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December 31st. New Year's Eve soba noodle party. I made a vegetable omelet for our breakfast.
We had curry rice for our lunch.
In the afternoon, my wife's nephew and his wife came over with their baby. They made soba noodles together with my wife. The soba were served at the New Year's Eve soba party at my wife's parents' house.
My wife fried a lot of tempura because tempura and soba go well together.
The New Year's Eve soba noodle party was held at my wife's parents' house from 6pm. My wife, my son, my brother-in-law and his wife, mywife's nephew and his wife, and their baby were attendance. Everyone had their fill of soba noodles and tempura.
The only unfortunate thing was that my father-in-law was in the hospital.
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December 30th. What is semi-chocolate？. I made a vegetable and sausage soup. My wife finished making kuromame that is one of New Year's dishes. She made others for our breakfast . We had them.
I printed New Year's cards. My wife designed them. My new Epson printer is working great.
Chocolate prices are apparently soaring due to a global decline in cocoa bean production and an increase in demand. In Japan, it cannot be called chocolate unless it contains at least 35% cocoa. Anything less than 35% but 15% is called semi-chocolate.
It seems that the ingredients in many chocolate confectioneries are shifting from chocolate to semi-chocolate. I checked the labels on chocolate confectionery packages at Torisen to confirm this.
It seems that the ingredients in many chocolate confectioneries are shifting from chocolate to semi-chocolate. I checked the labels on chocolate confectionery packages at Torisen to confirm this.
The price of chocolate has risen dramatically. Eventually, chocolate may become hard to come by. Well, that won't be a problem for me, With Anko, it's fine.
My wife made curry rice for our evening meal.
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December 29th. My wife made several kinds of New Year's dishes. My wife made our breakfast.
My wife has been making several kinds of New Year's dishes since the morning. Anko, kinpira, and namasu were already ready. We had them for lunch. My wife also made oshiruko ( anko soup with mochi).
I made a vegetable and sausage soup for our evening meal.
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December 28th. Our favorite soba restaurant Kimura. My wife made our breakfast.
My wife and I went to Ami-machi to buy buckwheat flour from her friend.
My wife and I had tenseiro at our favorite soba restaurant Kimura for our lunch.
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December 27th. About Glyphosate Herbicides. My wife made our breakfast.
Today I attended the Saturday English Class from 10am. Michael sensei wasn't there.
I wrote about Glyphosate herbicides in my English diary on August 23rd. There I found a post by Michael sensei. Michael sense hate glyphosate-based herbicide. I can imagine why. I also used to hate glyphosate-based herbicides.
Glyphosate-based herbicides were developed by Monsanto in the United States in 1970. They're best known by the brand name Roundup. Monsanto supplied a Karehazai during the Vietnam War. And they were sued over Roundup's advertising and damages. Bad images. I also used to hate glyphosate-based herbicides and Monsant.
I thought the best way to remove weeds was by hand, but that's impossible for me on large space land. So I searched for a good herbicide, and at last I found Roundup. I like most about it that it is quickly decomposed by soil bacteria and becomes non-toxic. It doesn't accumulate in the soil or pollute groundwater or rivers. Of course, there are risks such as carcinogenicity, but that applies to all chemicals.
That's why you need to strictly follow the usage instructions. There are limits on the usage concentration and the annual amount per unit area. When the temperature was above 25 degrees, half the concentration was still effective. I also take care to use herbicides safely, taking care not to come into or inhale them. I've been using glyphosate-based herbicides for about 10 years now.
Many people simply seek immediate results and use more amount or more dense liquid than directed. This exceeds the decomposition capacity of soil bacteria. They're turning good herbicides into Karehazais. They do not think with considering the environment for future. Not only that, but it also accelerates the emergence of resistant grasses.They're changing good item to bad. I am sad.
It used to be effective all maity, but now there are 23 grass that are resistant to it. I'll have to start looking for another herbicide.
In any case, when handling herbicides, it is important to have a good understanding of their action and safety. I talked about this in my English class.
My wife arranged flowers and displayed them in the entrance hall for New Year's.
My wife and I baked rolls. I had them for dinner along with the food my wife cooked.
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December 26th. Coppun Cafe. A very strong wind had been blowing since the morning. It was warm in the sun, but it was very cold when exposed to the wind.
The air was clear and I could see far into the distance. Mount Fuji and Mount Tsukuba were also clearly visible.
