This is some beach wood I picked up on the weekend. I like making things from beach wood, but I`m wondering (かしら) what to make. In the past I`ve made various (いろいろ) things, like:
- a bird house that birds won`t go near
- a toy that my kids won`t play with
- a bookcase that my wife won`t let me bring in the house
For now (とりあえず) I think I`ll just leave it all in the driveway to annoy my wife.
I went snorkelling at Mizushima & saw some fish, but nothing special. However, I was interested to see these colourful starfish. The Japanese name for this kind of starfish is イトマキヒトデ (Thread Spool Starfish?), but I don`t know what they`re called in English.
Some animals change colour as they get older, or male (おす) & female (めす) are different colours. I wonder (かしら)if that is the case for these starfish. Or maybe it has to do with (= かんけがある) the nearby nuclear reactor (かくはんのうろ). Anyway, I think it`s interesting that there are so many colours of the one animal, all living in the same area.
On the weekend my family & I visited Mizushima in Fukui Prefecture. In English, Mizushima translates as `Water Island`. That`s kind of a boring name, isn`t it? It`s like calling a beach `Sandy Beach`, a road `Asphalt Road` or a forest `Tree Forest`.
Anyway, it`s a pretty nice place, and I enjoyed catching a ferry across to it. I hardly ever travel anywhere by boat in Japan.
On Monday night I went to Toyota stadium to see Nagoya FC versus Arsenal. English Premier league teams don`t often visit Nagoya, so I didn`t want to miss this chance. It seems a lot of other people felt the same - the stadium was almost full.
And what a stadium! I`d never been there before. I was really impressed. It not only looks great, but the stands are very steep (きゅう), so our view of the field was excellent, even though we chose the cheap seats.
The quality of the football was also great - a big step up from FC Gifu & my hometown team Brisbane Roar...
By the way, Arsenal won 1-3.
One of our Teragoya students is a horse trainer. He told me that his horse would race on the weekend at Kasamatsu Racecourse, so I decided to take my son to go & watch.
Kasamatsu Racecourse is right beside the Meitetsu train line, so I can see it clearly when I catch the train to work every Saturday. I always thought "I`ve never seen a live horse race. One day I should go there & watch one..." Finally I did it!
I`m not really into gambling, but I bet 200yen on my friend`s horse to win. And it did! It won! I was really happy.
...until I put my ticket in the machine & only got 240yen back. What!? Only 40yen extra?!?! For a win?!?! I was disappointed (がっかりした).
But my son & I had a good time. It was an interesting experience (けいけん).
I`m glad the election (せんきょ) is finished. I hate those noisy vans which drive around making a lot of noise. They`re really annoying (いらいら). And isn`t it illegal (いほう) to wave your hand outside a car window while driving? Hey, guys - white gloves are not magic - they will not prevent an injury!
Anyway, did you vote (とうひょう) yesterday? There will be an Australian election soon. Mmm... who will I vote for...?
Thanks everyone who came to the party on Saturday night. I hope you had a good time. I really enjoyed myself and I think my two sons did too. They enjoyed playing the games, & also `helping` other people play them (actually, getting in the way; じゃまします). They also enjoyed getting in dad`s way while he was trying to MC...
Staff will probably upload some party photos to our Teragoya website soon. Please look.
And please come to our next party!
I found another beetle. This one is an Asian long-horned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis). The body is about 3cm long.
It`s native to Japan, Korea & China but it can`t be taken to countries like Australia or North America, because it damages trees, so they don`t want it. They try hard to keep it out. Bad beetle!
I kept this one in a container, but it soon died. However I don`t feel so bad. In fact (そのじつ), I`m proud that I could help to protect (かばいたて) Australia. What a great guy I am.
I have a small lime tree in my garden. Every summer it gets attacked by caterpillars (あおむし). It`s really annoying! Nowadays, every morning I check the leaves for eggs & caterpillars, & remove them. It`s a hassle (= めんどくさい).
Anyway, can you guess the type of butterfly which is responsible?
* click on the photo to enlarge
UPDATE: The answer is number 3: The Common Yellow Swallowtial.
The shop beside Ginan Teragoya is a home interior business. Recently they were selling pieces of leftover (のこり) wood for 50yen each. That`s cheap, so I wanted to buy them, but I didn`t have any idea what to make with them. Finally, I noticed that we had some old books in baskets on the floor in our school lobby. They were kind of in the way (in the way = じゃま) So I decided to make a small bookcase to hold those books. I`m happy with the result. It looks neat.
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PSPINC JP 
KUMA 
bokushi 
田仲なお美 
mokomoko 
エメラルド 
birdy 
内倉憲一 
yukio