J for Jean

J for Jeans; taken w/ iPhone 5c

My figure does not fit for jeans, but still I love these jeans. I really love these cut-off Levi's; I got these from my brothers and they are one of the most worn in my wardrobe. And I wear as often 20-something-years-old loose light jeans from Muji. (
I wish they would sell those jeans again:)
Why do I love jeans? The candid, rugged texture is what I just cannot be fascinated. I really can feel at ease with jeans.

And Jean is one of my muses, inspiration. She had grace, charm, calmness. I even visited her grave in Paris. I bet many girls wanna be like her, try her hairdo. I made mistakes of getting my hair short several times but I still sometimes have an impulse having my hair cut like hers.

Jといえば。。。ジーンズは今自分が持ってるものを相当気に入っている。今の流行りのラインやこっちで売ってるものは全く自分に似合わなくて。難しいな。だいたい、体型がジーンズ向きではない。でも青いジーンズ、無骨な肌触りやら気の置けない雰囲気がたまらなくそそる。写真の２着はどちらも弟が履けなくなったのをずいぶん昔にもらったもの。ウェストがゆるゆるだったのに、なんだか最近はちょうどよくなってきたような。。。やばい。

そしてこちらは5年前の写真。ヨーダっちの青い目と青いジーンズ。んん？齧ってるんかいな？ネコズは基本的に洗濯したものの上でゴロゴロするのが大好きだけれど、ヨーダはことさらだったように思う。

もうひとつ、Jといえばジーン・セバーグ。いまだにベリーショートにしたくなる衝動に駆られるのは彼女のせい。この20年余り、何度もやらかしたのに懲りてない。

＊アルファベット順にアップするつもりが、このポスト、書いたまま忘れてたのをちょっと直してアップしました。

M for Mother

すり鉢。ものごころついた時にはうちにあった。かなり後に母が買ったもうひとまわり大きいのもあるけれど、捨てられない。

そのすり鉢を、この春に日本に戻った時（が、ずいぶん前に感じられてしまうのは、ここが真夏でものすごく暑いせい）にセブに持ってきた。なんかお守りみたいで嬉しいなぁ。

なんて思ってたら、お守りのごとく毎日仕事の日はつけていた母の形見の50年ものの腕時計が止まって動かなくなってしまった。１週間前のこと。
いまだに左手首を触る、見る、癖が抜けない。

This Japanese mortar is over 40 years old, I guess. This was in my house, I remember seeing it being used by my mother ever since I can remember. It is one of the essential kitchen tools in my home. I brought it here in Cebu when I went back home this April. I bought a little marble mortar & pestle at a market in Cebu, but for me the pair is not easy to use. I have been too familiar with my mother's old Japanese mortar (and I am Japanese) so I decided to get it from my home. It's like a kind of keepsake, guardian of my kitchen. It has a chip in the edge but looking at it I feel secured.

Today is Mother's day. I wear the watch, a memento of my mother, which suddenly stopped a week ago and I stopped wearing then for my working hours. Just resting, hearing sound of falling rain (Yes, it's been a long while since we had rain here! Blessing rain!). Suffering from aching gum and palate and headache, thinking of my mother's pain from her disease which she suffered from 30 more years. Remembering her last days.

E for egg

I tried to think of something starting with "e", but I could only find a few things around me. So I talk about "egg"; another food talk again;p

Eggs. I have one almost every day. Lovely round shape, tender colors of white and yellow. It all makes me smile:)) And eggs make various dishes delicious. What I love most of the dishes with eggs is "tamago kake gohan" rice with raw egg seasoned with soy sauce, I could say (wow! I never imagined this is on Wikipedia!;). OK, some do say it's not a dish, but it never matters to me. The moment of mixing egg with rice just makes me happy.

Still I haven't had any egg in my fridge for these 3 days! There are literally empty holes both in the fridge and in my heart! Don't laugh at me that I'm too serious, blowing up little things. Eggs are like the blanket of Linus to me (well I do have some other "Linus's blanket"). I ate castella which is made of a lot of egg, but the sight of eggs, the white round thing, is a must for me.

