I went to the markets again this week. I had to see one of my didgeridoo students who was busking. He is only about 10 years old, but he attacked his task with dedication and conviction. In four hours, he collected almost $100.

One day, he will be a very good didge player!

I had a busy week working on the boat, and doing a little journalistic work. The Prime Minister was in Darwin, so I covered a few events for southern radio stations. Last night I slept on the boat....I may do so again tonight. I don't know yet. I have to go to the marina to fit another new window which I have cut to size and formed.

It's been an interesting week. I have been in trouble for something trivial which I didn't do on time 10 months ago.....That problem was easily solved, but then I was in trouble for another trivial 'something' that I apparently didn't do over a year ago.

Boats don't argue.

I went to the Darwin Boat Show yesterday. It was a disappointing affair. There was little on display which one could not see driving around half a dozen retailers on any day of the week. I had recently bought a new 406mhz EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) for my boat for $405. Lucky me....The best boat show special for the same appliance by the same manufacturer was $499.

Then, one salesman told me there was no such thing as forward looking sonar. Of course there is and it is available through Interphase, Furuno, JRC etc. Oh well...the chicken satays were nice.

Today I am going to the marina to put the final, sixth coat of varnish on the porthole sills in the saloon. It has taken me all week to do the 8 'windows'. I'll take a photo of it this afternoon and post it here tomorrow.

My two good mates have departed Darwin today bound for Bali. They should arrive in Benoa harbour before the end of the month. It is about 900 miles and they will have favourable winds that should allow them to comfortably make 140 miles each day.

They are two of the nicest people we have met. Melody loves them also and we hope to see them when we fly from Osaka to Okinawa. Their home town is the halfway point in the trip and we will be able to interrupt our flight to say 'gidday'.

They still have a lot of cruising to do before they return to Japan. They will probably arrive home in mid 2008. So there is still the possibility that I may sail into them somewhere along the way early next year.

It is a little sad that they have gone, but I am excited for them. Yesterday, I had lunch on their boat. Yaki soba with an abundance of fresh prawns and bacon and HEAPS of fresh chilli was just wonderful....along with a cold beer and as much iced mugicha as one can drink.

And....we also had what Melody tells me is called 'fox'. It is a fried tofu 'pillowcase' stuffed with sushi rice, shiitake, carrot....and it is OISHII!!

The last two days have been relatively cold for this part of the world. At 9am today it was just 23 degrees. That may not sound 'cold' but, when you regard 30 as normal, 'twas chilly.

I had a big day of housework after meeting friends for coffee in the city this morning. It was a good day all the same. I shot out to the Dripstone Cliffs this afternoon to capture the above photograph. The Arafura sea always looks beautiful.

Tomorrow I will go to the marina and hope to see my cruising friends. They head off on the next leg of their journey on Tuesday. it should take them about 12 days to sail to Bali.

Then on Monday night, I will teach another didgeridoo lesson to two Aboriginal men. I have devised a method of teaching 'circular' breathing which (so far) has never failed deliver within 2 hours of practice.

I must find the time to resume japanese lessons this week....
今、わたしのおこのみやきおたべます。
こんんいちわ、こんばんわ、おはよう、おやすみ。。。as the case maybe!

Rarely do I complain about TV. I don't watch a lot, but I do enjoy the Hairy Bikers Cookbook, NHK news, some old shows such as Columbo and good comedy. I have become totally disenchanted with so called 'current affairs' shows which seem to mock the genre in general, and as for international news channels there is CNN Asia!

Well, CNN Asia yesterday covered the Peruvian earthquake and its aftermath. That makes a change from Iraq at least. However listening to the presenter operating without a script whilst trying to describe live video, minus audio, from a Peruvian news camera crew on the ground at what was repeatedly described as 'ground zero' was, at the very least, pathetic!

"If the camera would pan left you would see.....", "Earlier we caught a glimpse of the destruction.....", "I imagine if we could hear this woman talking we would hear.....". This was televised garbage of the highest imaginable order. In the hope the coverage would improve I watched this painful tripe for 18 minutes as the woman in the above image leapfrogged all over the shop as she tried to create some interest from something which was not interesting. It was clear the sum total of her knowledge of the event could have been written on a postage stamp.

