帰国準備 (preparing to leave)

明日デトロイトを立ち、８月９日に日本に着く予定です。こちらではいろいろな事を経験しました。約２ヶ月間あっと言うまに過ぎた感じ、孫も懐いてくれて、じじ、じじと寄ってきてくれましたし、楽しく過ごさせてもらいました。日本にも小学校２年の可愛い女の子の孫が居ります。ぜひアメリカに連れてきたいのですが、なにぶんまだ小さな子供、一人で何でも出来るようになったらと考えております。これで私のブログはひとまず終わりと致します。
Tomorrow, I am leaving Detroit. I am supposed to arrive in Japan on Aug. 9. I experienced a lot of things in this trip. Two months past so quickly for me. During two months, my grandson and I got very close and I really had a fun. I also have another grandchild in Japan. She is in 2nd grade and very cute. Someday I want to bring her here, too. But she is still small. Maybe when she can do many more things by herself, I can bring her here. This is the end of my blog. Thanks!

ハミングバード (Hummingbird)

娘にカジノへ連れってもらった。今日も７０ドルを使って４時間遊び満足して帰って来た。いろいろなゲームがあるが、大きく賭ければ勝も大きい、但しそんなに旨くは勝たしてくれない、私みたいに５セントゲームで遊んで居る方が勝てはしないが、負けも少なく長く遊べるので結構面白い。
帰ってきて窓を除くと、ハミングバード居たので慌ててカメラのシャッターをきた。あまり旨く取れなかったが、撮ることが出来て非常にうれしい。

My daughter took me to a casino again. Today, I spent about 70 dollars but I played for 4 hours so I came back very satisfied. There are many varieties of games there. Of course, if you bet more, you can win larger - but you don't get to win so often. I like to play cheap slots like 5 cents slot and play for a long time. After I came home, from a window, I saw a hummingbird flying around the flowers. I got a camera and took some pictures. I don't think the picture was that great but at least I was happy that I can see there is a bird in the picture.

プール (pool)

娘、孫、私３人でメトロパークと言う大きな公園の中にあるプールに出かけた。家から約４５キロメートル４０分、このパークは散歩道やゴルフ場、etc.が有り、大きな湖に面していて素敵な所だ。プールは４ドル/１人、１０分おきに波が来るプールで、レンタルの浮き輪を使って子供達だけでなく大人も波に乗って遊んでいた。帰り道にいつもの家具屋さんに１ドルソフトクリームを食べに寄り道、これが結構美味しかった。

My daughter, my grandson and I went to a wave pool in a big metro park. It's about 45 km from the house and took 40 minutes to get there. There are hiking trek, golf course, etc. in the park. There is also a nice view of Lake Erie. The entrance fee of the pool was $4.00 per person. About once every 10 minutes, the "waves" came and everybody including adults and children were riding those waves in a big rental tube and having a fun. On the way home, we stopped by IKEA to have $1.00 frozen yogurt. That was mighty delicious.

ゲーム (board game)

孫は非常に元気である。ゲームが飽きたら爺レスリングと来る。最近はテレビでのninja warrior（サスケ）の真似をして窓の桟につかまって歩く練習や回転したり、一日中動き回っている。夜はサイコロゲームをやるのだと、家族全員を誘う。身体を動かすより、頭を使うのが好きだと思っていたのだが、そうでもなく、両方のようである。

My grandson is very energetic. When he gets tired what he is doing, he always comes to me to wrestle with me. These days, he often "trains" himself to be a Ninja Warrior (from TV). He walked on a window sill for a balance training, and tumbled around here and there. At night, he announced that he wanted to play Yahtzee and asked all the member of the family to play with him. I know he likes to use his brain to do something but I realized he also likes to do something physical.

写真 (picture)

今日は、裏庭で暑い日差しを避けて孫とフロスビーで遊んだり、家の中ではWiiで野球ゲームをし、パソコンルームで、孫はコンピュータゲーム私は日本の情報をパソコンで見ていた。一服しにテラスに出て見たら又ウサギが居たので写真を撮った。先日撮ったのがぼけていたので、チャンスを待っていた。 何とかリスとハミングバードも写真に撮りたいのですが、すばしっこくて撮ることが出来ません。

Today, I played a big Frisbee with my grandson in the backyard (in the shade, of course). Inside house, we played the baseball in Wii, then he played a PC game and I surfed Japanese web. When I went to the deck to smoke, I saw a bunny again so I took a picture. Last time the picture was blurry so I was waiting this opportunity. I also want to take some picture of a squirrel, and a humming bird. But they move too quick.

お休み (take it easy)

この二、三日はどこも出ず、何もしない状態でブログを書くねたがありません。娘夫婦は仕事に行き、孫は学校が休みのため、私と二人きりで家の中で遊んでいます。今週は、外が特に気温が高く外出する気も有りません。写真は夕方少し涼しくなってから、大きなフロスビーで遊んでいるところです。

I haven't gone out anywhere for two or three days so I don't have anything to write. My daughter and my son-in-law went to work. My grandson stayed home with me. This week, the temperature is pretty high so I don't feel like going anywhere. I took this picture when it's cool down in the evening. They were playing with a big Frisbee.

市民マラソン (running race)

スポーツ店主催のマラソン大会に家族４人で参加した。場所は６月２３日にハイキングに行った大きな公園です。参加者は下は４歳位から上は７０歳位、1.6キロメートル部門と８キロメートル部門に分かれて行われ、私たちは1.6キロメートル部門、孫達は最初から走って行き早めにゴールしていた。
私は殆ど歩いていたが、途中から６～７歳位の女の子と競争を始め、女の子が結構早いので参りました。この大会参加費を払って参加するが、お金は寄贈されるらしい。又、参加者には飲み物（ビールを含む）アイスクリーム、クッキー、ピザなどが振舞われた。
Today, we, four of us, participated one of the running races which were sponsered by a running store. This was the same park we went on June 23. The participants were from about 4 years old to maybe about 70-years-old. There were 1.6 km (1 mile) run and 8 km run and we participated with 1 mile fun run. My grandson and my son-in-law were running from beginning and they were at the goal before me. I walked most of the way. But from the middle the course, I raced with a girl about 6-7 years old of age. She was faster than me. I couldn't keep up with her. We payed some money to enter this race but the money went toward a good cause. After the race, there was a party and they served us drinks (beer, too!), ice cream, cookies, pizza and etc.

