Recently in Weekend & Holidays Category

Last couple of weeks we have been having headaches with our washing machine. It finally came down to buying a new. They delivered it today, but before they arrived I had to redo the water pipe and drain set up. It didn't take too long and everything seems to be working fine.

It looks like it is going to be a rainy day today. I guess it was a good thing that I spent the day working outside yesterday. I made some progress on the pile of wood, but it will take me three or four days of work to get it done.

Today we are going to be running a lot of errands, so we will miss the closing ceremonies for the Olympics.

Our stay in Alaska is almost over and it looks like we might finally get a sunny day or at least no rain. This morning I will be helping at the Seward Salmon Derby. My job will be to weigh the fish that our brought in. I don't think it will be too busy because this is time most people are out fishing. The later shifts are the really busy times. Of course, I will tell you more in class, so have a lot of questions ready.

We arrived in LA last night and were very tired. It was long day with a 3-hour a drive to Chitose, a 3-hour flight to Taipei, a 5-hour layover in Taipei, a 12-hour flight and a 2-hour trip from the airport to the hotel. It was mistake to use the shuttle bus. It would have been much faster to use a taxi and not that much more expensive.

The hotel is nice and we will be heading out to look around the area to the hotel. We will be getting together with around noon.

I went out to dinner with some friends tonight to take a short break from grading papers. We went to the Minou minou Creperie next to Posful. I remember some people saying in class that they had been there. It was really good and I am looking forward to having one of the dessert crepes next time.

We finally had some nice weather, but I spent from Friday night to Sunday afternoon grading papers for my Chikudai classes. I have finished two classes, but four more classes will take tests this week. I need to finish all the grading before I leave for my summer vacation in August, so it is going to be another busy weekend next week, too.

I was able to enjoy this evening. We had a small dinner party and there was a lot of delicious food and interesting conversation.

Did everyone enjoy the 3-day weekend? I was pretty busy with parties and then a trip over to the Hidaka area.

On Friday night Noriko had a party with former members of the Kawanishi Elementary school PTA. They got together to celebrate the promotion of a guy who had been vice-principal when Kai was in the 5th and 6th grades. I was the driver, so I didn't drink.

Saturday was a gardening day. With all the bad weather we have been having I haven't been able to weed the garden or flower beds. It took me most of the morning to get things cleaned up. That night there was a party with the members of the city committee that I was on. The professor who was the leader of the committee was in town, so they decided to get together. The often had parties after the meetings, but I could never attend because I had classes at JOY. It was a lot of fun.

The next day we went over to visit friends in the Shizunai area. We had business in Nakasatsunai first, so we decided to use the Tenma Kaido Pass. On the way we stopped at the Scenic Cafe in Churui and a small farm on the Tenma Kaido Road that sells bread and cheese.

The weather wasn't much better on the other side of the moutains, there was little sunshine yesterday from Hidaka to the top of Nisho Pass, but when we came out of the tunnel on the Tokachi side it was foggy.

It sprinkled a little in the night and even though it looked like it might rain a few times during the day we had good weather. Luckily, we but on sun screen otherwise we would have been badly burned.

Before going to the jazz festival we went to the Rose Garden and looked around. Noriko found one variety of rose that she really liked so she bought two plants. She also got some tips on how to take care of them. Supposedly this variety is strong and easy to take care of.

Last year we paid extra for seats near the stage, but we learned our lesson that sitting on the grass on the hill is much more comfortable. We got a good place because we got there early, but it really wasn't that crowded.

We enjoyed all the groups, but there was one jazz singer that wasn't all that great. The trio she was singing with was just fine, but her voice just doesn't have any power or range left in it.

We got back last night late, so I was too tired to post something. It was a great trip and the weather cooperated. We heard about the storm that hit Tokachi.

Today was our first time to use the Doto Expressway to Tomamu and it sure makes it faster. I can't wait until the section is open to Yubari. It will make the trip to Sapporo a breeze, but it will probably hurt JR Hokkaido pretty badly. I guess it won't if gasoline prices keep climbing and JR can keep ticket prices pretty much the same.

The route from Tomamu we took was through Furano because we haven't been that way in several years. We stopped for lunch at a pizza and pasta place in MinamiFurano. The pizza is made in a stone oven and it was really good. They also had a lasagna that looked, but I will have to try it next time.

After Furano and on the way to Iwamizawa we stopped at a place called Sandantaki. It is a very beautiful place and when the water is higher it must look really spectacular. This was our only other stop before we got to Iwamizawa and did some shopping.

The campground wasn't very crowded and we had a pretty good spot. It didn't take us too long to get set up. We wanted to keep it simple, so we decided to have yakiniku and use paper plates. We had bought a small BBQ grill that worked just fine for the two of us. After getting done with dinner we headed to a hot spring. There is a nice one on the main highway coming into the city.

People in my Thursday class saw me hobbling around because my knee hurt and it didn't get much better on Friday. There really wasn't much I could do with a stiff, sore knee, so on Saturday I spent all day working on computer projects with an ice pack on my knee. Nice thing about having a notebook computer is you can sit outside and work.

Unexpectedly, this morning Noriko woke up early and decided she would like to have pancakes for breakfast. If we have instant pancake mix she will make them for herself, but we were out. When that happens it falls to me to whip up a batch from scratch. Today I decided to make buttermilk pancakes using whole wheat flour. From the photos you can see they turned out pretty well.

With the beautiful weather this morning we decided to eat out on the deck. What you can't see in the pictures is the potatoes in the neighboring field. The purple flowers are really fantastic.

After such beautiful weather yesterday we had the clouds and cool temperatures today. I got up early this morning to start cutting and stacking firewood. I have several birch trees that need to be taken care of before they get too wet and pulpy. In planning how to stack the wood I decided to try to make a Holz Hausen. When it is done it should look something like this, but right now this is how far I have gotten.

This is the base

and when I quit today it looked like this.

I hope to make it about 180 to 190 centimeters tall. To get it to that height I will need to cut and split a lot more wood. It is amazing how much wood you can stack in this way. I will keep you posted on the progress.

I did a variety of things today. This morning started off cutting and preparing rhubarb for rhubarb crunch. I usually mix it with strawberries, but we didn't have any so I used some raspberries we had in the freezer from last year. The reason I was making this dessert was some friends were stopping by for tea around 10:00. They live in Nagoya now and were just in Obihiro for a few days.

After they left Noriko and I went to the Chikudai dorm festival. I have never been there before and several students asked me to come and see it. We ate some yakisoba, okonomiyaki (Hiroshima style) and ice cream. They were all pretty good, but there were so many things to eat that it was hard to decide what to have.

Next up was the new Indy Jones movie. It was a lot of fun, but I would say that it is the weakest of the series. At least they didn't try to make Harrison Ford at like a young man. At the theater we bumped into some friends we hadn't seen in a long time, so we decided to go to dinner. We ended up having dinner at a izakaya in Memuro. It was really good and reasonable too.

I mentioned in most of the classes that I would be taking part in a Mori-no-kairo event on Sunday, so I thought I would let you know how it went. We got lucky with the weather and the rain stopped shortly after we got to the forest. The turn out for the event was pretty good; there were several new faces. The theme this time was to build small items from birch trees that we cut down. Many people made easels or small plant stands. I decided I would make a bench, and use a more complicated technique. It didn't go well and with ten minutes left I was far from finished so I gave up. I guess I shouldn't have been so ambitious.

When I got home I decided to do some gardening and cut some grass. I had planted some seeds awhile ago, but nothing has come up. I think that the seeds were too old, so I replanted the spot with seeds I bought on Friday. I hope that they come up this time. I also cut the grass around all of the flower and vegetable beds.

Today we climbed Meiakan and just got back. It was a wonderful hike, but more difficult than we thought it was going to be. I haven't been hiking for several years, but luckily I have been walking fairly regularly.

Yesterday we were a little worried about the weather and the forecast this morning said it was going to be cloudy all day and rainy in the evening. It was wrong and by the time we got to the top of the mountain at around noon it had cleared off and we had a good view in all directions.

On the top we met a guy who had ridden up on his mountain bike from the Akan side. He said it took about 2 hours, but watching him go down it was going to take half of that.

I used a walking pole for the first time today, but I am not sure if I was using it correctly. I guess I will need to ask Atsuya (Step 1G) for some tips.

I didn't post anything about my weekend on Saturday or Sunday because I was just too tired both nights. On Saturday we had our neighborhood cleaning which meant getting up at 6:00. After that I went out and cut wood until noon. While I was cutting wood Noriko was looking for wild vegetables. For lunch we went to Sawarbi Terrace, but they don't do lunch on weekends now. Luckily, they still have udon and quiche, plus their delicious cakes. Did you know that you can pick warabi there? It is only 500 yen for as much as you can pick. When we got home I trimmed up the wild roses and pulled a few weeds.

On Sunday, I spent most of the morning doing Chikudai work because in the evening we planned to go to a movie, but before that I needed to help out cutting grass in Obihiro-no-mori. We try to keep the grass down on the nature trail that I our group made. Of course, the more people who use it helps and by the looks of the trail more and more people are enjoying the course. The movie that we saw is called The Bucket List with Jack Nickolson and Morgan Freeman. It was a fun movie, but both actors played pretty much their typical character.

