A Construction Site

My company subsidizes every employee who doesn’t have his or her own house ninety percent of house rent for fifteen years.

I’ve been working for my company CANON for thirteen years and ten months. That is to say, I only have one year and a few months to enjoy the housing privilege; I can spend more than a little money not for housing but for other purposes.

So, recently, when I find flyers about condominiums or houses for sale, I check them rather seriously than before.

I found a flyer yesterday about a condo, which was under construction and would have been completed in March, 2011.

I went to see the construction site of the condo which was very close to JR Utsunomiya station with my wife.

To decide a new house will take really hefty time.
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The Size of the Shoes Tells a Lot.

I think nobody can’t deny that children become bigger and bigger without parents’ notice.

Recently, when I was cleaning my drawers, I found a pair of shoes which my daughter Emi wore when she was in her nursery school.

Her nursery school made it rules that all kids there should wear the same type of white shoes and that one of parents should draw a picture on both shoes together.

Do you know why?

Because most small kids could neither find their own shoes nor distinguish their right shoe from left one.
So, for drawing a picture on both shoe’s face together could help kids to find which one was left and which one was right easily. Of course, they could find their own shoes out from others easily, too.

I drew the picture almost fifteen years ago. Though the color of the shoes turned yellowish a little, rest of them were still in perfect condition.

Needless to say, Emi doesn’t remember the shoes at all. haha.
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Cafe La Saison: Restaurant in Utsunomiya

I went to a French restaurant ‘Café La Saison’ to have lunch with my wife. It took us fifteen minutes from our home by bike.

They served us nice pasta dishes, dessert and hot coffee.
My wife, recently studying French, told me that ‘La Saison’ meant ‘The Season.’
They used seasonal vegee and fish as cooking ingredients for the pasta and the dessert.

We enjoyed having nice lunch and cozy atmosphere at the restaurant very much.

Rina's Birthday

We celebrated Rina's birthday having a cake with full of berries on it on January 9th, the next day of her birthday. She has become fifteen years old.

Happy birthday to Rina.

I wanted to go to somewhere to eat out with family as we did last year. But, this year, Rina has been very busy for preparing her high school entrance exam scheduled coming March.
So, we could not have a party on her birthday.
Instead, we cerebrated her and ate the cake at home early morning on the next day before she goes to her cram school.

My wife Kiyono bought the cake at the same sweets shop as she had bought one on my birthday.
The cake was not only delicious but also looked very beautiful.
We enjoyed the juicy and yummy cake very much.

Rina brought back several birthday presents from her friends from school.

A Happy New Year!

My office has been closed for about one week since Dec. 29.
I have been living very lazy days, without doing any exercise nor meaningful work.
I’ve kept eating, eating, drinking, drinking and eight-hour sleeping a day. I may have gained at least a few kilograms.
The only creative thing I’ve done during this holiday season is making a New Year’s Day postcard with pictures that I took in 2009.

To think about the year 2009, I almost did something I wanted to do on every weekend.

After spending these lazy days, I realized that taking a sufficient rest is sometimes good for me both physically and mentally.

Up Left: Universal Studios in Florida
Up Right: Rina won medals both 2008 and 2009 Utsunomiya Marathon
Down Left: Disney Resort, Epcot in Florida
Down Middle: Salvador Dalí Museum
Down Right: Kiyono published a book about the U.S. President Obama
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