Hyotenka

Music Festival in Obira, December 18th 2011

2012-01-30T14:06:00.002+09:00

This was a concert organised by Seiju and his office in a town up the coast.

These photos were taken from the car as Seiju drove. The wind was so strong and the snow was whipping about. You can see the harbor and a ship at the pier but the snow is almost obscuring it.

These houses were right on the coast. The sea was directly behind them. This one might not be inhabited but lots of them were. It is such a poor area.

I waas nervous about skids - one mistake and you're in the sea!

Bitter landscape.

We got there early and were able to watch the dress rehearsal and do some fetching and carrying, then the audience started to arrive.

Lots of people. The place was packed.

The inevitable speeches....

Military music from a variety of bands from different towns in the area.

A local junior high school brass band.

And the local senior high school orchestra. They were pretty good.

A video message from Tube, thanking the SDF and the local townspeople for their help and efforts in the Tohoku earthquake search and rescue mission.

Taiko drumming - always thrilling!

A cover of Tube's earthquake fundraising song - very nicely done!

And as the grand finale, every single musician on stage, and every member of the audience invited to join in with the song!

Everyone went home on a high - really, really good.

New Year's Day walk.

2012-01-30T11:36:00.002+09:00

We went for a nice long walk on New Year's Day, past Seiju's old school (the gates are from the Meiji era, but the school building is the third or fourth one that has been on that land) and then on to the shrine to see what was going on, and back again in the cold afternoon air. Great exercise!

Some of Harry's 4th grade art projects

2012-01-30T11:35:00.001+09:00

Over the winter holidays, we had a big sort-out of Harry's room, and he was happy to throw out lots of stuff. Some of it I sifted out and kept in our memory box, but other stuff I let go. I'm trying to photograph all of his good artwork so that at least we still have the memories.

Yoshi's model boat on a stand.

Harry's home made DSi! He wanted one so badly that he designed this on the computer, printed it onto stiff card and made it! It even has a slot at the back for a cassette, and he made two or three cassettes, too.

"Let's get rid of bad teeth"

This is one I kept! I have taken some close-ups of this poster because I love it so much.

One bacteria bug hammering at a tooth, while his companion turns round to discover what's happening to their friend!

Bacteria bugs with jackhammer and dynamite charges!

Harry (In the red cap, complete with glasses and mole on forearm) plant rice.

"Stop burying rubbish, and recycle instead!"

New Year's Eve 2011

2012-01-30T11:27:00.002+09:00

We had our usual sushi and temakizushi for our New Year's Eve dinner. Yum!

After we ate, Harry continued printing his new year cards (yes, we are late every year. That's also a tradition) and watched the Kohaku song contest on TV.

This was Harry's reaction to screechy girlie group AKB48 coming on!!!

Meeting friends at the airport, 5th January 2012

2012-01-30T11:22:00.000+09:00

Our friends from Nagano came up for a holiday to Hokkaido, so we grabbed the chance to go to the airport and meet them for breakfast. We haven't seen each other in years, so it was a lovely catch-up!

As we were driving, two planes flew over us, one of which was carrying them. There ARE planes in these photos, but I'm not sure where. They were bigger in real life! I think the plane is just behind the telegraph wires where they intersect at the far left of the photo above, and the centre of the photo below.

That one was impossible to miss, it flew right over our heads, using the road as a guide, it seemed!

Five boys between us. That was about the best shot we could get.... We had ramen for breakfast. Yum!

Then we went to the chocolate factory and exhibition and had a look around....

.... before taking photos at the station under the airport and seeing them all off to the next part of their adventure.

Really??

2012-01-28T15:42:00.001+09:00

Snow Day.

2012-01-28T15:31:00.001+09:00

We left the house this morning at about half past ten, and it was a sunny day, with about 5cm of snow on the car that fell over night. We went to get another flu jab for Yoshi, as it's raging around town right now, and with Yoshi's exam days being non-negotiable, and him catching flu most years injected or not, I thought it better to give him a booster.

When we got out of the clinic, the snow was falling softly, and it looked like it was going to accumulate somewhat. That was about half past eleven.

We went to the bookshop and Macdonald's for lunch before dropping Harry off at a friend's house for a play date, and by the time we left Mac at about quarter past one, about six inches of snow had built up on the car. The videos in the post below are of us on the way home.

It's been an hour since we got home and now this is what it looks like outside!! We have had 10 cm an hour for two hours and another few centimeters of snow before that for a total of 27 cm so far today, and no sign of it letting up any time soon.

Seiju is driving home in this so I'm feeling a bit nervous. I advised him not to come but he said he wants to. And truth to tell, I'm going to need help clearing all this snow!

The path to the shed. What path to the shed??

The shed door is completely blocked again. In an average year the snow accumulates to the level of the fence, which is about 150 cm high. It's nearly there now, after a slow start!

This is the glass porch and how much has accumulated since we got home an hour ago.

Just look at the car!! I don't think that's going anywhere for a while...

January 28, 2012 SNOWY!

2012-01-28T15:10:00.000+09:00

This is me and Yoshi, just turning into our street. We had been gone for three hours or so and in that time, the snow built up so much it was getting hard to drive!

January snow day. Setting off from Karen's house!

2012-01-28T15:09:00.001+09:00

We'd taken Harry to his friend's house, and this was us trying to get back home again.

Brushing the snow off the car before we could start!

2012-01-28T15:09:00.000+09:00

Between Macdonald's and Karen's house, the snow had built up so much that it was hard to see, so I cleared it as completely as I could. Between Karen's house and home, (about 4km) I had to stop and do this again.

Hokkaido winter roads

2012-01-28T15:08:00.000+09:00

Jo, of Life In Rural Japan, videoed her drive to work down her little narrow roads at the other end of Japan. I thought I'd show how much wider our roads are, but it didn't quite work out that way, as you can't even see where the edges of the roads ARE!!

In the video I say Marianne, not Jo, but that's because they live relatively near each other and I7ve got them both pidgeon-holed as Southern Japan Bloggers in my head! Sorry..... I know who you both are, really!

So cold.....

2012-01-27T08:12:00.000+09:00

We are in the grip of another cold snap. It's minus 21C at the local weather station right now, and this temperature about six inches from the wall in our car port:

I'm not sure if this year is particularly cold, or it's just that we have returned to normal winter temperatures after a few years of mild winters (it may be that.) Whatever it is, I'm not coping! The house, as you can see, is warm. Well, the living room and upstairs are warm. The classroom is about 5 degrees each morning when I open the door, and it takes till about lunch time to warm up to a reasonable temperature. Sorry, shivering morning class ladies....

The weather is lovely, bright and sunny and blue-skied but it's so dangerous to drive on the slick, rock-hard polished ice, and our heating bills have been through the roof. Still, I am not going to turn the heating down - as it is, the edges of the house are struggling to keep up, and yesterday I washed with frozen soap, gluey shampoo, and I had to prise the razor from the chunk of ice it was embedded in!!!

2012-01-24T13:07:00.001+09:00

Yuki Kaki - Snow Shoveling

2012-01-23T14:41:00.001+09:00

Seiju has the day off and is home today, so after the kids went to school we decided to go out and tackle the snow, which was getting a bit out of control. (Like every aspect of our lives right now!!) Today it's warm, at about 0ºC, so though the snow is heavy and wet, it's not stuck to the ground and is fairly easy to shift.

This is the boiler for our road heating system. (The shiny silver box on the wall.) It is powered by kerosene, which it draws from a 200 litre tank next to the classroom entrance, where the kerosene for the inside hot water and two stoves also comes from.

The snow was banked up as high as the wall, and about a metre and a half out into the road, as you can see beyond the classroom steps, where we gave up in exhaustion! Seiju shoveled the snow out onto the road and I used the pink snow dump in the photo above to haul it to the car park and spread it out over the tarmac.

Done! Feels so much better and lighter! And now there is space for cars to stop along the road and not block other cars trying to pass. I'm always worried about not annoying the neighbours with all the traffic we generate on this street. I half wish I'd asked Seiju to leave a foot or so of snow on the flower bed though, as now I think we're going to get cars misjudging it and squashing my bulbs and roses!

