It is very cold here!!

Look at this picture!! It's fine this morning.
The temparture here is -10℃（７Fahrenheit)

I look forward to reading the thermometer every morning.
What degreee is it today?

Whenever I looked at our car, I remembered the movie, of "Back to the future".

Have you seen this movie ?
Do you remember the scene when the time-machine appeared from the truck? The car looks frozon

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=yosuvf7Unmg

I can see crystal on the window of the car.

I give my dog some water every evening, the water become ice by the morning!!

That is how cold it is here!!

We took a part in the ceremony in this small area. We call this ceremony, Sankurou.

It is a burning ceremony of ornaments from the new year, and we take this smoke and wish for our well being for this year.


Here is how we start this ceremony.
First, we knock on neighbor's doors and collect some used new year ornaments form each house, then we built like an ornament delta corn, using bamboo and pine trees.

When we burn this, it has a good sound.

I like to seeing the fire.

I like this celemony, because I grew up in Yokohama.

We weren't able to make a fire like this.

Because Yokohama is a big city.

There is no space to make a fire.

We can make a fire here, and can get together with neighbors at the same time .

Children and parents look fun. We had a good time together.

A Happy New year!!

This is our Osechi

A happy new year!!
How's your new year?

Our family is all well!
We woke up early and watched the sunrise and pray to the sun.

We ate Osechi and Mochi .
Osechi was cooked yesterday.

We prepared Osechi for new year until the day before.
Osechi is a special menu only for the new year.
We serve food in the special lunch boxes.

Each menu has a meaning.

For example,Kuromame(black beans)means if you eat this you will be all fine and can work well.

We went to the book store and McDonald.
This is not a typical Japanese culture for the new year.
That is only our family culture.(culture?)

We usually don't go to McDonald, but our children want to go there.

SO, we go to McDonald once a year.
It's today!!

Our children are so happy because they are given a special toy from McDonald.

I hope this year will be a good year!!

We went to shrine

On the last day of this year,Akio-san's brother family and my father came to our home.

He has three children.

Our children and his children play together,they look so fun!!

We enjoyed going to the Onsen in the evening.

We went to the Shinto shrine to say thank you for this year.

We were able to spend this whole year being healthy and well.

We went to Hotaka shrine that was rebuilt this year,so it was very beautiful!!

It was so cold in the shrine,and there were a few people.

Thank you everyone for everything!

Thank you Rumi-Sense this year!

Mochitsuki!

We pounded mochi with my family and my friends in the field today.

This is a traditional custom in Japan.
We celebrate New year and eat mochi for 3days in new year.

We pounded mochi to eat during the new celebration.

First,we steam rice,and then use Kine and Usu to pound steamed rice.


Kine is a thing to pound Mochi.
Usu is a thing to put Mochi in.





We eat mochi in New year because old Japnese people think the god resides in Mochi.

So old Japanese people eat Mochi on a special day.
Mochi is very tasty!!

Puppies 2 !!

I take our dog,Rio for a walk every early morning.

Sunrise is late in the winter, so I can see the sun glow.
While I am walking,I deeply feel the happiness.

I can see the beautiful sight,and I always take a deep breath.
What a fresh air!! The nature makes me happy.

I love this area.

By the way,puppies left our house this morning.
I gave our puppies to our friends.

Kuro's new papa is Dai-chan!
He is a carpenter and built our wwoofers house.
Dai-chan named him Peace.

Shiro was taken to Oohama family.
They are nice family and keep a goat, too.
Can the goats and the dogs become friends?

Buchi was taken to Masuda family.
We have been friends for 17years.

I miss them. Of course ,Rio and my children miss them, too.But everyone lives near my house,so my children and I can go see puppies whenever we want.

I hope the puppies will become happy!!

Christmas Party

Kurohana and Santa (Bazu)

Sing Gospel

We held a Christmas&Celebration Party for our midwife today.

This party was so great!!

I sang gospel songs at last.

We have practiced singing gospel many times since Octorber.

Song titles were" Joy to the world ,""My life is in your hands,"and "Oh Happy Day".

These songs contain good lyrics. I liked the lyrics.

I practiced these songs in the car,so my children remember these songs.

When I sang these songs together,I tasted a sense of unity.

We sang gospel songs first,then Papa's team acted a skit on Christmas in this party.

Bazu who is a wwoofer at our farm acted Santa Claus!

He practiced his phrases in Japanese everyday.He has done well!!

We watched a slide about our homebirth,too.

She has helped 100baby birth.

All the familes seems so happy and calm.

I felt happy to meet my great midwife and friends.

My midwife Matsuba-san

We did it!!