I'm a Japanese housewife living in Japan. I'm in my 60's. I want to know daily lives in the world, so at first I'll tell my daily. What is your daily life?
Finally I stopped going to the gym, even though the gym is still open in this area. (In Utsumoniya it is not included as emergency areas)
So I try doing exercise at home constantly.
I like this site, though it is in Japanese.
And when I go to the library, or drop by at a used bookstore, I borrow or buy some DVD or magazines with a companion DVD (is it right word?).
While watching the screen with music, I'm able to do exercise as the right way.
Only looking at books, I usually do short cuts to do exercise, or do very quickly.
Doing exercise with DVD is sometimes frustrating, but I do it devotedly.
How are you spending at home?
Though we can go out, but we stay home much than before.
Yuki practices the guitar, and "tries" to do house chores more.
I "try" to organize our house, and prefer cooking. (Well, I go out to buy some ingredients at a supermarket nearby.)
I baked lemon square bar. But I used "flat lemon" juice instead of usual lemons. This bottle was almost expired. So before coming expired day I used it up.
I also baked bread. When we went to a used shop, I found an interesting bread mold. (Well it means we went out to a used shop.)
So I tried using it.
When we went out to a famer's shop, I found fresh watercress.
So I baked watercress tart.
Luckily we can go to a farmer's shop. So we can get something fresh easily.
We didn't need to go to Tokyo, so we had a lazy weekend.
One of my "plain" hobbies is clipping from daily papers.I organized my scrapping books.
On this notebook, I put many clipping randomly and roughly, the oldest one was 6 years ago.
6 years ago, I was in my 50's. And I was not a grandmother, it means I was must M's mother.
She left home to go to university when she was 18. But I thought she was still a member of my family. After she graduated she started to work. Then I thought she was a member of my family. Then she married. I knew she made another family with her husband. When she left home, I suffered kind of empty nest syndrome. When she married, I didn't feel loneliness so much than before. But I seemed to be difficult to interact with her and her husband. In parallel, I started to feel how difficult to communicate with my aging mother. So I often clipped articles about how to deal with family members from daily news.
And a few years ago, I started to clip about retirement, especially retirement finance situation.
Now, I prefer to clip about "housemen", and how to enjoy the senior life.
I also made pre-cooked dishes.
I boiled a block of pork with salt, ginger and some spices. It is able to preserve at least for 4 days.
And I also made more three dishes.
Then I cleaned the fridge.
Last week I did walking as much as I could, on the other hand I didn't go to the gym.
The private gyms are still open. And there people do an individual exercise keeping 2 meter social distance, and all machines are often sterilized by stuff with an alcohol spray pot.
On the yesterday's blog I wrote about MITSUMA virgin forest. On the day before the day it was snowy. Here in Utsunomiya we couldn't see any snow on the day, but there we saw a lot of snow there. Both of us coincidently had each hats. We got lots of mist of melting snow from the trees.
Melting snow; in the virgin forest, catching with hats
I walked 5212 steps.
I walked around the house. 5200 steps.
SYOKASSAI (purple spring flower): daily unglamorous walking , accumulate the steps
Before an entrance ceremony these cherry blossoms seems to finish. This spring cherry blossoms started to bloom earlier than usual, but they kept blooming longer than usual. I walked 5212 steps.
Unprecedented situation; Cherry blossoms blooming Longer than usual
How's your daily life? Many people living in foreign countries seem to say "why Japanese people are so uncareful or complacent people?". I agree with you, on the other hand I hope to maintain this situation.
Yuki and I always gargle and wash each hand when we come back to home, and I always wash the paper mask or cotton mask we used then.
Anyway thankfully last week we had calm days in Utsumoiya.
Monday we went out by car to see MITSUMA tree in the forest where it takes one-hour by car.
It was wonderful, though the peak season was finished. On the other hand the peak season was finished, so "few" people were there. We met two couples. We walked (or climbed up and down) 5626 steps.
This video was taken in 2018
ミツマタや ドラマをなぞる 原風景
Mitsumata blooms; original scenery of Japan in the virgin forest
Tuesday, I sautéed pork and radish with sesame oil.
We went to the library. There we can't borrow the latest magazines, so I borrowed ones which were published one year ago. The contains might be old, but dealt with the same season.
April issue; a magazine of a year ago , borrow now
Wednesday, it was raining. Yuki couldn't go out to play tennis. (Here in Utsunomiya, all public gyms and grounds are closed. But outside tennis courts are still open.) So he went out to check a river with umbrella.