The News Producer should be hung, drawn and quartered for not having either a back up plan or a commercial insert to lessen the pain.

Anyway....One more quick observation. DON'T BUY CHINESE. The latest scam to hit the rest of the world concerns counterfeit medicines. As the corporate world strives for even greater profit, more and more people are being put at serious risk by chinese companies which are being quintessentially chinese. They seem to have a talent for lying, cheating and thieving, and no conscience when it comes to making money. Children's toys, drugs, diabetes test strips, toothpaste, prepackaged foods, safety devices.....the list goes on! So many people who trust that manufacturers are not trying to kill them are being disappointed.

Don't blame the chinese for being what they are...Blame the companies such as Matel, Johnson and Johnson, Nestles and all the rest of them who are prepared to trade our trust for their profit.

If you can find them these days, buy products made in Australia, the USA, New Zealand, Japan, the UK and avoid products made in China.

PS. My custom made Didge bags are manufactured from Australian made oilcloth, Oz made quilting and US made UV stabilised yarn.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And, whilst I am at it.....If some goose called Syd, or Bob or Bill calls your home phone claiming to be able to save you money, and he has an Indian accent don't hang up! Instead, ask where he is from (he will say he is from any city in your country except for the one in which you reside) and have a pleasant chat with him.

My suggested topics are (1) Why the Indian's cheat at cricket. (2) How come Mumbai stinks like an open sewer. (3) Why there are so many homosexuals in India. (4) Pakistani President Pervez Musharaf should win the Nobel Peace Prize, and (5) How it is odd that only the Indians think the rag wearing, urine swilling midget Mahatma Ghandi was anything other than a twisted little pervert.

End of rant! Normal transmission will recommence with my next post.

I had every intention of posting a photograph of tonight's meal. I made a superb teriyaki chicken! Despite the wonderful taste, however, it looked just like that which it was....crispy chicken in a brown shiny sauce.

So, I chose the above image which was of a dinner served to us at a private home in Tayonaka, Japan. Wonderful people with a typical flair for cooking and presentation.

Speaking of wonderful people.......Two friends who have been doing a lap of the western Pacific have arrived back in Darwin aboard their yacht. They will be here for two weeks before heading off to Bali, Singapore, Malaysia and Bruneii. They count Darwin as their favourite place; Brisbane comes a close second (they stayed in the City Marina) helped in ranking by their boardwalk promenade every morning.

They count New Caledonia as the worst place they visited. They report Noumea is dirty, festooned with garbage, covered in grafitti and they say sewage is pumped directly into the marina which stinks like a huge open toilet. So..count two for the Aussies and none for the Frogs.

Back briefly now to food. Today I went food shopping at the Asian Emporium with my globetrotting Japanese mates. It is quite an education to be able to discover what the contents of the containers are in asian foodstores.

Consequently I have arrived home with quite a collection of goodies. The major problem of course, is that I have already forgotton what some of these weird things are and, as to how to prepare them is concerned, I have not the faintest idea.

My girl is currently visiting her ancestral home with her family for Obon. When she arrives back home I will be quizzing her about my new provisions and how to use them. I know what chilli baby bamboo slivers are....but just how hot are they and when do you use them?

Time will tell

Right-ee-ho! or らいちほう. Which is the same thing in hiragana. But, as it is a japanese depiction of an english term, it would be written in katakana thus: ライチホウ。The recuperation is all but complete. I feel as though I have a mild bruise under my skin near the operating site...and below the scar, there is a thickening as though there is a pencil just beneath the skin. This is diminishing by the day and should be gone within a few weeks. Otherwise there is still a little numbness caused by the severing af a nerve...I am told this will repair itself with the passage of time.

I have just begun the job or refinishing all the timber on the deck of the boat. Hatches, bulwarks, dorade boxes and various other little items are made from teak and need to be cleaned, sanded and coated with several layers of oil. It is not a tedious job, but it will take some time.

I have also just bought a new power inverter for the engine room. An inverter is a clever little electronic gadget which can convert 12 volts of DC electricity (such as I have in the batteries) into 240volts of AC, at 50 hertz. This is the same as domestic power in Australia and means I can use my boat batteries to power 240v domestic appliances such as the microwave oven, toaster, TV, DVD, power tools and other such necessary things as a vacuum cleaner and of course, the computer and battery chargers for telephones etc.