The snow, dumped onto the tarmac then Seiju used the cars to squash it all down so it's in good contact with the warm road surface. Meeelt! Meeeeeeelt!

The ice had even lifted a little off the deck, so I was able to scrape right down the the surface of the wood - first time this season! It won't last long but it feels nice right now.

The oil tank and a clear stairway.

Looking from the garden end. We should really do along the wall this way but it's so tiring and there's no more space to melt snow for today, anyway, so we gave up and came inside for a rest.

Yakiniku! (And Seiju's half-century).

2012-01-22T22:07:00.000+09:00

We are enjoying the hot plate that Seiju got as a Christmas present. Today we tried the meat grilling plate out, and it was yum. Yoshi had fish, the rest of us had pork and beef, and a lot of veggies. Really good! Seiju had his 50th birthday last week, so this weekend we've had extra nice food for a bit of a celebration. We went out for sushi last night. So it's been a very delicious weekend all round. His REAL present is going to be a new dining table and chairs, made of real wood. We will get one when we find the one that we think we can live with for the next 40 years or so.

Snow Day

2012-01-22T17:11:00.000+09:00

We woke up to this:

You can't see in the photos, but the snow is still coming down hard, so it looks likely to build up a lot further. We have had 20 cm since 4am (so in the last 7 hours).

The path to the shed has just about disappeared, and the trees in the centre of the garden are now up to their necks.

Most winters, the snow completely fills the garden fence, so just last night I was saying we'd gotten off lightly this year. I should know by now to keep my mouth shut....

Last night's fall can be seen on the shed roof - there's a neat line where you can see the new snow. You can also see the snow falling. In the ten minutes since this photo was taken, it's gotten a lot heavier. We are all sitting inside, trying to think up the strength to go out in it and start shoveling.

Vicky at a year old. Summer 1967.

2012-01-21T10:40:00.001+09:00

Vicky's baby photos, December 1966

2012-01-21T10:27:00.001+09:00

All together now, "Awwwww!"

It says on the back of these photos, "Victoria and Matthew, four and a half months."

This is what's keeping me from blogging....

2012-01-18T12:27:00.000+09:00

We are now officially in Juken Hell (Entrance Examination Hell). Yoshi went to juku every single day of the holidays, bar a couple, and spends every single waking hour there after school now. Yesterday he brought back these completed application forms for the two private schools he's trying out for (as back-ups in case he doesn't get into the public school that he is hoping for.) After I finish writing this I have to go to the post office and pay obscene amounts of money for him to take their entrance exams.

The tests are on the 14th and 17th February, with interviews a couple of days later. The public high school exams are on the 6th March, with two interviews (on regular interview, one English interview) on the following two days.

Seiju is also being transferred to a new post, so he will be moving at the end of March, but we have not had any orders yet.

It's the end of my English school year and the time when I have to be sorting out the home page, advertising, curriculum (that's all done) and timetable (not even started) for the new year in April. February and March are normally full of trial lessons, so I have to get started.

So, half of this family doesn't know where it will be working/living from April, and it's all so unsettling and miserable that I can't even describe it. I'm coping with it by not thinking about it all as much as I can but it's not working!

As a result of this, I've sort of gone into hibernation. I can't meet with friends because I have no time, should be here for Yoshi and all that kind of stuff, but also I've become a total one-track minded obsessed mother who can only think about juken juken juken juken. I have found that it baffles and annoys people who have not yet experienced it. So it's better not to attempt meetings right now and just wait until normal service, hopefully, is resumed at the end of March/beginning of April!

I will try to post but my heart is just not in it, or indeed anything else, right now.....

Fun shopping day! 10th January, 2012

2012-01-10T22:55:00.000+09:00

Tomomi and I went shopping one day while our two big boys were at juku, Harry was at the after school club, and her two younger ones were at their grandparents' house. We walked around a bit but soon were hungry, so went for ramen.

There was chicken based soup or pork bones (tonkotsu) based soup, so we got one of each and compared flavors. Both were REALLY good, but I think I like the pork bones best.

I seem to have taken nothing but food photos!! We did look in a lot of shops and consider a lot of things besides food! When we were tired again, we went to a cafe and had a cake and coffee each. This haskap and raspberry cream cheese mousse was really nice.

Nom!

My ill-gotten gains! A new bag, a sweater/poncho thing that is nice to chuck over the top of a turtle neck, two jars for flour and sugar, and a pair of hiking boots to replace the ones I left in England over a year ago now!

Skiing with Daddy

2012-01-08T23:16:00.000+09:00

I had to go to work, Yoshi was at juku all day, so Seiju and Harry went skiing! Lucky things.

Early morning train, 8th January 2012

2012-01-08T11:30:00.000+09:00

The winter holidays ended with a rude awakening early one morning, when I had to catch a train to a meeting in Sapporo. The weather was very cold and very beautiful and the fields in the cold golden morning light were lovely.

Frienemies

2012-01-07T23:13:00.000+09:00

Yoshi and Harry, just off out for a spot of trench warfare in the garden!

Big Snow!

2012-01-06T23:28:00.000+09:00

Big snow last night - the first really big snowfall of the season, which is very late. I'm not complaining!

This is what I saw when I opened my kitchen curtains this morning.

The path to the shed has disappeared again.

The back garden is filling up.

Harry cleared the way to the shed again.

This is what Yoshi and I had to deal with - the ridge of snow left by the snowplough was about thigh deep.

Harry putting his back into it.

Later in the evening on the way home from juku, Yoshi shoveled a path to the back of the garden for me to use as a snow dumping ground. He then decided to come out of it trench style.

No point in wasting a perfectly good war scenario!!

Shovelling snow, 5th January 2012

2012-01-05T22:00:00.000+09:00

We had to get ready for English classes again, so needed to cut the snow wall back to the kerb, so that students can park their cars without blocking the road. Harry cleared the student entrance deck, and Seiju and I shoved dump loads of snow on to the parking area for the road heating to melt away.

Otaru, 4th January 2012

2012-01-04T16:04:00.000+09:00

(Snow day today so I'm catching up on blogging! Yoshi has gone to juku, Harry is at a friend's house, and Seiju's on his way home.)

On January 4th, Seiju and I took Harry to Otaru for the day. Of course Yoshi was at juku, so he didn't come. We have a well-established ritual on trips to Otaru. We go by train and get off at the main Otaru Station, then walk down the hill to our favourite fried chicken shop, Naruto.

Seiju doesn't like chicken in any form, so he had a sashimi teishoku (set lunch) and I sat and drooled as it arrived before our meals.

Harry and I got our lunch. This is Harry's favourite restaurant in the world, so he was in heaven. It does taste really really good. The only trouble was that this time, I'd eaten the top half of my chicken, then picked it up, only to find raw chicken blood on my plate. EWWWWWWW! The chicken itself was properly cooked through and very hot. The restaurant was madly busy and I think someone grabbed a plate that had had raw chicken on it and put my portion onto it without looking. We complained, and were given another piece of chicken (that we chucked away - appetite gone!). I felt sick and couldn't eat any more, and spent the next few days waiting to be sick, but I was OK. Thank goodness.

Continuing with our ritual, we then walk further down the hill to the road that has all the old shops and houses along it, and we go in and drool over all the glass and other little doodads that are for sale. This time it was sad though. When we went to Otaru last April, just after the earthquake, it was absolutely dead because all the foreign tour companies completely cancelled their tours over fears of more earthquakes and the radiation problem from Fukushima (that never really got up here anyway....) The tours were cancelled for a good few months, and this time there were a lot of boarded up businesses that obviously went under during that time. So sad. I wonder if they will ever re-open again. Business is still down and there were significantly fewer people than normal there still.

On with the ritual. Seiju loves the big dark coffee shop in the Kita Ichi Glass hall, that is lit entirely by oil lamps and heated by old oil stoves. I love it too. We went there together in a big group, before I even barely knew him, and we all had coffee and cakes here then. The smell is very nostalgic. Also when I first came to Hokkaido twenty years ago, some schools I worked at and some houses I visited were all wood and heated by the same kerosene stoves, and the smell of the damp wood and the HEAT near the stoves and the COLD when you get a few feet away from them bring back all sorts of memories and the feeling of this all being new and strange to me.

