Eh

今日電車の中で聞いた若い男性と初老の女性（同僚らしい）の会話。
男性のほうは足を怪我していて（ひざから下にギプス）仕事を辞めたのかお見舞いなのか、花束を貰ったらしい。が、細いが大柄の彼、ギプスと松葉杖を抱えていては電車の中で座るのに邪魔なので、女性のほうが花束を持っていてあげたらしい。二人はしばらくおしゃべりをしていて、男性が先に目的の駅に着き、降りる間際に花束を受け取りながら、
"Thank you, eh!"
"Oh, you're welcome, eh!"
「カナダ言葉」として有名な「eh」だが、ここまで物凄く象徴的なのは初めて聞いたのであった。ちなみに、英語の字面で見ると間が開いているように見えるが、実際は「サンキュウェイ？」「オー、You'reウェルカムエィー」と本文とブレンドして聞こえる。

I whipped up the same dessert as last night: vanilla ice cream, frozen local strawberries, milk topped with local blueberries in a small wine glass. M-m-m-m.

Last Ballet Lesson for the Year

Just by looking at the photo, she's grown so much this year... Her first year of ballet is over.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Skies were blue.

Yesterday, I had to leave the office at two. With a pang of panic, when I noticed I had to check the watch, it was 3:19. In a tearing hurry I left my office, ran to the station and jumped on the train. I found a seat facing backwards (bad design, I tell you), with the window facing north. As I faced south-west, a ray of bright, setting sunshine peaked under the low, dissipating clouds. It was so bright I had to turn my face away toward the window, then brilliant colors caught my eyes -- a huge rainbow. People were talking excitedly as they also found a complete arch of seven bright colors with another, less clear outer arch, with its colors in the reverse order. As the train meander through the town, I could see from my seat the entire, magnificent arch soaring into the sky from Burnaby Mountain. It was just unbelievably beautiful.

I got out at my station to meet up with my husband, and waited for him to come in the parking lot -- the rainbow was still there, somewhat duller than before, but still astonishing -- people going by were all with smiles, excited to see it. One man stopped, smiling at me, and exclaimed "Did you see it? See the rainbow?"I didn't know him, and I doubt if I'd ever see or talk to him again, but I will never forget his warm, happy, smile. "Isn't that beautiful? Beautiful!" Then with one last look at me he said "LIFE is BEAUTIFUL!" I couldn't agree more.

Washed away

I made snow dome with Kaede yesterday in the backyard. Its floor was quite small but it was tall enough for Kaede to stand inside. She was excited to have her snow fort. Mai was so excited to play in the snow but after a while she just ran out of energy and conked out. I was going to take this cute picture of the kids in the dome and happily imagining it would make the nicest New Year e-mail photo of all, but with the sudden rise of the temperature, brought with the tropical storm system that covered "from Alaska to California,"when Mai woke up, the roof had fallen.

Then it came pouring rain. So I am left with bits of wet snow on green grass, with sore body. But I am proud to say that it was possible for me to make a snow dome! The last time I'd ever been in one was over 30 years ago in Tokyo, at our neighbor's yard. The kids were not much older than us so when I was making mine yesterday, I realized that the fact they were able to make a big snow dome enough for several kids to sit inside was actually quite impressive.

昨日は楓とかまくらを作った。東京で育った子供のころ、向かいの家の庭で向かいの子達と一緒に作ったかまくらに入って以来３０年以上経っている。向かいの子供たちは私たちよりもそんなに年が上ではなかったのに、近所の子達をちゃんと統率して子供たちの力でかまくらを作ったんだということに、昨日雪だらけになって楓用の小さなかまくらを作っているときに、今更ながら気づいた。たいしたもんだ。

舞は雪に大喜びで、家の中に入るのを拒んだくらいだったが立っているより転んでもがいている時間が長いくらいだったせいか、そのうち電池切れして雪の中で足を投げ出して呆けたように座っているので、夫に預けたら、お昼を食べてる最中から船をこぎ始めたそうで、私が家に入ったときは既に熟睡中であった。舞が起きたら楓と舞をかまくらに入れて可愛い年賀メール用の写真を撮ろう！と楽しみにしていたら、熱帯性の嵐とともに気温が急に上がり、あっけなく崩れてしまった。その後の大雨で、残るはびしゃびしゃの雪のかけらと筋肉痛である。

And so it goes

My dear friend's mother passed away, and we attended her funeral. My husband and I took both kids with us. My friend's son and Kaede were born in the same hospital, and spent their first years in the same apartment. I still remember the first time we met his grandma, it was in the apartment hallway. Her first words: His name is William Robert, and he's an angel!!! She was a librarian, and first person to prop Mai up in her lap and read a book to her. So I wanted my kids to say goodbye, because though they may not understand now, they will in the future.

It is always a bit of a struggle to prepare the kids. It starts with the choice of clothing. Mind you, already picky 4-year old girl is not the only factor. I had to stuff the clothes that my husband threw on the floor for Kaede back into the drawers because the white tights had a hole and run, and the white turtle-neck had brown stains everywhere. The skirt was too short. I pulled and laid out clothes for Mai, but my husband dressed her in a different pair of pants -- the bottom of PJ's with seams coming loose and thread hanging. I dropped arguing for this, for we ran out of time and I didn't want to drain useless energy, for it is certain he would get grumpy if I don't keep my mouth shut after changing everything he chose for Kaede.

Then at the church, soon after we took the seats at the last row, Mai started rackets. She is a shy girl, but loves interaction and wants to join in whatever that's going on. What's so bad about walking around in the rows of strangers and enjoy my big high-strung voice echoing in the big room with high ceiling? The music is playing, it's fun, right? Ooooooooh nooooooooooo, don't pull me back! No, I don't want to be held. I wanna -- wanna -- walk -- around -- and noooooooooooo don't -- (scream!) pick (scream!) me (successfully rolling tear drops!) up!!

Thankfully, it was a sunny day, and a couple of late-comers got to see a baby throwing its body on the concrete bricks outside the church, crying its heart out. They let out a quiet laugh and went inside.

The casket came out with a background music of bagpipe. Both Kaede and Mai were impressed with its sound. Mai saw off the balloons fly up in the sky, growing smaller and smaller, until they were out of sight.

Mouth opener

When an adult spoon-feeds a baby, s/he is likely to open her/his mouth at the same timing as the baby is supposed to open its mouth. You know what? When the BABY tries to feed you, she also opens her mouth as well, when you are supposed to open your mouth. Mai loves pretend-play, and often tries to feed us. That's how I found this out.

No worries!

Is it my age? Or, it just so happens that I don't like buzzwords or phrases. Especially when they are heard so often that older folks start using them, it starts to really bug me. The example of which is on the title. I don't know who started it, for what reason; maybe because there is no comfortable short phrase responding to an apologetic person. Or, maybe because "no problem!" or "you bet!" or "anytime!" in place of "you're welcome!" became stale. But I am to the point where I feel like "Grrrrrrrrrrrr" when I hear it.

Bumble bee

Mai loves bumble bee dance. It's by a recent Japanese pop singer, and the music video is very cute. So she watches it over and over again. "Bun, bun, bun, (Japanese mimic sound for bees) mi-tsubachi da-n-su! (bumble bee dance)!" Because she likes it so much, we were toying with the idea of making her a bumble bee for Halloween night. Today, when I went to pick Kaede up:
Teacher: What are you going to be for Halloween night?
Kaede: Princess butterfly! (We get to recycle Kaede's costume for the past two years, which is great.)
Teacher: What is your baby sister going to be?
Kaede: She's gonna be ... Bun bun bun, you know!
Teacher: Ooooh. She's going to be bong, bong, bong? What's bong bong bong?
Kaede: It's a ... erm, ... Fly! She's gonna be a fly!

Right. But I think we are going to recyle rabbit ears. We'll see.

It's that season!

It was a fun weekend. Yesterday we did our annual "pumpkin carving" after "indoor picnic" with onigiri (rice balls), teriyaki and lemon-butter chicken and my husband's warm veggie salad along with our friend's hot bean soup dessert. This year, Kaede did her pumpkin all by herself (except for cleaning the seeds). Second from the right is hers. She picked this pumpkin at her daycare's field trip.
Then today, we went to the salmon festival. In the spring Kaede got to release baby salmons, and this time she got to see grown-up salmons. Streams around here are almost all home to salmons, and every year they come upstream, however, we'd never seen it. I was determined to see it this year, so we went out despite of rain, and it paid off! It's incredible to see those big fish splashing in the small streams.

Sisters

Mai's recent thing. Do whatever Kaede does.
Kaede's recent achievement.

Milk

As soon as I came home last night and opened the front door, I heard a muffled howling of the tear-all-over-sort from the storage room. Kaede was grounded. "M-mm-momm--mommy, du-du-daddy says I have to stay here until after dinner." "What'd you do?" "Aaaiii ai ai aiiiiiii (hic hic)" Right. I asked my husband what happened. "Well, I was preparing dinner and it was a bit late so the kids were hungry, so I gave them some starter veggies and milk. Then I found Kaede dipping her hair and licking on it to drink the milk. So I told her to stay there (storage room) until the dinner is ready, because she can't behave eating by herself." I went back to her and said "Daddy told you to stay there until the dinner is ready. You know what was wrong, right?" "Y-y-yes, but, no, no, I didn't do thaaaat (hic, hiiiiic). I j-j-just thought of d-d-dipping my hair! I was just going to do it! AAAAAAiiiiiii (hic) aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii" Translation? She was dipping her hair but when daddy caught her, she was just thinking about doing another round of it. "Well, is that a good thing?" "N-n-nooooooooooooooo (howling)"

I was glad that it was dark in the hall so that Kaede couldn't see my face twitching from suppressed laughter. I mean, I'd hate to be in my husband's shoes, I'd have had her grounded too, but thankfully I was an onlooker (which is rare), and I perfectly understand why people often simply burst out laughing when I am fuming with my kids. Like, when I was cleaning dishes the other day I had to cope with Kaede's non-stop whining then found a mountain of un-rolled toilet paper on the bathroom floor which Mai was happily "helping" me unroll more as I try to roll it up again. I almost threw a fit.

O-bento

Everyday I take bento box to work. I use two tupperwares and put a combination of protein and cooked vegetable in one and rice in another. My favorite for the rice is Nori-ben. About three layers of rice with seaweed dabbed with soy sauce in-between. I wrap the tupperwares in a big handkerchief, tie them making two knots, and throw it in my bag. Kaede's bento box is the same thing, but with one box with compartment inside. Big hankie, two knots. After several weeks at work, now that I sort of got to know others and comfortable enough to chit-chat, several people commented on how Japanese it is to wrap my bento like that, which I never realized how Japanese it was. The hankie I use is Wal-Mart brand that my great aunt in Illinois gave me, but I decided not to mention that.

Oh by the way, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

満面

舞が歩き出した。

気配はずっとあって、１ヶ月以上、しょっちゅうしゃがんだり立ち上がったりしていたのだが歩くことを主な移動手段とすることはなかった。それがこの週末で突然、しっかりと歩き始めた。今は、歩くことが嬉しくてたまらないらしい。台所にいる私を覗きに軽い小さな足音でゆっくりゆっくり、確実にやってくる。最後に体を左右に素早くひねりながら、とととと、と「走った！」と嬉しさが破裂したような満面の笑みを浮かべている。

記憶にだけ焼きついたその動きと笑顔を何回も何回もなぞる。もう、ほかに何もいらない！と思うのはこんな瞬間であり、私にとって親であるということは、喜びと感謝と痛みが入り混じった気持ちを味わうことなのである。

Mai started walking. She has been standing up free-hands and trotting to reach over, but last weekend, walking joined her main means of transporting herself, along with crawling. Being able to walk delights her so very much. She comes to check on me in the kitchen, one step at a time. Comes and goes, comes and goes. Hearing those light, fluffy, slow but assuring steps, and seeing the outburst of joy on her face when she ran (more like wiggling and quick, tiny stomping) and saw me, are when I just drop everything and think; what more do I need? Really, I can't think of anything better. And, being a parent at this kind of moment feels like -- though hard to put in words -- joy, gratitude and a pang of heartache altogether.

Ever-so-light-green-yellow-dust covered cars

Today I came home from work and found the cars near my house covered with pollen. The color of my car was even hard to make out. None of the cars were parked long enough to be dusty THAT much, so it is pollen. I am glad I am not allergic to it whichever the tree it is from. ...Yet.

Last weekend was the lantern festival at Deer Lake. The weather was nice and we had a good time.

The garden veggies are almost done, except for some tomatoes, maybe a few more zuccinis, occasional strawberries, sunflower seeds (did you know that those seeds are lined up in spiral?), and yes! My husband planted butternut squash. Hopefully we can pick some that are edible this year. We planted twice before without success. The main reason being this! I want to know who did this! The garden regulars are squirrels, I'm sure there are rats although I'd never seen one, raccoons and skunks. Yes there are skunks around here. I smelled one morning before the summer started but my husband did not believe me. (With, you know, "Are you sure that smell is skunk?" This although I know how they smell very well, having lived in Colorado before, and he doesn't. And "How can you be so sure when you are sleeping, or you must have been dreaming" although he is the only one in the family who sleepwalks.) But one evening he went outside to cool Mai down but quickly returned inside, saying "Yikes, I saw a skunk!" Seeing is believing.

Anyhow... I am enjoying the blue sky from the ceiling window at my work. Glorious sky of Lower Mainland!

Blueberries

We went blueberry picking last weekend. It rained a bit and what not but nonetheless we picked lots of berries that were sweet and tasty despite the season is almost ending. Made a blueberry pie (5 cups!), ate for breakfast and snack and froze the rest. It is a good 20-dollar family fun. We went to Krause Berry Farms. It has a coffee corner, so after picking three bucket-full of blueberries (a bucket each for Kaede, my husband and myself. Mai was in the baby backpack and picked for herself to eat), we shared a shortcake, corn on the cob and berry custard pie with two cups of coffee. I spilled the coffee and borrowed a towel from the girls in the stand. The towel was as white as it could be when I borrowed it, and I returned mocha colored one, heavy and almost dripping. I was like, "Thank you! -- erm, sorry..." The girl was like "Oh! I was wondering where my..... towel... went......"

Today we went to the Tsawassen beach. It was b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. We all enjoyed walking in the shallow water, and digging out clams. There is another GVRD park there, where the trail has a few apple trees (our snack, and the same for many people for that matter it seems, because there is a trash can conveniently located in front of the small but very prolific apple tree) and fennels, which we picked.

Summer Ends... Soon!

Ever since my computer went completely kaput, I was not able to write too much of my blog (not that I have written a lot in the past), but voila! I now have a new (but second-hand) computer. We came back from our last summer trip at midnight Wednesday, and I am preparing for starting the job. Our trip was to Boston and Big Apple. Tanglewood was our main event, we went twice. It was a lot of fun. This computer does not have the setup of my old computer yet (my husband is frantically working on restoring the old state) so I cannot upload the photos yet, but I will eventually.

Burnaby Lake

It was a bit cloudy and humid today. Yesterday I took the kids out again and checked out Barnet Marine Park. It was the first time for me to go there after the oil spill. The road was all right, still some construction going on, but the park was closed off for beach users. Too bad, it is the nearest beach to us and it is such a scenic place to go, too. It was interesting to see the notice that said "Beach -- closed" and "Fishing and crabbing -- not recommended" instead of "prohibited." Anyhow, instead I took the kids to Rocky Point.
Today I took the kids and went to another GVRD park, Burnaby Lake. I took the Piper entrance and went to the spit. It was gorgeous. It is sandwiched between residencial/industrial area and highway, so I could hear the traffic noise constantly, and therefore it was bizarre, because I was walking in this lush nature. We saw lots of waterfowls to which Kaede got really excited. We had lunch on the bench on the spit and walked a bit on the trail. Mai got to taste a blackberry. She doesn't like berries other than blueberries for some reason, so she very closely examined the piece, as a result squished it into oblibion and hence got smeared all over herself with bloody looking juice of it. She looked at her hands and licked and sucked on the fingers. It was very difficult to make anything out of her reaction but she kept tasting her fingers so maybe she liked it.

愛用のコンピュータ（CompaqV2000）がついに完全におしゃかになり、夫のコンピュータを借りて書いている。今日は曇って少し蒸した。チーズとお庭のパセリ入りの玉子焼きと、ゆでたブロッコリをおかずに海苔弁を持って、おやつにはチェリーとクラッカーを持って、今日のGVRDパーク目的地はBurnaby Lakeであった。住宅地と高速道路に挟まれた大きな湖であるが驚くほど自然がそのままで美しく、水鳥が沢山いて楓は大喜びであった。ここにはビーバーもいて、6歳以上の子供向けにビーバー観察ツアーもやっている。そのうち子供達を夜連れて行って、見せてやりたい。そういう具体的な楽しいイベントをあれこれ考えるのがこの頃の私のささやかな幸せである。

Active Summer Day

Today's GVRD park hopping was at Deas Island. Very sunny, UV index 8 or something, but in the shade where we had picnic lunch, it was quite cool. I could see goosebumps on Mai's skin. Scenery-wise, it was not wonderful per se, unless you love muddy and wide rivers, but still interesting enough and worth a visit. Kids can play in the sand and water (muddy, though) at the muddy-sandy shore near the entrance, which Kaede did. As for Mai, she has tasted the sands of Barnett Marine Park, Mud Bay, Tsawwassen, and now Deas Island.
We explored the trails a bit as well. Afterwards Kaede had a swimming lesson, and then after dinner, I took the kids to see the fireworks at Burnaby Heights, just like the last year, but Mai was not in my stomach.

