Diary....December(２)

I think I would like to share some autumn photos taken in Nara.

A pretty quiet and peaceful.

                                                                                                  the garden of my local temple   

                                                                                                 looking down from the top

                                                                        　　　　　　　　on a beautiful day of November

  　　　　　　　　 My husband and I drove about 20 kilometers each way to Asuka village, which is the ancient  town in Japan.
                         In Asuka village, the first Japanese Emperors established their capitals, and many of the country's oldest shrines,
                         temples and toms can be found.

                                                      　　　　　　　   viewing from the back gate of Asuka Temple.




                                                                                       bronze Great Buddha in Asuka Temple

                                           



                                                       A guide is explaining about the history of the temple and the Buddha statue to tourists.

                                                                         

             

This was taken at the playground near my house.

I walked around there with my backpack.

                                                                The following day, in the early morning, I walked the playground again.
                                                                The slide was wet with morning dew. One fallen leaf on the slide caught my eye.
                                                                                       Looks sad?.......but beautiful......

                                     
                                                                                                             

                                                                                                         Thank you for visit.

                                                                          Have a lovely day filled with smile.

                              　　　　　　                                            紅葉の時期もあっという間に過ぎました。
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　                      　 　  忙しい年末ですが、皆さま風邪などひかれませんように。

Diary....December(1)

Here we are in December already. How fast time is flying!

　　　　　　　　Sometimes, I wonder where the time has gone!The year brought many natural disasters including an earthquake, 

　　　　　　　　typhoon and severely hot summer.Regretfully, these damaged many crops in farming areas. Thankfully, my area, 

                       Nara City was quite calm and there was little damage.

 Noyaki (open burning)was done after rice harvest this year too.

               Noyaki has been traditionally conducted by Japanese people for the purpose of continued use of hills and fields as grass land. 

               However these days open burning is conducted to use the field as semi-permanent farmland (Wikipedia)

                    On one day in October, there was an annual autumn festival held at the local shrine close to where I live.

                    I appreciate seeing the happy children, enthusiastic youth and even the elders having fun at the festival.

                    Together in the festival, and of course the festival programs performed at the shrine garden are too good to miss!

                                                                                                       The programs are here.

                                                                                            Fire dance

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　                                 　　hula dance

                                                                             Japanese Dram performance is highlight.

                      These are the young men from a local youth group who support the event with their stall of BBQ sausages.

 Thank you for your support and allowing me to post of you!! 

                                     　　　　　　　　　　　　今年も近くの神社で秋祭りが盛大に行われました。                       　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　


                                                                                                 Thank you for visit.

                                                                  　Have a wonderful day filled with smile!


                                                                                      Tomoko

Diary......November(2)

          

                 It is end of November, and even though golden leaves have already come, the last roses are still beautifully flowering here.
                 After what is usually the best month for viewing, the entrance fee was discounted.But how proudly the roses are flowering!

                 I do not know how many times I have visited this rose garden nearby this autumn... maybe 6 or 7 times. 
                 When I got to the rose garden yesterday, a familiar man in the garden's information office saw me with surprise, saying that
                 again you came here? No No, no need to pay for the entrance fee (about 5 dollars) anymore today, enter to enjoy roses!! 
                 It was fun.We laughed together, and I was willing to accept his kind words!
                 I took some pictures of 200 kinds of roses in the garden, where only a few visitors were enjoying them.

                                                                                            
        
                                                                                    The rose garden is here! 

                                                                                                     

     
                                                                                                   Princess of Wales

                                                                                                        Olympic Fire

                                                                                                          Livin Easy

                                                                                                                Seresso

                                                                                                              kimono

                                                                                                           Maria Callas

                             Jubile du Prince De Monaco

                                                                           One more gift was this bunch of roses on the day. 
                                    A rose grower cut these roses in the garden and gave me. You can see him in my previous post.
                                                          This was taken with my mobile phone as my camera needed to rest !

