English Square Blog

Oct 2, 2009

Our Annual Camping Trip

Every year either in the heat of August or, more recently as the weather cools down a bit, in mid-September, we find ourselves heading to the mountain side for a camping weekend with friends. What started out as a large group adventure several years ago:

has dwindled down to just us "die hards":

Luckily we had a nice, long four-day weekend and spent two leisurely days and nights by this river in Shiga Prefecture. The plan was to go and just sit around in our camp chairs, enjoy a casual read, take quiet walks along the river, etc. And although we actually did these things, it seems most of our time was spent setting up our campsite, getting ready for meals, reorganizing our campsite, going shopping for firewood and outdoorsing-it necessities, cleaning up after meals, covering our belongings in case of rain, complaining about the "noisy" campers who had the nerve to want to enjoy the outdoors the same time we did, then packing up our unbelievably full car loads of gear, etc. "Leisure" is sure a lot of work, I'd decided.

But we did have a wonderfully cozy campfire thanks to Mashi's continuous and meticulous care, nice chats with our good friends, and....our favorite barbequed delights:

lots of veggies, including my favorite..."yamaimo with shiso" (mountain potato with perilla leaves) all dolled up in butter and salt - simple and oh so good!

We also had a new-comer to our feast....mini potatoes skewered on rosemary stalks. Delish!

(We did have other members in our feasting not belonging to the potato clan, but they just didn't make the photo opps.)

Another summer over, another fall in the works. Our Halloween decorations are up and we're ready for our annual Halloween Festival on the 11th! Photos coming soon, we hope, as we keep our fingers crossed for nice weather.

Aug 25, 2009

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Happy Birthday, dear Mo---mmy!! Happy Birthday to you!!

When my brother's family and I were all home in Michigan earlier this month, we decided to get in a little bit of an early celebration for my mother's birthday. It looked like this..

consult the beloved Martha Stewart Wedding book for a yummy recipe, double check ingredients and their availability - quite simply everything you'd expect in a cake, plus the magic of lemons -rummage through cupboards to find some appropriate cake pans, whip up some icing, set up a decorating assembly line for my niece and nephew's cute little fingers and ....VOILA!! instant birthday party!

Here's the cake Skyler decorated for her grandmother,

and the cake Reed decorated - finished off perfectly with his little licking-finger design.

The candles are lit...

and blown out by the birthday girl with help from her grandkids,

and enjoyed by all - I think mostly by Reed.

This was birthday time with the kids before we had hot-off-the-grill zucchini, sweet potatoes and salmon.

followed by a less sugar sprinkled adult cake decorated by Emilie with a big "L" for "Lila" written in blueberries.

We're thinking of you today, mom, and sorry we're not with you for your actual birthday. But, hope it's a good one!

Aug 22, 2009

Sweet Summer

"So, how was your summer vacation?" I always ask my students during our first class after the break. I listen to their stories and they usually ask me the same question. My answer this year was quite simple, "I just spent time with my family, saw my best friend and her family, and had a nice trip to Chicago." And although those were the best parts of my summer, upon cleaning out my wallet this morning, I discovered that I actually did quite a lot besides sitting in my parent's backyard sipping beer and eating yummy food.

So, first, for those interested, a few interesting places to visit if ever in western Michigan.

The day my brother and family arrived at the Grand Rapids Airport from Maine, we went to Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. My mother and I went early and enjoyed a guided tram tour of the amazing collection of outdoor sculpture - fantastic! When my niece and nephew joined us, we headed to the Children's Garden. A michigan summer off to a great start!

http://www.meijergardens.org/

The next day we had a "Girls Day Out" and Grandmommy Lila, my sister-in-law, my niece and I headed down to Holland to watch Charlotte's Web performed at the Hope Summer Repertory Theater. Uniquely presented and magical! We adults enjoyed it as much as the kids around us.