The photo is the only photo with eggs in my archives on flickr. Two eggs on bagel. Just lovely, huh?:D

p.s. I wanna go to this cafe with you again, tomily!;)

卵。名前がかわいい。姿形が可愛い。おいしい。大好き。

卵が入ると何もかもグンとおいしくなる、と言ってしまっても過言ではないかも。先日の皇室御用達カステラ、あれもおいしかった・・・。でも、あの卵の見た目、割ったときの黄身がホロンと盛り上がってる様子、とか。そういうのがなくちゃ。というわけで、最もシンプルにして最も大好きな卵料理は卵かけご飯。え？料理じゃない？？いやいや、ウィキペディアの英語ページにもちゃんと載ってる立派な料理！（ちなみに私はご飯の上に卵を割って醤油を掛けて崩し混ぜて食べるのが好き。）人生の最後に口にするとしたら・・・たらこ載せご飯か卵かけご飯か。ってくらい。

卵を切らして冷蔵庫の卵ラックがからっぽだと、心にもぽっかり穴が空いたような心地。

warm dream: @umie (cafe), Takamatsu, Kagawa; nov. 2008

retrospective

Hi, there. Today I felt a bit sick again each time I ate. Even coffee, which is one of my musts of everyday life, tasted terrible. I don't at all feel like a mug of that, nor wine or other alcohol. I'm now for something light in volume and taste, like rice porridge and pickles.

But seeing this photo makes me crave for coffee *grin*. Well, I hope I'll get better tomorrow.

I wrote the other day about my new-year-resolution-like things. I said I wanted to visit a new place, but at the same time, I wanna go to the places I lived in when I was a kid. I feel I just have to do that. Simple nostalgia, I guess. I remember walking in a little forest, wandering around in the small town feeling how big things looked and how little I was. It's like a dream. I'm eager to know how I would feel there now.

今日も食べると胃がむかつく。今もちょっと吐き気・・・昨日ほどじゃないので多分大丈夫だとは思う。コーヒーすら今日は不味かった。お酒も全く飲みたいと思わない。普通の食事をしてみたけど、アカン、気持ち悪い。やっぱり今食べたいのはおかゆと漬け物やなぁ。明日はゆる〜〜〜い玄米粥にしよう。

コドモの頃住んでいたあの場所、すごく行きたい。小さな森があってそこを歩いたこととか、小さな街なのに地理もよく分からずさまよったのを覚えている。周りはすべて大きく見えて、自分は小さく心細く思えた。夢だったのかなぁ、と今では思うほどに。今行ってみたらどんな感じがするんだろう。

昨夜ナニ食べた？

・・・ゲロしたことしか覚えてない〜〜〜！なんちゃって。

上川ネギとキノコのグリル＋温豆腐；菜の花入りアーリオ・オリオ；白ワイン２杯（おつまみにクリームチーズとハチミツとくるみ）

そうそう、昨日食べたことを忘れるのは当然のことなのだとか。脳は生存に無関係なことは忘れるようにできてるんですね。てことは、私のこの作業は全く意味ナシ？？？＞m＜

slow: minolta SR1-s + MC Rokkor 38/f1.8; @umie, Takamatsu, Kagawa; June 2003

B for ... book

piling up : Polaroid SX-70 + 600 film / 2007

Something I feel uncomfortable without, if I didn't see any around me I'd feel like something is missing, is a book. I am all right if I don't hear any music in everyday life. Of course I love listening to music and when I need it it's indispensable, but I love natural sounds like that of waves or birds much more indeed. But about books, even if I am not a bookworm literally and I don't read so much or check newest books earnestly, I'd say I love books and can't do without them.

I often forget what the ending was like of stories that I read before, and what is the worst, I once threw away old books I enjoyed during my early childhood... they were travel guide books my mother had bought. I really , really regret it. Nowadays old books are hard to get due to its high price or sometimes hard to find. It is often true of books (and magazines). So When I encounter books that interest me I buy them if they are affordable for me.

