As I’m knocking back some imo jochu (sweet potato shochu) during the Obon holiday, my wife tells me she needs me to go take some photos in front of our local train station.
“What for?”
Our son’s jiyu kenkyu (independent research project), she tells me.
Granny sitting in a chair next to the tent
Mom's Memories of Summer:
When your grandfather worked for Locket, he had a week off every summer in mid-August. A week or so before the trip, my parents would take everything out of storage, open it all up and air it out. They’d put a big mattress in the back of the truck, which had 2’ high walls, and drive up to Sequoia National Forest or even as far as Yosemite. The year Margaret was born (‘37), we went to Big Bear Lake.
The drive north was always an adventure because I-5 hadn’t been built yet. Going up the steep and winding road over the Grapevine was hard on the cars which would vapor lock and stall.
Once at the campsite, we would back the truck in, and tie up some sheets for privacy. Mom and Dad slept on the mattress. We also had a canvas-like teepee with cots that we kids—your uncle Jim and I—would sleep on. In later years, Winford, who was 13 years older than me, lived by himself, attending Fullerton Junior College, so he couldn’t come with us. He would end up working for North American Aviation until the war started.
At the campsite, they hung glass lamps on the trees for lighting. I remember the lamps came from China.
In the morning, Dad would make a fire and brew a pot of coffee. Mom would cook baked beans and fry up some bacon which always smelled so good. Eggs would then be deep fried in bacon fat. It tasted great but couldn’t have been too easy on our arteries.
After Pearl Harbor was attacked and America entered the war, gas was rationed. To get it, you had to drive all the way to Orange which was five miles away. Still, Dad was able to get a bit more gas than most people because he worked on a farm. He’d save up the ration tickets to have enough gas for our summer trip. In 1942, we didn’t have enough gas to get all the way up into the mountains and ended up staying in the King’s River area in King’s Canyon.
Grandpa on his tractor
コロナ感染者数の増加で、まん延防止等重点措置が適用され
公園が使用できなくなってしまいました。
大濠公園の遊具は使えない、と思っていましたが、
ブランコだけは使用できました！
子供達、大喜び！！！
遊んだあとはもちろん手を洗いました。
そして、その後、元気にジョギングです。
早く落ち着くよう、心から祈っています。
住吉神社に散歩に行きました。
風に揺れるといい音色がしました。
7月31日（土）〜8月1日（日）名越大祭（夏越大祭）があるそうです。
縁日の出店はないかもしれませんが、提灯などが飾られて夏の雰囲気を味わえそうです。
・住吉神社 → https://www.nihondaiichisumiyoshigu.jp
今年もコロナ禍で山笠を見ることができませんでしたが、
飾り山は見ることができました！
来年は追い山を見れますように
ぼくの誕生日のお祝いにケーキを買ってきました！パチパチパチパチッ
姪浜駅の近くにある
Patisserie petitjour（パティスリー プティジュール）→ https://www.petitjour.jp
というケーキ屋さんです。
初めて行ったお店ですが、美味しそうなケーキがたくさんありました！
大名で有名なジャックというケーキ屋さんで修行されたパティシエだけあって
さすがの美味しさでした！！！
Happy birthday to me~ Happy birthday to me~ ♪
幸せな誕生日祝いでした。
Whenever I ask any of my Japanese friends how many seasons there are in this country, they invariably tell me four. Shiki (四季), the four seasons, are magical aspects of Japan that you won’t quite experience anywhere else—or so they would like you to believe, but I don’t buy it.
あじさいの季節です。
梅雨入り後、しばらく雨が降らなかったのですが、
またどんよりとした梅雨らしい空になりました。
鮮やかなピンクが綺麗です
お散歩が楽しい季節です
Whenever I ask any of my Japanese friends how many seasons there are in this country, they invariably tell me four. Shiki, or the four seasons, is one of the magical aspects of Japan that you just won’t experience anywhere else, or so they like to believe.
“What about the rainy season,” I ask. “What’s that?”
“Umm. Summer?”
“Summer, huh? You know, I find tsuyu to be so uniquely different that it deserves to be called a season all by itself.”
“Okay, smart aleck, there are five seasons then.”
“Well, then how about all the sekki (節気)?”
“Sekki?”
“Yes, like rikka (立夏, the first day of summer) in early May, shōman (小満, lit. “a little full” as in growing, waxing) in late May, or bōshu (芒種, lit. bearded grain) in early June. There are 24 of those solar terms. And those can be divided into three five-day-long ‘micro seasons’, or kō (侯), giving you a total of 72 (七十二侯, shijijūni kō). The current micro season, according to Kurashi no Koyomi, A Year Seen Through the Ancient Japanese Calendar, is kohanasakau (紅花栄), or ‘The Safflower Blossoms’, and lasts from May 26 to 30. The one after that is bakushūitaru (麦秋至), or ‘The Time for Wheat’. So how many seasons does Japan really have? 4? 5? 24? 72?”