カジノ (casino)

今日は、娘の仕事が休みなので、デトロイト市内に有るカジノへ連れてってもらった。MGMといって有名なカジノ、ラスベガスで行ったことが有るカジノだ。お客も普段の日にしては結構多い、土日になると多分お客で一杯に成るのでしょう。ポーカーゲーム、ルーレット、スロットなどが有る。
私は主にストットマシンで遊んでいた。掛け金が２セント、５セント、２５セント、５０セント、１ドル、と各種マシンが並んでいる。遊ぶには５セントが手ごろと思いやって見た。日本でやるストットとは違い、簡単で面白い、６０ドルで２時間半遊んでいた。時間が有ったらまた行きたいです。写真は館内では禁止なのでMGMカジノの建物です
My daughter was off today so she took me to a casino in Detroit. The place we went was "MGM" casino. MGM is a famous casino company. There is one in Las Vegas as well. It was Friday but quite busy there. I am sure it's really busy in the weekends. There are slot machines, poker tables, roulette, etc. I tried slot machines. The bet amount was different from machines to machines. For example, there were slot machines for 2 cents, 5 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents and 1 dollars. Since I wanted to spend a long time there, I picked 5 cent machines. The slot machines are different from those in Japan. They were very easy to play. I spent 60 dollars and played for about 2 and half hours. I'd love to go there again. We couldn't take a picture inside the casino so the picture I put up was the view from outside.

料理 (cooking)

娘と一緒にディナータイムと言う店に行った。この店には作りたい料理の材料と調味料が揃っていて、各自が食材を取り、その中に調味料等をレシピに従って入れていけば出来上がり、ここまでがここの店の特徴です。料理の下ごしらいが出来たら家に持ち帰り、オーブン等で火を入れれば、美味しく食べられます。材料は牛肉、豚肉、鶏肉、魚、スパゲティー等、それに調味料の他に、にんにく、たまねぎ、野菜、スパイスが有り１４種類の料理が出来る。私たちは８種類を作り持ち帰りました。持ち帰った材料は一度に食べるのでは無く、冷凍保存して置きます。なにしろ１種類が8人前ですから。
Went a place called "Dinner Thyme". There are several "food preparation" stations in Dinner Thyme. At each station, there were ingredients (including condiments) for food, measurement spoons/cups. We just followed a recipe and mix up some ingredients and move on to a next station to do the same thing for another recipe until we finished. There were beef, pork, chicken, fish and spaghetti recipes when we were there (14 different recipes). We made 8 different recipes to take home (in less than 1 hours!) When we brought them back home, we put them in a freezer. We don't eat all 8 of them at once (1 recipe is approximately for 4-6 servings). We freeze them, and the day we want to eat, take one from a freezer and cook it (with over, stove, etc.) according to an instruction.

レスリング (wrestling)

日本で放送されている”サスケ”がアメリカで毎日夕方六時から１時間、ninja warrior（忍者の戦い）として、抜粋してして放送されている。孫がこの放送にハマッテてしまい一生懸命応援している。またジャングルジムなどに行くとninja warriorに出るのだと練習している。
私が暇そうにしていると、”ジジ”レスリングをしようとかかってくる。体重はまだ軽いのだが、続けていると大変疲れます。
A Japanese TV program called "Sasuke" is showing here in US as a "Ninja Warrior" (G4 channel). "Ninja Warrior" is on at 6:00 PM weekday and my grandson really likes to watch the show. He's really into the show and always cheers all the contestants. These days, when he goes to a play scape, he says he is "practicing" for "Ninja Warrior". It's his dream to participate Ninja Warrior as a contestant. Every day when I am relaxing, he comes over says, "Gigi. Wrestling!" and attacks me. Even though he is still very light, I get really tired after a long battle with my grandson.

テレビ観賞 (watching TV)

今日は、娘夫婦は仕事に出かけ、孫は学校のキャンプに出かけた。こちらのでは、夏休み期間中に特別な授業、研究に参加することをキャンプと言うらしい。孫は５日間、虫の勉強をするとのことです。
私は留守番、あまりやる事が無いので、テレビ観賞、都合よくテレビ映画で、三船敏郎主演の宮本武蔵をやっていた。３部に分かれている日本語での長編作品、約４時間テレビを見ていた。（写真はありません）
Today, my daughter and my son-in-law went to work and my grandson went to a day camp. Here when somebody said "summer camp", it's not necessarily an "over-night" camp. During summer, when the kids participates some special classes, I guess they call a "camp". My grandson is taking a "bug" camp this week and he is learning about bugs. I stayed home. I didn't have much to do so I watched TV. Just so happened, it was showing "Miyamoto Musashi" in which Toshiro Mihune was the main cast. This movie is really long - it has three main stories. I watched the movie in Japanese for about four hours. (sorry, I don't have any pictures today)

散髪 (hair cut)

日曜日家族全員がそれぞれ普段出来ないことをやっていた。私はのんびり、やることが無いのでパソコンでニュース、スポーツ、etc.を見たり調べたりしていた。夕方にになって、孫の散髪が始まった。小さい時に床屋さんで大泣きしてから、自宅で散髪をするようになったみたいです。便利な散髪道具が有るもんだと感心して見ていた。孫もおとなしく散髪させている、そんなに時間が掛からず終了した。
It's Sunday. Everybody was doing what he/she couldn't do during the weekday. I decided to surf the Internet. I read about the news, sports and etc. In the evening, my son-in-law decided to cut my grandson's hair. When my grandson was really small, he cried a lot at a salon. So since then, my son-in-law has been cutting his hair. I impressed by my son-in-law's skill and the tool. My grandson also sat quietly and let him cut his hair. It finished before too long.

