Looking for the bird's name

 

(At first I was looking for the bird's name in the first five pictures, so I wrote the title, but someone suggested me that the bird might be Ruribitaki.  I was very happy to get some replies from them.)  

 

I went up to a small mountain in my neighorhood on Jan. 29, and I found this bird, a female Ruribitaki or Red-flanked bluetail.  I have seen this kind before, but it was several years ago, and it was only for twice or thrice, so I felt lucky to take pictures of them.

The second is an enlarged picture of the first one.

Now we can see the colors of her side more clearly.  

 

Maybe she was eating the nuts then.

 

She was busy moving her body side to side (left to right), like dancing. 

* * * * * * * * * *

 

The followings are other kinds of birds. 

 

Mejiro or Japanese White-eye

We are expecting them to visit the Japanese apricot tree in our garden.

Our apricot tree has many buds now, and they are in full bloom every February.

They come to drink the nectar of apricot flowers.

 

 

The next picture is a Mozu or Bull-headed shrike.
He stayed like a hunter on top of a tall grass.
Mozu is about 19-centimeter long. 
A few inches bigger than  a sparrow, which is about 14 centimers. 
They are carnivores; they kill small creatures including birds for food.
 

This final picture is two Keri or Grey-headed lapwings.

I found them in the rice field next to my house on the way back from the mountain.

 

 

The 2 hours of walking was good for exercise, and it was interesting to me.

I found various birds, maybe 10 kinds of them at that time.

 

In winter season, trees have less leaves, so we can find wildbirds easier.  

My Kimchi Nabe

Shown below is an easy to cook Kimuchi Nabe I came up with.

I already made it myself several times. 

My husband doesn't like Kimchi so he never eats this.

 

Anyway, here's the recipe.

I bought a pack of Tofu (soy bean curd), and a pack of Kimchi (fermented vegetables) yesterday.

They cost 50 and 100 Yen respectively.

 

 

 I found leftovers in the refrigerator yesterday such as:  

chinese cabbage, shimeji mushruoom, onion leeks.

I sliced the onion leeks before cooking.

I cut the bottom part of the mushroom with a kitchen knife.

 

I only used half of the pack of the Tofu, and I sliced them.

I boiled some water (approx. 200ml), and put the vegetables.

 

Then I added the pack of Kimchi to them.  I used the whole amount of Kimchi.
 

Five minutes later, the hot meal was ready.  My body warmed up after having it.

 

My mouth became like fire!

To cool it down, I also ate a cup of dessert after having this.

 

 

The bottom part was pudding, some cream in the middle, and chocolate on the Top.

It's called Tiramisù, an Italian dessert.

I guess it became popular in Japan ten years ago.

 

A Neck Warmer

I watched a TV program about a knitting neck warmer last December.  A knitting instructor showed us how to knit it for about 20 minutes. 

They broadcasted the program around December 15, and they said if we woud start knitting immediately, we could finish it early enough for the Chirstmas present.  

The pattern was very difficult for me.  I often made mistakes, and took a lot of time repairing them.

I was very glad when I finally finished it this morning. 

While I was knitting, my husband asked me what I was knitting, and whose this for.  I replied that I was knitting myself a neck warmer.   Then, whenever he saw me knitting, he repeated he liked the natural green of the yarn.  It sounded like he wanted it. 

Tomorrow is his 61st birthday, so I am now wondering maybe I will give him this as a birthday present?  With another yarn, this can be also used as a cap.

As I am not good at knitting, so I needed to go to a library to check their textbook.

My Opinion for Driver's Licence for Elderly

I studied the Unit 6 - Past continuous (I was doing) of English Grammar in Use a few days ago.

Some exercise of the textbook was interesting to me.

Quote

Put the verb into the correct form, past continuous or past simple.  (Here's with correct answers)

I (was cycling) home yeserday when a man (stepped) out into the road in front of me.  I (was going) quite fast, but luckily I (managed) to stop in time and (didn't hit) him.

Unquote


Hopefully, my answers were all correct for the two lines.   
As I had a similar experience, so I like to try to describe it using the above sentences.

Would you please correct my sentences below?

I was walking home after dark several years ago when a small truck stepped out into the crossing where I was walking. 

The truck was slow, so luckily I was not hit and all right.

