a little bit busy days

Recently, I am a little bit busy in my work. I have several topics that I want to tell you on my blog, but tiredness from my work takes away my drive. Please wait for new articles on my blog until my motivation returns.

World Cup songs

I like both.

mini concert

On May 29, several members of my son's brass band club performed at a community center. Usually, they perform in more than 50 members. But, this time, their performance included solo, ensemble from two to five members.

My son played a tuba in solo. Tuba is the biggest brass instrument, this photo shows its size very well.

O.Henry

O.Henry is one of the most famous American writers because "The Gift of the Magi"（賢者の贈り物） is used as English text in many junior high school in Japan.

By the way, I studied O.Henry's "The Exact Science of Matrimony" on the VOA Special English program several days ago. But, unfortunately, I could not understand the important part of the story so well.

So, I decided to buy the O.Henry's book translated in Japanese. I ordered its second hand book through "amazon". Finally, I understood the story after reading it.

cooking wild boar's meat

Last Sunday, I cooked the wild boar's meat for our dinner. It was better than we expected. The left in this photo is "mame-gohan"（豆ご飯） that included peas taken from my garden.

Its recipe is here.

the fourth challenge

Yesterday, I took part in a bike event called "Tour de Kunisaki"（ツールド国東） that is held every year at "Kunisaki"（国東） peninsula, Oita prefecture with my friend. It was the forth challenge to me. I tried to run faster than last year's record, but I could not achieve it.

In my defense, I got a severe cramp in my right leg in about three hours so I could not continue to run. I had to take a short rest for about 10 minutes.

When I massaged myself to ease the pain on my leg, a participant who had been repairing a flat tire near my stop point gave a drug called "syakuyaku-kanzou-tou"（芍薬甘草湯）. He said "this drug can ease your pain after a few minutes". I decided to receive his kindness and I took it with water. (But, unfotunately, to the truth, I could not recognize the drug's effect really. )

I started to run again in relatively slow speed and I managed to get to the goal.

After the race, we went to that day's accommodation that is run by an elder's couple. We have used it the year before last year. We went to bed after enjoying dinner and conversation with them.

Today's morning, we had a good conversation with them again taking breakfast. When we left the accommodation, they gave frozen wild boar's meat（イノシシの肉） that they got from their friend.

Back to my at home, I researched the effect of "syakuyaku-kanzou-tou" on the Internet and I could confirm found out what it is supposed to do.

signs in "Tanga"

"Tanga-Ichiba"（旦過市場） that locates near my office is the most famous market in the city of Kitakyushu. It includes a lot of small businesses. I took several photos of their signs in the market. I hope you can feel the atmosphere of it from these photos.

*I have liked this title to the photo set on my photostream on Flickr.

peas

This half a year was a hard time for me, my father died, I suffered acute hepatitis, and my mother worsened her knee's condition. But, the operation on my mother's knee was success and I was relocated to a new section after "shin-nendo"（新年度） has started. Now, I expect that everything go well.

And I expect to get a lot of peas this spring.

a short trip in Kokura

a short trip in Kokura

My new office locates in Kokura area in the city of Kitakyushu. I walk to the office through some streets with roofs called "arcade"（アーケード） or "shouten-gai"（商店街）. I can reach to the office without using an umbrella because of the roofs.

This time, I took several photos of the scenes that I can see on my way to my office. I hope you can enjoy "a short trip in Kokura" from them.

"Idou"

In Japan, many things starts on April first and they will end on March 31 of the next year. This term is called "nendo"（年度） in Japanese that is applied for school, accounting and workers relocation.

Relocation of workers is called "Jinji-idou"（人事異動） or "idou"（異動）in Japanese. "Idou" takes place in many companies and local governments in April in Japan.

Today was the first day for me to start a new job. I have started working as a staff to prevent the spread of infectious disease. For about three years, I worked for a very bored job, so I really hope that it will become a start of stimulus days.