Isn't technology wonderful!

I went to Mindil Beach markets for my dinner tonight and stopped to take a quick photo of the sunset. There was a big crowd there as usual and the food was plentiful, although it is becoming more difficult to find nice food.

The Japanese food stall is a joke! Okonomiyaki is just an ordinary omelette with a few stringy bits of cabbage and carrot and my favourite snack, yakitori, was just chicken satay with a little curry thrown in for good measure. It was not so good! I should point out that the japanese food stall is not run by Japanese people.

Then I came home for an online japanese lesson with my girl. I was frustrated and became annoyed with myself because I was having trouble translating from katakana. This weekend, I will devote my time to learning the whole katakana script; and I shall spend time revising hiragana just for the sake of it. Just as I become familiar with one class of verb, there is another to learn. Then another particle...and trying to determine the difference between 'ni' and 'de' for destination markers.....

I will have another lesson with Yoko on Monday and I think she will be a little disappointed with my progress.

Sometimes I give myself the screaming yips!

Today, I am going to try to not make such a mess with the calligraphy brush. I have the correct paper, felt pad, weight, ink block and the wonderful carved ink stone. This beautifully crafted stone was presented to me by K's mother and father (おかあさん、おとおさん) and was inscribed to おとおさん in 1974 at Wakayama.

Interestingly, the ink-stone or suzuri (すずり) is a major part of good caligraphy. The stone is used to grind the ink stick in water to make a homogenous deep purple/black ink. Caring for the stone is very important and having a stone of such high quality as I now have is an honour indeed.

However, having the best tools (the brush, pad, weight and ink bought for me by K) does not guarantee anything. Hiragana caligraphy is not so cool (but it helps me practice) and I will eventually get a few beautiful kanji brushstrokes. But for the moment I am about as neat as the average kindergarten child, and seem to have the ability to cover myself and most other things in the immediate vicinity in black ink.... and all this without making any particular effort.

I have been thinking about the development of a personal motto. Something which defines the inner 'me'; something which accurately describes the stage of life I have reached, and my finely honed sense of determination in the face of the full range of life's continuing pressures.

I want something which reflects all that I have achieved; a bold and heroic phrase which successfully encapsulates a desire for those things which are still to come...and which points me toward the horizon to set me firmly and doggedly with one hand on heart, the other on my sword, on the course for even greater achievements.......without compromise!

Does anyone know the latin for:

"If at first you don't succeed...Redefine success"?

Great news! I visited the surgeon who performed my operation 2 weeks ago and he is amazed at my rate of healing. He says my recovery is more consistent with someone who has been recovering for a month.

He has given me the go-ahead to start swimming, cycling and what he calls "all your usual activities" with the proviso that I don't "move any pianos for a few more weeks yet". I don't know why I should heal quickly...perhaps it is the enormous amount of milk I drink. Who knows!

Added benefits of all of this are the results of tests which are routinely performed for those who go under the knife. I have no glimmer of such modern diseases as diabetes and my cholesterol is the lowest it has ever been since it was first tested in 1986.

I attribute the low cholesterol to the change to skim, from full cream milk, and the addition to my diet of many japanese foods.



How does one celebrate a bit of good medical news such as this? Well, I make a super thick minestrone. Only difference to a normal minestrone is the addition of Korean chilli (just to give it a mild kick), a diced golden sweet potato and an extra portion of bacon.

I love old things. When I was a child, I used to sneak away from school to visit the Egyptian Room at the Adelaide Museum. Perhaps this love for antiquities is one of the reasons for my fascination with Japan.

In October, the Nara National Museum will host en exhibition of 68 items given by Empress Komyo to show her love to her husband, Emperor Shomu (700-756 AD). The above saddle is made from timber and deerskin and is called 'Uma no Kura' (うまのくら）and is just one of the many artifacts including clothing, crockery, vases and bronzes which will be on display.

Nara National Museum is just a 15 minute walk from Kintetsu Nara Station and entry to the exhibition is 1000yen (less than $10.00). I would like to see it!

