Japanese anemone
This time, words of a bulletin board is
“Bigin with ’ABC’ and end with 'ABC'.
We shoudn't forget that."
rice and spider lily
This time, words of a bulletin board is
" Devotion (diligence), from now, from here
from what we can do"
seeed of lotus
On Sunday, September 10th, I attended a memorial service for the first anniversary of my aunt-in-law's death.
I couldn't attend her funeral due to the coronavirus, so it was my first reunion with my cousins in a long time (17 years).
This time, the memorial service was held at Henjho-in Temple in Kurashiki City, a very splendid temple of the Omuro sect of the Shingon sect.
And the Buddhist priest chanted a sutra with a wonderful loud voice.
That's no wonder; the priest is a vocalist (his wife plays the piano) and his son was a student at Kunitachi College of Music.
The priest is the head priest of a musical family.
My aunt was said to have received guidance from the chief priest in the chorus group.
I was reminded of the wonder of art.
Speaking of art... I was surprised to learn that my cousin's son's wife is also a ceramic artist who graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts.
Her name is Mami Furukawa.
By the way, is my cousin's son also artistic a bit ?
He runs a thrift shop called Off Bazaar.
I would like to go there again someday.
After chanting the sutra at the temple, we visited the grave by car.
After lunch, we said "Please be fine and see you again'' and came home.
cotton rosemallow
This time, words of a bulletin board is
”be generous or big hearted”
Another words "be laid back"
Tincture made from Houttuynia leaves
Tincture made from Houttuynia flowers
Around 4:30 in this morning, Iwoke up with a "bee buzzing" sound near my left ear.
At the same time, I felt severe pain.
I thought, "This must be a centipede," so I turned on the light and searched around my pillow and everywhere, but I couldn't find it.
Immeditely, I went to the kitchen and boiled water.
I poured hot water of about 43 degrees into a cup and soak and rinse my ear for about 20 minutes.
This may or may not break down the centipede's protein poison.
(There seems to be no conclusion as to whether cold water or hot water is better. When I am bitten by a mosquito, I use hot water.
The itchiness subsides when I put a hot cup on it, so I prefer hot water.)
It seemed to be good to apply steroid ointment after that, but I didn't have it at home.
I remembered the homemade "Dokudami tincture'', which is said to be effective against insect bites.
And I used tincture made from Houttuynia flowers.
The pain gradually subsided and was almost gone after about 5 hours.
At one time, I thought I was stung by a bee, but it was early in the morning, so the bee might not have been active yet.
So the culprit was a centipede?
Now, ten hours later, my earlobe is still swollen, and 2-3 small blisters are also found.
scary, scary!
The thirtyth person I lent ＄25 is a 31-year-old woman named Kenya Yavari with two children in Nicaragua.
She makes and sells crochet accessories.
Kenya applied for an $800 loan to Kiva to buy boxes to pack her crafting items.
Her dream is to have a big store.
The repayment period is 10 months.
This is my page.
pumpkin flowers and fruits
There are a few garbage bins in my backyard and we throw all garbage into them.
Compost is made by mixing rice bran and soil and we dry it.
We sometimes take out the compost from the garbage bin and bring it to the field.
This time, pumpkins began to grow from the site, and flowers bloomed and fruited.
Well, will they grow into a delicious pumpkin...I'm looking forward to eating it.
This time, words of a bulletin board is
”You are just right
as you are.”
I uploaded the original poem of the words on this blog on July 10, so I thought Iwould skip these words this time.
But I uploaded these words as the eighty-second words of a bulletin board.
The words of greeting after the end of the rainy season is "It's very hot !"
I can't go out during the day due to the heat wave.
The fields where I planted flowers are filled with weeds.
What should I do ?
I got up early this morning and mowed the grasses with a sickle from 5:30 to 6:30.
I sweated a lot and I was bitten by a lot of mosquitoes.
The field is not so clean yet.
I can't resist weeds !
Geckoes(housekeeper) appear on the windows of my house night after night from the end of June.
Their backs are black and grotesque, but their bellies are pure white and cute.
They are good at catching tiny insects on the window.
I see them during summer every night. 
The declaration of the end of the rainy season was finally announced today.
I felt refreshed with less humidity this morning.
However, the heat during the day is over 30 degrees Celsius.
Frightened by the glare of the sun, I am in my room with the help of the air conditioner and fan.
Grasses in my garden grows as much as they want.
I can't beat the vitarity of grasses.
My flower garden has become a grass garden.
Hot summer has begun.
This poem was on a leaflet I recieved from a monk on the other day.
"You are all right as you are.
Your face, body ,name and surname are perfect for you.
Poverty and richness, your parents and your children, your son's wife and your grandchildren,
they are all perfect for you.
Happiness, misfortune, joy and even sadness are just right.
The life you led is neither nad nor good.
It's good for you.
If you go to hell or go to paradice, the place you go is just right.
You don't need to be conceited, no need to be condescending.
There is neither above nor below.
Even the date of your death is just right.
Your life with Buddha can't be exactly bad.
It seemed that this poem is the work of Ryokan, but in fact Mitsuji Fujiba, a monk of Otani denomination in Ishikaw Prefecture wrote it about 30 years
ago.
I was moved to read this poem, so I uploaded it.
flowers of aloe
I went to toilet in the middle of last night.
The atomosphere was somehow different from usual.
The toilet seat was cold and there was no response when I tried to flush water.
So I flushed water with manual and I was sure the remote control or something was broken.
In the morning, my husband also knew something strange with the toilet and he read the user's manual.
It seemed that electricity was leaking from the toilet power plug.
I serched it on the internet before calling an engineer and it said that "the concent may be dusty".
So we checked it up.
Surprisingly, there were many tiny ants.
After removing them and plugging the power plug into the outlet again, it was restored.
Why were tiny ants there ?
They will leave the nest soon.
Yesterday, two days after the snake riot, the swallows were getting bigger and practicing flapping its wings.
I was watching over the nest so that the snake wouldn't attack them, but the snake didn't show up, probably because it was raining.
I felt like "Cheer up swallows !"
However, a tragedy occurred.
The picture was taken yesterday evening before my walking, and four swallows are leaning over and waiting for food.
When I came home about an hour later, the parent swallows were very noisy.
A large snake with a chick in its mouth was hunging from the nest.
My husband was away, so I asked a man next door to help me get rid of the snake.
I didin't know haw many swallows the snake ate.
It was sunny yesterday for the first time in a while, and the temperature rose, so maybe the snakes were active again.
I was very sad and disappointed.
Swallows have a life expectancy of about 15 years, but they are said to live about a year and a half on average because they are attacked by various creatures.
Living in nature is very difficult, isn't it ?
Just before noon yesterday, several parent swallows made a loud warning cry of "chi-chi-chi-chi" around the nest.
When I looked around the nest to see what was going on, I saw a long, big snake coiled around the wires on the roof and the pipes around it.
It was clinging to the wires and it was stretching it's scythe toward the nest.
Horrified by the sight, I immediately called for my husband's help and clapped my hands, causing the snake to escape onto the roof.
MY husband tried to get rid of it with long sticks and hoes, but he failed.
About an hour later, I found a snake hanging ftom the roof near the nest.
When I cried, it crawded away again.
After that, I looked around the nest from time to time, but the snake did not appear.
This morning, swallows were safe and I thought "I wish they could leave the nest sooner".
Survival in the wild is hard.
I have been watching the nest since this morning.
Another topic.
Yesterday, I caught two large centipedes, one in the hallway of the annex and the other washbasin in the main building.
It was an exhausting day for such an event in the hot and humid weather.
