Mr.Akio Abe, a classmate of my university, died of cancer, Mr.Owaki phoned me.

  It was a warm, sunny day. I walked west to Kawazoe in the morning.
In the evening, Mr.Owaki, one of my old classmates in university, phoned me to inform Mr.Akio Abe had died of tougue cancer.

Ayako went to Sapporo to see Mr.Shimizu.

  In the morning, I drove Ayako to Tomakomai rail road station. She went to see Mr.Shimizu, our brother-in-law. Then, I went to the funeral hall to attend late Mr.Terashima's funeral.

Mr.Shi-ichi Terashiama, a former staff member of our neighborhood association, died.

  A former staff member of our neighborhood association, Mr.Shin-ichi Terashima died, and the funeral wake for him was held this evening. I went in Mrs.Saito's car with Mrs.Kumagai, and attended the wake, and returned home at 7:50 p.m.

I enjoyed playing park golf at Arten with Ayako.

  It was a beautiful, sunny day. In the morning, Ayako and I went to the park golf course at Arten, Nishikioka, and enjoyed playing park golf. We played 18 holes of it. It was only one gentleman playing, so the course in the woods was not crowded at all and very quiet. After playing, we had lunch in the restaurant, and came home at about 2:00.
  I tilled the soil of the little kitchen yard in my garden to plant some vegetables.

I had a barium examination-still feel nasty and tired. Ozawa, former head of JDP, decided "not guity".

  Ayako drove me to the hospital at 9:50. In the hospital, lay on the X-ray examination table, barium was infused into the large intestines. My intestines were shown on the screen. I was tumbled many times. The examination finished within thirty minutes. The result will be announced in a couple of weeks. I was tired. After returning home, I had my regular breakfast at 11:00 for the first time in three days. I was relieved.
  Ichiro Ozawa, a former head of the Japan Democratic Party, had been on trial for false recording of his political money, was handed down a not guilty verdict. Mr.Ozawa is one of the most influential politician, and he has strongly opposed  to his party's plan to increase consumption tax, so what are he and his followers going to do is attracting people's attention.

One day before my barium exam - I am following a restrictive diet.

  It was a fine day, but I had to stay at home all day. Tomorrow, I am going to have  a barium examination of the colon. I have been following the diet restriction for these two days.
  It was warm, so I walked around in my garden. I was happy to find some tiny spring flowers like 'katakuri' coming out. I looked up the English word for 'katakuri' and found it was called 'fawn lilily'.

Takashi's birthday. Sent him two books he ordered from Amazon.

  It was rainy in the early morning, cloudy in the mid-morning, and sunny in the afternoon. In many places in Honshu, the temperature went up to over 25 degrees, and it was a "summer day", which the meteorology bureau called.
  In the morning, I walked west to the Tomakomai river as far as Route 36. Ayako cycled with me as far as the post office at Nisshin cho and returned home after sending the books Takashi had ordered from Amazon e-book store.  

It was raining all day,today.

  It was rainy and windy,today. Ayako went to the surgical hospital to know the result of her colorectal examination, but I stayed at home all day doing nothing but enjoying with crossword puzzles. The result of Ayako's examination was good, and we were releaved. The books Takashi ordered from Amazon came, so I will have to send them to Takashi in San Jose. In the evening, we thought of eating out in the sushi bar we often go, but we didn't because it was heavily raining.

I went to a barbershop, a glasses shop, a book store, and a drug store on the way in my regular walk.

  It was a cloudy day, today. In the morning, on the way to my regular walking, I went to a barbershop,where I had my hair cut, and to a glass shop, where I asked the optician to check my new glasses which I bought there, and to a book store, where I bought a crossword book, and to a drug store, where I bought some kind of drug.
  In the afternoon, I watched a Fighters' baseball game on TV. The Fighters won over the Orix by 1-0, and the winning pitcher was young Yoshikawa.

I walked more than 10,000 steps in sunshine today.

  It was a fine spring day today. In the morning, I walked more than 10,000 steps toward Kawazoe cho. On the way, I collected some butterbur sprouts to eat for supper. The thermometer in the median strip showed 9 degrees. After I returned, Ayako was taking off the winter covers of the young trees in the garden.
  In the evening, I watched, as usual, a baseball game of the Fighters. They defeated the Olix by 8-1, and have come out on top in the Pacific League. The winning pitcher was Masaru Takeda.
  I wrote and sent an email to Ilsemarie in Germany.

Ayako and I enjoyed park golf for the first time in this season.

