01-01-19: Oshogatsu at our house.
Teriyaki chicken, kinpira gobo, makisushi, tako, konnyaku, renkon, shiitake, sato imo, kamaboko, various otsukimono and shoga,
umeboshi, and more! We had ozoni in the morning and moved on to the rest later in the day. Barbara joined us, as did
our dear friend Lucy!
12-31-18: Grammy cookin' it up for New Year's!
John's Mom Frances came to stay with us after Christmas, and she took on a lot of the cooking duties for the
traditional Japanese New Year's oshogatsu feast. Here you see her cooking a bamboo shoot and other
things, and Roy scraping the gogo for kinpira gobo. Roy and Leo rolled the makizushi and filled the
kitsunezushi ("fox" sushi because of the little ears). Also, a crazy pack of poppin' candy from the Asian
market in Arcadia, where John went with his sister Elaine. In the evening we went next door for the German New Year's
Eve feast.
12-16-18: Third Advent and At-Home Christmas!
Roy pretends to run for the presents beneath the tree at the tinkle of the Christmas Angel's bell.
12-10-18: Door prize!
Roy and his roommates decorated their dorm door for a contest, and won all this loot!
12-09-18: A morning hike.
We went up the mountain with Shadow, enjoying the fresh damp soil and sparkling dew on a delicate carpet of tiny green sprouts.
12-06-18: St. Nicholas' Day.
St. Nick visited and left us some goodies in our slippers!
12-02-18: First Advent.
Leo lighting the candle and extra kaffeetrinken treats (marzipan stollen, German cookies, a nice habanero cranberry aged cheddar, yum!)
to mark the First Advent.
12-01-18: Roy & Roomies' decorated dorm door.
Roy and his roommates decorated their dorm door for a contest, and feel good about their chances.
11-25-18: Roy's on his way.
Here's a phone pic out the windshield after dropping Roy off at the airport to fly back to Colorado Springs via Denver.
11-24-18: Back to detecting.
John went detecting again for the first time in over four months, and came home with 71 cents and two Hot Wheels cars!
One of the cars may be something of a rarity ...
click to find out more.
11-22-18: Thanksgiving break.
Here are Leo and Roy, Ondine with her Orange Frog award from work, and our new family portrait along with a few outtakes.
We played poker and, with Roy's help, we put up the Christmas tree. And, here's a photo of Roy and Danielle.
11-22-18: THANKSGIVING DAY.
Roy flew home from Colorado Springs, so we had a traditional family Thanksgiving dinner. Only, since none of us really loves turkey, we
made individual Cornish game hens instead. Aren't they cute? Afterwards, as usual, we went next door for pie and our annual viewing of
Christmas Vacation.
11-16-18: Root beer warning label.
The sticker came off a flat battery, but John thought of a better place for it. Well, artifically colored diluted high
fructose corn syrup should have some sort of label.
11-12-18: A snow day!
Roy's morning classes were canceled due to heavy snow. By mid-morning, though, the walkways and parking lots had been cleared.
11-07-18: Snow on Pikes Peak.
Roy sent us this photo of Pikes Peak bursting through the clouds, taken from the UCCS campus in Colorado Springs. Leo's
response: "Is that Mt. Fuji?" Looks a bit like it, although that would be really something to go to Japan for a day
or two during school.
11-04-18: A Midsummer Night's Dream at the downtown library.
We went to the Central Library for a free Globe for All production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. John
posted his thoughts on MidLifeLit.com.
11-03-18: Leo's promotion lunch buffet.
We went to 100s Seafood Grill Buffet in Mission Valley to celebrate Leo's promotion to blue belt. It was like a slice of Tokyo
right here in San Diego. Pricey, but so totally worth it.
11-01-18: Sunset.
Barbara got these phone shots of the sun setting down the cul de sac.
10-31-18: Boo!
Who's that in John's car, carefully set up to surprise Ondine when she pulled into the garage? Also, a photo of Jack.
10-31-18: Snow!
Roy sent us these photos of the UCCS campus in Colorado Springs.
10-28-18: Julius Caesar at The Old Globe.
