A Spring Break, 春休みに入ります。

Hello, dear friends!

The air is still cold, but spring signs are seen here and there. My mother-in-law spends almost all day in her room, seeing the garden changing to spring, in which ume blossom flowers are in full bloom now. But the recent unstable weather change seems to be weakening her.

I am traveling to Tokyo to attend the wedding of my nephew. It is also going to be my break with other events.

 I will see my relatives, and then enjoy exploring my home town.

My mother- in- law will stay in her daughter's house while I am traveling. I appreciate her lots of help for my family.

Today, I will show you some photos of the very beautiful country "Myanmar", where my husband and I traveled in 2007 and 2009. All photos were taken by my husband, and I trimmed some parts for this post! I hope you enjoy them!

                                                 

                   

                                                  

                                 Inle Lake ...link                

                                                       an ancient city" Bagan "of Myanmar( Buruma)...link

                                                                          


                                                                                Thank you for your visit.

                                              

                                                        I am hoping you all have happy days. 

  
                                                                    Until next time!

                                                      

                                                                       Tomoko
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A joyful day for Little girls, Sunlit Sunday!

             Anpanman snacks for girls festival (hina festival)

   March 3rd:This is the day that families with little daughters cerebrate to pray for their daughters' happiness  and healthy growth.Traditionally, girls aged 3 are given Hina dolls from their parents or maternal grandparents.

The dolls are displayed in their homes during February and March. This festival has a long history of about 1000 years in our country.

                                                               small hina dolls in my living room

 I do not have daughters, but enjoy displaying these hina dolls my younger sister made. My husband and I have a small cerebration at home for our grand daughter who lives in Tokyo. 

            

 Various sweets especially made for Hina festival are on show in many shops this time of the year.  Many sweets and some gifts for the festival I bought will be arriving soon our little girl!

                                                 
An old set of coffee cups, which my mother-in-law gave me many years ago, also join our celebration. 
Actually, the set of coffee cups had being left with dust at the corner of her kitchen. She was happy that I found them, and then she gave the whole set to me. Each of them has a logo "Nippon Toki Kaisha Ltd." in Japanese, which shows that they were made by the predecessor of "Noritake" around 1933-1943.

                     They were everyday cups for her family. The old type of square handles feel new to me.

                                           

                                                               It is interesting to see old logos.
                            I like to imagine of people's everyday life  with their chinawares at that time.           

             

The pair of Hina dolls, which are over 80 years old, have been passed down from my grandmother to my mother and to me. 

I love these graceful hina dolls.

 Wishing your all little girls happiness.

Thank you, Karen, for hosting Sunlit Sunday.

Thank you for your visits.

Until next time!

Tomoko

Spring will begin with these pink cushions.

             A heavy snow fell in my town the other day and it was for the first time in 18 years. I wanted to go out with my camera earlier but decided to stay at home until the snow stops. So I replaced the winter cushions with the spring ones I made. 

     When I saw a piece of pink cloth, which was originally for curtains, at a Laura Ashley store few years ago, 
    I decided to make cushions with it. Do you think it is a good idea?

   

The following day, it is time to go out for walk in the snow. I will show you something pretty in my town. As you know snow beautifully simplifies everything. My friends, come along with me!

the old wooden fence of  Wakamiya Shrine in Nara Park

the old style roofing tiles of Wakamiya Shrine 

          This design is called Mitsudomoe in Japanese. 

      a stone washbowl and stone lanterns 

a small shrine

at  the nearby play ground  

   

                                                     

                                                                       my neighborhood

                                                                  
                                                               Thank you, Karen, for hosting! 
                                                                       Sunlit Sunday 
                                　　　　　　　　　　　　　   

                                                                   　Until next time!                                       
                                                                       Tomoko

Spring is just around the corner.

                    

It has been chilly for the past few days in my town.　　

                                                You  see the large land across the line? 

It is the site of the Imperial Palace when Nara was the capital of Japan: 710-784. The Kintetsu line connecting Osaka and Nara goes through the large sight of the Palace. Anyone who takes this line for the first time is surprised to see the scenery outside the train window changing from the busy town with buildings and cars suddenly to this large flat land stretched to all sides. Security guards are stationed in rotation at this crossing to keep the safety of pedestrians from 8 am to 5 pm. They are very friendly and can even give us brief explanations of the sight. 

                        

       
            Crisp wind is blowing through the wide, open field. I am strolling around there bundled up in warm coat and              scarf trying to forget the cold air for a moment. 

