Tea ceremony

It's been a while. How are you?

I took part in a tea ceremony at our instructor's home yesterday.

The camellia which is for tea garden is in bloom .

It was snowing yesterday. very freezing.

This pine tree was also beautiful with snow.

We washed our hands and mouth with water in front of "Tsukubai(water

basin for tea garden)". My father made this garden,and I pruned trees and changed bamboo fence last year.

This is the high-grade charcoal for tea ceremony.

I set the charcoals to warm the room at first.

I helped prepare for special lunch"Kaiseki".

Tasting of food itself slowly is important. The seasoning is plain ,but I really enjoyed the rich flavors.

After Kaiseki lunch, our lesson instructor did tea ceremony for us.

This is strong green tea. The flavor is thick and rich.

Next is weak green tea.

The flavor is thin and creamy.

These are special sweets before tea.

I had a very good time like these pictures.

Then, have a good weekend!

Renovation of the small garden.

We fit up the garden rocks and made new garden with existent rocks.

We placed three rocks like this. I named this combination `Rock trio'.

Rock trio is the one of the basic pattern of Japanese garden.

And then,we planted the hair moss.

Before

After(almost finish)

The first snow

It's snowing today.

Hello,I'm Ryotaro.

Japanese pronunciation is `liotalo`.

I whiled away at my room from morning.

Baked sweet potato is a natural for the day like today.

I boutht this calender for this year.

Wow, 　Awesome!

Maruo waterfall in Kagoshima

Wow Wow, this is also great!

Shiramizu waterfall in Gunma

Hottai waterfall in Akita

Fantastic!

Shiraito waterfall

The photographer of these pictures is Mr.Kitanaka.

My home in Inuyama.

ah, it's freezing.

Would you like some large rocks?

Can you guess how much these large rocks are.?

The answer is ... free!

There was a great demand for these big rocks until about 30 years ago.

However,there is little demand for these rocks today..

That`s why you can get large rocks on the cheap or free in Japan now.

But it cost big money to carry to your site of construction.

We can't move these monsters without a large vehicle and large crane and some assistant.

There are also tons of small rocks about 30cm to 50cm.

The holders of the rocks is at a loss what to disposal.

These are obstacle for them now.

I guess there are many people like them in Japan now.

How about in your country?

Kadomatsu

A Happy New Year!

I am spending New years holidays lazily now, but I was very very busy to make `Kadomatsu` (New year`s decorative pine branches) the end of year.

I made small type like this picture. 　But that was a troublesome job.

December was very busy season to prune trees of our customer`s garden.

I worked hard without holiday for a month.

In evening after work,I started to make Kadomatsu.

At first, I cleaned rice straw and bind them a handful size.

And then, I cut banboo like this picture and bind them three by three.

I worked late up to 2am or 3am having cup noodle and some beer.

Next, I prepare cans for base. It was chlliy in the shed in midnight.

And then, I erected bamboos in the each cans with sand.

Push sand with stick to hold banboo upright.

Next, prepare binded straw .

roll straw around can like this. and bind them with straw rope.

and then plait straw and cut them clean like this. It was getting looks good.

And then decorate with pine twigs , yellow plum and nandina.

The red of nandina looks beatiful.

I made 10 and delivered them to our customer. They were really pleased to get my Kadomatsu.

I worked up to 4am last 3 night and very sleepy and tired, but I was happy to see that.

This is one of them on the side of our customer`s door. They have a good wood stand,and Kadomatsu looks really nice.

and now I can take enough sleep and rest.

Have a happy New Year`s holidays!

Cocoon snowman ornamment

This Christmas ornament is made with a cocoon.

I stopped by the neighboring silk shop after work and found this cute one.

Another one. Lovely.

Today we planted some plants(Cyclamen, Viola,Wild strawberry,etc..) for our customer`s garden.

This garden is front garden of neighboring clinic.

There is auto-irrigation system.

Yesterday, I changed flowers of container at the side of front door.

Cyclamen, daffodil and,, the small pink flower ( I can't remember the name), etc..

We still have a landscaping construction and the pruning trees of 6 houses.

I have to work without day off until 31st with my father.

Good luck me! Take it easy me!