Today, I go back to visit my surgeon to see if he regards my recent operation as a success. Yay!

When I visited the boat today, I did only a little work. Mainly I had a short sleep, read the paper and drank some coffee. In the above photo looking aft (back) toward the galley (kitchen) you will see on top of the cooker a kettle for boiling water and a coffee percolator. Bought as a gift by my father, the percolator is ideal for making great coffee. The two best smells on a boat are the aromas of an early morning brew, and the smell of bread baking fresh in the oven.
Bliss.


While I was on the boat today, I realised it had been some time since I checked the bed in the aft cabin. Good news...it still works! Within just a few minutes of lying down, I as fast asleep and remained that way for almost two hours. That's the way to spend a weekend!

I went down to Cullen Bay to check my boat today. I had not been since my surgery as I couldn't climb up on to the deck. But now I am almost 100% again. I was happy to be back there.
Posted by David at 10:11 PM 0 comments

Today I did some washing. You can see it in the photograph as it is hanging out to dry. This is a spinaker staysail. Made of very light fabric it is meant to balance the spinaker on a 'downhill' run. This is the second smallest working sail on the boat. It measures 14 metres x 5 metres. The inner staysail is a little smaller and the stormsails are also smaller.

To wash this sail, I had to put it in the bath, add a little bleach and some detergent and walk around on it for about 10 minutes.

This weekend we have the Royal Darwin Show. I will go tomorrow and take a few photographs, spend money on expensive junk and vow (as I do every year) to never go again.

Dinner time. Tonight I will use the rest of my good Japanese soy to make yakitori. For anyone who is reading this and who wants a quick meal which is tasty, wholesome and goes soooo well with a cold beer, try this.

1/3 cup sake
1/3 cup mirin (Coles sells it)
1/3 cup japanese soy sauce. (Chinsese black Kikkoman will do at a pinch, but it's a little 'rough')
1 heaped teaspoon of brown/raw sugar.
Mix all the above well.

Cook some rice. (make sure you wash it very well to reduce the 'glug' factor)

Thread some skewers (soak them for one hour first to stop splintering and help prevent them burning) with chunks of chicken or pork. Between each piece of meat place a square of green pepper, a round of leek (or onion if you must) and lightly fry these in a pan.

Put the sauce mix in a pan and reduce it until it is the consistency of warm honey.

Serve yakitori on a bed of rice and drizzle sauce over the whole mess. Serve with a cold beer.
おいしい！

Busy day today! I had to drive out into the bush to give some didgeridoo lessons. I am gaining a reputation for teaching the instrument and it seems most of my students these days, are visiting from overseas. Today, I gave lessons to two Koreans and a German. Good people!

Melody, I saw Mike from the markets again and said you look forward to talking to him again. A friend whose son is living in Japan, wants Japanese lessons. I will give him two contact numbers. One for my original teacher M, who takes classes at CSC...and Y, my private tutor who is probably frustrated at my slow progress. They are both wonderful people who have more patience than I deserve.

Meanwhile, I went to my boat this afternoon. Still difficult to clamber aboard because of the recent surgery.....But....It's a nice place to be. I hope I can manage to paint it this season.

Now I must go and prepare a salad for dinner. All this lying about, recovering with Tim Tams, is not good for my profile.......But....Tim Tams have a new biscuit covered in dark chocolate and with a mixed berry filling....IT IS GOOOOOOD! oishii!!

Yesterday, there were three international yachting events commencing in Darwin. The Darwin Ambon yacht race, The Darwin Kupang rally, and the Saumlaki rally. Over 100 yachts set off from three different areas of the harbour...and all at about the same time.

Being invalid at the moment, I could not board a boat to take me to the start to get photos. So, I had to watch from the bar at the Darwin Sailing Club. The above photo is taken from that location. Double clicking the image will increase its size so you can see many of the yachts in the distance, with their spinakers up.

But mainly, you can see what the weather is like in the dry season. It is windy with the southeast trade winds blowing at 20-30 knots, but the sky is clear, the waters of the Arafura Sea are sparkling, and the temperature is 28 degrees C, with very low humidity.

I wish I was out there.