                                                              All the wildflowers there are now hibernating.

 

             The lavish culture called Tenpyo culture flourished there, and this ancient capital, was modeled on the 
         capital of China during the T'ang Dynasty.

                     
                                                       a restored ship for Japanese envoy to Tang Dynasty China

                                                                                  on the deck
                                                     thinking of what lies across the sea 

Dear my friends in both Northern and Southern Hemispheres, a new season is coming around soon.
                                                                     Take care! 

                                                             Thank you, Karen, for hosting.

                                                                   Sunlit Sunday 

                                                                                  
                                                                      Tomoko
                                                                                    

Happy New Year, Dear friends!

  

     

                                                               

                                  Starting a new year with a new look and cheerful heart
                                            
                                                    ......and  being gracefully every day

                                                                                          at our local shrine January 1, 2014
                                                                               
                                   a newly replaced Shimenawa(sacred twists of rice straw rope)　for 2014

                                                                               
                                                                                                  Thank you for visiting.
                                                  
                                              I will open comments for Green Tomato next time.
                                                                                 See you soon! 
                                                                                  

                                                                                    Tomoko               

Solemnly and splendidly

                                                                  

Nara, the place I live in, has many traditional festivals throughout the year. One of them is the On-Matsuri Festival which is held on the 15th to the 17th of December every year. The festival reminds people that the end of the year is approaching. The atmosphere surrounding the city of Nara suddenly becomes busy toward the year end right after the festival is over.

Well, the festival doesn't end in only one day but lasts for three days, so I went out to get a glimpse of the festival on the second day. A splendid parade of up to 1000 people in traditional costumes marched through the streets.
It was first held to pray for the country's peace in 12th century and was for the 878th times this year. Still, it is one of the largest annual events of Nara and is attracting a great many tourists. The festival features all kinds of traditional performing arts such as traditional music or dance.

                             You can see  many people in the costumes with the swords which are 5.5 meters long.

                        

                     

                  I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and all the best   for 2014.

                           Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

                    

                                                  Tomoko

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looking back at my 2013

秋も深まりいよいよ冬の到来です。しばらく冬休みに入ります。今年もブログを訪問して下さり有難うございました。楽しい事が沢山あった年でしたが悲しい事もありました。それでも年月は過ぎていきます。来年にまたお会いしましょう。

お元気で!

Dear friends!

Autumn colors are deepening towards winter every day. I am fine but have been quite busy with my many private affairs that came up one after another. We have only one month to go this year. This is going to be the last posting of this year.

I am thankful that I had a lot of good times with my family this year. Also, I spent lots of pleasant times with my close friends having tea time and going out together, who I share the same hobbies with and get inspiration from. I love to share piano music with my friends in my life. As a non-native English speaker it is exciting to practice English language, getting to know more about different cultures through another language.

However, I had a sad thing too. Four months have passed since my close friend passed away, who was the oldest and best friend in my life from the time I was ten. Our friendship was kept even when we lived far apart after we got married. Lots of our memories came up to my mind one after another since her passing away. It looks like my drawers in my mind were suddenly pulled open. As time passes I began to realize that she would stay alive in my heart.

She was having radio therapies periodically. However, our one night cherry blossom viewing trip was realized in 2012 while she was taking the treatments.

                                                        Now I really want to say it to her.

                             "You were a honest and hard-working woman. I often remember you.

                                              Seiko, I just wanted to be with you much longer."

Nara Park

                                                                     a bird dancing  on the shining pond

                                                                               her elegant dance

                                                                        a collaboration in nature
                                                              Ryousenji Temple

                                                                                 in evening light

                a part of the garden of Ryousenji Temple, which features" rose garden" in spring

.........in addition.....

My mother-in-law at the age of 93, who lives with us, has been weakened these days. Since her heart is weakened, she gets out of breath when she moves around the house. She puffs during her meals too. She really hopes to spend the rest of her life in her room. Some nursing care workers regularly visit our house.Thanks to them we can enough help her, take a rest, make my time and enjoy my hobbies.

 

                                                         The yellow  leaves  at a bus stop near  my house
                                             

My blog will be closed for the winter break. I will be away from my PC for a while. However, I really look forward to visiting your blog from time to time when I have time during my break. I hope you will keep yourself well and enjoy this time of a year! I always appreciate your visits and kind comments.

                                               Thank you for visiting Green Tomato.

                 
         

                                                          

                                                                 Tomoko                                                                                            

                                                          

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