This Summer~What's been up~~

This year has been full of mishaps.

Until mid summer- then I decided it had to stop.

Our living situation was seriously difficult- though finally now, after working very hard, we can live in  peace and love.

But this year- actually since 3/11/11~ last year, when Japan began blowing up, life has been harder.

I've been trying to feel positive again.

However my sister died this past May... Taka and I went East for the funeral for her.

I came back to lots of machinery breaking down at home.

One of our cars ran without radiator fluid. Parts melted, and we could only sell it for parts. That car we were advertising to sell for $4,500. We ended up only selling it for parts for $500.

I came home from that~ to see that all the tomato and broccoli plants had been eaten up by deer.

The hard drive on this computer stopped working when an Apple store guy did something to it... 

$300. +  for a new hard drive~ it does help my four year "old" computer running really well again. Just costly.

The hot tub heating element broke down. $100. to fix that.

My camera broke. Sony wanted $130. to fix the one and a half year old $340. camera (but today a camera man in Santa Cruz said he can do it for $90. Happy, happy I am for that one. The burst shots for basketball on the camera have been great- what is what we bought it for).

Our washing machine acted up and we had to do work to make it more secure- hard work pulling out strange unnecessary flooring that was under it. That scared me though, thinking that we'd have to buy a new washer.

The refrigerator is making lots of noise now~ worrying me.

But, but, but...we have these gardens that I've gotten to grow new life into our life, for our lives!

BUT, since my camera's been broken (though I'll get it back tomorrow)  it's not been easy or convenient to get photos into my computer. That's not the only problem, since my hard drive was changed, I've not figured out a few other things for this dear computer.

All of that, and a slump in my feeling for writing has kept me from being better about writing here for you dear friends and family.

But look here~ this is one thing I can feel so positive about~

Plants like this Shiso! I could grow SHISO! And shiso has not been easy for me to grow.

From seed even.

 We've been eating it in salads most days of the week.

and on special occasion Sashimi. 

But also recently Sheon and Yuriko made DONBURI! 

MAGURO DON!!!! (and miso soup with mitsuba)

I've been gardening, but also for salads, SPROUTS are what I love to grow too. Sunflower sprouts are DELICIOUS!

I found another recipe for corn. For cooking corn on the grill~

I took off some of the outside husk, and then peeled back the husks left on the corn. 

Then I rubbed butter,  salt and pepper on the corn. From the older outside husks, I tore strips to use to tie the corn husk back on top of the butter, salt and pepper. Then grilled it. VERY good!

We found ramen at the Japanese market MITSUWA where we shop in San Jose, 

the ramen was from HEKINAN!!!! (near where we live in Japan!)

Nothing's like my favorite ramen from GONKICHI, but Taka made this Hekinan ramen taste good

Again~ apologies for not having written. I got a new recommended book tho- The Artist's Way...and I will try hard to get to reading that!

@Montery~ Bay Aquarium and Lover's Point!!

This was a little while ago~ from July 14th, 2012

This is a photo I took of sand dollars at

~The Monterey Bay Aquarium~

we went once about 8 years ago. 

This time with Sheon, Yuriko and one of Zen's basketball teammates Jared~
Very cool and really famous place, right by where Zen's going to collegehttp://www.montereybayaquarium.org/

Yuriko's waiting for her kiss from her Prince Charming?!

The girls are so gorgeous but the jellyfish are SO COOL!

I haven't cared for wild life being held in captivity~

 but the jellyfish and these "creatures/plant life" I really did appreciate.

Speaking of wild life: those poor guys have to have an audience for their wild session!

This below was made from recycled materials I do believe. 

The kanji in the middle is "mercury".  Art with a message

Jared also is going to college at MPC. He took us to this Lover's Point. One of his absolute favorite places in Monterey, he said. We got lucky to have him as our chauffeur for the day AND to have a sunny day at that! (Often it's foggy)

mid July already~ summer's mid way over~ already!

One day recently I went from Santa Cruz to the Apple store in Los Gatos. The parking lot I used, I had to walk through a building, and inside was this:

From the doorway, sitting there on the sink was a real, live, creamy colored duck.

There was this sign "Pete likes to visit from a distance, please don't touch..." 

I found out that he lives there~ in a spot in the back of the shop.

While I was there he turned around and pooped directly into the sink.
He doesn't always do that tho, I was told.

June 16th and 18th were Zen's and Sheon's birthdays. It was a trip, in our yard, when it was Zen's birthday I saw ONE white poppy, by Sheon's birthday there was a second one... I'd never seen white poppies before

For She-chan's birthday I did get to making a cheesecake, like the old days. 

         

I tried to put together a bird bath, cause birds kept flying around when I watered. But I've not seen a single birdie bathe. I've changed the location... hoping the birds indulge.

Deer chowed down on our tomato plants, and all the broccoli.

Since then, Taka's been working at adding more poles and doors around the garden area. It's looking so great~ I wish photos could do justice!

JUNE!! 2012~~

When I was in PA I stayed at Mom and Stepdad Frank's.

Outside their kitchen window one morning was this beautiful yellow bird, 

I don't see many yellow birds.

Birds, especially right now, are going to often remind me of Janet, who just died.

Once Janet came to Japan.

She didn't really like Japan, not the sitting on the floors, or whole cooked fish, and of course not the cockroaches. One night she and Mom had quite the time trying to kill a roach in their Ryokan (hotel) room. But she loved me, and the kids. And I loved she came once in the 20 + years I was there. 

This time was soon after Sheon-chan was born. TV crews were there videotaping us for news casts about how we'd given birth in a tipi in the bamboo filled hills near the town where we lived.

Janet died May 2nd and the service for her was Memorial Day weekend, the 26th of May. Taka and I could be there. (the post following this is a tribute made for Janet).

At Mom and Frank's after the service, some of the many family and friends came . 

Two of the six cousins we have could come, and their Mom, our Aunt Ann. 

It has been MANY years since being able to see them. 

I love them and am so grateful to them for being here at this time.

That's me next to my younger brother Carl too. Charlotte is next to him, she is about my age. Then Mom's half sister Aunt Ann, then Carolyn~ who is an art teacher. I gave Caroyln a book by SAITOH  GOROH-SAN from our home town Nishio-shio. I had told Carloyn about Goroh, 

I'm so glad I had one of my favorite books of his to give to her for her students.

At the house, after the service, some of Frank's family~

~Frank's "girls"~

While at Mom's, Taka got to play with one of his favorite friends, the dog Rosco.

Rosco is crazy about chasing down tennis balls.

He's pretty adorable.

And then I finally got a frizbee to play with Rosco with~ a happy face frizbee!

When Taka and I flew East, we left  Sheon and Yuriko to hold down the fort. 

I had written info about the garden for myself...and was showing her a couple of times, how to water everything.

The last time I showed her, she wrote out her own map. Hers is so much cuter!

While in PA, near the end of the trip I got to go hang out with High School 'mates getting together in NYC!

It's so awesome to find out about some of these guys, who I didn't make the time to get to know before. So many really, really cool people. 

I have almost never spent time in NYC. And where we stayed, it seems soccer was being played 24/7.
This photo, there's a cool Lion statue, which looked perfect with the soccer umpire in red, who had dreadlocks!

NYC, where I got to see a "DON'T HONK" sign for the first time. It's a $350. fine!

This sign was, like, "wow"!

 

And Jill, Michelle and I, with whom I'd driven up into NYC with, we happened to drive by the World Trade Center, the NEW one~ which they had really wanted to see it.

 Jill, Michelle and me~ thank you!!!!!