Seiju and Harry decided to share one of these giant choux cremes. I helped them a bit, too! The choux pastry wasn't wonderful but the cream inside was exactly right - very creamy, fresh, and not very sweet. Just right.

The beauty of a choux creme by oil lamplight.

Yum!

We then walked further along and Harry continued the ritual by going into the cuddly toy shop there and buying another cuddly for his massive collection - this time a cuddly ray (fish)! No photos of that, not sure why...

The final aspect of the ritual is walking up the hill to Minami Otaru station but not being able to find it at first go, and trigging up and down extremely steep streets till we find it! Then home in the cold and dark on the train, which is another pleasure as the inside of the train is bright and warm and steamy.

Hitomi in the Sapporo TV Tower, 10th January 1968

2012-01-02T10:05:00.000+09:00

Camp Festival, 1960's style!

2012-01-02T10:00:00.003+09:00

Army trucks done up as floats. This one had people dressed as Ainu on it.

This one, I'm not sure. Are they dragons??

A boat!

Characters from NHK. Are the pigs Pinky and Perky or some other similar Japanese characters? I need to ask Seiju and his mum!

Hitomi next to a pile of rubble (??!) in the camp. The buildings haven't changed much.....

Saru kani gassen float.

Anther ship! Is this Momotaro?

And another float.

And another one!

Hitomi and a friend on a swing.

2012-01-02T09:57:00.001+09:00

This is one shot that I can't find any friends for. I think that Hitomi was still in kindergarten, so this puts the photo at 1962.

Hitomi and Uncle Tsuyoshi, Odori Park, Sapporo.

2012-01-01T23:07:00.001+09:00

Probably in 1963 or 1964. Seiju doesn't know who the other man in the photos is. I like the other groups of people round the statues in Odori Park!

More Memory Lane!

2012-01-01T23:00:00.001+09:00

I have finished scanning one full album of photos and have attempted to sort them out a bit. Some photos have information written on the back, most don't. The album starts neatly and midway becomes a jumble of photos that belong earlier on, or are several years mixed on a page. I've started to ask Seiju and his mum about the photos but there's a lot that Seiju doesn't know, and I've not shown all the photos to his mum yet. I need to get her over here one day and ask her about each one individually. Right now I'm going to blog the ones I have with the intention of making a photo book of them later, once I have them all scanned. Jump past these posts if they bore you! In a while I'll attempt to put a date on them and they will all slip to the end of the blog.

This is a view of the Hokkaido coastline. Not sure where!

Hitomi (Seiju's sister) standing by a car that was not theirs, according to Seiju. I imagine these two photos might have been taken on the same day, as she's standing by gas tanks that are often found on the coast here, and it's windy! I just noticed that a baby Seiju is looking out of the car window behind Hitomi! These photos are likely to have been taken in maybe 1962 or 1963.

Trip down memory lane

2011-12-29T00:24:00.002+09:00

We are going to an onsen tomorrow with Seiju's mum and dad, so today I've been doing a little work on scanning photos from some old albums that they lent me, oh, about three years ago now for this very purpose. Seiju's Dad is beginning to lose his memory and it's time we asked about these pictures and who some of the people are in them. I've printed some of the photos onto A4 paper. The originals are about two and a half by three inches, so he'll be able to see them properly for the first time ever.

This is the first page of the album. I wanted to scan one page at least as it was to keep the memory alive. I then took out the photos we thought that MIL and FIL would like best, and scanned them individually, and improved them as far as possible.

Most of these photos are from 1961 and 1962 (when Seiju was born).

Seiju's 100 day photo. A big day for Japanese babies and they all get their photos done. I should do a montage with all three of my Japanese boys on the same day!

Seiju at about a year and a half old and his big sister, who would be about five or six.

Seiju's dad on the left, skiing. With wooden skis!

Seiju and his sister in their house.

Seiju and his grandmother outside their house, in front of the neighbor's car. Their house is behind the photographer (Seiju's Dad!)

Seiju's aunt and his sister on New Year's Day. Probably 1963.

Seiju's mum and sister with Seiju in the middle, on a bench in Odori Park, Sapporo. This one has "April 20th 1964" written on it.

May 2nd 1964, taken in Horobetsu, Hokkaido. The lady on the left is Seiju's grandmother. Who is the other lady who she's holding hands so tightly with? And who are the women behind them? These are the sort of things we need to ask!

Seiju's house, April 1964.

Seiju's Dad and sister and Seiju in Odori Koen, 20th April 1964.

This was a trip to an onsen hotel at Lake Shikotsu, in May 1961, before Seiju was born. His mother is at the top right, with her hand on the window frame.

The same trip to Shikotsuko with his sister in front of his mum. They are both on the left.

More Christmas photos from the Taka's.

2011-12-26T23:30:00.001+09:00

Wine, white rabbits, and Christmas top from Hellen!

Kokopelli Christmas present from the Taka's. He is said to bring luck and safe travels.

Relaxing before dinner (with new mushi necklace!)

The smaller kids played Yugioh and also went to the park with Harry's new sledge for a couple of hours.

Dinner time! The kids sat at the coffee table while the grown ups got the dining table and all the serving dishes.

Tasuku's plate.

Harry wanting to drink the sparkling apple juice. He loves this brand and thinks we can only get it at Christmas!

Kana making good progress on her plate. She ate everything. Most impressed.

Taku doing a caveman impression on his turkey wing.

Yum from Vicky. Seiju only putting up with it (good man!) He likes roast dinners but isn't keen on poultry. We wanted to do a real Christmas dinner this year though, so he suggested we get a turkey, rather than the lamb roast we usually do.

Always good to wear your England sweater to an English dinner! (Very festive too!)

Cheers from the big lads!

After dinner we needed time for the main course to go down before we could fit dessert in. The big lads disappeared up to Yoshi's room for music and modelling.

"Heelp! A big hand came out of nowhere and snatched me up into the sky!"

They did come down from time to time for drinks etc. They look like a couple of old men here!

More card games for the kids and coffee and wine for the grown ups.

Too much sugar!

And home by taxi!

During the night it started to snow, and when we woke up this morning there was 30cm on the ground with more falling. We had to dig the cars out to return them!

Christmas Dinner

2011-12-26T22:53:00.001+09:00

The Christmas Table.

Turkey. It's actually upside down because I cooked it breast down to keep the meat juicy. It worked wonderfully and we did flip it to carve it but it looked better this way up for the photos.

Stuffing balls and bacon wrapped sausages.

Cranberry sauce.

Peas and carrots.

Brussels sprouts.

I made gravy from scratch, using only the drippings from the turkey and it was absolutely delicious. We had white wine before dinner, and sparkling wine during.

After a couple of hours rest, we had dessert!

Tomomi made two gorgeous cakes. Cheese cake, and

chocolate cake. Both were wonderful.

I put out my Christmas cake, just because there was some left.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-26T22:47:00.003+09:00

Christmas morning was very leisurely. Harry of course was the first to wake up but at about half past seven, not bad. He finally winkled us out of bed by about eight, and we went downstairs to the presents under the tree.

Torturing Harry by making him wait to open the first present while Daddy gets coffee for Mummy!

Both kids like the wolf hats that Granny sent!

Beatles T-shirts for all the men - another hit!

Daddy gave Harry this cuddly rabbit. Very cute.

My BEST thing - Nakimushi (Crying Bug) designed by Harry, of course, and made by Yoshi. It's so cute. I asked why they decided to make Nakimushi, and they said that Yoshi only had blue paint!!!

I was totally spoiled this year. Tempur pillow from Seiju. It is really good. I slept well last night.

Daddy did well by everyone this year. He found this massive model in a second hand shop and snapped it up for Yoshi.

Seiju got an oil spreader and spatulas from us.........

...... to go with the big hotplate he got so we can make lots of things together at the table.

After present openening (and lots of chocolate and sweet eating) then it's time to go through all the presents again and savour them.........

Snowflake Rag just before school.

2011-12-24T16:30:00.000+09:00

Mum and Dad had trouble seeing this when I posted it in the summer, so I'm posting it again in the hopes that it works for you this time.

