a day

This is a steamed cake with black sugar. For my children I often give some rice balls or some pieces of bread as snacks. Because I don't want them to take too much sugar.

But I have been unwell these days, and don't have energy to take good care of my boys at all...... It is quite a task to keep these cheeky monkeys happy especially under this rainy sky.....

So I decided to make a cake to entertain them.

Ummmmm.
It is easy to make and not so bad.
The best thing is that my sons loved it.


And..... next photo is a part of my lesson preparations.



"Projective geometry" main lesson will start tomorrow!

This is the last main lesson before their graduation. Would this lead them to the world of INFINITY...? I hope so. I really hope so. This is a kind of gift for them---a journey to the new world, the world of infinity where you can reach only by your thought.


We can not go to the point at infinity, but we know there is the infinite world. Only our thought can make it possible. And is it not exciting to learn that our being is not finite??


I can imagine you are rolling your eyes now. :D


It's ok.
This also would be a GIFT for MYSELF for the departure to my new career----since this is the last lesson I teach.


I will move on to the next step after this main lesson.



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Jane Eyre

I have been reading a literature "Jane Eyre" in English.
This is the pure classic literature.

I am not a literature kind of person at all. So I was not willing to read this until I have learnt that this was one of the books for English GCSE course work. I started reading this only for the English exam.


This was written in old style British English. Since it is a pure literature, there are quite a few interesting descriptions. As a scientific person using only simple language :D this kind of book is rather hard to read.




When I first read this story, which was a Japanese translation, about twenty years ago, I quite liked it. But it was a long time ago, when I was still in my impressionable youth. I didn't think I could enjoy this book again, especially reading in the original language.

But...to my surprise I found myself enjoying this story.


Yesterday I finished reading 60 pages of this book.
I am a very very slow reader when I read English books. The pages of this book are filled with tiny, almost invisible size of letters. (I am exaggerating. :D But I feel like that. :<) It is unbelievable for me to read 60 pages in one day!

Well done, Kayo!
I want to praise myself!

Hang on. I still have 450 pages to go. XD
Let's wait for the moment that I will complete this book, then I will praise myself!


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a day off

I took a day off from my family today. I am a mother and a wife, but I sometimes need a off from my husband and sons. Actually it was my first day off since my first son was born four years ago.

So I drove off without deciding where to go.



Ten minutes after I left my house, I realized it is the season for rape blossoms. Look at this beautiful yellow field!



And...



Spring is the season that lambs are born! How cute!

Next three pictures are from the country park I have found coincidentally.








Then I ended up at a small town "Bewdley."



It is a nice and quiet town where the river Severn runs in the middle of the town.


I spent some time in the town sitting by the river, looking at the stream as I held my book in my hands. It was nice to read a book in a fresh air. The book I was reading at that time was about mathematics and it was a part of my lesson preparation. But I felt much more relaxed than reading the same book in my office, and I felt keen inspiration strikes me when I thought about the lesson in this nice environment.

It was only four-hour out and the weather was unstable. I got wet from the rain both in the park and in the town when I was strolling around. But I really enjoyed the short freedom without my boys.

Still it is nice to come home and see my boys' smile!



Ummm.... they look so similar, don't they!? :D
(my husband and my second son)

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Essential Oil

Yesterday I got a bottle of rosemary essential oil.
As I wrote on this blog before, rosemary is the best herb for improving our memory. So I collected fresh rosemary branches to have the aroma effect.

Needless to say, fresh plants lose moisture and get dry. Still they have nice aroma themselves, but I wanted something stronger and more effective. That's why I bought the essential oil.



I have had quite bad headache that comes from my stiffed shoulder last two days. It made me hard to focus on my study, and I got frustrated from the fact of wasting my existing precious time.....

To solve this problem, I did the self-chiropractic exercise as I wrote on this blog yesterday. Then I applied a few drops of the essential oil on my scarf. The scarf was around my neck and quite strong aroma naturally comes up to my nose.



I was surprised that it was past midnight when my husband shutdown his computer to go to bed. I didn't notice that four hours had already passed while I was into my study.........



So it was very successful to use the oil.....
Again, cheers for rosemary! :D




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Self-Chiropractic

I am not too concerned about my health issue, though I feel more necessity of caring my physical body than when I was younger.... I have to admit I am not so young any more. XD

In the end of 2007, I found a method of self-chiropractic called "jiriki-seitai." It was invented by a Japanese therapist. There are many books published and some of them are with DVDs. So we can easily practise chiropractic by ourselves as we watch the DVD.


