"One thing at a time"

How long has it been since I made any descent entry to my blog? Of course this blog is nothing but a memory keeping for my posterity,,, more like my son, who may enjoy reading about his family when he is much older. So, to my son, you ran me rugged last few weeks with all your busy homework and assignments that you struggled with. When you struggle and drag, we all drag with you! Today was the first day, I think that you got your homework done before 5pm. Well, life goes on. Someone said, Christmas is coming! That is true and not true. Christmas is not just coming it is approaching quickly. But I am determined to enjoy this nice fall weather before I allow anyone to convince me that I have to think about holidays yet. Today, I enjoyed taking a quick walk outside with a bit of jogging here and there just enough not to jolt my poor bones. The morning sun felt kind and breeze lifted my spirit high in the air. It showed me that I am not in control but I have not reason to worry.... We ar...

Two years has passed since the day that I saw my father turn into a set of white bones. I am not sure if that image would ever leave my memory. Japanese custom typically cremate the deceased. We cremated him. The rest of the funeral experience was more than I could bear. I had no desire in seeing the remains of cremated remnants, a scattered set of bones on the tray that is pulled out of the inferno. But that is a custom in Japan to gather around the remains out of the crematory and pick out and collect bones to place in an urn... Two years has passed since the day I saw the smoke that went up to the sky from the chimney at the crematory. I did not know if I should feel relieved or sad. I don't know where he went to be honest with you. Part of me hope and pray that something happened during the last hour when he struggled for air before he fell to his death. Two years has passed since I bid him farewell in a room at the funeral home. I chose to sit with him for a while after he wa...

The blessing of life is never to take for granted. Each life is precious no　matter what. This year, I welcomed my birthday in the northern country where natural beauty is in abundance. Just beautiful. The Nature celebrates the life with me. I am enjoying the company of my family and relatives and remember the gift of their lives to my life. It is always Good to reflect... The nieces and nephews are growing up and we are definitely getting older. We must enjoy each other when we have the opportunity to.. So here we go for a wonderful day, and for another fantastic year. Here are some photos of the small lives that make our land so beautiful!

View Larger Map This blog is not cooperating with me. The formatting is out of sync and splitting words that are not supposed to be....Hope you can make sense of it. We are very fortunate to have the flexibility this summer. Life is short and precious. Family is important and irreplaceable. Siblings are valuable and underrated. Friends are valuable and worthy of your extra detour. Nature is quiet but mysteriously eloquent. We left our home in the state of Louisiana on July 12th at 1430 hour. We drove 9 hours straight through Jackson, MS, Memphis and Nashville, TN then to Bowling Green KY. We had a nice rest and hit the rode the following morning heading north to Michigan. Another 8 hours of driving north got us to Detroit area. We visited with aunt and uncle who recently celebrated their 50th anniversary. While visiting their home, I pointed to a 50 yr old wedding photo hung in the hallway and told our son, "How amazing that they have been together 50 years since the day this pho...

It has been almost almost a month since I made my once in a life time decision to invest in a camera that I believed would enhance my photography experience. My new pentax has done just that and it is getting only better. I just have not had any serious photo day or an outing to just enjoy what I see.... I wished that I had the joy of knowing my grandfather who was quite a photography lover. How many men in the 1930's in Japan had his own camera to take photographs of his own kids? Not Many. He traveled to Germany in 1926 and returned two years later with his camera. I wonder what happened to it? I wonder if it is still in his office in Jiyugaoka? Just wondering. Yesterday, I had quite a visitor. I saw on the corner of my eye, a huge something fly into my deck in the back of my house. Well, if you know us, we live in the boonies. Our home stands on a 5 acre lot (one acre is 1200 tsubo) and more than half of it is wooded. My back woods is a home to many critters including armadil...

I reported our experience in Baton Rouge over the past weekend when Erik participated in the piano competition. Here is a photo of Erik and his Dad getting acquainted with Mozart who sat solemnly on the first floor of the music building at LSU listening to all the music played in the building. We made a comment about how early and young his life ended. His life was full of defeats, discouragements when it comes to musical accomplishments. He definitely had good times and more bad.... Sven had an idea of making Erik polish Mozart's shoes with a cloth but I did not have an appropriate cloth or the nerve to attempt such a thing in the middle of the hall with over hundred people standing around waiting for the judges' announcement. But one of the young men who saw Sven converse with Mozart about one of the pieces in our book as shown on the photo above approached Sir Mozart after Sven was done. The young man consulted with Mozart on his own piece while his mother snapped a few pho...

No, nothing against LSU or Mike the Tiger. We visited the LSU campus in Baton Rouge for the first time on 6-5-10 for a state piano competition that Erik participated. I may have been dreaming but I had a certain image of a small but descent size recital hall to be the place of competition. We arrived at a very large (comparing with other music building I have seen) music building. When we found the room that was designated as the room where Erik's group's competition was to be held, I was in such a shock that I could not utter a word. Friends who were with us could never know what I really felt deep in my psyche. The door was locked initially that I could not see the inside but there was a sign that said "Band room'. A "Band Room"? When the door was opened and we were allowed in, I saw a crammed room with just enough to seat maybe 25 people with a small grand sitting in the front of the room against the white writing board on the wall (like every classroom...