今日のGVRDの公園訪問はDeas Islandへ。すごく良いお天気だったがピクニックをした木陰は肌寒く、舞に鳥肌が立っているのが見えた。メニューは焼いて適当に切ったソーセージ、人参スティック（舞には茹でたもの）と茹でオクラをマヨネーズと醤油のディップをつけながら、マーガリンを塗った自家製パン。景色はフレイザー川の景色というだけで特に素晴らしいとかいうのではなかったが、公園として訪れる価値はあるだろう。ハクトウワシが頻繁に見られるらしいが今日も動物系のものは見当たらず。入り口付近にカヌーなどの小さいボートをつけられる場所があって、砂地（泥っぽい）があり、そこで遊んでた女の子と楓は即席のお友達になって、水に入ったりしてしばらく一緒に遊んだ。行きは35分ほどだったのに、帰りは1時間15分もかかった。楓は即水泳のレッスンへ行き、夕食後は去年と同様、バーナビーハイツへ花火を見に行った。明日は何をしよう！大人もこの問いにわくわくしてしまうのが、ここでの夏の醍醐味だ。

Regional Park Hopping

Yesterday I took Kaede and Mai to Minnekhada Regional Park, and today to Colony Farm Regional Park. Both were nice, lots more to explore. Very nice weather these days, not too hot but not too humid.

Minnekhada is a marshland and we were expecting to see more birds but none. Kaede was excited to find "snow" through the binoculars. According to her, rocks exposed on the far side of the road in distance near some orange construction net were snow. More English at the bottom.
昨日はMinnekhada Regional Parkへ、今日はColony Farm Regional Parkへ楓と舞を連れて行った。この辺にはGreater Vancouver Regional Districtと言って、州立公園よりも小さい区切りの公園がある。地図や駐車場、簡易トイレなどがトレイルの入り口にあり、なかなか楽しい。Minnekhadaは湿地帯の公園で、うっそうとした森から出ると水鳥が沢山いそうな沼地に出るが、鳥はおろか動物は全然見られず。奥には日曜だけ公開しているロッジが（何でも1930年代のお金持ちが休暇を楽しむようなところだったそうだ）あるが、月曜だったので閉まっていたし、映画の撮影をしていたのですぐそばには行けなかった。
今日はColony Farmへ行ったが、こちらも小川にカモが二・三羽いただけ。でも、会いたくない動物（←）もいるから、子供達が楽しくクラッカーをかじりながら歩けるだけでこちらの目的は達成である。
育てている野菜は良い顔で、いい匂いが空気に充満していた。
作物は楓が自分のカメラで撮影。この近くにあるRiverview Hospitalでも映画の撮影をやっていた。
Vegetable photos are by Kaede, on her own camera. It seems that filming was going on everywhere, there was one going on at the Lodge in Minnekhada, and another today at Riverview Hospital near Colony Farm.

What's next?

I got the job. I went to an interview on Monday with fever, didn't expect it coming so soon. Now I have to adjust to the outside world again. I hope I can "get back in shape"soon enough. Lots to think about, lots to decide. Gotta enjoy the rest of this summer and start moving forward.

My friend of 25 years (from Junior High) was visiting for 5 days with her two sons. We had a lot of fun. Also, during this "mind-boggling" development in my life, I can't express enough how much I apprecieated her calm, mature words and presence.

仕事をもらえた。月曜日に発熱しながら面接に行き、とんとん拍子に決まった。少しあっけに取られている状態だ。また外の世界に体を慣らさなきゃ。考えなきゃいけないこと、決めなきゃいけないことが山積みである。夏の残りを思う存分楽しみ、将来に向かって備えねば。

25年来の友達が、息子達二人を連れてこの5日間遊びに来ていた。お天気にも恵まれてあちこち出かけて楽しく過ごした。それに、色々な動きがあったこの5日間、気心が知れている幼馴染で、頼りになる彼女の存在がどんなにありがたかったことか！！！

Vancouver Canadians

Take me out to the baaall gaaaame -- Kaede and I went to watch the minor league baseball here in Vancouver on Saturday. Vancouver vs. Spokane. Nothing fancy, to quote Kaede "There is no big TV, huh?" but nonetheless fun. Like, they didn't have a speed boat race game on the big screen but instead, there was a horse race behind the outfield wall. Two cartoonish horse heads, painted on plywood (?) and attached to timber which was each held probably by a volunteer, blown by the wind and rain, so one of the horse kept looking sideways and was having hard time proceeding. It has been rainy in Vancouver area (it makes me feel I should look for pumpkins for Halloween), and Friday's game was postponed to Saturday. So our ticket was good for two games; they were going to play two games back-to-back. But it was delayed again at 6th inning, and our ticket stubs are good for any game on "sunny and dry" day. It was a "Ladies' Night" so Kaede and I respectively got a rose. Mai and my husband were sick so could not make it, but since the ticket can be used on another day, we can go again! Great!
土曜日にマイナーゲームの野球の試合を見に行った。地元Vancouver Canadiansとワシントン州Spokaneのチームの試合。レディース・ナイトとやらで、楓と私はバラの花を一輪ずつ入り口でもらえた（残りの二人は風邪によりおうちでお留守番）。「大きいテレビ、ないねえ！」と楓が言うとおり、マリナーズの球場とは違って、大きなスクリーンでTV中継もなければ、余興に見せるスピードボートのレースのゲームもなかったが、代わりに生の「馬のレース」があった。漫画チックな馬の頭が描いてあるベニヤ板（？）がついた角材かなんかを、外野の壁の向こう側で多分ボランティアの人が持って「競争」してるのだが、風と雨にあおられて横を向いちゃったりして、という素朴な感じがこれまた良かった。もともと雨天順延になっていた金曜の試合を土曜の夕方に詰め込んで、7回までの試合を二つ立て続けにやるというものだったが、結局最初の試合の6回で再度雨天順延となり、チケットの半券でもう一度「晴れて、乾いている」日に見に行けることになった。お得というか、、、儲かってるのか？

Little Critters

Atama kakushite shiri kakusazu. It was sticking its rear end out first, so I could know what it was immediately. But then it turned and if this were all that you can see, can you guess what this is?

Want a close-up?

It's an earwig. Must have come in with the berries or veggies. Spiders (including quite big ones) and ants often roam around this house. Occasional silver fish (BTW, in Japan, silver fish are fish. Similarly, silkworms are those that produce silk, not the tiny ones hanging from roadside trees.), too. Spiders get the best treatment from us, they are either ignored or released outside. This one was hiding (trying to) in our Brita water jug. So the pink part is the lid. It happened to start running so I shook it off into the raw garbage bag that happened to be right beside it. I hope it bit through the plastic and escaped in the garbage can outside.

うちの中にはうじゃうじゃ虫がいる。こいつは多分野菜かラズベリーについて入ってきたんだと思うが、、、ブリタに水を足そうと思って持ち上げようとしたら蓋と本体の間に虫のお尻が出ているのを発見。お尻を見れば一目で分かる、ハサミムシ。ツンとつついたらはさみをピタっと閉じたので、こっちが蓋をするときに間違ってはさんじゃったんじゃなくて自分で入り込んだらしい。向きを変えて頭だけ出したところを撮ったわけだが、頭だけで何の虫だか分かった人、すごい！

夫も舞も目やにと充血で昨日ドクターに行き、抗生物質入りの「目薬を出しますねー、大人は二滴、赤ちゃんは一滴ね」と言われ、薬局で買った（なんと一本20ドル！高っ！）ら、どう見ても軟膏である。軟膏の目薬なんて初めてで、休業中の看護士の妹に「どうやって『一滴』ってはかるの？」と聞いたら、「適当だったなあー」というので安心して適当にチューブの先についている細い口から出して、落っこちるのを１と数え（そのたびに大きさが違う）、朝晩二人の目にさしている。ドクターによると「母乳がすごい効くんだよ」。確かに殺菌力は物凄く強いから、効くだろうしぜひとも試したいけれど、、、どうやって目にさしたら良いやら。赤ん坊はじっとしていないし、軟膏の目薬だってあさっての所にくっついたりして大変なのに。でも、うまくさせる方法が分かれば、次に一本20ドルの目薬を買わずに済むから、研究せねば。

Up and down

I have been a bit depressed lately. The main reason is the lack of sleep but then, there are small this and that... there are too many "I have to do" tidious things. Tidious things you have to remember, but constant distraction leads to constant forgetfulness that leads to constant insufficiency that leads to constant frustration, This makes me feel that this summer is walking beside me, but I'm not in it.

Anyhow... enough brooding. I am coming around. Slowly, but I am.

My husband took the kids out last Friday to give me some time to concentrate on my work. They went to Mundy Park and picked huckleberries. Our neighbor friend keeps talking about making a pie out of them, and I keep looking forward to tasting it for two years. (Of course we will help picking the berries!!!) At least I know how the berry looks and tastes like now.
ハックルベリー。先日私が仕事に集中できるように夫が子供達を連れてMundy Parkに行って摘んできたものである。近所の友達が「これでパイを作ると、うまいんだ！」って言うので楽しみに（もう二年も）待っているのだが未だに味わえず（図々しい）。もちろん、摘むのは手伝うからーーー！！！酸味があるが、ふわっと花のような香りがして大変美味しい。

日曜日にスティーブストンに行った。いわしがそろそろ旬である。10匹5ドルで売っていて、帰りに買って帰ろうと思ってたら売切れてしまった。Sardine is in season. We went to Steveston on Sunday but by the time we tried to buy, it was sold out.

Last year, when we found out that the flowering weed that comes out every year at the front corner of this house was a pretty expensive spice called nigella, we happily collected the seeds. This is what I make, it goes beautifully with curry, and the kids just love them. 家の角に生えていた雑草みたいな花が、実はニゲラという高価なスパイスであることを去年発見し、大喜びで種を集めた。まだ残っていて、作るのはこの、ナンもどき。これがカレーと相性抜群で、子供達にも大ヒットなのである。今年も花を咲かせているので大家さんに、「抜かないで！！！」と言ってある。

Summer Fun

We are enjoying our garden veggies and berries. My husband and Kaede sowed the peas this year and everything is mingled together. Kinda hard to tell them apart, eh?
Today I took Kaede and Mai to Queen's Park in New Westminster. We had a picnic lunch (fusilli pasta with tuna, corn, green beans, and parsley from the garden, and raspberries for snack). Though it was Monday, the playland was quite crowded. It is a nice place with a big play ground and spray park, with a donation-base petting farm which houses a nice variety of farm animals. Kaede loves the petting farm. Mai, on the other hand, had a bitter experience when I first took them there (as soon as we arrived a long coated goat stuck his head in the stroller and sniffed Mai's face, to which Mai screamed in protest which was completely ignored), so she is not too keen on visiting it but nevertheless enjoyed it. The goats there love strollers. They come to nibble on it. For some reason they loved the netting of Mai's stroller pocket and started rubbing their head against it; of course, Mai's scream in protest was ignored. So I had to pick her up otherwise she'd get the goats' dandruff all over her like snow flakes.

今年の庭の豆は楓と夫でまいた。うじゃうじゃ出てきて入り乱れているので、さやえんどうとグリーンピースと6尺いんげん？（大家さんからもらった種）があっちこっちにまきついて、うっかりしていると若いグリーンピースをもいじゃったりして、油断できない。上の写真、さやえんどうとグリーンピース、わかります？

今日は楓と舞を連れてNew WestminsterにあるQueen's Parkにピクニックに行ってきた。スプレーパークと、かなり大きな遊具群と、ペッティング・ファーム（家畜に触れる）がある。お昼を食べてから、楓は水着に着替え、スプレーパークでしばらく遊び、再び服を着てペッティング・ファームへ。このファームは楓のお気に入りで、鶏、ウサギ、ヤギ、豚、子牛、子羊、アヒルといった家畜類がいて、自由に触れる。ここのヤギ達はストローラーが大好きで、つまみにやってくる。そのうち舞のストローラーのポケットについているネットに頭をごしごしこすりつけ始め、フケが雪のようにぱあぱあと散るので参った。舞は初めて行ったときに、入った途端にヤギがストローラーに顔を突っ込んで顔の匂いを嗅いだもんで、ヤギが寄ってくると「うわぁ～ーーー」と大声を上げるが相手は意に介さず。入場は無料で、出口のところに寄付のコインを入れるための、コインの「迷路」が置いてある。これは、プレキシグラスの中をコインが転がっていき、農家の納屋を模したような募金箱に落ちるようになっている。転がるのが見られるので楓は沢山入れたがる。今日は1セントとか5セントとか、小さい硬貨を沢山渡して入れさせた。出入り口はそれぞれ二重扉になっていて、出口のほうには手洗い用の流し台、石鹸、手拭きの紙が置いてある。

Wise words

Last summer I was pregnant. Now the content of that enormous stomach is crawling and called Mai.
I've been thinking to share "wise words" that I have been (and will have been) told in my life. So I begin with this one:
"Many people may try to tell you things but listen only to your own body."
I got pregnant with Kaede when we used to live in an apartment in Burnaby. And this is what the apartment manager (old woman) said to me when we broke the news. She was not particularly a great person or great manager, but I have appreciated these words of hers very much.

Snow peas are coming along! I love the summer sun shining through the crispy pureness of green vegetables.
豆の純な緑に透けて見える夏の日の輝きはなんとも美しい。庭の豆を見ながら、去年は妊娠していたなあ、としみじみ思った。野菜の世話をしながらかがむとすごいお腹があったっけ。その中身は現在、床を這いずり回って、舞と呼ばれている。

少し前から、ブログで、今まで私が言われて大事に頭の隅にしまってきていた「賢い言葉」を紹介したいなと思っていた。どこから始めてよいか分からないのでとりあえず：
「いろんな人がいろいろ言うかもしれないけれど、自分の体が言うことに一番耳を傾けなさいね」
これは、以前住んでいたアパートの管理人（老婦人）が、私が楓を妊娠した時に言ってくれたものである。特に素晴らしい人柄とか、素晴らしい管理人というわけでもなかったけれど、この賢い忠言はとてもとてもありがたかった。

July!!!

Will write more later, but we came back from the Rockies early Wednesday (1 a.m.). The trip was very, very strenuous and I don't remember much of it, too much of moving and cranky, tired children. Everything felt hazy as I was too tired to straighten my thoughts. Canada Day went by in a whizzzzzz during this trip. I wish I could have joined the celebration.

Our gift to Kaede was a digital camera and she took lots of pictures. This is one of them from her seat in the rental car.
ロッキー旅行から水曜日早朝（1時ごろ）帰って来て、まだ疲労が抜けずなんだか頭がぼやけている。物凄い超強行軍であった上にあまりの体力勝負に旅行中は疲労のあまり頭が霧の中にあったような感じ。子供達も疲れて舞の風邪は悪化してしまった。7月1日のカナダデーもいつの間にか過ぎてしまい、お祭りに参加できなくて残念だった。

私達から楓への誕生日プレゼントはデジカメであった。これは楓がとった一枚、レンタカーの自分の席から撮ったものである。ビッグホーンシープの群れ。

Ending

This may be our last summer in Canada, but the weather is not very nice so far.
Better than being too hot, though.

Pretty busy. I have been busy trying to adjust my life with a mobile baby, very demanding small girl, house chores and work. It feels like I am trying to stand still on a Lazy Suzan that lots of people reach and turn. Last Sunday Kaede had her very first "recital." She did pretty well. The theater houses about 450 audiences, which belongs to a high school in Vancouver. Kaede got to wear a costume and danced "Teddybear's Picnic." Her ballet instructor teaches a lot, including highland dance, and there were many other kids, small ones mainly, and mind you, they bring me tears, partially because they are so cute and funny and adorable, and partially because I'm getting older, I guess. Mai had a great time, she watched very intently once someone started dancing.

Today Kaede turned 4. Four. Yikes. At her daycare there is another girl who has the same birthday and is turning 5. My husband's parents are visiting from Japan right now and we all went to join the party. The daycare is closing down at the end of this month so tomorrow is her last day. She will be starting the preschool in September. (More photos below)

There is an end to everything! Before things end I'd like to stuff in as many happy memories as possible.

