Outdoor Activities 2

There are three questions. If I get your comments, I'm very happy.
1. What is the most exciting sports event you have bee to?
    What was the most exciting moment? Did you tell others about it?
2. What is the most expensive ticket price you have paid to see a live event?
    Was it worth it?
3. What is the biggest crowd you have ever been in?

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1. I've been to watch a pro baseball game only once. Though I was not a big fan of both team, cheering a team with big fans was exciting. When a batter hit a home run, it was the most exciting moment. As soon as I came home I told about the game to my mother. Because she was a big baseball fan, and even now.

2. I've been to SUZUKA where is the west of Nagoya to watch F1 race only once. Yuki and I won the ticket. The ticket price was expensive for us at that time, and the travel cost using SHINKANSEN was also expensive for as at that time. Of course it was one day trip.
Now I can say "it is worth". Because if we went to see F1 again, we have to go abroad.

3 Though every summer festival is crowded, when I went to the summer festival in the city, suddenly  we had a big rain. So all people who were outside ran into the arcade. The arcade was so crowd that I felt to be difficult to breathe in. And I got sick.

Autumn has come.

Are you enjoying autumn? Here's my entrance.

Do you see spider lilies in your country? Now it is the season of spider lilies. Today my friend and I enjoy driving. There is a road called "spider lily street".

About for 1km we enjoyed such scenery. Harvest season is just around the corner, so the combination of golden rice ears and dark red spider lilies is great.
It is the good season for autumn fruits, such as grapes, pears and persimmons.
I found an interesting column in the newspaper.
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This year  grapes in a bunch are not all of the same large size. Such bunches are called "family grapes". ( I don't know what we call the grapes which are all of the same large size, probably they are high quality.) When the flowers opened in spring, they didn't seem get enough rain. So the market price of the grapes is lower than usual. Our Japanese sense of value about fruits seems to be distinct. In foreign countries, it is said "Fresh fruits are good, processed fruits are better". Here in Japan whether the taste of fruits is good or not is judged by fresh fruits. Of course the size, the shape are very important. We don't judged the taste of fruits by processed fruits.
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Anyway we enjoy autumn.

Monday

How was your weekend?
As expected, typhoon came, and left. Fortunately we had no damage.
This Saturday in the afternoon Yuki and I "did" house chores. We changed the summer carpets in the rooms into winter carpets. Actually it is fall (though it's hot today.)

On Saturday night we went to a private concert hall to listen to a young Jazz man, whose name was HAKUEI-KIM. It sounds like a Korean, but he grew up in Japan, and studied music in Sidney for 11 years.Yuki said "He is really influenced by Keith Jarrett!"
There were about 50 people. We really enjoyed the concert, and we love the private concert hall.

On Sunday, Yuki went to play golf. I went out in the down town alone.

I attended a talk show, where a famous socialist talked about how to enjoy this aged society.
Her name is Keiko-Higuchi. I didn't know that she is 80 years old.
Though you might be surprised to hear that, first I would have hesitated to attend it alone. But anyway I went there. And I was so surprised most of participants came alone.
She said "Of course women have to be independent, and senior people also have to be independent."

She also said " we are in the place no one has ever been, we are the first generation who live in this aged society. We don't have aged culture, so every one's daily life is making a new aged culture."

I was listening to her talk with a wry smile. Her age is between my mother's and my mother-in-law's.
I don't listen to two lady's talk well, but I listened to Keiko's talk show hard.

At the night typhoon came, and passed.
Let's enjoy this week.

Weeding

Now it's noon. I've already had lunch alone. What lunch are you going to or did you have today? My lunch was the rest of today's breakfast. Not bad.
In the morning I would have gone to work out, but I changed my mind. I started weeding. Until last Friday definitely it had been summer, not suddenly it has been fall.

I said to myself " you did a good job". --- I was wearing a long sleeve shirt, covered my neck with a towel, was wearing gloves, of course wearing long pants. And before weeding I used bug splay. But -- I was bitten by mosquitoes lots! Do you know that people whose blood type "O" are easy to be bitten by mosquitoes.
And I did too much, so suddenly it's getting dark. It looks like rain.
Do you know that it is said that after someone would do unusual things, rain comes?