One of the problems with owning a bigger boat in Darwin, is the height of the tides. If you cannot easily remove your boat from the water at the end of the day, it makes sense to keep the boat in a marina.

Over 7 metres of tidal movement every six hours means marinas must be protected by lock gates. These gates hold back the water within the marina when the water level outside is much lower. Boats can still move between the low and high water by going through the lock.

This photo is of the outer lock gate at Cullen Bay marina. The boat is a 60' yacht heading out to join the start of the Darwin to Kupang yacht rally.

I can only do things which require no physical strain because of my recent surgery. So, today I cleaned up my workshop at home. On the right, (white cylinder) is the hydraulic pump for the yacht's steering. It needs a new seal. I will do that as soon as I am over the operation.
こんばんわ　しょ。。。。！おげんきですか。わたしわ　いい　にほんごですかか。わたしのにほｎ　かえります、としょ。。とデービッドに、にほんごをはなします。１か２か３かアサヒスパーヅライのみます。

My good friend Sho... is the best marine engineer in Japan. His wife is a great cook, as it seems are all Japanese women. And, he owns the world's happiest spaniel! He is going to advise me on the problem a friend in New Zealand is having with his yacht's diesel engine.

Engine: Yanmar 3JH3. 730 hours. Installed 1999. It has no Zn anode, but does have an alloy heat exchanger. Is a zinc anode necessary? How often should the heat exchanger be opened for service? The end cap on the exchanger is cracked and corroded. He says the 'O' ring seal was not correctly fitted in the factory.

He claims Yanmar NZ will not assist him and say the unit should have been serviced sometime in the last 7 years. Have you any experience with a similar problem in Japan? Is Yanmar after sales service usually good?
わかりましたか。

Please say hello to S, Ke-ninja and your two lovely daughters for me. Do not worry so much about this problem. I appreciate your help.

わたしわ　うれしいです。わたしの　しゅじゅつわ　ほっとをかいふくです。いいさんぽしますとたちあがると　すわるです。わたしわ　くるまにのりません。Okay. Confused with my にほんご? I am trying to say I am healing rapidly, can walk, sit stand and do nearly everything except climb into my car or up onto the boat. A few more days and I will be as good as new.

I need to revisit my surgeon on the 30th of this month and have I got a question for him??!!
I have been left with an impressive scar...but no stitches. I imagine the wound was stitched beneath the skin as it went through all muscle layers, but the surface is not stitched. Amazing. I apparently have a little radiation 'tan' and suspect the wound was closed by laser skin welding.

If that is the case, I can recommend it. There has been no pain, and the absence of sutures means less chance of infection, a neater scar and a faster recovery. I will tell all, as soon as I have found out what happened.

One thing is for sure. If I ever have to undergo surgery again, I want it performed by the same team at Royal Darwin Hospital, with recovery in a private room.
Best hospital experience I have ever had!!

It is not as though I am a baby, but, OUCH....OUCH, OUCH....bloody OUCH! I am happy the surgeon gave me very little notice of this operation because I did not have long to think about it. I don't like hospitals, I don't like injections, I don't like anaesthetics and I especially don't like people slicing me up with knives!

I drove to hospital, presented myself for surgery and found the general staff, nursing staff and surgical staff to be wonderful, professional, caring and in most cases jocular. They made my stay in hospital most comfortable. (Above is my room in Corella Ward...very nice).

I was wheeled into the operating theatre at 2pm and succumbed to the anaesthetic in record time. I think I was unconscious in about a tenth of one second. At just before 4pm, I awoke with a surprisingly clear head and, at least from my perspective, I was as lucid as ever.

Then the staff unplugged me, took me to my room and there I stayed in relative comfort. Despite a 100mm incision through the wall of my stomach (I know what a caesarian section is like now K) I required no pain medication and slept well during the night. My surgeon came in the following morning and asked all about me. I assured him I was very fit, so he said if I could go home, just 18 hours after the operation was concluded. Yay!

He probably would have been a little upset to find I live alone and had to drive home in my own car. Friends had offered to give me a lift and to monitor my progress at home, but I am independent and don't like to be a burden. So, here I am. Home. I am not in much discomfort as long as I lie down or stand up. The transition from either one to the other is murder. But I am sure it will only last another day or so.

