Since the planned trip was cancelled, so, we decided to have a drinking party…
ビール・日本酒・ワインがテーブルに並び、これはビールを飲み終え日本酒に移るところ。
Beer, sake, and wine were lined up on the table, and this is when we finished the beer and moved on to the sake.
ワタシも食べたい！とアピールすると､､､
Konatsu said, “I want some too! I want some too!
出てくるんだよねえ、こなつ用の刺身が
Sashimi for Konatsu!
このあとも沢山いただきました！ ここからは我々のオツマミです。
Konatsu had plenty more after that! The following is our meal.
焼いただけの下仁田ネギ。皮1枚を剥いて食べると中はトロトロで旨い。
Shimonita leeks, just grilled. When you peel off the skin and eat it, the inside is tender and delicious. It’s hard to describe the food from here on out, so you’ll just have to guess from the pictures.
刺身の盛り合わせ
蛇腹ポテトと言うらしいが、モスラみたい､､､(笑)
大根と蕗のとう味噌
御殿場のミートプロ鈴木の馬刺し
ワタシ、まだまだイケるんですけど､､､ お手して催促(笑)
I can eat more… Konatsu said.
結局もらえちゃうんだよねえ｡｡｡
Then, this is what happens in the end.
ドライいちじくFigLogと生ハムとチーズのサラダ
ブロッコリーの唐揚げ（ニンニクとめんつゆに浸して揚げる）
蒟蒻白和え 菜の花白和え
ウィンナーとピーマンの炒め物
たくさん食べて満足顔のこなつ。
Konatsu looks satisfied after eating a lot.
最後にとらやの赤飯大福、これも美味しい！
Finally, Daifuku for dessert! Daifuku is a rice cake stuffed with red bean paste.
これはもらえないと悟ったこなつは諦めて寝る態勢。楽しい飲み会でした。
Konatsu, realizing that she would not get it, gave up and went to bed. It was a fun night.
Today is the day my wife goes to the dentist’s office in Motomachi for a routine checkup, so Konatsu and I decided to go with her to Motomachi and take a walk around the area while we wait for her to finish.
まだ商店街は開店時間前。ママを下ろして港の見える丘公園に向かった。
It was still before opening time in the shopping arcade. I dropped my wife off and headed for Harbor View Park.
The park is divided into several blocks, and this is the English Rose Garden. Unfortunately, the roses are not in bloom because it is not the right time of year.
気温は低いが日差しが強くて、歩いていると暑いくらいに感じられた。
The temperature was low but the sun was strong and it felt hot as we walked around.
ここからは横浜港の眺めが良い。
There is a nice view of Yokohama Harbor from here.
その一角にあるガンダムドック。動くガンダムは健在のようだ。
The Gundam dock is located in one of the corners. The moving Gundam seems to be alive and well.
今年の3月末で公開終了らしいので見たい方はお早めに！
Apparently, it will be closed to the public at the end of March this year, so if you want to see it, be quick!
公園の向かいにある外人墓地
Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery across from the park.
こなつには興味無さそうな場所だね。こうしているうちにママの治療が終わり、合流して場所を移動。
This place doesn’t seem to interest Konatsu. Meanwhile, my wife’s treatment was finished, and we joined her and moved to a new location.
ここは山下公園に隣接する駐車場。そして、その目の前にあるのが､､､
This is a parking lot adjacent to Yamashita Park. And right in front of it is…
I have previously presented the top countries with the most access to this blog, and today I will look at the countries with the least access. Two and a half years have passed since I started this blog (Ver. 3), and in that time I have had access from 97 countries. The 20 countries in the table below shows that only one person came to see this blog during these two and a half years.
By the way, I don’t know how many countries there are in the world today, so I looked it up… The number of countries approved by Japan at this time was 195. And there are three countries that Japan does not recognize: North Korea, Palestine, and Taiwan. According to the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Japan has refrained from official government-to-government contacts out of consideration for China, but has been handling various business matters on the assumption that Taiwan is a recognized “state”.