I want to strongly recommend this method to anybody who suffers from stiffed shoulders, bad back, and muscle pains.

I always have severe shoulder pains. My shoulders are hard as if they are stones. Often this pain causes a headache as well.

After 45 minutes of exercise, I felt my body was lighter and softer. And surprisingly my ice-cold feet got warm although my feet tend to be cold all the time. So this exercise must have worked on my blood circulation system very well.


I do this exercise ONLY when I am really really suffering from the pain, but this can help me to reduce the pain a lot. Ideally this exercises should be done at least twice a week, but I am too lazy to do that..... :<


I know I might as well exercise more frequently.

So ....
I declare that I would do jiriki-seitai exercise at least once a week!

Let's see how long I can keep this declaration.... :D


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more VINEGAR

In many areas in England, the water is mostly hard water, which contains limestone a lot. Because of this hard water, white clothes get grey after laundry, green tea doesn't taste good, dirty limescale in bathrooms.....and the worst thing about the hard water is that the water causes dry skin.

Yes, my skin all over the body itches very badly!! From head to toe!! XD


Yesterday I added some vinegar (20-30ml) into the bath water, and bathed.



It helped.
I didn't need to scratch my body at all today.

I suggested my husband to take the vinegar bath today. He also seems to be satisfied with it.


Vinegar... it is such a useful liquid!!



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vinegar

Recently I have been trying to make a new habit of drinking diluted vinegar. Many people say vinegar is good for our health.

My mother used to say, "vinegar phobic is a proof of being lazy." I am not sure about this, but I still believe the various good effects of vinegar.

When I am extremely exhausted, I grab a big piece of pickled gherkin. It is very sour. The more I am tired, The more it tastes sour. Then this sourness helps me to reduce the tiredness actually.


Now I make thin vinegar drink. It is just diluted with water, sometimes with mineral water, often with just filtered tap water. Let's say, it is about 10% of vinegar water. Of course no sugar is added. Then, just drink! I drink this 5 times a day.


An article at earth clinic says.....
"Vinegar cures for allergies (including pet, food and environmental), sinus infections, acne, high cholesterol, flu, chronic fatigue, candida, acid reflux, sore throats, contact dermatitis, arthritis, and gout."

So far, I am really enjoying this new habit and the effect.


Do you want to see what kind of vinegar I am taking?
Here it is....



"ASPALL White wine vinegar", which is of course ORGANIC, and our regular mineral water "Cotswald spring water--sparkling." This combination is quite good!


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in my garden

The most beautiful season in England is nearly there! Flowers are blooming, adding the colours to our sight.

In my little garden, some flowers are blooming.


I once uploaded a photo of this plant, without knowing its name. I still don't know the name..., but the red shoots are beautiful.


This is the "forget-me-not," that I have shown a photo in this blog when it started blooming. Now it is in full bloom! This is a weed kind of flower, and can grow everywhere. It is very low maintenance plants.

If I had a large garden, I want to fill the whole garden with the forget-me-not. It would be terrific!


Look at this! Our multiple-petaled cherry blossoms. Isn't it gorgeous? I prefer Japanese "somei-yoshino" better though...:D



...And, one more photo.


They are the most beautiful in my garden.
Don't ask me WHAT. Don't you see the two kids in blue?
They are the best! :D


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English dictionaries

The English dictionary I use most often is "Oxford Dictionary of English."

When I moved from California to England, I got hugely shocked by the language. Of course English people speak English language, as American people speak English language. But they sounded like completely different languages.....

To tackle with the NEW language, I bought this dictionary.

Speaking of BRITISH English dictionaries, of course OXFORD is the most major BRAND. As a brand lover, (actually not really :D), OXFORD should be the one I would buy!!

And I needed a dictionary that includes special/technical terms, especially scientific and mathematical terms are essential for me, because I am a math teacher...

This dictionary is the second largest OXFORD English dic, so the contents are pretty much satisfying. Also it is easy to use, and it has good page layout and good examples. Description of word origin is very helpful to understand and to remember the new words.

On the other hand, there is one thing I don't like about this dictionary. It is that this does not have the pronunciation symbols for each word.

Because this dictionary was edited for native English speakers, readers don't need to know how to pronounce. Fair enough.... But I often need to know the pronunciations. Especially the words whose origin are Latin are difficult to guess the sound.

