For the first time ...

Last Saturday evening a friend suddenly called and asked if I'd like to go find fireflies with her family. Of course I said "Yes" as I had never seen a firefly before.

We went to an area near the foot of Mt Tsukuba and after an hour or so, found a spot with a few fireflies. I was quite surprised because they were really small! My friend's husband caught one and I held it - it was less than 1cm long. I thought they would be 2 or 3cm :)

The fireflies were on some plants growing in the middle of a small river. I heard they only live in clean water where a certain kind of freshwater shellfish live. Firefly larvae eat the shellfish. Nowadays it is really hard to find such clean water as farmers use pesticides and herbicides. It is such a pity that we are destroying our own environment.

This final picture is one I found on the Internet and it shows you what a firefly looks like in the light. I tried to get a picture of the one we caught, but he moved too quickly!

firefly - 蛍
foot of a hill/mountain - ふもと
shellfish - 貝
larvae - (larva is singular) 〔昆〕幼虫;〔動〕幼生(オタマジャクシなど
pesticide - 殺虫剤
herbicide - 除草剤

Coffee plus ...

I don't drink (alcohol) so much but I do like Bailey's Liqueur. It's nice by itself, on the rocks, with milk, mixed in a cocktail or in coffee!

Try adding about a tablespoon of Bailey's to either hot or cold coffee. Yum! And if you'd like an extra 'kick', add a teaspoon of brandy too!

Did you know that such liqueur coffees are very popular? Almost all restaurants in Australia serve them.

Oh, and Bailey's over vanilla ice-cream is a heavenly treat for 'grown-ups' :)


grown-up = adult

Dai koubutsu!

I like the word 'daikoubutsu'. The Japanese kanji are 大好物。If you can't read kanji on your computer, they are 'big' 'like' and 'thing'. Actually, it means a 'favorite food'.

I learned this word long, long ago on a nature show. I know lots of vocabulary from nature shows :)

This picture is of my 'daikoubutsu'. Apricots are truly my favorite food and I could happily eat them every day. It is a big pity that you can't buy nice apricots in fruit stores here.

The secret of good apricots is to leave them ripen on the tree. If you pick them green and ripen them later, they won't taste nice at all.

Last autumn Mrs K was very kind to give me two apricot saplings. I am growing them in pots. This year they had blossoms but it was windy so most of the blooms fell off and I could get only one fruit. But that is okay because I thought I must wait a few years for the trees to mature.

And I was a wonderful wife and shared my single apricot with my husband :)

ripen - 熟する, 実る
sapling - 若木

A Week of Pets

This week was a week of pets ....

* First of all, I was driving south along Nishi Odori between Otaru Zushi and Anderson when I saw something strange. The traffic was slowing because of a red light so I had time to look around and I saw an old man taking his 'pet' for a walk. He was holding a leash and the pet was behind some azalea bushes - I could just see its back over the top of the bushes. I thought "Wow! That's the biggest Golden Retriever I have ever seen!" for I could see a golden-beige back. Another part of my brain realized it couldn't be so large because the biggest dogs I know are either pure white or pure black (Pyraneese or Newfoundland {sorry if the spelling is wrong!}). Suddenly the pet walked out from behind the bushes and I did a double take - it was a HORSE!!! A miniature horse!

-- Actually, I have seen some other strange pets like this being taken for a walk on a leash. When I lived in Tokyo a man was walking a ferret, and I've seen a cat and a rabbit on leashes in Banpakukinen Koen! --

* The next pets were at Joyful Honda Arakawaoki. The small animal section allows some pets to walk about in the shop. You can find a giant tortoise and recently a lovely white hen (chicken) that allows you to pat her. I really like this chicken and go looking for her. She is usually walking about so please go try to find her.

At J.H. Arakawaoki I also found a new friend. As I was paying at the cash register, I heard flapping wings and suddenly felt a weight on my shoulder. A little yellow parrot landed on me! I was quite surprised but it was really cute.

