In the morning, I took our two grandsons to Kintaro no sawa park.

  It was very warm today, too. In the morning, I took Tokio and Arashi to Kintaro no sawa park and let them enjoy walking around the lake, seeing the red, black and white carp swimming and turtles resting on the rock. Then, I rowed a boat letting the boys on board. On the bench under a tree, we sat eating ice cream. We returned home just before noon, when Ayako was waiting for us cooking okonomi yaki for lunch. I was sorry I had forgotten to take my camera to the park.
  In the evening, Tokio had to return to Sapporo because he would have to play succer for his team. He is a goal keeper. Ayako sent him to the bus terminal by car and let him ride the bus.

Ayako went to Sapporo to take Tokio and Arashi to see a circus.

  It was very hot in most parts of Hokaido, and in Sapporo, it is reported that the highest temperature was over 33 degrees. But here in Tomakomai, it was about 25 degrees, and I felt rather cool. I went out only for buying lunch at a supermarket, and watched Olympics on TV.  The winning scene of men's succer game repeatedly put on the screen. Nagai ran so fast and kicked the victory goal over the Moroccan team.
 

It was a fine summer day today, too.

  London Olympics is under way. In the event of judo, Japanese judomen and judowomen continued to be beaten by foreigners. Judo was born in Japan and, of course, it is one of the Japanese traditional martial arts, people feel it  a shame every time a Japanese wrestler is defeated by a foreginer, but I don't think so. Judo is a kind of culture originated in Japan, and it is loved by so many people worldwide. So it is a good thing there are now so many good judomen and women everywhere in the world.  

The opening ceremony of the Olympic games was held specutaculalyin London.

   The third Olympics held in London formally opened today. In the opening ceremony, the happy, peaceful faces of the athletes in the long entrance procession were very impressive. On a grassy little hill made in the stadium, Queen Elizabeth and other organizing committee members were standing, and torch runners came running with torches and lit the Olympic cauldron. The fireworks burst across the sky, and the whole city of London looked so beautiful.

It was the hottest day this summer.

 In Sapporo, the highest temperature was over 33 degrees. Here in Tomakomai, it was over 27 degrees, the hottest this summer.
 Mwdia were very noisy about the miraculous victory of Samurai Japan's victory over Spanish succer team. They say it was a miracle, but the players said it wasn't a miracle at all, because they controled the game almost from the beginning to the end. Many European media agreed with it. Japan was really strong, they say.

"Nadeshiko" Japan defeated the Canadian team and Japan's men's team won over Spain - London Olympic.

  The opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games will be held tomorrow, but before that, the first stage of the soccer games has begun. Last night, Japan time, the game Japan team and Canad team had a game, and Nadeshiko Japan won by 2-1, and earned three points in the standings. And late at night today, Japan Men Team, nicknamed "Samurai" Japan surprisingly defeated the strong Spanish team by 1-0.

It was rainy for the first time in a couple of weeks. The London Olympics will begin in two days.

   It was rainy but no so heavily. In the morning, I went to Furusato Noen as it was raining only a little, and  after returning, I watched a MLB game between Mariners and Yanees on TV. 

A stunning trade of Ichiro Suzuki to Yankees!

  Sudden news came from Seattle - Ichiro Suzuki was transferred from Seattle Mariners to New York Yankees. The news came so suddenly that even Ichiro's father in Nagoya was surprised. New York Yanees happened to be staying in Seattle for three games series with Mariners, Ichiro played for Yankees for the first time today. At his first at bat, he took off his helmet and bowed to the audience to show his gratitude for their supporting him for his 11 years' career in Seattle. And he hit his first basehit for Yanees, and stole a base. All the audience responded with standing ovation. "Ichiro's era ended", the local newspapers reported.   

I worked on Furusato Noen in the morning.

  It was almost cloudy all day. I went to Furusato Noen in the morning, and sowed the seeds of autumn vegetables such as turnips, spinach, and daikon. I was lucky to be advised by the gentleman of the next field of mine about how to take care of cucumber vines. According to his advice, I cut some leaves of cucumbers and  trimmed the vines.
  In the afternoon, Takashi called us on Skype, and we talked with Takashi and Sachiyo. We were glad to see Takashi on the screen who had recovered from illness he had suffered right after he returned from China. Sachiyo said she would come back to Japan, and would visit to see her mother in Shikoku next week.  

Sapporo Daiichi High was qualified to participate in Koshien.

  South Hokkaido High School Baseball Championship Tournament ended today and Sapporo Daiichi won over Sapporo Nichidai by the score of 6-5 and became the champion. Sapporo Daiichi team will tae part in the All Japan High School Baseball Championship Tournament to be held in Koshien next month, together with Asahikawa Technological High School team as the representatives of Hokkaido.
  I walked to the Tomakomai river in the morning.

The all-star baseball games are not interesting any more ?