I am no native English speaker, but I still want to use this dictionary. So please please add the pronunciation symbols for each!!!



uuuum.

It is not easy to find a PERFECT dictionary.
(But I love this dictionary a lot!)

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Rosemary

I have been having a hard time to memorize scientific terms. I asked my friends how they studied for exams when they were at school. I expected there were some tips I didn't know and I should try it if there are something worth to try. To know the useful strategy is important for exam preparations.

But I thought it was also important to think about my physical body, and I should work on my memorizing ability physically. I can't ignore that I am aging day by day... XD


So I researched on some websites, and found that a rosemary is the best herb for improving memory.

So I picked some rosemary branches in my garden, packed a small basket with the fresh rosemary branches, and placed it on my desk. So I can always smell it when I am at my desk.



I haven't tried a rosemary tea but I will try. Somebody said rosemary would taste better when mint and lemon are added to it. It sounds good.


Also, breakfast is important for memory, because the brain needs glucose to memorise, but glucose can not be kept longer than half a day. So we need to eat something in the morning to wake up our brain.

The starch is converted to glucose, so I guess grains are the best to eat to fill my purpose.



Normally I don't feel like eating breakfast. My stomach doesn't accept food in the early morning, and if I have a breakfast I feel sick soon after eating.

But improving my memory is necessary. So I started having only a tiny bit of rice or oats every morning. ...Since it is a tiny tiny bit of grains, my stomach seems to be all right. :D

Although I don't realise the effects of the breakfast yet, I feel I can focus on my study much better with the aroma of rosemary.

Cheers for my lovely rosemaries!


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I am grateful!

I have started something new recently. That is keeping another diary. This diary is more private and simpler than other diaries on the blogs I have been keeping.

Every night before going to bed, I contemplate about what I am grateful of, and write down the lists of the happiness and the appreciation.

e.g.
I appreciate that my husband got better.
I appreciate that he smiled.
I appreciate that we had a good, delicious and safe food.
I am happy that my boys are healthy and they play together beautifully.
.... etc

As I make this list, my heart gets filled with happiness. I start looking at the world more positively, and I realise how happy I am. I see more hopes in my current life and also in my future.

I sleep much better, because I sleep with this positive soul. And the best thing is that I can start the next day with a bright hope! When I wake up in the morning, I feel something good would happen on this day even if it's deadly couldy day.

To keep this diary is very simple thing to do, but this makes me happy so much!


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Little pleasure

This is recent my little pleasure --- They are special gifts from the earth, something that gives me a joy of spring! They are tiny shoots but it is so amazing to see how much energy these plants have!

Lettuce

Spicy salad ... whatever it is...

Basil ... MUST item in my kitchen.

Tomato ... hope I can harvest some... :D


Am I greedy...?


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toilet training

It is surprising that I haven't written this blog for five days. Time flies...


Since we started the toilet training to our two sons, my life has been all about the training....

Not really. But I really feel like that.


They wet their underwears and trousers so many times, I have a big pile of dirty clothes every day. Can you imagine how many clothes they change a day?

Here is the examples:
10 pairs of trousers
10 underwears
5 jumpers
8 shirts
5 pairs of socks
....etc

I sit down at the windowsill in front of the bathroom as they sit down on their potty or toilet. It takes long time to be over. Maybe thirty minutes at a time? I am not exaggerating at all. If the potty time ends with success, that makes all of us happy. But things don't go well like that, and they have no pee/poo after 30 minutes of patient trial. XD And ten minutes after the potty time, they wet their clothes again...


Probably the younger son is not ready for the training. But I expect my older son to be able to go to toilet and do his business there by himself. Because this is one of the requirements to apply for the kindergarten...

I didn't know that the toilet training was such a stressful task for a mother. But actually it is. Now I know how hard it is. I am exhausted, depressed, and get upset in the end of the day.

Somebody said that the toilet training was one of the hardest tasks for raising children. Especially it is hard to train boys generally....


I feel like I am becoming an irritated and angry mother.


RELAX.....That's what I need.


I know it in my head, but not in my feeling.




How can I relax, when boys peed on their pants five times a day?
I want to cry!!




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birthday

It was my first son's 4th birthday today.

It is hard to believe that four years have already passed after he arrived at us.

When he was born, we lived in California.
After four months from his birth, we moved from CA to England where we live now.
So many things have happened to us since then.....


......

Today I baked a sponge cake. I often bake cakes but usually I bake simple butter cakes with fruits or vegetables.