I am writing this post out on my deck after my morning walk. It was so peaceful until a little while ago. Now people are getting up and getting ready for work, there is more traffic which means I need to get ready for my day as well.

Today we went with some of the members of our forestry group to Ikoro no mori and the Hokkaido University Forest in Tomakomai. We left here a little after 7 and arrived in Ikoro a little after 10. There wasn't much traffic, so we made good time even with the rain and fog in the pass. We looked at a chair exhibition, their charcoal making equipment and greenhouses. We also had lunch there. I had the sandwich set and would recommend it. The garden has just opened, so there isn't much to see yet, but they have big plans. After lunch we went to the Tomakomai Experimental Forest. It is a beautiful place and we want to go back sometime when the weather is nice. I definitely recommend going there and if you don't have time to do both places, you should visit the experimental forest. One nice thing about going to the experimental forest you can also head up to Lake Shikotsu.

By the way, I met some of my students from Chikudai at the parking lot in the Hidaka Road Station. They are members of the ski club and they were on their way to Sapporo to buy ski equipment.

Are you using the rainy weather as an excuse to stay inside and study English? We had guests for brunch, so I wish the weather had been nice so that we could have sat out on the deck. Even with the bad weather we had a good time with a lot of good conversation. I have to say that my pancakes didn't turn out very well today, but I am not sure exactly why. I did everything the way I normally do, so I guess I will blame the weather.

In my post about last weekend I don't think I mentioned that I hurt my back lifting those heavy logs. It was a painful week and I tried to go the hot spring every chance I could to soak my back. By yesterday my back was feeling a little bit better, so I could do some things outside. I was careful about lifting things or how bent over, though. I was able to finish planting my vegetable garden, but my some tomato plants and cucumber plant look sick because of the cold weather we had earlier in the month.

It was a tough day. It started with the neighborhood association picking up litter from the ditches along the major roads. The road we were assigned was Yachiyo Road and we went to the farthest edge of the neighborhood by truck and started walking back to the community center. It was about 4 kilometers and we only rode in the truck a little. It took about 1 hour and a half and we filled up the back of a k-truck with garbage. I would say that we collected about the same amount as last year. I really wish people wouldn't through their bottles and cans out of their cars.

After that was done I started cutting firewood. Today's batch of wood was really heavy and most of the logs I couldn't lift very far. I would roll them to the trailer and then lift it just high enough to get it in the trailer. I finally finished around 3 o'clock and that was with only a short break to get something to drink. There are still few logs I need to bring to my house, but they are so heavy I can't lift them by myself. I will need to get someone to help or split them into smaller chunks. The wood is really hard, so I may need to borrow a friend's log splitter to ge the job done.

The weather was beautiful today! In driving around I saw a lot of cherry trees that were in full bloom. If we are lucky we won't have any strong wind or rain for a few days and we can enjoy them for awhile longer.

We had a BBQ this afternoon and even wearing a hat I got a bit of a sunburn on my nose. Four of our guests came out by bike. Two of them came all the way from Otufuke. It took them over two hours, but they said it was a beautiful ride.

Did everyone have a good day off yesterday? I played in a tennis tournament and my team did okay. I personally did when any games, but I played better than I thought I would after a year break. I really need to find time in my schedule to play tennis this summer.

Today I didn't have classes at Chikudai and there are no classes at JOY. In the morning I helped Trish and Paul with their internet set up at their apartment. I think things are finally working correctly. When I got home I redid Noriko's herb box. She wanted it closer to the house. I knocked something together in about 2 hours. It will be her job to get all the herbs replanted.

In driving around near JOY today I had a chance to look at some of the cherry trees. Many of them are almost at their peak. This weekend will be perfect for flower viewing parties. Hopefully, the weather will stay nice.

It was a busy, but very fun weekend. Noriko and I spent both Saturday and Sunday down between Taiki and Hiroo making charcoal and enjoying the nice weather. On Saturday we got everything set up and the wood slowly burning and today we went back to unload the finished product.

Yesterday we had a BBQ and looked at a few of the wild flowers that were in bloom. On the way home we stopped by the hot spring in Churui. It was our first time to use it and we were surprised how nice it was. We will definitely go back. We were both very tired so we went to bed early.

Today we left early and got to the site around 8:30. I had made bread dough the night before because I wanted to try baking bread in my dutch oven. I made bread once before a couple of years ago and it turned out really well, so I have been wanting to try it again. As you can see from the picture the bread today turned out pretty well. I also made sourdough pancakes, but I make them all the time, so that isn't a very big challenge.

Updadte: I forgot to mention that we stopped Handa Farm and bought some cheese. If you haven't had there cheese you should make sure to try it because it is excellent.

A friend carved this hanko for me and he also made the box to store it in. He made one for Noriko to use on her calligraphy pieces also. Carving hanko is one of his hobbies and so he is always trying new designs.

I decided to stay home today and clean my office, plus some other chores. I haven't used my home office much recently because I have a wireless network and I can use my notebook computer anywhere I want. Also I didn't have a very good chair, so sitting at my desk was really uncomfortable.

I decided that to start using my office more because typing on a notebook keyboard is hard on the wrists and I prefer a bigger keyboard. I knew if I was going to use my desk I had to get a better chair and organize my work space. Well, on Thursday I got a new chair and today I reorganized my office. Here are some pictures.

A spring came loose on my recliner last week and in a quick look at the problem I thought I would need to get a professional to fix it. Today after spending the morning and afternoon working on computers I decided I needed to do something different, so I took look at the chair myself to see if I could fix it. It turns out it was an easy fix and while I had it opened up I tightened all the nuts and screws. It is just like new and I probably saved myself several thousand yen.

The winds were pretty bad out here last night and between the snowdrifts and the snow berm from the snowplow we couldn't get out of the driveway this morning. Luckily, we had no plans to go anywhere, so I could take my time clearing away the snow.

It turned out to be a beautiful day and I spent most of the day working on the syllabus for one of the classes I will be teaching at Chikudai starting in April. While I did that Noriko made cinnamon rolls and bread. The cinnamon rolls were great. My heart hopes she will get back in to the habit of making them, but my waistline doesn't. I guess I can justify eating that extra one because of the exercise I got shoveling snow.

Noriko and I went to the winter street fair this afternoon and it was interesting. There weren't a lot of people, but there were several things to do. I made a small pizza that was then cooked in a pellet stone oven. It was pretty tasty. Norko had a Tokachi soup that used all local products. If you wanted you could make a ice glass or do some miniature curling using blocks of ice. Chikudai was also having several different lectures and displays. I wonder if they will do it again next year?

It has been a good three-day weekend even though I worked JOY projects a little each day. I was also able to get several small things done around my house. I have been wanting to put up a shelf in my office and rearrange things to make it easier to use. Now that is done and I fixed a few loose door handles and drawer knobs.

Last night Noriko said she had a craving for pancakes, so I had planned to make them. At the last minute I decided to try waffles for the first time in a long time. I was a little reluctant because the last couple times I had tried it was a disaster. The waffles stuck to the iron or I burned them. Well, today they were absolutely great! I think I know the trick now, so I will have to try again soon.

On Saturday we had a New Year's party for the forestry group that we are members of. One of the people is originally from Osaka, so he and his wife made takoyaki and okonomiyaki. They were really good and very different from the type you can get in Obihiro. I made homemade vanilla ice cream and it turned out really well. I haven't made it in a long time, so I was afraid that I had forgotten the recipe.

Today I worked at cleaning out Noriko's car because she will be getting a different one on Monday. While I was outside I decided to also get all the garbage ready to put out this week. I had to break down a lot of cardboard boxes and sort some cans and bottles. Sometimes I wonder how meaningful it is to separate all the different types of garbage.

We took a curling lesson at the new Curlingplex in Inada this morning. It was a lot of fun, but I fell when we were practicing sliding I landed on my side. Now I have some very sore ribs that hurt if I laugh or sneeze.

In the afternoon I went to the symposium at the Northland Hotel. It was about the mental health system in Madison, Wisconsin. There was a lot of interesting information and Obihiro is planning on using some of the same ideas.

I went to the Madison Symposium this afternoon and it was really interesting. There was a slide show and the mayor presented a lot of detailed information on the city and its plan for sustainability. This would have been good English listening practice.

There is another one tomorrow at Northland Hotel.

To many of the classes later in the week I announced I was going to have a winter BBQ on Sunday. These pictures are some proof. Does it look like we are having a good time?

Well, today is the last day of the vacation. I hope everyone had a good holiday and have already finished the homework. Did you make a New Year's Resolutions?

I thought I would post more before Christmas, but I was really busy and now I have a cold. The cold is a strange one. I have congested lungs and a cough. The cold medicine I am taking helps keep the cough down, so I can sleep, but just don't have much energy. This won't be too good for the end of year cleaning that we will be starting tomorrow. We took down and put away the Christmas decorations today, so the house looks pretty different. I will try to post something again before New Year's Day.

It is a quite morning today and in a few minutes I am going to start making suet pudding. I shared some with most of my classes and there were pretty mixed reviews. Some people really liked while others were polite. It takes three hours to steam and I have the wood stove going so it should be pretty easy to do. I am going to try something a little different with the recipe this year because I have a different kind of flour. We will see how it works out. If you would like to have a taste leave a comment or say something in class.

Update: I thought I was buying suet, but it turned out to be beef tendon.