   Yesterday evening, the all-star baseball game was held in Osaka, and the Central League team won over the Pacific League team by 5-1. The second game was played this evening in Matsuyama, Shikoku, and again, the Central won by 4-0. The last game will be held in Iwate on Monday. I am not so much interested in the all-star games, because the players do not play to  to win the game, but seem just to enjoy it. So, the games are not exciting at all. I watched this evening a soccer game between J-League all-star team and the team selected from the Vegalta Sendai and the Kashima Antler, which belong to the great earthquake and tsunami stricken district.

Ayako went to the hospital to check up her diabetes.

  It was fine, but cool, today, too. In the morning, Ayako went to the hospital to have a checkup of  her diabetes. The result was better than that of the previous checkup.
  I walked along my routine course eastward and along the Tomakomai river. Flowers were so beautiful that I took pictures of them stopping here and there. 

It was cool with gentle breeze today.

   The weather was fine but cool for a summer day. In the morning, I walked eastward to the Tomakomai river. It was very pleasant to walk in the cool, fine weather.
   The championships tournaments of high school baseball are now under way in every prefecture all across the country. In north Hokkaido district, the semi-finals were played in Obihiro and Engaru High School and Asahikawa technical High School won and proceeded to the final tomorrow. In south Hokkaido district, three teams from Muroran region including Tomakomai Higashi, Ohtani Muroran, and Hokkaido Sakae, have alredy been defeated.

It was another hot day today.

  In the morning, I walked as far as Kawazoe and walked around the gymnasium there. On the way back , I saw the thermometer in the median strip standing at 27 degrees.
  I sent a message on the facebook to Mr.Motoi Morita to celebrate his 42th birthday. Mr.Morita is my old student in Tomakomai Higashi High School, and now is running a vegetable farm at Sin Shinotsu near Iwamizawa. I also posted a message to another old friend of mine Mrs.Kazue Kuwataka living in Tokyo. Mrs.Kuwataka had a baby in May, and I saw a photo of the cute little boy growing well. I was happy to find her baby very lovely.  

It was a beautiful "summer" day today.

  The highest temperature was 25 degrees, which was the highest this summer here in Tomakomai. I stood at the crossing as on usual Tuesdays as a school guard. The sun was shining brightly, and the school children looked happy. I wished these summer days would last many days here in this north land. On the contrary, in the central Japan, especially in around Tokyo, the temperature was over 35 degrees, and many people suffered heat stroke. People may wish this hot summer will end soon.
I stayed at home all day today, too.
 

It was a national holiday "the Marine Day".

  I felt dull when I woke up in the bed. I was very tired. I had thought of going to Sapporo to see a high school baseball game between Tomaomai Higash and Hoaido Sakae, but I gave up going.
  In the morning, I went to Furusato Noen with Ayako. We picked a crooked cucumber, and turned furrows to prepare for sowing the seeds of autumn daikon radish. After returning, I satyed all afternoon and evening.

It was fine, but I took a good rest at home to relieve my fatigue from hard work in gardening

 I finished trimming the trees in the garden yesterday, so today, I stayed at home to take a good rest from hard work these days. I am really tired.
 In the afternoon, I went to the office of Tomakomai Cable TV in Nisshin cho, and attended the class to learn how to enjoy facebook. But the student was only me. The instructor was Mr.Sakuraba, who was a graduate of Tomakomai Higashi High School. I wanted to ask something about how to operate facebook, but I only have to ask one, or two questions.

The floods in Kyushu are terrible.

  The weather here was fine today, but in Kyushu, many rivers were flooded and not only the rice fields, but the residential areas are under water. How long will this rainy season continue?
  My garden is now completely cleaned. I have trimmed all the trees. At the eastern corner, tiny red flowers of peas are coming out. The yellow flowers of pumpkins are blooming, but they are only female flowers, so Mrs Azumi living across the road and Mrs.Moriya next door came to give me a male flower to fertilize. Thank you. 

July 13, Friday, I finished trimming the trees in my garden.

  I forgot to post my diary yesterday. The media continue to report about the heavy rain in Kyushu which has caused a great damage. I seems to be raining heavily there.
 On the contrary, it was fine here in Hokkaido. I worked on my garden, trimming the trees, and I have almost finished. I cut down one of the yew trees. I also trimmed the azalea trees.

It was rainy all day. Takashi called us on Skype.

  It was raining all day today. In the morning, I went to my field in Furusato Noen in the rain. I picked the first three cucumbers for this season.
  In Kyushu, heavy rainfall continued, and the media report more than 20 people have died or have been missing by floods and landslides so far, and the heavy rain will will continue. I hope the rain will stop soon.
  In the afternoon, Takashi and Sachiyo called us on Skype. Takashi said he he had not been well since he returned from Shanghai. He has a slight fever, and was diagnosed of mild pneumonia. He looked thinner than before. We feel worried.
  Haruna sent us a newspaper article on the Net reporting our grandson Kazuma was qualified to participate as a representative of Gifu archers in the national athletic meet to be held this autumn. Kazuma has won the championships of Hokkaido, Osaka, Nara, and Gifu so far.    

I am quite exhausted from hard work of trimming the trees.

Today, both in the morning and in the afternoon, I worked in the garden trimming the trees in the garden. As I mentioned yesterday, it was really a hard job, so I was quite exhausted. But while working hard, seeing beautiful flowers in the vaces on the wood deck relieved me very much.

