A small wood fire

Many trees of Inari shrine near my house were fallen down by the strong typhoon last year.
So we are sometimes making a fire there these days.

Those who aren't busy like the retired get together and enjoy making a fire.

Nowadays the relationship among the community isn't so good.
Through this event, we may be able to establish friendly relations with neighbors.

The place is becoming a meeting place.



Inari shrine

Hina doll

　These are hand made hina dolls.

The dolls above are made of a piece of cloth and the below are of paper.



Shizusan made these paper dolls at the welfare center where she spends a day once a week.

First experience

'i-wa' and 'i-wa-ma-tsu' in the yard

My house was broken a few days ago and I had my handbag and a pouch with some bankbooks　stolen.
I don't know when the robber broke to my house but perhaps it was early morning.

It was not until yesterday that I foung my handbag was missing.
I searched a house for hours but I couldn't find it.
After that, I knew some bankbooks in a drawer were also missing.

I became white with shock at knowing I had had them stolen.

I went to the post office to examine the remainders.
Luckily they were all right!!

Soon after that, I reported the police .
In the evening,　some policemen drove a patrol car to my house and inspected of the scene.

I felt as if I had been having a dream then, because I couldn't believe the incident and hadn't had such an experience.

Luckily the amount of damage was little but I lost some goods in my handbag, such as driving licence, keys, some gift certificates and so on.

Till then, I thought every incident like that had nothing to do with me, but now I know they are not other people's affairs.

They are next to us.

Spring storm

According to the TV news, 'the first strong south winds of the year' blew in Kanto and Kinki region today.

It was very warm around here too.

Spring is coming step by step!!

Butterbur sprouts are also opening little by little.

The picture above was taken on January 23.
And the one below was today.

proverb 26

First come, first served.

This proberb might seem to mean that the strong or alert will win.

But the interpretation is not right.

It says being fair is important and favoritism isn't good.




Weed with a flower on the stone wall

Cat day

Today 2/22 seems to be a 'cat day' as 2/22 is 'nyan nyan nyan'.

I saw this tortois-shell cat; mi-ke-ne-ko.

I don't know why, but I seldom see toitois-shell these days near here.


My white cat Yuki happened to be presented some canned cat-food from my friend today.
I told her that it was very cold and Yuki wasn't as fine as young cat.
To hear that, she brought them for Yuki.

By the way, is 1/11 'dog day' ?
One one one !!

Amur adonis

It was a mild day today.

These flowers are bloominmg in the yard of my neighborhood now.

It is a happy flower and has a 'Lucky' name of 'Fu-ku-jyu-so'.

To buy or not to buy ?

A few days ago, in cold evening, a young salesman from Tochigi prefecture came to my house to sell 'Ya-a-ko-n tea' and 'wind -bell'.
He said both are good for our health.
But I didn't buy either of them.

And this evening, another young salesman came to sell 'dish towels' that were packed by the disabled man or children.
Is it really true?
If his words were true, I should have bought some.

But I didn't buy anything from both men because I couldn't beleive them.

They didn't get angry at all when I said I wouldn't buy.
On the contrary, both were very polite!!

After they went back, I felt bad.

Are there any good ways to know if they are swindlers or not?



A white shell of a snail among the stone wall

Origami

As you can see, this 'Hina dolls' are made of paper.

Many many years ago when my daughter was a little girl, a young lady folded these with some pieces of paper for my daughter.
I was so moved at this skillful work that I have kept it with care.

Every spring I display this too.

Stroll

On last Sunday afternoon, I went for a walk to the hill near my house.

I thought some peach blossom in the greenhouse might bloom.
But I couldn't see anything like that.

So I took this picture instead of the flower.

The picture avobe is fallen acorns and below is beautiful clump of trees.

In early April, some cherry blossoms bloom there every year.
I'm going to go again to see the flowers and take pictures.

An old storehouse and two antique dealers

This old storehouse was build about 100 years ago.
It had been used for a granary for a long time to store lots of rice.

Now we use it for a lumber room.

Seeing it, two antique dealers came and searched it the day before yesterday .
Sad to say, we have nothing valuable that they want to buy.

Long ago, two antique dealers like them came and bought some chests, stone bowls and so on.
I don't know if it is true or not, they said they would use them for plays.

We shouldn't have sold them as they might be very valuable.



Some tiles and part of wall peeled off by the typhoon last year.

proverb 25

East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.

The different two things, for example, 'water and oil' or 'two nonintersecting lines' will not mix or intersect together.

But it is important to recognize and respect each other and make friends, if possible.



One of a pair of stone-carved guardian dogs placed at the gate in front of the Shinto shrine.

Engagement

Congratulations !!




Today is the luckiest day in the six-day Buddhist calendar;(ta-i-a-n ki-chi-ji-tsu).

I happened to see a young lady I know well in beautiful kimono.

There was an engagement party at her house.

A set of dolls

March 3rd is the day of Girls Festival.
So I can see various kinds of dolls displayed through the Girls Festival season.

I saw this set of dolls at a shop near my house.

Beautiful 'Ume blossoms' but・・・

　I took these pictures in my neighborhood this afternoon.

As I was happy to be able to take them well, I went to the owners house to tell about taking them and to show the pictures in the camera.

But it happened then!

My left leg was bitten by a dog of the house.
It bit me on my thigh and shank.
At first bite, I was very surprised and ran away a little, but the rope of the dog was very very long.
I had known about the long rope and the dog's nature of biting .

But I was careless today absorbed in the picture.

In spite of my carelessness, the keeper of the dog came to my house in the evening to make an apology with cakes in her hand.

I was very sorry!!



＊Soon after bitten, I treated and disinfected the wounds.
So the wounds hasn't become so bad.
Now it seems to be O.K.