今年の夏が私達がカナダで過ごす最後の夏かもしれないのに、ずっとお天気が悪い。蒸し暑いよりはましだけど。

このところ忙しい。仕事と動くようになった赤ん坊とやかましい4歳児と家事のバランスをとるのが大変だ。不器用だからなおさらである。先週日曜は楓初めての「リサイタル」、バレエレッスンの延長である。「テディベアのピクニック」を踊った。参加は自由で無料だし、コスチュームも先生が用意してくれたので親は楽チンである。子供を「舞台裏」である廊下に連れて行くだけだった。自由席でチケットが前売りで大人8ドル（当日券は10ドル）、3歳以上の子供が5ドル。もちろんほとんどが生徒と親と祖父母親戚であり、赤ちゃんもいっぱい来ていた。「舞台」はバンクーバーにある高校に所属しているもので、450人入る本格的なシアターであった（上の写真）。舞は誰かが踊りだすともう夢中で見ていた。ライブで物を見るというのはやはり良いみたい。楓も、人前だからと構えて緊張してしまうことを覚える前にこういう経験を沢山させておけば、母のようにノミの心臓の持ち主にならずに済むだろう。

今日、楓は4歳になった。デイケアで同じお誕生日の子がいるのでダブルバースデーパーティであった。昨日から夫の両親が来ているので、みんなでパーティを見に行ってきた。お決まりの、ケーキ、ピニヤータ（くすだまみたいなのを叩き割ると中からお菓子が散らばって子供達が群がって拾うというもので、くすだまには色々な形がある、楓はいつもよそ見とえり好みが優先してあまり拾えない。このピニアータはデイケアの保育士さんと子供達の手作りで、ついに割れなかったので保育士さんのだんなさんが破壊）、ロバの尻尾のゲーム（目隠しして、尻尾のないロバの絵に誰が正しい位置の一番近くにつけられるかを競うゲーム、楓はいつもいい線に行く）。デイケアは6月で閉業してしまう。だんなさんが家で仕事を始めたのでその手伝いをするのだそうだ。楓は沢山、楽しい思いをさせてもらってきた良いデイケアであった。明日が楓の最終日。9月からは近所の学校付属のプレスクールに通う。

夕食は楓の好物であるパスタとスープ。ケーキは、デイケアでも食べたから、家で焼いたのはお庭のラズベリーで作ったクラフティであった。

何事にも終わりがある！終わってしまう前に幸せな思い出を詰め込められるだけ、詰め込みたい。

Mimic

Kaede is very good at mimicking whatever the words she hears. Probably that's how small children learn to speak. Whenever she doesn't know the words or their meaning, her wording gets fuzzy. Hence I found her today singing "Row, row, row your boat" that sounded very similar to the following if I apply words in the "adult way":

Row, row, row yo' bow
Junkie down the street
Marry me marry me marry me marry me
Hum hum hum hum hum

Rrrriiiiight.

2 o'clock

...in the morning. Yikes. Moreover, I'm full at this time. I got hungry as I worked on my translation assignment and ate corn chips. Couldn't stop. Yikes. I feel oozy. Gotta wash dishes still. Have to put away the bread just baked. Yikes. Noooo, I am not good at house chores. I can admit that loud and clear.

The photo is just for fun. I love her hair. Reminds me of a zebra.

舞の頭はシマウマみたい。

夜中の二時だというのにお腹がいっぱい。翻訳をやっていてお腹がすいてコーンチップに手を出したら止まらなくなってしまった。頭はぐらぐらするし。洗い物も流しに残ってるし。焼きあがったパンの始末もしなきゃならないし。

さっきは大雨が降る音がしていたが、昼間は気持ちの良い天気で、舞を抱えて大家さんのデッキへ椅子とコンピュータを持っていき、そこで一時間ほど過ごした。舞にはおもちゃをあてがっておいたらおとなしく遊んでいた。裏の木々からは鳥の声がして、それだけを字面で見るとなんとも優雅なのだが、そして優雅な気分に浸れそうだったのだが、画面がまぶしくて字が良く見えなかったり、目の端に虫が飛んでたり顔にたかられたり、舞の鼻水がたれてたり、寝不足頭に締め切り間近の昼下がりの現実は、そんなものなのであった。

Don-ten

"Donten" means cloudy sky in Japanese. Since we came back from Denver, no single day with clear sky. It is indeed quite depressing. There is a line in the movie Sleepless in Seattle "Seattle? It rains 9 months of the year in Seattle!" Make that 10 for Vancouver. （BTW, it's my all-time favorite movie.) There was one day with a bit of sunshine coming through, when the photo was taken. When we left Denver it was pouring rain, so we are indeed under water spell. My husband is a bit worried about the vegetables in the garden. The "glorious" Lower Mainland summer is yet to arrive. Another photo is taken in the plane en route Denver. It was Mai's first plane ride, and she pretty much slept through.

舞の初めての飛行機は、デンバーへであった。割りにおとなしく寝ていた。デンバーから出るとき向こうではそれこそバケツをひっくり返したような土砂降りであったが、帰って来てからも、一日たりとも晴れた日がない。バンクーバーの素晴らしい夏空は、まだ到来していない。上の写真は15日、雑草取りをして、少し夕方に日が差したときのものである。映画『Sleepless in Seattle（邦題：めぐり逢えたら）に、「シアトル？一年のうち9ヶ月雨が降るじゃない！」という台詞があるが、舞台がバンクーバーなら10ヶ月というところか。ちなみにこの映画、私の一番好きな映画の一つである。

Shoes

Whenever we visit the US, I always find the cultural difference between the north American neighbors very interesting.

For example. in Canada, shoes are to be left at the entrance to the house. When I was a student in the US, one of the major cultural differences talked about between the US and Japan was this "take-your-shoes-off" custom in Japan, but little I knew (and probably the people in the US as well) was that this custom is not limited to Japan, but extends to many other cultures, including Canada.

My first encounter to this was when a red-haired young man came to deliver our bed mattress (mind you, very heavy) to our apartment. It was impressive enough that he heaved this heavy mattress on his shoulder and carried all alone, but more so was when I saw his shoes lying in the hallway.

The next encounter was when we visited Okanagan, BC's (and Canada's) major provider of produce as well as BC wine. As soon as we arrived at this B&B, the owner (from Ontario) told us "And here is where you take off your shoes, please." We liked that!!!

The best one came when we were looking for a place to live. When we came to see this place, the former tenant (Canadian of Dutch descent) had a notice put up saying "Absolutely no shoes beyond this point. Boots are not exception."

It is great because when we visit our friends', I don't have to be concerned about our baby's hygiene or our socks getting dirty. I do not know when they started to take their shoes off in Canada, but it would be interesting to research that.

突然だが、カナダでは、靴を脱ぐ習慣がある。アメリカ旅行をすると、カナダとアメリカの文化の違いを色々と感じるのだが、これもその一つで、私のアメリカにいる親戚の家でも大抵土足で上がる人が多いから、靴下がひどく汚れるので実感するのである。

カナダでは、友達の家でもみんな、入り口で靴を脱ぐのが習慣であり、足の裏や靴下が汚れないし、赤ん坊も安心して這わせておける。アジア人の家だと家の外に靴を置く棚がある家も見かける。そういう意味でも、いろんな国でどうしているのか非常に興味深い。

カナダの靴脱ぎ習慣に最初に遭遇したのは、カナダに渡ったばかりのころ、アパートにベッドを配達してもらったとき。私達が買ったマットレスは非常に重いのだが、一人で肩にしょって持ってきた。そんな力持ちの赤毛のお兄ちゃんの靴が、アパートの廊下にぽいぽいと脱いであったのが印象的で今でも覚えている。

BCの内陸部、カナダの青果品とワインの産地であるオカナガンのB&Bでは、着くなり「ここで靴を脱いでね」と言われた。ちゃんと「下駄箱」スペースもあった。オンタリオ州出身のオーナーは、ごく普通の白人夫婦である。おかげで、日本の民宿にいるような（B&Bだからまさしく民宿なんだけど）、くつろいだ気分で過ごせたし、やっぱり清潔さが違う気がする。

極めつけは、この家に越してきたとき。うちの玄関は、玄関スペースが広く取ってある。玄関を入ると右手にはクロゼットスペースと納屋、左手は洗濯機と乾燥機の収納場所があり、正面に家の中に入る内扉がある。この扉に、前のテナント（オランダ系カナダ人の太った若夫婦だった）は、「いかなる靴もここで脱ぐこと！例外なし！ブーツも脱ぐ！」と書いた紙を貼っていた。

一定年齢以上の人たち（例えば前住んでたアパートのマネジャーや、ペンキ塗りとか冷蔵庫の修理に来たHandy manのおじさんとか、相当なお年）は脱がないこともあるから、いつの時代からカナダでこれが習慣になったのか調べたら面白そうだ。

Sneeeeeeeze!!

Summer is here! As well as the allergy season. Right at this moment my right eye is bulged up (I omit the details -- I looked my eye in the mirror and it was gross even to me) because I believe the cottonwood pollen got in my eye. It has long been a mystery, that around this season I feel this invisible fiber around my face and start sneezing. Then the other day when I was taking Mai for a walk, I walked into a cloud of floating cotton and sneezed six times in a row. Aha! But it is not like I am glad because I found out who the culprit was... especially when I look at all those cotton thingy that somehow invaded, sitting and floating everywhere IN my car. Unlike occasional bugs that jump into the car, it is impossible to chase them out or swat at them. The more I try the worse it gets. The photo is at Barnet Marine Park.

夏である！同時にアレルギー反応が始まった。大体このくらいの季節に目に見えない繊維が顔につくような気がすると思うや鼻水とくしゃみが始まり、たまに目がぶわっと膨れ上がる（白目の部分が・・・今この瞬間の右目のように。今鏡で見てきたらこの私でも気持ち悪いくらいなので細かい描写は省く）のだがこれという原因が思い当たらなかったのであるが、先日舞の散歩中、ふわふわ飛んでいるコットンウッド（ハコヤナギ）の綿毛の中を歩いた途端にくしゃみ六連発。これだ！でも、犯人を突き止めて嬉しいという感じじゃないなあ。特に、車の中にいつの間にか進入して、目の端で舞っていたり座席やダッシュボードにくっついてたりしてるのを見ると・・・。大体、虫と違って追い出せるわけでもなし、つぶせもしない。やればやるほど増えるだけである。写真は近くにある海浜公園、Barnet Marine Parkで。

Going Forward

Mai crawled forward for the first time today!! She was only slithering backward until today. Hence she is very often found caught by her lower half of the body under the sofa, bookshelf, coffee table, bed, crib, playpen, etc. The other day she was in the garden and went backward into the strawberry patch becoming covered by dirt. At 9 months. She only rolls over to the right, and does not from her tummy to her back. So wherever she ended up with, it has been pretty much accidental, not intentional. Now she is going forward.

舞が前に這った。

うちの子は二人とも大きな赤ん坊で、舞のほうが同じころの楓より若干大きい。しかし、大きいからあまり動かないかというとそれは性格が正確に反映されるようで、7ヶ月でやっと寝返りを打った舞に対し、何でもやっちゃわないと気がすまない性格の楓は3ヶ月で軽々と寝返りを打ち、7ヶ月ではもうつかまり立ちをしていた。現在舞は9ヶ月である。寝返りも、仰向けからうつ伏せに右に向かって転がるだけで、逆はしないし、うつ伏せから仰向けにもならない。しかし、座って何かするのが好きなせいか、お座りができるようになったのもしっかり一人で座って後ろにひっくり返らないようになったのもすごく早かった。寝返りを打てるようになってまもなくはいずるようになったが後ろ向きにずりずり意図せず行ってしまうことが多いだけで、騒いでいるので見に行くと大抵ソファの下や、クリブの下や、コーヒーテーブルの下や、プレイペンの下や、本箱の下や、ベッドの下から上半身だけ出して腕を立てて「出られない～！」というわけである。後ろ向きにずって行ってしまうので、足の間にテーブルの足や、壁、ドア、椅子の足がはさまって動けなくなっていることもしょっちゅう。

それが今日初めて前に向かって二、三歩進んだ。ハートのボタンを押すとかちゃっと馬が出てくるおもちゃが大のお気に入りで、何十回でも小さな人差し指でボタンを押す。それを馬の目の前にぶら下げる人参のごとく少し前に置くと、追いかけていって、カチャッ。馬を引っ込めて少し前に置く。追いかけて、カチャッ。

動かないというのは親にとって楽である。二番目の子供ともなると育児本片手に（私の場合ほとんどインターネットだが）週数や月齢を追いかけて、あれは出来る、これは出来ないと頭を悩ませることはしない。気持ちに余裕があるというより、時間に余裕がないうちに子供はマイペースで育っていくみたい。離乳食だって適当を極めているし。

舞の性格と行動が楓と全然違うから気が楽というのも大きい。足りることを知らない性格の楓と違い、舞は自分の求めるものがいつも分かっているタイプ。おもちゃでも黙々と遊ぶ。物に対しても、4歳になろうという今でも何でもほぼ自動的に口に入れてしまう楓に対し、手で触り、実験して、目で見て楽しむ舞は口に物をやたらに入れるということもしない。今もここで私の鍵束を振り回して遊んでいる。楓が舞くらいのころは何でもしゃぶって、口にくわえてあちこち移動するからそういうものを手に取ると顔やのどに突き立てないか心配だったから、見張っていて危なそうなら取り上げたものだが、舞の場合は、でーんと座ってがちゃがちゃさせて、ぽんと投げてみる、またがちゃがちゃ、ぽん、それに足りたらこちらへやってきて横座りしている私の膝の隙間に落として覗いてみるという具合。おもちゃを振り回して顔にぶつけて痛い思いをしても「うーー」と唸って、次からやらないようにする。

姉妹で全然性格が違うのも、面白い。

Ants

So the ants again. Ants help aphids and last year, I had hard time getting rid of aphids, so I am determined to control ants before major aphid season comes up. Also, ants showed up inside the house again. It seems that there are cycles in ant infestation. Last year it was quiet. This year, it showed up in the living room as well as in the kitchen and bedroom, which is the other end of the house. So I set out to poison them. It has become my favorite science project kinda thing; I observe, experiment, see the results, alter the method and experiment again. Morning, during the day, and at night. I was a bit surprised when I saw ants kill each other. They are territorial, so they'd kill each other if an invasion occurs. There seems to be too many ant nests close together, so they are constantly taking over one another's nest. So, the sidewalk leading to our landlord's front door is partially covered with thousands of ant bodies. When they are fighting, they are so excited that they don't even care if there is tasty poison syrup around. Last night I set out to see if the ants were actively sucking the poison syrup on the outside wall of the bedroom. There are a few huge nests there. And lo! I saw a HUGE slug climbimg up the wall. I'd say if it wanted to, it can stretch to about 30cm, I am NOT kidding. I thought of getting the chopsticks to pick it up and throw it away onto the street, but thought better of it. I didn't think I could lift it, it was too big. Night time is when lots of insects are active, and lots of interesting (if you detach yourself and just be an observer, that is) feeding habits (frenzy) can be seen.

I am outside so often so intensely looking on the ground, crouching, I wonder what the neighbors and onlookers think. Unfortunately, the ant infestation is on the front side of the house. Everyday I am standing there with either poison syrup, spray bottle with soap water, or kettle with hot water. Today, in addition, I was there with Mai in the baby backpack. I must have looked strange.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

We watched the Mariners' game on Saturday in Safeco Field. They lost against Yankees 7 to 2, but nonetheless we had a good time. Kaede just loves going to a game. She'd been asking about it for a very long time and this time she even got to take a photo with the Moose. We ended up buying a plush Moose for her. I think this was the very first time we ever bought a brand new plush toy for her. Mai didn't like the noise too much but she also seemed to have enjoyed it, or rather, there were lots of chances that satisfied her mischievous impulses. Like pulling the Yankees uniform of a hard core Yankees fan teen sitting next to me. To my apology he flashed a smile (with braces) and "Oh, no problem!!" Kaede kicked the seat in front of her, prompting my apology to another teenager who also flashed a smile (with braces). Every time I held Mai she was up to something. I was very busy catching her before things happened. There were many people who did not know their hair and scalps were in danger (she can yank very hard). She still has the cold so she was very snotty and whiny as well.

Grinding

Mai's two top teeth came out. They'd been there, in her gum, looking white, for quite a long time and they finally peeked out. As soon as that happened, she started grinding her teeth. Different from that of adult's, a baby does this while she's awake, and seems to have a ceaseless joy out of this new thingy, especially when she is bored. Our car does not have an air bag so she is in the front passenger seat (Kaede seats in the back, so that either my husband or I can take care -- in another word entertain -- a child per adult) so when I am driving while I feel her blank stare fixed on my face I hear this GGggGG, GGGGG, GGggggGG ....sighhhhh... ggggGGGGggg. If I had fur, it would be all upright and I would look like a puffed up cat.