We went to Balboa Park Sunday evening for the very last showing of Julius Caesar, presented by The Old Globe and USD.
It was perfect, and prompted a long, deep discussion with Leo about the nature of political power. Leo is Team Caesar.
Ondine and John are firmly Team Brutus. John's
post about it on MidLifeLit.com.
10-28-18: Jeff's birthday buffet.
Ondine and Barbara took Jeff to Sunrise Buffet in Kearny Mesa to celebrate his birthday.
10-27-18: Leo's promotion and paddleboarding cousins!
Leo received his promotion to blue belt in judo! And, Ondine visited Anita and went paddleboarding at Dana Point. Here they are on the water!
10-20-18: We visit Frances, Part 2.
The next morning we went to breakfast at a place called Sunday's Old Town Grill. Here's John's vegetable crepe with
marinara and feta cheese, and Ondine's baked egg toast with salmon. And, Ondine and Leo. We drove home that afternoon.
Here's the first backseat shot in the new Honda Fit! And, Shadow poking his snout into the front seats.
10-20-18: We visit Frances, Part 1.
We went to visit John's Mom in Arcadia. Here she and Leo play Connect Four, she talks to Roy, one of her projects, and a couple
group shots in the courtyard after a wonderful late lunch at Kabuki.
10-17-18: Scene in Colorado Springs.
Roy sent us this photo, captioned "they bout to duel."
10-14-18: Macbeth in Coronado!
We went to the Coronado Playhouse to see a fantastic staging of Macbeth! John's
review on his MidLifeLit website.
10-11-18: Peaches!
Fall is coming! Rain! Snow! And our peach tree is peaching out full tilt! They are tiny peaches, but absolutely delicious,
a final taste of summer!
10-10-18: Snow!
Roy sent us these phone pics from Colorado Springs, where the UCCS campus got its first snow of the season.
09-30-18: Rain!
Sunday evening it rained! An event worthy of its own separate post on our refrigerator. We all went out to frolic in it, but it
was, sadly, short-lived.
09-30-18: Mission Trails Regional Park.
Sunday morning we went for a stroll through Mission Trails, including part of the visitor's center loop and an oak grove loop. Shadow did great with
the many other dogs sharing the trails. See that fly? John thought it was a big black beetle, and only realized it was a fly when looking at the photo!
08-31-18: Yellow!
Here's John's Honda Fit, in bright Helios Yellow Pearl with a cheerful sunrise sunshade and a happy mango ice with grass jelly. Ahh, life is good!
08-27-18: Back to school!
Leo starts his junior year at Patrick Henry High School. Here he is with his schultuete, and a bit later
trudging schoolward.
08-24-18: Some photos from Colorado Springs and two dog-tired dogs.
Roy sent a few photos of the theatre that is, for now, his classroom. And Leo took Shadow over to play with Sparky.
Play is such hard work!
08-21-18: An evening of Shakespeare.
We saw Much Ado About Nothing at The Old Globe, as well as the pre-show talk and the post-show discussion.
08-17-18: Barbara's new family member!
Barbara adopted this four-year-old "beagle mix" from the animal shelter. His name will be either Sparky or Harry. He likes to
squeeze under her furniture to retrieve long-lost balls!
08-16-18: Roy's first college class.
Classes officially start on Monday, but Roy signed up for an extracurricular business course on leadership and communication.
08-14-18: Roy's movin'!
It's move-in day at UCCS! Ondine got a shot of Roy settling into his dorm room. His roommate AJ shares this bedroom,
and two more flatmates, Alex and Jake, share a second bedroom in the apartment. There is also a shared sitting area and bathroom.
08-13-18: Ondine and Roy at Garden of the Gods!
Ondine and Roy visited Garden of the Gods, about a ten minute drive from the hotel in Colorado Springs. It's a
magically beautiful place!
08-11-18: Roy moves to Colorado!
Here we are saying goodbye to Roy, who is flying off to college at UCCS. In the last three photos, that's Roy on the left
and Leo on the right.
08-09-18: New travel mug.