But birthday cake is something special, so I decorated the sponge with lots of fresh raspberries!


On top of the cake, I added some forget-me-not from our garden.


Isn't it lovely?


For dinner, I cooked just simple ordinary meal.
But I made a flag with a birthday message for my son, and stuck the flag on his cucumber.

He was so happy about it.

It is not important how much money we spend for the celebration.
Every little things filled with love is the most important.


I love you, my little son.
Thank you for coming to me, and giving me countless happiness.

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Sweets

I like to make sweets. Actually I am not a sweet lover much, but I often make sweets. It is because my husband and sons love sweets. They are so happy when I bake cakes, cookies, or some other sweets. I can understand how happy they are, considering how awful English sweets are..... XD

These are caramels I made yesterday. (↓)




I don't know if I can buy caramels in this country. But I guess the caramel sold in England is harder and sweeter than ones sold in Japan, and probably they are more like toffee.

I like toffee though, I sometimes miss Japanese style soft caramels too.



I have got this recipe from my friend.
These were delicious and melty....and easy to make!!!

The best thing was that my husband was very happy about this!





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spring !?

Wow!

This is the photo I took through my kitchen window this morning.
Surprisingly it was snowy white all around the house.

You might think it is because of the England climate. England is a cold country, that is because we still have snow in April.


No! No! No!
That's not true!

Actually this is our first snow laid on the ground this WINTER!!


Do you believe this?
First snow in April!??

Is this because of the global warming?



This afternoon I found this(↓) and picked it up from our kitchen floor. My sons were playing with this and left it on the floor.



Ironically enough...., it says "spring" in Japanese.

On this cold snowy day.......

This is something I made before, and let me explain what it is ... maybe in my next journal...


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study tools -- memorize

I have been studying Sciences and English for exams.

One of my biggest problems is inefficiency of memorizing.

I have to memorize loads of English scientific terms which are totally unfamiliar to me....
I was not good at memorizing even when I was younger. Now I am in my thirties.... I remember things even worse than before......

When I was a high school student, I used a red marker and a green acrylic sheet to memorize terms. The green sheet covers the page with red marks over key words, then the sheet conceals the marked words. I don't remember what we called the tool, but it was very common among school kids at that time.

These tools are low technique and old-fashioned, but they are useful for book-based studying...I think.

I wonder what kind of tools are used among current school kids. Are they using same kind of sheets and pens still now? ...Or are there anything different now?

If there are something better tools in Japan, please tell me!!

I want to try anything if I can memorize better!!!


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sprout

I sometimes grow sprouts. Various kinds of sprouts can be grown by water culture. I often grow mustard sprouts, soy bean sprouts and chick pea sprouts.

Yesterday I found this(↓) in my kitchen cupboard.



Overgrown sprouts.......

They are mung bean sprouts which are the most common sprouts in Japan, and called "moyashi" in Japanese.

We can buy moyashi in a supermarket in England. But why don't they have ORGANIC moyashi? This has been a big question for me.

Think about growing sprouts in water. They need only water. They don't need any chemical fertilizers or pesticides. If they fill the minimum requirements to name it "organic", they would do it to add the value on the vegetable. So if they don't say "organic", that would be definitely non-organic.....I guess.

Why they are not organic?????

I don't understand it, but it is safer to grow my own vegetables anyway. I can chose the seeds/beans, soil/water, and environment to grow them.

Unfortunately I don't have enough land to grow veggies, but water culture can be easily done in my little kitchen!



They taste better (I believe), and of course they are safer!
They are grown from organic beans, and grew in my cupboard in filtered water!
It is easy to grow, and reasonable.


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Spring

Spring comes late in England.
We have been waiting for the bright warm season throughout the long grey winter!!


Now I see some signs of spring in my little court yard finally.

Look at these photos!

I love this little cute flower called "forget-me-not."

"Snow drops" This is one of the flowers that bloom in the earliest spring.

"Narcissus" In this season, there are many groups of narcissus everywhere in this country.

"Japanese azaleas" are almost ready to bloom! They bloom earlier than in Japan.

I remember this bush I saw in Japan. I believe this is quite common in Japan, though I don't know its name. Please tell me the name if you know it!

"Red currant"
I bought this little tree which will grow to be a bush with lots of berries! Hope I can make some jam or cake with the crops. Even if we don't have enough to make jam, it would be great to pick and eat some berries off the tree!

"Blue berries"
This is one of the most popular berries in Japan. Of course in England as well.

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