Brooklyn Bridge

As you know,
The Brooklyn Bridge is a suspension bridge
over the East River, connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The first thing this morning,
I happened to find this picture in the newspaper.



Surprisingly, it's not a photo, but a hand drawing
by Mr.Yuji Tezuka, with the Japanese traditional style
of painting technique.

I'm fascinated with this picture.
Its title is "Rainy Brooklyn Bridge".

I don't know why, but I love this bridge.
It shows different looks from different angles.





The first time I stayed in New York,
I would always try to catch the sight of it
while walking in the city, but never reached it.

I wished I would really like to walk across the bridge,
and it was my assignment for the next visit.

In 1988, we made it !



Not a few people were walking, jogging and cycling.

We went to the end, and then came back to Manhattan again.
Only walking, but we enjoyed that walking.

When we visited NY two years ago,
we were walking on it again.(^o^)
It may sound funny,
but I love it just as much !

We are saving 500yen coins so that we can go there again.
I don't know when, but some day, definitely ! :-)

Today

When I look up the word, "徒然turedure,"
in a dictionary, I find its translation
as follows:
--- to kill one's boredom ----

But, I don't agree with the conception.

Boredom ?

No, I am not bored.

Today, I have no work.
I've already finished preparing for dinner,
because some of my son's friends will come.
They want me to cook keema curry, so
I made it yesterday so that it would taste
better.

So, I'm perfectly free now.
Never bored.

I don't remember when I had such a free time
last.
I have nothing special to do actually, which
I really enjoy.

With a cup of hot milk and PC beside me,
I'm doing this and that.
Also a few kinds of knitting yarn are
on the table, and I'm wondering which to
choose for today.

And it's my “ture-dure” dairy.☆

What comforts me ?

I can’t go out freely under the circumstances,
for the time being, where a member of my
family needs my help because of her aging.
Since I’ve been leading busy days,
I feel all the happier when I find something
new and fantastic even if it’s a trifle.

I’m now thinking about what comforts me.

First, as you know, when I’m focusing on
my knitting and dying, I can find a big
pleasure.




This is Bûche de Noël.
The big brown one is my own making,
and the tiny white one was made by
my second daughter.

What I do on one day usually occurs to me
when I get up in the morning.
Sometimes knitting, sometimes dying, and
sometimes cooking, and so on.
In this sense, I have a feeling that I’ free.

Second, I love music and Slow Blues.
I can forget this and that,
and not only enjoy a lot of great musicians
but also communicating with nice friends
there.
It’s a very important moment for me.
I also want to be better at playing the
keyboard. I need more practice!

Third, I feel really comfortable
when I am doing something over a cup of
hot coffee, listening to the sound of
the classical guitar my son is playing.
The sound is soft and melancholic.

Fourth----

Ah, I can’t stop.
That’s likely to continue endlessly.

Well, there seem to be a lot of things
I can enjoy. (^_^)/~

What should I do today ?

Long Time No See

It's been a long time since I wrote an artcile last.

I've been still absorbed in knitting and dying.
And I almost forget about my blog.

A friend of mine visited Chicago
at the beginnig of this months with her husband.
They introduced thier experiences during their stay
with some pictures in their blogs respectively,
which has insired me a lot.

So, I am begining to gather my memory of my old
trip to America and trying to write something
in my diary on mixi.

I hope to travel again some day, absolutely !

I Love Knitting ☆

About three weeks have passed since I wrote in last.
I've been busy doing this and that.

Anyway, the season for knitting has come.

This year I'm all the happier because I'm using the material
on my own making.
No.1 is a neckwarmer with the yarn of rainbow color.

No.2 is a mini bag. The yarn was dyed with onion skin.



The next items are a vest and a mini muffler.




I used the yarn I made with a holographic image
together with the yarn a friend of mine had presented to me.

I've begun another one.
Wool and silk really give me a lot of comfort.
I can't stop knitting.

So, to be continued....... Have a nice day !

The Color of Onion

Exactly, the skin of onion can produce a nice color.
That's my favorite.

On the weekind, I enjoyed dying raw wool/silk and silk yarn.

First, I boil the dried onion skin in boilng water.


Second, dip the material in the strained liquid.

Then, by way of mordanting and washing, I dry it.




Don't you think that's successful ?

Travel Alone

Nothing might be more pleasant than making a trip,
having on my own way.

Early in the morning, Sep.4, I left Nagoya for Takayama by train.

I enjoyed walking in the forest along the river at Kamikochi,


spent the night in Takayama,
and the next day I was watching the horizon of the Japan Sea
on the small ship at Himi in Toyama.
I love the water.





I moved to Kanazawa by train again to visit
the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art.



Unfortunately, I was not allowed to see
that famous swimming pool by Leandro Erlich
from the basement because of its facility
maintenance.
I was pleased with Blue Planet Sky.
A square is cut off from the ceiling
so that we can see the sky.
It's really appealing.


I also came across a lot of delicious foods here and there.



I'm looking forward to getting a chance
to make a trip again some day in near future.

Extremely Hot Summer !

Even in September, it's been hot day after day !

So.....

I'll take a couple of days off, and
I'm planning to escape from this hotness.

"Have a nice weekend !" I'm speaking to myself now.
Ahaha(^o^)

See you soon !

Aqua

Aqua means water.
I love this word.