ワタシにはそんな難しいことは分かりませんが平和な世の中を願うばかりです！
“ I don’t know how difficult it is, but I just hope for a peaceful world ! ” Konatsu would say.
Around the beginning of the New Year, when I was cleaning up the room on the first floor where my parents used to live, I found an Ofuda from Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. It was probably more than 10 years old, so it was dirty. ※Ofuda is supposed to ward off bad luck
このまま捨てるわけにもいかず八幡宮に納めに行こうということになった。
We could not just throw it away, so we decided to return it to Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine.
I wondered how far dogs are allowed to go in the park, and found out that they are allowed to go as far as the stairs at the back of the park. Even so, it was a weekday today, but it was quite crowded, so we decided to take Konatsu as far as the arched bridge, and my wife and I would take turns going up to the end of the bridge.
While waiting for my wife, we stayed at the left side of the bridge where we could see Heike Pond. There were few people here, and Konatsu could wait without being scared.
ママが戻ってきたので今度は私が行く番。
My wife came back and it was my turn to go.
奥の方に古いお札やお守りを納める場所がある。
There is a place in the back to store old Ofuda (amulet)
八幡宮の八の字が鳩の形をしているのは有名な話だが､､､
It is well known that the figure eight in Hachimangu Shrine is in the shape of a dove…
境内には鳩がたくさんいる。
There are many pigeons, the symbol of Hachimangu Shrine, in the precincts of the shrine.
狛犬と､､､
Komainu (statue of dog, you will find them at the entrance of a shrine) and…
Our family’s Hatsumode (first shrine visit of the New Year) is to Suwa Shrine in Katase. This year we went on the 7th because it is crowded on the fiert three days of January.
こなつも一緒に行ったのだけど境内には入れないので､､､
Konatsu went with us, but she was not allowed to enter the shrine grounds, so…
一緒に歩けるのはこの辺りまで
we can only walk around here together.
犬の像の所でお留守番する？
Can you stay at the dog statue?
こんな小さな神社だけど1300年もの歴史があるらしい。
This is a small shrine, but it has a history of 1,300 years.
Let’s go through the hoop to purify our body and soul and purify our health. So we are following the instructions and repeating the left turn and right turn.
神社に来るとどうしてもおみくじを買いたくなるんです。
When I come to a shrine, I really want to draw an omikuji. (Omikuji is a fortune slip.)
結果は中吉。まあまあ悪くないでしょ。無事に初詣も済ませて帰宅。
There are seven levels of fortune telling, from great blessing to great curse, and I was the third from the top, middle blessing. Not so bad. We finished our Hatsumode without incident and returned home.
この日は七草粥の日でした。これも欠かせない年中行事だから毎年食べている。
It was the day of the seven herbs porridge. By eating the porridge on 7th, we believe that we can get rid of bad luck, and the custom has been passed down from generation to generation.
For all the fun I had been looking forward to, New Year’s Days passed by without me doing anything. It was a good thing that Konatsu seemed to be having more fun than usual, with friends coming to visit and my daughter coming to visit.
Yesterday, my daughter and I trimmed Konatsu’s hair. We couldn’t do it as well as a professional trimmer, but I think we got a reasonably clean cut. By the way, this New Year’s Day, we had a lot of GosetsusHI that we bought and my wife made, so there is still a lot of Osechi left after the three days of the New Year.
残ったお刺身は昆布締めにして食べたが、昆布の旨味が浸み込んでこれまたイイ感じ。
I ate the leftover sashimi by kombu-sandwiched flounder sashimi , which is also good because the flavor of the kombu soaks into the sashimi!
煮物もまだまだ沢山ある。
There are still a lot of simmered dishes.
まだまだこんなもんじゃない｡｡｡
This is not all…
特にお正月感がある訳ではないが、おでん
It is not particularly New Year’s feeling, but oden
玉子料理あれこれに栗きんとん。まだまだ終わりじゃない､､､
egg dishes, and chestnut kinton (sweetened sweetened chestnuts).