I spent most of the weekend trying to get the blogs working correctly. I have made some progress, but still have a ways to go. I am sure people keep wondering why the look changes and why some time things work and other times they don't. Me too! I am slowly getting things figured, so give me a few more days.

Now that all the classes have had a chance to ask me about my trip to Shimane Prefecture I will post some details and links that didn't get covered in class. We left on Thursday afternoon and arrived in Izumo around 8:00 that night. We had wanted to leave earlier, but we couldn't get tickets on an earlier flight. That's what you get when you make last minute arrangements.

Our first night was in a cheap business hotel right next to the station, but next to the hotel was a nice hot spring. We took a bath and then went to a nearby restaurant where we had a coupon for a free beer. We had a nice meal and the owner gave us some sightseeing advice.

The next morning we went to Izumo Taisho Grand Shrine. This week was a special event, so the place was pretty crowded. We stayed there until 3:00 and then met some people who showed us around the Kekeke Kitaro Street. That night we stayed at a small inn right next to the Ando Museum of Art. It was an older place, but very clean with a beautiful bath. The staff was very friendly and I would recommend it.

On Saturday we spent the morning at the museum and garden. The garden is really beautiful and we were lucky to have a beautiful day. We got there early enough that we were able to see most of the things before it got too crowded. There was a free shuttle bus back to the station and we took a train into Matsue. We dropped our bags at the hotel and then started our sightseeing. We were using a 3 day pass that allowed us unlimited travel on the local bus line. There is a special bus that hits all the sightseeing spots, so we took it to Matsue Castle. It was there that the weather started getting bad. Our next stop was the home of Lafacdio Hearn and some samurai houses. It was looking like rain now so we decided to take a at break a brew pub. The beer was okay, but nothing special. It rained pretty hard and when it let up a little we went to a the nearby bus stop to catch the bus to the Shimane Art Musuem. It is supposed to be a good place to see the sunset over Shinji Lake, but the weather didn't cooperate. We did look at the exhibits hoping that it might clear up for a nice sunset. We had dinner at a restaurant near our hotel (it was still raining), but before that we went shopping for gifts (Japanese style).

We had to take a much earlier flight than we wanted because again we couldn't get anything else. Our hotel stay didn't include breakfast, so we went to a coffee shop in the station. It was interesting how this chain of shops is trying to compete with Starbucks. Each cup was brewed using the syphon style and when it was finished they brought it to the table to pour into the cup. The staff were all dressed in crisp white shirts, black slacks, aprons and bow ties. After that we caught the shuttle bus to the airport. We had to transfer in Tokyo again, but had a longer wait this time. Of course, we started running into people that we know who, like us, had taken advantage of the long weekend to travel. When we got back to Obihiro it was warmer than I thought it would be, but I was relieved. We hadn't left the heater going, so I was really afraid that we might come home to frozen pipes.

I should have reversed my activities. Yesterday the weather was pretty good which was lucky for our wreath making in Obihiro-no-mori. The afternoon was cloudy, but no rain. I should have worked at home in the afternoon instead of going to a movie. Today the rain made it difficult to work outside. I did do a few things before it rained too much. Luckily, I had a few things to do in the garage, like change the oil in two cars and the tires on Noriko's car. I will change mine next weekend.

This is what I made at the wreath making. Can you guess what it is and what it is made of?

The weather was perfect for a day in the woods. We had a fair turn out and there were more kids than usual. After giving everyone a tour of our section of the forest we thinned out a few trees, stripped off the bark and cut them into shorter sections. After lunch we made a bench for a small clearing on the trail and with the kids we made some chairs using some small branches. It was a lot of fun and I will post some pictures later.

Today we had several couples over for lunch. Half of them had never been to one of our lunches before, so they had some learning to do. Most times much of our lunches are self-serve. For example, most of the JOY staff know the routine and can quickly find just about anything in our kitchen. The new comers had a little more trouble today. The conversations were very interesting because of the mix of people. I look forward to getting this group together again.

After everyone left we needed to go to a neighborhood association event. Earlier in the day many of the people had gone bowling, but we just went to the dinner. Noriko and I both had a good time talking with our neighbors.

I told most of the classes that I planned on cutting firewood and working in the garden. Well, I got some firewood and I also got a load of rock for the new garden beds that I plan to make. I staked out the shapes and I will look at them again in the morning to see if the sizes and locations are what I want.

One thing I didn't mention in class was the Deaf Puppet Theater. The reason was I didn't know I was going until Friday because Noriko hadn't told me about it. It was interesting and I think you would have really enjoyed it. I am not sure how much publicity it got, but it is too bad the hall in Memuro wasn't sold out. If they come back to the Obihiro area in the future your must go and see them.

I told most of my classes that I planned to clean the chimney this weekend. Well, I got it down this afternoon once the rain stopped. The set up is much easier now because I have a routine, but climbing up and down the roof was much more difficult this time. The first time I tried my shoes were too slippery, so I changed to another a pair. They weren't much better which made it pretty scary getting up and down. Tomorrow I am going to Homac and buy a pair of construction workers shoes for next year. Hopefully, that will make it much easier to climb up the roof.

We drove over to the other side of the mountains yesterday and used the Tenma Kaido. It was a little early and the leaves hadn't really changed, but the colors in Nisho Pass were fantastic. If you have time tomorrow and the weather is nice I would recommend taking a drive out that way.

It was a beautiful fall weekend. We went camping on Saturday and it was really cold at night. During the day it was warm and we enjoyed the sunshine. It will probably be the last camping of this year.

It was nice to see so many people at the events last week and at all of them you had a chance to speak English. The new semester begins on Monday and I am sure all of you are ready to study hard. Don't forget to sign up for English Expo as soon as you know your schedule for that weekend.

It was great to have three days of nice weather even though I spent one of them in Sapporo. I was able to get a lot done and I learned many new things in Sapporo. Some of them I will probably be using in classes next term.

If you haven't signed up for any of the events this week there is still time.

I had a chance to ride one today at Senen-no-mori and it was fantastic. I now need to "eat my words" because I said when I first heard about it that it was ridiculous to spend that kind of money to ride one. It was worth it, I can assure you. It would have been even better if the weather had been just a little nicer. Next time you head out that way stop by and give it a try.

This pile of wood is an important part of David's Boot Camp. If you want to get in shape I will help. I will teach you how to cut, split and stack firewood. It is just as fun as Billy's Boot Camp and much more interesting, but you do have to worry about cutting off a body part when using an ax or chain saw.

Well, we have been very lucky with the weather. Did you do something outside? I was outside both days. Today I spend all morning cutting firewood. It was unbelievably hot and I was totally soaked with sweat by the time I was done.

Tonight we went to the jazz concert at the old brick warehouse in east Obihiro. It was really nice. There was a good crowd, good music and a nice atmosphere. If you have the chance, I strongly recommend trying to attend an event there. Urashima-san was there, so I am sure he will have a photo and some comments .

The last day of my vacation and it looks like it is going to be a beautiful day. I am writing this while sitting out on the deck. Looking at the lawn I am thinking maybe I should mow it, but I think I will put it off a day or so. One of the hardest things about staying home during the break was forcing myself not to do any projects. I always have a long list of things to do, so it would have been easy to have spent everyday working on something. I did do a few things like mow the lawn, pick berries and vegetables, plus general housekeeping things like laundry and dishes. On the whole it was a very relaxing break.

One thing I did do a lot of during the break was bake bread. We got a home bakery last fall and in the beginning Noriko made the bread with it, but a few months ago she said you are the one who eats the bread why don't you make it. My reply was, but the recipe and machine manual are in Japanese. Her response was to translate the basic recipe into Engish for me. The surprise is once I started making it I really enjoyed. Now I have experimented with different mixtures and have a pretty good whole wheat version. This a picture of it.

One of the nice things about this vacation is that I have been able to read a lot. I have already finished the newest Harry Potter book, The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler and I am in the middle of Collapse by Jared Diamond.

I was disappointed to hear that there have been problems with one of my favorite sweets. Noriko had a question about who sets the shomi kigen and I found this very informative article.

It looks like a break in the heat wave is coming, but I was glad that I didn't have to do anything today. We just laid around home and some friends stopped by so we sat under the tree and drank cold drinks and chatted. A perfect way to spend a hot summer day. It reminded me of being at my Grandparent's house in Iowa when I was a kid. The only thing we need this evening is fireflies.

Yesterday was hot too, but I could spend most of the day reading a book outside under the tree or laying in the hammock. The heat really didn't bother me much.

Some friends came over from the other side of the mountains and we went to the fireworks last night. The number of people was amazing and the fireworks were spectacular. I really appreciate the sponsors like the Kachimai and Genesis that make such a show possible. I ran into Fumiya and Eri (1G) at the fireworks. Fumiya was sitting behind us and Eri was in line behind to buy beer.

Again is a hot one, but a breeze has come up so it isn't too bad right now. We haven't decided what are going to do this evening. We may go downtown to the festival.

It is 8:00 in the morning and my alarm clock this morning was a woodpecker hammering on the TV antenna at 6:30. It is a beautiful morning, so in some ways I am glad it woke me up. The weather report said it is supposed to reach 34 degrees today, so it is good idea to enjoy the cooler temperatures this morning. I am having breakfast on the deck and enjoying my coffee. There is a nice breeze and the Katsura trees are giving me some shade. The plan for the day isn't set yet, but we are planning to go to the Sanjo High School Brass Band concert. After that we will see what comes up. Of course, I will try to post something when I get home this evening.