Why have I been in the pet shop a lot recently? I will tell you later! :)

leash - （動物をつなぐ）革ひも, 綱 -- 《英》 lead
azalea - つつじ
realize - …を悟る, はっきり理解する, 実感する
do a double take - はっと見直す;振り返って見る
miniature - 縮小模型
tortoise - （陸上または淡水の）カメ
pat - 〈人・動物（の体の一部）を〉軽くたたく, なでる
flap - 〈翼が〉羽ばたく;〈鳥が〉羽ばたいて飛び回る

Kita-kamakura

Before moving to Tsukuba 4 years ago, I lived in North Kamakura. Since my first visit to Kamakura in 1995, I had dreamed of living there and in 2001 it became a reality. I was terribly upset when my husband said we had to move to Ibaraki again :(

The rainy season always brings back memories of Kamakura because of the hydrangeas. The blooms are best in North Kamakura - the soil seems to be perfect for them and they are a gorgeous rich violet color. Meigetsuin Temple has so many hydrangeas that it is called 'Ajisai-dera' (Hydrangea Temple). I often took a walk to Ajisaidera and could see countless other beautiful gardens on the way. My own house had hydrangeas too.

Last weekend a TV Tokyo show (Tokyo Admatic Tengoku???) featured Kita-kamakura. It was bittersweet seeing my old neigborhood and the shops I passed every day. I said to my husband that I want to retire in Kita-K.

Tsukuba has its good points and of course Kamakura has its bad points, but I think Kamakura will always be my favorite Japanese town. If only it could have a natural hot spring, then it would truly be perfect!

Coffee at home

If you've been reading this blog for a while you'll know that I am a tea drinker rather than a coffee person. BUT I do like delicious coffee sometimes.

The problem is that I am not very good at making coffee, so recently I tried to change that. An acquaintance of mine gave me a coffee-maker that she bought but didn't fit her kitchen. It is a nice one made by Thermos (brand) and the brewed coffee goes into a Thermos flask. The flask keeps the coffee hot so there is no hot plate. In fact, professionals say that you SHOULD NOT keep coffee on a hotplate for more than 20 minutes because it will 'burn' and the coffee will taste bitter. Anyway, I really like the coffee-maker. You can see it here -->

www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000BHRQPE/
qid=1150533754/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_10_5/249-0193723-2741951

To test the new machine I went to Starbucks and bought some beans. At first I thought that I would get some decaffinated beans because some of my friends don't want to have caffinated drinks. I talked to a staff member in the Lala Garden Starbucks and she said the decaf beans were a little weak, so after thinking about it for a while, I decided to buy the same beans that Starbucks use for the regular coffee they make. (Espresso Roast - Bold flavor) I also got a brochure on how to make good coffee.

The homemade coffee was great, but WOW was it strong! I ended up mixing half coffee and half milk to make a latte. Now I use 200mls of water, not 180mls per two scoops of coffee.

The funny thing is that recently I go to Tullys more than Starbucks because Starbucks at Lala Garden is too small and noisy so I can't relax. {I go twice a month because I have to have a quick lunch at Lala Garden before I teach at 'Lala Club'. At either coffee shop a sandwich and a coffee costs almost 1000yen - expensive lunch but fast!}

acquaintance - 知人,

My Baby!

Look! I have a baby!

This is 'Baby Frog' who started out as a tadpole in the rice field 3 weeks ago. At that time, my friend came over and said she wanted some tadpoles for her daughter. So she, my husband and I went looking in the rice fields for some.

It was probably a funny sight - 3 adults with a net and plastic 'bug' box, searching around in the rice fields and irrigation channels by my house. Finally we got one tadpole, 2 very tiny baby loaches and two water snails. My friend took them home for her children.

But this week my friend went to America so I got the box and brought it home again. That was on Sunday and 'Baby Frog' was still a tadpole. In fact, he looked more like a baby blowfish than a frog - he had a big round head with a cute little mouth. On Monday his legs got a little bigger, that's all. On Tuesday night he was STILL a brown tadpole swimming in the water.

Wednesday morning I got up and went to look at him but he was gone! Then I found him on the side of the plastic case - he was a FROG! It was amazing that he changed from a tadpole to a frog in just 8 HOURS!!! He changed into a tiny bright green frog.

I kept him for just a day and yesterday evening my husband and I took him back to the rice field and released him. It is raining today so I hope he is happy and could find some bugs to eat.

The loaches and snails are still in the case and I'm going to keep them! I can't wait until they get bigger. Yesterday I went to the pet shop in Lala Garden and bought some food and moss to make a proper home.