In the morning, I went to Chikusei City to attend the monthly meeting of the Photo Kano Club.
I went to the barber at 2pm. I realized yesterday that there was only one week left in the year, so I made an appointment with the barber.I barely managed to get a reservation.If I had noticed later, I would have missed the reservation.
My wife came back from Ueda, so I went to Shimizu Park Station to pick her up at 3:30. After that, we went to our favarit thai restaurant Coppun Cafe in Moriya City and had curry. I often eat curry here when my wife comes home.
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December 25th. Ray-Ban sunglasses lenses. I made gyoza soup with bunashimeji and eringi mushroom, and vegetable, granola yogurt with cacao nibs, and cafe au lait for my breakfast.
I made toast with cheese, ham, and vegetables for my lunch.
I grilled two kinds of mushrooms, pumpkin, tomato, carrot and onion for my evening meal. I also ate the apple pie and tofu I bought at Torisen.
Something feels strange on the inside of my left eyelid. I took a picture with my smartphone, but there's nothing unusual.
I found Ray-Ban sunglasses lenses in the back of my desk drawer. They had been replaced with prescription sunglasses. I'll try putting it up for sale on Yahoo! Auctions.
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December 24th. It was raining. It was raining. I went to take a photo of the nearby Kannon stone statue. The image I got was different from what I would have gotten on a sunny day.
I made tomato vegetable soup for my breakfast. Adding tomatoes changes the soup from vegetable soup to tomato soup. The taste changes dramatically.
I also had a fried egg, lettuce, wakame seaweed, and cucumber salad, grilled atsuage, and cacao nib yogurt, and cafe au lait.
I went to Costco and bought potatoes, onions, green peppers, eringi mushrooms, shimeji mushrooms, dried shiitake mushrooms, sausages, and Greek yogurt.
I had temseiro soba at my favorite soba restaurant Kimura for my lunch.
I had two kinds of mushroom and vegetable soup and two kinds of grilled mushrooms for my evening meal.
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December 23rd. A stone Buddha statue. Before dawn, I went to the foot of the Shimousa Tone Bridge to take photos of the agricultural greenhouses. Then I took photos of the stone Buddha statues in Nagaya. Stone Buddha statue with unknown details. The right hand is in the "Abhaya mudra" and the left hand appears to be holding a sutra. This may be a statue of Manjushri Bodhisattva.
I had ebideako, cucumber and seaweed vinegar, clam rice, tofu vegetable soup, iron-fortified yogurt, and cafe au lait for my breakfast.
I had charumera with a lot of vegetables, a raw egg for my lunch.
It was cold, so Miya-O was in front of the air conditioning vent. I went to a workshop and had a wooden part made that would expand the diameter of the bellows knob, allowing for quick and accurate fine adjustments for easier focusing.
I had a soup with lots of vegetables and tofu for my evening meal.
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December 22nd. A colonoscopy. Today was the day of my colonoscopy. I couldn't eat anything until the examination is over.
I drank two liters of colon cleansing solution over a two-hour period starting at 8:00. It went smoothly and without any particular difficulty. It was even more enjoyable than I had heard.
I entered the examination room at 2:45pm. The examination was completed quickly, in less than 30 minutes. No abnormal findings were found. I took a 15 minute break and then left the clinic.
I had ｖegetable and pork stew for my evening meal.
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December 21st. Eenemacrin. This was a day when I diet is restricted due to a colonoscopy.
I ate a test meal called Eenemacrin, a set of three meals a day. The name Eenemacrin is probably a play on Enema Clean. It was not so bad.
My father used to have a laptop. It was not use. I wonder if I should sell it on Yahoo! Auctions. Is it too old to sell?
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December 20th. Ebideiko. I got 2 free daikons. I maden ebidaeko. Ebideiko is cooked small shrimps and radish. It turned out so well that I set up some lighting equipment and took some photos to document it.
I made stuffed peppers with pork and wrapped some of them individually and froze them.
I topped with two kinds of cheese, ham, and chopped green peppers bread, then toasted. I had it for my breakfast.
I had zoni for my lunch. Zoni is a vegetable soup with mochi in it.
I had potato soup for my evening meal.
I sold my broken i-Pod on Yahoo! Auctions for 325 yen.
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December 19th. C bus expansion boards. I made and ate potato, green pepper and egg rice bowl for my breakfast.