最後は日替わりのお雑煮。初日の御節の他にこんなに料理があったら、そりゃなかなか食べきれないよなぁ。
Since there are so many dishes besides the first day’s Osechi, it’s hard to finish all of them, isn’t it?
On New Year’s morning, I went out to walk Konatsu as usual, but as soon as I left home, the roads were jammed.
湘南海岸は初日の出を拝みに来るスポットだから県外ナンバーの車がやたらと多い。
Shonan coast is a spot where people come to see the first sunrise of the year, so there are a lot of cars with license plates from outside of the prefecture.
This is the railroad crossing in front of Kamakura High School Station, famous for the “Slam Dunk” movie. It usually takes me 5 minutes to get here, but today it took me more than 20 minutes.
R134もちっとも進まない｡｡｡
R134 is not going any faster…
日の出の時間が迫り、振り返ると富士山がピンク色に染まって見えていた。
As sunrise time approached, I looked back and saw Mt. Fuji turning pink.
日の出を待つ人々が海岸に大勢見える。良く見ると砂浜は人で溢れている。
Many people can be seen on the beach waiting for the sunrise. The beach was full of people.
私もギリギリ日の出に間に合い、この写真が撮れた。
I was just in time to catch the sunrise, and was able to take this photo.
更には、江ノ電の窓の中に上る初日の出が撮れた！
I was also able to take a photo of the first sunrise in the window of the train!
そして、いつもの七里ヶ浜の広場に移動して
Then we moved to the usual park at Shichirigahama…
アンズちゃん、今年も宜しくね！
Anne, I wish you all the best this year!
ハウル君も宜しくね！
Howl, you too!
そして家に戻って、新年祝いの膳。今年も稲村ケ崎「虹」の御節です。
Back at home, we had a New Year’s celebration breakfast “Osechi” “Osechi” are traditional foods which are eaten by a lot of Japanese on New Year’s Day. It includes many kinds of Japanese traditional foods, and they are packed together in “Jubako”, which is a special box that resembles bento boxes.
11月に金沢に行ったときにお正月用に買っておいた御神酒
sacred sake
こなつも我々も健康で幸せに過ごせる1年でありますように！
May this be a year of health and happiness for Konatsu and for us all!
The year is almost over. Yesterday, we were going to have a drinking party at our house with our neighbor’s friends, and as we were preparing, Konatsu sniffed the first whiff of something…
かなり早い時間から外の様子を見に行ったり､､､
She went to look out the window from quite early in the afternoon…
「まだ来ないのかなぁ」と玄関まで降りて行ったりしていた。
She went down to the front door and wondered if they were coming yet.
そして夕方に飲み会スタート。乾杯はちょっと珍しいベルギービール！
Then we started drinking in the evening. A toast with some rare Belgian beer!
このあと、こなつママの料理や友人が持ってきてくれた料理が次々と出てきて､､､
After this, dishes that my wife cooked and friends brought were served one after another…
My family temple and my wife’s family temple are both located in Shizuoka Prefecture, so we visit their graves about two or three times a year. This time, we visited both temples before the New Year’s holiday.
先ずは私の方のお寺から。藤枝市にある長楽寺。
First, we visited my family’s temple. Chorakuji Temple in Fujieda City.
Konatsu went with us to the gravesite, cleaned it, offered flowers, and that was the end of our visit. A volunteer who temporarily took care of Konatsu when she was sheltered lives near here, so we met her again after a long time..
Konatsu looks happy in every picture. Konatsu was doing whatever she wanted, going upstairs without permission, etc. Even after more than 10 years, Konatsu still remembers the person who rescued her, right?
最後にはたらちゃん(左)、なつめちゃん(右)と一緒に写真が撮れた。
This family also has a shelter dogs. Tara (left) and Natsume (right)
たらちゃん。こなつと同い歳だけど若く見えるねえ！
Tara is the same age as Konatsu, but looks younger.