At the same time, I love to visit an aquarium.
I have few chances to visit one now, actually,
but it comforts me to see many fish or something other swimming
freely in the water.

Especially I love mysterious creature, such as
jelly fish

clione



Heteroconger hassi, a kind of garden eel !



It's cute, isn't it ?
I don't like snakes, but they are OK!



They are somewhat floating in the water, shining in the light.
I'm wondering what they are thinking about.
I can't grasp the real nature of theｍ.
Really mysterious.
That's the reason why I love them !

It's Funny

This is a traffic sign, which I found on the road near my house.
It's leaning !
Maybe, a car or something had hit it.
However, it reminds me of the dance scene by Michael Jackson,
from Smooth Criminal !

Slow Blues Gives Me Comfort

I've been visiting this live bar
almost every week for several years.

I love music and the people there.
Even when I feel a little busy and tired,
or I have something to worry about,
the music and friends comfort me.

At first, I only enjoyed listening to blues
performed by fantastic musicians.
In time, however, I began hoping to join their
music on the stage.
I started practicing the keyboard.
Yeah, I really thank my great teacher.

Though my ability of playing blues is still poor,
they are willing to allow me to participate in the sessions.

Many thanks for a happy moment there !
I would like to continue to play and listen to
pleasant music as long as possible.

I have to practice more and more !

Another Mystery

How about this one ?

******************************************

I hate my boss. He has a skin head, and is so annoying that almost all
of my colleagues hate him.

My flat is very old. There are only three rooms, a kitchen, a bedroom
and a living room.
One day I came back home from work, unlocking the front door and
entering my flat.
I was frightened to find that my room had been broken into by someone.
What a mess!
All of the drawers of my chest were turned down!

“I remember. I forgot to lock the door and went to work this morning.
Shit ! All the windows are locked, so he came in through the front
door. It's yucky ! I'm getting mad. On such an unlucky day,
I'm going to bed now. I'm tired. I don't feel like eating anything
for dinner. I'll call the police tomorrow,” I said to myself.

I made sure that the door was locked a couple of times,
and went to my bedroom.

Too Hot (>_<)

The heat outside is really more than I can stand.
Doing nothing makes me too lazy, so I made up my mind to dye silk yarn
with some natural materials, such as cochineal extract, madder, etc.
I can enjoy some variations by using the same liquid, from dark to light,
several times.

I'm drying it now, which looks like a colorful curtain.

Don't you have any suggestion in order to go through such a
hot summer without feeling summer fatigue ?

Two Short Mysteries on a Hot Day

Since it's too hot these days, I'll send you two short mysteries which make you
a little cooler.

You are a detective. Can you tell the trick ?

**************************************************************************

1.
One day, I killed my little sister, because she was crying and too noisy.
I threw the dead body away into the well in my garden.
But, the next day, I found it gone.

Five years later, I quarreled with a friend of mine on a trifle thing.
I killed him, and threw his body into the well.
The next day, I checked the well, only to find that his body was missing again.

Ten years later, I killed my girl friend, because she was pregnant.
I was drunken. I threw away her body into the well.
The next day, the body was gone.

Fifteen years later, I killed my terrible boss.
I did the same thing, and the body was missing the next day.

Twenty years later, I killed my mother because she was too fussy.
I threw her body away into the well.

The next day, I went to the well.

The body was there.

The following days, it remained there, at the bottom of the well.

Why?

******************************************************************************

2.
I had five members in my family: my parents, two little brothers, and I.
My parents were very hardworking. They didn't seem to sleep enough,
but they were always working to support their family.

One day, on their way home from work, they were beaten to death.

Beside my mother's dead body, I found some food which she had intended to
prepare for our dinner. I was too sad to eat it.

The next day, my brothers were poisoned to death.

I don't know why they were forced to die.
All that I know is the murderer is the owner of our flat.

Maybe, on finding me, he will kill me, too. I'm scared.

Who am I ?

Ｓｔｉｌｌ Ａｌｉｖｅ

If you are a little frightened to take a look at this title,
I'm sorry.(^o^)
Being alive is not about me but my home-made curry.

It was born two months ago as a simple type of beef curry.



The longer time passes, the more delicious curry will be.
So, I continue heating it up enough so that it will not go bad,
once or twice a day.

Every week, when it reaches a few centimeters above the bottom of the pan,
it is strained.
Adding some vegetables and meat, I've repeated remaking the curry.
It shows some variations, depending on what kind of meat I add.
By way of beef, pork and chicken, it has turned into keema curry !

Yes, my curry is still alive !

Sweet Basil

I'd like to show you another live house I loved in New York.
Unfortunately, it's also gone.
I visited it several times together with my husband.
We enjoyed the music performed by
McCoy Tyner,Terumasa Hino and some other fantastic jazz musicians.

This is what I was about 20 years ago.　　
Young, really!

And the figure on the right side of the other picture
is my husband.

In those days, little did I dream that I would get a chance to play the piano
on the stage some day in the future.
There is no telling what will happen tomorrow !

Ahh…, I want to make a trip again !

Seventh Avenue South

Around 25 years ago, there used to be a cool live house
called Seventh Avenue South in the south area of New York City .
My favorite.
The next time I visited NY, I was disappointed to find it gone.

I love music, and I love NY.

My preparation here is still on the way.
It will take a little more to arrange it better.

Would you please come and see me again ?