花火 (firework)

今日も快晴、昼は外が暑いので家の中で孫とゲームをしたり、パソコンで日本の情報を得たりして、のんびりと過ごした。夜になって市民祭りの締めとして、花火が打ちあがるのでメイン会場に近い公園に見物に出かけた。花火は日が落ちるのが遅いので１０時２０分頃から始まり１１時過ぎに終わった、日本では考えられない時間、公園も殆どが芝生で横になて見ていた。
It's a clear day again. Since it was very hot during a day time, I spent a time relaxing - I spent most of time playing a video game with my grandson and surfing a web to get information about Japan. At night, at the end of the festival (see my yesterday's blog), there was a firework show. So, we went to a park to watch the show. The sun didn't go down until late so the firework started around 10:20 PM and finished around 11:00 PM (that doesn't happen in Japan... usually if there is firework, it starts around 8:00 PM or earlier...). The park was mostly grass and we laid down and watch the firework.

お祭り (festival)

こちらに来て一週間、毎日晴天が続きあくまでも天高くスカイブルー風も弱く夕方には（日が落ちるのはPM９時半）飛行機雲が十数本見ることができる。ただ戸外は暑いすぐに日に焼けそうだ、湿度が低いせいか屋内、木陰にいればいたって快適である。今日は市民祭り（フェスタ）が行われ夕方６時ごろ家族揃って出かけ楽しい夜（まだ昼の様に明るい）を過ごした。フェスタは広大な公園で模様され民芸品、地域特産品、絵画、装飾品、飲物、食べ物等々色々な店が並び又、広場では子供用アトラクションが行われ沢山の子供たちが楽しんでいました。
It's been one week since I got here and it's been clear day every day. The sky's been blue and not much wind. Everyday, I see a lot of contrails right before the sunset. The sun goes down around 9:30 PM these days. Today we headed to a local festival around 6:00 PM (yes, it's still very bright... as you seen in the picture) and we had a fun time. The festival was held a big park near the house. Arts, crafts, food & drink vendors were everywhere. There were also children's attractions (carnival games & inflatables) and many people were having a great time.

孫の終業式 (graduation and award ceremony)

今日は、孫が一年間の勉強を終えての終業式、娘夫婦が式に出席するので一緒に就いていった。学校に着いてびっくり、式の前に野外パーティが始まっていた、食べ物はPTAの方々が作ってバイキング方式、飲み物は各自持参（アルコールはなし）１時間ばかり食べて、飲んで、おしゃべりをしてから式典が始まった。式典と言っても堅苦しくなく和気あいあいの中で勉強で何か優れたことが出来た子達の表彰が行われ、最後に８年間を過ごし上の学校へ行く２名の卒業式が盛大？に行われ式は終了した。
ちなみに、社会、数学、読み書き等３件の表彰を受けた孫は自慢できる孫である。
学校は私立学校で日本的に言えば幼稚園から高校までの一貫校、年少、年長、小学６年、中学２年、高校４年となっている。孫は今年の９月から年長に上がる。
It was my grandson's school's "graduation" and "award ceremony" day. I attended with my daughter and her husband. When I got to school, the outdoor pot-luck party was already started. Each person brought some drink (no-alcohol). After eating, drinking and socializing for about an hour, the ceremony started. The ceremony was very casual. First there was an award ceremony, then there was a graduation ceremony. Only two students graduated from this school this year. I would like to add that my grandson got awarded by winning in three "bees" (math, social study and language art) this year (yes, I am bragging...) The school my grandson goes is a private school which caters from Pre-K to 8 th grade. Next year (from this coming September) he will be in Kindergarten class (he was in Pre-K this year and last year).

