She accepted it.

I suggested her to make three groups, one is a bag for material, another one is for her works, and the other is for discarding.

 

It was a good way to kill time or play with her.

She did it.

Fire ! Steak!

 

 

During Ah-chan staying, we don't often go out to eat than the life of two of us.

However, we decided to go out once a month to a rich restaurant to give an experience to Ah-chan.

 

My father in-law used to give his granddaughters (my daughters) the same experience when he came here.

 

This time, we went to a stake restaurant, there the chef cooks in front of us, and give a kind of fire show.

 

 

What do you think of this idea?

I use this apron as a table cover of Ah-chan's scrabbling table.
What do you thing of this idea?

I kept some things for my daughter.
I had thought she might use them while she were a young mother. However she is going to Thailand for a while, and the number of package is limited.
So I decided to discard the things I kept.
This apron is one of them.
However, it is cute.
So I tried using it to cover the scrabbling .
Usually this table is not put in the living room. It is put temporally while Ah-chan is here.
It means temporally "kids' corner" is made in the living room.
It looks good as a kid's table.

season word 0906 grape picking

 

Here in Utsunomiya, we see the sign of "grape picking".

And we also see another sign. It is "(Japanese) pear picking".

And a little later other signs like "chestnuts picking" and "apple picking" are seen.

 

Yes, we are lucky to have lots of orchard nearby.

However do I do that?

While picking , they are all-you-can-eat.

Can I eat a lot?

No, considering the fee, it costs high for me.

So just I enjoy go to orchards and buys fresh fruits.

 

 

 

September has already started.

It has been a long time since I updated this blog. September has already started.
It means our new school term has already started.
Let me introduce an interesting news.

Bad news for students

I didn't know that we were able to buy all summer homework by online shopping until this news was announced.
It prompted debates, like this.

 

 

1. What is the word of homework defined according to the Japanese newspaper?

 

2. What is the problem according to Japan education ministry?

 

3, What do you think of it?

 

 

 

My answer.

1. "homework" is to study at home by themselves. It is one way to engage proactively with learning aimed at independence.



 The important thing is to do, not to submit it.

2. Originally, homework is to be done at home, it is not goods to sell and buy as business.

3. I understand the aim, on the other hand, I know it is very important to submit it.
Probably it is a matter of morale.
If you couldn't saw dust cloth and asked your neighbor to do it, and  your mother gave some present in return (of course your mother couldn't do that), -- it would be acceptable.
If you couldn't research something and asked your neighbor to do it, and your father gave some present in return (of course your father couldn't do that), -- it would be acceptable.
However, it is not acceptable to be done as business.
One the other hand, if such way were acceptable, in a few years summer homework would not be given to kids.