靴置き場所 (shoe place - mud room)

靴の収納場所を整理する為、先日行った大型の家具屋に一家４人で出かけた。目的は靴の収納棚の購入とブレックファースト９９セントを家具屋のレストランで食べてみること。朝食の料理はスクランブルエッグ、ポテト、ベーコンで約１００円、ちょっと足りないのでコーヒーと一品追加、結構お腹が一杯になった。棚は組み立て式なので、娘、孫、旦那さんが力を合せ組み立てた。靴の収納場所がランドリールームに有った、棚を入れ綺麗に整理出来ました。
My daughter decided to clean up the shoes storage area so we went to the furniture store I wrote the other day. The main purpose of going there was to buy some storage shelves for shoes and also to eat 99 cents breakfast in the cafeteria. The 99 cents breakfast includes scrambled eggs and potatoes. It wasn't enough so I got one more side dish. That made me pretty full. The shelves were assembly-required so three of them (my daughter, my son-in-law and my grandson) were putting them together. In the end, I thought the new shelves look nice.

自動車工場見学 (Car Factory Tour)

フォードの自動車工場見学ツアーに娘と孫と一緒に参加した。ツアーバスが３０分おきに出ていて、指定された時刻にバスに乗ると、見学する工場まで行ってくれる。最初は大きなスクリーンでフォードの歴史紹介、次に車が出来る主な工程を音響凄まじくダイナミックに紹介されていた。見学した工場は車のボディの組み立て部門、コンベアーと言うのか、車のボディや扉が流れていて、数人の作業員が細かい部分を手作業、見えなかったけれど大きな部分はロボットだと思う。フォード全体の広さはとにかく大きいかった。
Went to Ford Rouge Factory Tour with my daughter and my grandson. The tour bus leaves every 30 minutes. We bought tickets for 1:30 PM tour. The bus took us to the factory. First we saw a movie about Ford history in a big screen. Then, we watched how a car makes in a virtual reality theater with sounds, smell, etc. Then, we went to a self-guided factory tour. We saw the final assembly portion. Car's bodies and doors were moving and we saw the workers were putting small parts on them. I couldn't see a whole process but big parts are probably assembled by some robots. I couldn't believe how huge the place was.

ダウンタウン (Downtown Plymouth)

娘と孫と３人で車で１５分ほどで行けるプリモスダウンタウンに出かけた。何かフェステバルがあると人が一杯に成るらしいが、今日は静かで素敵な所だった。いろいろな店屋さんが立ち並び、人の往来も多いようだ。ここにもジャングルジムが有る喫茶店が有った。孫は１時間ほどジャングルジムで遊んでいた。ちょうど孫が遊んで居る時にストームが通った。雨はスコール、風強く、外に居たら大変な目に遇うと思う。テレビでも窓には近寄らない様、注意を呼びかけている位、３０分ほどでストームは通り過ぎて行った。嵐の様な天候だと思ったら、直ぐに晴れ間がでるから、ここの天候は解らない。
Went to downtown Plymouth with my daughter and my grandson. It only took 15 minutes to get there by car. I've been here when there was an art festival but today it's pretty quiet. There are a quite numbers of shops here. In this downtown, there is another coffee shop which has a large play scape for kids. While my grandson was playing at the play scape, a severe thunderstorm past through. It rained very hard and it was very windy. I was glad I wasn't outside. At the coffee shop, TV was on and it flashed a warning telling us not be close to windows. But after 30 minutes or so, the storm went away and then the sun was shining. The weather here is very unpredictable...

バーベキュー (BBQ)

娘の旦那さんが所用が有って、カンサスシティへ出かけた。ちょっと出かけてきますと言った感じだが、デトロイトから飛行機で１．５時間、車で１２時間もかかる場所です。帰りにカンサスシティのバーベキューを買って来た（写真）。このバーベキューは結構有名で旨いし安い（２枚で５千円位）、写真の肉は豚あばらの骨付き、これが豚肉かと思うほど美味しい、私はあまり好んで豚肉を食べなかったので比較は出来ませんが、今まで食べた豚肉では最高に美味しい部類に入ります。また食べたいのですが、ちょっと買いに行きますとは行かないのが残念です。
My daughter's husband had to go to Kansas City this past weekend. From Detroit to Kansas City, it takes about 1.5 hours by airplane and 12 hours by driving. Right before he left Kansas City, he bought some BBQ and brought them home (see picture). "Kansas City BBQ" is quite famous and reasonably priced (2 ribs - about 5,000 yen. Note, only 1 rib is in the picture). The one in the picture is a pork rib with bones. It really tastes good - I can't believe "pork" is this good. I am not a big fan of "pork" but this is probably the best pork I have ever tasted in my life. I'd like to eat it again but unfortunately Kansas City is not really close from here...

家具屋 (Furniture store)

娘と孫３人で証明器具と電池を買いに出かけた。大きな家具専門店で、家庭で必要な家具全般が揃っていっる。大きな家具類は組み立て式のもの多く、１０メートル以上あると思われる棚に積んである。何処かの倉庫に来たみたい、その他棚、食器類、寝具、照明器具、家の中の飾り、etc.は綺麗に並んで販売されている。見て歩くのも大変、店があまりにも大きいので迷子に成りそう。孫は買い物の間、子供を預かり、遊ばしてもらえる所で１時間（１時間単位）遊んでいた。その他大きな食堂もあり、買い物に来る人のために便利に出来ていました。

Went shopping to buy a table lamp and batteries with my daughter and my grandson. The store I went was really huge and it sells the furniture and all the household goods. Many of the big furniture are assembly required. They are stored at a huge shelf which is about 10 meter high. Also, the store carries shelves, tableware, bedding, lighting, decorations, etc. They were displayed neatly. The store was so huge and I felt lost. While we were shopping, my grandson went to a kid's play area. This is a supervised play area and the parents can drop off the kids for 1 hour while shopping. There is a big restaurant upstairs which is convenient to the shoppers.

パソコン (PC)

娘夫婦は仕事で出かけ孫と二人で留守番、今日は、珍しく一日雨模様、私がこちらに来て一日雨模様は初めて、こちらの雨はざーと降って止むケースが多いのです。午前中は孫とテレビを見たり、ふざけっこをしたりして居ましたが、飽きてしまい２階のパソコンルームで、孫はパソコンでゲーム、私はパソコンで日本のニュースやスポーツニュース、を見ていました。新潟で大きな地震があったようですね、被害も甚大な様で被害に遇われた方たちの頑張りに期待します。
My daughter and her husband went to work so I babysat my grandson. It was raining all day today. Since I came here, there was never a day "raining all day". Every time it rained, it rained a lot but stopped sometime later. In the morning, my grandson and I watched TV and playing around. But we got bored so we went to a den upstairs. There, my grandson was playing some PC games and I read Japanese news and sports news in the Internet. I learned that there was a big earthquake in Niigata, and there were a lot of damages. My thoughts goes people who experienced this tragedy.