舞の小さなピンクの歯茎の中に大分長いこと白く見えていた上の歯がやっと出てきた。と思うや否や歯軋りが始まった。大人のと違い、赤ん坊は起きている間に歯軋りをする。しかもこれに無上の喜びを感じるらしく、特に車でカーシートにくくりつけられて何もできないでいるときなんかに、退屈しのぎか知らないが私の顔にぼうっと目を据えて、たゆみなく続けるのである。ギギギギギギ・・・ぎりきりごりごり、ギギギぎぎぎ・・・、ため息、・・・ギぎギぎギぎ・・・。こっちはたまらない。全身おぞ気をふるいながら背中の鳥肌をなだめつつひたすら聞こえない振りをして運転するばかりでどうしようもない。

Cold

Yes, another cold again. This time, Mai is hit very hard. She even threw up (which of course landed on me, my husband and the carpet) for the first time in her life, not because of an upset stomach, but because of coughing uncontrollably. She coughs badly when she is lying on her back, so being a bit afraid of another sleepless night, I set out for buying a cough/nasal congestion relief (I want to sleep). Shopper's Drug Mart, the entrance door didn't open. Probably 30 seconds too late for the closing time minus 5 minutes (it was not exactly the closing time but the store clerk, a rather big woman, was guarding the exit door with her back and letting out the customers). Then the next closest hopeful, Safeway. Well, this one does not have a pharmacy and hence the selection was scarce. But lo! I've never seen so many people at that store! Very long lines were formed at the two open cashiers, people of which all looked somewhat desparate like "how long do I need to wait?" with tons of late-night shopping. Then I drove down the road to see if one of our frequent destinations during the day, Extra Foods, would be open, no luck. I turned my wheel to another Safeway at the mall and YESSSS!!! It was open. Safeway is open until midnight, everyone! And this one has a pharmacy, therefore offers a better selection, and I got the medicine I wanted: the one with pseudoephedrine and dextromethorphan, which I looked up on Wikipedia of their effects to work probably the best suited for what the kids have, assuming from the symptoms. The internet is probably the best source of information for getting the remedy for today's parents, I tell you. I was crouching on the isle, reading the labels for ingredients, and three times stockers cheerfully went by, pulling a big -- how do you call it? -- sort of like a person-powered fork lift, for which I stood up and stayed flat against the shelf full of cold medicines.

Maybe it is only me but each time I try to read any ingredients, I seem to turn the French description side up. So checking what's written takes twice as much time. I hurried to the cashier and darn it! I realized that I forgot to check the expiration dates of other boxes. This one is September 2008... Well, better if not consumed at all anyways. But if consumed slowly, better to have as late expiration date as possible. Oh well. I came home and the kids seem sleeping soundly, difficulty-free. Hopefully I don't have to get up at 3:00 to spoon-feed the "saveur de cerige" syrup "pour enfants" to the baby. (Oh, BTW, since this is not "pour bebe," the dose is tricky, too. I compared the dosage of the "bebe" one with "enfant" so that I know exactly how much I can give to my "bebe.")

Recent things

最近の作品とイベント Recent achievements & events




近所のモールに移動遊園が来て、楓は乗り物初体験。喜んじゃって、夢中であった。お誕生日会に招かれて、ミニゴルフも初体験。今日はPort MoodyのArts Festivalへ。地元の中学生がブラスバンド（音符を耳で追っていると時々膝がかくん、となるような、演奏であった）の発表会をやっている音楽を背景に、ふんだんにおいてあるクラフトの材料で遊んだ。We've been quite busy... In the past week or so, Kaede experienced first rides at the fairground that came to the mall parking lot, her first mini golf at a friend's birthday party, a few more evening picnics, and today, Port Moody Arts Festival.

最近の名文句：
楓（トイレから出てきて）「みみず　きっていい？」
私「ミミズ？切る？」
楓「みみず、てつだってよう！・・・きるの、てつだってください」
私「ミミズ？なんのこと？」
楓「プールのだようう！」
私「ああ！『水着　着ていい？』（水泳レッスンに行く準備をしているところであった）」
楓「そう！それー！みみず！」
私「・・・きていいよ、みみず！」

Tot Pool on Good Friday

Yesterday, Kaede, Mai and I went for a swim. When I peeked inside before I went into the pool, several kids were playing in the tot pool, but by the time I changed Mai and went to the pool, the tot pool was deserted and about a dozen people clad in white cloth were standing on the poolside. When I was waiting to buy tickets for the tot pool, I thought they were a bunch of Korean ESL students with middle-aged supervisors. They turned out to be church members who were going to be baptized, in the tot pool! To the surprised look on my face, the lifeguard said "Ah, yup, it's just a baptism going on -- don't worry." "But can I use the pool?" "Yup! Just use this side for a while." So we did. People in the whirlpool were sitting on the far end so that they could have the best view of the baptism, and as those church folks sang Auld Lang Syne (why this song I don't know) and Amazing Grace in Korean, Kaede chased after toys and Mai had occasional drinks from the pool (no matter how I held her, she'd find a way to tilt and dip her mouth so that she can sip on the water). That was some surrealistic Easter Friday experience for me.

In the evening three of us (my husband stayed home to work on his paper) went to Como Lake to have evening picnic. It was a nice and warm day. The photo is from last week, but from the exact same bench we sat yesterday.

昨日は楓と舞を連れてプールへ行ってきた。楓の前回の水泳レッスンの修了証にプール一回ただ券がついていたので。。。このプールは子供連れ料金が一人（赤ん坊でも）2ドル40セントで、10枚つづりのチケットを買うと19ドル20セントである。10枚つづりを買うことにして、韓国人の若者を10人くらい連れてきた中年の男女が料金を払っている後ろで、留学生の引率かなーと思いながら待つ。遠目に見えた子供用プールは賑わっているようだった。

夫と行けば子供の用意も楽だが一人で二人やるのは結構時間がかかる。楓は家から水着を着せていくが舞はスイマーのオムツをつけるので現地で着替え。子供用プールに向かったら、プールは紫のボールが一個浮いているだけで誰もいなく、異様だったのはプール際にずらっと椅子が並び、牧師と先ほどの若者の集団が白いシーツを被って立っているのだった。子供用プールで洗礼式ぃ？と思いながら監視員のお姉ちゃんに「入っていいの？」と聞こうと近寄ったら向こうから「洗礼式をやるだけだから気にしないでこっちの方で入っていいよ」とおもちゃ箱（子供用のプール用おもちゃが詰まった箱がある）をわざわざ持って来てくれた。子供用プールの横にある泡のプール（というよりお風呂。サウナとこれだけをやりに来る人が結構いる。子供用プールは泡のプールよりも少しぬるいので泡のプールやサウナで暑くなったおばちゃんや毛だらけのでっかいおっさんが無表情に虚空を見つめながらセイウチみたいに子供用プールに浸かっていることもある）にいた人達が、良い退屈しのぎという感じに見えやすい場所に陣取って見守る中、韓国語で蛍の光（なぜ？）やAmazing Graceが歌われ、洗礼式は粛々と進められ、洗礼式の牧師とアシスタントと信者のほかに誰もいないプールの中で私は油断すると顔を水につけてプールの水をべろべろ飲もうとする舞を抱え、楓はボールや沈むおもちゃを追っかけたり水泳レッスンで覚えた「技」（仰向けに浮いたり犬かきに挑戦したり）を私に披露してくれた。シュールな昼下がりであった。

夕方は楓と約束していたピクニックへ。日が長くなっているので8時ごろに暗くなる。サンドイッチと、温野菜のサラダを用意して、Como Lakeの公園へ。池と水鳥を見ながら食べたあと楓は遊具で散々遊んで、散歩している犬にいちいち引っかかりながら池を一周して帰ってきた。舞も表で食べると楽しそうだ。写真は先週のものだが、同じベンチで食べた。

Spring

First Day of Spring is over... Still working late at night, every night, trying to catch up with assignments. Kaede and my husband went down with fever, this cold, whatever it is, is hard to shake off.

Last week was the last of Kaede's swimming and ballet lessons for this winter period. She proceeded to the next swimming level. For ballet, the last day was a performance day. Moms and Dads with digital and video cameras packed the dance room and saw their daughters perform their thing. Mind you, it is Friday morning. My husband later said, "Seemed like all dads were there... how do they do that? Take a day off or half-day off, probably?" I was happy to hear his observation... maybe he finally sees, realistically, why I love being in Canada so much. Yes, working Dads are entitled (or maybe almost obligated?) to take time off for their child's ballet lesson -- just a simple, 30-minute, seemingly insignificant at rec center, inexpensive, lesson...it is not even a big event like graduation ceremony at school, which Dads in Japan are likely to miss as well.

春分の日も過ぎてしまった。夫と楓は熱を出してるし、この風邪はなかなかしぶとい。

先週は楓の水泳とバレエの冬期最後のレッスンだった。水泳は無事に次のレベルへ進級。バレエは、最後の日が「発表会」だった。教室の正面に椅子が沢山並べられていて、手に手にデジカメとビデオをしっかり握り締めたお父さんたちお母さんたちが自分の子どもを撮ることに没頭していた。見物している大人の数が子どもの倍以上、ばっちりいたような。。。帰ってから、ぽつんと夫が「・・・あれ、お父さんもみんな来てたみたいだけど、どうやって・・・休みとってんのかな？半休とか？」バレエは金曜日の午前中、つまり平日の昼間である。学校の卒業式とかそういう、親が参加することが半分義務のような「重大イベント」ではない、ただの、平凡な、レクリエーションセンターの、さして重要でない、30分の、安いレッスンだ。働くお父さんがそれに普通にいるという現実を、もしかしたら肌で感じてくれたのかなと、うまくいえないけど、ちょっと嬉しかった夫の一言だった。私が何でカナダに残りたいか、を象徴する出来事だったから。

Spring Snow

Yesterday and today, it snowed. The air still smells like spring. I woke up in dark and worked a bit before the kids start going, then when I looked outside in the morning light, I was surprised to see the trees and yard covered with dust of snow. It was refleshingly pretty. Baked bisquits this morning and had them with whipped cream and red bean paste. Y-u-m-m-y. Sweet bean paste and dairy products are really good match, I tell you. Just like chestnuts or pumpkins, the combination has this down-to-earth, hearty, homey taste to it, if not sophisticated. Besides, who wants sophistication for breakfast in dining-kitchen? Buiscuits with whipped cream and strawberry preserve (made with the ones we picked last summer) were good, too. No hope for me to get back in shape. I can blame it on big babies, maybe.

昨日と今朝は雪景色であった。朝暗いうちに起き出して、仕事をしていて、明るくなってきた表をひょいと見たら、雪の薄化粧を軽やかにまとった裏庭の木があった。爽やかで目が覚めるようなこの時期の雪景色は、春の香りの雪景色であった。何とも贅沢な（とゴミを捨てに出て思った）。仕事が詰まっているのでなかなかパンを焼くタイミングがなく、今朝はビスケットを焼いて、ホイップとあんこを乗っけてみた。おいしー。それと、去年摘んだイチゴで作ったプリザーブ（ちょっと実以外の部分が流れすぎちゃうからジャムと呼べない、でも実が丸ごと残ったのが作りたかったからいいのだ）とホイップで食べても、おいしー。しかし、お腹が元に戻る道のりがどんどん長くなるような。。。

Bird

I smell spring in the air. Rather, "the end of winter" in the air. I get antsy whenever I smell this in the air. Especially when I know that the "glorious Mainland summer" is waiting for us. Also this time I realized certain songbird. They may be migratory, they may be around all the time, but I hear them throughout the day during warm seasons. These few days, I started to hear them only right around when it starts to get bright, around 6:30-7:00 a.m. I express the sound (in Japanese. I don't know how to imitate in English.) as "Pee pooh" (See what I mean?) or "Tee too" in the musical scale ti-so. A small bird, no fancy feathers, I think. Don't know the name. But I love their song.

ぴい、ぷう、と（音階でシーソー）鳴く鳥が戻ってきた。相変わらずの冬空でも、春の匂いがするとわくわくして物が手につかなくなる私であるが、この鳥の声を聞いて確信した。冬が終わったのだ！春がきたというより、冬が終わった。このピープー鳥、カナダに来た年から気づいているのだが名前を知らない。見つけるのが難しくて、小さい地味な小鳥なのだが、夏は一日中聞こえる。この季節は明け方、というか明るくなったころ。これを聞いて、突然われに返る。今日が始まる！一日が来る！と。

Valentine Day

Baked scones (or biscuits), using a heart-shaped cookie cutter this morning. Thinking of baking a cake for evening dessert.

Mai cut her first tooth last week. Sighhhhhhhhhhhhh. My baby is growing, and that's wonderful, but that's sad. Parenting means being irrational. She is not as interested in food as Kaede was. She couldn't care less about the rice cereal, so I made Japanese style rice porridge. Although she makes "Wwwwhhhhhhhhaat's this?" kind of face when she feels rice grains in her mouth (and she sucks and rolls up the grains in her mouth and eventually gets rid of it, I found them in tiny balls hanging under her lower lip or on the bib. Sort of reminds me of a spider's leftover being dropped off the web), ate pretty well.

In the photo, she is listening to X'mas songs. The other day Kaede had a cold and was put in bed, and requested music, and complained to my husband's choice. Then I heard my husband ransack the pile of CD's and say "You would know these songs!" The kids enjoyed them very well indeed, Mai stayed quiet over 30 minutes, lying like this.

写真は舞がクリスマスソングを聴いているところ。先日風邪を引いて寝ていた楓が退屈して、音楽をかけろというので夫がかけたビートルズやらなにやらは気に入らず、しばらく探す音がして、「これなら知ってるでしょ！」と聞こえてきたのがクリスマスソング。これが舞にも奏功して、30分以上あのポーズでおとなしく聞いていた。

舞は先週、最初の歯が顔を覗かせた。あ～あ。私の（ほぼ確実に）最後の赤ちゃんに、歯が生えてしまう。離乳食も始めた。母乳か、粉ミルクを溶いたものを混ぜるだけで手軽なRice cerealという赤ちゃん用の既製品があって、楓は最初から大好きだったけれど、舞はどうも食べ物と認識しないし「別にどーでもいー」という感じ（お茶は大好き）だったので、うんとゆるめのおかゆを炊いたら、そっちは口に粒が入ると「うへぇ～何これ～」という感じで舌でこねくり回して、粒だけまとめていつの間にか口から出している（下唇の下とかよだれかけにまとまったのがぶら下がっている。クモの巣から落っこちている食べかすならぬ食べガラを連想させる。）けれど、割によく食べた。

バレンタインデー。朝は、スコーンをハート型で抜いたのを作ってみた。夜のデザート用にケーキを焼こうかなーと思っている。

Ballet Lesson

Photos from the ballet lesson. Now I found pink uniform with tutu, which Kaede badly wanted. She is all about pink. What is it about small girls and pink? We never encouraged any color preference. The instructor is pretty good. Different from those lessons overtly emphasizing on "fun," the kids actually learn about basic and real movements of ballet. And of course, they have a really good time.

バレエのレッスン風景。なかなか良い先生で、子供用に「楽しく」を合言葉にし過ぎる感の遊び半分のお遊戯みたいなレッスンと違い、ちゃんと基本を抑えたレッスンをしてくれるので、30分だが内容は濃い。子供たちもきちんということを聞く。ピンクのレオタードとチュチュがうらやましくて仕方がなかった楓にやっと中古品店で見つけたので、本人は有頂天である。次は好きなだけピンクを堪能するであろう。何でピンクなんだろう。女の子はピンク、とか、そういうのはうちではやらないので、どこで覚えてくるんだか。

Winter fun

We went to Mount Seymour yesterday. Kaede's first experience in skiing. She enjoyed it a lot. Children are fearless, it is amazing how well they can do without hesitation. It was below zero so Mai and I waited pretty much in the cafeteria. It was almost empty there. I could have worked had I brought my computer. Maybe next time I'll do that.

This year, Kaede is taking swimming and ballet lessons... She loves going to lessons and having "teachers." It makes her feel that she's a big girl. She is badly looking forward to starting school, too, for the same reason. We tell her "You have to sit still for that." She hates to hear that.

水泳のクラスの模様。二度目で、だいぶうまく浮くようになってきた。「先生」がいるのが嬉しくってたまらない楓は、学校にも早く行きたくてうずうずしている。「学校ではじっと座ってないといけないんだよ」というとべそをかくけど。（べそをかくほどキチンを座っているのが嫌いなのか！）

楓、スキー場デビュー！

お握りを作って、車の中で行く途中にお昼を食べ、目的地はMount Seymourという小さめだけど充実しているスキー場であった。おしゃれで大規模なスキー場と違い、いかにも地元ですっていう感じの、飾り気のない、だから逆に落ち着くところだった。平日のせいかがらがらで、私たちが着いたときには学校の遠足らしい子供たちが引き上げるところで、私たちが帰るときには勤めから帰って早い夕食を済ませたらしい家族連れがうじゃうじゃ到着するところであった。大半はスキーレッスンに来ているようであった。ナイターもあり10時まで開いている。夫と楓だけ滑ったのだが、カフェテリアもがらがらで、こんなことならコンピュータを持っていけば仕事が出来たなあ、とちょっと後悔。でも、何もせずにぼうっとするのもたまには悪くなかった。舞は舞なりに珍しい場所にいるし雪の広い景色を楽しんでいたようであった。夕食は省略して、近所のピザ屋さんでピックアップ。このところピザはすっと自家製だったせいか、ピザ好きのはずの楓なのに余りはかばかしく食べず。

雲がちで、見通しは悪く、リフトのところで二人が見えるかなーとしばらく舞を抱いて眺めていたら、霧の中から現れる二人がけのリフトに乗ってくるボーダーたちが、二度に一度は例外なく降りるなり転ぶのでおかしかった。大抵そのたびに、転ばなかった方から「何をやってんの、何を」と笑われていた。夫にその話をしたら、ゲレンデでも同じように、転んでるボーダーに向かって大抵仲間が「何をやってんの」と笑っていたそうだ。

この下界からスキー場まで一時間弱。スキーも、スケートも、子供にとっても家族連れでも、気力・体力・時間・お金全ての面で「大イベント」じゃなくて済む。子供づれであることがマイナスにならずに済む。何も、昨日のような「外出日」じゃなくても、ほんのちょっとしたところでも。楓を生む前に、ちょっぴり不安だった私に、いろんな知り合いが「バンクーバーは子供にとって天国だよ」と言った。それって、親にとっても、育てやすいということだ。マナーは守らせるけど、優しく見守られているような、そんな空気の中で子供が育つことが出来る幸せ。それが当たり前でいいはずなのに、母親としてはそれが涙が出るほど貴重。ここでの経験は本当に、宝ものです。

2007年既に到来

So can you guess what this is?