The concert was really good and I thought they were pretty amazing for a high school band. Of course, the kids really looked like they were having fun. After the concert we did some shopping in Nagasakiya, so we did have to wait too long to get out of the parking garage.

Not too much happened today. We didn't follow our pledge of not doing any work around the house during the vacation, but hopefully we will go somewhere tomorrow. If we stay around here we will be tempted to work in the garden.

In mentioned the root beer float yesterday and I made one this afternoon. I think it has been close to 10 years since I last had one. It was one of my favorite summer drinks when I was a kid growing up. We would make them at home or have one at a drive-in that specialized in the root beer drinks.

It kind of looks like Guinness Beer.

After we left the hotel we went to the Sapporo Beer Garden and Museum. I enjoyed the exhibitions and really believe that the company could do a better job of using its history in its advertising. After seeing the museum we went to Ario and the Kaldi shop with all the imported food. There were a lot of things that we wanted to buy and I even bought a can of root beer. Now I need to get some vanilla ice cream and make a root beer float tomorrow.

Our next stop was Moerenuma Park. If you haven't been there I highly recommend it, but give yourself a lot of time and rent a bike because it will make seeing the park much, much easier. The park was completed in 2005, but many of the earlier sections are already falling apart. The city of Sapporo is going to have to find a way to come up with funding to maintain the place either through entrance fees or donations from large corporations. At this rate there will be large sections of the part that will be unusable in a few more years, which would be a terrible waste and an insult to Isamu Noguchi's memory.

That was our last stop and it was time to head back to Obihiro. We made good time using the express way, but then after Yubari we got caught behind a truck almost all the way to Hidaka. It was unbelievable slow and at one time I would swear there close to thirty cars behind it. Going through Nisho wasn't too bad, but the weather wasn't too good.

The game was a lot of fun. The dome wasn't completely packed, but I would say it was 85-90% full. The atmosphere was really exciting. The noise is non-stop. Of course, this was my first time, so I didn't know what you were supposed to do in different situations or for different players.

It was a tiring day. We left the hotel a little after nine and had breakfast at McDonald's, then a quick stop at the Apple Store to see the new iMacs and play with the new iLife and iWork software. I will probably end up buying both of the new versions because I don't think there is an upgrade for the earlier versions. They aren't that expensive, so it won't be too bad.

After that we ran some errands and then met Noriko's folks for lunch. After lunch we went to Kinokuniya, Yodobashi Camera and then back to the hotel to get them checked. We had a short break at the hotel and then headed out to the game. It was hot and muggy and even worse on our way back to the hotel. We were exhausted by the time we got back and didn't feel like going out to listen to jazz like we had first planned.

Seeing I told everyone to read the blog as part of the summer vacation homework I have a lot pressure to make sure that I post something on a regular basis.

We are in Sapporo, but we spent the night last night with friends in the Shizunai area. It is always fun to drive around on that side of the mountains because of the hills and winding roads. On our way into Sapporo today we stopped at Rera again! I didn't buy anything, but Noriko found a few things she liked. After Rera, we worked our way in to Sapporo, but we stopped at Ario and Sapporo Beer. We wanted to see the museum, but it closes at 6 and they stop people from going in from 5:30. We just missed the cut off. We may try to go again on Friday. Tomorrow is running a few errands (Apple Store) and then the Ham Fighters in the afternoon. I hope it will be an exciting game.

Update: We just got back from dinner. We walked around Susukino and picked a place called Bar Espana.

It was nice and they had a very good selection of wines. While we were there a photographer from the Hokkaido Walker showed up and asked if we minded that they we were in a photo. It is supposed to be in the November issue. We will have to get that one and see how it turned out. Before we came back to the hotel we stopped by a Korean restaurant and had ishiyaki bibimba. The name of this restaurant is Koyari.

I started reading the newest Harry Potter book on the weekend. I got it last Wednesday, but didn't start it right away because I was re-reading the previous book. My routine has been to read the previous book before I start the new one just to make sure I remember more of the details. It has worked well, doing it this way because there are always parts that I have forgotten. For example, this time I had forgotten how Harry had gotten the "memory" out of Slughorn. I am enjoying the book so far and can't say that I agree or disagree with the critics because I didn't read many reviews because there are so many the have spoilers in them that I decided to avoid them all unless I knew I could trust the writer not to reveal anything.

In addition to reading the book, I also tried making French bread in our home bakery. It turned out pretty well. This was the second attempt and it is definitely more French breadish than the first attempt. I think I will need to keep working on the mix of flours.

We also went to see the jazz concert yesterday afternoon. We had visitors earlier in the day, so only made it for the last part of one set and then the Keiko Lee finale. It was good and the weather was nice. There weren't a lot of people there, which didn't give it a very good atmosphere. I think that basically it was too expensive. If it had been 2000 yen for adults, 1000 yen for students and free for kids I think they would have doubled the number of people. I am not a concert promoter, so I don't know how they came up with 4000 yen, but I think it was a mistake.

On Saturday I was thinking that I would have a chance to work on a lot indoor projects because the weather forecast was for rain. I did a few little things, but when it didn't start raining I worked outside. Around lunch time the sun had come out so I decided to mow the lawn while I had the chance.

In the evening I took Noriko to a party downtown and then I went to the jazz concert in Memuro. It was a really good concert, but the hall didn't have any air conditioning. It wasn't too bad for the audience, but the musicians were really sweating.

On Sunday, I decided to go get more firewood. I think it will take about 10 loads to have enough wood for the winter. I have pretty good stack started, but I need to start splitting a little bit each day. I am usually able to find trees that have been blown down, but today I cut down three trees. Two of them fell the way I wanted, but one when its own way. I am always nervous when felling a tree.

In the evening we went to see the new Harry Potter movie. It was pretty good and it always interesting to see what they will cut from the book and what they will change. I imagine it is really difficult to make a movie of a popular book.

After so much rain I finally decided that no matter what the weather was like on Saturday I was going to cut firewood. I went out to the forest prepared for rain, but I didn't need my rain coat, but I did need the rain pants because the underbrush was soaked. I was able to get a trailer load of wood. In the afternoon I went to Obihiro-no-Mori to cut the grass on the nature trail we made. We had planned to have a BBQ with some friends, but the weather forecast was for rain, so we decided to cook pork chops and hamburgers. It was a busy day, but a lot of fun.

Today we had a few errands to run in the morning and the weather cleared up in the afternoon. This is exactly has I had hoped because I wanted to get the grass cut before it got too long. This evening some friends from Sri Lanka came for dinner and we had a really interesting talk.

I think I mentioned in a few classes that we were going to the Iwamizawa Jazz Festival. We left on Saturday and spent two nights at a campground near the festival site.

We got out of here fairly early and stopped by Yubari to buy some melon. We parked in the JA Co-Op parking lot, but their melons were too expensive, so went to a small shop on the main highway. When we got back to the supermarket we decided to get a few things for dinner and in the entrance there was a couple making donuts. They offered us a sample and they were very good, so we bought a half dozen for breakfast the next day.

It was cloudy when we left Obihiro and cleared off on the other side of the pass, but once we got past Hidaka it clouded up again. This made us a little nervous, but when we reached Iwamizawa it had cleared off again. The campground is right next to Mitsui Greenland and just a short bike ride to the rose garden and concert area. The campsite was nice, but as we were setting up there was also a large group getting things ready. We should have been worried.

After we got the tent up we rode our bikes down to see the rose garden. It is really beautiful with hundreds of different varieties. We got there a little late, so one building had already closed. We decided to get back and have dinner before it got too dark. I cooked up some steaks with a bunch of vegetables. The meal turned our really well.

That night was the Iwamizawa fireworks show and we had front row seat from our camp site. The only problem was it was pretty cold. Noriko was freezing. I happened to have a pair of winter gloves in my car and she was glad to have them. After the fireworks finished we enjoyed our wine and read. The large group of young people were going strong and so was their generator. We figured as it got late they would shut down the generator and try to be a little quieter, but at midnight they were still going strong. I was a little more sympathetic than Noriko because I remember a few times where JOY Camp was pretty noisy and we had a few angry people. Finally, we got up to see if we could find the person in charge and ask them to at least turn off the generator. We did meet the guy and he got things quieted pretty quickly.

The next morning we just relaxed. We read and listened to music and even took a nap. The festival started and 12:30, but we decided to go after we had lunch because we had reserved seats in the main area. After lunch and getting things cleaned we got ready to go, but I heard Noriko say, "Oh, no!"; not a good sign. She had left the tickets at the house. Just before we left she decided that it didn't make sense to take a bunch of things she didn't need that were in her purse. He took out one envelope of stuff that had the festival tickets in it! She called the concert organizers, but the guy she talked to said our only choice was to buy two more tickets. We decided to go down and see what we could do.

We got there and Noriko started talking. She would talk to one person and then another. They at first said it was impossible, but she kept talking. Finally, they said we could go in, but to send the tickets the first thing when we got back to Obihiro. The weather was perfect and the beer tasted great listening to the jazz. We walked around and decided that if we go again we would get the tickets on the grass on the hill. Sitting up there you can really stretch out and relax.