To Tokyo

This Sunday Yuki and I went to Tokyo to see an exhibition.

SHINSEISAKU exhibition is being held until October 1 at the National Art Center in Roppongi.
Why did we go there?

Our elder daughter T's work is on display. And to our delight she won a prize.

We went to see it with my younger daughter M, my mother and my mother-in-law.
Before going to the Art Center, we had a wonderful lunch in ROPPONGI.

It's a typical Japanese cuisine. For our daughters YAGIKIU must have been better, but this time we were with 84 year-old woman, and 76 year-old woman. So in such a opportunity, this Japanese cuines is suitable. Of course M ordered one more dish, it was TEMPURA.

It is a wonderful thing for T to win a prise, and we are very proud of having such a daughter. And the work this time was very huge. I was very surprised to see it. I'm very impressed my daughter T who is 146 cm tall, has such a strong power to make it.
And another thing made me very surprised --- it is that the carrying cost from her workshop to the Art center was 19000yen one way. And her work is moved to KYOTO to be on display on another exhibition. But she has to pay the carrying cost, it will be around 20000 yen.
Though she works hard, it's really difficult to keep making works.
We'll support her as much as we can.

Anyway congratulations T
After we arrived at Utsunomiya, we dropped by a wine bar and celebrate the day.

 Thanks of her, we met all members of my family, and we had a good weenend.

Outdoor Activities

1,What kinds of sports have you tried?
 I've "tried" ping-pong, swimming, KARATE, tennis, squash (indoor tennis?), ski,and so on. Now I try to go to workout at least once a week, and sometimes play golf at a golf range.

2,What sports are you interested in now?
I'm a little bit interested in golf, because Yuki plays golf. I'd like to have common sports to enjoy with him.

3,What sports would you try from now?
If I had a chance I'd like to try horse riding.

4, What sports equipment do you own?  What sports equipment would you like to have?
Once I used to have many kinds of equipments, such as ski, skate, tennis rackets, ping-pong racket, bathing suits, snorkel and fins, and so on.
Now I have a set of golf.
I'd like to have a bathing suit

5, What are your favorite outdoor foods?
In summer I like to eat a whole  salty cucumber. In winter I like to have hot AMAZAKE, which is sweet a drink made from fermented rice, with ginger.

6, What flower or vegetable would you like to try to grow at home.
I'd like to grow tomatoes, eggplants, OKRA, such as summer usual vegetables, but it's difficult to let let them bear. So I grow herbs, like basil, Shiso, and so on which are really useful as spice.

Do you have any more questions about outdoor activities?

A wonderful concert

Last Saturday Yuki and I went to a concert. This time it was a trio concert consisting with a piano, drums, and a bass. The pianist was Yamashita Yousuke, who was almost 70, the drummer was almost 60.
Their music gave me lots of energy. I wonder where they keep their enthusiasm for music. I was really impressed.

This time we went to the down town by bus, it means we (mainly Yuki) was able to drink.
So before the concert we dropped by a wine-bar, and had a light dinner.

 

Well, last Tuesday, it was the day for me to play the piano at KARAKU tea room.  There were some customers to listen to me. Though I'm not a pro pianist, I played hard, carefully, and calmly as much as I could. Performing in such a place as KARAKU gives me energy. But to perform, I need to practice. For me it is difficult to keep practicing constantly. Sometimes it's troublesome.

 

 



Classical music makes me thoughtful.
Jazz music makes me positive.
Music is wonderful, isn't it?

Friday

From this Saturday we have a three-day weekend in Japan, I'm thinking what I'll do. Because of going to clinic most of every day, the pain of my neck is getting healed little by little.
Yesterday, I went to clinic and to go to gym. I didn't use machines that trained muscles of necks, shoulders. I used the others that trained lower body.

This Wednesday a lady who were from South Africa came to teach English to me. ( I decided to take her private lesson twice a month to have opportunities to speak English, and to improve my speaking skill.) We talked about clinics in Japan.