Merry Christmas Eve!

2011-12-24T16:19:00.001+09:00

I have let blogging get behind again - the end of the year is so busy and I think that the bronchitis at the start of December just made the whole thing busier by a week!

Here we are at Christmas Eve and we are getting the house in order for a happy day tomorrow. Seiju came home last night, and so far the presents are wrapped and most of the ingredients for tomorrow's dinner are in the fridge but that's about it. We went out to Harry's Christmas piano concert this afternoon and I'm just uploading it now. When it's ready I'll post it. Now the three males are upstairs taking a bit of a break and I'm doing the same down here on the sofa! After dinner tonight I'll have to whip everyone into a bit of tidying, though upstairs is going to have to be left messy. Santa, don't look!

Christmas cakes are in the oven!

2011-12-21T12:53:00.000+09:00

It's December 21st. At least they are done before the 25th!!

Finally got the cakes done!

2011-12-21T11:59:00.000+09:00

FINALLY got the cakes done. That is the latest yet, on the 21st December. This is a boiled fruit recipe that supposedly needs no maturing. We shall soon find out if this is true.....

The turkey is defrosting!

2011-12-20T12:58:00.000+09:00

I'm a bit nervous about this - I've never roasted a turkey before. I've done lots of chickens though, and they are just the same but bigger, hey??

Christmas lights in the classroom

2011-12-20T12:55:00.000+09:00

They look nicer with the blinds half shut.

Snowy train.

2011-12-17T13:23:00.001+09:00

We are on our way to Rumoi to see Seiju. It was minus 19 this morning, and the roads are treacherous, so we are coming by train.

Yoshi the craftsman.

2011-12-11T12:13:00.001+09:00

Working on a tiny model ship.

2011-12-03T00:14:00.001+09:00

2011-12-02T12:52:00.001+09:00

Cough, hack, whine!

2011-11-28T15:15:00.001+09:00

I've had a cold for over two weeks now, and it's steadily gotten worse. After having to call off work twice, plus two fun get-togethers, I realised it was time to go to the doctors and see what was going on.

He thinks I have an infection of mycoplasma pneumonia, except it's not pneumonia but bronchitis. As of today I've been banned from working until at least Thursday when the blood test results will come back.

It's such a relief not to feel I have to struggle to work, but I'm dreading the make-up classes this will entail. Sigh. And there's all the year-end stuff that there is now going to be a week less to do it all in. Right now though I'm so tired there's nothing to do but sleeeeeep!

Watching fireworks, Summer 2002

2011-11-18T11:59:00.001+09:00

Another cute photo I came across while I've been sorting photos out. I can't decide if Harry is one, or two here. Maybe 2001.......... He'd be one and a couple of months, or two and a couple of months. I really can't decide!

Photos of my grandmother.

2011-11-18T11:49:00.001+09:00

With her twin sister at one year old (so about 1918). I think she is the one on the left but I am not sure.

On her wedding day in the early 1930's.

At home as a young woman.

1000

2011-11-13T21:15:00.001+09:00

<p>That's how many bulbs I estimate I put in, over the last month. I can't wait for spring! Only 5 _ 6 months to wait!

All the bulbs are in!

2011-11-13T16:10:00.001+09:00

Today's final push before the weather closes in went well. Not everything is tidy or cut back or tied in, but the bulbs are all in the ground, and there are only a few things that MUST be done before the snow falls now (get the roses and flowering broom tied up).

Here I put blue and pink ipheon under the snowball tree. They are supposed to flower in May, so I'm hoping they will be in bloom at the same time as the tree.

I mixed these pink allium (the tiny white bulbs) with some Star of Bethlehem bulbs that a student gave me ages ago. I found them by chance today!

I planted them behind a hosta near the student's entrance deck, (that you can't see because I took all the dead leaves off) in the hopes that the hosta's leaves will grow up and hide the bulbs leaves as they die down.

40 mixed red and red and yellow tulips.

I put these either side of the yellow climbing rose, and spread the rest of the bag of mushroom compost over the whole bed.

The primulas in this bed and in the front car park flower bed are confused by the warm November after a cold snap in early October, and are flowering again. I hope they don't get killed by the snow when it does fall.

While I was out in the garden, Seiju and the boys said they were too hungry and decided to go out to eat soba. I hate soba so I told them to go for it, and continued planting bulbs. Then I got a phone call saying they had changed their minds and were now at our local Chinese restaurant that I do like very much. So I changed into clean clothes and zipped across there for my lunch!

I almost always order the sweet and sour pork set. It's so good. Seiju had gone ahead and ordered for me - good man!

Back home, back into gardening clothes, and onwards. I weeded the beds and took out the geraniums. Last year I saved them by taking cuttings and keeping them in our spare bedroom over the winter. I couldn't find the pots and didn't have the right soil this year, so I just chucked them. I'll start again next year.

In the far right corner next to the concrete block, I planted purple crocus and chiondoxa (glory of the snow) which are also low, purple and white flowers.

On the left of the clump of variegated something (- not sure what it's called - looks like a nettle and puts out tiny purple flowers) I planted some hyacinth type bulbs. They are not the tight bottlebrush type hyacinths, but more loose bell like ones, also in purple, blue and white.

The other day I found some dogtooth violet corms, so I bought two packs. They were packed in compost or sawdust, and I had to sift through it to come up with four tiny, very fragile corms. I put them under the dogwood tree but don't hold a lot of hope for them. Just across from the dogwood tree, at the foot of the gingko tree, I planted a dozen daffodil bulbs that came up when I was planting the tulips under the yellow rose.

18 Apricot Beauty tulips in the front flower bed, and a top-dressing of mushroom compost all over this section of the bed.

I tied up the apricot rose for the winter. It usually gets smashed by the weight of snow but I'm trying to prevent that this year.

Murasaki shikibu, or Japanese beautyberry. It looks wonderful at this season when there are no leaves left.

In reality, each berry is tiny, only a couple of millimetres across.

I also tied up the snowball tree. This is its first winter and I'm not sure how it will cope with a lot of snow all round it. The snow will end up deeper than it is tall.

All in all, a really good day in the garden. As I worked the temperature was dropping and dropping. I think it really might snow tomorrow like the forecast says. It probably won't stick but I think that's the end of the mild weather we've been having. There is still a lot I want to do in the garden, but if I have to leave it for the winter now, it's no big deal. That's a great weight off my shoulders!

And I can't wait till next spring to see the results of all the planting I've done over the past couple of weeks!

Jumping bulbs

2011-11-12T20:08:00.001+09:00

I really must stop walking by the home centre............ they just jump in my basket without me doing anything, honest!

These really are the last ones for this year - today was the final, final sale!

Garden, November 12th 2011

2011-11-12T17:45:00.001+09:00

Another nice day, and miracle of miracles, a weekend with NO commitments! Once the morning had warmed up, I went into the garden. Today my plan was to get the bulbs planted in the side garden. However........... as usual, Project Creep set in!

This was how things looked before I started. Looking from the student entrance deck to the back of the garden.

Everything has died down except the weeds. I wanted to plant some lilies and other things in this flower bed, but first needed to cut down all the dead stuff and weed the whole area, so I could see where to put the bulbs.

The Odemari (snowball) tree needs staking up to help it survive the deep snow that will accumulate here.

So much needs cutting down and tidying up.

A whole jungly, dead mess!

First, I weeded along the edge of the path on both sides, so that I could see where the borders were. The green spiky leaves are grape hyacinths getting ready to bloom next spring. Then I cut down all the dead flower stems from the flower bed next to the house. It's not weeded yet, just the main stuff grabbed up.

Just before I came in for a late lunch, I'd cut back the two trees at the end of the garden next to the wall by the road.

After lunch I went back out and trimmed my way back from the wall to the back of the garden. This was halfway done. I cut back the trees and the shrubs as I went. Those trees (natsu tsubaki) were cut back in late spring, but they had gotten very bushy again. The alternate ones that we cut down to stumps had all grown again! Next spring, they need yanking out.

The side garden has a colour scheme of pink, blue and white, and it's the only part of the garden that I have made completely from scratch. So I'm not sure where this chrysanthemum came from! I'll move it next spring to the front of the garden where anything goes.