Next year you should get some tadpoles and watch them change. It truly is a miracle of nature!

tadpole - オタマジャクシ
come over - (other people visit your house)
rice field / paddy field - 水田
irrigation channel - 水路
loach - ドジョウ
water snail / pond snail / mud snail - タニシ
blowfish / pufferfish - フグ, 体をふくらませる魚(フグなど)
bug / insect - 昆虫, 虫
moss - コケ: スギゴケ類，セン（蘚）類

Win, draw, lose

Did you watch the soccer last night?

I'm not really a soccer fan (I prefer rugby) so I didn't watch all of the game last night.

Yesterday everyone asked me "Who will win, Japan or Australia?" I really have no idea about the skills of the players on either team, but I do know that many Australian players are in the professional leagues in Europe and England. And I also know that Aussies don't give up very easily! So yesterday I said the game would be a draw at 1-1 or the Australians would win.

Maybe I am mean, but I don't understand why most of the Japanese players cannot shoot goals under pressure. I just watch soccer highlights on the TV news, but I often see wild shots at goal. It was a problem 4 years ago and it is a problem now. Even as an outsider, I can see this is a weak point that the players really need to work on.

Anyway, last night I thought that Japan would win and was disappointed that the Australians didn't try harder. BUT then in the final 10 minutes everything changed! Maybe the Aussies are tougher in hot conditions? :)

Best of luck to Japan in their next game!

Miso-ume Dressing

Last year M-san gave me some delicious miso-ume dressing. It was good with salad, or as a sauce for chicken or pork. I really wanted to make some more but I had to wait until this season when green ume are in season.

Japanese ume are usually called 'plums' but in fact I think they are closer to apricots, though much more sour.

To make the dressing you need equal weights of green plums, rock sugar and miso e.g. 500g of each. First of all you wash the plums (and you can dip them in white liquor to kill any germs) then dry them and put them into a jar. After that you add the sugar, and finally the miso. Leave the jar in a cool dark place for 3 months.

After the dressing has matured, put it in a pot and simmer it to reduce the amount of water. Finally, put it into clean bottles.

I really hope that my dressing is successful!

germs - 微生物, 細菌
mature - 熟成した
simmer - ぐつぐつ煮える

Back to health

Sorry, I disappeared from my blog for another two weeks! But I am back again, mostly because I am back to health. ("back to health" = return to a healthy body/mind condition).

I wasn't really 'sick' but I had a headache for 10 days straight. Reading made my head ache more and using the computer was horrible. It was all my own fault because the headache was caused by stiff shoulder and back muscles. Sometimes this happens - my shoulders get stiff, my neck gets stiff and then my head begins to ache.

One reason is that I need to exercise more! The other is that I use a computer quite a lot, both at home and at work. Finally, I think I need to check if my pillow is the best shape and height.

I got better after going to a massage clinic in Takezono. It is just down the street from Kasumi and is across from Seven Eleven. After a 20 minute neck massage on Wednesday afternoon I could feel my headache going, then yesterday I had another 30 minute body massage and a 30 minute foot massage. Today all the stiffness AND the headache are completely healed! Yay!!!!

As well as the stiff shoulders, another reason for my ill health was that I wasn't sleeping enough. These days, it gets light about 3:45am and the sun rises just after 4am. My bedroom is really bright so I was waking up after just a few hours of sleep. I know that waking up is really healthy but that means you have to go to bed about 8pm!!! Not possible or practical with a modern lifestyle.

I solved that problem by putting up a navy blue covering over the window. These days I sleep like a log until 6 or 7am.

Many other people told me that they are not feeling so well this season. I think our body takes a while to get used to the changes in weather.

Anyway, take care of yourself!

PS. You can see a BBC story about sleep here -->
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5063670.stm


disappear - 見えなくなる, 消える, 姿を消す
headache - 頭痛 {one word, noun}
head ache - 頭を痛む {two words, noun + verb}
Reading made my head ache more. - 読書は私の頭をさらに痛くする。
stiff shoulders - 肩がこり
heal - 治す
practical - 実践［実用］に関する,実践上の［に基づいた］,実際［実地］の,実際的な
solve a problem - 問題を解く
sleep like a log - ぐっすり眠る

Surprising socks

I wish I could go to Australia - I want to show everyone my socks :)

In Japan, why can you buy socks with toes in them? I have never seen any of these in Australia or other countries. In fact, I thought they must be uncomfortable so until last week I had never bought any. To be honest, the only reason I got these ones is because I wanted socks with no part on top of my foot so that I can wear them with slip on shoes in the summer. These 'toe' socks were the best ones I could find.