Today we had a quite morning and got a good sleep because they were no large groups having parties. Our only problem was that last night we wanted to go take a bath, but there was no onsen near the campground. Living in Tokachi has spoiled us because it is so easy to get to a hot spring. After driving around we finally found the public bath that I had noticed the day before when we were driving around checking out Iwamizawa.

On our way back to Obihiro we decided to drive down to Rera. We briefly thought about going to the zoo in Asahikawa, but decided to save that for another time. The weather was still nice and the drive was really beautiful, but it seems we always take the most difficult and round about way to get to Rera. After about two hours of shopping we decided to head home.

The traffic wasn't bad heading to Toktachi, but the line of cars heading back to Sapporo was really long. I am glad we were heading in the direction that we were. The weather was nice all the way to the top of Nisho Pass, but at the top it was foggy and on the Tokachi side cool and cloudy. We felt really lucky that we had such nice weather all weekend.

The weather for both days was almost perfect. On Saturday, I had to replace the windshield wiper motor on my car. When I left JOY on Thursday night it was raining and when I turned on my wipers they barely moved and by the time I pulled out of the parking lot they had quite moving. Driving home in the rain was a little tricky, but luckily it wasn't raining too hard. I didn't have much time on Friday, but I did go to a friend's where I bought the car and he said it isn't too hard to change. He said he would get me a used unit and we could put it in on Saturday morning. It only took about 30 minutes and cost about 6,000 yen. He said if I had taken it too a mechanic and bought a new unit it would have been over 20,000 yen. The rest of the day I spent working outside and listening to The Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln on my iPod that I downloaded from audible.com. The full book is about 8 hours long and I have listened to almost all of it. I am really enjoying it and will probably be downloading more in the future.

Today a friend came out to help lay the carpet in Kai's room. I helped where I could, but after awhile there wasn't much I could do. So as not to be in the way I worked on other little projects in the garage. After he finished I cooked salmon on the grill and we enjoyed lunch on the deck. As they were leaving another friend stopped by on his bicycle, so we were sitting on the deck having tea and chatting when I looked up and saw a deer in my neighbor's field! It looked like a yearling doe, but I am not sure. When I pointed it out and we all turned and made noise it took off. I have no idea what direction it came from and where it went after that, but I am sure the farmers in the area won't be too happy to have deer in their fields.

Noriko and I decided to go away for the weekend, but stay in Tokachi. We decided to go away for the weekend because we knew we would end up working on things around here if we stayed home. There are a lot of new places we have never seen and many places we haven't been in a long time. It was a kind of a test run for our summer vacation plans.

We left around 11:00 on Saturday, but had planned to leave a little earlier. We both had a few things to take care of before we could leave. Our first stop was Hanabatake Bokujou. That's not really true because we also pulled into the parking lot of Haki (the pasta restaurant in Nakasatsunai) just to take a look at the building, but we didn't get out of the car. At Hanabatake we looked around the gift shop and saw where they put on the shows. Our next stop was the Pansha Bakery in Sarabetsu because many students have mentioned it. We bought some bread and Sarabetsu cheese, which is delicious by the way.

We had lunch at the soba shop Fudo in Taiki. It was recommended by some friends. It is an interesting building and the soba is very good. After that we went to Gallery Too to see an exhibition of dolls made from clay. It turns out that the owner of the shop had taken my class at Doshin Culture Center about 11 years ago. We had coffee there and the shop blend was very good.

Our next stop was Bansei Hot Spring. It has been a good 10 years since I was there last and since then they have built a new bath. We thought briefly about staying there, but the log cabin is kind of expensive for just two people and the other facility didn't sound too attractive (it wasn't). The weather had really gotten cold and rainy, so the bath felt really good. We took our time and were there for a little over an hour.

The final stop for the day was Hotel Taiki. We had read about it in the newspaper and Noriko had met the Okami-san at a calligraphy lesson she takes. It is a very nice hotel and the dinner that night was excellent.

This morning the weather was much better and we went down to Hiroo. We drove down to the port area and looked around. We were hoping to buy some fish, but everything was closed. On our way out of town we did find one shop that was open and we were able to get some frozen fish. After that we went to the old Seaside Park area. We went through the Marine Museum and then headed back to Taiki, Before that we went to an interesting place on the Tema Kaido Road. It is just past the Nakagawa Ichiro Museum. It is a garden, a museum, gift shop and coffee shop. If you are ever out that way you should stop by. Not too far from there is Tashiro no Mori. This place you need to have a reservation and the best time to visit is in the spring when the wild flowers are in bloom.

In Taiki we bought flowers at the nursery near the town hall. On our way home we stopped at the bakery again in Sarabetsu and then visited a friend's house near the airport.

It was a very relaxing weekend and we hope to make other trips around Tokachi in the coming months.

The weather was pretty strange this weekend. The rain kept coming and going on Saturday afternoon. I had planned to ride my bike to town in the afternoon, but the weather couldn't seem to make up its mind what it wanted to do.

On Sunday the morning was sunny and hot which was perfect for my neighborhood sports day, but then it got cloudy in the afternoon. We were lucky and it didn't rain during the BBQ that we had at my house, but it was cooler than people had expected. We had to pass out jackets for some people. I made a drunk chicken again and it turned out pretty well.

What an unbelievably beautiful weekend. Can you belief how nice the weather was both days this weekend? Yesterday morning we prepared for the workshop that our group held in Obihiro no Mori today. We finished pretty quickly and in practicing for making the birdhouses there was one mistake that I decided to try to make into a bat house. I am not sure if there are any bats in the area, but I guess we will find out.

Today we were in Obihiro no mori for the workshop. We didn't have many people, but everyone enjoyed themselves. We thinned out some trees and in the afternoon made birdhouses. This is the one I made.

We aren't sure if in birds will live in them, but they were fun to make.

I know it will seem odd with winter just finishing, but I started cutting firewood for the winter after next. One of the joys of burning wood is keeping the woodshed full. I also worked in the yard already, plus doing a repair job on my gas bbq grill.

Last fall when we had some very strong winds is blew over and the handle broke off. The parts were totally destroyed and I could only salvage a couple of screws. I was able to think up a way that I hope will not get too hot. I used two copper plumbing fittings that I had laying around and a piece of cedar. It is hard to see from the picture, but it looks pretty nice.

Noriko and I also went to see the Pirates of the Caribbean 3 last night. I wasn't expecting much because several of the reviews I had read said it wasn't all that good. I found it just a fun entertaining way to spend the evening. It was a bit long, but otherwise I would have to disagree with a lot of what the reviewers said.

We picked some wild vegetables today and we will have some for supper tonight. Noriko used some mugwort to make muffins this afternoon. They turned our really well.

Yesterday, I ran into Kieko (3A) at the video rental store. I talked with her a little bit about her trip, but I will get to hear more tomorrow.

I mentioned to a few classes last week that on Sunday last week I was picking up trash along the roads in our neighborhood. We picked up about 63, 30 liter bags.

And other assorted junk.

Today was the first neighborhood cleaning of the year, so we had to be up by 6:30 am. We do it once a month from May until October. The first one is always the hardest because of all the junk that has built up over the winter. I have started walking again since last Monday and we are going to have to start doing some of the side roads. The trash that people have thrown away is unbelievable! A couple of years ago they instituted a fee system for certain types of garbage and I was afraid that this area would become a dumping ground for people who didn't want to pay the extra fees. It didn't happen right away, so I thought people didn't object to the price, but I was wrong. It seems since last fall the amount of trash dumped in the ditches as increased. The strange thing is that a lot of the stuff I see dumped along the road doesn't cost money to dispose of. I have no idea why people don't just put it out with the regular trash.

This afternoon we went to a talk about cheese by a local cheese maker. We have known him for a long time and his farm is a very interesting place. They make wonderful cheeses, but their whole philosophy is what makes them special.

By the way, Noriko was looking at the newspaper and saw Yoko's (3K) name on the sports page. It looks like she took fourth place in a tennis tournament.

I had planned to post something yesterday but didn't have time because went to see Spider-Man 3 at the late show. Before that we went to Homac to buy flowers and other things we needed for today's work. Yesterday I did a carpentry project for the first time in a long time. II had forgotten how much fun it is.

And no we aren't going to start keeping chickens.

It is for this:

As usual with my projects there were a lot of changes as I went along. I need to add hinges so that I can swing open the front to load and unload it more easily, but I hadn't designed it that way at the beginning. Luckily, it will be easy to do.

We have several more outdoor projects to finish tomorrow, but I saw the weather forecast awhile ago and it looks like there might be rain in the tomorrow night. Hopefully, it won't start earlier.

I hope everyone is having a good Golden Week. As I mentioned in class, the first part of the week we spent in Hakodate. On our way we stopped at Rera in Chitose. I had planned not to buy anything, but at the Timberland store I found some really good shoes and shirt that were on sale. I also found some jeans at the L.L. Bean store that were only 2,900 yen.

The drive down to Hakodate went smoothly and we were able to use the expressway all the way to Yakumo. It is expensive, but with four people in the car it isn't too bad. We stopped for coffee at a rest stop and we could see Showa Shinzan.

We stayed with a friend of Noriko's who has a house in the one of the old parts of the city. It is right on the water and this was the view for the room we stayed in.

We had tons of seafood and enjoyed walking around the area. One morning I walked through the cemetery and went to Tachimachi Point. We also went to Matsumae, but it was too early and there weren't many cherry blossoms.