This was the end of the chopping session. I just cut and chucked the branches and twigs onto the path. Cleaning up was awful!

Groan.......... My arms were killing me and I was not near finished.

This was the situation by 4 o'clock when it was getting dark. Much clearer, but again, no weeding done. Still, all the branches are gone..........

Until I turned round and looked behind me! That will have to wait till tomorrow now.

Twelve bags of branches and twigs. Again, we can't burn them and they won't compost, so we are stuck with chucking them out.

Done for the day. Tomorrow I MUST get the bulbs in because snow is forecast for Monday. It won't stick long but it will be cold.

Garden, November 11th, 2011

2011-11-12T17:32:00.001+09:00

It was a lovely warm, sunny day after a cold frosty morning, so I was determined to make the most of my free morning!

This was my project today - getting the branches cut up and bagged, and raking some of the gingko leaves up, because they don't compost well and kill the plants underneath if they are left to form a carpet over the top of them.

Lots of golden yellow leaves.

An hour later, this was how it looked - all the branches gone, and some of the leaves.

Parts of the central island of trees were cleared, too, but just roughly.

Six bags of branches and leaves! I try to compost as much as I can but woody stuff just doesn't rot down, and we are not allowed bonfires, so I'm stuck chucking it away.

My back was killing me, and I'd run out of bags, so I turned my attention to the glass porch.

These shelves have been stacked in the porch since Golden Week! I put them together and tidied all the bulbs and garden stuff into the blue container. I hope that in the spring I can have seeds growing in here before it's warm enough to put them outside, but I'm a seed killer, so we'll see how that goes.

The porch is really tidy now, but that won't last long because soon it'll be a mess of shovels and snow scrapers.

I did start to trim and tie in the yellow climbing rose, but I just ran out of time after one or two shoots, so it still looks pretty much like this.

School Stuff

2011-11-11T09:58:00.001+09:00

Yoshi came home with the results of his "C Test" yesterday. These are Hokkaido-wide mock tests to give an idea of how the kids will do in the senior high school exams coming up. A covers the first year and a half's curriculum, B covers the second half, and C covers the entire curriculum.

Yoshi got fairly consistent results in all three tests, with A's score being 8 points higher than B and C which were exactly the same totals. This is good and bad - it shows that he can get THAT score, but is it enough to get into the SHS of his choice? We think it is. His juku teacher assures us that it is. His homeroom teacher maintains that it is IMPOSSIBLE to get in and he must drop his first choice of school and try for a lower level one. (Not on your nelly.) I just wish that Yoshi could have added another 10 points or so to shut the school up, but never mind. There is only one more school test that counts to his final results and then from mid-November to mid February (for the private school exams) and early March (for the public school exam) it's all revision and cramming. Yoshi goes to juku every single day as it is, and puts anywhere from three to six hours in at a time. He studies with a bunch of other young men attempting university entrance exams, so I am sure that when nobody is around there's a lot of chat, but even if he just studies half the total time, it's a pretty good effort. And he has to have SOME outlet!!

He is so stressed. He can't eat, his eczema now covers his entire body like red sandpaper, and he is alternately bad tempered, clingy, or too high and excited. I can't bear the idea of another four months of this.........

On yet another education related note -

In early September, we found out that Harry had been skiving at school, lying about homework, and not paying attention in class. We talked about it with him and together came up with some strategies for studying even if the teacher doesn't push you to do so. (Slight "lazy teacher" problems this year, but Harry might as well get used to being self-motivated.) He is very goal orientated and loves tables and charts, so we made a home sticker chart with a list of what home study needed to be completed over a month.

Soon after we started this new plan, he brought home a bunch of tests covering his skiving period. He'd dropped from all 95's and 100's to lots of 70's and 80's and no 100's. He was really shocked. (What??! Don't work, don't get results??!)

Yesterday he brought back his first maths test covering the new work period - back to 100%! He's so satisfied, and so he should be - HE fixed himself!!

Harry's city music recital, November 2011

2011-11-10T15:55:00.000+09:00

Today's garden progress

2011-11-08T11:09:00.000+09:00

This is what's left of the bulbs after this morning's session in the garden. The weather is very unstable and I got rained on a bit. Just as I called it a day, the clouds started to break up! Typical. I'm tempted to go back out, but the house is a mess and I really should pay some attention to the indoors.

Today I planted the yellow and white mini tulips, about 60 of them.

First of all, I cut down all the dead twigs from the perennials, and then pruned the Redoute rose right back to about six inches high. I was probably a bit too rough with it but the snow builds up to at least the top of the wall, and I am worried that the canes would snap if left longer. I tied back the climbing rose Crown Princess Margarita at the far end of the bed, but it needs some stakes as protection against the weight of the snow.

Today I planted the yellow and white mini tulips, about 60 of them. The brown blobs at the front of the bed are where they went. In the photo above you can see that the corner bit has nothing in it yet. I ran out of bulbs! However, there are about 40 odd pink mini tulips still to be put somewhere so I'm thinking that I'll put them on either corner of the classroom entrance.

Looking from the corner back down the road. All neat and tidy, and this bit is NEARLY ready for winter - just got to get those stakes in.

Half the bulbs are in!

2011-11-07T14:46:00.001+09:00

This is the bulb situation now. This morning I got half of the bulbs in the ground, but then was too cold and hungry so I came inside.

I dug up the elephant's ears at the back (Bergenia in English, Himalaya Yukinoshita in Japanese) and put them aside, and then dug down all along the back and a bit around the left corner. I found some tulips and one lily, which I replaced, then added a dozen or so pink and white lilies, and then smaller white and blue muscari, and four or five packs of the smaller bluebell like flowers that may or may not grow (on looking them up I found they are not quite hardy enough for this region - grrr. There should be a warning on the packet.)

On the left along the little wall, I put in 30 miniature tulips (pink with a yellow eye) and in front three blobs of a dozen or so white and purple crocuses.

I have plans for the rest of the bulbs but it depends on the weather - it looks like it's going to rain tomorrow. Hopefully the weekend will still be warm enough to get into the garden. There's still a lot to do before the snow falls and it must be soon now. I'm feeling the pressure!

Jam done!

2011-11-07T07:44:00.001+09:00

12 half-pound jars (left overs from the Halloween party!) and one nearly full jar. Blackberry jam is so easy - it sets after about ten minutes of boiling so it still has a lovely fresh fruity flavour. If it wasn't for all the sugar, it would almost be healthy!!

My gorgeous weirdo

2011-11-07T07:41:00.001+09:00

This is Yoshi, dressed for juku. Yes, he's off to fight the Battle Of The English Workbook! He says he works better when dressed up, and why not? I say!

He had an early start to juku yesterday, leaving about 11 am, so he was back by 7pm, which gave us an evening together. He suddenly got a spurt of domesticity and decided to polish the shoes, First he did mine (before..... after!)

It was cold in the genkan and he wanted to watch the telly so he moved his trade into the living room and polished the rest of the leather boots. The cap, apparently, was necessary! Then he sewed a bunch of buttons onto his uniform trousers and shirts. Very domestic.

They just jumped in my basket, honest!

2011-11-07T07:36:00.002+09:00

I made the mistake of going to our local home centre yesterday evening. The remaining bulbs were on sale for about ¥200 - ¥300 a pack. I couldn't resist! This is the most bulbs I've ever bought at one go! The garden is going to be lovely.

Only one small drawback......... It's raining this morning. I have in previous years put in bulbs with snow falling on me. Hope it doesn't come to that this year!!!

Garden, November 6th 2011

2011-11-06T23:28:00.000+09:00

Today was cloudy and it rained overnight, which brought down a lot of leaves off the ginkgo tree, and muted the colours. Still, it was OK to get in the garden and I put in four hours which is an unheard of length recently.

The yellow rose still needs to be tied in but so far the bedding plants are holding up, so I want to leave them a bit longer. If the worst comes to the worst I shall just leave it flapping and tie it up next spring, or chop it all back and make it start again!

The leaves are so lovely on the ground, but they don't rot in easily and tend to blow into the neighbours' gardens, who are less thrilled with them...