I had stewed pork ribs with carrots and lotus root, tomato lettuce salad, and clam rice for my lunch.
I made a hakusai hotpot for my evening meal.
I put two sets of C bus expansion boards from the NEC 9800 series computer I used in the 1990s up for sale on Yahoo! Auctions. The LAN board sold for 1,100 yen, and the Windows accelerator for 1,300 yen.
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December 18th. C.SUPER COLOR SYGMAR 45mm / F1.9 No.34138. I got up early and went to Shimousa Tone Bridge to take pictures of Mount Tsukuba. I also took pictures of stone Buddha statues in Hase..
I made a bento, but instead of going out, I ate it at home for my lunch.
Recently I've been doing a lot of outdoor photography with modified lenses.
C.SUPER COLOR SYGMAR 45mm / F1.9 No.34138 on my EOS M5.
This lens was mounted on the TKC VELEX Windsor Deluxe No. 430767 (rangefinder camera) manufactured by Toko Photo Co., Ltd., released in 1957. I purchased this junk item on Yahoo! Auctions in November 2019 for about 700 yen and extracted the lens. I then remounted it on a Canon EF-M mount.
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December 17th. Shrimp hot sandwich. It is thinly sliced pork belly and mixed together with grated potatoes, then I grilled it. I called it Butabara burger.
I made a hot sandwich with grilled shrimp, cabbage and mayonnaise on toast.
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December 16th. Yahoo! Auctions. I had vegetable and sausage soup, a hot salmon and cheese sandwich, a boiled egg, lettuce, carrot and seaweed salad, cafe au lait, and granola yogurt for my breakfast.
I was going to take a nap in a sunny spot, but Miya-O came and licked my face. I couldn't sleep.
The other day, I won a bid on Yahoo! Auctions for 11 tripods, including a broken Manfrotte 780B. It's an aluminum alloy monopod. I repaired it using stainless steel wire and glue. I tested it at Yasaka Park, and it was small, lightweight, smart, and strong enough. However, it's not suitable for my use. I'm going to resell it on Yahoo! Auctions.
I bought the Magnifier for the Canon F-1 as a part for modifying it, but it didn't turn out as expected, so I also be going to resell it on Yahoo! Auctions.
I had potatoes baked in a Dutch oven with curry and granola yogurt for my evening meal.
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December 15th. Mount Fuji. It was a fine day, the sky was clear and Mount Fuji was clearly visible. However, the wind was blowing strongly and it was very cold. So I hesitated to go take a photo it outside.
I had a hot salmon and cheese sandwich, granola yogurt, lettuce and tomato salad, vegetable soup, and cafe au lait for my breakfast.
Mount Fuji was truly beautiful. So I grabbed my Asahi Pentax 500mm telephoto lens and went out to take some photos. This giant lens is difficult to use, so I only use it to take photos of Mount Fuji. I also use it outside a few times a year on dry days to prevent mold from growing. Today was that day.
I took an incredibly clear photo of Mt. Fuji. Next, I tried to take a photo of Mt. Tsukuba from the top of the Shimousa Tone Bridge, but the wind was so strong that the camera and tripod kept shaking, so the photo wasn't very good.
I also captured some people harvesting Negi in a field. This photo is suitable for the Bando City photo contest, so I'll enter it.
In the afternoon, Miya-O met with her doctor. He examined her and performed a blood test, finding no significant changes. So, he prescribed a 60days set of medication. She was scheduled for another appointment in three months.
I had vegetable soup and Nikuman for my lunch. I had vegetable soup and some apple for my evening meal.
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December 14th. Salmon cheese hot sandwich. I baked graham bread in my automatioc electric bread maker. It didn't rise. My wife sade it must be because of the domestic wheat. The flour is a brand called "Yumekaori," which is 100% domestically produced. the cost is litte bit hight. It has a strong wheat aroma and a sweet taste. It might be a waste to mix it with graham flour. Next time, I'll go back to using my old flour.
I bought some salmon fillets at Costco. They were thick, large salmon halves. The price per weight was about the same as pork. I haven't eaten fish recently, so I bought some. I always cut it into individual servings and freeze it.
I grilled a fillet of salmon, removed the bones and skin, and put it on bread with cheese to make a hot sandwich. I didn't forget to add orange juice and garnish with basil leaves.
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December 13th. I get 11 junk tripods on Yahoo! Auctions. It's very cold. I can't get up early.