John's old Thermos travel mug is so bashed in, that the breeze from the ceiling fan can knock it off the island. You can see
it's totally out of round and lopsided, having been dropped countless times. But it still works perfectly! (Other than the
tipping off flat surfaces thing.)
07-29-18: Pacific Beach.
Ondine, Roy, and Leo went boogie boarding! John stayed on the beach and got stung by a bee.
07-27-18: John's new car!
John's car of 22 years died. Here he is with a brand spankin' new Honda Fit EX-L in Helios Yellow Pearl with a black leather interior,
bought through the Autoland buying service of Mission Federal Credit Union. (You can read a bit about it in our archived
family journal from July 30 2018.) There's no missing it in a parking lot! The color of the car matches the mango ice from Tea N More,
or John's campin' uke. The last photo shows the black bin John got from Walmart for covered stowage, plus the usual assortment of bags and
coolers for groceries.
07-17-18 to 07-24-18: Alaska cruise with Barbara!
Thanks to Barbara, we all went on a family Alaskan cruise together! Seven glorious days of clear skies, magnificent scenery, and
vast quantities of food. We cruised Tracy Arm Fjord with its views of Sawyer Glacier, and visited Skagway, Juneau (where we went
kayaking and got clear views of harbor seals and Mendenhall Glacier), Ketchikan, and Victoria, BC. Leo and John brought home
Carnival Legend trophies for winning the Connect 4 and Match Up tournaments respectively. What a great trip! Full travel
journals coming eventually, but for now here's our archived weekly journal from July 30 2018 covering the cruise,
John's new car, and a day at the beach.
07-08-18: Watching Roy and Leo's original musical, and a new laptop for Grammy.
Here we are watching Madeline: The Musical on Roy's big laptop. It was hot in Arcadia! We set up an old
family laptop so she could get her email and go online. Then, we went to the original Panda Inn in Pasadena, where
Leo had a novel way to eat ramen noodles.
07-07-18: Kabuki restaurant with Grammy.
Here we are at Kabuki in Arcadia, one of John's Mom's favorite local restaurants. That's Roy, Frances, Leo, Ondine, and John.
06-29-18: Pesky rabbit! Or squirrel! Or rat! Or opossum! Or ...
Well, someone's been eating our oranges.
06-28-18: A new-to-us gas bbq!
John posted on NextDoor asking if any neighbor had a small propane grill they were getting rid of. He got three bites, but two
were too big. This one fit the bill perfectly, and its former owner is a well-known local designer, and he wanted
our old full-sized Weber kettle! Swapsies! John pulled our Weber kettle there, about a half-mile walk, and this one home. He
later learned that the wheeled stand folds down into a trolley, which would've been a lot easier. But, free bbq, plus free
clearout, plus exercise!
06-16-18: A huge Triscuit cracker!
John was delighted to pull this 2x2 low-salt Triscuit out of the box.
06-13-18: Roy's graduation from Patrick Henry High School!
He's in white robes for 4.0+ (4.33!), has a green and gold cord for honor roll, and a multi-color cord for his Letters in Theater (five!).
06-07-18: Roy's birthday dinner at The Olive Garden!
Here we are around the table: John, Roy, Ondine, Barbara, and Leo.
06-03-18: John's first Roman find!
John's morning metal detecting harvested 10 dimes, a nickel, 15 pennies, a smashed penny token from the Midway Museum, and a
pendant from the Roma Colosseo! It's a real Roman find! Also, John moved all his metal detecting stuff
to its own page so it won't clutter up this one.
06-02-18: Roy heads off for the prom!
He went first to Seaport Village for photos with his date, Maddie, and her friends, then to dinner at Indigo Grill, and finally to the prom at
the U.S. Grant downtown. After all that, at about midnight, we went to play laser tag with his buddies! You see them there: Michael, Roy,
Stephen, Vincent, and Alex.
06-01-18: Leo at Les Miserables.
Here he is at intermission. Note his unique double-four-in-hand tie.
05-28-18: Mesa Trail walk.
There's a trailhead at the far end of Lake Murray Blvd. It opens to a service road which goes down the canyon between
our neighborhood and Grossmont College, connecting to Mesa Road and Big Rock Park in Santee. The route winds along riparian
brush complete with a tiny cascade of running water!