It's been cold again in Vancouver area. Kaede had a busy day today. Her first ballet lesson in the morning, a booster flu shot in the afternoon. I promised her she'd get a cookie treat after the shot so we went to a coffee shop and she endulged herself in a cookie of her choice (big, thick peanut butter cookie dipped in chocolate) and milk. I had latte. Then we checked out the library nearby and borrowed Toy Story. Nice new place. It also offers baby time so I might go there with Mai.

When we reached the building where the flu shot was given, I heard this c-r-a-s-h-ing noise and it was a big chunk of ice falling from the roof, barely missing Kaede. Whew!

The answer to the above photo: frost on top of snow. I think. It's the neighbor's front yard, close-up.

上の写真、何かおわかりになります？

お隣さんの藪・・・じゃなくて、植え込みに積もった雪の上に生えたような霜（だと思う）なんです。嵐が来て、雲が吹っ飛んで、寒くなって、雲が来て、雪が降って、雲が去って、コチコチに寒くなった。寒くて白くて綺麗。運転はやっかいだけれども。

今週から楓の新年も始動して、月曜は水泳、水曜と木曜はデイケア、金曜日はバレエ。土曜日はまだ当分スケートに行くし、スケートが終わってもそれを埋めるアクティビティは色々ある。今日、隣の市の図書館を見に行ったらベビータイム（あちこちの図書館で無料で子供たちに読み語りする時間が設けてある）を見つけたので、舞を連れて行こうかと思っている。

今日はバレエの初レッスンだった。水泳もバレエも3月までで、10回でそれぞれ57ドルと32ドル。1レッスン30分である。バンクーバー郊外にある我が家はあちこちのレクリエーションセンターや図書館に簡単に行ける距離にあり、車が手に入ってからはぐんとアクセスしやすくなったので、近隣の市も含めていろんなレクリエーションセンターの資料をもらってきて楓の習い事を探した。色々迷ったが、水泳とバレエに落ち着いて、去年登録を済ませ、晴れて今年から「お習い事」である。Drop-inといってそのつど料金を払うタイプのものもあり、去年体操に連れて行ったらこれもよかった。4ドルで一時間インストラクターつきで、オリンピックサイズの体操用器具を使いながら色々教えてもらえるのである。行きやすさとプログラムの豊富さは本当にありがたい。

午後、楓は二度目のインフルエンザの予防接種であった。私たちは先月一度だけ。子供の法定予防接種は全て無料であるが、インフルエンザは普通は有料である。但し、老人とか、病院に勤める人、幼い子供のいる家庭等、無料で受けられる対象者のカテゴリーがあって、私たちは舞のおかげで無料であることを知り、受けに行ったのである。気の毒に楓は二度受けねばならず今日二度目を受けに行ったしだいである。いい子に注射を受けたらクッキーを買ってあげるからねーと約束して。保健局の建物に行き、舞のバギーを押しながらドアを開けていたら背後で「がっしゃあ～～ん」という音がして振り向いたら楓の目の前をかすめて屋根から大きな氷の塊が落っこちたところであった。当たらなくて良かったー。本人は何が起きたか理解していない模様であったので、そのまま何も説明せずに注射へ。

看護士のお兄さん（コテンコテンのイギリス訛り）と、前回舞以外の私たち全員に（舞は月数が足りないので接種できない）接種してくれたクリニックのおばさんが楓を担当してくれて、楓は私のひざに乗り、お兄さんが予防接種やその副作用の説明をしてくれたあとで、お兄さんが虫の指人形の触覚の間にコットンのきれっぱしを乗っけて、「これをふぅーーーって吹いて～」と楓に言い、楓が吹き飛ばしている間におばさんが注射。楓はクリニックにつくや否や「楓、これ、しなくていい～」（前回何が起こったか覚えていた）と尻込みしていたが今回も泣かずに終わる。お約束のクッキーは、そばの喫茶店で。カウンターの上に乗っかっている脚つきのガラスの入れ物の中に積んである三種類のクッキーから「これ」と選び（半分チョコレートにつけた直径12センチ、1.5センチ厚のピーナッツバタークッキー）、「牛乳も、いるー！あっためてくれるー？」私はカフェオレ。

帰る前に図書館に寄ったら、貸し出しにいたお姉さんもコテンコテンのイギリス訛りで、「t」がよく聞こえないタイプのしゃべりかた、、、映画Four Weddings and a Funeralでヒュー・グラントのルームメートの女の人がいるでしょう、ああいうやつ。これをやられると半分も理解できないのだ。

舞は、今まで食事時は一緒に座っているだけだったが、先週くらいから味見をさせてやっている。味見といっても舐めさせるだけ。お箸の先でお味噌汁やお汁粉半滴とか、スナップエンドウや梨の切り口とか、お茶をお匙でちょっとずつとか。そうしたら、だんだん不満になってきたらしく、食事時にわーわー大騒ぎをするようになってしまった。母乳だけでぽてんぽてんに太って巨大だし、まだ足りてるはずだから、来月まで待ってね～。

Shiwasu

December already. This year went by in a whirl. Too quick! I feel like I am saying this every year.

Mai started to do raspberry a few days ago. She'd be sitting in her bouncy chair and goes "bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb" with her eyebrows slightly tense. She seems to know her action cracks us up. She watches us break into laughter and repeats it.

Last weekend we did not go skating but instead Kaede made snowmen with our landlord.

舞は「ぶぶぶぶぶぶ」をやるようになった。バウンシーチェアに座ってまじめな顔をして眉を少ししかめて口にぐっと力を入れて「ぶぶぶぶぶぶぶぶ」。入れ歯をなくした爺さんが口を引き結んでいるみたいに小さな丸い顔がきゅっと中心に集まるからなんともおかしい。自分のやってることが人を笑わせるということを知っているらしく、楓も含めてみんなが笑い崩れる様子を見て、またやる。

先週は大家さんと雪だるまを作りたくてスケートに行かなかった楓だが今週は行った。滑り終わって私がスケートを返しに言っている間に、楓は自分でズボンをスカートに履き替えて待っていた。それを見ていた小学校中学年くらいの遠視のめがねをかけた男の子が、「この子、頭いいじゃない。何歳？へえ、三歳！それで自分で着替えられるなんて大したもんだよ。僕のいとこはね、五歳になるけど、まだ着替えさえ自分で出来ないんだよ。この子は、頭いいね。」

「ありがとう」とは言ったものの、相手が子供でも、気の利いたコメントをいえないのが私。何かうまいことを言えてもいいもんだと思うし、向こうもそう思っているかもしれないと思うんだけれど、諸刃の剣になっても困るし、「ああそう」「へえー！」「なるほど」以外に何を言ったらいいのか考えてるうちにタイミングを逃してしまう。先日もモールのトイレで長居をしていた楓が（家でも、トイレで長居をするときはいつもやたらに饒舌で、人に一緒にいるよう強要して、関係のないことをしゃべりまくる）英語で数を数えているのを隣で聞いていた人が、「何歳？三歳！それでそんなによくしゃべるの！本をよく読んであげたんでしょ？ああ、やっぱりね！私もね、最初の子はどうしたらいいかわからなかったから何もしなかったけれど二人目にはお腹の中にいるうちから本を読んでやったり歌を歌ってやったりしたら、とても頭のいい子になって、今じゃ学年を一つ飛ばしたのよ。私は五人子供がいるの。１３で最初の子供を生んで、それから毎年一人ずつ。一番上の子は１１になるのよ。」・・・それは素晴らしい！と一つ学年を飛ばしたあたりで相槌をはさむ以外にどうしようもなかった。社交的な楓は誰とでも話そうとするし誰にでも愛嬌を振りまく。話べたで人見知りの私は、はっと気がつくと奥歯に石が挟まっているような感覚で口が麻痺している上に全身ぶきっちょにしか動かせないような気分で、ひどいときは緊張から汗をかいていることもある。気の利いた会話、相槌、、、こういうのは、やっぱり、性格だなあ。どんなに努力しても手に入れられない。私には、アルケイックスマイルを浮かべて害にならないように相槌を打つだけで精一杯である。

Rain, rain, rain

Thanksgiving in Canada is over, Halloween is over, and so, as Kaede often (like several times a day) says, the next is Christmas.

It is very dark... it's the season of "keeping the lights on during the day." But thanks to the heavy cloud, it is not freezing cold.

We go to ice-skating every Saturday and Kaede can now slide on the ice. She runs in tiny steps and slides with both feet. She now moves around quite quickly, and chasing after her is hard if there are many people around. Sometimes she turns around, trying to imitate other kids who are showing off their skating skills. I look at them in awe, too. I can go forward and backward, but spinning like that! And Kaede, being 3 years old, nothing is impossible, so she can imitate. Being 12 times her age, I can't, unless I am ready to twist my ankle.

Slugs weren't the only visitors during the rainy season, after all. The other night my husband heard this growling and weird throat clicking (like the ailen makes in the movie "The Signs") in the pitch-dark backyard when he went to put the garbage out, and when the motion sensor light turned on, it was a raccoon. He called me and I went to see, then we heard more noise in the tree in the corner and 3 small ones turned up. They came out in the yard, completely ignoring us, munching on things on the ground. Then a few nights later I went to put the garbage out and I heard "Hey! You scared me!" in an animal voice (I can't find a proper verb to explain the sound it made). It was the raccoon family again. Hey YOU scared ME! We humans are not good in dark. The photo is from the end of October.

写真は１０月終わりのもの。夜ゴミを捨てに出た夫が私を呼ぶので、行ったらアライグマが庭にいた。真っ暗な中でうなり声や妙な声がするので最初は犬かなんかがいて襲われたらいやだなと思ったそうだ。がさがさ音がして次々に小さいのも現れて、全部で四匹、アライグマの親子であった。人のことはてんで無視して地面に落ちているものをもぐもぐ食べて、じきにもと来た方へ戻っていった。その二、三日後に私がゴミを捨てに出たら「驚いたなもう！」（としか言いようがない）動物の警戒したうなり声が真っ暗な正面３メートルくらいのところからしたもんでこっちが飛び上がってしまった。アライグマファミリーであった。大家さんはモーションセンサーの明かりをつけているが、それがつくまでは本当に真っ暗で、月明かりがなければほとんど何も見えないのだ、人間には。

アライグマで思い出したが、夏に車の脇にもさもさ枝を伸ばしてきたお隣さんの茂みを刈っていた夫が茂みに巣を作っていたスズメバチにさされ、その話を大家さんにしたら、早速お隣さんに話に行ったのが見えて、ずいぶん話し込んでいる。それを見て「通じてなさそうだなあ」と助けに行った夫が今度は戻ってこない。だんだん話す声も人の数も増してくるようだ。突然夫が懐中電灯を取りに（真昼間なのに）戻ってきて、すぐ出て行き、なにやら楽しげなわあわあ言う声がしてきて、そのうち「やったー！」「いぇーーい！」と歓声があがった。あとで一部始終を聞いたら、大家さんを助けに行ったら、「なに？アライグマの巣がうちのどっかにある？」という話に（大家さんは英語はできるが得手ではない。多分通じないので「しましまがある」とか何とか言ったんだろう）なっていたので、スズメバチだという話をして、始末してくれることになった。その横でティーンエイジャーの息子たちとなにやら車をいじっていたお向かいさん（お向かいさんには甥っ子も含めて男の子が４人だかいて、車がやたらにたくさんあり、いつもみんなでいじっている）が、困っているようなので「どうしたの？」と聞いたら、車の修理をしていて、鍵をエンジンの上に置いたままボンネットを閉めてしまった。あけようとしてもドアも鍵がかかっていてにっちもさっちもいかない。ということだったので、夫もお隣さんも喜んで加勢して、針金のハンガーを持ってきて、懐中電灯で照らしながら、みんなでこじあけにかかった。そして、あいた！ので、「やったー！」という歓声になったわけ。風吹いて桶屋が儲かる、じゃなくって、何？こういうの。

Already October

Last Saturday, we went skating again, and mentioned about the overcharge last time (mentioned in the Japanese part, the guy wouldn't pay me back, but said “We'll make up to you next time! We'll remember you!”), and guess what? They let us skate free this time! Luuuuucky! Kaede was very very happy, too, for the rink attendant held her hand and skated for a while. The weather has been unusually nice this fall. I love the crisp autumn air. We are still eating mini tomatoes, zucchinis and some beans from the garden. Kaede ate the very last raspberry last week. It was there, as if by mistake, radiant like a piece of jewel in the autumn sun, hanging onto a wilting stalk.

This weekend is Thanksgiving in Canada. We are going to have Japanese autumn feast on one of the days, and turkey dinner on another.

Mai is sleeping long hours at night all of a sudden. Hopefully she will continue to do that.

先週の土曜日も、スケートに行ってきた。受付嬢に、「先週お金を余分に払っちゃったんだけど・・・」と念のためレシートを見せたら、何とただにしてくれた。気分良いじゃないー！地元って感じで嬉しかった。おまけに、監視員のお兄さんが楓の手を引いてしばらく滑ってくれたので楓は大、大、大満足であった。

ずっとお天気が続いていて嬉しい。お庭ではまだミニトマト、食用ほおずき、ズッキーニ、あとお豆が少し、取れる。今年最後であろうラズベリーも、先週、枯れつつある枝にぽつんと宝石のようについているのを一粒見つけた。もちろん、楓が食べた。イチゴもまだ極ちいさーいのが極たまーになっている。もちろん、楓が食べる。

今週末はカナダは感謝祭だ。一日は和食、一日はカナダ人の友達の家に招かれている。

舞は突然、夜長く寝るようになった。これが続けば良いな。

秋！

English at the bottom.

舞は一ヶ月検診でなんと５６００グラムであった。これってパーセンタイルで言うと１００以上らしい。どでかベビー。楓が赤ん坊のころ、大抵実際より２ヶ月は大きく見られたものだけれど、この子はさらに大きい。楓はおまけにピンクだ、リボンだ、蝶々だ、花柄だ、という服を着せても「この子何ヶ月？」と聞かれるときは常に「He」で聞かれた。生まれたときからお相撲さんとか柔道家みたいだったからなあ、、、太ってるというより、がちっとしていて皺も少なかった。舞はその点、もう少し柔らかそうに見える。楓は３歳の今も相変わらずがっちりしてるが、着るものといえばドレスやスカートばっかり着たがり、やれお姫様だ、リボンだ、ピンクだ、とこてんこてんに少女趣味である。

先週、毎年恒例のちょうちん祭りに行った。これまで４回行ったがよく晴れたのは今回が初めてで、芝生がぬかるんでいなかったせいか、展示も多かった。楓もドラムサークルに参加したりして随分楽しかったみたい。

幸いお天気が良い日が続いていて、雨降りでどんよりと暗い秋冬の天候にまだ突入しないでいてくれている。雨は嫌いではないし、この地域の自然の素晴らしさを保つには必要なのであるが来る日も来る日も暗くて雨ばかり降って、外出するにも不便で目にする生き物というとナメクジばかりというのはさすがに気が滅入るから、少し先延ばしになっているのは素直にありがたい。

スケート場も先週から開いて、それを見つけた楓は行きたくて夢中になっていたので、早速今日行ってきた。前にも書いたけれどあのスケート場に平日いる変人のおっちゃんと受付嬢（おばちゃん）が今日はいて、というか受付嬢は人がいるのに目もくれずほかの事をやっていていなくなっちゃうし、おっちゃんは間違って余分にお金を取っちゃって、「来週埋め合わせするから！」と返金してくれないし。なんじゃそりゃ。面白いからほんとに埋め合わせてくれるか来週試してみよう。

At the 1-month checkup, Mai was 5600G. This is above 100 percentile. She is enormously big.

Went to the skate rink today. First time this season. Kaede was so excited. The weather has been nice, and as much as I know that the long rain is necessary to keep the natural beauty of this area, I am grateful that it is not raining. I mean, I don't despise rain, but thinking of day after day of gloomy and dark sky with no animals but slugs -- needless to say the inconvenience and hassle associated with the bad weather when I have to go out with small children -- a bit of delay is most welcome.

The lantern festival was last weekend. This was the first time in 4 years that it really cleared up and the lawn was not muddy-damp, so the exhibition was the biggest we'd seen there. Kaede enjoyed the drum circle. There were two groups performing, and Kaede sneaked in and sat on the chair to pound on the drum in both groups.