Cold in cherry-blossom time; walking along the river, no sings of fish
Thursday; Turning on the radio we only hear unhappy news. However we can't stop hearing such news. Anyway keeping our apatite is the most important. Soybeans foods including Natto are very healthy.
A usual spring day; give my full attention sincerely, to the ingredients
Friday, I finally used up green onions which I buried in the garden in winter.
The last one was very thin after I peeled the dry outside.
Green onion is a seasonal word for winter. But "digging up yams" is a seasonal word for spring. I dug up the green onions, this image is similar to digging up yams.
Digging up yams; look at my dirty fingernails , take no thought though
How do you explain and appreciate this Haiku?
Winter is almost finished. When I see a branch without no leaves carelessly, a pigeon was there. It looked heavy for the branch.
Today's seasonal word is cherry blossom front.
unprecedented; cherry blossom front running up
Today's drill is a little bit difficult.
What is the traditional thing in your country.
The first phrase is in Japan
the second phrase is a traditional thing
and the last phrase is a seasonal word with "!"
Using "!" makes the seasonal word more emphasized and impressed.
The example is
In Japan, with chopsticks, having ODEN (pot dish in winter)
In Japan, prefer modest words; under cherry blossoms
Saturday, it was a sunny day. So I did usual things like cooking and discarding 10 things.
However on Sunday, it was snowing. I closeted myself in the kitchen and cooked. Yuki also closeted himself in his room and maintained his fishing kits.
Monday, I stir-fried green peppers and thick sliced pork.
I went to a gym, there were only a few people. And every time a person used, each machine was sanitized by alcohol. And the distance between each machine was more than one meter.
And all windows were of course open, so we felt like being outside.
Doing exercise; all windows open up to spring wind
Tuesday, I got this lunch from my neighbor. It is called OSEKIHAN; red rice. We usually have one when something happy happened.
Our neighbor, share the happy rice: full of cherry blossoms.
Wednesday, early in the morning we went to see cherry blossoms in the hill. It is our annual custom.
We could do it like the last year. Until now we used to drop by a café to have breakfast. However this year we used the coupon, and took them to our house.
Early in the morning, drop by a drive-through shop, after seeing cherry blossoms,
Thursday, finally we got afraid of coming the pandemic, so -- though it sounds strange, I tried not to use our stock in the freezer, and I constantly go to a nearby supermarket and get each-day food.
What I cook? organize our fridge ; a pleasant spring day
Friday, Nato again. Nato is said to improve our immune power.
Yuki went fishing with two rice balls. Oh, it was my mistake. He went practicing of his fish kits.
At a far river, only drop a line; on a pleasant spring day
How is your life? How has your daily life changed by this coronavirus?
Though lots of events are cancel, I still continue walking exercise.
Our residence area is not dense, and luckily we can go to big parks in rural areas by car.
This is a weeping cherry tree
We went out to a forest park which it takes 40 minutes by car. There Yuki practiced fishing, and I walked around the big pond. I walked 5629 steps.
I'm really afraid not only the coronavirus but also pollens, so I protected my face "perfectly" with a mask with eyeholes, a hat and special grasses. So when you see me, you can see only my eyes, I know it looks weird.
Spring wind; Where have you met before? wearing a big mask
This is SOMEI-YOSHINO. We could enjoy these cherry trees on this hill this year again like last year. On the day, I walked (climbed) early in the morning, and I also walked in the evening. So I did walk totally 10326 steps.
Morning cherry blossom; finish off the day, 10000steps.
This day, it was raining. But we went to a place, where Yuki used to work .
We were only seeing the cherry blossoms. And we walked around his office. 5212 steps.
The commute road, the cherry trees in full bloom, Lazy afternoon
We went out to see the first cherry blossoms on early in the morning.
It is our annual event. We could enjoy seeing SOMEIYOSHIHO cherry blossoms at Hachimayama park.
We haven't been there for a long time.
So we didn't know that this park got a big damage from the typhoon of the last summer.
Since this month the parking lot has reopened.
However the usual way to climb the hill was still forbidden to use.
So we detoured. We went across the next-door park.
Usually we had breakfast at a café on the way home.
But this year we used Macdonald coupon.
My husband Yuki and I live in a regional city. Our retirement life has state since 2020. Though Something good, exciting, worried or bad often happens, we try to focus the current situation and spend enjoyable days while living offf our savings little by little carefully.