なつめちゃんは一つ年上だったと思う。来年もまた3頭で会いたいね！
Natsume is one year older than Konatsu. I hope to see all three of them together again next year.
I will be working in Gunma until tomorrow, but here in Kanra-town is a peaceful place with rural scenery in all directions. It is a very nice place to visit once in a while.
Yesterday morning, Konatsu had no appetite and did not eat breakfast. When I called my wife at night, she said Konatsu had eaten dinner, but even such a trivial thing worries me these days. She is an old dog now.
I am writing about Konatsu’s daily routine. Konatsu’s eyes have been slightly cataractous since the beginning of this year. The veterinarian pointed this out to me, and I have been giving her eye drops twice a day, morning and night, to suppress the progression of the cataract.
It may not look white depending on the angle. From the way Konatsu looks, it doesn’t seem as if she has difficulty seeing, and I hope the cataract doesn’t continue to develop. I hope the eye drops are working.
I woke up early in the morning to cheer for the Japanese team in the World Cup, but unfortunately they lost to Croatia. It was a pity, because I thought we could make it to the top eight this time, but it can’t be helped, and I look forward to the next four years.
But there are still more fun sports games to watch. Next year’s World Baseball Classic will be held in March, so let’s enjoy that. I tried to buy tickets to watch the games from the first round to the quarterfinal round, which are also played in Japan, but all the tickets were already sold out. Otani and Darvish are both going to play, and I am looking forward to baseball, I think it will be better than soccer.
In December, it gets darker around the time of evening walks, and Konatsu’s black hair makes her hard to be seen, so there are concerns about various accidents. So I bought one like this for walking.
首に掛けて光らせるもので､､､
It is a light that hangs around Konatsu’s neck…
光る部分をハサミで切ってサイズを調整できるのが上手くできている。
The size can be adjusted by cutting the glowing part with scissors.
Amazonで1,000円くらい。
It costs about 1,000 yen on Amazon.
明るい場所でもこんなに目立つし､､､
It stands out so much even in a bright place…
電気を消して暗くしてみるとこんな感じ。
This is what it looks like when the lights are off and the room is dark.
更に真っ暗にするとこうなる。これなら目立つし、車や自転車からも認識されるね。
And when it is completely dark, it looks like this. It stands out and can be recognized by cars and bicycles.
些細なことだけど、これで散歩が楽しくなるかも。
It’s a small thing, but it might make my walk more enjoyable.
Lately we have been traveling frequently, but it has been in the spirit of making as many happy memories as possible while Konatsu is still in good health. On this particular day, we went to Manyo Park in Yugawara.
I took a peek and sure enough, there is a footbath. But who would use a footbath while visiting a bank? Well, it seems like a bank in a hot spring resort area.
その近くに古めかしい和菓子屋があったので行ってみた。
There was an old-fashioned Japanese sweets shop near the bank, so we went there.
ここのお団子おいしかった。
The dumplings were delicious.
この日の宿泊は東急ハーベスト熱海伊豆山。
We stayed at Tokyu Harvest Club Atami Izusan.
それにしても、この1週間のサッカーW杯はお驚きの連続だ。
Still, this past week’s soccer World Cup has been full of surprises.
Today, we invited our friends to a home party at our house. It was the day of the World Cup soccer match between Japan and Costa Rica, so we planned to enjoy the party while watching the live TV broadcast.
我々が準備をしているのを見て、こなつは今夜は誰かが来るようだということを感じ取り､､､
When Konatsu saw us getting ready, she sensed that someone was coming tonight,
so she went down to the front door and waited. When they don’t arrive, she sometimes goes to the window on the stairs to see what is going on outside. I am impressed by Konatsu’s ability to sense things at times like this.
やがて皆さん到着し宴会スタートです！
Soon everyone arrives and the party begins!
おお、何だか前菜から気合が入っているねえ！
Oh, my wife’s cooking is really enthusiastic right from the appetizer!