Good-bye summer

The brilliant and glorious Lower Mainland summer is ending... Maybe it is my postpartum depression, but it makes me sad to see this summer go. It has been a very special summer. We did a lot this summer. Went to Japan (not that I enjoyed it, but nonetheless it was a big event), Seattle trip, camping trips, beaches, short driving trips, etc., etc., lots of fun and memorable activities under the blue sky, with Kaede being our only child, then, the baby came. Yes, a few hours after the last entry the baby Mai was born. August 11th, 4:54AM, 3969G, 51CM, no medication, close-to-third-but-not-quite second degree tear, loss of quite a lot of blood. She is a big eater like her older sister was. However we get frustrated over sleep deprived nights, it has been a pleasure to have her along.

First time I suffered endless pain all over my body, the tear, of course, was miserably painful for a whole month, then needle-pricking pain from breast infection (twice over the first two months) which made it impossible for me to even cuddle with baby Kaede, tendonitis in both wrists... But, this time around, with our second baby, as I was told by many people, I feel easier and we are managing it better. I guess it is a sheer fact of being used to having a creature referred to as a baby. And, most of all, thanks to my husband, who is doing everything other than breastfeed the baby, I am recovering steadily.

Kaede as a big sister is great. She was absolutely thrilled to have the baby come, since she was waiting for her arrival for a looooong time. Nowadays when she comes home from the daycare she goes straight to where the baby is. Right now Mai is not quite a playmate so all Kaede does is to cuddle, kiss, touch and talk to Mai. Sometimes I catch Kaede pressing down on Mai's nose, I guess just to see how she reacts, when I told Kaede that was not nice and Mai started crying Kaede felt terrible and I had two crying kids, that was noisy, I tell you. But once Mai starts sitting up, it will be fun for her to play with her older sister.

Waiting

So, we are waiting. Probably in a few hours, I think, we are leaving for the hospital... which I thought a few hours ago... So I hope I am not hoping the same thing in a few hours. Second time is supposed to be shorter but it seems like it's taking more time than the first time. It started in the late afternoon and now it's close to 2 am. I baked nan for dinner (yummy curry, thanks to my husband) and even pecan bars at about 11 pm, for our midnight (or during-the-labor) snack. When the contraction comes it is pretty painful but compared to the first time not as much. Is this because this is my second labor, or because the contraction is too weak, I have no idea. Oh, BTW, I am using Japanese pocket warmer this time. This one is self-adhesive and currently attached inside my T-shirt at my lower back. This eases the pain tremendously.

待っているが進まないお産。多分進んでいない。２時間くらい前にもう少ししたら病院に行かなきゃなあと言っていたのが今同じことを言っている。二度目だから短いはずが一度目より時間がかかっているような。午後遅くに始まって、夕食用にナンを焼いて（夫が美味しいカレーを作ってくれた。。。バターチキンもどき。久々に美味しい！って感じのカレーを食べた）、１１時ごろには気を紛らわすためにピカン・バーを夜食・おやつ用に焼いて、余裕、なんだけど、痛みは来たり遠のいたり。今午前二時近くである。歩くといいのだが何時間もそうしていて疲れてしまったので今座っている。座ると確かに遠のく気がするなあ。ところで今回はカイロを腰の低いあたりに貼っている。これがすごい痛みの緩和になる！一度目にもこれをやってたらよかったなあ。

Summer Garden

This photo was taken on July 9. We grew snow peas, green peas, and broad beans in the background, and tomatoes, zuccinis, raspberries (we could eat quite a lot this year, looking forward to next summer!), blueberries (6 pieces in total... compared to the raspberry, the growth is very slow), strawberries, some herbs in the front. Our green thumb landlord is doing lots of long beans (very yummy) this year again, some flat beans (yummy) another kind of bean (white), etc., etc., and his grapes and Asian pears are looking good as well. No pumpkins this year, though. Also, there are lots of Chinese lantern plants, unlike Japanese ones these are edible, the fruit is quite tasty. Kaede's another favorite.

The leaves of snow peas are now brown and we need to pull them out. Now zuccini is in season. It's kinda sneaky, because of the big leaves. Sometimes we find these huge pieces lying on the ground, though we check it everyday. They grow big overnight, too. Vegetables from garden have been coloring our table ever since the first summer we moved here. One of my top favorite things about this house.

写真は７月９日に撮ったものである。今年はさやえんどう、グリーンピース、ソラマメを写真でいうとバックグラウンドになっている部分に育て、手前には去年から植わっているラズベリー（かなり収穫が増えた）、ブルーベリー（６粒収穫、ラズベリーの勢いに比べるととってものんびり屋さん）、いちご（初夏と、また今になって少し収穫、見かけや色は悪いけど味は良い、甘い）に加え、ズッキーニ、トマト、ハーブが育っている。さやえんどうはもう葉っぱが茶色くなり、今日明日にでも引っこ抜く予定。今はズッキーニが旬で、大きい葉っぱに隠されているのと、一晩で大きく育つこともありたまに巨大なのが転がっていて驚く。ミニトマトもやっと赤くなってきた。あと、ほおずきの一種で、大家さんが去年食べさせてくれたのが、強いので今年は庭中に芽が勝手に出てきて、実をつけだした。これは日本のと違って食べると美味しい。黄色く熟した実はどことなくメロンのようなキウイのような、割りにリッチな味。楓のお気に入りである。

緑の指の大家さんは今年も長い豆だのきゅうりだのを沢山育てていて、「食べごろだから摘め」と言ってくれ、喜んで摘ませてもらっている。中国レタス（ちょっと火を入れても、生のままサンドイッチにしても美味しい）もつやつやとしてるし、ブドウ（今年は沢山実がついている）や、幸水に似た梨も、太ってきてて楽しみ～（ずうずうしい）。残念なのは今年はかぼちゃがないこと。採れすぎるし場所も取りすぎるのでもてあましたのかな。結構良いおかずになるんだけどな。

先日、インターネットで調べてみたら、この辺は秋、冬でも畑が出来るらしいので、ソラマメを引っこ抜いたところに肥料を少し足して、ほうれん草とバジルの種を撒いてみた。生えてくるかなー。みみずや虫やなめくじにもあんまりおどろかなくなった。

この家に越してから毎夏、食卓にお庭の野菜が登る。今の暮らしの嬉しさの１つである。

Rain

English at the bottom.
最近は夜あまり眠れない。お腹が重くて寝返りが打てず、トイレも近いので年中目を覚ますからである。今回の子供は楓のときみたいに私の寝る姿勢に文句をつけない（楓のときは横向きになろうとする度に猛烈な勢いであばら骨を蹴られた）ので、それでも楽なのであるが。このところ、お腹に巨大な水風船を入れて歩いているようで、いつ爆発するかわからない感じ。

今朝は珍しく雨が降った。昨日の夜はEnglish Bayの花火、中国代表の日であった。この花火、バンクーバー近郊にとっては夏の大イベントで、ダウンタウンに見に行ったこともあるが車も電車もぎゅうぎゅうになり、道も祭り時の浅草並みになるほど所狭しと人が集まる。そんなこんなで小さい子供づれで行くには危険だし、日暮れが遅いので10時ごろ始まるから、ガラの悪い連中や酔った若者もいっぱいなので行かなかったのであるが、今年は、近所の山から見える！ことに気づき、遠くからではあるが楽しんだ。お出かけ大好きの楓は昼寝をさせて、「花火を見に行くよー」を釣り餌に、夕食、おふろ、歯磨きを済まさせて（いつもはこれが寝る前の準備なのですごくのろのろして渋るがこういうときはとっても協力的）車で10分ほどの住宅街へ。Burnaby Heightsというエリアで、小高い丘の上にある。夫の大学があるBurnaby Mountainにも公園があって、西への見晴らしは非常に良いのであるが、水曜（水曜と土曜に二週間にわたって計四回花火がある）に行ったら、もうぎゅうぎゅうの行列、車も停められないし、10時間際になると警察が出て、交通整理をしており、公園へ入る道はブロックされている状況だったので、そのそばで以前アパートを探して走り回ったことのあるHeightsに行ってみたら見晴らしもよく人も沢山来ているのを発見した次第である。従って昨日はそちらへ直行した。半そでに長袖を重ね長ズボンを履いていたがそれでも寒かった7月末である。

It was raining a bit this morning. No wonder it was sort of chilly last night. We went out to Burnaby Heights area to see the fireworks. It is one of the BIG events during summer of Vancouver area, which takes place in English Bay, so lots of people jam into the downtown area. Cars line up, the train is packed to the level of Japanese commuting trains, and the streets look like festival-time Asakusa (well, maybe a bit less, but if you know Tokyo, you'd know the magnitude of "packedness" of this). It starts at 10 p.m. (yes it wouldn't get dark enough to begin at this high latitude), hence, naturally, there are lots of bad languages and drunk people around. So it is kind of dangerous to bring small children. We love fireworks but we have avoided going there, then this year, we realized that from Burnaby Mountain, where my husband's university is, we have a very good view of the west, to the bay. Last Wednesday (there are 4 shows in total, each on Wednesday and Saturday for two weeks), we went to Burnaby Mountain Park located to the west of the university, which has a clear view of downtown area, and it was already PACKED. The police came around 10:00 and blocked the road as well. So we went to Burnaby Heights, where we once hunted for an apartment, then lots of people were standing on the streets to enjoy the show. We went straight to the same street yesterday. It was far, but we did enjoy the shows nonetheless.

I haven't slept well these days. Because of the weight of my stomach, I can't turn my body during the night and I have to pee often. Still, it is easier this time than when I was carrying Kaede, who protested very specifically to how I position my body during the night (she would kick me really hard in the ribs if I slept on my side). I feel like carrying a huge water balloon in my stomach which can explode any time.

Key

Today (rather yesterday, since it is past midnight) we went to Point Roberts, American land only accessible via Canada. We have wanted to check it out just to see what it's like, and so we did today, because it was going to be a hot day, especially away from the ocean. There are beaches in Point Roberts, and the area is also home to several pods of orcas. Turns out it was a nice little area (though it took 45 minutes to cross the border). Not too many people either. We sat at the beach and Kaede and my husband had a dip in the water, There was a nice breeze going through, so though the sun was strong it did not feel that hot. We forgot to take our camera with us so there is no photo...

We went to the Strait of Georgia side, so the wave was quite strong. But on the Boundary Bay side when we went to check out the rest of Point Roberts, we found that the wave was very calm and the water clear, there were lots of people swimming there. We checked out the beach in Tsawaassen on the same side, and the beach was shallow and water nice and warm, where lots of people flock around to swim.

These weekends we are trying to go to as many places we'd never been as possible. We have a car now and the baby is due anytime, so if I feel up to it we go out. My husband happens to have a master key for the car though recently I'm the one who's a primary driver. His driving has become increasingly scary lately, (sort of spacy) one day he turned onto the wrong side of the rode which scared a heck out of me, so at 9-month pregnant I told him off the wheel. But he's still the one to load up the car and uses the key frequently, for the trunk. Then in a week, TWICE, he left the key inserted into the trunk key hole. So today I told him to attach it to his key-holder with the house keys before permanently losing it. Then he left the whole thing on the trunk today.

So this eveneing after dinner, I patched up the trunk key hole. I haven't told him yet. I'm not going to either. He'll find it out. He often gains these weird habits of leaving something on, completely oblivious, and it takes time for him to be corrected. For example, shortly before we came to Canada, he gained this habit of forgetting to stop the tapwater in the bathroom. No matter how and what I tell him he forgets. So I finally, after several months, stopped telling him but came up with an idea to put a paper up with "TAP" in red ink on the bathroom mirror and each time he forgot I drew a drop of water on it. When the paper was full, I would put up another sheet. It took several more months but the incident did reduce and finally gone.

One of the reasons he does this is because he is not watching what his hands (or other bodily parts, for that matter... He did actually injure me once by stepping onto my calf) are doing. That's why I never trust him around me in the kitchen. If you don't want to get injured, or whatever unpleasant like, get splashed with dirty greasy water or hot pot flinging onto you or kitchen knife flying in front of your eyes, stay out of his way. He is not looking. Sometimes he flings Kaede around and bonk her in the head, face, toe, leg, ankle, hand, back, you name it, to table legs, ceiling, bookshelf, floor, you name it. I have always had to watch him, but really, it is impossible to follow up everything. I'm trying to think about how I can get rid of his newly-gained reckless driving (been that way, though improved once, but gotten worse lately) and "leaving the key behind" habits. Sigh.

Berry picking

Went berry picking today, to Delta. Nice sunny day, not too hot.
The thing is if you go in the afternoon, there are not much left, but nonetheless, we are night owls, so ended up going in the afternoon anyways, after visiting a friend in the area for lunch. But there were lots of people there as well. Kaede conked out in the car on the way home and wouldn't even wake up for dinner. She ate lots while picking, and the rest of the time she was playing in the sand (the road leading to the patches was sandy).

We picked about 2 bucket (4L) full of blueberries and raspberries each. Gave some to our landlord family and Kaede's buddy family. The rest, well, I have to think of something. So first one to try was blueberry cobbler. I think we will end up freezing some.

When I pulled out the cobbler from the oven, my husband uttered "... oh, that's ... Goblin!"after apparently searched for a word that sounds similar in his head.

今日はベリー摘みに行ってきた。デルタというBCの南にある町で、アメリカに近い。野鳥の保護区がある島があるのだが、そこは夏はベリーなどの畑が続いている。本当は日も高くない午前中に行くほうがいいものも沢山あるのだがそこは出るのが遅くなりがちな私たち、どうしても午後になる。今日は友達をランチに訪ねてから行ったのでどちらにしても午後だったけど。

沢山の人が来ていて、楓は同じくらいの年の子供たちと何となく交流してみたりしながら摘んでは食べて、飽きたら砂地の脇道で腹ばいになって砂遊びをしていた。ベリーはおのおの、入れ物を持って畑に入り、帰りに目方で買う。１ポンド１ドル２５セント、４リットル入るバケツにブルーベリーとラズベリーを二杯ずつくらい摘んで、２０ドル弱。帰りの車の中で「何か食べたい！」と言って摘んだベリーを食べたと思ったらかっくんと眠ってしまい、家についても夕食にも起きずにそのまま眠ってしまった。

大家さんと楓の遊び友達家族におすそわけして、残りは何にしよう・・・と頭を楽しく悩ませているところ。ジャム、冷凍、ケーキ、カスタードでパイかタルトみたいのもいいな。料理本やインターネットを調べてとりあえず、ブルーベリーコブラーを作ってみた。コブラーは色んな果物で作れて、りんごとか桃とかのがよくある。オーブンから取り出したのを見ていた夫が「あ、これは・・・ゴブリン。」（ちなみにゴブリンgoblinって小悪鬼のことである、念のため）煮たような語彙を探した結果、こぼれたらしい。

Beads

When I made the bed yesterday, I found a big pine cone between the sheet and blanket. Today I found bunch of big plastic beads. When, how, and what possessed Kaede to do these, I never ｋnow. For now, I find these "leftovers" of her thinking process and action results very cute.

Last weekend we spent in WA state. Nice weather, despite of the weather forecast. Kaede was so very happy, for this was our first family trip (the trip to Japan was not exactly our family trip... we hardly went out together, either). She tremendously enjoyed the Mariners' game, all the (junk) food, ocean, ferry ride, the motel stay, and what not. It was a fun weekend for us, too.
The photo is the beach at Port Townsend. They have the best ice cream place I've been so far.

週末はワシントン州で過ごした・・・久しぶりの家族旅行（日本帰国は家族旅行っぽかったのは飛行機だけ、、、何しろ家族でのんびり出かけるということもろくになかった）とあって楓はものすごく幸せそう、嬉しそうだった。写真はワシントン州のPort Townsendという町にある海浜公園で。ここにあるアイスクリーム屋さんは今まで食べた中で最高に美味しい！シアトルにマリナーズの試合を見に行ったのである。楓は野球も、ジャンクフードも、フェリーも、全て楽しんでいたようであった。私たちも楽しかった。

昨日ベッドを直していたらシーツと毛布の間から松ぼっくりが、今日は大きなプラスチックのビーズが沢山、出てきた。いつ、どうやって、どうしてそういうことをするつもりになったのか一生分からないだろうけど、今の楓の年齢の、こういう「残骸」は何だかすごく可愛く感じる。

Already June

Right. From the last entry, it's already been 2 1/2 months. I should get back to writing more. My lame excuse would be, Kaede became sick in April, which naturally was passed onto me, from which I was sick for almost an entire month. It was quite intense, and there is no medication given to a pregnant woman. I finally understood why people can die from catching something as simple as a cold. Moreover, I lost my voice for the first time in my life, and couldn't utter a sound for nearly 3 weeks.

In the middle of all that, we went to Japan for six weeks until June 13. Glad to be back. (Glad to have my voice back, too; when I ordered milk in my snake-like hiss for my daughter on the plane to Japan, the flight attendant brought cranberry juice. Couldn't protest it either.) In the first 4 weeks, I was either sick or trying to recover. And when I was able to get up, I was cleaning, too. Cleaning the house I grew up, cleaning the house my husband grew up. Anyway, it's a long story, so I won't start, but only this: when we visited my in-laws' neighbor, we found out their kids (our age) do the same thing: clean the house whenever they come back. Anyhow, it was good to take Japanese bath. That was it for me. It was good for Kaede to see her relatives in Japan. She gained lots of Japanese, too. Right now, if she gets to be asked something in English (or Chinese), she understands what's been told, but she replies in Japanese.