陪審員 (Jury duty)

日本で今話題になっている裁判員制度ですが、皆様ご存知だと思いますが、アメリカでは昔から陪審員制度があります。アメリカ人の娘が今日裁判官より呼び出しを受け、裁判所に行きました。娘の話ですと、１００名呼び出され、いろいろな条件が有るみたいで、本当に陪審員として裁判にでるよう選ばれたのは２０人位、選ばれた人たちは、これから長い裁判に出なければ成らないそうです。娘は選ばれなくて、ほっとしていました。
These days, a lot of people in Japan have been talking about a public "jury system". As you know, a public jury system has been established in U.S. Today my daughter (who became an American citizen a couple of years ago) had to go to a court house because she got summoned. According to my daughter, about 100 people were called and filled out some questionnaires. In the end, I guess about 20 people were selected to be a jury for this particular trial. The people who have been selected had to be at this trial for about a week. My daughter was glad that she wasn't selected.

マクドナルド (McDonald's)

娘と孫と３人でマクドナルドに食事に行った。多くの人はテークアウト、車に乗ったまま注文して持ち帰る人、店の中で注文して持ち帰る人、私たちは、店で食べることにした。なぜならば、ここにもジャングルジムが有るからです。日本ではあまりマクドナルドを食べない私、大きさや味を比較することができませんが、多分大きくて安いと思います。飲み物に就いては、店に居れば飲み放題みたいでこれは日本と比較に成りません。（すいません写真はありません）
Went to McDonald's with my daughter and my grandson. I saw some people came inside and ordered a take-out and some people used a drive-through. We decided to eat inside because there is also a play scape for kids. The food seems cheaper and bigger here, although I don't eat at McDonald's in Japan so I don't know if I should compare the differences in the taste and the size between McDonald's in Japan and here. But at least you can get all-you-can-drink if you eat inside, and I don't think that's true at McDonald's in Japan. (Sorry, I don't have any pictures today).

芝刈り (mowing)

芝生がだいぶ伸びた、膝の具合もよいので今日は、私が芝を刈ることにした。芝刈り機はエンジンで手押し、ゆっくり押しながらやるが、けっこう力もいる、約一時間で終了綺麗になった。

午後からは娘と孫がゲームセンターに行くというので付いて行った。また、ここも大きな所で、子供用ゲーム機が沢山並んでいて、ゲーム機の周りにはテーブルが並び、食事や飲み物が取れるようになっている。ここでは子供の誕生パーティが何組か行われていた。孫はいろいろなゲームを楽しみ、点数制なのか点数が貯まると小さなおもちゃが貰える。ここで関心したのは店の出入りが結構厳しいこと、多分子供の誘拐防止だと思われる。

帰り道に市立図書館により、孫はここでもパソコンのゲームで遊んでいた。この図書館も大きい、大きな子供専用図書室も有り、本の貸し出し、ビデオの貸し出し等なかなかよいシステムになっている。

The grass grew tall. Since my knee's feeling well, I decided to mow today. The mower has an engine but I had to push it. It took about 1 hour to mow the yard but it looked good after I did it. In the afternoon, we went to the arcade game places. Once again, everything in America is big, so the place we went there was not exception. There were many video games and some tables so the families can eat and drink there. I saw some birthday parties going on there. My grandson tried many games and got some "points". Those "points" can be exchanged with toys. I was impressed that the security was pretty tight there to enter the place. I guess the security was there to prevent a kidnapping. On the way home, we stopped by the library. My grandson played with a computer game again. This library is also big. There is a place for children's section and people can check out books and movies.

テレビ (TV)

やるこことが無いのでテレビ観賞、当たり前のことだが殆どが英語で見ていても分かりません。チャンネルの多さには驚きます。数えた分けではありませんが、１００チャンネルは軽く越えると思います。ニュース、天気予報、交通情報、ドラマ、クイズ、バラエテｲー、スポーツ、ショッピング、映画、その他いろいろの専門チャンネルが有ります。日本ではどうして沢山のチャンネルが出来ないのかな？不思議。
今日は、多くのチャンネルの中から日本映画をピックアップし楽しみました。１９７７年製作の八墓村でした、もちろん日本語です。このところ古い日本映画と香港映画を交互にやっているチャンネルを探し出し、面白い映画だと見るようにしています。昔の映画ですので私には懐かしく面白いのです。
I was bored today so I decided to watch some TV. Of course, since I can't speak English, I don't understand most of the programs. But I was surprised to see the numbers of channels we have here. I've never actually counted but I think there are at least 100 channels. Many of them are "speciality" channels like news, weather, traffic information, drama, quiz, variety, sports, shopping, movie, etc. I don't know why we don't have many channels like this in Japan? I watched a Japanese movie today. It was "Yatsu Haka Mura" (produced in 1977). Of course it was in Japanese. I found one channel which shows Japanese movies and Hong-Kong movies alternatively, and if a movie seems to be interesting to me, I watch. The old movie is interesting to me and makes me nostalgic.

コーヒー店 (coffee shop)

娘が孫を連れて、子供が遊べるジャングルジムがあるコーヒー店に行くと言うので、付いていった。大分大きなジャングルジムで、子供たちが上ったり、降りたり、走ったりして大騒ぎしていた。孫も約一時間ばかり駆け回っていた。親たちはテーブルで好きな飲み物を飲みながら歓談している。ちなみに入店料は子供だけとられ、大人は無料、飲み物は別料金だが、例えばコーヒーが飲み放題で１５０円位その他クッキーなど販売しているが凄く安い、小さい子供のいる奥様方には良い所のようです。
My daughter decided to take my grandson to a coffee shop which has a big jungle gym so I went with them. The place had a huge play scape. Children were going up and down and running around all over. Their parents were relaxing and talking to the friends while shipping some drinks. It required an entree fee for children but it's free for adults to enter. Of course, you have to pay for drink - but coffee was all-you-can-drink and only cost about 150 yen. They also sell some food and cookies but it's reasonably priced. It's a good place for moms who have small children.