This area was my first plan of attack for today.

These two small round conifers had grown into each other and encroached on the rocks, which in the summer and autumn is OK, but which crowded out and spoiled my spring display here. I decided to hoick one out.

Done! I also dug a spade deep all round between the rocks, and got out as many of the daffodils as possible. I planted these seven years ago, a year after we first got here, and they have made babies and gotten too crowded. I noticed this spring that they weren't flowering as well as in previous years.

This is what I took out! Masses of bulbs! I split them all up and put them all back....

.... pretty stuffed again, really, but a bit of room for each one to breathe and make new bulbs.

This is what I had left after that - when I counted them into a bucket, there were 60-odd good sized bulbs!

I put half a bag of mushroom compost in with them and then replaced the rest of the soil. I then dug round the front of the smaller rocks. There were some yellow dogtooth violets (katakuri) and a few grape hyacinth there that I rescued. The grape hyacinths had almost disappeared which is unusual - they normally take over a space. The katakuri had bred, so I dug up as many as I could and replaced them with space in between. I added new yellow and white hyacinths and some crocus.

Now to get rid of the extra daffodils and katakuri! I have for years thought that behind the big rock there is a big waste of space. Once the leaves come on the trees, it's shaded but in the spring there is a lot of light and I think bulbs would do OK there.

Here are the daffodils, the autumn crocus, and the katakuri, along with some new hyacinth and I think some smaller bulbs (can't remember if I planted them or not!! Have to check tomorrow...)

I haven't got to the end of the bulb mountain yet. There are still some lilies left over! These need to be in full sun, so I have plans for them elsewhere.

I cut the suckers off the crab apple tree, and cut back the climbing rose a bit.

The kitchen garden remains untouched...

The very warm autumn we have had has confused the spring flowers, and we are getting repeats like this foxglove and some primulas. I hope they don't weaken then die when the snow falls, which it will soon.

The brambles are a tangled mess that need dealing with. Bleh.

I cut back the rest of the car park flower bed and weeded. Some of the lilies will be going here, and the soil needs amending.

Nice and clear.

The colours are so good on the trees right now.

The little red trees are such good value. They have tiny green leaves with white bell-like flowers in the spring, then in the autumn the leaves turn this startling red. I don't know what they are but I love them.

Sunday cooking

2011-11-06T22:42:00.002+09:00

Scones!

We have had a weekend with almost NOTHING to do! That is such a rarity these days. Yesterday we went to get flu jabs but apart from that we have been freeeeee. (Well, Harry went to play volleyball and we had dinner with friends afterwards but they were fun things and the volleyball didn't involve me, so that's OK!)

So this morning I was able to get up slowly but still way before the kids, and make scones for us all. Yum. Warm and dripping with butter is the only way to eat them.

I also seived the blackberries and apples that I stewed yesterday. Now I've got to go and make jam of it.

The bulb battle begins (or continues!)

2011-11-04T22:37:00.000+09:00

This is what's left to plant.

I reduced my volume of bulbs by 80 new tulips plus two carrier bags of daffodil babies the other day. Then my neighbour from across the road came over with that bucket full of autumn crocus bulbs that she says she thinned from her garden! Back to nearly square one! But I'm not complaining. The more the merrier my garden will be.

Today I decided to tackle these pink tulips, another 80 of them. They are going to go in the back garden where the students can see them from the classroom.

Here is where they have gone - about in the middle of this narrow bed, in blobs of six or eight each, all down the row and slightly round the corner. That took two hours to clear the soil, dig it, add compost and then put the bulbs in. Much longer than I expected. At this rate the snow will have fallen before I get them all in....

Thank you cookies for neighbours who handed out treats at the Halloween party

2011-11-04T22:23:00.000+09:00

Snap peas in November!

2011-11-02T22:02:00.000+09:00

It's November 2nd and the snap peas that I planted at the end of are producing! This is only because we have had a very mild October with only a couple of days of frost so far, but I'm really pleased. There's probably one more picking of about this size on them, if I can get there before it gets cold.

Ouch!

2011-11-01T13:25:00.000+09:00

A day off with Harry

2011-10-31T21:52:00.000+09:00

Harry had school last Saturday (the 40th anniversary ceremony for the school, that we couldn't attend because of the open campus for Yoshi) so he had the day off today.

After a slow morning (I made Yoshi get up and go to school by himself - sorry but I've not had a lie-in for over two weeks..) we went to get Harry's hair cut.

The gingko trees were just as good as at the weekend. Glorious.

Harry getting his hair cut!

After! Squinting into the sun but a lot tidier.

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T20:39:00.000+09:00

Ten pumpkins were carved...

36 kids did Jido Eiken tests on the morning of the party.

Then 93 kids came to play games and go trick or treating.

(Sachiko and I went blonde and black respectively for the occasion!)

Demonstrating the coin float.

Decorating jars with stickers.

Colouring with Dad.

Going off trick or treating round the neighbourhood.

Yoshi and Tasuku handed out treats at our house. (In costume!)

A neighbour's son and his friend handed out treats at their house.

And at another neighbour's house, her grandson handed out treats!

Our local bakery handed out not only the treats we provided, but their own bread rolls to each kid! (All 90 of them!)

Once everyone was back from trick or treating, we had a whole-party relay race to end with.

They had to run to me at the end, ask for a party popper and then run back and hand the hat to the next person in their team. Once their whole team had got their poppers, the last person held up a poster that said "BANG" and they all let their poppers off at once. It was a fun and noisy way to end the party.

There were a few rolls left, so I had a couple for the next morning's breakfast. Jam roll and chocolate chip roll. Yum!

Halloween is fun but the whole season weighs heavily on me as it clashes with Jido Eiken tests and it's just such a lot of work. Now that the whole thing is over, I feel a lot lighter. Of course, next is putting the garden to bed for the winter and then it's heading into Christmas!

Sunny Saturday, and a quick bit of gardening.

2011-10-29T21:42:00.000+09:00

Seiju was home this weekend, and Yoshi had an open campus at one of the high schools he is thinking about. We got back in the early afternoon, and this is our main road as we came back. The gingko trees are so lovely at this season. Often the leaves get rained or blown down but this year the weather has been good at just the right time.

In the afternoon, Sachiko and I were supposed to get together to do the final lot of Halloween party preparation but when I called she was out enjoying the sunshine with her family, so we agreed to meet after it had got a bit colder. That gave me a bit of time to get out into the garden!

I took out all the rubbish and dead flowers out of half of the car park flower bed. Much neater!

The other half is untouched....

Looking from the edge of the car park back to the house.

The little red trees are so cute. In the spring they have pretty white bells on and then they go such a wonderful red in the autumn. Great value but I have no idea what they are.

Happy Birthday Yoshi!

2011-10-25T19:51:00.000+09:00

Yoshi is 15! Hard to believe he has grown from that little floppy baby to this big thing that towers over us all!

We went into Sapporo and got him an ipod touch - he's a very satisfied lad right now.

松の実会／松飲み会　　Matsunomikai

2011-10-22T17:02:00.000+09:00

We had another meeting of Yoshi's elementary class and their mothers. All the kids came and all but two mothers, plus their final teacher. It was such fun. I feel a complete part of this group and hope that we will go on meeting for years to come.

The boys drifted off to play games with the teacher!

We coralled everyone for photos at the end. This is all the girls (all six of them!)

And all the boys - all three of them!

And the whole class.

And all the mums!

This is what I do all day!

2011-10-21T22:42:00.001+09:00

... well, some of it! The language does get a little more complicated as the day progresses.

These kids are mostly four and five years old, with a couple of younger siblings joining in. So cute......

Garden, October 21st 2011

2011-10-21T17:32:00.000+09:00

Lots of stuff to do still!

Mr Kimura and I went to Ebetsu the other day and got bags of leaf mould from the silver centre. Good value and they will help improve the soil in the bad bits of the garden. The sleepers are now going to have to wait till next spring. Boo.

The yellow climbing rose has gone bananas again and needs tying in again. (That's the thing coming across the photo.) The purple things fell over in the typhoon and really just need clipping off now. I think next year the whole plant needs moving as it overwhelms the rest of this bit of the garden now. Anemones are blooming well.

