Picnic Season has Begun

A very busy weekend ended with a romantic, dusk-lit dinner on our little balcony this past Monday evening.  By the light of stars and a soft aroma oil burner, we enjoyed nachos and a bottle of wine. As it was still a bit chilly for Masato's liking, we brought out the kerosene heater.  This was our first picnic of the year; the very first out on our little balcony with hopes of more to come.  

This is where I often have my morning coffee, along with my quiet times, journaling, phone conversations, and recently, quilting. However, I usually sit in a very comfy foldable camping chair.  

Notes of interest:  To the left of the little yellow table is where we keep 3 bright orange tanks of kerosene. Behind Masato is a container that hides my soil and pots for planting. When we do laundry, it gets hung on a pole above Masato's head. And in the left background you can almost see our recycling garbage can.  It has three components to separate our glass, pet bottles and jars, and the unburnable garbage. Then hanging on the side is our dead batteries.  Our little balcony is quite multi-functional.  

Dessert Viking!!

Friday afternoon- what a better way than to spend the afternoon with friends, eating all the dessert one can eat in one hour!  Needless to say, none of us really had a good lunch. The woman on the right is Noriko Suzuki. She and her family are moving to Trinidad for three years. The woman on the right is Keiko; she was my landlord and now very good friend.  She also happens to be my personal hair stylist.

These are the children that accompanied us on the  outing.  Asahi, the boy in the front is Noriko's oldest son, with baby Takashi . Then the other two are Keiko's children Shouma and Minami.  Takashi definitely had the most popular dessert as all the children preferred his selection:  seaweed.

Cold Remedies

What does one do when one wakes up with a sore throat?  Here are some of the common remedies I have heard:  go to the doctor, gargle with iodine- mixed with water of course, drink a concoction of ginger, honey, lemon juice, and hot water, tie grilled green onions around your neck, soak cubed pieces of daikon (Japanese radish) in honey for several hours and drink the juice, relax, eat vegetables that grow under ground such as carrots, potatoes, daikon, Chinese cabbage, and buy new shoes cuz new shoes always makes one smile. 

I have drunk the ginger, honey, lemon juice drink - not so bad if you get the right combination. I have also soaked the daikon with honey and am surprised at how good and easy that goes down, soothing the throat. And we definitely bought new shoes cuz - well, new shoes always makes one smile :)  

Tanaka in Tokyo

Masato  spent one week in Tokyo DJing for a Gospel Legend event. This event consisted of various artists ranging from hiphop to dance to musicians. I, along with seven others drove down Sunday morning, the last day of the event, to see him and cheer him on. It was a very cool event.  Sad to say,  I couldn't figure out how to turn off the flash so I could a few more pictures, but here is one with Masato in his prime element: DJing.

BBQ at Misaki Park

It was a perfect day, so off we went to a BBQ with friends from Lighthouse.  Along the way, we took a detour to a car show. The ocean was a perfect backdrop for the old cars.  We enjoyed grilled meat (slices of meat),  squid, jumbo shrimp, oysters, cabbage, mushrooms, carrots, onions, soup, and the finale - grilled noodles. A common BBQ in Japan.

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