菜園 (garden)

裏庭に手作りの菜園がある、芝生にスプリンクラーで水をやるついでに、菜園のかぼちゃ、トマト、ズッキーニ、トウモロコシ、エンドウ豆等に水をやる、日差しが強く、水も豊富なので育ちがよい、豆が一番に収穫できた。次は一週間もしたら多分トマト、ズッキーニが収穫できる。そんな大きな菜園ではないので大量には収穫できないが、野菜を育て収穫するという楽しみがある。

In our backyard, there is a vegetable garden which my daughter's family made. While I water the grass everyday , I also water squash, tomato, zucchini, corn, green bean plants. Since the sun has been shining every day, and I watered diligently every day, they have been growing well. We harvested some green beans today. Maybe within a week, we can harvest some tomatos and a zucchini. It's not a big garden so we can't get a lot of vegetable but we still have a fun time growing and harvest our home-grown food.

蜂

今日は、芝への水遣りも終わり、やることが無いのでテラスでのんびりしていた。でも暑い、すごい日差しだ。気になっていた蜂がまた５～６匹現れ飛び回っている。この辺は蜂が多いとのこと、蜂退治のスプレーが専門店で売っているくらいだ。それでは蜂退治、スプレーを片手に蜂を追い回す、なかなか命中しない、しかし３匹は退治できたと思う、スプレーが当っても直ぐ落ちる蜂と飛んで行ってしまう蜂がいるが、しばらくは飛び回る蜂が少なくなっていた。明日様子を見てみる。

When I finished watering the yard, I didn't have anything else so I was at the deck relaxing. But it's really hot today... the sun's very strong. Once again, some 5-6 wasps flew around me. There were so many wasps around here. The spray for wasps are sold at near-by stores. I decided to kill some of them. I head a can of a spray on one hand. When I saw wasps, I sprayed them but it didn't hit that well. But at least I killed three of them. Some wasps fell immediately when the spray hit them but others just flew away. After a while, there were only few wasps. I will check them again tomorrow.

裏庭 (backyard)

裏の庭には、種々な動物がいる（来る）特に鳥たちが多い、鳥の名前が分かるもので、鴨、キツツキ、カージナルス、ハミングバードなど、その他名前の分からない鳥が沢山来る。テラスに座って見ていても飽きないが、大敵は昼間は日差しの強さ、夜は蚊に襲われるので、のんびりと座って居られない。
ウサギが二匹現れた、美味しそうに草を食べていたので、写真を撮った。日が落ちて暗くなった、テラスに座ってウイスキーを片手に蛍が光るのを見ながら一服、こんなこと日本で出来るかな？と思いつつウイスキーが２杯、３杯と空く、酔っ払った。案の定蚊に３箇所刺されていました。
We have a lot of animals in our backyard. Many birds come to visit us - for example, ducks, woodpeckers,cardinals, hummingbirds, and other birds I don't know their names of. I sit at the deck and I don't get tired of looking outside. But the sun is really strong daytime and I get bitten by mosquitoes at night so I can't just sit and relax there. Early evening, I saw two bunnies eating the grass so I took some pictures. After the sun went down, I drank some whiskeys while looking at some fireflies. The glass got empty really quickly so I got another one, and another one... I got drunk. And, of course, a mosquito got me, too.

水遊び (Pool Play)

今日は、結構暑い日だが、娘の旦那さんは芝刈りを始めた、暑いのに大変だ、何時もなら私も手伝うのだが、あいにく膝を痛めていて手伝えない残念。空には航空ショーの戦闘機が爆音を轟かせ飛んで行く、写真を撮ろうとしたが、早すぎてとても取れない。庭では孫がプール遊び、隣の男の子と一緒にしばらく遊んでいた。
It was really hot today but my son-in-law started mowing early afternoon. I wanted to help him but I had a knee pain so I decided not to. There was an "air show" near the house so we saw fighter planes flying above our head with roaring sounds. I was going to take a picture of them but the planes flew too fast. After my son-in-law mowed the grass, my grandson and his friend in the neighbor spent a time playing in an inflatable pool in the backyard.

ゴルフレッスン (Golf Lesson)

孫が初めてのゴルフレッスンに行くので付いていった。広い打ちっぱなしの練習場横の広場に４歳～７歳位の男の子８人、先生の指導の下レッスンが始まった。打つ球はテニスボールの様な球、身体が皆小さいのでスイングするのも大変、やっている内にだんだん巧くなるから不思議、見ていたら孫は先生に習った通り基本に忠実にレッスンをしていた。孫に感想を聞いていないが、次回のレッスンを楽しみに待っていれば良のですが。
Today was my grandson's first day of his golf lesson so I tagged along there with him. Everybody met at a driving range. There were 8 boys probably around 4-7 years old. An instructor explained a bit and they all started practicing. Most of the kids were small so they seem to have a hard time just swinging a club. But after I watched them practicing for a while, everybody got better. My grandson listened his instructor very carefully and tried to do exactly what he said. He was practicing hard. I didn't hear what he thought about the lesson but hopefully he was looking forward to going to the next lesson.

最終日 (Florida Trip - Last Day)

ディズニーワールド観光が終わり、マンションを午前１０時にチェックアウト (写真の部屋は、私が７泊している間寝ていた部屋）、飛行機の時間が午後５時、時間調整のため小規模な遊園地に寄た。ゲームセンター、ゴーカートがあると思えば小さな子供が乗る汽車が走っていたり、メリーゴーランドが回っている。子供連れの人たちが多く来ていたが、ゲームや乗り物の待ち時間は殆どない。飛行機も来た時と違って定刻に出発、家には午後９時に到着した。
We checked out our condo at 10:00 AM. (the picture shows the room where I slept for the past 7 nights). Since our flight was around 5:00 PM, we decided to go to a small amusement park to kill our time. It had a big video arcade, go-carts, a small train for pre-school kids and merry-go-round. Many people had children with them but didn't look like there were lines for rides nor games. At night, our flight was on time and we came back to our house in Michigan around 9:00 PM.