“You’re confusing me, gaijin-san.”
“I’ll simplify it for you, then. I think there are only two.”
“Two?”
“Yes. Unpleasant and pleasant. Or as a friend once commented accurately: livable and utterly unlivable.”
It’s during the pleasant season that all is forgiven. When April or May come around, a parade of different flowers blooming each week—sakura, azalea, wisteria, iris—the days sunny and warm, you can forget that only a few months ago your teeth were clattering as you sat in your home or office, unable to think about anything but the persistent cold that had seeped into your bones. Ah, if only it were like this all year long, you sigh. But you know it won’t last because the rainy season—cloudy skies, torrential rainfall, and unflagging humidity—is lurking just around the corner like the class bully waiting to pounce.
And this year, he’s even more heartless than ever, having reared his ugly mug three weeks earlier than usual. For some parts of the country, this is the earliest start of the rainy season on record. In Fukuoka, it is the second earliest.
Now you might think that what begins early, ends early, but if past is anything to go by, an early start to the rainy season usually means a longer, wetter rainy season. That was true in 1953, when tsuyu began on May 13th and ended on August 1st. It rained 81% more than usual that year. But no rainy season was more patience-trying than 1993’s, the end of which only came with the typhoons of late summer.
That year I learned a lot of new Japanese words that I could have done without—reika (冷夏, a cool summer), fusoku (不足, shortage), and pasa-pasa (パサパサ, dry, crumbly). The rainy season of ’93 ended up being so long and wet and gray and cool (reika) that Japan’s rice harvest fell by about a quarter (komebusoku) and pasapasa rice had to be imported from Thailand. Personally speaking, I love the so-called taimai (タイ米) or fragrant jasmine rice, so I couldn’t really understand what all the sawagi (騒ぎ, fuss)—another new word for me—was about. Granted, it was almost impossible to make an onigiri with it.
Now, you might think that a shorter, drier rainy season would be just the ticket, but that is exactly what we had the following summer. While there was a bumper crop in rice that year, up twenty percent or so, we would experience another fusoku that was even more trying: mizubusoku (水不足, water shortage). In our area, rainfall was 60% lower than average and drastic water-saving measures had to be taken, such as dansui (断水, cutting off the water supply).
In Fukuoka City, the water supply was cut from 10 PM to 10 AM. In those demoralizing days, I worked from nine in the morning until about eight or nine in the evening, meaning I had only an hour or two of water every weekday to shower, wash clothes, cook and wash the dishes, and fill the tub with water. Now, it wouldn’t have been half as bad if the drought hadn’t been happening at the height of one of the year’s “unpleasant seasons” when you have to change your clothes two or three times a day because they are sopping wet and musty with sweat.
You could say, that in 1994 I learned a valuable lesson: be careful of what you wish for. I also learned that nothing lasts forever and once that other pleasant season, known as fall, came around, I would take in the beauty of the autumnal colors, forget all about the stifling heat and humidity of the summer, and sigh, I wish it were like this all year long.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
舞鶴公園の花菖蒲が少しずつ咲き始めました。
菖蒲は雨がよく似合う花です。
今年は梅雨入りが早そうです。
２年ぶりにイースターエッグを作りました！
イースター（Easter）とは、イエス・キリストの復活を祝うお祭りです。
我が家ではこのカラフルな卵を近所の公園に隠し、
子供たちとイースターエッグハント（卵探しゲーム）をして遊びます。
アメリカから取り寄せたイースターエッグ用の食紅で染めていきます。
今年は子供たちが全部染めてくれたので、ぼくの出番はありませんでした。
Boys, 成長したなあ…（しみじみ）
このカラフルな色！見てるだけで、ワクワクします。
Good job!!!