I am not allowed to lift "anything heavier than a telephone directory" until September and sadly, that means I can't train for the Asian Masters Swimming in Singapore in August. And I was only asked to join the team the day before I got the call to go in for surgery. c'est la vie!

So, now I have some enforced relaxation time.....Time to study Japanese.

And this is the bathroom. Very nice and modern and spotlessly clean. BUT... After someone has been digging around inside of you with a knife for 90 minutes, it doesn't really matter what the bathroom is like...Using any part of it comes at a reasonably painful price...as indeed does the 4 metre walk to get there. At least that was the case for the first few hours.

Look at this pathetic offering. It is my dinner for tonight...and I am a growing boy! One mandarin, a cup of tea, and a little toast is what I am permitted to eat tonight. Tomorrow morning for breakfast, I can have some tea...and then, THAT'S IT.

So why this enforced colorific dearth?

Well, A few weeks ago I went to my doctor with a minor problem. I had done some work which was a little too vigorous at some time, and I had developed an inguinal hernia. No big deal. But a little uncomfortable if I had to spend all day standing up. So, the doctor referred me to a surgeon who told me he could operate in about six weeks or so.

He apparently had a cancellation and called me this afternoon at 3.oo and told me that if I could make my way to the hospital, he would operate tomorrow. Despite the fact that I have a definite aversion toward people who want to slice me up, I agreed. So, as part of the regime of preparation, I have to stop eating for a few hours.

Anyway, I should be back home recovering by Monday.

See you then.

Sometimes, I feel I am crawling along the path toward fluency in Japanese language. My girl says I am doing fine and I appreciate the support. So, today I came across this photograph which I captured while strolling homeward from a pleasant walk along the banks of Kamogawa.

It tells me there is a professional translator, working for a graphic design studio somewhere in Japan, who has got his boss absolutely fooled into believing he is 'I の engrish ranguage は fruent を speak します'.

Well mate....when I get a bit better at nihongo, I'm gonna have your job! HAHAはははははは。

Of course, the caption on this sign is as amusing to me, as my nihongo is to native Japanese. The point is, however, the author of the caption has communicated effectively and the grammar doesn't matter in the least.

But it IS funny!

Sunday

Today was a typical Darwin dry season day. It was cold at 8.00am when I set of for a ride with a friend. The thermometer said 21 degrees. By 10.00am it was 28, which, along with some nice dry southeasterly winds makes it almost perfect.

I rode 10 minutes to Ash's house, then we rode through Brinkin, to Casuarina beach (above) then along the foreshore to the Nightcliff markets for breakfast, before heading home.

Along the way, I saw my friend and original Japanese language teacher 'M' walking purposefully toward the university.　”みーーーさん。。おはようございます。をげんきですか”。How clever I felt in front of my friend, addressing my petite friend in Japanese. The intriguing thing was how 'normal' it felt for me to say something in Japanese and, the lack of the usual self consciousness I feel when I speak aloud in　にほんご。Perhaps all this study is paying dividends. It is especially rewarding to be given such positive support.

Time to read the paper and drink some coffee.
わたしの、じてんしゃにします。わたしたち（わたし、ともだちアスリ）ははちじはんーじゅうじはん、しました。わたしたちの、みーーーせんせいわみます。わたしにじゅういちじ、でかえります。
Now..I realise the above is a true mess. K..please help me with corrections tonight.

Disaster!
I have only a little of this wonderful soy sauce left.
I will go to the Darwin Oriental emporium, otherwise known as 'the shop with the smiling chinaman', to see if I can find a suitable replacement. My beautiful girl bought me an extra 500ml of this gorgeous, light brown, delicious sauce before I left Japan earlier this year. But I did not have enough space and I did not bring it.

What a fool I was.

Kikoman black soy is just not a good substitute. I hope Mr Happy can help me.

どようび。

So....It is Saturday in Japan.

What does the average person do on a Saturday

in this part of the world.

Well, one dresses nicely, has breakfast, takes the

lift to the ground floor, (which in Japan is in fact

the first floor) and walks through the carpark

to find the Gaia in it's parking space.