Looking back to the house. It's all a bit of a mess. Lots of cosmos flowers need ripping up. They make huge roots!

Further along all this needs tidying up and cutting back but it's not quite dead yet, so I'll leave it a bit longer.

The snap peas I planted at the end of august are making peas! This autumn is quite warm and the peas are enjoying it. Even if I only get a few off the plants, its better than nothing. I'm quite impressed.

I dug out a deep trench along the whole of the right hand road flower bed, and took out all the tulips bulbs that remained from five or six years ago when I first planted some. There were not many left.

I put in all Baachan's daffodil babies (so they might not flower so much next year as the bulbs were all small, but they will bulk up for future years.) The new shiny tulips are red and white ones that I bought a few weeks ago. I also put back the random tulips that came out . I then spent several hours over two days heaving buckets of soil from the tomato bed at the back of the house to replace the clay muck that was there before. Hopefully that will encourage all the plants in this flower bed to do well next year.
The tomatoes can have new soil next year, as they are in the same place each year.

Autumn Walk

2011-10-18T17:19:00.000+09:00

I went for a walk with a friend today, and took these two photos with my phone.

I love the big skies of autumn. We had walked about 15 minutes from my house and looked back across the fields of red cabbages. Our house is to the right of those apartment blocks, among the other houses.

Turning around, this is the view from the other side of the track. The brown are adzuki beans.

Starting the winter cleanup.

2011-10-16T17:14:00.000+09:00

Today I started getting the garden put to bed for the winter. There is a LOT to do!

Lots of bulbs to plant. From the left: In the two small planters are daffodils taken up from my garden and split - lots of the daffodils have been in the ground some years now and have made babies and become overcrowded. In the middle are packets of bulbs that I've been buying bit by bit over the past few weeks. On the right are two full shopping bags of daffodil babies from Baachan, who has also been thinning her garden out.

This is what I decided to do today. Last year I replanted all the bulbs on the left side of the classroom entrance, so this year, I'm revamping the right hand side.

First of all, I have to get rid of all the vegetation and trim the roses back for the winter.

Done!

The roses are staked a bit but need more protection from the weight of snow that builds up here. There are buds on the rose nearest to me, so I'm leaving it tall for the moment, but I think all will have to be cut back further to prevent them getting smashed up in the snow.

I didn't plant any bulbs today, I ran out of time just doing this. Still, it's progress.

Third pair of glasses this month (and random cuteness).

2011-10-10T16:49:00.000+09:00

Last night at juku, Yoshi just put his glasses down on the desk next to him, and they went crack! and fell in half!

He had to go to school like this today as the shops were all shut last night. He came home with a cracking headache, as his eyes are terrible and he can't see anything without his glasses. He took one lens with him to look at the board with!

Luckily the shop was open after school today AND had the correct lenses in stock, so we were able to get these made in under an hour. I like them - he looks even more grown up.

And bonus cuteness - this is a kitten that one of the juku boys rescued from one of the stray cats that lives round the back of the juku building. His mother's friend has adopted it, so it's a happy ending. The boys called it "Michaels" but it turns out its a girl!

Park play and swan watching

2011-10-10T16:42:00.000+09:00

Mr Takahashi took the kids out for a play while Tomomi and I drank coffee and chatted - very nice! They also went to a nearby lake to see the swans that are passing through as they migrate.

Yoshi's new girlfriend.

2011-10-10T02:09:00.001+09:00

She's a bit of a dragon...

Another trip to Ecorin Mura with friends

2011-10-09T13:48:00.000+09:00

A perfect cosmos flower

2011-10-08T13:28:00.000+09:00

In the park with Sachiko and Chikashi

2011-10-06T12:12:00.000+09:00

Sachiko and I see each other most weeks at work but it's ages since we did something frivolous together and my boys were asking to see Chikashi. So during the autumn break that the schools get here, we went out to Ikoi no Mori Koen in Chitose.

It was a damp chilly day, and the woods were dripping wet, but that made the sounds and smells nicer. We headed out of the gardens and into the woods. Chikashi is very observant (and nearer the ground!) so spotted a lot of things that we had to go back and have a good look at. One of them was this caterpillar masquerading as a twig!

Lots of interesting woodland plants, too.

A good day was had by all!

One of my first students! 2004 and 2011!

2011-10-04T19:00:00.000+09:00

Going through old photos, I found this one of a student who has been coming to my classes for seven or eight years now. She was soooo cute then, but she's pretty cute now, too!

Yoshi's team's school festival picture.

2011-10-02T18:35:00.000+09:00

Another Gold for his class with this! Yoshi's team drew this, using only dots.

It's a copy of this Georges Seurat painting.

An unfortunate typo!

2011-10-02T18:26:00.002+09:00

Today (September 21st) was the second huge typhoon of the season. It halted Shinkansen services from Kyoto and one Facebook user was looking at the service board when he saw this posted.

What they meant to say was "Today's service has ended" but by transposing the first two characters, it reads "Japan has ended".

It certainly sometimes feels like that, with two deadly typhoons, on top of the earthquake, tsunami and ongoing nuclear disaster.... So, half funny, half sad.

Barbecue!

2011-10-02T18:20:00.001+09:00

Harry and Yoshi and I gatecrashed Tasuku's family barbecue. It was YUM. And also probably the last of the year....

Very fatty pork. So fatty it set itself on fire! Yum when crispy!

Still on fire meat!

Sanma (Pacific Saury) Grilled whole and salted. Wonderful.

I was helping Harry to get all the meat off his fish's bones. Burp!

Open Campus

2011-10-02T14:00:00.001+09:00

Open Campus season is upon us. We need to scout out one public and one private senior high school to apply to. This was the public school - really nice. Now all he has to do is actually pass the test with high enough points to get in. The private school will be his "suberi dome" (literally, "slip-stopper") so needs to be one that he's sure to get a place in. We went to one a couple of weeks ago and were deeply UNimpressed, so we need to think again. The nice ones are higher level than he can comfortably apply for. He could get in based on his English scores alone but that type of application generally require you to commit to the private school 100% and give up all thoughts of applying to a public school. An option we are not quite ready for yet. There are about 8 more weeks to decide. It's scary.

Too much cram school!

2011-10-02T13:01:00.000+09:00

Yoshi went to juku every single day of the summer holidays, bar the time we were in Rumoi and a couple of other days where we had stuff to do. One day he came home for dinner, with plans to go back as he did most days. He went upstairs and when I called him down, there was no answer. I went upstairs to see what he was doing, and found this...... I left him there.

2011 pickings

2011-10-02T11:43:00.002+09:00

The veggie garden has pretty much come to an end now, so these are my final totals for the season.

Blackberries: 2500 g

Green peppers: 19

Cucumbers: 70

Zucchini: 12 + 8 tiny baby ones

Aiko Mini Tomatoes: 212

Round Mini Tomatoes: 100

Large/Medium Tomatoes: 49

Eggplants: 5

Raspberries: 190 g

Lettuce: lots of leaves

Celery: lots of stalks

Strawberries - 1 kg, maybe.

Blackcurrants: 174 g

Next year I hope that the blackberries will do better - they were loaded with fruit that moulded in the two perfectly badly timed typhoons we had. Blackcurrants and raspberries will certainly do better next year as they are growing well, and the redcurrant should produce at least a little fruit next year as it's grown a lot this season from the leafless stick it was this spring. I don't think I'll bother with eggplants again. They don't seem to like me! I could do a lot more lettucy stuff if I kept my wits about me and kept sowing seeds. And this year I never got round to planting my beans so that was a washout and I missed them this year. I WILL make more time next year!!

Harry's owl drawing

2011-10-02T10:39:00.000+09:00

Harry spent some time looking at photos of owls the other night, then sat down to draw this one from a photo he chose. He was proud of his results, and asked me to put the picture up on the blog for everyone to see!

I'm glad to see him begin to draw things other than cartoon-y characters. I hope this trend will continue!

Kurusu no Shima

2011-10-02T00:23:00.000+09:00

Yoshi's class's entry in the choral competition at his school festival! They got gold with this, and deservedly!