05-27-18: Sea World!
We went to Sea World for a quick visit. Roy and Leo rode the Electric Eel and Manta, and then we all paused at the
seals and sea lions.
05-25-18: Metal detecting.
John recently got a pinpointer. Here's the takings from under one tree
at a local park: 4 dimes, 2 nickels, and 13 pennies, including 5 coppers (pre-1982), one of which was a wheat penny from
1957! Ooo, 63 cents, his biggest haul yet.
05-17-18: Madeline: The Musical!
Roy wrote a musical and Leo composed all the original music for it. It opened Wednesday night at Patrick Henry High School.
We went on Thursday; the final show will be Friday. It was excellent, fully equal to or better than the licensed works we'd
seen, and with a top-notch original score too! Here are Roy (in costume as Prince Sten) flanked by his buddies Alex and
Vincent, and then the creative team, Leo (composer and musical producer) and Roy (writer, director, designer).
05-13-18: Mother's Day!
We had an early lunch at Marieta's. Here are Ondine and her Mom, and a three-gen shot.
04-30-18: Colorado Springs Municipal Airport.
It's wonderful to look out and see Pike's Peak towering about ten flight miles away. We arrived, as you can see,
quite early.
04-29-18: Garden of the Gods.
Our hotel was about ten minutes' drive from this beautiful park. For dinner we went to Applebee's and joined this plump bunny in
munching happily away.
04-28-18: University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
That's Pike's Peak in the distance. And Roy, seated beneath an umbrella in the middle ground.
04-27-18: Frontier Airlines seat room.
The advantage to thin seatbacks and no entertainment system? Lots and lots of legroom!
04-26-18: Found underground?
Not everything John finds is metal.
04-25-18: First finds!
John took his metal detector to a local park for about 40 minutes, where his first good target turned up a 2005 dime! There
really is treasure down there! He also dug up a 1995 dime, a 1975 (copper) penny, and a dog tag (which he returned to the
owner). The washer and coax connector weren't dug for, but were lying on the surface so he picked them up to throw away.
04-24-18: John's new toy!
John's childhood desire for a metal detector has been reignited over the past several years by exposure to Time Team
and Detectorists. Well, he finally spotted something affordable on Craigslist, and it's a good detector too: a
Bounty Hunter Elite 2200 (the same thing as a Discovery 2200).
04-12-18: Visits!
John's sister Elaine came to visit, bringing Amanda, Jasmine, Nicholas, and Breanna (in from Colorado)! We
went to lunch at Top's, an old-fashioned fast food drive-through near Vista Cove - the food was excellent and huge!
There are four generations in that photo there. Then, Aunty Grace and Uncle Mike stopped in!
04-11-18: A blast from the past.
John's Dad's journal from his step-dad's illness, death, and funeral in Japan in 1973 frequently mentions a Toshikazu and a
Toshitada. John was delighted to come face to face with Toshikazu in a photo album from 1978. Toshikazu is possibly/probably
his Dad's cousin on his mother's (Mitsuno's) side, Matsumoto being Mitsuno's maiden name. In the front kneeling are Aunty
Kaoru (m. John Nishimoto) and John's Mom, with Uncle Kay (m. Emiko) on the far right. Seated on the sofa are Uncle Johnny
(m. Kaoru), Aunty Emiko (m. Kay Tomie), John's Dad, Toshikazu Matsumoto, and Satoru Fujita (don't know relationship). The
photos were taken at the Tomies', and the next page had very faded photos of Toshikazu visiting John's family's house in
Sun Valley.
04-10-18: Grammy's studio room at Vista Cove in Arcadia.
From Garden Crest, Grammy landed at a nice assisted living/independent living facility closer to her home. Her studio
is small, but has a small shared patio and a wonderful view of the garden and koi pond. The furnishings are loaners; we'll
see how quickly she progresses before we start moving her furniture in.
04-09-18: The courtyard at Garden Crest in Silverlake.
After her fall and partial hip replacement, Grammy was discharged to the Garden Crest Rehab Center. This is the view from
the central courtyard.