The trip was due to my husband's research in Japan. He was all over -- Tokyo, Kamakura, Tanba, Kyushu. Everywhere he went, he was treated like a V.I.P. and hence had a great time (with lots of dinner invitations, drinking sessions, etc.). His thesis paper SHOULD be GOOD (otherwise...)!!! Kaede missed him while he was away, and being a daddy's girl to begin with, doesn't want her dad out of her sight now. Her daddy's fun quasi-bachelor life is over, ha ha.

The photo is Kaede's first "Okosama Lunch" (kid's menu in Japan... quite a special thing. Used to come with a flag on top of fried rice, but recently it seems to be replaced with a toy).

最後のエントリーから随分時間が空いてしまった。こりゃよくない。もう少しちゃんと書く癖をつけねば。写真は、楓の日本初のお子様ランチである。羽田空港にて。

かなりの時差ぼけである。日本への６週間の旅行から昨日(１３日）帰ってきた。日本のお風呂は良い・・・特に妊娠していると、あの深さの素晴らしさが身にしみて良い。何しろ、臨月も近づいてくると重くてたまらないわけで、それが３０分でも解放されるのは極楽である。こちらのお風呂じゃ、お湯を張って、寝そべって（これがまた大変）体を半分ずつ（向きを変えるのがまた大変）つけて、どうにかして重さから解放されようとするけれど、日本のお風呂だったら、快適な温度に自動調整されたところへ浸かるだけ。極楽、極楽。

楓は今のところ、英語（や中国語）で話しかけられると分かるらしいが、日本語で答える。６週間の間に大分成長した上に語彙も増えた。親戚に会わせられて良かった。大阪の妹の家でも１週間過ごさせてもらったが、それも相当楽しかったらしく、東京に戻ってから「おじちゃん」と電話でしゃべろうとしたら泣き声になってしまい、そのあとも、ことあるごとに妹家族のことを一人一人、名を連ねては、「いないねえ」とか、「一緒に遊ぶ」とか、「一緒に○×に行く」と言っている。そもそもこの旅行は、夫の研究のために戻ったのであり、夫は日本をあちこち移動して取材していた。東京、鎌倉、丹波、九州・・・そしてあちこちでとてもよくしてもらい、丹波と九州は久しぶりの独身生活を満喫したらしい。楓はお父さんっ子なので、寂しかったらしく、２週間いなかった夫が東京に戻ったあくる朝、目を覚ますなり楓は隣に夫を見つけて第一声が「おかあさん！おとうさん、かえで、きた！」（まだ助詞がかなり怪しい）。それ以来、自分の目の届かないところに夫が行くとすごく不安になるらしく、油断なく見張っている。

まあでもとにかく、カナダに戻れて嬉しい。やっぱり我が家が一番！お庭の作物もすっかり成長して、緑の指の大家さんが見てくれていた豆類は豊かに実をつけだしている。困ったことにどこに何を植えたかよく思い出せない。風邪で朦朧としながらとにかく植えちゃえ！と種を撒いたので、できてのお楽しみというところか。

Last Weekend in March 2006

Already a quarter of 2006 is ending...

My husband is working (and struggling) on his papers. He's been working late and aside from occasionally taking Kaede to the daycare and going to the class, he stays in front of his computer pretty much.
Yesterday (Saturday) we went out to have some break. I fixed lunch and we went to a seaside (inlet) park near here. The weather was nice and the park has a nice sandy beach but very cold wind was blowing. In this park our landlord catches crabs. Fair enough when we went there there were people who were just hoisting up a trap.

日付が変わってしまった。土曜日はペーパーで缶詰になっている夫が気分転換したくなったということで、久しぶりにみんなでこのそばの海辺の公園へお握りのお弁当を持って出かけた。天気は割りに良かったし（お天気はこないだ一度晴れてからはまたずっとぐずついていて、今日もえらく寒かったし雨になった）、気持ち良さそうな砂浜のビーチがあるが、冷たい風が吹いておりあまりゆっくりした気分にもなれなかった。でも、楽しかった。カニが獲れるので、その公園はうちの大家さんがわなを仕掛けに来るところ。BCで釣り的なことをするにはライセンスが要る。カニ漁のはウォールマートで買えるそうだ。海辺の公園に着いた早々、やはりわなを仕掛けてる人たちがいて、あげているところだった。餌は鶏肉。小さいのが四匹。甲羅が165ミリ以上ないと獲ってはいけないと看板に書いてあり、その人たちは結構大きいのも逃がしていた。カナダのコーストガードがホバークラフトで出動して、小さい灯台の根元の修理をしにダイバーが出ていた。

So the result was...

So, there was no kimono on Kaede and no Tai-meshi, but there was a sea bream nontheless. We had a fun day...

In addition to a big dish with sea bream, I tried to make Ichigo-daifuku (strawberry with bean paste wrapped in sticky rice paste) for dessert. I found this easy recipe on the internet and tried it. Tested it before making dinner with half the amount first, half everything, including the time in the microwave. It's supposed to be knead with a wooden spatula after heated, I started kneading and the rice paste got tougher and tougher, eventually got stuck in the bowl. I couldn't get if off so I called my husband and it took two of us to get it off. I was supposed to wrap it around the strawberry and bean paste, but it was just too tough to shape it. I threw it on the cutting board, and cut it with a kitchen knife, then we hastily forced it flat, wrapped the strawberry (if I can call pulling a string of and forcing it over to cover partially as "wrapping") and threw it in our mouths. VERY chewy. Tasted OK. Kaede came along and wanted to try the rice paste. By this time, it was even tougher. She chewed on it and her jaws got stuck in it. I pulled it away frantically as she locked down her jaw. She's one tough girl. After she was finally separated from the piece of rice paste in my hand, my husband took her out for some shopping. She waved and tried to grin to me but her mouth still stayed shut. When she came home she was talking again. I wonder when she managed to swallow the thing.

The dinner was nice... a whole sea bream in Italian recipe, with a side of Italian rice cooked with lots of veggies. Then afterwards, I tried the sticky rice again. This time much less time in the microwave. It turned out OK, much softer and edible, but it was hard to handle... tasted good with strawberrys and bean paste, but the shape was bad. Maybe tomorrow...

Anniversary Dinner

Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary on the paper. We had our ceremony in May, but between us, our official anniversary date is March 3rd. I am trying to think about big dinner to celebrate, since March 3rd is also Girl's Day. I want to dress Kaede in Kimono.

In this area, really nice sea breams are available. Ever since I saw them in fish corners around town, I've been thinking about making big dinner. Meaning I've been only thinking for more than 3 years... One of the reasons I hesitate is the size. I mean, they're huge!!! Ones available in Japan are not that big. I want to make Tai-meshi (flavored rice with sea bream... yummmmm) but we just don't have such a big pot that fits the size.

But I am thinking of trying this time. If it is too huge, I will have my husband chop it in half. Why not do it myself? I don't want to mess with it because 1) I am pregnant and in the event if the fishy smell remains on any part of my body or clothes, that will drive me crazy for DAYS (though fresh fish are not likely to smell fishy...); 2) Sea breams have probably the hardest bones among edible fish and the less you mess with it the better the taste will be in the end (rule of thumb with any fresh fish) hence one blow of my husband would be much better than my several. ...Whatever. I don't want to do it!

If we happen to remember to take a photo of our dinner, I will upload it here sometime later... if successful.

Shiwasu

December already. Vancouver saw snow in November already. Kaede experienced her first sleigh ride at the daycare. I was buried under work.

Kaede wants to imitate everything we do. We take care of her, so she wants to take care of us and others. She acts like a wife to her buddy friend. Here's your monkey! Here's your rucksack! He is at the stage of "ooooooooooooooooooooo, don't touch anything that's mine!!!" so of course it enrages him. "Here!" "(Snatch!) NNNooooooo!!! Mine!" "Here!" "NNNNooooooooooo!!!!! Mine! Mine!!! Mommy!! Mom!! SCREEEEEEEAAAAAMMM!!!!!"

She would be there in the bathroom and gives me toilet tissue. Sometimes she wants to wipe my bum (of course she'd be gently pushed out, if she's insistent). When I have a cold and she finds any goo in my nose (from her height, adults' nostrils are just "holes to be observed"), "You have something in there?" and as she corners me, "Can I pick it?"

Slightly different thing but at the table, too. If my husband starts to gather things on the plate and clink, clank, clink, which is immediagely followed by CLINK, CLANK, BANG, BANG, SCRATTTCCCHH!!! "Kaede! Don't do that." "Daddy does." ".... Right. But that doesn't mean you can. Quietly gathe -" "But dad does, too." "Right. ... (Couldn't keep down a laugh,) Erm, ahem, and he shouldn't. You know, it's nice to do it quietly and wouldn't you want to be able to?" "Hee, hee, hee, but dad does, too." "You needn't imitate only the things you shouldn't. Now eat." And yes, she does and can eat quietly. It's what she chooses to imitate.

We have some good Miyazaki videos and Totoro, by far, is her favorite. We cannot show it to her because she researches and exactly imitates the way the main characters cry and chug the breakfast into the mouth. Things like that.

I am a bit stressed and burned out by the heavy workload. This is the first weekend in 2 1/2 months that I had some real rest. I worked straight through.

12月になってしまった。師走だ、しかももう半ばにさしかかろうとしている。年賀状だ、カードだ、と最近はあまり奔走しなくなったが、それでも、誰がメールが届かなくて、誰には書かなきゃ、とか気がせく。夫の学期は終わり、やっと少し仕事も落ち着いて、今週末は二ヵ月半ぶりに少しのんびりした。これまで週末もぶっ続けで働いていたから、疲労がたまって、全てを苛立たしく感じる傾向がいつもに増して、顕著だ。これは良くない。

11月の終わりにはもう雪が降った。この辺は暖かいので、雪自体あまり見ないが、カナダに来て3年、これが一番寒い冬である。楓は橇を初体験、雪が降った日のデイケアで、ついたら早速、橇に乗せてもらったそうだ。

何でもかんでもうまく真似するようになり、自分がされることは人にもやりたいらしく、大人のトイレにばっちり付き合って、紙を渡してくれたり、挙句の果てには「拭いたぃ？」（意思表示には「～たぃ？」とつける。）しょうがないので、「あっちに行ってて～！！」となる。風邪を引いて鼻をかんだりした後で、じっと見られてるなぁと思ったら、「何か入っちゃった？」にじり寄ってきて、「取ったぃ？」（取りたい）背の差からすれば、大人の鼻の穴は「観察する対象」だもんね。

ちょっと違うが、食卓での真似も、夫（物をせわしく動かす癖がある）がフォークとお皿でカンカン音をちょっとでも立てようものならすぐさま、がん！がん！カン！カン！ギキィィィィィィ！！！「やめなさい！」「...おとうさん　やるよ」「。。。そうね。だからといって真似しなくてよろしい」「でも　おとうさん　やるの」「（ぶ！と、つい吹き出しちゃう）。。。そうね、お父さんもやっちゃいけないんだけど、静かに食べるのが良いんだよ。静かに食べられるようになりたいでしょ？」「ウン。（ひひひひ）でもおとうさん、やんのーー」「変なことばかり真似しなくてよろしい。食べなさい。」

楓用にと、先日プラスチックの味噌汁用のおわんを買ってきたら、『となりのトトロ』で友達が迎えに来て急いで出て行こうとしたサツキが朝ご飯をかっ込むシーンがあり、それも喜んで真似し始めた。おわんを顔におっかぶせて、かっ込む動作をするので、「やめなさい！」というと「ととろ　さつき　すんの。」こちらは言葉を失う。

真似となると徹底しているから、アニメでも好きなのを繰り返し、繰り返し、見て、キャラクターの動作、声の出し方、シチュエーションを一部始終観察している。頂き物のハムスタークラブは、見ていてもほんわかしていて楽しいのだが、「きゃぁ～！！！」という叫び声を真似するので、見せるのをやめたし、トトロも、いい映画なのに、メイがなくところ、サツキが泣くところ、上記のご飯かっ込み、等々、ろくでもないところばっかり真似をするので仕方なしにリクエストがあってもこのところは見せていない。そういうわけで、最近のお気に入りは『魔女の宅急便』で、台所のほうきをやたらに持ち出しては「まじょ　の　まね」と言いながらまたがって走り回るようになった。ゴミが散らかるが、まあ、この程度はいいだろう・・・どっかから飛び降りない限り。

In the clouds

Right. I haven't updated my 10-year diary, organized nor uploaded our trip/event photos nor cleaned the drawer and boxes full of papers. In fact, too many things I promised myself to do have been floating in the air. They're gonna suffocate me pretty soon. It's foggy today in Vancouver area. Kaede and I took a walk outside and the chilly mist felt nice. I like moisture in the air. Kaede had a bit of fever last Thursday. It subsided next day but she has runny nose now. Coughs and sneezes occasionally. If I hear this wet sneeze I'm almost certain she's running to me for Kleenex, with snots hanging under her nose. Because she jerks around of course they'll drip all over. Recently she learned to wipe things on her clothes and this isn't an exception, if not for a big amount she is constantly wiping her nose with her sleeves. Kids are inventors. They come up with all these great ideas and carry them out which nonetheless bug the parents, consciously or unconsciously.

Kaede's new daycare, started last Monday, seems to be working great. In the last daycare she had to pee and poo in the pull-ups. She is completely off the diaper, so it was really stressful for her. She sometimes kept everything in and rushed to the toilet when she came home. At this daycare the lady brings Kaede to the bathroom and she gets to do the same way here at home. Lots of activities, lots of nice toys, crafts, nice yard, etc. Kaede comes home in a drunken state, soooo happy. And, this could be the only problem with any daycare, full, too. Snacks are provided. This time it is not junk food like the last daycare, so that's good, but it's called "open snack" where this tray with fruits, vegitables, crackers, cheese, salami, and so on is on the table and kids can nibble at will. We don't feed Kaede snacks at all, for she eats really well at mealtime. Well, used to. Now Kaede doesn't eat dinner much. The daycare lady told my husband (who usually drops/picks up Kaede, and asked her not to feed Kaede too much snack) "Oooh, yes, when I realized the tray was empty!" Kaede stays around and keeps eating, while watching other kids play and do silly things, until all the food is gone. Apparently she belongs to a rare type of kids who eat well and a lot.

I was offered a position with a raise. I'm not sure if I should take it. I hadn't had time to think about it until recently, I have been just downright busy. I'm totally overworking. I have to something about this.

Rain!!!

It's pouring down today. Still, in the morning, I took Kaede out for a walk. She has this cute raincoat and an umbrella in matching color that she's been desperate to use. So we geared up and set out in the rain. I think she walked about 1km, splashing in the puddles on the way. We took the bus home. Kaede was wearing her rain boots but she got wet in them anyway. My shoes got soaked. Almost all of my shoes are brought from Japan. So I've been wearing them for 4-5 years at least. A few of them close to 10 years. One pair of sneakers got cracked on the sole and everytime I walked I got wet last raining season, so I had to throw them away. I have only one pair of sneakers now and they have no grip so I must buy another pair pretty soon. My trecking boots got wrecked, too, apparently the glue on the sole gave way and the whole part came off. I still have them thinking one of these days I'll ask shoe repair person if they are repairable. I haven't yet, ha ha.

My husband is busy studying now that his class started this month. So I'm doing most of house errands. Thinking about meal menu and how I can wear Kaede out is my major task in my head, besides work. I prepare breakfast, thinking "What should I cook for lunch?" During lunch, "What's for dinner? What's in the fridge? What should I buy?" Before I sleep, "What do I have for breakfast?" And washing dishes. I feel like I'm washing dishes all day long. Cleaning the house and doing laundry are quite easy, they're routine. Aside from scrubbing and wiping, machines do the most part.

I'm thinking of taking Kaede to a skate link soon. If I look properly, there are numerous kids activities that I can go to with relatively small amount of money, so it's great. Especially when I have a kid like Kaede, whose energy is monsterous. She doesn't require much rest. For her to conk out at night, it needs playing at daycare, no nap, 2 hours of pool, playing in a park on the way home, kitchen help (play), bath and craft before bedtime. The other day I took her to baby-tot drop-in gym thing and she had a blast, though I had to kick her out after a while, because she was increasingly agitated at other kids and finally threw a ball at a baby. She's picked up this kind of behaviour lately. It was a very light, small plastic ball but it's not permissible, so I tied her up in the stroller and left. She cried and made a scene so the instructer was a bit worried. I hope Kaede behaves better next time (the tone of my voice here is rather pessimistic, by the way).

Early next month, we are flying　from Seattle to Rochester, then travel East Canada in the Ottawa-Montreal area. We are going to rent a car and do a big loop. I will have to work during the trip but still, it will be fun. I'm looking forward to it.