 In the morning, I watched a US major league baseball game between the Txas Rangers and the Dtroit Tigers. Yu Darvish started for the Rangers, and pitched 5 2/3 innings and won the game.

I went to the hospital for the periodical diagnosis. In the evening, the yearly meeting of our neighborhood association.

 I saw the sun for the first time this week. But the thermometer on the road side indicated 9 degrees in the morning, when I was walking to the hospital. The flocks of swans were flying in a V-formation toward Siberia. Beautiful black and white water birds, the name of which I don't know, were swimming in the Tomakomai river, and they will also fly over to somewhere soon. It is spring now.

A cold,wet day, today,too. We went to JA, an agricultural cooperative store.

It was cloudy with scattered rain, and the temperature was low with no wind. In the morning, Ayako and I went to an agricultural cooperative store, "No-kyo" to complete our application for this year's use of the Furusato Noen, where we can grow vegetables and some other crops. We paid 4,000 yen for the rental fee. Every year, we have grown potatoes,sweet potatoes, corns, pumpkins, cucumbers, Japanese radishe daikon, turnips, beans, spinach,etc. We have to think of what we will plant this year. We look forward working there.

I went to the community hall in the morning.

  It was raining. In the morning, from 7:30 to 8:00, I stood at the crossing as a school guard as usual. The rain was not so heavy as to wear a rain coat. Two teachers from the primary school came to see us and their pupils. At 10:00 a.m., I went to our community hall to help bind up the bills of the annual meeting of the neighborhood association.
  It was raining almost all day, though it was not so heavy, so I stayed at home without going on my regular walking exercise.

Ayako went to the hospital to have a colon scope examination.

  Ayako went to the hospital to have a colon scope examination, while I attended a luncheon party of the section of crime and disaster prevention of the neighborhood association. The result of Ayako's examination will be informed later, but the doctor unofficially said there would be no ploblem.
  In the luncheon party, we talked about how our activities of our association should be. Mr.Yoshioka, one of the vice-chairmen insisted that we should reconsider every activity we have planed for every year. Basically, I agreed with him, but our activities are volantary ones, so we will not do things that they will be too much burden for the staff. 

A cleanup day of the neighborhood association.

  It was a cloudy, but cold day, today. At 8:00a.m., some 40 people gathered at the minipark in the neighborhood, and started to pick trash in the neighborhood with tongs and plastic bags. I climbed over the fence of the Toyoki stream, and collected trash along the stream. It took only 30 minutes to finish, but our neighborhood all around became very clean.
  We will have the annual meeting of our neighborhood association on Friday this week and review the last fiscul year's activities and plans for the new fiscul year. I hope our activities will contribute to the people living in our neighborhood.  

Spring - a pleasant walking.

  A sunny,warm morning. I walked along the Tomakomai river taking photos. It was pleasant to walk in the spring wind and air. I saw almost no snow on the ground, but more than half of the mountainside of Mt.Tarumae was still covered with snow. The pussy willows along the river were blooming. The little waves of the river were glittering beautifully. I like spring, in which I feel everything very fresh.

North Korea launched a missile which they called an "artificial satellite", but failed.

 This morning, North Korea launched a missile which they called an "artificial satelllite", but failed and it has fallen in pieces into the sea off the coast of South Korea. The purpose of the launch of the missile seemed to celebrate Kim Jon Un's accession to the new leader of the country, but this result of failure was surely disappointed them greatly.

Ayako and I went to have lunch in Hotel Nidom.

 At the restaurant of Hotel Nidom near the Tomakomai East Entrance to the express way for Sapporo and Muroran, Ayako and I had French style lunch. The tickets were presented by Hideto Sasaki, Haruna's husb. There were only eight guests including us. While we were eating, we enjoyed listening Mozart and some other classic music played by a string quartet of four Polish musicians.  The hotel was in a quiet woods, where there were a famous golf course and some resort facilities. In October 9th last year, I remembered attending Michiko Mokudai's wedding. Michiko died of cancer on March 9th.

I posted photos of spring flowers on Facebook, which were responded by some friends.

 I posted photos of  the flowers of fukujuso and buterbur sprouts.

Ayako went to Sapporo to do something for Shimizu.

  In the morning, I stood at the crossing for the first time in this new academic year. It was not so cold, and the school kids looked happy and merry.
  Ayako left home for Sapporo as I was standing at the crossing. She was going to see our oldest daughter Haruna, and go to see Shimizu, our brother-in-law. She was asked to do something concerning his bank account.
  In the afternoon, I walked toward the Tomakomai river, and on the way back, I bought bread for breakfast.
  Ayako returned home around 4:00. 