Garden, September 25th 2011

2011-09-25T11:21:00.000+09:00

After two typhoons and weeks of daily "ordinary" rain, finally this weekend was bright and beautiful and we were able to get out into the garden. Seiju cut all the grass, front and back. This might be the last cut of the season.

I weeded the front flower bed thoroughly and it looks lovely again. I deadheaded the rose and it looks like it might get a couple more flowers out before the cold sets in. I need to get it staked ready for the snow as it's a very soft stemmed variety.

I kind of sort of weeded the lattice flower bed. The rose needs tying in before the snow falls. It's gone berserk again this year!

I didn't get to the crab apple tree. It grew a lot of suckers that need trimming off.

Nor did I get to the vegetable garden, which is very tired these days and needs a good tidy before the winter.

However!! We DID tackle this bit that has been an eyesore pretty much the whole eight years we have been here.

From the left - Gingko tree whose branches are encroaching on the garden behind us (no big problem now as the house is empty, which is why we've let the branches get out of hand).

Hydrangea bush that was as high as the fence and extended out over the grass in front - I trimmed that back by about two thirds just before I thought to take photos.

Tangle of clematis and honeysuckle that climbs up the gingko tree and the Rose of Sharon tree and have strangled bits of both. Supported by rotting wooden stakes, heavily wired in green garden stakes, and for good measure a washing pole! (Done by previous owner)

Rose of Sharon tree (mukuge in Japanese) which has gorgeous pink double flowers but which has been half strangled by the honeysuckle over the years, and thus is only half a tree, as you can see.

This is what we did:

Honeysuckle torn right out and its roots dug up, clematis cut back to about a foot high (if it dies, it dies but it seems very strongly rooted) and all the horrible crappy supports taken out. Took me a couple of hours to unwind all that wire! Then I cut several branches off the Rose of Sharon tree and took off all the long low straggly ones, too. The remaining two "trunks" were leaning to the right, so with Seiju yanking on the tree, we wrapped straw rope round the trunks and the bottom support of the fence and pulled the whole thing into a more upright position. I am hoping that in a year or so we will be able to undo the rope and the tree will stay in the proper place. I am also hoping that new growth will fill out the left hand side a bit. Already just a week later it is flowering a whole lot more fully.

Before and after of the honeysuckle and clematis tangle! Much better. The honeysuckle was never nice. It made a lot of leaves and vines but the flowers were nothing special.

Left to deal with - a million branches that need cutting and bundling ready for the next big rubbish day in a couple of weeks. Groan.

The gingko tree got a ring of its lowest branches cut off too. It has lightened up that part of the garden somewhat but now something needs to be done with the maple and dogwood trees near it.

Trip to Otaru (September 18th 2011)

2011-09-18T15:29:00.000+09:00

Yoshi and Tasuku wanted to go to a modeller's exhibition in Otaru, but didn't want to go by themselves (ahhhh!) so Harry and I went along. However WE didn't want to go to the exhibition so Harry and I decided to walk the entire length of the railway track park while we were waiting.

Harry borrowed Yoshi's new hat.

It kept the drizzly rain off nicely!

Later we met up with the big lads, and did a bit of window shopping.

By this time, the rain had turned to a real downpour!

Tasuku was letting me take a picture of him, making sure this T-shirt got into the shot!

"Keep Britain Sexy". I do try!

Three cool dudes at the railway station.

Chutney, round two.

2011-09-18T00:40:00.001+09:00

New workbooks in English class! September 15th 2011

2011-09-15T15:13:00.000+09:00

Chutney!

2011-09-14T22:09:00.001+09:00

Chutney season is upon us!

2011-09-13T23:02:00.001+09:00

Getting in just before a month has gone by!

2011-09-13T12:27:00.001+09:00

I'm sorry for the long silence......

Going back to work after the summer proved a shock to all our systems. In the end, Seiju only got a couple of days off, and went back almost as tired as when he started. We've barely seen him since, as they are still playing catch-up after the earthquake.

Yoshi is in the full throes of Examination Hell, and is at juku (cram school) for hours each night. I hasten to add, this is voluntarily. He has six hours of classes a week and the rest of the time he does his homework and own study there, with a lot of help from the teacher. In the all Hokkaido juku mock tests, he did very well, so we had high hopes for the first round of tests that count last week. Unfortunately he did his usual pattern of one good test (that didn't count) and then one totally bombed test. That does count. There are three more tests before the final exams but if he doesn't nail the next one next month, his hopes of a getting into the high school of his choice are pretty much shot. So, we are all depressed and miserable about that.

Harry had a new teacher this year who turns out to be a bit slacker than we'd like, and all the good study habits fostered by his former teachers have gone out of the window. He's also reaching the contrary stage, so he's been hiding his undone work and lying about stuff handed in. To add to the joy, it all got found out right when I was dealing with Yoshi and his disappointments. Harry was shocked to discover that he's skived so long that when he did feel like doing some study, the subject matter had moved on and he didn't understand it. That's the first time he's had that experience. Lots of tears (remarkably no shouting from me!!!) and self examination later, we have come up with a sticker chart on the wall next to his time table, so that he can mark off what he's studied and when, and notice what he's got to pay attention to. So far it is working well - he does well when he can measure and record.

The garden is very neglected and overgrown as since we went back to work and school, it has rained endlessly. There was a huge typhoon that hammered Japan, and we got the tail end of that one, PLUS another one that Hokkaido got sandwiched between. The cosmos and other tall plants are all on the ground, and all the roses need tying back up again. Seiju has not been home, or it has been raining for over three weeks now, so the grass is a monstrous mess, and of course the rain and the humidity has sent the weeds bananas.

We are coming to the end of the veggie season. Today I went out and took off all the tomatoes and green peppers, as they too were battered by the rain and winds, and just needed giving up on. I have a lot of veg to make into chutney, which is my plan for tonight after classes. The blackberries were wonderful this year, until the storms. It was incredibly humid and many have moulded. I've been picking and freezing them and have about 2 kilos so far, awaiting a weekend when I can make jam. It's sad though, because we could have had at least double off them. Next year I think I need to tie them up further apart so that the air can circulate better. Need to think about that! The whole garden needs a good going over from top to bottom.

PTA school cleaning day, and barbecue. September 10th 2011

2011-09-10T15:00:00.000+09:00

The parents and kids went to school and had a couple of hours of cleaning. We did the windows in the classrooms and all along the corridors, then our group went to the cookery room and scrubbed that down too. I did the sinks with steel wool along with another lady, and we got them all shiny bright again. Very satisfying.

While the parents packed up and got the barbecues going, one of the teachers called the kids into the gym and organised a sumo competition. Here's Harry (in the yellow T-shirt and beige shorts) winning his round. (He was marmalised the first time. I don't think his feet even touched the mat before he was chucked off!!)

Barbecue. After the typhoon and then endless rain the ground was very very soggy.

That's the pool behind. Some years the weather has still been good enough for the kids to go swimming but not this year.

This is what I love about our school - it's in the middle of nowhere! The rice is nearly ripe, and the kids are playing on a massive compost heap of cut tree branches and other agricultural stuff and noone is telling them to stop!

Bibi cuddling with his Dad!

Sharing the last watermelon out of the school vegetable plot.

Every kid got a couple of small slices.

Harry lining up for his slice.

Yum!

Piano practice, September 7th.

2011-09-07T14:46:00.000+09:00

I keep getting that "I'm getting married" feeling........

What to do on a typhoon day. (Sept 3rd)

2011-09-03T14:26:00.000+09:00

Yoshi and Harry both Haaaate getting their hair cut. We have to browbeat them into it every time. Seeing as the weather was already in a foul temper it didn't seem to matter much if the kids were, either. So we frogmarched them off to the barber.

Before

After.

Not a whole lot of difference! Certainly none in their attitudes.

Before the haircuts, we went to get Harry's eyes tested (one click worse in both eyes) and bought him a new pair of glasses. He chose these "choco banana" frames.

Then we went to the outlet mall and bought two pairs of shoes for Harry (he's having a growth spurt!) and some birthday presents. Then Seiju and I had a cuppa while the kids went off to spend their pocket money. Seiju was exhausted from all the cash shelled out.