I put stewed pork ribs and carrots on rice, garnished it with chopped green peppers and an egg, and heated it in the microwave. it is Buta Ribu Nikomi Don. I had it and cafe au lait for my breakfast.
I attended Saturday English Class from 10:00 a.m. I hadn't seen everyone in over 40 days because I missed the last class.
I won a set of 11 junk tripods on Yahoo! Auctions. They include SLIK, Konica, Velbon, and more. The winning bid was 100 yen for the whole set, with shipping at 1,530 yen, for a total of 1,630 yen. In other words, it was about 150 yen per tripod. One tripod needs repair, but the others are in good working order with no missing parts or malfunctions. Five of the tripods seem easy to use. Three are medium-sized and would be good for mountain trips. Three look good for indoor use. They come in a variety of sizes, so they can be used in a variety of situations.
For me, a tripod is an essential item for photography, but I often forget it in a feeld. I often lose my tripod. I've lost three this year. So I can't use an expensive tripod.
I made vegetable and tofu soup for my evening meal. I also had granola yogurt.
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December 12th. My Opinel BE-PAL Collaboration Outdoor Knife. The mochi dissolved in the remaining pumpkin soup and became like porridge. I had it and cafe au lait for my breakfast.
Miya-o stayed the front of the air conditioner after medicine today.
My Opinel BE-PAL Collaboration Outdoor Knife No. 7 Carbon Steel 8cm Folding Knife was purchased 40 years ago. I was using to cut cheese, bread, potato and more at outdoor life. I am getting old, and I can't enjoy for outdoor activities many. So this knife will be not suitable for me. So I'm selling it on Yahoo! Auctions.
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December 11th. M42 lens adapter rings. It's cold out, so a warm soup is nice. I made a tofu, daikon, green pepper, and pumpkin soup for my breakfast. I added a mochi. It became similar to zoni.
Miya-O asked for food as soon as she woke up. When she was full, she went to the bathroom to drink some water before coming here. Every day is the same. Hawever, she didn't know that it was time for her medicine after that. After her medicine time was over, she slept in my futon. Almost all day.
I made fried squid and egg curry rice, garnished with sliced green peppers and tomatoes for my lunch. i also had pumpkin soup.
I bought five M42 lens adapter rings (with autofocus confirmation chip) for Canon EOS cameras, brand: GAOSHOU, priced at 999 yen each, on Amazon. Since it is made in China, the dimensional accuracy is not reliable. However, it is quite useful as a part for lens modification. Plus, it's incredibly cheap. But they're not in stable supply, so I end up buying more than I need right now. I always have at least one in stock.
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December 10th. To eat hot soup to warm up. It was very cold. When it's cold, it's good to eat hot soup to warm up. I had something like oden and vegetable pumpkin soup three times. In addition to that, I also had granola yogurt for my breakfast, Anko mochi for my lunch, and nikuman for my dinner.
Miya-O also seemed to be cold. I worked with her in the air-conditioned room, organizing the bills. All day.
I wasted about 30 minutes, but I should consider myself lucky that I didn't make any worse mistakes.
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December 9th. Grace Clinic. I went to Grace Clinic in Tsukuba City. An abnormality was discovered during a screening test during my health checkup in this time. I will have the test done in the clinic.
The navigation system in my FJ Cruiser is old and data updates are no longer possible. The clinic is new and wasn't included in the navigation data, so I had a bit of trouble finding it.
Today's session ended with an appointment for the test and an explanation of the preparation procedures to be followed two days in advance.
I made a lot of soup with shimeji mushrooms, pumpkin, onion, daikon radish and atsuage.
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December 8th. Canon MP990 printer. My wife made our breakfast. She was going back to Ueda, so I took her to Shimizu Park Station.
I made two servings of sauce yakisoba noodles with plenty of vegetables and ate one serving for my lunch.
I made tofu radish and pumpkin soup. I also made lettuce and tomato salad for my evening meal.
My Canon MP990 printer has outlived its usefulness. I've been using my Canon MP990 printer for about 10 years. It finally broke down and can no longer accept work. I'm planning to disassemble it and dispose of it as trash. I'll sell the unused ink on Yahoo! Auctions.
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December 7th. Mt. Hokyo agein. My wife made our breakfast.
