Monday, January 19, 2009

Dancing in the sky

Been enjoying gardening, even during this frigid weather here in Japan.
We were really lucky to secure for ourselves this property with a sizable land space and lots of mature trees.
Off hand, I would say, close to 100 trees?

Among them, we count the huge sakura tree as our symbol tree number one.
Symbol tree number two is a handsome tall pine tree in our front garden.
However, within the property lies a cypress tree, a 'twin' of about 10 meters or so.

This tree, although pretty handsome, has been blocking some precious sunlight especially during winter.
My pond is perenially in the shade... poor goldfishes...
We should slice off that tree, says my missus from day one.

I said, chotto matte...
But, after some prolonged deliberation, I finally agreed to 'decapitate' the twins...

The tree was too tall for the ladder, so I had to improvise by nailing horizontal bars.
The view up there was pooh, quite breathtaking.
Had wanted to abort the chopping plan and build a chair up there instead.

This picture shows what an amateur I am.
Took me until almost late evening to slice off the branches.
A week later, we chopped off the trunks.
All that is left of the tree are two stumps, a meter above ground.
Branches will sprout but we can live with that.

Friday, May 16, 2008

View of garden from dining table




Hmmm... looks like this is the first image I am posting in the year 2008...
What happened?
Was actually not my normal self for the past three months or so...
Body was going bonkers...
Blood pressure shot up the roof...

Brain was playing tricks on me...
Not sleeping well at nights...
Body refusing to wake up in the mornings...
It was pretty scarry...

The cause of it all? Work pressure, and yours truly trying to work too hard (ahem...)
Even my gold fishes became sick...

Luckily, am recuperating quite well now...

Oh yes, the picutre above...
That is the garden view that we enjoy each morning as we chew on our breakfast...
The hills are in the background...
Except for the house on the left, it is all flowers and green...
Quite a paradise, I should say...

Of course, birds come by frequently, singing...
The other day, we saw a wild rabbit in our garden for the first time...
Cute, said my missus...
And yesterday, a meter long snake resting up those pillars... woaah, said I...

Anyway, thank god I am sleeping quite well these days...
And life is good...

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Flowers to chew on...


This pic shows a salad mix prepared by my suweeto-haato...
The usual stuff like peas, red turnips, onions, cucumbers...
Plus, edible flowers like the blue borage, the red nasturtium, the sinewy, beige (?) rocket, the pink geranium... and the yellow chrysanthemum...
All these (except peas and onions) were from the garden...
Tossed in olive oil, they were quite a delight for the senses...


Ages ago when I first landed in Tokyo as an airline crew, I had my first taste of 'hiya yakko'...
Cold tofu, that is... and so, a summer dish...
It shocked me, actually, to feel the cold of the curd...
But you get used to it...
Here, combined with that green stuff freshly plucked from the garden, and spruced up with sesame seeds and soy sauce... hmmm... oishikatta...


Am blessed, thinking that I can enjoy home-made bread each morning...
This one, pizza-toast, should I say?
Onions, bell peppers, shredded cheeze on wholesome bread...
Topped up with dashes of tomato sauce...
And toasted to perfection... (well, almost...)


And, one of my all time favorites...
Tomato-based spaghetti... preferably combined with seafood...
This one was meat, though... but still with some sweet basil leaves thrown in...
Wooh, equally yummy...

Friday, October 26, 2007

Autumn delights


Mid to late autumn is the season when the morning sun rays are well positioned to light up one of our three stone lanterns...
This lantern sits right in our view as we chew on our breakfast goodies each morning...


Your truly is not much of a vegetable gardener as yet... the dry summer almost killed the eggplants but the autumn rains save the day for us... so, we got to taste these plump looking fuits...


Plus, of course, our favorite bitter gourd, and the loofah which made good soup... oooh...


These are Jalapeno peppers... not that spicy so to say... but they are quite meaty and delicious to savor...


For some years, I have failed to produce any pumpkin from the garden... but this year, woah, 14 pumpkins big and small... cooked one small one the other day, and hmmm, wholesome, chewy, and not overly sweet... we are keeping them for winter consumption... waaah...

Monday, April 23, 2007

FLOWERS OFF THE GARDEN 2

The so-called 'sakura-zensen' or sakura-front is advancing towards north Japan...

Where I live, the petals have almost all fallen off at this point in time...

What's left are some sweet memories and some images taken of the 2007 spring blooms...


This pic of the 'jewel' was taken from a low angle... the previous pic was bit too dark... so, this is sort of a 'revenge' pic...


Yours truly taking a break from working the soil... as can be observed, the sakura tree trunk is quite immense... woaaahh...


Another angle of the same 'jewel'... taken in the early morning hours when the sun was just beginning to smile... at the background are terraced padi fields... they look pretty in any season...


These are yama-zakuras... hill or wild sakuras, if you like... pic was taken from the newly-built sun-deck... I could lay for hours, just gazing at these glorious hillsides...


The house with the red-tiled roof... pic taken from high up the hill slopes... sakuras at foreground are wild ones while the partially hidden 'jewel' is just to the right side of the house...