04-07-18: Date night!
Dinner at The Brigantine in Coronado, followed by a "future history play," King Charles III at the Coronado Playhouse.
Yeah, we look happy.
04-03-18: A walk along Gould Canyon Trail.
John discovered this narrow slice of wilderness following a creek threading between the houses in La Canada.
04-03-18: Grammy and Nicholas Junzo, her latest great-grandchild!
Amanda brought Jasmine and Nicholas to visit Grammy in rehab (she'd fallen, broken her hip, and had an emergency partial hip replacement).
Great-grandmother and great-grandson are both doing great and looking good!
03-25-18: Spot op brings it on!
The final sold-out performances of Bring It On were Sunday. There was talk of an extension, but some people weren't available
over Easter weekend, making the audiences who saw the show very lucky indeed.
03-24-18: John and Leo saw Bring It On.
Roy worked spotlight for this show, San Diego Musical Theatre's very first pre-professional show. It was staged at the Horton Grand Theatre downtown.
As crew, Roy got two comped tickets, which was a good thing because the entire run was sold out! The show was amazing, fully up to any
professional theater we've seen (and we see a lot of theater).
03-16-18 to 03-18-18: 20th anniversary getaway to Julian.
We booked a lovely room at the Wikiup B&B a short drive from downtown Julian. There were llamas there, and wonderful breakfasts. We had rain Friday night
and Saturday morning with some lingering drizzles, but nice cool weather for walking around after that. We fed the llamas and ourselves amply (the llamas
from a large urn of special llama food pellets, and ourselves from the Wikiup breakfasts and the Julian Grille and Romano's), and
wrapped up the whole weekend by bringing home a whole pie from Apple Alley! Here's a small selection of shots; see our journal for all the photos.
NOTE: the dates on the files and filenames are mostly one date behind (John had set the date incorrectly on the new camera.)
03-15-18: John's new toy.
John upgraded his Nikon D40x to a used D3300, bought off Craigslist. It came with two lenses (18-55 3.5-5.6 VRII and 55-200 4-5.6 VRII)
and a nice case.
03-10-18: Roy and Leo at Grammy's, and library sale finds.
Here they are enjoying Grammy's unrestricted wifi. John bought these books from the library. He was most excited to find
the Chekhov, but guess which one he read first? Yup, the trashy tell-all turned 70s-80s TV show. Williams, Chekhov, and
Hardy hold up a LOT better.
03-07-18: Despite appearances, a working lunch.
John is enjoying some fresh kale and arugula from our garden, tossed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, over some
leftover baked salmon as a sandwich.
02-27-18: Shadow at the post office.
John walked to the post office to mail our passport renewals and Shadow came along. Here he is tethered outside the post
office, and again on the walk back avoiding the wet grass in the park.
02-19-18: Roy's new tool.
One of Roy's theater teachers, Mr. Kalal, gave him this Apollo BTS wrench as a gift. It's a specialized tool for stage lighting, with
closed wrenches built into the handle to fit the three most-common fitting sizes. Roy says it's already made his job go a lot quicker and easier.
02-18-18: Roy shows off his new shiny object and Leo plays piano.
John took Roy to Best Buy to check on how big a 17.3" gaming laptop really is, and Roy ended up scoring an Open Box deal on a
well-spec'd Alienware. Later, we went to kaffeetrinken where Leo riffed on the piano.
02-14-18: Valentine's Day caterpillars!
Our Desert Cassia bush in the back yard was festooned with little, bright yellow caterpillars! We think they got their color
from eating the bright yellow flowers that were on the bush. Can you find the one on the succulent bloom?
02-11-18: Date hike!
We had a little getaway for just the two of us. We went to Cabrillo National Monument and had a lovely walk down and back up the
Bayside Trail, then walked around the lighthouse a bit. Then, we had the lunch buffet at Fairouz Cafe, getting back in time for kaffeetrinken.
Among the photos: lizards and spittle bugs amid the sage, and Ondine in front of art by Fairouz Cafe owner A.L. Nashashibi.
01-29-18: Front landscaping!