They are quite comfortable to wear but they do take longer to put on. You have to make sure all of your toes go into the correct spaces! Kind of troublesome ....

Bush Peony

I got some lovely bush peonies last week. They came from M's garden and were absolutely beautiful. And so BIG! I was quite surprised.

I was also pleased that I finally found out the difference between ボタン and シャクヤク. It seems 'botan' is a 'tree peony' and shakuyaku is a 'bush peony'. Basically in English they are both called 'peony'.

Drive Through

A new drive through restaurant opened in Tsukuba last month. Not a McDonalds or Mos Burger, but Starbucks Coffee! It's on Route 354 (Noda Sen) between Nishi Odori and the Cineplex/Yamada Denki shopping mall.

I know Starbucks drive throughs are popular in America, especially in California where many people drive. I wonder how many Starbucks drive throughs are in Japan? Is Tsukuba the first?

I really like Starbucks - 99% of the time I buy the same drink, a hot Cafe Latte in a tall size. I guess I only go about once or twice a month. Sometimes I go to Tullys in Lala Garden because the Starbucks there is too small and too noisy. Actually, the cafe in Q't Mall is also too small and noisy. The new shop on R354 seems to be bigger inside but I guess on the weekends it will be crowded too. But if you are an early bird or a late owl, why not try the R354 branch at 7am or 1am? (Open from 7am to 2am).

My favorite Starbucks in Japan is the one in the Yaesu underground shopping mall of Tokyo Station. Getting one of the comfy (comfortable) sofa chairs is like winning the lottery! I've seen businessmen sleeping in those chairs for hours but the staff never tell them to go away. Oh, and another newer shop that is really good and extremely spacious is one on the second floor of Tokyo Station's Nihonbashi Exit. (Sorry if I made a mistake, but the exit where the highway bus from Tsukuba arrives.) I think that shop is the biggest I've ever been to.

The counter only Starbucks in stations like Otemachi are also interesting. When I lived in Tokyo I often carried a small Starbucks thermal cup in my handbag and in the mornings I got a cup of hot milk! Yes, not coffee but steamed milk :)

The BEST thing about Starbucks (Tullys too) is that all branches all over the world are non-smoking. Yay!

By the way, if you'd like to read a good book, try 'Pour Your Heart Into It - How Starbucks Was Built One Cup at a Time'. It was written by the CEO of Starbucks and is very interesting. Sorry, I don't know if it has been translated into Japanese.

Finally, some trivia. I wrote 'shop' but in the Starbuck's book, they are called 'stores'. I guess the meaning is the same. They are not really restaurants because the original Starbucks in Seattle was a store ONLY selling coffee beans. The cafe part came much later.

Spectacular Sunset

Sometimes simple things are so beautiful.

This afternoon there was a storm but after that a lovely sunset. I took these pictures from my bedroom window.

Couscous Cooking Class

Today I went to a cooking class. Amel from Algeria taught us how to make a couscous dish and a French salad.

It was really interesting to learn how to make authentic couscous and to hear about Algerian food. The couscous was served with a simple chicken and vegetable soup and was super delicious!

I'm going to try and make the same dish at home some time in the future. I hope it turns out well.

Flowers and Weeds

I always try to tell people it is very hard to judge "good" and "bad" English. I think it is simpler - you can communicate in English or you cannot. If you speak English and the people who listen can get your message then you are a SUCCESSFUL English speaker! Being a successful speaker is more important than being a good speaker. Why? Here are some examples:

1. Professor B works at a famous university. He is a native speaker and he has a very good education. His English is "good". But his lectures are very boring and difficult and his students cannot understand what he says.

2. D is an international soccer player. He didn't have such a good education and his accent is working class ( 賃金労働者;労働者階級 ). Some rich people think his English is "bad" because of his local dialect and because his grammar is poor. Of course his fans love him and never think about his English!



How about your Japanese? Do you think it is "good" or "bad"? Can you communicate? Which do you think is more important: perfect language or communication?

Yesterday I took a walk and I found all of these flowers. I thought they were lovely so I took pictures. Should I call them flowers, or should I called them weeds? ( 雑草 )








I guess most people would call them weeds, especially the ones that were growing in my garden where they shouldn't. But look at the last flower, a nasturtiam, which I bought from a shop. In some places in Australia nasturtiams are weeds!

