One of MY Weaknesses, Pancake

Do you love pancakes? I have no doubt that many people are fond of golden brown pancakes with maple syrup and butter which makes us smile.

I am no exception. It has been one of my weaknesses since I was a child. My mother often made my brothers and me pancakes with milk, flour, eggs, sugar and butter instead of mix flour. She has never used such kind of instant foods because they are expensive.

Back then, my family was having it with homemade jam and cheese. I have not known that pancakes and maple syrup are good combination until I have become an adult. As maple syrup used to be hard to come by in those days in a small town where we lived, I think, my mother could not afford to buy.

Making pancakes is a piece of cake but is not so easy to bake it golden brown. The homemade pancakes were not golden brown but patchy- patterned brown. When I was reading picture books that depicted American or European countries life style, I found that the beautifully brown pancakes existed.

Recently, I learned a wonderful appliance that makes perfect pancake called “Pancake maker”. It is irresistible and tempting.

Look at a fabulous linen Tunic

I got a fabulous linen tunic embroidered and patterned with big blue flower. When I saw the fabric at the draper’s, I loved it from the moment one-clap eyes on it. I had the woman who always makes clothes carefully tailor the lovely tunic.

Linen is one of my weaknesses. Wearing the beautiful line clothes makes me smile and looks me more attractive.

Look at my tunic.

Old dog can’t learn new tricks

I am making arrangements for organizing the high school reunion which is held on July 7th. I really hate to do that but I have to do because there is no one who take on the odd job. All people love coming to the reunion but no one wants to organize it.

WIth advanced technology, e-mail has become a god way to send invitations to participants. However, as some people never use e-mail or text-messages even thought they have e-mail addresses and cell phones, I have to send invitations to them by snail mail. This really gets my goat.

If they used e-mail, my job would become easy. Old dog can’t learn new tricks.

Sweet night

My acupuncturist is young and courteous. No matter how busy he is, he is always smiling.
When I was taking the therapy, he told me that he was going to Moiwa mountain to see the night view after his work and book a fancy restaurant. He seemed to be happy.
When I asked him if he was going out with his girlfriend, he didn’t say anything and kept smiling.

I guess he must see his girlfriend. No one goes to see the night view by himself. I hope he enjoys the dinner with her.

An Awesome manga artist

Moto Hagio is one of my favorite manga artists. Ｗhen I was a high school student, I read her works for the first time and I have become crazy about her stories. Her works have depth and ingenious ideas that no one can’t compete. Although I wanted to read many her works, I could not afford to buy them due to small allowance. Back then as I was boarding at other’s house, my parents sent me allowance and I had to make ends meet.

I bought several copies of her collected edition with money that I set aside. Not being able to the completed works at once, I could buy just a copy of works at a time. I kept those books for more than 30 years but I threw away when I renovated my house. I should have not clean up them because they are hard to come by these days.

After work, I stopped by a bookstore and I found her books. I picked one called “Nanohana(field mustard in Japanese)
that described the danger of nuclear energy. The stories are highly suggestive.

Another pet peeve

Recently I got the iPhone 4 as a birthday gift. I am making a use of it as a small version of iPad rather than a phone. I rarely send text messages and make a phone call to others and families. To tell you the truth, I don’t like a cell phone. Especially, I am loathe a ringtone that reminds me of the days where I was working for a cell phone company.

Back then, working as a sales person, I got many phone calls from the office while I was going out. Many were complaints about functions, connections and bugs of cell phones from customers. The ringtone made me half-frightened.

I downloaded my favorite music of “Dream Girls” for my mobile phone. I am no longer fear the ringtone but it still makes me nervous.

One of my pet peeve is ・・・・

Recently, my right arm and right shoulder started hurt severely. At first, I could hardly move them but an acupuncture therapy appeased my pain. The therapist told me that stress and fatigue could cause the pain.

I am supposed to be in charge of organizing my high school reunion this year. However, I will not do it because it is so stressful and tiring. Although I organized class reunion a couple of times, some people never appreciated me rather insulted me.

I do not want to attend the class reunion any more. Just thinking of organizing the reunion gets me sick.

I am thrilled

I have an American friend BIl whom I got to know through the website that introduce language exchange partners.We have been talking to over one year and three months by Skype. We have been talking about many things such as politics, economics and our pesonal matters.

He left the United States this early morning. He and his Japanese wife are traveling around Japan to see his Japanese friends and their relatives. We are supposed to meet on 27th in Sapporo. How wonderful to see the friend we’ve never seen in person. I am excited and thrilled. I am really looking forward to seeing him and his wife.

I decided to run

When I came back from work, I had a headache and felt a chill. Apparently, I have a cold. When I was a young, I hardly had a cold. Everyone except me caught a cold when I was working in the life insurance company during the cold winter. My former boss asked me why I had not had cold and I answered him “you should eat nutritious food regularly and have a good sleep.”

Recently, I sometimes have a cold and it takes time to recover from it because my immune system is getting weak. My husband recommended running with him every weekend. He told me that he never have a cold since he began to run. He has no doubts that running makes our immune system stronger. In the beginning, as a bigginner I am going to run only 2 km.

My husband finished a half marathon.

My husband took part in “Northern Horse Park Marathon “ which is held in Hayakita town. He finished a half marathon (about 21km) for the first time since he began to run. He could not run as fast as veteran runner. It took him 2 hours four minutes32 seconds.

Some famous marathon runner was invited. Mari Tanigawa, Seiko Hashimoto and Neko Hiroshi run with amature runners.

My husband didn’t think he could finish the half marathon when he began to run. He seemed to be happy and proud of himself. All participants in the marathon received a T-shirts but there were only two sizes S and M. Although he usually wear L size, he picked M because he had no choice. Luckily, the T-shirt fitted him. It was the most rewarding for him.