White gravel and lots and lots of Goodwin Creek Lavender, Texas Salmon Sage, a few other sages, all very drought tolerant
once they get settled. The bougainvillea, butterfly bush, penstemmon, one lavender, and another sage remained from the old landscaping.
01-18-18: Student of the Month honorary breakfast.
Roy was invited to a special breakfast for being Student of the Month, along with his tech theatre friend Malcolm who was Student of the Month
for January. What we didn't know, was that it was a regular Kiwanis breakfast, so there was a big audience and group singing!
01-14-18: Roy is Student of the Month!
Roy was Patrick Henry High School's Student of the Month for December 2017. (His friend from tech theatre, Malcolm, was Student of the Month for
January 2018, so it was something of a sweep for the senior PHAME crew.) Name in lights time!
01-06-18: HAMILTON OPENING NIGHT!
We got four tickets to see Hamilton on opening night at the San Diego Civic Theatre. We could afford only seats in the way-back-way-up
sections (two in the mezzanine, two in the balcony), but we had plenty of binoculars. What a spectacular way to kick off our 2018 theater
experiences!
01-01-18: Oshogatsu! And, Happy New Year!
The dog looks hopeful as we prep the lunch plate. The little twisty things are konyaku (yam cake, which is sliced, twisted, then cooked
and seasoned). We started with ozoni and the Rose Parade (livestreamed from KTLA naturally), then later in the day moved on to this spread.
You can see the teriyaki chicken and lots of goodies on a tray, and the sushi on a separate tray. There's also tako (octopus), two kinds of
kinpira gobo (the made-from-fresh has a better crunch and takes seasonings better), daikon-carrot salad, various sunomonos and tsukimonos,
and kuromame (sweet black beans). As we understand it, the gobo and the daikon-carrot salad represent deep family roots, the renkon (lotus
root, which is the stuff with holes in them) represents foresight or seeing into the future, the octopus tentacle represents stick-to-it-iveness,
the kuromame represents hearty good health, and the sheer abundance of the spread represents wealth - all wishes for the upcoming year.
12-31-17: Oshogatsu prep day 2 and New Year's Eve!
Grammy already started cooking the kampyo and shiitake mushrooms in seasoning (mostly tamari and dashi with some salt and sugar). The kampyo
are dried gourd strips which have to be rinsed in water and rehydrated a bit before cooking. (You don't want them too rehydrated, or the seasonings
won't soak through.) Kampyo is used in strips in the makizushi; the shiitake is sliced into strips for the same purpose. We also used parboiled
green beans, carrots, and scrambled egg, making five ingredients total in the sushi. You can see Roy cooling the seasoned rice with a blow dryer.
Roy and Leo rolled the makizushi while we filled a few agesushi (footballs). Age (pronounced with two syllables and a hard G: "ah-geh") is fried bean curd.
Then we went next door for our traditional German New Year's Eve feast (which is actually both the Christmas and New Year's Eve feasts in one). That
meal includes landjaeger with bohnensuppe, poached carp, weissworst mit kartoffeln, obst, herringsalat und kartoffelsalat, and, on the stroke of
midnight, barbecue potato chips and onion dip, accompanied by lots of banging of pots and pans to shoo away the old year and herald in the new!
No one goes hungry here!
12-30-17: Oshogatsu prep day 1.
This is gobo (burdock root). We bought four of them and probably could have used more because we also ended up using a bag of the frozen stuff,
which doesn't cook up as crunchy. Anyways, the root is scraped clean, then cut into matchstick-sized pieces. The pieces are rinsed and then soaked
in warm water for a few hours to remove the astringency, changing the water every now and then. Some people put lemon or vinegar in the water, but
we just use plain water.
Archived Photos from 2017
Archived Photos from 2016
Archived Photos from 2015
Archived Photos from 2014
Archived Photos from 2013
Archived Photos from 2012
Archived Photos from 2011
Archived Photos from 2010
Archived Photos from 2009
Archived Photos from 2008
Archived Photos from 2007
Archived Photos from 2006
Archived Photos from 2005
Archived Photos from 2004
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