It was cloudy all day.

  In the morning, I walked toward the Tomakomai river. The pedometer installed in my cell-phone shows the number of my steps was about 10,000. Ice which covered the surface of the river has completely disappeared. And, there was no snow on the roads, of course. 

A cold but sunny day.

 I stayed at home all day. I spent enjoying working on cross word puzzles and watching TV. In the evening, I watched a baseball game as usual. The Fighters defeated the Chiba Lotte by 3-1. Yoshikawa started and pitched 5 innings and became the winning pitcher for the first time for this season. Koyano and Sledge hit homeruns.

It was still snowing. When will true spring come? I can hardly wait.

  The snow melted as it fell on the ground, but, anyway, it is snowing. When will true spring come ?  In Kanto distirict including Tokyo, the cherries war in full bloon, the news report. Here, in some parts of Hokkaido, the temperature in the day time, it was below zero today.

Picked butterbur sprouts - a sign of spring.

 I walked toward Kawazoe cho today, and in the little park along the Koitoi creek, I collected some butterbur sprouts to eat them dressed with vinegared miso. We can "taste" spring eating them. The temperature is still low, and it was snowing in the afternoon, but in my garden, yellow flowers of fukujuso or amur adonises are coming out. It is spring at long last which I had been waiting.

Alone at home.

  Ayako had stayed at Chiaki's house in Sapporo, and returned home at 5:30, so I was alone all day. The weather was fine. I went out in the morning to walk toward Kawazoe cho, and on the way back, I dropped in at the supermarket at Nisshin cho to buy lunch and other things to eat for supper. I bought "sekihan" or  rice cooked with red beans for lunch. For dinner, I had prepared to boil rice before Ayako came home.
 In today's baseball game between the Fighters and the Baffaloes, Nakata, who hadn't had no hits before the game for this  season, hit a big homerun to the left stand, and the team got a win by 3-1.

Ayako went to Chiaki's house to take care of Tokio and Arashi, Chiaki's children.

  At 8 o'clock in the morning, I drove Ayako to the Tomakomai railroad station. Ayako was going to Sapporo to take care of  Chiaki's two boys, Tokio and Arashi. Chiaki has just begun to work regularly as a dietician, and comes home later than seven in the evening. Her children are now in spring holidays, so there is no adult at home.
  I stayed at home alone. I had to buy something to eat for dinner, so I bought packed sushi on the way when I was taking my usual walking exercise.
  In the morning, Masako, Ayako's sister in Nagano called me worrying about the bad weather. She said it was snowing there, but here in Tomakomai, the weather was not so bad, though a little windy. By the way, the news reported four people were killed and more than 400 were injured by the strong wind. 
 In the evening, after dinner, I watched, as usual, a baseball game of the Nippon Ham Fighters. The Nippon Ham was lost the game against the Kobe Orix by 2-4, which was the second consecutive loss.  

Heavy rain and strong wind all across the country.

  Almost all the air services were stranded all across the country, and some commuter trains as well as superexpress trains everywhere in Honshu were delayed or stranded because of heavy rain and strong wind. Three people were killed and 73 people were injured, the news reported.
  In the evening, I had to go to attend the meeting of the neighborhood association in the rain and wind.

I sent the application card for Furusato Noen.

  In the morning, on the way I walked toward the Tomakomai river, it was snowing hard with strong wind. I returned from the end of "Komore-bi-no-michi", my usual walking path close to the river. Then, I went out again, this time, to send the application card for Furusato Noen for the new season, and posted it.
 I watched the semi-final games of the high school baseball. Aomori Kosei High School and Osaka Toin High School won defeated Kanto Ichi Kou and Ken Dai Takasaki respectively and proseeded to the tomorrow's final game. I hope Aomori Kosei will win the championships because Aomori prefecture is next to Hokkaido, and if it wins, it will be the first champion team from Tohoku District.  

It was a cold day for a spring day.

   In the morning, I walked to the fire station in Nisshin cho, and returned by way of the book store "B'top".  Mrs.Azumi came to visit us and enjoyed talking with us over a cup of tea. She talked about the club for the elderly in the neighborhood community,which was very boring and uninterested. By the way, I am not a member, but this fiscul year, Mr.Mikami, former vice-chairman of the neighborhood association with me, is going to be the chairman of the club for the elderly, saying he will reform it. I hope he will do it. 
  The Fighters - Yoshikawa started, and pitched very well, but Nakamura, the homerun king of the last season, hit the homerun and was defeated by 0-1. It was so sorry for Yoshikawa.