On the way home we stopped off at a friend's house in the Shizunai area. The weather got really bad and we had to drive home in the rain on Wednesday. I was pretty tired from all the driving.

Today we worked in the garden all morning, but took a break and went to Asahiyama. Several trees had blown down so I will need to get out there to cut them up for firewood. After that we went to the cafe Sawarabi. The view is fantastic and it has very nice coffee and cake set. Next time we plan to have lunch.

I will try to post some more tomorrow.

Our making charcoal on Saturday and Sunday was fun, but we weren't successful. It is really difficult to get things just right to make good charcoal. With all the work that we did we probably only got enough for one barbecue. Luckily, the weather was really nice on Saturday and today it wasn't too bad either.

When I got home today I decided to try to change the oil in my car. The last couple of times I have had some kind of trouble, and I had decided if things didn't go smoothly today I would give up and have it done at the gas station in the future. Things went okay today, so it looks like I will be changing my own oil for the near future.

Sorry, if you checked my blog earlier today or yesterday and found things all messed up. I did an upgrade of the blogging software, but forgot to change a few things. It took me a little awhile to figure out what was wrong. I think all the blogs are okay now.

It was a cleaning weekend. On Saturday Urashima-san and I started putting things back in Bucky Hall. All the knick-knacks needed to be dusted and we needed to decide what we were going to keep or put in storage. I also cleaned out the storage area under the stairs. Once I got rid of all the junk there is a lot of space. Hopefully, we can keep it organized.

Today at my house we also started some spring cleaning. The trigger was Kai cleaning up to get ready to leave for the States. Since he was cleaning his room I decided to clean my office as well. Kai's was the bigger project. I pretty much finished, but Kai has a ways to go.

One of the main things I worked on this weekend was troubleshooting my computer. This is the first trouble I have had with my home computer in two years or more. The first year I had my computer I had all kinds of problems caused by a bad hard disk. After I replaced it I had been trouble free. To solve the problem this time I had to reinstall the system software, and that seems to have fixed it. Hopefully, my trouble free life will continue.

We went out for dinner last night with some relatives to celebrate Kai's birthday and graduation. We ate at Kushibosu. It was really good, but it isn't a very big place. A party of 7 or 8 is about the limit for a group. It is also very smoky because of the grilled meat.

Today I finished my US taxes. It didn't take long, but it is pain to have to do every year.

The picture is of some venison that I prepared for lunch today. A friend gave it to us on Saturday, so we decided to use it up today. The recipe is very simple. Salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil and rosemary, plus the tomatoes. We baked it for a bout 40 minutes. It was much more tender than I thought it would be.

We went to see In Pursuit of Happyness today. It is a good movie, and I recommend it.

The concert was great! If they come back to Obihiro in the future you should make sure to go.

I had a drunk chicken at my folks in Alaska this summer and they gave me a stand for Christmas. Today was the first time to use it. We went to a friends who built a stone oven last fall. We thought it would be a good chance to give it a try. We went to a place last night that specializes in chickens to buy a whole one, but we got there just before closing so there wasn't much selection. The one we got wasn't very big, so we were afraid it wouldn't fit on the rack. It is hard to see in the picture, but you put a beer can (about half full) in the rack and then put the chicken down over the top. The boiling beer helps cook the inside of the chicken and makes it very tender.

The chicken fit just fine and from the picture you can see it turned out pretty well. In addition to the chicken we had pizza, venison roast, sweet potatoes, apple pie and an assortment of vegetables.

I am sure most of you are not missing the snow, but I would like to have a little so I can go cross country skiing.

I hope you had a good break and are ready to start studying again. Remember today is the first day of classes and we will be having classes on Monday also. Don't forget your homework!

I am sure everyone has finished their cleaning. We finished about 1:00 and then did some shopping. Ito Yokodo was really crowded, but there still seem to be a lot of stuff for sale. By this evening I bet there will be some good deals. Enjoy Kohaku and don't eat and drink too much tonight.

Today's weather was amazing! I guess we are lucky that it wasn't snow because we would still be shoveling. Has everyone started their New Year's cleaning? We started today and made some good progress. We will be doing a little everyday right up until the 31st. We always save the kitchen for last.

I had a good day with Kai on Saturday. We did some Christmas shopping, had lunch and saw the movie Letters from Iwo Jima. It was a good movie and I recommend seeing it. There is one character that brought back a memory of my second or third year in Japan. I was asked to by NHK radio to take a very small part in a radio drama about Ikeda Masou and the Battle of Iwo Jima. I had about two lines, but they paid me 10,000 yen and a bento.

Today Noriko and I went to see La Traviata. The parking at Nakasakiya was packed, so I dropped Noriko off and I looked for a place to park. I got lucky and a guy let me in the spot he had just left. If he hadn't I probably would have missed the whole first act. It was an interesting performance and I only fell asleep twice.

It is a little surprising to have a quiet weekend this time of year, but I did. I mentioned in some of the classes that a friend would be coming for a visit on Saturday. He did and we were able to catch up on things and talked about a lot of other different topics.

On Sunday I got some computer issues taken care of and worked on my Christmas letter. I am using a new software this year, so I have some new things to learn. I hope to have it ready to go sometime this week. I did watch the DVD It's A Wonderful LIfe. This movie has become a Christmas tradition in the States, but I am not exactly sure why. It is partially set at Christmas, but there aren't a lot strong Christmas themes. If you haven't seen, you should.

I went to the Billy Joel concert at the Sapporo Dome Sunday night. It was a really good show and it is too bad that it wasn't sold out.

The weather in Sapporo was cold, but it didn't snow. It had snowed earlier, so the roads were really slippery.

I took it easy this weekend because of my cold. On Saturday I raked some leaves in the afternoon and in the evening thought about my Christmas letter. Oh, I almost forgot. I also had a neighborhood association meeting.

On Sunday I relaxed in the morning and in the afternoon I topped a birch tree that was growing too close to the power and telephone lines. It wasn't too difficult, but I tied a rope to the part I was cutting off and had Kai pull on it to make sure it fell in the right direction. In the evening Noriko and I did a lot of shopping at the Homac/Ito Yokodo area.

Oops! I forgot to mention that on Saturday we put up the Christmas tree and decorated the house. Everything is looking very Christmasy at our place.

I have spent most of the day sleeping because of my cold. I did go out for a little while this morning because I needed to pick up the BBQ grill that blew of the deck last night. It usually doesn't blow around so much, but the gas tank is almost empty so there isn't a lot of weight to keep it in place. The only major damage was the handle on the lid broke off, so now I need to think of way to make and attach a new one. It will be an interesting challenge.

Spending the day inside gave me a chance to finish listening to the Sherlock Holmes story The Valley of Fear. I downloaded it from here. It would be difficult for most of you, but if you downloaded the text and listened as you read you might be able to get more of it.

On Saturday at JOY we had a special kid's event. It was a lot of fun for us and the kids. At the end of the day I was really tired and wanted to relax, so I rented the Pixar animated movie Cars. It was good and a great way to relax.

Sunday was such a beautiful day to be outside. I continued with some projects that I have been working on the last few weeks. Towards the end of the day I started raking and shredding leaves. What I do is rake up a big pile of leaves and then run my mower through them. My mower has a grass catcher on the back, which fills up pretty quickly. The chopped up leaves I put in my compost pile and I keep a bag to mix with the kitchen waste during the winter.

The weather forecast on Friday said we could expect snow on Saturday afternoon. All we got was rain. Kai and I worked in the garage all day and he did me a favor by cleaning up my workbench. I can actually use it now. The big challenge now is to keep it this way.

While Kai was working on his project, I changed tires and worked on the snow blower. I think it is already for the first snow.

Today we finished up the deck work we started last week, but I still need to put a support under one corner. I should have time to do that next Sunday if the weather is nice.

I got a few things accomplished over the long weekend. The first thing was getting some firewood cut and stacked plus cutting some brush at the property.

The next day I got the compost piles turned over and moved. Now there is space for this fall's leaves.

Yesterday it was taking apart a section of the deck. The snow always fell on the two corners and I am really tired of shoveling it off, so this year I decided to remove those two parts. Also because of the snow and rain always hitting those areas the wood was really rotten. I will fill in the space with gravel.

The last project I started several weeks ago, but I was able to put the different pieces together yesterday. The only things left to do are staining it and putting on the casters.

It was a good weekend. Yesterday I got a lot of things done during the day and in the evening went out to dinner with some friends. Today I helped with a workshop in Obihiro -no-Mori. The weather was perfect and we were able to get a lot done. We could have used a few more people, but the people who came seemed to have had a good time.

I went camping on Saturday. It was a beautiful day and I got to the camp spot in the early afternoon. I quickly got a fire going because I wanted to bake bread in my Dutch oven. I had made the dough at my house and it had raised really well. The fire wasn't the best and I got one side a little too hot and burned the bottom edge.

We also cooked corn-on-the-cob in the husk wrapped in foil, plus buta jiru in the Dutch oven. It was cold, so it tasted really good.

By 9:00 it was really cold, so the campfire was very important.

This morning I made pancakes and in the afternoon I made baked apples in the Dutch oven.