                                                                                 The man working at the garden's information office.

                                                                     I took a photo of him when we say good bye.
                                           Information office man! Thank you for your kindness and allowing me to post of you!
                                                                     


                                                                     Finally,I am ready for yellow leaves now.

                     　　　　　　
                                                                             Thank you for visit.

                                                                 　Have a wonderful day filled with smile.

                                                                    紅葉真っ盛りになりましたが、秋バラもまだ咲き誇っていました。
                                                                                                   

                                                                                            Tomoko

Diary....November (1)

                                                                       

                                                                        It is time to come back blogging.



                                                  This is a small waterfall inside the temple ground near my house.

                                                       This is a rose garden in the temple ground.
                                                My camera was set on high-key to make low contrast images.

                                                                              

                                                                                               

                                                                                                        tea room in the back

                                                                        This is a rose grower in the garden.

                             He works in the garden through the year by himself for growing 200 kinds and 2000 roots of roses. 

                                                                         Working alone here is not bad, he says.

                            Sometimes we have a short conversation. On this day, I asked him, "Who taught you how to grow roses?"

                            He thoughtfully answered, "Nobody; the roses here taught me." It was a great answer, I thought.

                    He said to me with a camera “Make me look good(in this blog), okay ?” and then smiled.

         Lastly I say that I was very busy with this and that during my blog break.Please do not ask about what this and that. 
         There were too many and ....

        It was sudden that my left eye lost half of its vision for a few minutes. It was like a thick curtain blocked my eye.

        The detailed exam of my eyes and body including brain scan did not show any problems related to my eye situation
        at the time of report. After all, my eye doctor told me that there is a possibility that a small clot blocked in the vessel 
        leading to the eye just a short time. Do not worry.
        Although my eye doctor's positive diagnosis did not ease me, I feel better now.

                                                      　　　　　　　 皆さんもどうぞお体大切にされますように。

                                                    Take good care of yourself too.

           　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　　　　　     I will visit you soon.

                                                                           

                                                                                       　   Tomoko

Diary.....July(1)

                                                     
                                                                              I was away from PC.

                                                               These are some of photos from Tomoko's file.
                                                                       
                                                                             Kyoto, Osaka, Tokyo,

                                                              

                                                                                                 Nene's Temple in Kyoto

                                                                        　　　　　   　tea room in the garden of the Temple

                                                                         　　　　　　　　      Kyoto Tower

                                                     

                                                                                            waiting hall in the Osaka station building            　　　               

                                                           



                                                     

                                                                                              a street in Tokyo Asakusa
                                               


                                                       

                                                                                                              Tokyo station 

               My younger sister, nephews, nieces and I recently held my mother's first memorial service, traditionally observed in Japan 
               around 49 days after the death.

               It's a difficult task for daughters to move out their beloved mother's things which have so many memories of her attached
               to them.

               It was up to my sister and I to sort out the contents of my mother's home in Tokyo in the days following this ceremony.
               We chose a few precious mementos to keep for ourselves, and then used a company which specializes in clearing diseased 
              estates. Now my mother's house is perfectly cleaned up. Her oldest son and his wife, a newlyweds, will live there soon.
              Although I had to say good- by to many belongs of my mother I am  relieved now.


          　　　　   　　  After having a restful break, I hope to resume my diary blog, when I feel more motivated.

                                                 

                                                                                a shell of  cicada......mobile phone(スマホ）
                                                While I was waiting for a bus coming  at the bus stop near my house....


                                                 　　　　    母の49日法要をすませ、母の家にある荷物をかたづけた。
　　　　　　　　　                       　　　　    数えきれない沢山の思い出の品があったが、多くの物に別れを告げた。
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　                  
                                                                       　　　     ブログお休みに入ります。
　　　　　　　　　　　　

Diary....June (1)

                  



                  On a beautiful day, after my busy days in April and May, I felt like having a relaxing time in the countryside.