I love being with books. I love seeing them piled up (like in the photo;). I love lying reading flipping over the pages, falling asleep without even noticing. Books are a kind of sanctuary I can escape into; they are a medicine box for me as it were. (oh, I hate real medicine in fact!;D)

Other favorite things I think up starting with the letter b; Bread is fun to eat and to make myself, though I make just simple kinds. Breakfast, one of the greatest pleasures of traveling, I skip usually, though I had big breakfast every day. I'm not at all interested in brand-named bags, but I fall in love with some bags, most of which are rather large kind. Oh, I love basket and so do my cats;) My big basket-bag is very convenient and excellent both for carrying my cameras and for shopping groceries. Blankets are essential; in autumn and winter, I'm wrapped in one when I'm home. My favorite blue blanket is also loved by Yoda, so I have to use another blanket... Today the sky is so blue! I can hear voices of frolic children from the ground of a nearby primary school --- they are having athletic meet:) I can hear birds tweeting. I can feel the wind from the blue sky. They all beat the blues.

A for "あめちゃん(ame-chan)"

classical kurukuru candy : Polaroid SX-70 + 600 film / December, 2008

For a little practice of writing (both English & Japanese;) and thinking, I start blogging about things around me as the mood takes me.

Today's feature is "ame-chan", hard candy.

We, I mean people living in Kansai and its neighboring area, call it with "chan", which is used for calling close people. Usually we use "chan" for people, or animals in which case it sounds rather childish, though. But Kansai people, especially "okan (which means mama")" or "oba-chan (auntie or middle-aged woman)" call hard candy "ame-chan" and you might get some from those ladies when you walk around Osaka;) I love it. I don't like hard candy in particular, but when asked if I want "ame-chan", I can't help saying "Yes!"

There's something familiar and adorable about "ame-chan".

To me A is also for Aria (my first SLR camera by CONTAX:), Advocate (an old, classical beauty by ILFORD), airport (I'd love one near my house! ), ambience (something I place the greatest value taking photos), and apple. It's the best season of apples, but this year I don't find my favorite apple "紅玉 (ko-gyoku)", why? I love crispy, rich-flaovred apples. Sourness is a must: it's the key, especially to making confiture! (oh, which makes me realize that I don't like very much fruits that lack sourness. That explains why I don't like peaches, watermelon, and melons so much.)

And A is of course for "Akane", my name;)

「あ」はアメちゃんの「あ」

ものがたり、はじまりはじまり。あいうえお順、アルファベット順に。というわけで、今日は「あ」。そしてお題は「アメちゃん」

どうしてなのか、「アメちゃん」って、ちゃん付け。カステラちゃん、ガムちゃん、お餅ちゃん、は果てしなく違和感があるのに。とはいえ、実は私はちゃん付けしてなかった。大阪で商店街を歩いているとオカンたちが「アメちゃんあげる」と言って渡してくれる、と言う芸能人たちの話はよく聞くけれども。

でも今日３歳になる甥っ子が「アメちゃん」と言うのを聞いて、あぁ、やっぱりここはなんちゃって関西・・・＞m＜と思ったのではなく、アメにまで「ちゃん」をつけて、それをやり取りするその心がかわいらしいなぁ、と感じた。お遍路さん文化のこの四国も、やはり相手を慈しむ精神から「あめちゃん」が存在してるのかしら、とふと思う。アメは積極的に食べたいと思わないのだけど（すぐ口の中を切っちゃうので）、「アメちゃんいらんで？」と言われると「いただきます♪」と反射的に答えてしまう。お互いの間の小さなかわいい心遣い、気遣い。ふっとにこやかになる瞬間。

ちなみに「あ」は「アリア」「アドヴォケート」（ともにマイカメラ。笑）、「あいあいがさ」（したことないなぁ）、そして「あかね」の「あ」。

※英語ポストとは若干内容が異なってます＾＾；