Homemade Bread

I did this and that in Golden Week, and one day we had a BBQ.

One reason for the BBQ was that I wanted to make bread and use the BBQ to cook it! You might wonder how that is possible, but my BBQ has a lid and becomes like an oven.

I wanted to make my own bread because I wanted to make 'yomogi pan' (bread flavored with mugwort). I LOVE the taste of mugwort but wanted a different way to eat it. Tenpura is nice but too oily, and yomogi-mochi is nice but too sweet! Neither option is healthy. Bread seemed like a good choice :) I got the yomogi from my garden where I grow it in a pot {so that it doesn't spread and become a weed}. It's from Kagoshima, from my mother-in-law's garden originally!

Have you ever made bread? It's not so difficult but it does take time - you have to begin two or three hours before you even start to bake it.

The result? Wonderful! I baked the bread as rolls, using a muffin pan. The shape was interesting and the taste was SO MUCH better than in a shop! They were light and fluffy and the best bread I've eaten for a long time.

The only disappointing point was that they didn't have any yomogi flavor at all! At first I blanched the yomogi leaves before drying them and chopping finely to add to the bread dough. Maybe I didn't add enough, or maybe the flavor was lost in the blanching water because my rolls were just bread, not yomogi-pan. Oh well, the color of the bread was nice!

Something wonderful!

This afternoon I went outside to do some chores and instead I found a wonderful sight! I ran inside to get my camera but I needn't of rushed because it is still there now - 2 hours later.




I looked in my 'bug book' (an encyclopedia of Japanese insects) and found this is a kind of moth called オナガミズアオ (onagamizuao). At first it was hard to tell because there is another moth almost identical (オオミズアオ) but my moth has more yellow fluffy parts on his/her bottom wings. The moths in the book look very pale blue-green but my moth is still yellow-green becaue the wings aren't dry yet. I guess it is about 10cm across the wing span.

Anyway, it is wonderful - I have never seen such a beautiful moth before. Have you?

PS. I found out this is called a 'Luna Moth' in English. Do you know that 'luna' means 'moon'? It seems these moths are common in the USA, but it is difficult to find one.

Flowers and frogs

Remember the flower I asked about recently? Thanks to M, I know the name. She said they are 'musukari' in Japanese. I found that name comes from the Latin name of the plant - muscari. In simple English they are called 'Grape Hyacinth' because they look like a bunch of grapes! Actually I think they look more like little bells.

Here is a really nice homepage that shows a great picture of the flowers in a famous park in Holland. --> http://www.theplantexpert.com/springbulbs/Muscari.html

And remember the frogs? Well I haven't seen any in my garden this past week because they have all moved to the rice fields. The farmers have been filling the fields with water and the frogs are in paradise! You can hear them in the daytime, and at night it is like an orchestra of frogs :)

Rainbow Frogs

Wow, today's topics are all about gardening ...

This morning was such beautiful weather that I decided to work in the garden. You might feel envious that I have a reasonable sized garden, but it is really hard work! In the past two or three weeks, weeds have sprung up from no-where like magic :(

But one good thing about the warmer weather is that summer creatures are beginning to appear. You can find small lizards scurrying about in the sunshine and look at what else I found today: rainbow frogs!

My guess is that when they hibernate in the winter, frogs become brown and when it gets warmer they change back to green. Is that true? And why could I find an almost WHITE frog?

Mystery Flower

Can you tell me what this flower's name is? You can see them here and there in people's gardens.

It is a kind of bulb (I found out by accident when I pulled one up by mistake), and they are growing in my garden. I didn't put them there and I don't know if they are wild or someone planted them long ago.

Are these Japanese flowers?

Spring in my garden

For the past few weeks I've been taking snapshots of things in my garden. All of the flower pictures are from sometime in the last few weeks. I really like plants that take care of themselves, so pansies are just perfect! As you can see, I like all shades of blue and purple. Yellow is a nice contrast so I planted some yellow ones, too.

As for the tulips, the packet of bulbs was mixed so I got red and white as well as purple and yellow, so I put those in a different place.

Back again!

Um, yes, I am still alive! Sometimes you might wonder where I disappeared to, but just be patient and I'll appear again!

Life has been busy the past few weeks. I had a few events to organize and attend, plus daily life and work. I am sure I don't know where time goes :)