I went to Sapporo this weekend for a teacher's conference, but I almost didn't go. The reason was that when I woke up at 5:00 on Saturday morning the weather was beautiful and the forecast was the same for Sunday. There were so many things I could think of to do with two days of nice weather that I didn't want to waste them in Sapporo. In the end I went because I had registered for the conference, had my train tickets and hotel reservations. I am glad I went after all because several of the presentations I attended were very interesting and I was able to visit the Apple Store in Sapporo.

The hotel I stayed at was the new Washington Hotel in front of the station. It is really nice and the rooms are much nicer that the old hotel. The restaurant they use for breakfast was so-so and not really set up to handle many people. I am sure they will have complaints about it. Especially, when people go down from their rooms expecting to get a quick breakfast, but have to wait for 10 minutes.

In addition to the Apple Store I also visited the other big electronics stores. The big item was the iPods. In all the stores they had big displays and people were all over the place.

During my walks around the city I ran into three different people from Obihiro. One of them was Ikue who studied at JOY when she was in high school. I didn't recognize her at first because she was wearing contacts and a totally different hair style.

When I got home tonight I found that Noriko had done one of the things I would have done if I had stayed home. She picked a couple of bowls of rosehips, so I made jam tonight. As a matter of fact, I just finished up. I was able to 4 small jars, but there are still a lot of rosehips on the bushes, so we can probably make some more.

The weather was really mixed this weekend. The weather was beautiful on Saturday and Sunday, but then the typhoon got closer. It really messed up the today. If it had only slowed down a little bit more we could of had three days of fine autumn weather.

On the nice days I was able to get many things done outside. I cleaned my chimney which was the most pressing thing to get done. I was able to get the stove back together and do a test fire. No smoke came out so I guess everything is back together correctly.

I am wondering how the colors will be this fall. It seems like the leaves are starting to turn already.

We had our annual JOY tennis tournament this morning. The weather was misty, so the courts were wet. It was a little tricky moving and you needed to be a little bit careful when you started off. After the matches we had a BBQ.

When I got home I decided to repair the stove. I brought back the parts from Alaska and they said it wouldn't be too big of job. Well, they were partly right. It took some time to get everything apart and it wasn't too big of a job. The one problem is I stripped the heads of a couple of screws, so I need to get some replacements tomorrow. Also most of the gaskets need to be replaced, so it takes time getting them all cleaned out and the new ones glued in. Then you need to wait for the glue to set up. I will try to get everything put back together tomorrow night after work. I won't put the chimney back on until this weekend after I climb up and run the stove brush up and down it a few times. Climbing the roof is always a stressful thing.

On top of cleaning the stove yesterday I found I needed a new part for my chainsaw. It is pretty old, so I am hoping I can find the part here in town. If it is not available here I will have to order it from Sears in the States.

Kai and I were up and working by 8 this morning. We were out at our property cutting brush and cleaning up downed limbs. Noriko brought out lunch later and then she marked trees that we want to make sure not to cut down. I was soaking in sweat most of the day. Luckily, the mosquitoes weren't too bad until were just getting ready to leave. We got a lot of stuff down and with luck I will be able to get even more done before we get snow at the end of November.

Even after we got home we did some more work around our house. While we working in the yard our neighbor brought over some zucchini, egg plant, and shiso. Noriko used them to make tempura for dinner. They were fabulous!

The picnic today with Hans, Alison and Nicholas was al lot of fun. People brought tons of delecious food and the weather was fantastic. Don't forget to buy your ticket for the welcome and farewell party on Friday.

I had meant to write more about my summer vacation and post some pictures, but I spent the weekend troubleshooting computers. If I am time this week I will see what I can do.

I just came back from two days on Resurection Bay. We fished for halibut and salmon. I caught one small halibut (I have picture) and one small salmon (no picture). We anchored in Humpy Cove for the night. It is a beautiful place. I didn't take many photographs because they really can't capture the beauty of the area.

I will only be here a few days more before I head back to Japan. I am hoping that things go smoothly. See you soon.

I have been away for a few days at my parent's cabin. It is about a 3 hour trip from Seward to their place. It is on the other side of the Kenai Pennisula. We left the car at the Captian Cook State Park and you can see it on this map, but from there we had to ride 4-wheelers down the beach a ways and then go up a high bluff to get to the pipeline road. The place where I stayed isn't on the map I linked to.

The weather was beautiful and we road on the beach. The view of the mountains was great and I have a lot good photos to show you when I get back. I would post them here, but it is getting late. If I have a chance I will try to post some later.

I wanted to stay up all day yesterday to try to get over my jet lag sooner. I did a good job and finally went to bed around 10:00. Just before we went to bed the electricity went off and when it came back on I discovered I hadn't shut off some lights. Also the clock by the bed was wrong. I first woke up at about 3 in the morning here. I used my computer until the battery died (I had left my power cable upstairs and I didn't want to wake up my folks). I just woke up again and decidedto pust this. I was also hoping to see the moose that has been destroying my mother's garden or the black bear that has been in the neighborhood.

The weather is cloudy and very cool (11 degrees right now).

I am posting this from the plane as we leave Seoul. The flight crew is serving drinks and getting ready for dinner. All the the talk with my classes about travel horror stories must have jinexed me. Today I had a terrible scare. When I was in line for security at the transfer section at Inchon AirportI couldn't find my passport anywhere. I looked through my bag over and over again. The line was really long so I stepped aside and kept looking. Finally, I went up to see if I could get through without showing my passport, but no luck. I told the guy what happened and he said I would have to go to a KAL counter. On the way I kept checking and tried to think of where I could have left it. The only two places I could think of were on the plane or in the departure lounge in Chitose. They were late boarding and they weren't strictly checking passports and boarding passes. All I could think of was I had left it on the seat where I was sitting. We got to the KAL desk and the guy started calling. By then I was really starting to sweat, so I took out my handkerchief and my passport was folded inside! What a relief! The new passport isn't very stiff, so I couldn't feel it. Also I never carry my passport in my pants pocket. It is either in my shirt pocket or bag. I don't know why I put it in my pants. As I type this my heart rate still hasn't fallen back to normal. At least I everything worked out okay.

I signed up for an hour of internet service and it is about 900 yen. If I would like to use it for the whole flight it would be 2600 yen. I am planning to get some sleep later, so I figured I didn't need more than an hour. I am hoping there will be a good movie.

The flight isn't very crowded, but the one from Chitose to Seoul was packed. It took about an hour to get checked in.

What a great weekend! After so many rainy weekends it was nice to have one where both Saturday and Sunday were nice. I was able to get a lot of thing done outside and my vegetable garden no longer looks like a weed jungle. After I got rid of all the weeds I discovered that I have more space to plant things. I need to get a few more seeds in the ground. I look forward to hearing how you spend your weekends.

We had our first bbq of the summer, but what started as beautiful day ended in rain. As we were setting things up it was sunny and we were worried that it might be too hot. By the time we started eating it was threatening rain. It started raining a few minutes later. We broke out umbrellas for everyone, but is tough to eat with chop sticks in one hand and an umbrella in the other. The rain clouds just kept passing over us. It would rain for about 10 minutes then stop for about 10 minutes. This went on for almost two hours. It was funny, but we would have preferred sunshine.

I hope it is nice tomorrow for the sports day.

We went downtown to the Sunday to see what it was about. I guess every Sunday this summer they are going to close off several streets to car traffic and have food and handicraft booths along with a lot of activities. It seems like a good idea because the downtown area is pretty dead on Sundays now because of all the shopping centers on the outskirts of the city. It will be interesting to see how the idea unfolds over the summer. If you haven't seen it yet why don't you stop by next week.

The weather is beautiful today, so it is too bad to be inside all day. I was hoping people would post some restaurant suggestions for my dinner tonight or tomorrow. There is a party this evening, so having a place to go tonight isn't so important.

I have seen a couple of interesting textbooks that we might use at JOY next year. One series has a really nice student CD and CD-ROM. I will get some samples that I can show you in a few weeks.

I will be making a trip to Sapporo this the weekend. I will attend the national CALL conference. I will keep my eyes open for some interesting English learning sites and software. There will be internet access in the rooms, so I may post something while I am there. If anyone has restaurant recommendations for please post a comment. See you next week.

Today was a good day to stay inside. I worked in the garage building a wheel barrow.

Hopefully, it won't fall apart the first time I load it up with wood.

Went to see the musical Guys and Dolls tonight. It was fun and the cast and crew really put in a lot of work to put it on. It is too bad more people weren't there to enjoy it.

I had planned to post this yesterday, but forgot. On Saturday I had lunch at a curry shop (I don't remember the name) in east Obihiro. It is an old Japanese style shop. It has a lot of antiques and movie posters on the walls. I really liked the curry and the master likes the blues. I will definitely have to go back.

On Sunday I did gardening all day. The weather was perfect if just a little too windy. Kai mowed the lawn for the first time this season. It was mainly to knock down the dandelions.

I hope you haven't been checking here to often. I know I said that I would be posting during the break, but I just enjoyed not using the computer very much during the break. I have checked my mail and that is about it. I have enjoyed listening to music, reading and just relaxing.

My trip to Sapporo was nice and I have gotten some of my projects done around the house. A couple of them turned out to be bigger than I thought they were going to be. It is going to take a few weeks to get them completed. I have really haven't done anything in the garden yet, but I may do something tomorrow.