雨ーがざーざー降ってきて♪
今までの素晴らしいお天気の敵をとるかのように雨が猛烈に降っている。雨季の始まりですなあ。これから楓を表に連れ出すのも大変だ。今日の午前中は手始めにその雨の中、今まで楓の憧れだった傘を持たせ、おそろいの色のレインコートを着せて、雨具のズボンと長靴を履かせ、私も雨具をつけてお散歩に行ってきた。1キロ近く歩いたかな。楓は水溜りでばしゃばしゃやって、傘も重くてうまく扱えないけど前と違ってかなり長いことさして歩けた。それでも傘の内側もびしょびしょで、傘に描いてあるクマがぬれちゃった、と心配していた。帰りはバスで帰ってきた。楓の長靴の中も私の靴の中もぐしょぐしょになったけど、まあ、お散歩としては良かっただろう。私の靴はほとんどが日本から持ってきたものなので、最低でも4－5年は履いている。中には10年近く前から持ってるやつもある。スニーカーは二足あったけれど一足は靴底がぱっくり割れて、大分前に捨てた。今のスニーカーも靴底がつるつるなので、そろそろ買わなくちゃ。登山靴は、ある日靴底の糊がだめになったのかぺろっととれちゃって、修理が出来ないものか靴屋さんに聞こうと思ってそのままになっている。

夫は9月からクラスが始まり、勉強に忙しい。従って、家事はほとんど私がやっている。毎日、私の少ない脳みそは、どうやって楓を疲れさせるか、献立は何にするかを考えることに大部分が費やされている。寝る前に朝食何にしよう、朝食のときはお昼何にしよう、冷蔵庫に何があったっけ？何を買うんだっけ？等々。そして、尽きることのない皿洗い。。。一日中お皿を洗って、台所を片付けて、過ごしてる気がする。洗濯や掃除（拭いたり磨いたりする以外）は機械がやるので楽だし、やることも限られてるから、文明の利器はありがたい。

明日あたり楓をスケートリンクに連れて行こうと思っている。その気になって探せばいくらでも比較的安価に子供を遊ばせるアクティビティが見つかるので助かる。この先の雨季は特に。。。何しろ楓の体力は、午後までデイケアで遊び、プールで2時間泳がせ、帰り道で公園で遊ばせ、家でお手伝い（遊び）をさせて、お風呂のあと工作をさせて、やっと夜、コテンと寝てくれるレベルである。この先、雨の季節に時間をどう過ごさせるか考えるのが目下の課題である。先日自由参加の3歳までのジムに連れて行ったら、すごい楽しかったらしいが他の子供たちに対してあまり態度が良くなくて（最近、一緒にブランコしちゃダメと言ったりするような態度が出てきた）、ついに赤ちゃんにプラスチックのボールを投げつけたので途中で強制退場させた。ぎゃーぎゃー泣き叫んだけど有無を言わせずストローラーに縛り付けて、心配そうなインストラクターを後にして出てきた。次回は改まると良いんだけどな（期待薄）。

来月前半はシアトルからNYのロチェスターに飛び（カナダって航空券が高いのだ）、レンタカーをしてカナダに入り、オタワ・モントリオールのあたりを見てくる。旅行中、仕事はしなきゃいけないが、それでもとっても楽しみだ。

秋！

Photos of Lantern Festival and Miracle Beach.

I came down with Hand-foot-mouth disease this past week. I am recovering finally. Kaede gave it to me. She recovered almost instantly (like next day) but I am suffering from her consequences. Sounds like parenthood to me.

Here in Vancouver area it has been glorious with autumn chilly air (I simply love autumn).

外は秋の素晴らしいお天気で、空気はさながら気泡のない氷で冷やした湧き水を飲んでるときみたいな感じ。って、自分は美味しい冷たい空気をいつもこう感じるのだけど、言葉にして他の人に分かってもらえるか疑問ですね。他でもない東京でこれを感じることがあって、そういう時は東京っ子である自分がやたらに誇りに思えたりして、気分を高揚させますね、秋。子供のころから一年中で一番好きな季節です。

あー、やっと、タイプしててもおててが痛くない。なんで？手足口病にかかったから。ご存知？手足口病。子供の病気さ。東京でOLのころ同僚の人の子供のいっている保育園で「流行っている」という話を聞きながら「変な名前～！はっはっはっはぁ～、大人にゃ関係ないな」と思っていた。ところがどっこい、先週の木曜日、デイケアから高熱を引っさげて帰ってきた楓にうつされた。楓はほぼ1日でけろっと治り、下半身と足に突発性発疹のときみたいな発疹が出たから、二度目の突発性発疹か？（一応ヘルペスの型が二つあるので、なる子は二回なる）と思ったら、土曜からどうも私ののどが痛い。日曜は体中痛い、でも土曜はランタンフェスティバル（中秋節のお祭りをこっちで地元の小学校やアーティストが毎年ランタンを作って屋外展示する）に行ったし、日曜はスワップ・ミート（子供服の蚤の市みたいなもの。楓の冬服を仕入れてきた）に行かなきゃならなかったから、頑張って、日曜帰宅したら熱。38度くらいまであがり、口の中が痛くてたまらない。大きく開けられないので、のどの奥が真っ赤になっているのは見えた。で、月曜には指に痛いボチボチが出来てるではないか。やっと口が大きく開けられるようになった水曜くらいに懐中電灯で覗いてみたら、赤や白（口内炎）のボチボチが所狭しと出来ているではないか！あまりに見事なので夫に見せようと思ったら逃げられてしまった。足の指にもぼちぼちが出て、手のぼちぼちがたくさんに増えて、そして今日あたりはほとんどどこも痛くなくなった。まだボチボチの痕はあるけど・・・

写真は、ランタンフェスティバルとミラクルビーチのもの。良かったなあ、ミラクルビーチ。毎年行ってもいいくらいだわ。

Smoke

I thought it was really smoky these few days outside. Then I learned that the bog is burning. Burns Bog, a marshland near Vancouver, is the largest in North America as an undeveloped land mass in urban area. And it is burning. It's unnerving. This whole area is smoky, and ashes are coming down. On top of that, there are so little of those marshlands left on this planet.

Kaede's daycare started this month and I thought it was going well then we received a phonecall on Sunday, saying the care provider wants to change the condition and wants more money. She's been very shaky when it comes to condition and price, everytime we talked to her everything was different, and she didn't seem to remember her discrepancy. She seems to have trouble with short term memory and I thought she may have dyslexia, though great with kids. She didn't like me taking memos and wouldn't write, read or go over the papers in front of us, she always needs overnight or over a weekend. She's licensed, right near our house and everything, so we were letting it go until now. But this time we had enough.

Hopefully we find a good one soon.

バンクーバー郊外のバーンズ・ボグが燃えている。道理でこの2,3日表に出ると煙かったわけだ。我が家の庭に灰まで降ってくる。バーンズ・ボグは湿地帯で、北アメリカの市街地では最大の手つかずの自然が残っている場所である。野鳥の集まる場所として知られていて、実際、中に入る道も地図にはまともに載っていない。これが燃えている。ただでさえ減っているこういう湿地帯が燃えていると思うと落ち着かない気分だ。

楓のデイケアは始まって順調に言ってると思ってたらもともと少し言葉に問題のある保育士なんだが、2週間も経ってから条件と金額をまた違うことを言い出して、少し記憶障害とか難読とかありそうだけど子供の扱いは上手だし、近くだとここしかないからしょうがないかと思っていたけれどもこうなると話は別で、別のところを捜すことにした。色々頭を悩ますことは多い。おまけに楓に睡眠妨害されまくられて私はとうとう不眠症だし。困ったもんだ。

Autumn arrives

So it's September. Storms ravaged New Orleans and Kyushu. Hurricanes are not necessarily stronger than typhoons. It so happens they have different names. Weather's beautiful, Kaede's in daycare, alone in the house, working away. Type type type. I'm waiting for my jasmine tea to brew. Ah. My occasional oasis of the day. The Canadian summer is over. This year, the summer was short. Spring was weird and it drizzled right up til the end of July. Now, we have this divine autumn weather, where the air is cooled to perfection with the soft, nibbling sun. Soon it will be drench. In distance I hear hammering of the roof, which registers in my brain as thumping of air-dried futon. You have to grow up in Japan to know this sound. If I'm not paying attention to such noises, they register as something I grew up with, I guess.

.......... I think my tea is ready. Argh. Oasis ends. Here in this photo Kaede's washing vegetables. She loves to help in the kitchen, drags the chair to the counter herself and climbs on top to help.

楓が野菜を洗っているところ。「おりょーり、するー？」と言っては椅子を引っ張ってきてよじ登り、色んな手伝いをしたがる。

9月だ。遠くで屋根修理のひっぱたく音が聞こえる。意識していないと、布団たたきの音に聞こえるから不思議。外国にいるのにね。居心地が良いからかしら。日本で育った私の証明みたいなもんだ。夫は楓を連れてデイケアに行き、その足で学校へ教科書を見に行ったし、私は仕事中。外はすんばらしいお天気で、秋の滴るような完璧な冷たさの空気と、やわらかい太陽の光で満ちている。その中、この半地下でひたすらキーを叩いている。カナダの夏は終わった。春は妙に長引いて、7月終わりくらいまでずるずる雨が降って、寒かったから夏はすごく短かった。ジャスミン茶が出るのを待っているところ。そろそろ注いで、仕事に戻らなきゃ。あーあ。つまんない。

Miracle Beach

Right. I am brooding a little because, right after this golden, loaded-with-wonderful-memory weekend, I am working my brain out. And because, I cannot remember everything that we did this weekend. And it was such a beautiful weekend to remember!!! We went on a camping trip at Miracle Beach, Vancouver Island. You won't believe how nice it is out there, with shallow, sandy beach filled with crabs, gobloids (or whatever they were), clams and gentle seaweeds, where 2-year olds can spend their time in the afternoon sitting in the warm, gently rippling water or on the soft sand, playing for hours. In Canada, I might add. Kaede had so much fun floating, digging, piling, running, dipping, etc. etc. etc. that she cried when we headed back to the camp. We met up with our friends who live in Oregon and camped together. They have kids, too, 4- and 2-year old boys. Kaede was very happy to be with other kids, and adults for that matter, to play with. We left on Friday and came back today, meaning Sunday (I'm sure this shows up on Monday in the calendar) and even before we finished unloading the car we rented, I turned on the computer, and have been working ever since. I will upload photos later...

バンクーバー島のミラクルビーチというところにキャンプに行ってきた。黄金の、きらめくような週末の仕上げにもう翻訳仕事に没頭しているもんでつまらない（よってこうして脱線）。覚えていたい光景が多すぎて全部覚えていられない悲しみもひしひしと感じるし。後日、いつか自分のウェブサイトでも書くかもしれないけどこのビーチ、カナダにこんな遠浅の、2歳の子供が夏の午後何時間も遊べるような砂浜があるなんて想像もしなかった。かにやハゼがいたるところにいて、柔らかな海草が足をかすめたり、少し掘ればアサリがごろごろ出て来る、優しい砂のビーチ。楓は大喜びで、浮き輪に乗っかってふよふよしたり、砂を掘ったり積み上げたり、走り回ったり、大人が掘った穴にたまった水に入ってみたり、あんまり楽しいもんで、キャンプに戻ろうとしたら一度はお砂場道具をしっかり抱えて浅瀬を横切って砂の出ているところに戻ってしまい、座り込んで砂遊びを始め、行かなきゃいけないからと説得しても泣いちゃって可哀想だった。オレゴンに住んでいる友達と一緒にキャンプをした。そこも二人、4歳と2歳になる息子がいて、楓は遊べる子供（と大人）がいるもんで大ご機嫌だった。金曜に出て、今日（つまり日曜・・・カレンダーには月曜で登録されるだろう）帰ってきて、レンタカーから荷物を全部降ろす前に既にコンピュータをつけて仕事を始めた。あーあ。写真をアップロードしたらリンクをはろうと思う。

Summer!

Kaede is so happy here in this picture, "helping" our landlord mow the lawn. The pumpkins in the background are looking nice and lush. We don't know if they are Japanese kabocha or butternut squash yet. These past few weeks we are having Canadian summer. Nice weather, hot & bright sun, cool nights, indoor & outdoor pools, evening walks, etc., etc. I'm trying to enjoy these last moments of my "summer vacation" which is ending this weekend. Starting Monday, I'll be a full-time worker! Well, since my "core hours" will be in the evening, I will still enjoy the summer... with my skin looking increasingly like that of a toad. I'm photosensitive, so if I want to avoid that, I must avoid the sun, meaning I can never go out. I will have 9 months (of rain) to heal before next summer anyways.

楓は写真で大家さんの「お手伝い」して一緒に芝刈り機を押して大満足。後ろのかぼちゃが緑で良いねえ。まだ、日本のかぼちゃかバターナッツか分からない。でも多分日本かぼちゃ。バターナッツはベージュだけど、ついてる小さな実の卵はうっすらグリーンだから。

すごいいいお天気がこの二週間ほど続いていて、楓を連れてプールだ、散歩だ、あちこち出かけて最後の夏休みを楽しんでいる。月曜からは晴れて「社員」になるけれど、フレックスでコアタイムが夕方だから、まあ、まだまだ夏は楽しめる。ただお肌がどんどん恐ろしげな様子を呈してきてて（日焼けにアレルギーがある）、これで夏以外9ヶ月雨が降り続くのでなければ家に閉じこもるだろう。

昨日は屋内、今日は屋外プールに行ってきた。今日は近所で知り合った親子（楓の大のお気に入り）と一緒に行き、お弁当を持って行って、泳がせてきた。子供用の浅いプールもあるし、普通のプールもあって、楓は両方とも大好き。足を滑らせて沈んでも、息を止めることを覚えたから平気で、自分で泳ぎたいらしく、浅いプールでは腕で立って体を浮かして、ウーパールーパーみたいに歩いている。今日は大人用プールでしばらく人にしがみついていたと思ったら「あがんのー！」プールサイドに乗せたらちゃっちゃと歩いていって、急いで追いかけたら子供用の救命胴衣（無料で使えて、その辺にかけてある）を引っ張って「これぇ」「つけたいの？」「ウンつけたいの」着せたらすぐさまプールに「入んのー！」私めがけてぴょん！と飛び込んでざぶーん（これがまたたまらなく好きらしい）。

自分で一人でぷかぷか浮いて、あちこち行きたかったらしい。救命胴衣だから、どうしても仰向けになりがちなんだけど、ちょっと背中をつまんでやって、犬掻きみたいな姿勢で足をばたばたさせて大満足。恐れ知らずというわけじゃなくて、救命胴衣をつけていなければちょっと深かったり足がつかなかったりすると人にしがみついて何が何でも離さないけれど、浮けば安心するらしい。毎日のようにプールに行っているから、少し要領がつかめたかな。

July!!!

Right. It's July already. Canada Day is over and it's still wet and not hot. I'm photosensitive so I appreciate the clouds but the weather has been weird. We are picking snow peas in this photo. Our landlord planted them and told us to pick with Kaede. He certainly has Green Thumb.

Anyhow, yesterday I opened the front door to find a huge (the thing was FAT), black slug of quite a mass coiled (sort of) up on the concrete. I did get over my fear of slugs (ever since I grabbed one stuck on a water spray bottle in dark when I was in Japan, I just couldn't stand them...) but this one was plain BIG. Looking hard, too. I shuddered from head to toe. I poked at it with the chopsticks that I reserve specifically for picking slugs (I don't prefer poison. I pick them up and throw on dry concrete. Some of them dry up, others, I don't know.) but it seemed to have made up its mind to stay there, and the chopsticks were no match. I only got stringy mucous on the tip (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGHHH!). Then it started to move. Its eyes came out, slightly investigating the surrounding concrete, then it came away from the concrete relatively easily when I poked at it again. Off it went into a plastic bag, and the garbage can.

Then, in the evening Kaede wanted to try out her flip-flops. She hasn't mastered them yet but she loves "kawaii" things so wanted to show off outside. We walked down the street and back. Then, I found the entrance curve to the garage covered with ants (AGAIN!). Ants in the house disappeared for a while after the plumber came, then past few days they turned up on the bathroom and kitchen floors. I thought, hmmm, they are up to something. They indeed were up to something, this time these ants were new queens and kings, huge and complete with wings. Assisted by the worker ants, one by one they came out and flew away. The front lawn was covered by these 6-legged flying ants, the entire lawn itself was moving. Or at least it looked like so.

I ran back to the house and grabbed the borate syrup, no match. Too many. All the nests in front of the house were producing this mass of flying ants in unison so I ran back to the house and grabbed a water spray bottle (with no slug) and dish detergent. I filled it up with about 5 parts water to 1 part detergent, went back and started to spray on the ants. This worked (by the way soap water works on moths, too). Then something stang on my toe. An ant (tiny worker ant) was biting me!!! (I was wearing flip-flops to show Kaede how to walk in them.) I brushed it away and another one came right away and bit me again! This one sank its fangs into my toe with all its might, it hurt. I frantically brushed it away and another one bit me on the other toe. Mind you, they sting! By this time my husband was out with a spray bottle of vinegar, spraying frantically and he shouts at me "Why don't you wear shoes!" Right. My bottle was empty so I ran back to fill it up with soap water, changed into my shoes, went back and found my husband sprinkling clouds of ant poison on the ground, I yelled "Stooooooop! Kaede is here!" Kaede loved the whole turmoil, she found it so very exciting, held back by our landlord's wife (one of her most favorite people on the planet).

Anyhow they are gone today. Hopefully they don't turn up in the house again.