ディズニーワールド観光六日目 (Florida Trip - 6th Day)

今日は、エプコットに出かけた。７日間の内で一番涼しい日だが、普段運動不足の私、もう一年分を歩いた感じ、疲れはピークに達している、やはり年かな、でも最後のテーマパークだので歩き続けていた。ここにはアメリカ、カナダ、メキシコ、ドイツ、フランス、イタリア、中国、日本など各国のテーマパークが有り、それぞれ国の特徴を生かした模様しものや名産品が紹介されていた。孫はメキシコ館でのディズニーキャラクターが多数出てくる乗り物が気に入り３度も乗ったいた。

Today we headed to Disney Epcot Center. It was the coolest day since we came to Florida - but since I haven't been exercising, I felt like I have done my one year worth of walking since I came to Florida and I was very tired. I guess I'm old. But this was our last theme park, so I kept walking. One side of this park was a "world showcase", and there, I saw bits and pieces of different countries such as U.S.A., Canada, Mexico, Germany, France, Italy, Chine and Japan. Each of the country sells authentic wares and presents the shows from the homeland. My grandson loved the ride in Mexico (some Disney characters also appeared in the ride). He rode three times.

ディズニーワールド観光五日目 (Florida Trip - 5th Day)

今日は、休息日朝からのんびり過ごし、昼近くに家族全員でプールに出かけ、泳ぐのでは無く水遊び程度、そばに卓球台やゲーム機があり、そこでも遊べる。私が一番気に入ったのはジャグジーで温泉に入っている様であった。夕食は、レストランに行き美味しいステーキを食べ、今日はのんびりと出来た日でした。
We took a break from going to a park today. We went to a pool at the condo. We didn't really swim - just splash the water. At the pool side, there were two ping pong tables and also video games. So we played there some, too. My most favorite thing to do was to relax in a jacuzzi pool. At night, we went to a restaurant and ate delicious steak. I was glad we were able to relax today.

ディズニーワールド観光四日目 (Florida Trip - 4th Day)

今日は、シーワールドに出かけた。ここもアトラクションがいっぱい、オットセイや象アザラシのショー、シャチの豪快なダイブそしてシャチが尾の平で観客に大量の水をかけて行く、これが半端じゃない量だ残念ながら私たちは上の方で見ていたため水を浴びることが出来なかった。なぜならこの日は異常に暑い日で湿度も高く、座っているだけで汗が出てくる状態でした。変わった魚と言っていいかジュゴンに似た体系でおっとりしているもの、早く泳ぐもと色々な魚類がいた。特別なペンギンツアーに参加し、色々な説明を受けたが英語が分からず理解できず、最後に参加者２０名が一人づつペンギンに触れて終了、ペンギンは思っていたより毛並みよくやわらかかった。最後にイルカに餌をやっておしまい。

We went to Sea World today. We saw a seal/walrus show and an orca show. At the orca show (the famous "Shamu" show), the orca splashed the water to the crowds in front. It's not just "splashed", people who were sitting in front were drenched. We were watching the show in high up so unfortunately we didn't get splashed - the reason I said "unfortunately" was it's a really hot and humid day and I was sweating even by sitting to see the show. At the park, I saw a manatee. It looked kind like a strange fish. It looked like a "dugong". Some of them swam very slow; some were a bit faster. We also took a special penguin tour. Unfortunately, I didn't understand what the guide said even though she was explaining a lot. In the end of the tour, all the participants (about 20 of us) got to touch a penguin. The penguin was softer than I thought. It had very nice feathers. Before leaving the park, we fed a dolphin and went back to our condo.

ディズニーワールド観光三日目 (Florida Trip - 3rd Day)

今日は、アニマルキングドムに出かけた、色々な動物の放し飼いを車に乗って見る、日本で言うサハリパークの様なアトラクションやライオンキングのショー、その他珍しい動物を見て歩く、結構面白かった。夕方（まだ明るい）パレードがあり動物のぬいぐるみを着た人たち、足に何を履いているか分からないが３メートル以上有るダンサー、化粧をした人たちが踊りながら行進して行く、見ていて楽しいし、暑いのに大変だなあーと感心して見てました。

Today, we went to Disney Animal Kingdom. We rode a ride which takes us to see the wild animals (it's like the one in a safari park). We also saw Lion King show and other unusual animals in the park. It was very entertaining. In the early evening (around 4:00 PM - it's still very light!), we saw a parade. We saw many people in stuff animal suits, some dancers who were about 3 m tall (don't know what they were wearing - probably stilts), and many others with a lot of make-up. It was very fun to watch the parade. I appreciated that they worked very hard entertaining us in the hot weather.

(His daughter's comment: On this day, at night, my father was mumbling something in the kitchen. I heard he was saying to himself, "Sunday, Monday, Tuesday...". He was staring at his whiskey bottle and worried if his whiskey would run out before we leave Florida. Lucky for him, his whiskey did not run out.)

ディズニーワールド観光二日目 (Florida trip - 2nd Day)

今日はマジックキングドムへ、日本のディズニーランドと同じようなアトラクションや乗り物がいっぱい、３０分以上待つアトラクションはとばして、出来るだけ色々なものを見る予定であったが、なにしろ広い歩くだけでも大変、色々な国からの人々が行きかい久しぶりに沢山の人に会った感じがした。
駐車場の広いこと、乗り物や作り物、飲み物や食べ物、全てが大きいのでゆったり出来るはずですが人が多くそうは行きませんでした。結局見学出来たのは5つのアトラクションでした。

Today we went to Magic Kingdom. The layout of this park is pretty much same as Tokyo Disneyland. There are a lot of attractions and rides. We avoided the attractions for which we had to wait for more than 30 minutes, and we planned to go through a lot of rides. But the park was really big and I was tired just walking around the park. There were many people from many different countries. I haven't seen this many people for a while. The parking was big, all the rides/attractions were big - even the food/drink came big size. Since everything was so big, I thought we didn't have to be in any lines but I was wrong. In the end, we only managed to see five attractions. (we left early...)