My wife was meeting her best friend at a fruit cafe in Tsukuba, so I dropped her off there. After that, I climbed Mt. Hokyo. I started from the Oda Castle trailhead, and instead of going to the summit, I traversed the Junpei Trail and descended via the Joganji Course along the stream.
My wife and her friend were at Starbucks in Iias. The area around Iias is congested on Sunday afternoons, so it was a bit difficult to pick up my wife on the road side. Safety was our priority, so I went into the parking lot and picked her up.
When I got home, the sunset was beautiful, so I took a picture of Mount Fuji.
I bought the Epson EcoTank A4 Inkjet Multifunction Printer EW-M873T from Amazon 56800 yen.
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December 6th. A flat tire. I made pumpkin and tofu vegetable soup and clam rice onigiri for our breakfast. We also had the apple pie she bought in Ueda.
We went to Mt. Hokyo. From Oda Parking Lot, we took the Hokuto no Michi and the Oda Castle Trail coase to the top. We
had lunch at the top and then took the Oda Castle Trail to descend.
The tire was flat, but the wheel did not touch the ground, so I continued driving and went to a nearby gas station.
I asked to repair the flat tire. Once the repair was completed, I was able to return home safely.
For dinner, We had tenseiro(tempura and soba) at my favorite soba restaurant Kimura.
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December 5th. GODIVA. My wife made our breakfast. She went to her favorite hair salon in Iwai.
I received GODIVA as a year-end gift. I'm so happy. Chocolate prices have gone up a lot, so I don't buy much myself.
I cooked our lunch when she got home in time from the hair salon. It was vegetable soup and clam rice.
We had chicken ramen with lots of vegetables for our evening meal.
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December 4th. A health check-up day. My wife and I went to the General Checkup Center at Tsukuba Medical Center Hospital at 7:30. Today was our annual health check-up day.
I took a photo to commemorate the fact that I was able to come to this changing room without any illness or injury.
I've been getting my annual checkups here for the past 20 years. It's great because they keep all the data from past checkups. They used to finish my chekup after 3:00 PM, but now they finish at 11:30 AM, so I can have lunch at 12:00 PM.
After the checkup, we went to Cafe Posten. The aroma of coffee was soothing.
My wife cooked a chicken dish for our dinner, along with lots of grilled vegetables.
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December 3rd. The bell tower of Saiko-in Temple.I had lettuce, boiled eggs, vegetable soup, atsuage, granola yogurt, the fish fry burger that I bought at Torisen, and cafe au lait for my breakfast.
I made kakiage soba for my lunch. The soba is Togakushi soba, but it's dried. The kakiage was bought at Torisen yesterday.
I remembered that there was a large ginkgo tree in front of the bell tower of Saiko-in Temple. The ginkgo tree and the bell tower would be photogenic. I went to see it. Most of the ginkgo leaves had fallen.Next year, I'll try to find a good timing.
My wife was coming back from Ueda, so I went to Shimizu Park Station to pick her up. After that, we went to Coppun Cafe in Moriya and had Thai curry.
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December 2nd. Mount Tsukuba. I had vegetable soup, boiled eggs, lettuce, granola yogurt, cucumber with seaweed vinegar, and cafe au lait for my breakfast.
I cut down a fig tree that I could no longer manage. Figs grow quickly. When I get older, it will be difficult to manage. That's why I cut it down.
I had anko sandwich and cafe au lait for my lunch.
I went to Torisen to buy milk. I saw some norimaki sushi. I wanted to eat some. I bought it. And then I had it for my dinner.
I have an unused cable that I think is probably an accessory for an LCD monitor, and I have no plans to use it in the future, so I'm going to get rid of it on Yahoo! Auctions. It's new unused, but I doubt I'll not be able to sell it. I guess there are a lot of useless products like this all over Japan.It then overflows into the house and ends up as garbage to be disposed of.
I sometimes polish my modified lenses. Even if I polish them, the basic performance remains the same. But I still polish them.
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December 1st. A lot of lettuce arrived for free. I had cucumber and wakame seaweed vinegar dish, oden, natto, rice with raw egg on top, granola yogurt, and cafe au lait for my breakfast.
Miya-O is relaxing and sunbathing on a Futon drying by the window.
I took parts from a junk flash to make a part to secure the bumper of the EOS 5DMk2. I took a photo to record the pin assignment. This is an another remodel.
A lot of lettuce arrived for free. I had lot for my evening meal.