散歩 (taking a walk)

買い物がてら町の散策に出てみた、閑静な住宅街で道沿い家の周りはすべて芝生今ごろが芝が綺麗な時期かな、しかし日が強いので芝の伸びるのが早いらしく芝刈りが大変みたい今日も芝を刈っている光景を何件か見ました。車社会のためか往復約２キロで歩いている人に会ったのはたたの２人、会えば”ハーイ”と声をかけてくれる、これがとてうれしいことですね
I wanted to go buy something (note from his daughter: "whiskey") so I decided to take a walk to go buy while enjoying the scenery around the house. This is a quiet sub-division. All the houses around have nice grass. But since it is hot these days, grass grow too fast and it seems to hard to keep up. Several people were mowing their yard today. Not many people walk around here - everybody drives a car. Between the house and the store, I only met two people. Whenever I meet somebody in a street, he/she said "hi" to me. It's very nice.

テレビゲーム (video game)

孫にプレゼントとしてテレビゲームのWiiをと思い購入しようとしたが、日本と同じようになかなか手に入らず困っていましたが、娘の旦那さんが３日間をかけて色々なゲーム専門店を探してくれてやっと今日購入することが出来た、孫が早速ゲームを始め大騒ぎ家族そっろて楽しんでいます。
I was thinking about giving Wii to my grandson for a present. But I found out that it is hard to get Wii here just like Japan. Then, my daughter's husband called around the stores for three days and I was finally able to purchase it. As soon as I gave it to my grandson, he started playing. We all enjoyed playing Wii.

リス (squirrel)

本日娘夫婦は会社に出勤、孫は学校へ一人留守番部屋を掃除した後テラスで一服していると裏庭にある森にリスが集まり運動会（多分メスの争奪選）が始まった１０匹以上いたと思うがそれは凄かった泣き叫び１０メートル以上ある木から落ちるやつも出るほどで４０分ぐらい続いたかいつの間にか解散した、何を勘違いしたか一匹が私の座っている足元まできて挨拶して逃げ帰りました。

My daughter and her husband left to work, and my grandson went to school this morning. I stayed home and cleaned a house. While I was taking a break at the deck in the backyard, squirrels decided to race each other (is this a mating season?) I think there were at least 10 squirrels out there and I could hear their screams. One of them even fell from a tree about a 10 m. This commotion lasted for about 40 minutes. One squirrel even came close to my feet and left. Perhaps, he just wanted to say "hello" to me.

孫 (my grandson)

今日は娘と旦那さんそして孫揃って重機機の展示会（科学博物館のもようし）に出かけました。私は留守番、孫はアメリカ人と日本人との間に生まれた子、５才になりますが本を読んだりパソコンをしたり頭を使うことが好きなタイプ大きな機械も好きで今日も喜んで出かけました。孫は英語、私は日本語ですのでコミュニケーションを取るのが難しい７０歳近い私が今から孫と対等に会話できる英語をマスターできるわけがない、身振り手振りで会話できる様努力するつもり。
Today my daughter, her husband and my grandson went to "Big Machine" exhibit at COSI Toledo. I was still tired so I decided to stay home. My grandson is 5 years old; he likes reading and playing a computer and also likes 'machines'. So he was excited going there. My grandson doesn't speak Japanese and I can't speak English much so often we have a communication problem. I am almost 70 years old so it's hard for me to learn English. I try communicating to my grandson with some gestures.

買い物に行きました。(went shopping)

今日は娘が買い物に行くので一緒に出かけました。大きなスーパー品物も揃っていて店内が広いので品をピックアプするのが楽でした。いろいろと買いましたが何しろ品物が大きく大きなカートがすぐに一杯になります、ちなみに値段は例えば牛肉４００ｇ３.８６ドル、牛乳３．８リットル３．７８ドル、オレンジジュース１．９リットル２．７４ドル、赤ピーマン１個２，３ドル、その他の品も大きくて安いのです。大きくて安いとは私の住んでいる国と比べてのことです。

Today, my daughter went shopping so I tagged along with her. The grocery store I went was big and they were selling so many different items. We bought several things but most of the items were big ('size'... compared with Japan) and our cart filled up quickly. Just to show how cheap the food is here compare with Japan, it costs $3.86 for 400 g (about 0.75 lb) beef, $3.78 for 3.8 L (1 gallon) milk, $2.74 for 1.9 L (1/2 gallon) orange juice, and about $2-3 for 1 red pepper. Most other items were also cheaper and bigger compared with Japan.