ディズニーワールド観光一日目 (Florida trip - 1st Day)

昨日午後９時ごろ帰宅しましたので、ディズニーワールド観光の様子を書きます。
６月２７日家族４人午後７時半の飛行機でオーランドに向けて出発予定であたが、天候の影響で飛行機の出発時間が４時間遅れ、オーランドの短期契約マンションに着いたのが翌朝の３時、眠いので直ぐにベットへ、マンションは３ベットルーム、２バスルーム、そして生活に困らないだけの物は揃っている。相当な数のマンション群で中央には管理事務所やプールも付いていて、なかなか素敵なところで
だ、一日目はのんびり過ごすことに決めた。夕食を日本食でもと思い寿司、うな丼等の看板が出ている店に入り、寿司、牛丼と天婦羅うどんを注文、出てきた食事はとんでもない寿司や牛丼で殆ど残してしまった。　あれでは日本食はこんなものかと思われてしまう。

I came back from Florida last night around 9:00 PM. I will be writing about my Florida trip in my blog. On June 27, four of us were supposed to take a flight to Orland around 7:30 PM. However, due to the bad weather, the airplane had 4 hours delay. So, we arrived our condo (rented for a week) around 3:00 AM on the following day (his daughter's comment: Good thing he brought some whiskey with him... I don't think the liquer store was open that late). As soon as we got there, we went to bed. The condo had 3 bedrooms and had 2 bathrooms. Of course, it was furnished. There were a quite numbers of buildings in that gated community. It had a management office and a pool - I thought it was very nice. On the following day, we decided to relax a bit. At night, we went to a Japanese restaurant... well, so we thought... The restaurant we went had a sign said "unadon" (eel bowl), we thought it was an authentic restaurant. Boy, were we wrong! We ordered Sushi, Gyudon (beef bowl) and tempura udon. But the food was really bad we couldn't eat them. I wish the restaurant didn't advertise as a "Japanese" restaurant. Other people might think "Japanese food" in general is really bad and they might not want to try ever again. (his daughter's comment: He didn't write it but in the morning, he and my husband went to buy some whiskey for him so he was all set during our Florida trip).

荷造り (packing)

今日は、娘夫婦は仕事に出かけ、夏休みに入っている孫と私が留守番、テレビを見たりふざっけこをしたりして過ごしていた。孫とは会話ではコミュニケーションが取れない、せめて身体を触れ合うことで
コミュニケーションを図っている。
明日からフロリダのディズニーワールド出かける、１週間の荷造りを始めた。初めて行くので楽しんで来ようと思う。そのため、私のブログは一週間のお休み予定です。
Today, my daughter and her husband went to work. I babysat my grandson. We watched TV and played together. I can't communicate with my grandson by talking but we communicated by gestures. We are going to Florida's Disney World tomorrow. I started packing for a week trip. This is my first time in Florida and I am sure I will have a good time. I am taking a break from my blog for one week during my trip.

アイスクリーム (icecream)

孫のドラムレッスンの日、今日も一緒に付いていった。レッスン前にアイスクリームの専門店に立ち寄り、孫、娘、私とそれぞれ違うアイスクリームを注文した。私は山二つのチョコレートアイスクリームを食べた、これが結構美味しい、そして安い日本円で２００円位かな、まだ食べられたが身体のことを考えやめた。
その後、孫はレッスン、娘と私は３軒の店をどんな物が売られているか見て廻った。いずれも大きな店で、４５分の時間では見切れません。
Today's my grandson's drum lesson day. Once again I tagged along with him. Before the lesson, we stopped by an ice cream shop. My grandson, my daughter, and I, all ordered a different flavor. I ordered chocolate ice cream. It's really delicious and cheap compared with Japan - it's about 200 yen. I could eat more but I didn't want to get sick by eating too much ice cream so I didn't eat all. After the ice cream, my grandson went to the lesson and my daughter and I looked around the stores near there. All three stores we went were really big and I couldn't see all in 45 minutes.

水遣り (sprinklers)

芝生に水をやるのが私の日課に成っている、二台のスプリンクラーを使って約２時間すべての芝生に水をやる、暑いので水遊びでは無いが結構楽しいものである。芝生への水遣りも夏季の間天気がよい時は出来るだけやるようにしているし、害虫駆除の薬品を散布しなければならないし、芝の手入れも大変です。町全体が道路、歩道を除いて全てが芝生と樹木と言う感じ、うちは芝生の手入をいたしませんとは行かない町、時間もお金も掛かる、私の様に２ヶ月だけだと楽しいのかも知れません。
今日宝くじを５ドル買て見た、コインで何箇所も削り当りはずれを確認するゲーム見たいなもの、見事１０ドルが当ったラッキーである、これでまた１０ドル分（２ドル～買える）買える当りが続くことを願って買い続ける予定、楽しみである。
I water our yard everyday - it's becoming my daily task. I move around two sprinklers (with hoses) and gave water to the grass. It usual takes for about 2 hours total. Because it's hot here now, it's sort of fun... don't mind splashing water to myself. During the hot weather, the grass requires a lot of water and sometimes also need the stuff to kill some noxious insect. The town my daughter lives has a lot of trees and grass around houses so we have to put some effort taking care of yard just to keep up the neighbors. That means it takes some money and time. For somebody like me who is just here for two months, it's actually sort of fun, though.
Today, I bought a lottery. This is a "scratch" game - I had to use a penny to scratch off many places. I bought a ticket for $5.00 and I won $10.00! I will use the winning $10.00 to buy more scratch games (I can buy one ticket from $2.00).

ハイキング (hiking)

今日は土曜日家族全員が休日、遅い朝食を取った後、ハイキングに行くことになった。
車で２０分ぐらいのところに広い公園がある、公園といっても日本の公園とは違い何しろ広くて大きい、１３キロメートルを乗馬で楽しめる所ですから、殆どが森林で平地に小高い山と言った感じ、森林の中を散策していると、鳥の鳴き声、黒いリス、鹿、小さな蛇、池には亀や小魚と色々な生き物が見られる
残念ながら樹木の種類は分かりません。５キロメートルを約２時間かけて散策して楽しみました。
帰りがけにメキシコレストランで食事、以前メキシコに在住したことがあり、食事となま演奏のマリアッチが懐かしくかった。

It's Saturday today so everybody was off. After eating a late breakfast, we decided to go hiking. There was a big park about 20 minutes car ride from the house. I said "park" but it's not a "park" you can think in Japan. It's really big and there was a 13 km horse riding track. So it's like a forest. Most of the place is flat but some minor hills. While walking, I heard a lot of birds chirping, saw black squirrels, a dear, a small snake. I also saw a turtle and small fish in a pond. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about trees so I couldn't tell what sort of trees growing there. We enjoyed walking about 5 km for 2 hours. On the way home, we had a dinner at a Mexican restaurant. There, we enjoyed food and a Mariachi live performance. I used to live in Mexico so I felt nostalgic.