上手にできました！
来年もまたしようね。
桜の季節が終わると、藤の花の季節となります。
舞鶴公園内の藤棚です。
今年は華麗に花を咲かせてくれました！
お散歩のついでにぜひ！！
PayPayドームの横にできた「BOSS E ZO FUKUOKA」へ行ってきました。
屋上に、絶景3兄弟（すべZO・つりZO・のぼZO）と呼ばれるアトラクションがあります。
ボルダリングの最高到達点は、地上から５０mという高さで、圧巻の景色です！
制限時間は15分間。子供だと５〜８回は登ります。
大人は1800円、子供（10〜15）は900円。
子供2人の利用だとリーズナブルに遊べておすすめです。
兄はこのあと一人で「すべZO」で滑って降ります。
＊すべZO → https://e-zofukuoka.com/zekkei-brothers/subezo/
＊BOSS E ZO FUKUOKA → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVla2GxRu6s
今年もきれいに咲ました。
昨日まで花冷えで寒かったのですが、今日の天気は最高！
警固神社の桜です。きれいですね。
アメリカ人のぼくは、シナモンロールが大好きです。
ついに、ついに、買ってきました。
CINNABON のシナモンロール！！！
1985年アメリカ・シアトルで誕生し、世界56か国約1400店舗展開するシナモンロール専門店です。
もちもちして美味しかったのですが、
うーん、やっぱり持ち帰りの間にしっとりなり過ぎてしまいました。
買ったらすぐに食べた方が、もっと美味しいと思います。
次回はそうします。
＊CINNABON → https://www.jrff.co.jp/cinnabon/
春です。
木蓮が咲いています。
Speak!英会話サロン
今日も元気にレッスンしています！
最近、コロナ太りです…
エクササイズのために、アマゾンで縄跳びを購入しました！
最近の縄跳びはすごいですね。
カウンターがついているので、何回跳んだが自分で数えなくていいんです。
他にもタイマー、消費カロリーなどがついています。
去年の今頃、縄跳びを購入しようとしたら
ずっと売り切れだったので、ようやく手に入って嬉しいです。
さあ、痩せるぞーーー！！！
薬院むつ角の近くにある
欧グルマン
ヨーロッパから輸入したチーズの専門店で、三越B2にもお店を出しています。
本日のぼくのおやつは、これ！
欧グルマンのチーズケーキです！！！
食べやすいスティックタイプ。
甘すぎず、あっさりとした美味しさです。
ちょっと贅沢なティータイムのデザートに、ぜひ、おすすめです。
Today is Ash Wednesday (聖灰水曜日).
If you watch the international news, you may see some world leaders (President Biden, etc.) with a dark smudge (汚れ) on their foreheads (ひたい).
Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the Lenten season (四旬節の初日) and on this day Catholics and some other Christian denominations go to Church and have the sign of the cross written with ashes on their forehead by a priest (悔悛（かいしゆん）の証としてひたいに灰を付ける).
Lent (レント): イエスの受難十字架の死をしのんで修養（斎戒）する，復活祭の前の40日間（六主日を除く）。イエスが荒野で断食修行した40日間（四旬）にちなんだもの。大斎節。四旬祭。
As a child, I never really liked Lent. Easter (復活祭), though, was usually a lot of fun.
The day before Ash Wednesday is called Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday.
マルディグラ (仏：Mardi gras) とは、フランス語で「肥沃な火曜日」の意で、謝肉祭の最終日、灰の水曜日の前日を意味する。英語の「Shrove Tuesday」（告解火曜日、懺悔の火曜日）に相当する。
Carnival (謝肉祭)
カトリック教国で行われる祝祭. 断食修行したキリストをしのんで, 復活祭(Easter)の40日前から肉食を断ち懺悔（ざんげ）を行う四旬節(Lent)が始まるが, その直前の3—7日間に踊り･酒宴･仮装パレードなどで楽しむもの. ラテン語のcaro vale(肉よさらば)やcarnem levare(食肉を断つ)を語源とする. リオ(Rio de Janeiro)のカーニバルは有名. カーニバル最終日は告解[懺悔]火曜日.
Mardi Gras (肥沃な火曜日)
告解[懺悔（ざんげ）]火曜日(Shrove Tuesday)〘フランスの祭日; 謝肉祭の最終日で四旬節の始まる前日〙
一見、軍事衛星写真のような画像ですが、、、
緑の点は
世界中のラジオ局になります！
ハワイを探して緑の点をクリックすると
ハワイのラジオ局につながり、ハワイアンミュージックが聞けます。
ベルギーのブリュッセル、ドイツ、イギリス、どこでも
気になる地域の緑の点をクリックしたら
その国のFMラジオにつながります。
ロケットに乗って世界中を旅している気分になりますね。
Youtubeで音楽を流すとCMが入って邪魔ですが
ラジオなのでDJがそれぞれの国の言語でしゃべるのを聞くのも楽しいです。
ぜひ遊んでみてください
Radio Garden → https://radio.garden
Wiki: Radio Garden is a non-profit Dutch radio and digital research project developed from 2013 to 2016, by the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (under the supervision of Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg's Goal Föllmer), by the Transnational Radio Knowledge Platform and five other European universities. It is funded by HERA. According to the service, the idea is to narrow the boundaries from the radio. It gained popularity in 2016 when it surpassed the 8.000 registered station mark and, as announced at The Radio Conference 2016: Transnational Encounters, went viral.