When we cut somewhere, we go to "GEKA", which is a surgery clinic.
When we break legs or somewhere, we go to "SEIKEI GEKA" , which is an orthopedic surgery clinic.
When we strain or twist somewhere, we go to an orthopedic surgery cinic or "SEKKOTSU IN", which is bone-setter.
When we have an ache on somewhere, we go to "SEITAI IN", which is a kind of massage clinic which does acupucnture or acupressure. And at some (or most) SEITAI IN, we don't get covered service.
At SEKKOTSU IN and SEITAI IN, we get Asian treatmeant.
How about  in your country?

Monday

Now I've just come back from --- an acupressure & massage clinic nearby.
Since Thursday my neck pain has got worse little by little, so I decided to go there instead of workout. After the treatment now I "can" turn up my neck, even though I feel pain.  Once or twice a year this symptom occurs to me, and sometimes it causes a bad headache. Fortunately this time I don't have headache yet.


This weekend I went to art galleries.
At one gallery, the exbition of YAMASHITA KIYOSHI was held.


The other was an exhibition manged by young ladies who graduated BUSEI art college where is in Utsunomiya. The works are "fresh", "young" and powerful.

A new week has started. Tomorrow is the day for playing the piano at KARAKU.
I don't have lessons  at night, so for a while I'll take a rest. Let's enjoy this week.

communication

Are you good at communication? I think foreigners except Asian are good ice breakers in Japan.
I read an article about how to communicate with person you might have a little trouble with.(It is not a person you don't like.)

The article said "At first listen to him or her at least five minutes."
I think five minutes is too long.
Since I finished my PTA activities I have had few people I have trouble with to communicate. (Because I don't need to communicate with such people.)
But even when I "have to " listen to my husband, my mother  and my mothers, five minutes is too long.

The article said ;
Usually people get calm after five minutes speaking what they want to speak. Then you should start saying that "well, it's my turn to tell my opinion". Or you can serve tea for them to refresh the atmosphere.
If you can't find any points to agree with, you need to find out meeting points in a gray zone.
You can't continue avoiding such people, listening to people who have different points of view might get you a new thinking way.

Organizing

I know there are too many things for the capacity of my house. Open space must be the most luxury in this house. To tell our excuse, we have many interesting things like musics ( so we have a piano, guitars, bass), sports (so we have tennis rackets, two bags of golf clubs), English ( so I have lots of books)  even though we don't have a storage room.
Anyway I 've kept throwing away ten things (including tiny things) every day. Today I threw 7 old instruction handbooks of appliances which we don't use yet now and 3 direct mail postcards.

The other day on the news paper some people posted about "organizing". They were interesting. I'll show you.
person 1"Anyway I'll throw away".
person 2 "I won't put things away, I'll use them to put things I see."
person 3 "I invite someone to my house regularly, so I have to organize our house"
person 4 "when I buy one new thing, I throw away one thing that is not used for more than two years."
person 5 "I store all photos in the PC, don't print them, just keep some printed photos."

Anyway I have to keep throwing away ten things. Well, well it's time for the last lesson today.

September

Now it's September. it's getting cooler and cooler, though it's till hot in the day time. I put FUTON instead of a cotton blanket.
This weekend, Yuki and I really enjoyed.
On Saturday, in the morning, Yuki went to playing tennis, and I went to workout.
And in the afternoon we went to the golf range, though most of time he was practicing, I was reading a book. And I dropped by a cafe. I like the cafe owner who is a woman in the same generation of me. Did I tell you about her cafe? First she started to show her garden, then she started to serve tea, then she opened her cafe. The view from of her cafe is wonderful. Here is UTSUNOMIYA.

Then we went to  a library, and grocery shop. At night we went out for dinner on foot. Recently I knew that an inexpensive good restaurant  was nearby. Yuki enjoyed beer and SYOUCYU, and I shipped Cold sake a little.

While we were having dinner, Eri-chan who lives next to our house came.

