Cats and sliding paper doors ネコと障子

Our sliding paper doors already looked terrible. But now… 我が家の障子はこんな具合になっていて、これでも十分ひどいんですが What happend? 何が起きたのか? Cat happened. ネコです。 Two of them worked together very nicely. こちらの2匹が仲良くやってくれました。 “What? I’m a cat and I’m just doing what cats do.” 「ネコがネコの仕事をしただけですが、何か?」

Focaccia Friday フォカッチャの金曜日

I bake bread 2-3 times a week, and on Fridays, I bake Focaccia. 毎週2~3回パンを焼きます。金曜日はフォカッチャの日。 I usually sprinkle rosemary on top. ローズマリーをトッピングします。 Focaccia is Dave’s favorite and it is easy to prepare and bake, and I decided to bake it every Friday so that Dave gets to eat his favorite bread once a week. フォカッチャはDaveの好きなパンで、仕込みも簡単。毎週金曜日を「フォカッチャフライデー」と決めたら毎週忘れずにDaveの好きなパンを焼けるという仕組みです。 Momo […]

Life with cats ネコとの暮らし

We have three cats. Luly (16 old boy black cat), Coco (5 month old girl tabby cat) and Momo (5 month old girl white cat). Momo and Coco are sisters. うちには猫が3匹います。ルリ(16歳の黒猫おじいにゃん)、ココ(5か月のトラネコ)、そしてモモ(5か月の白猫)で、モモとココは姉妹です。 I never had a pet growing up, so when Luly started to live with us, I didn’t know what to do with him. One […]

Chili for dinner/ チリコンカン

I found “chili con carne seasoning” at the store the other day. Chili is not very popular in Japan, especially in the countryside, and it had been so long since the last time Dave and I had chili. So we decided to try it. 先日スーパーで「チリコンカンシーズニング」を見つけました。初めて見た! アメリカでは何度か食べたことがあるけれど、日本ではあまり一般的ではないですよね。特にこんな田舎で。久しぶりに食べてみようということになり、シーズニングを買ってみました。 I added green peppers and red peppers from our garden […]

The inept man

Several months ago, I came across a quote that has become central to the way I view life as well as craft. The quote, 「不器用の一心に勝る名人なし」(西岡常一)roughly translates to “the inept man who shows wholehearted dedication will be surpassed by not even the most skill master”. People who find skills easy to obtain without facing much adversity tend to […]

Progress on the plates

With much of my fall work behind me, it is time to get back to woodworking. Before winter sets in, I want to get as many pieces into the final stages of the finishing. This is reflection from last year when I spent many a cold day wet sanding in the outside sink. This year, […]

Rice harvest 2019

As fall fully sets in, it was once again time to harvest the rice. I take the old fashioned approach to harvesting my rice. These days, almost everyone uses a combine for the harvest because it is so easy and fast. Growing rice in Japan is much like growing grain in the US, it is […]