Trimming the trees in the garden is hard work.

 It was a very fine day today. I worked on my garden, trimming the yew trees. I set up a ladder and climbed it, stood on the top of it, and trimmed with big pruning scissors. It was a very tough job, especially for an old man like me. These years, I have cut down trees and decreased the number of trees in my garden, but still there are more than 10 tall trees including 6 yew trees, four hinoki cypresses, a lilac, a magnolia, etc. I will have to cut them down before I become too old to take care of them.

I drove back Chiaki's children to Sapporo with Ayako.

With Arashi and Tokio

At Chiaki's house in Sapporo

It was cloudy, but didn't rain. Our grandchildren woke up before 7:00, had lunch, but after that they were playing with their video game software almost till noon. At 1:30, we started by car for Sapporo, and arrived at Chiaki's house at about 2:20. We stayed till 3:20, and left leaving the children behind back to Tomakomai. Chiaki would not return home from work until 6:30, so her children would have to wait until then. But the children were used to it.

Chiaki brought her sons, Tokio and Arashi, left them here, and returned to Sapporo alone.

  This morning I went to Furusato Noen with Ayao to take care of our crops there. We were glad to see all the seedlings of soy beans had taken root and were growing. While we were working in the field, Ayako's mobile-phone rang. It was a call from Chiaki from Sapporo, saying she would come to Tomakomai bringing her sons to let them stay with us overnight. They came at around 2:00 pm, and Chiaki returned to Sapporo at about 3:30 alone.
   In the late afternoon, we took the grandsons to a recycle shop on foot, because they wanted to buy some game cards. I didn't know how they played with them.

Children's festival in Shirakaba Higashi neighborhood association.

  I had forgotton that today was the children's festival in our heighborhood association. In the morning, when I arrived home from walking as far as Kawazoe riverside park, I heard a loud speaker car announcing the opening of the children's festival in the 6 cho me mini park. At the moment, I remembered it was the day of the festival. After having lunch, I hurried to the mini park where the staff members had finished setting up three big tents, and decorated two portable shirines and two big Japanese drums with paper flowers, golden bells, and other ornaments, and were waiting for the children to gather. About 40 children including some preschool children gathered. The children and some parents were divided into two groups, and each group started to parade around the community beating the drums and whistling and shouting "Wasshoi ! wasshowi!"  People were waiting in the front doors to see the parade and donate some money.  

I enjoyed gardening today, too.

The weather has been fine since morning. I went out and worked in the garden to weed, today, too, and finished cleared almost all part so my garden. I look forward seeing beautiful autumn flowers blooming.  What I will have to do next is to trim the trees, which will be a very hard task. 

Heavy rain in northern Kyushu has done a lot of damage.

  In the morning, it was a little rainy, but in the afternoon, it cleared up. I worked to weed in my garden. I have finished weeding in in half of the garden, and I will continue to weed tomorrow.
 In western Japan, especially in northern Kyushu, many rivers flooded, and houses were swept away, and roads were cut by landslides. The weather forecast says it will continue to rain in western Japan. I hope it will do no more damage.

I went to Furusato Noen with Ayako in the morning.

The weather was fine, and I went to our field in Furusato Noen. Ayako picked tiny kind of turnips while I transplanted young soy bean seedlings which I had grown in my garden. In Furusato Noen, the purple flowers of potatoes were beginning to bloom beautifully. In the afternoon, I worked in my garden.

50 lawmakers of Ozawa group submitted letters of resignation to the ruling party Japan Democratic Party.

  It was foggy in th early morning, and then cloudy, and toward evening, it became clear.
  In the morning, I walked, as usual, westward for Kawazoe park. I walked more than 10,000 steps.
  In the evening, when it became sunny, I worked on my garden weeding grass and trimming the trees.
  Political news: 50 members of Ozawa group submitted letters of resignation to the ruling party Japan Democratic Party. The reason was they were against the consumption tax hike bill. Japanese political situation is now amid chaos.

It was drizzling almost all day today. While walking, I found some edible fungi.

Boribori or honey fungi

  It was drizzling almost all day. In the morning, I went out with an umbrella to buy bread for breakfast. I first went to a big shop of daily neccessities, tools, and instruments "Happy One" to see a hedge trimmer. A hedge trimmer cost about 10,000 yen. I want to buy one for trimming the trees in my garden. Then, I went to the supermarket and bought bread. On the way home, I found some edible fungi "boribori" or honey fungi in English, which grow usually in autumn. The weather these days are so wet and moisturous like in autumn.

It is July now. I went to Furusato Noen alone in the morning.

  Time flies !  It is July 1 today, and a half of the year 2012 has already passed.  It was mostly cloudy all day and the temperature was about 16 degrees. In the morning, I went to my field in Furusato Noen. I picked all the spinach in my field, though it had not grown well. And I watered other crops and returned home.
  The nuclear power plant in Oi in Fukui prefecture is going to be reactivated this evening, only one year after the disaster in the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Many people rallied both in Fukui and in Tokyo protesting the restart of the plant. Why did the government approve it?