 

On Sunday, we started to organize our parking lot. We need some things to do it so that we went to some home centers. Our daytime errand had done without problems.  While we went shopping, we had lunch at an Italian restaurant.

 

And finally it was the time for an big event.  A concert of YAMASHITA-YOUSUKE was held at a private studio. The owner's couple is a big fun of the Jazz pianist, So they asked him to come to their private studio, and he came there in (kind of ) private. 

 

 



You sould praise three things and scold one thing

I read an interesting article in the newspaper. These days people who can't scold not only kids but also subordinates are increasing. If a boss scolded his or her subordinate, he or she might be accused of power harassment. So many managers take coaching lesson how to scold gently.
In my generation it used to be usual to be scolded by someone (parents, teachers, managers), but these days here and there we hear "Before scolding you should praise. It is a good way to raise kids. Don't scold them." And these days people who are not used to be scolded seem to increase.
While these days people are not good at scolding someone. Sometimes they confuse with these words, scold, yell, and warn.
Anyway I'm not good at praising and scolding someone. I'd like to take such a coaching lesson if I had a chance.

Festivals in Utsumoniya

Next week school will start, so this weekend is the last summer vacation for kids.
Yesterday in Utsunomiya there were many but small events in the evening.
Yuki and I went out to the main street by bus.

In front of a big department store, BON-ODORI dance party was held.

 

In the main shopping street, there was a big Jazz concert for free. (Do you know that Utsunomiya has a catch phrase of "a town of Jazz", and of course another catch phrase is "a town of GYOZA".)

 

And along the river there was a "marche", which was temporary markets corner. And a small concert was also held.

And at some art galleries, they open night gallery with candles.

We enjoyed browsing holding a glass of beer (Yuki) or a glass of iced coffee (Mieko) in one hand. And we came back our home by bus at night.

 

 



Summer vacation with Leah

Leah, who is a French girl, and had stayed with us for a while two years ago as an exchange student, came to Utsunomiya to enjoy her summer vacation. This time she stayed with us for four days. First she came to Japan, she couldn't speak Japanese. After one year passed, her Japanese improved very well. Now she is studying Japanese and French to become a French teacher in Japan at college in France. So her Japanese is getting better. This time we talked each other in Japanese.

I took her to take a work shop to make TONBO-DAMA , which is a big glass ball, and we make through lamp work.







Then I took her to a house of my friend, who is art teacher, drew this.

 

 

 

And the final is "here it is"---- the most suitable seasonal sweet "KAKIGORI".

This ice is not usual ice, it is NIKKO (it is the name of a place) natural ice, which means the ice is frozen spring water naturally.





 

We enjoyed this summer in UTSUNOMIYA together.

Summer vacation in Korea

How was your summer vacation? Now every thing has returned usual.
Yuki, our elder daughter T and I went to Korea, unfortunately our younger daughter didn't take days-off in this season.

When we arrived in Korea, the scenery looked like Japan except characters.

 

Anyway our busy tour started, because our free day was only one day.

First we visited a palace where Korea king's family used to live.

We had BIBINPA and REIMEN , which are typical Korean food , for lunch.

And we visited a Korean town where there were lots of art galleries and cafes. T seemed really enjoyed visiting galleries, and of course I enjoyed visiting a cafe though I only visited one cafe.

and of course we had Korean YAKINIKU for dinner, which was a purpose of Yuki.

After dinner we climbed up Soul tower.

And on the way back to hotel we got Korea massage.
It was a busy tour. Next morning we went back to Tokyo.

 



Summer vacation has started -2-

Everybody knows Yuki is into playing golf.
Well, well, it's good to do something with him sometimes. So I challenged playing golf. I just only hit a ball, but it doesn't fly far, so playing golf is for me walking golf course. Walking 18 halls is too much, so we did 9 halls.

After playing golf, main events were waiting for us. We went to a hot spring nearby, and had SOBA-lunch.



It was a perfect day.

Now I'm at home alone. Yuki wasn't satisfied 9 hall golf, so he went out to play golf again. I cleaned the rooms and from now I'll prepare for going to TOKYO and KOREA.

