in the evening

in the evening. i went for a walk with M-chan. i went back to my parents house. and went for a walk. it is rainy season here in japan. but today was sunny and hot. it was about 6pm. it is still bright. M-chan loves her red dice toy. she has to take it with her whenever she goes for a walk. she wants to play with it. play catch with me. that is why she went to look for her dice when i called her to come with me for a walk. when she found it, she ran towards me. letting me know she is ready to go for a walk now.


the first picture is my elementary school. its ground is smaller now. because of the new houses area. no long slide which i played with a lot. no swings. no pond. no hill. so sad. but i still i like looking at my school. thinking about the time back then. ages from 6 to 12. i thini it was the best years. made seacret house with my friends. chat with girl friends about who likes who. school brings me such good memories. i wish i could go back then for a little while...

weekend 07 :: colors of this season (+ shop news)

it's tsuyu season in japan. lots of rain. more and more. personally i don't like it. but one thing i like about tsuyu. which is ajisai. these flowers. snails are playing hide and seek. lots and lots of small flowers makes one big ajisai flower. pink, purple, blue, white.... it depends on which kind and colors are depending on the land. or i should say sand.

T-chan took me to a temple today. it took an hour and a half. such cute little flowers. took many pictures. there were so many different kinds of them. they are like bouquet. so many bouquet with beacutiful green leaves. relaxing and refleshing.




it didn't rain when we were at the temple. so that is good. it started raining in the evening today. it was raining on wednesday and thursday. it will be raining tomorrow. it's tsuyu. so much rain. i like sunny days. i cannot put futon out to sterilize and make it soft by the sunshine. that is the most stressful thing. we hang our laundry out but we cannot do that often. but i shall find something fun and good to do during this rainy season.

this morning, lovely petit rose is opened. she has two little sisters. they are about to bloom.

when i bought this rose, lighter pink roses were out. so i was surprised to see this dark pink color today. and she made me smile.

oh dear, it is tsuyu. raining again now. and now it is oto-san's ( father's) day. Kp and i went to give presents last night to my father-in-low. it's a great time to give a petit thank you to all of you, too. i would like to give you 10% off of items from my shop, if you write the code : oto-san's day in the message to the box of Etsy. just for you who is reading my blog. i hope you enjoy your father's day. i will have the sale from now until tuesday 8:00 am in japan.

weekend 06

we went out for dinner. for ramen noodles. have you ever tried it? oh, it's one of my favorites. one of Kp's. and one of my dad's and my sister's. popular food over here. the restaurant was japanese style. i liked it. retro posters are on the walls. and japanese style slide doors. and the tables are hori gotatsu. my favorite. we took off our shoes at the entrance and sit down at the table. there are big hole under the table and you put your legs in it. the floor will be your chair. they put zabuton. and we sit on them. relaxing style for japanese. oh, i am onaka suita (hungry)!

and at night, we stopped by at my parents house. everyone was there and my mom asked us to go for a cup of coffee. my mom was so happy and excited to see us stop by like a surprise, i guess. we went to one of my family's favorite cafe. my mom, sister and i chatted as always. Kp enjoyed reading magazines there, too. my mom had a cold greentea. it was great. i wanted to take a good photo to introduce but i couldn't. too bad...

it is the father's day this weekend. Kp and i were talking about it since Sunday. haven't decided what to do yet. but today i heard one of the department store is having an interesting present for father's day. they will print top page of old newspapers. on the date of dad's birthday. whenever is okay that i heard. the real news will be on it. it will be interesting. to have all family members birthdays newspapers and maybe my dad and mom's wedding day. yes, it will be great! it was on news today. i will talk to Kp tonight. soon. he will be home. supper is ready. just waiting for him to ring the door bell. yes, i will say "okaeri".

shop news :: 400th item

this time, for the lucky customer who purchase 400th item from my shop, i would like to give away a piece of fabric as a suprise:) who is the lucky person!? could be you!?

my favorite time : with my best and oba-chan

on Monday, i went to see my best friend. she has a adorable daughter. i went there just for couple hours. to talk. and to chat. i was little tired, i guess. and i always get something from her way of thinking. naturally, my little stress will go out from my body. and chatting and hanging out with her is one of my favorite time.

and on Tuesday, i went to see my grandparents for couple hours. my mom's side of grandparents. they live 40 minutes away from my house. where the pottery is famous for. same city as i used to live and where my parents lives now. but different direction. more inaka (the country side). for my age, we didn't have much sewing classes when we were students.

my oba-chan(grandma) is my teacher of sewing. my new project is to make a dress, not a fancy one, for myself. she sews and knits all the time. and she graduated from a sewing school, so she can create patterns for herself and for anyone. amazing. i wish i could.

chatting with my grandma is one of my favorite time, too. she gives me an interesting ideas for living. and to be healthy and to thank for what we have are usually her main subjects:)

she does volunteer work at a day care senter for people who needs help for living. she've helped there for over 12 years. since she has retired. and she was on a local news paper. she is proud that she could keep doing it for that long and thanks for her guardian angel. cute little grandma.