http://www.hope.edu/hsrt/shows/2009/charlottesweb.htm

The next day while the rest of the family headed to Holland to cheer on my brother in his long-course swimming pursuit... (He SWAM a 5k in just over 1 hour!! WOW!) my mother and I made a brief stop at our local art museum, where my mom volunteers as a docent. For such a relatively small town, Muskegon sure has a fantastic art museum.

http://www.muskegonartmuseum.org/index.php

Then we drove just minutes away to the bustling Muskegon Farmer's Market to fill our big wicker basket with juicy blueberries, cherries and peaches; ripe tomatoes, fresh picked corn, etc., etc. What a great season for fresh fruits and veggies!

http://www.muskegonfarmersmarket.com/view-farmers-market-commercial

So, at this point I'm feeling very cultured and well nourished, indeed! But, until my parents and I took a trip to Chicago, where we visited the new modern wing of the Art Institute of Chicago,

http://www.artic.edu/aic/

we spent time at the beach along Lake Michigan and simply hanging out.

(And... finally some pictures to accompany my blog...thanks to my sister-in-law. <-.->)

Here's my twin brother, Sam

my sister-in-law, Emilie, and her (pictured here as calm and quiet, but otherwise very lively, very funny and very cute) little boy, Reed,

and my very sweet, smart, and also very lively, funny and cute, niece, Skyler.

(Just look at that beach! How much do I wish I were still on vacation??!!)

Most evenings we just spent on the back patio chatting and, need I say it again?...you know, the beer and food with my parents. It's just such a wonderful place to be.

The summer also provided a nice weekend of visiting with my dear aunt, many cousins, their children and grandchildren. It was so special that so many made the effort to come visit us. (Photos covered nicely at manhartfamily.blogspot.com, as I'm sure you who care, know.)

Here's just one I like of me with my cousin and his beautiful daughter who I can't believe is going into her last year of college.

I also had the chance to visit with my best friend from Florida who brought her whole family up to Michigan during the time I was there.

Two days was too short, but...but...hmmm...just too short as it is with almost everything there is to say about summer, and vacation, and time spent with family and friends while living so far away. Sometimes short and sweet is good, sometimes just not. But it was a sweet summer.

Jul 2, 2009

Saturday in Kyoto

First Saturday off in a long while, so, we headed off early to Kyoto. We enjoyed a full day of celebrating Masashi's birthday. First stop, Kurama-Kibune, north Kyoto. Neither of us had ever been there before, so we were looking forward to a new adventure. And we certainly found one.

We decide to tackle the hike from Kurama to Kibune which took us up, up, up and up a beautiful temple-inhabited mountain side.

A worthy guardian stood at the temple entrance....we eyed each other up.

then headed up along lantern-lined walkways,

past beautiful, ancient, tall trees

huffing, puffing, and breaking for cool water

then down, down, down past root mazes.

By the bottom my calves were quivering and we were ready for a break.

Luckily, this is what we found along the river in Kibune.

Restaurants with decks built over the cool, flowing river bed. Mostly way too expensive for us, except the somen noodle place. So, we walked down the stairs and sat on the "waiting deck."

No one else seemed to be tempted to dip their toes in the cool water. Unthinkable to me, so after everyone except us got moved to the next waiting area - the tables on the upper deck, I scooted over to the edge and snuck in some feet dipping. To my sheer delight, though, a young couple joined us on the waiting deck and the guy immediately slung his legs over the side and partook in the joy of cool water flowing over tired feet. Ahhhh... Then I convinced Mashi to give it a try while he partook of another cool, flowing liquid.

This was Saturday relaxation at it's best!

Our turn came and we enjoyed the view before the noodles started flowing towards us in the bamboo troughs.

They kept coming and we kept slurping until the sign came - the last dollop of noodles - the red ones.

So, we walked along the river back to the train station in the mountains and headed back to downtown Kyoto.

Masashi and our friend Cat share the same birthday (Cat 10 years younger, Mashi 10 years...wiser?) We met for a nice dinner to celebrate their special day.