Well, the tournament didn't go as well as I had hoped, but I did play better than last year. We didn't make it into the second round, but with the rain maybe it was a blessing in disguise. When I got home I took a shower and enjoyed a nap. It was great!

I think the government needs to add one more day to Golden Week and call it Stay at Home Day or Do Nothing Day. On this day the only people working would be in the essential services like firefighters, hospital workers and transportation workers. All stores, amusement parks movie theaters and so on would be closed. It would be a little bit like New Years Day, but nicer weather. Basically, people would stay at home or have to do something outdoors that didn't require someone else to work. It would mean people could go to parks, but not museums. They would need to do all their shopping the day before because even the convenience stores would be closed. No restaurants would be open except at hotels. What do you think?

Did you spend the day enjoying nature today? I had a tennis lesson in the morning and then some people came for lunch. I did work outside for a few hours. I got the deck furniture out, but I am a little worried. I think it was the our third spring in the house I had all the furniture out and we got a snow on the 17th of May. The snow that slid off the roof smashed a few chairs and bent the legs of the table. Now I always make sure not to put anything where snow from the roof can land on it.

Tomorrow I will take part in a tennis tournament so I hope we have a day like today. I will let you know how it goes tomorrow, so check back in the evening.

Today was pretty productive. I got the garage cleaned, the oil changed in my car and the tires to. Changing the oil was tough because the oil filter is hard to reach, but I was finally able to get it off and the new one on. Of course, I change my tires and the weather forecast for tomorrow is snow!

I am really looking forward to spring. I am starting to worry that we won't have cherry blossoms until June!

I am trying to repair JOY's sever and it is not going smoothly. I had it set up once and then I updated some software and things crashed. I am now in the process of reinstalling the software again! I hope everything goes smoothly this time. The problem with this process is that there is a lot of waiting. As I am doing this install I have been listening to Car Talk and Prairie Home Companion and it has made the time go by faster.

This morning I played tennis for the first time in a month. My timing was terrible and I just didn't have much energy. I guess I still have some lingering problems from my cold. I'm looking forward to playing tennis outside.

I really didn't think I would be spending the afternoon shoveling snow this time of year, but that is what I did. Kai and I divided the deck in half and started to work. I finished my side by 3:30, but he wanted to quit and finish up tomorrow. I am going to enjoy teasing him as he works tomorrow and I sit back and relax!

Everyone have a good day? I didn't do too much except read and do some housework. I thought about doing a few things outside, but decided not to rush it. I will have plenty to do once the snow is gone.

I did watch the baseball game and it was a fun game to watch. I really thought Cuba would do better.

Just finished dinnner at Rancho and decided to take advantage of their free hotspot to make a posting. I hvaen't been to Rancho in awhile and I was surprised how much they have changed the menu. Now they only serve pork dishes. They still have pizza, and some of the other pasta dishes. If you haven't tried the new menu I think you should definetly make a visit.

Well, we thought spring was coming. If the weather forecast is right we will be having two days of snow. One nice thing is it won't stay on the ground long so you don't usually need to bother shoveling snow.

Joe got in okay yesterday, but was tired. He made the trip straight through from Vancouver and he said he barely made it to Haneda in time for the last Obihiro flight. The JAL ground attendants were rushing him through the check-in and getting him to the gate.

I met Yoshie from Step 2G at the airport. She was coming back from a business trip to Tokyo and she said she may not be able to make it to class on Thursday because she is busy. Hopefully, she can find time to come to the party on Friday or some of the events the last week of the term.

Here are some pictures of the two projects that I wrote about awhile back.

I pruned some fruit trees and put away some winter equipment. I also started two projects and worked on them until I ran out of materials. I finally finished putting the trim in the entryway, it only took 13 years. I also had to do my US taxes. It isn't very complicated, but I have to do it every year.

A warm day today and it is still above freezing. Hopefully, it won't be a typical year where we get two or three big snows before the end of April.

Yesterday, I did some snowshoeing and then had a delicious lunch with friends. We shared a great bottle of wine and enjoyed talking about many different things. Today we had a group of people, who had helped Kai with his speech, over for brunch. It was really interesting and got to know some new people.

I am at JOY now waiting for the demonstration classes to finish. We had a pretty good turn out. I met some of my former students who now have children that are old enough to study at JOY. One of them was my student the first year I taught at Otani College over 15 years ago. The other woman was a student at JOY about 10 years ago. I saw one other person who I thought was a former student was actually someone I have in my tennis class. It didn't click until after I tried to speak to her in English and didn't get a response.

I will probably talk about this in most of my classes this week, but the blog readers will get the information first.

On Sunday I went to a teacher's meeting in Sappro. It was really interesting and I may be using some of the information I learned for a special workshop during the spring break. I will also be adding some the ideas to my regular classes starting in April. I am sure you will all love the extra "learning opportunity"!

After Sapporo, Kai and I went to Muroran because he had the All Hokkaido English Speech Contest Finals today. We spent one night in the Muroran Prince Hotel. My room was so hot that I had a terrible time sleeping. Sorry, to my Monday class if I look a little sleepy. Kai did a really good job with his speech (a proud father), but he didn't take first place. I didn't get to see all the other speakers, but I thought he was easily number one of the ones I saw. He really worked hard on the speech and I am really proud of him.

Muroran looks like an interesting city, but a little run down. We had dinner in an old-fashioned coffee shop because that was the only thing open near the hotel. Next time I may have a chance to eat the Muroran style yakatori.

On the train from Minami Chitose to Obihiro the person next to me was a young woman from Taiwan. Her English was very good and I was surprised when she said she had never lived overseas. She is going to be in Hokkaido for eight days. She is traveling with her six sisters! She speaks English and one of sisters speaks Japanese. They were fascinated by the snow and when we came out of the tunnel from Nisho Pass they said what guessed to be "Wow!" in Chinese. They really liked the scenery. I hope they have a good stay in Hokkaido.

We just got back from having dinner at a Sri Lankan couple's house. We gave them a old bed that we had when they moved into to their apartment and they had wanted to have us over to say thank you. They had a baby last year at the end of November, so they have been a little busy.

There were several different types of curry and we were able to learn a lot about Sri Lanka. We hope to have them out to our place sometime.

This afternoon we also had a bbq on the deck. It was cold, but delicious. We will be having several more before the winter is over.

Came across these strange tracks along the river. Could it be that there is a Bigfoot in the area?

I hope everyone has been having a relaxing holiday. I have been really enjoying my time off. I have gotten several small projects down and enjoyed watching the tv show 24 on DVD. I hope everyone in Thursday's class will remember that we have classes the day after tomorrow.

Just getting ready for dinner and after that it will be relaxing and watching tv. Have a good New Year's Eve.

How are your preparations for New Year's going? Have you finished all your shopping, cleaning and card writing? We are almost done and hope to be able to start relaxing from noon tomorrow. Remember don't eat and drink too much and study some English if you have the chance.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas. We had a fun day, but a busy one. Santa was very good to me and surprised me a some special gifts. Noriko gave some snowshoes that are super light so it will be easier to make our cross country ski course this year. I will try to test this afternoon and maybe post a picture tonight.

With Christmas just around the corner Noriko and I spend the day running errands. It was productive, so we only have a few more to run tomorrow plus the grocery shopping for Christmas dinner.

A friend gave a us a small Christmas tree (fully decorated) as a Christmas present, so now we have a downstairs tree and an upstairs tree. People driving by on the Yachiyo Road may think we have a supper tall Christmas tree, but in reality it is just a small on the 2nd floor.

Well, we got lucky today because it didn't start snowing until the kids' event was almost over. By the time I got home the snow was already deep enough to use the snow blower, but I had a mechanical problem that I had to fix first. After that I had a three hour neighborhood association meeting. I think that it went well and people really shared some good opinions. When I got home I used the snow blower one more time. Tomorrow I will have to shovel off the deck which always takes a long time. Before I do that I need to take Kai to Arashiyama. He wants to be the first thing so he can enjoy the powder snow.

We helped one of JOY's teachers move to a new apartment today. We had a lot of help, so it didn't take very long. It was nice that the building had an elevator, so we didn't have to run up and down the stairs. Afterwards she took us to lunch at a tonkatsu shop in north Obihiro. It was my first time there and it was really good. I will have to go back sometime.

I am making a batch of apple preserves to enjoy with my oatmeal in the morning. I was doing an apple every morning, but it was kind of troublesome. I probably made too much, but I can always use it for something else.

This week I will be sharing my Christmas pudding with all my classes. I would be surprised if more than 3 or 4 people really like it. Just remember that this is just one recipe for Christmas pudding. Most families have their own version.

It was a busy weekend, but a lot of fun. Saturday morning Noriko and I took a soba making lesson offered at Sanjo High School. The instructors were members of the Memuro Soba Making Association. They made it look easy, but sure the first time I try to do it myself it will be a disaster. In the afternoon I repaired my snowblower that I damaged during the last snow. Luckily, is was easy to repair. Saturday night we had a meeting of the other officers of the neighborhood association to get ready for the annual meeting later this month. A friend also came for dinner.

Sunday we had some people over for brunch and had a good time talking. This evening we got the house decorated for Christmas

It seems like I spent most of the day in the car running errands today. I had to take a bunch of stuff to the cleaning center and I was really surprised how cheap it is to throw things away. If you have stuff to get rid of I recommend taking it there instead of buying bags or stickers.

Noriko and I went to see