Then, one clambers into the car and drives it into the street,

taking care (not always successfully) to miss

the lightpole in front of the apartment block.

The first half of the trip culminates at the

fine establishment depicted above.

That is MaxValue, where everyone greets you with

いらっしゃいませ, and where you can buy the best

daikon, leeks, fish, fruit and rice crackers in the

world. It is a nice, clean, inexpensive shop which

has a wide variety of excellent goodies.

That's how Saturday begins.....And it only gets

better after that. I miss it!

おこのみやき

The chances are remote that anyone will know what they are looking at here, unless they are Japanese. This is baked sweet potato, squiddly and okonomiyaki.

Okonomiyaki most closely resembles an omelette, yet its base

is primarily cabbage. It has to be served with okonomiyaki sauce.

The squid is just unbelievably good.

The hands at the top right of the photo belong to Wombat.

Unlike the Aussie version, this wombat is a giggling carnivore

with a happy disposition, and who CHEATS AT AIR HOCKEY!!!!!

Nothing annoys me so much as people who steal from　

others. Recently someone broke into my

shed and stole my old bicycle and my motorcycle helmet.

Fortunately, I was insured and have now bought a new じてんしゃ.　

Enclosed gears, disc brakes and big enough to accomodate my height and weight.　

So, now I will ride in the mornings and swim in the afternoon.　

It is cold for swimming....so I bought a lightweight wetsuit.　Ha!

Skinny David coming up when next in Japan.

よっと

わたしによっとです。いまにいえにかえります。

HEEELLLPPP.

Teacher is correcting my work long distance. So is the verb 'to correct' まる and is it regular 'ru' or an irregular verb...Do I conjugate it as まみます。

Anyway, I went to Cullen Bay today to do some work on the

boat. Perfect day! Look at the lucky tourists heading out on

'Sundance'.

K is helping me with chapter 3.　げんき。

I am lucky she is so patient. She talked to Y (せんせい）

and is making sure I attend private, online juku.

ありがとうございました。

じゃまた。

ごめんあいさい

Sorry Candyfloss, my very poor nihongo has

led you in a different direction. Is this ぶれーど、ばれどう、

びれーど。

ごめん。

Boring...But helpful.

わたしわ、せんたくします。

Any Japanese readers to my rittle brog,

please correct my にほんご if it is poorly

written.

ありがとうがざいました。

むずかしいい。

I sometimes think learning Japanese is so difficult (muzukashii =むずかしいい).

But then, I think that only four weeks ago, I knew so very little about the oral language, and nothing about the written language.

Considering my visits to Japan , and that I have Japanese friends, that is a very poor effort on my part. However, in the last month I have applied myself and while I become frustrated at my lack of progress, I realise I am well ahead of where I was such a short time ago.

I can now write and read everything in hiragana, some things in katakana, and I have even learned a few symbols from the third script, kanji. So maybe I am not doing so poorly. Above, I have written my small shopping list in hiragana (it should be katakana really). I was able to write it quickly and it is a good way for me to practice.

What a clever boy!

Happy Birthday

Postage costs between Japan and Australia are quite high. Also postage between the two areas of the Northern Territory and Shiga is slow for international deliveries. I think this is a consequence of mail travelling from Darwin, to Sydney, to Tokyo, to Kyoto, then Otsu.

So the parcel I sent for my Girl's birthday on Monday, may not arrive on the day. But, I am sure she will understand.

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Country Garden, by my front door.

One of the changes which occur with the changing seasons, is the temperature becomes a little lower, the humidity lessens a lot, and shadows fall in different places in the garden.

This lovely little setting which my K knows so well, is my favourite coffee drinking spot in the dry season.

Changing seasons

As the season continues to change from 'wet' to 'dry', the floral gardenscape is changing. The big tree with the purple flowers in the back garden has started to change its foliage...and bushes in the front garden which only flower in cooler weather have bloomed. The season is NICE.

Cool pool

This photo is especially for little cutie Wombat! The pool is still warm enough to swim in, but as the dry season advances, the temperature falls just a little each day.

A man's machine!

