The first snow of the season!!

 

The first sonw came the day before yesterday here.
Please watch how my garden looked like that day.( from the upstairs veranda)
Our small but pleasant garden lightly with covered with snow looked  
a bit nicer than usual.

The view from the west

And the view from the west again.

"How chilly"

 

Fresh young foliage are coverd with snow thoroughly, but that' OK.

As it get warmer ,they grow more rapidly.

I can't wait for spring  to come.

BTW, my son broke out in nettle rash  late last night.
We ate raw Mackeral for supper.
His hive may be  caused by the fish.
We  really felt relieved , when he got better  after taking  a pill.

That's why we are lack of sleep today.

My indoor nice plants!

Here's a pic of a Geranium plant with small orangish pink ( my favorit color)

 flowers which I got it from my parents. As it is weak in cold wether,

I grow it indoors. I move  by the window to expose it to the sun in every

 morning. I replace it on the shelf  before I go to work.

 I cherish the lovely gift.

And this is a foliage plant, evergreen" Pothos". It lives a happy(maybe)

life with my family in my living room for 8 or so years.

BTW, I'm going to travel abroad at the end of this month after a very

long interval. I can't wait for authentic "KIMCHI"

Thinning out

Chinese dumpling soup with  soft  leaves of rape plants that thinned out .

When we cook  a  Chinese  dumpling  ,  always cook 50 oh so 

dumplings at a time, and 40 are pan-fried on that day, the rest are put in soup

on next day.  this delicious warming dish is perfect  in cold day . 

Thinning out

 Here's a photo of  rape plants in the a flower bed facing west, using bird netting to keep the bird such as  sparrows  away.

That was it in mid- December. (rape plant, spinach and  edible chrysanthemum)

See here (seeding!)

Here's a picture of  Wintersweet buds in my garden. 

I  do love its fragrant yellow flowers in the bitter cold,  especially

its pleasing sweet scent.

What a goof I am!

Aren't  the red temmples of a pair of spectacles so lovely ?

Today, I went shopping at a big shopping mall  with my daughter by my car to buy  her eyeglasses .

As the optician's was on sale and very crowded, it took a long time until her cute glasses 

were completed.  By the time we recived them and headed for such a big parking lot,
 It had gotten quite dark.

OMG. I'm an airhead.....We had forgotten  where We parked my car. 

We  looked for my own car here and there some time. 
An idea of "No Way!!! It has been stolen" crossed my mind . I was in a harry. 

I had some Traffic ControllerIs search the　parking lot with me.

......... Much to my relief, finally we found it.  From now on, I have to comfirm  firmely  the place

where I'll park it, I thought.....It was one day I reflected on myself  a lot.   

How do we  look??

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  May this year be happy and fruitful for you.

I  have decorated the entrance hall with the flowers bloomig

 in my garden  for A New Year. I arranged  flowers (Pine tree , Nandin  , mum , etc)

on a black , round vase.

My family , my brother and his family visit my parent' home to celebrate 

the new year  at this time of the yeaar .

We enjoy specially prepared Japanese new year's food (Osetiryori)

and  rice cake and vegetable soup called  Ozoni and drink Otoso there .

The decorative cut of boiled fish paste (Kamaboko) above was made by my son.

On  every New Year's Day, We go to  a big temple of the Soto Zen sect  

near my parents' house to pray for happiness , 
good health and good luck for the year  together.

 We watch "The Tokyo-Hakone collegiate ekiden race", held annuall 

 in Japanese New Year , along the street every year.

We went shopping at "Mitui Outlet Park Yokohama Bayside ", 

 built right next to fine marina, by Seaside Line on January 2.

 Popular brand items, interior goods and so forth are cheaper

 than regular prices there.

 New Year's holiday is  a time for big sales. My mother and me each

found nice bags  ,my daughter bought  a cute bag , cosmetics and

 some lucky bags full of valuable goods(Fukubukuro) 
 : department stores or shopping malls sell when they open
after the start of the new year.

We all had a wonderful time together, had a ball.