P.S

I met Mr. HIROSHI, who is a monkey. Have you ever seen a monkey performance?



Summer vacation has started -1-

Ten-day summer vacation has started.
Yuki and I are in Utsunomiya the first half of the week, then we'll go to Tokyo and Korea. Unfortunately our younger daughter couldn't take summer vacation, so we won't able to see her, but we'll to go Korea with our elder daughter.

Well on Sunday a big tea event was hold in Utsunomiya. Of course I went there. We could taste more than 50 kinds of tea. Lots of tasting made me satisfied and my stomach "TAPOTAPO", which is an onomatopoeia and sounds like tapping a soft belly.

We also got tea-smoothie.

I learnt something about tea there.
So I tried to make "plum tea" at home. Probably raspberry tea is popular. I kept frozen plum in the fridge, so instead of raspberries I used plums. "Perfect".

Lateral thinking

Yesterday I went to a workshop in UTSUNOMIYA, and there I took four seminars.


The first one is about children English education. The theme was "follow your dream".
The second one is a conversation seminar. More than 10 English native speakers were there, so participants enjoyed talking in English.
I had lunch for free.
The third one is "no arts, no life". I learned the word "lateral thinking" which is the way to think out side of the box.
Do you know the word? For me it was the first time. Lecturer showed us some lateral thinking puzzles. I gave up! What a stubborn brain I have! Classical Lateral Thinking exercise is here.
For example
There is a man who lives on the top floor of a very tall building. Everyday he gets the elevator down to the ground floor to leave the building to go to work. Upon returning from work though, he can only travel half way up in the lift and has to walk the rest of the way unless it's raining! Why?

The answer is
The man is very, very short and can only reach halfway up the elevator buttons. However, if it is raining then he will have his umbrella with him and can press the higher buttons with it.
(I wrote the text in white. please trace two lines, so you can see the answer.)
At the workshop, a site of Gregory Colbert was introduced.





The last one is Japanese short story in English, which is called RAKUGO.
I'll introduce a short story, I don't know whether you understand Japanese joke. But I hope you enjoy it.
At home
Father; What? our neigbor didn't led you his hammer?
Son; No, He said it would chip.
Father; Oh, he is so mean. A hammer never chips. It's made of steel. Well, let's use ours.

Sunday

Since I updated this blog, one week has already pasted. Last week twice I went to nursery schools to read picture books. It's really fun to read books to kids. They show their emotion straightly, when they feel fun they laugh loudly, when they feel bored they start yawning naturally.
Except going there I was almost at home this week, though I went to workout three times a week. Some students came in turn to take extra lessons. Some had to brush up, some needed help for their summer homework. Sometimes I went out to have lunch with students to take a lunch break. It was interesting to talk with them at a RAMEN-noodle shop.


Today electrical workers come to put an air conditioner in Yuki's room. Yesterday we reorganized his room, and threw away a bookshelf and a desk. It was a big jog. Did I tell you? These days I try to throw away ten things (including a little thing like a sticker) to seek simple life. My kitchen seems to be getting more simple. And this time instead of ten things, we threw away ten big bags of garbage,so Yuki's room also seemed to get simple. Now "I" am waiting for their coming, (Yuki went to play golf already.)
For Yuki and me, recently we that that "space" is the most valuable thing in our house.

A few years ago in Japan a phrase of "DAN-SHA-RI" became a big thing. Lots of books came out.
 "DAN" means to refuse getting things, "SHA" means to throw things away, and "RI" means not to stick things. We tend to keep lots of things thinking sometime we might use. Of course we need "some" extra batteries, "some" extra tissues, "some" extra plates, but we don't need "a lot". It's difficult to draw a line between "some" and "a lot". Anyway I try to do "DANSHARI" little by little.

Jan, when you come to my house again, you must shout "Mieko, you did a good job, what an organized kitchen it is"! I'd like to hear this phrase, so I try to throw away ten things every day.
Well, well, for me, it is one thing to organize the kitchen, and it is another thing to keep the kitchen clean. I'm not good at cleaning.