also, because my grandpa's brother is a Buddhist priest, my grand parents are into Buddhism. not too too much but more than my family is. and really interesting for me. cultualy, i am, too but not so much. it is really interesting that most Japanese are cultualy Buddhist. but we don't have much knowledge about it or don't know much about it, i think.

so, it is always interesting for me. she sometimes transcribe a sutra and goes to her main temple to help clearn. and she goes to a study meeting once a week with my grandpa. she tells me that she writes sutra to calm herself and thank her ancestors. and thank what she has now.

she recommended me to try. she told me i don't have to do it for taking it to the temple to ask them read it for your ancestors because it will cost you everytime. but i can just try it to do it for ourselves. it's like writing Japanese calligraphy. actually, tracing. to relax, calm, breathe deep and concentrate on one thing is good for our mind and body that i hear. maybe i will. anyone can try. and it is interesting. and i will think about my dad's side of oba-chan(grandma) who have passed away when i was little. and thank what i have...

this afternoon

i bought the magazine and read it through. i've been thinking about getting one for myself. the magazine had a nice one made with lether. i decided to make one for myself with linen fabric. i didn't use the pattern and i changed it a little. i stamped my handmade stamp on it. i finished it really easy way. i know it is not a well done finished one but i like it rough and natural.

then i finished sewing our new futon cover today. heew. i've never sew something as big as futon cover. so i am happy that i am done with it and we can sleep tight:)

then, i had yuzu tea to relax for an hour. i love it so much. citron(yuzu) with honey. not like an english tea. it's different kind of tea. and i love it.

i love drinking with this cup. it's one of my favorite. love how it makes the shape of a heart. i am from a city where is famous for pottery/china. and i have a small collection of cups and plates. i bought them when the city had a once-a-year matsuri (festival). many shops and artists get together on the street and open their shops. it's like a big market. i will go to the matsuri, too. hopefully, it will be sunny and i will be able to take some pictures to introduce to you.

japanese custom/culture :: tadaima

i heard a little neighbor girl says "tadaima" in the afternoon. and i realized how good feeling i get by hearing the word and her mom answers to her daughter "okaeri". it is one of my favorite words.

when Kp comes home, the first word i say is "okaeri" always. and he replies "tadaima". yes, we are saying "i'm home." and "welcome home". or it's kind of same as saying "how was your day?"??

also, in the morning or whenever someone leaves houses? Kp(who is leaving) says "ittekimasu" when he leaves for work or wherever. and i (who is staying home) say "itterasshai". i find these words sweet, too. love saying them. so much. feels good and naturally they make me smile. my favorite words. kind of saying, "i'm gonna go now" "have a good day".

and when we got married, i didn't feel i was his family at first. but by having these convasations made me realized little by little that i am his family. i made the name plate for house with cray. it reminded me that i am takemura now. everytime i sew it for a year. now, i finally feels natural to be called takemura-san at hospitals or anywhere. finally:)

speaking of smile, these little smiling dolls are from our entrance of our apartment. we got them from Okinawa(an island at the very south of japan) where the beautiful beaches are. they are called "shi-sa-" and they protect houses from evils. and brings smile. real ones looks more like a lion or a dog. more scarly tough looking. these are cute little ones which a young artist made. they welcome us whenever we come home:) now the shi-sa- and i wait for Kp to open the door and say "tadaima".

japanese culture :: obentou

everymorning, i make obentou for Kp. this one was this morning's. to take it with him to work. to take healthy food for lunch. and to save our money. if he buys something or eat out, it will cost lots. at least 500 yen for obentou from convenience store. we don't know the vegetables are none agricultural chemical or not. and meat or fish are safe or not. we heard that there were something bad for health found from those ready made food on TV. there are frozen food to put in obento. easy and fast. but they are also not so safe neither. should be okay and i do use them when i need to save time. but try not to use them as much as i can. and i love seeing men eating their wives obentou with suit and tie during lunch break. makes me smile and happy. feel a bit of love there. and hopefully, Kp is eating by now with thinking... yummy!

i found this cute obento box at a zakka shop near my house. such cute one. yes, i love zakka. just window shopping there is fun, too. some cute stuff at zakka shops. different kinds of boxes there and i bought this one for my friend. for her son. and when we buy obentou boxes, we need to buy something else together. do you know what it is??? something to eat with... yes, chopsticks and a case. there are chopsticks to take with obentou. or for little people, there are spoon, fork and chopsticks set, too. so cute. love them.

by the way, bento is more casual way of saying obentou. but in japanese, we put o in front of words and make it polite way or girls' way of saying the word. if you would like to buy and looking for one, i might be able to find one for you...!? i just love cute little obentou boxes. there are boxes for sandwiches, too! you can take it for hiking or picnic, too. oh, it's such beautiful weather today! wanna go out and eat outside... i should make one for my self, too!