日本食とWiiソフト (Japanese food and Wii)

今日、娘の仕事が休みなので昼食を日本食レストランに食べに行った、ラーメン、そば、天丼等なんでもある、私たちはうな丼を注文、大きなどんぶり、何処に行っても大きい物が多い、うな丼にレタスの大盛と味噌汁食べ切れなかった。味は個人個人の好みなのでなんとも言えません、これでチップを含め一人前役1,2oo円安いと思う。
夕方旦那がWiiのソフトを買ってきた、早速、孫が説明書を読み(写真は、孫が説明書を読んでいるところ）ゲームを始めた。旦那さんはゲーム買ってきてしまったと娘に言ったみたい。うな丼を食べた私たち、ゲームを楽しむ旦那と孫これでいいのだ。

My daughter was off today so she and I went to a Japanese restaurant for lunch. The restaurant offered many Japanese food such as ramen, soba, tempra, etc. We ordered Unadon (Eel bowl). Unadon came with a big bowl (everything in US is big). Also, came with a big bowl of salad and miso soup - I couldn't finish it. I don't want to comment about the taste of the Unadon because the taste is a subjective matter... but it cost about 1,200 Yen including the tip so I thougth it's a pretty good deal. In the evening, my son-in-law came home with a new Wii game. My grandson read the instruction (see the picture) and started playing the game right away. I heard my son-in-law told my daughter, he couldn't resist buying another Wiil game... My daughter and I had a good time at a Japanese restaurant, and my son-in-law and my grandson had a good time playing a new Wii game - it was another happy day!

蛙 (frog)

日が強いので、芝生へのスプリンクラーによる毎日の水遣り、１週間～１０日に一度の芝刈り、家の周りすべて表玄関側、裏庭側等広いので大変、娘の旦那さんが芝刈りの準備をしている時、偶然蛙を見つけてきた、小さな蛙で種類は分からないがおとなしい蛙だ、手の上に乗せても逃げない、逃げるどころか手の上で居眠りしそうになってしまう、種類が分からないので手乗り蛙にしておこう。蛙を眺めた後旦那さんは芝刈りを始めた、芝刈り機を使って約１時間かかった。
The sun's been really strong, so we have been watering the grass every day and mowing every 7-10 days. The grass grow everywhere around the house - in front of the house and backyard - so it takes long time to mow. When my son-in-law was ready to mow, he found a frog. I don't know what kind of frog but it's small and very quiet. I put a frog on my hand but the frog didn't try to run away. Actually, instead of running away, he almost fell sleep on my hand. After my son-in-law watched the frog for a while, he started mowing. It took about one hour for him to finish the job.

スペースシャトル (space shuttle)

昨日午前中まで降っていた雨が上がり夜になって快晴、午後１０時半西から東の空へひときわ輝いて飛んでいくスペースシャトル、スペースステーション２機、家の真上を通過して行く、こんなにはっきり見えるとは思っていなかたのでびっくり、約３～４分位かな見上げている頭上を通過して行った。 (写真はよく取れなかったけど、よく見ると二つ光っているものがみえます）。
庭の方に一服しにいたら朝方雨だったためか蛍が多く飛んでいた。昨夜は輝くものが見れる日だった
幸運なことです。
Yesterday, it rained until noon but we had a clear sky last night. Last night, around 10:30 PM, I went outside and saw two bright star-like objects moving from west to east directly about the house. They were a space shuttle and a space station! I watched them for 3-4 minutes until they disappeared. I didn't think I could see them that clearly, so I was surprised. (the picture didn't turn out well... but if you look at it closely, you can see two shiny objects).
After that, I went to the backyard to smoke. Perhaps because we had a rain in that morning, I saw many firefly. It was a time to see all "shining" stuff last night. I felt lucky.

猫２匹 (two cats)

今日は朝から雨が降っていたようで雷の音で目がさめた、ここ一週間晴天が続いたので調度よいお湿りだなと思っていたら午前中に止んでしまいました。今日も私は猫２匹と留守番、何の種類か分からないが大きな黒いオスが２匹、名前は毛が多いほうがパンダ、太っているのがエムジャーのっそりと家の中を歩いている、絨毯や壁に爪あとの痕跡が多数ある。猫用の缶詰を買いにいた、大きなスーパーの様だが動物専門店で動物に関係するもが数多く売っていた。

It was raining this morning. I woke up with sound of thunder this morning. It's been a clear day every day for a week so I thought it's nice to get some rain but it stopped before noon. I stayed home today with two cats. I don't know what sort of cats they are. Both of them are male. The one with longer hair is "Panda" and the chubby one is "Mgarr" (pronounce EM-Jar) who walks around the house leisurely. The cat scratches are everywhere on the carpet and on the wall. (Yesterday,) we went to buy cat food. The place we went was like a big supermarket for "pets". They sell all kind of pet related stuff in the store.

ドラム (drum)

夕方孫がドラムのレッスンに行くので娘と一緒に見に行った。ピアノ、ギター、ドラム等の個人レッスン場、小さな部屋が１０室位ありそれぞれの音楽レッスンを専門教師が教えている。レッスン時間は孫の場合は３０分、時間は希望により調整が出来るようです。ドラムを叩くのが上達しているか素人の私には良くわからないが、５才の子にして結構うまく叩いていました。
My grandson had a drum lesson this evening so I went to see it with my daughter. The music school (Axis Music Academy) offers individual lessons for piano, guitar, drum, etc. There are about 10 small rooms in the building, and in each room, a music teacher gives a lesson to a student. The lesson lasted for 30 minutes for my grandson. I don't have any music background, but I thought he played really good as 5 years old.