This is not an interesting photo!
However, it is my new sewing machine. It is unsophisticated and will only sew zig-zag, straight and reverse, but it is made from cast iron, has a HUGE, 7kg balance wheel, a walking foot and will sew through 12 layers of vinyl.

It is specifically designed as a sail maker's machine, but it is ideal for sewing canvas and all heavy materials which domestic machines cannot sew. It will sew lace and light materials, but that area of functionality will very seldom be explored.

I have made some canvas covers for parts of the boat and I am making didgeridoo bags. As I become more proficient, I will become ever more adventurous.

A 'Bug' is an Aussie name for 'Germ' or 'Virus'.

Just a couple of days after arriving home from Japan, I became ill. I had a headache, fever, nausea, diahorroea.....nasty stuff! I believed I had contracted the 'bug' from eating take away food from a local chinese restaurant. It now seems as though the culprit may have been green vegetables sold at the suburban supermarket.

The Weekend

This is not a good photograph. In fact it is a very poor photograph. But, it was taken whilst I was hurrying from the newspaper shop to the coffee shop in the City Mall. I did not think about composition, light and shade, or even standing still whilst I snapped the image.

I went to the coffee shop in The Galleria to meet my friends Stephen and Tina. There we drank coffee and talked. They wanted to know about my trip to Japan and I spent more time than I should have, in telling them why I love Japan so much.

They are going to Japan in April next year. They were going to go somewhere else for their holidays, but now they want to see Kyoto.

Now I must wash my clothes, clean the house and garden, clean the pool....wash the cars....All that domestic stuff. Oh how much fun !!!???

B-I-G gate

During my trip to Japan in March and April, I was very lucky to have the world's most beautiful tour guide. But even the best tour guides can sometimes have a day which is less than perfect....YUP! This gate is not far from Heian Jingu. Also not far from the wonderful coffee shop with chocolate cake, and not far from the street market with Takoyaki and thick, sweet pancakes filled with sweet beans.

But my BTG (beautiful tour guide) earlier walked around the Imperial Palace grounds in the wrong shoes and I had made her walk her little legs off all over Kyoto. So we got to Heian Temple by taxi, rang the bell and gave Buddha a few coins, walked all over the temple and it's gardens, had a little to eat and drink and then......we had to go walking again.

My BTG was (a) Cold, (b) Had tired legs (c) Sore feet and, as we walked underneath this wonderful gate (click photo for bigger image) told me that (d) She didn't know where we were.
We were looking for a railway station. So we walked, and walked, and walked, and walked.......Then we walked some more, and finally asked for directions when we were 25 metres from the railway station.

I love my BTG.

Anyway, after we finally got off the train at Ishiyama, my BTG took me to a tiny yakitoria with a very low door, very lovely aroma, very cold Asahi Super Dry....and we talked, ate yakitori, drank beer, laughed a little then went home.

It was a great day.
Thank you K.

No Cherry Blossom

Many years ago, before the international community developed the name 'World's Fair', major cities would host international exhibitions. During the late 1800's there was the London Exhibition for which the english built the famed Crystal Palace which subsequently burnt down. Then the french held the Paris exhibition and built the Eiffel Tower, then the Japanese held the Kyoto Exhibition and built a huge traditional temple complex called Heian Jingu.

The above photo is of a small part of Heian. The buildings are just 100 years old, but remain in a fully maintained state. I deliberately took this photo without any sakura in the foreground, because I wanted to see the unspoiled lines of this beautiful building. Click on the photo to see the detail, full sized.

Nearly finished painting.

More painting today. This area was coloured red until yesterday. Now I have added the first coat of the much lighter colour and will paint on a second coat later in the day or tomorrow morning. The area of this floor is 57 square metres. If I have enough paint left over after finishing the job, I will paint the floor of my workshop which is behind the wooden slatted wall. I will not be able to park my cars or motorbike on the new surface until Monday, so they will have to survive the tropical sun for a few days.

Tonight, I will go to the Darwin Sailing Club for dinner. My girl is visiting her family to celebrate her parents 50th wedding anniversary and, my friends on Furai Batsu need details on a blue water sailing rally from Darwin through asia. I will collect those details from the club tonight.

The weather is still quite warm here although the humidity is dropping. In Kyoto it is becoming spring. I wish I was there still.