                  My nearest train station(20minutes walk), which is direct to Osaka, is used by about 57,000 passengers a day.   
                                                                


                
                                                                                               (1)

                 Just 20 kilometers south of the busy station, there is a single railway line running through a hilly area joining
                eight small stations. Since 2013, these stations have been unmanned and now the trains have driver only operation.

                      On a single track, up and down trains pass several times on the way and must take care to be ready 
                      to pass each other..! As a train is approaching, it makes a "gattan gotton" sound, as we say in Japanese.

                                                                                                                          (2)
                                After I left the train I headed to the" Umami Kyuryo(hilly) Park", walked and walked and took a rest here, 
                                                                                        under this big tent.

                                                                                                                 (3)
                                               Colorful flowers in the flower bed and the shobu  are in full bloom.

                                                                                                                 (4)

                           I continued walking until I reached another cheerful place, a splash pad.Children enjoyed playing in water 
                           on this hot day of spring.The time spent waiting for summer can also be exciting!!

                                                                                                                     (5)

              While walking back, I found these plump cats falling asleep on a bench. I smiled to see them enjoying their relaxing time,
              just like I was.I stealthily crept up to them and clicked on my camera. Could they be wild? Where do they find their food 
              in this large ,trash -free park?
                                                                 "Keep relaxing and goodbye, cats," I whispered to them.

                                                      　 　　　 久しぶりに馬見丘陵公園を歩いてきました。単線電車に乗るのはなんだかわくわくする。
                                                                      追伸...実はこの猫達、昨年来た時もここで寝てました。               

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 Mosaic Monday

                                                                                        　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
　     　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 Tomoko                                         

Diary....May(1)

                               

                                        I am back from a time which had been busy going to Tokyo and coming back to my town Nara.

                                I had just glimpsed spring passing away so quickly, and just clicked on my camera in my spare time.

   
                                                                                                                      (1)

                            May 5 in Japan is Children's day. Koinobori (carp-shaped flags) flying in the blue sky are seen here and there, 
                                            which is for celebration of the growth of boys.It is always exciting to see "Koinobori" in the wind.

         

                                                                              　            　           



                                                                                                                           (2)

                                                    Tiny new leaves have grown in my garden while I am away from my house.                                                                                                                             

                                                                                                                         (3)

                                My mother passed away on May 9. She had a good enough life of 95 years. Due to her illness, 

                                she lingered for 2 months on a drip. On her last few days of life, she looked calm. 

                                She started making a final travel in peace.

                               After her son and two daughters grew up,she enjoyed her time for water painting. Some of her
                               paintings were displayed at her funeral. One of the paintings is about Myanmar countryside,
                               which she was traveling at her age 78.This was caught by a local reporter's eyes at an exhibit 
                               and then printed in a local newspaper in Tokyo.

                                                            She in the photo was 78                                                                                                           

                                                                                                                       (4)
                                       Beautiful songs my mother liked were performed. The first play was Amazing Grace. 

(5)

                                          My father suffered from kidney illness before he passed away, two decades ago.

                                          Before he died, he wrote a beautiful letter of appreciation to my mother, 

                                          the title of which is, "Last Day of My Life." After his death, my mother read his letter many times, 

                                          and always carried the letter with her, in her bag.

                                          One day, I noticed the letter had become crumpled, and felt it would be a good idea to copy it.

                                         After we made a copy of the letter, my mother always carried the copy with her. At my mother's funeral, 
                                         I placed my father's original letter in her coffin, with many flowers and her memorial photos.

                          

                                                                                                       Last Day of My Life

                                                                                Thank you mother!
                                                                            On day we will meet again.

                                                                                  　Mosaic Monday
　　　　　　　　　　　　

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　母は、20年前に父が妻（母）に残した手紙を持って、夫と息子のもとに旅立った。


                                                                                 

                                                                              

                                                                                   　    Tomoko