on the 29th of December

At this busy period at the end of the year,
I am not busy at all.

My daughter’s college was closed yesterday
and will open on January 4th.

So I have nothing to do at my daughter’s house.

I could help her with housework but she asks me
to relax and be her guest when she is at home.

What a lovely day!

I had much time to spare.

I cleaned my house.

I did the washing.

In the afternoon I went out for a walk and happened
to see an optician’s wife, whom I haven't seen long
since I moved to this apartment.

We went to their store and had a lively conversation there.
The owner and his wife like talking very much.

They are the very first good friends of mine in Tokyo.

First I was one of their customers, and soon we became
good friends---17 years ago.

After talking a lot at the store, the owner's wife wanted
to go for a walk with me.

So we enjoyed walking along Tamagawa-josui.

We said good-bye each other near my daughter's house.

Yes, I had a good day.
Thank you very much, Mr.and Mrs. T.





Wishing you a happy, healthy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

My daughter's family were busy both on
Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day.

They invited me for a Christmas dinner
on December 23, when every member stayed at home.

Today HK-san and I had a light lunch at a café
near 武蔵小金井駅.

We had a long talk and did some shopping around there.

We were happy to see decorated Christmas trees
in the lobby of 宮路楽器ホール near the station.

I'm not a Christian, but let me say,
“Merry Christmas to you all!”

to the Suntory Museum of Art

Last Saturday Mrs. M and I went
to the Suntory Museum of Art in Tokyo Midtown.



This time we enjoyed Japanese paintings painted by
Akita samurai painters in Edo period.(秋田の武士兼画家)



Have you ever heard of 秋田蘭画 ? No, I haven't.

It is a school of paintings in Edo period
which lasted only for 7 years or so in Akita-ken.

蘭画 means Dutch-style paintings.

The basic difference between 蘭画 and Japanese traditional
paintings is the use of perspective.（遠近法）

I'm sorry I don't understand 秋田蘭画 very well
but I enjoyed the paintings of 小田野直武(1749～1780).



Anyway, 小田野直武 was the leader of 秋田蘭画.

I was surprised to know that he drew illustrations in 解体新書.

His paintings are real and have something calm.
His paintings calm the soul.
I was deeply impressed by his paintings.

Mrs. M and I had a late lunch at 酢重ダイニング六角.

I was happy I had an appetite enough to eat two thirds
of the lunch set!



We enjoyed talking a lot as we always do whenever we meet.

Thank you very much, Mrs. M!
See you around.

Friday English Class on Dec.16

In Friday English Class on December 16,
we cancelled reading ‘Chicken Soup’
and had a Christmas party instead.

Our new American teacher is a young cheerful
active lady.

First we sang 5 Christmas songs.

Before singing songs, we read sentence by sentence.
Then we listened to the song sung by a singer.
After that we sang to the tape.

Five songs were as follows.

1.Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire
2.White Christmas
3.Silver Bells
4.Let it Snow
5.Frosty the Snowman

I love these Christmas songs very much.

After enjoying Christmas songs, our teacher asked us
to tell about one of our happiest memories of Christmas
or New year's Day.

We, nine members, told a happy story one by one.

I told about 初詣 with my only daughter----
visiting 新潟護国神社 and having a delicious lunch
overlooking the Japan Sea.

Around 11:00 we had a tea break.

Lastly we all stood up and had a Right-Left Game.

Our teacher brought several prizes for us.

We had a delightful Christmas party.

(from our classroom)


(tea break)




(Christmas gift to our teacher)




(to each of us from our teacher)

delicious present, stollen シュトレン

Today a friend of mine brought me a present,
stollen, シュトレン, as she did last December!

Stollen, シュトレン is, as you know, a rich
German fruit and nut loaf.

She herself made stollen, シュトレン this year again.
She is really good at baking bread.

I've just cut the stollen thin and tried a slice of the loaf.

Good! This tastes delicious.
A thousand thanks, I-san!