漬物の盛り合わせ
Assorted Japanese pickles
里芋の煮物、カボスの風味付けで里芋の美味しさが引き立っている。
Taro simmered with kabosu (a type of citrus fruit), the flavor of the taro is enhanced by the kabosu.
As the party progressed and we were feeling tipsy and comfortable, the game kicked off. I was watching the game thinking that there was no way they could lose…
The day before this, I went to Gunma on a business trip and bought some Shimonita leeks from the production area. It is an ingredient that feels like winter as it is just entering its season.
近所の魚屋に頼んでおいた刺身。これが出てくるとこなつのアピールが始まる！
Sashimi I ordered from a local fishmonger. As soon as this appears on the table, Konatsu’s appeal begins!
それ、ワタシの分もあるよね！と鋭い視線(笑) こなつ用には別のお刺身を用意してある。
You have some for me, too, right? she looked at me sharply (lol). I have prepared other sashimi for Konatsu.
こなつの至福のひとときなのだ
It is a moment of happiness for Konatsu!
3種類のコロッケ コンビーフ、鮭、コーン
Three kinds of Korokke, which is like a Japanese croquette.
In the 26th minute of the second half of the match, Ito was knocked down and it looked like a penalty kick, but it was just outside the area. The free kick was not scored, Japan lost a goal right after this! I was so stunned that I did not take any pictures of the food after the game. The result of the game was not so good…
I asked the doorman of Regina to take a commemorative photo of us, the first and last family shots of our trip. We were so comfortable during our 4-day/3-night stay at the Regina Resort that I have already made a reservation for our next visit (lol). After checking out, we went shopping at Tsuruya.
軽井沢で最後のランチは蕎麦屋の東間（とうま）
My last lunch in Karuizawa was at a soba restaurant, Toma.
This is another soba restaurant where you can have a meal with your dog on the terrace, and after we entered the restaurant, people came one after another with their dogs.
だし巻き玉子。コレ美味しいよ！
Japanese-style omlet. This is delicious!
ここの蕎麦は鎌倉の「こ寿々」の味に似ている。もちろん美味しい。
The taste of the soba noodles here is similar to that of “Kosuzu” in Kamakura. Of course it is delicious.
デザートもしっかり！
We also had dessert!
これでいよいよ今回の旅行が終わりとなる｡｡｡
This was the end of our trip…
上信越道を走って我が家まで4時間。また来たいねえ､､､
It took us 4 hours to get home on the Joshin-etsu Expressway. I want to come back again…
It’s a lithograph, not an expensive one, but it’s in my house. Thaliassen is a nice place to stroll around. The day after this, we went to the dog park in Komoro City.
山の中腹に駐車場があって、そこから上まで登って行くのでけっこうキツイ。
There is a parking lot in the middle of the mountain, and it is quite hard to climb up to the top from there.
下に見えているのは小型犬用のドッグラン。そして私が居る所が大型犬用のラン。
The one below is a dog park for small dogs, and the one where I am is for large dogs.
最近はあまり走ることがないこなつだけれど、ここではよく走っていた。
Konatsu doesn’t run much these days, but she used to run a lot here.
We left the dog park early and went to the top of the park. The autumn leaves are beautiful here, too.
レジーナに戻り、館内で撮影。内部はもうクリスマス仕様になっていた。では夕飯を食べに行きましょう。
We returned to Regina and took some pictures. The inside of the hotel was already decorated for Christmas. Let’s go have dinner. Now, let’s go have dinner.
これはレジーナ1日目のメニュー
This is the menu for the first day in Regina.
ここの食事はいつも美味しい！更にワンコと一緒に食べられるのがいいね。
The food here is always delicious! And I love that I can eat with my dog.
これはこなつ用の 秋鮭と野菜 ↑
This is for Konatsu. Autumn salmon and vegetables.
蒸し鶏の胸肉と野菜 ↑ こんなの毎日食べてたらまたダイエットやり直しだ(笑)
Steamed chicken breast and vegetables ↑ If I eat like this every day, I’ll have to start my diet all over again, lol.