---

(My additional sentences below)

There is a stop sign in front of the crossing, so he should have stopped there, but had ignored it.
There is an interjection behind the crossing line, so he slowed down his car for it, which was lucky for me.

As I noticed that the driver was elderly, and he might not have seen me before I knocked in the front of the car for a few times.  It didn't stop so I tried to let him know I was there.  Then, he was surprised when he found me so close.

I didn't report this to the police at that time because I had no injury. 

I have seen similar news caused by elderly drivers these days.

Some people discuss that the police should take up their driver's licence at a certain age.  My opinion is not reached whether they should do or not as yet -- I had the scary experience, but there was no injuries.  As I live in a countryside, I know what it means when it happens to elderies.  Without a car, he or she might need to walk to a shopping center which might take 30 or 60 minutes.  It may differ how fast they can walk or how heavy stuff they bring back from the shopping center. 

It also means if we take up their driver's licence, they might conclude abandoning their agricultural work because we have many farmers in my neighorhood.  They use their small truck to go to buy somethings needed for farming or they go to the yeilds to sell. 

My husband is getting old as he will be 61 on Jan 22, and he always says when it gets dark, he can't see very well, and he doesn't want to drive after dark.

Drivers always need to be attentioned to traffic rules, other cars and pedestrians. 

We had some snow yesterday

When I woke up yesterday morning, I was surpised to have found that there was some snow left on the ground.  It has already stopped snowing when I woke up at 7 a.m.  We have snow in winter, but it was our first time this season.

 

It was sunny yesterday.  However, compared with the other sunny days where the ground is bown or gray, the white color reflected my eyes.   The dazzling light of snow brightened my eyes. 

A bad fall in a swamp on a cold day

I accompanied my husband to a hospital yesterday morning.  We left our place at 8:00 a.m. and came back at 2:00 p.m.  He couldn't sleep at all because of constant coughing two days ago, and we decided to go to a hospital.  He thought he caught a bad cold or maybe an influenza. 

A nurse placed a cotton bud in his nose, and checked if he had caught an influenza, but it turned out negative.  Then he had taken his body temperature, blood test, and x-ray test.  His doctor found that he had some inflamation on his lung.  It was close to pneumonia, but not yet at the moment.   The doctor ordered for an IV therapy which lasted for 2 hours, gave some prescription, and lastly the doctor allowed us to go back home.

He had been working hard until last Friday.  Then, he asked me if I liked to go to a hot spring the next day.  I said yes, with one condition.  I asked him if we could visit a pond on the way to watch wildbirds. 

He said that we could stop by, but he prefered to stay in the car during the visit as he is generally not good at cold temperature.


Whether he is coming along or not, it didn't a matter to me.  I told him that I would make it a short visit, and he could stay in the car and watch TV.  I will enjoy watching the wildbirds alone.  But he got out of the car, and came after me with a heavy camera with him.  Then, he must have gotten too excited to take pictures of a duck in a pond, and lost balance.  He fell to a swamp

This is one of the pictures my husband took a few seconds before he fell to a swamp. 

               

The picture below is not exactly the place where it happend,
but the swamp he fell into was like this.  Many tall dead grasses were there.

There was no one around us, and I was totally at a loss for what have happened to us. 

I even wondered if it's better to call an ambulance and asked him so.  He replied that he would try to manage to get out of the swamp though it might take some time.  I reached out to his arm and got the expensive camera.  

 

As soon as he came out, I found his right ear slightly bleeding.   He didn't know what  happened to him, so I explained him that he had leaned all his weight on the railing which was made of plastic strings.  These are not the exact ones but these are just the similar kind. 

Obviously, this kind of string is not sturdy enough for people to lean on.

At first he complained about the painful bruise on his head.  The next day, he felt cold from head to toe.  It was a national holiday last Monday so the hospital was closed for incoming patients. 
Then on Tuesday, he tried to go to the hospital by himself but he felt tired while driving and gave up the idea of going there.
I wrote many sentences to explain the recent happenings in our lives.  I really hope he gets well soon.

My questions from a grammar book

I found some quesitons from my grammar textbook.  Would you please give me your opinion?

(I've already asked the questions below, and my questions were solved from a help from RareJob tutor's explanation.  Thank you!)

The sentences below are from "English Grammar in Use"

page 10, Unit 5 Past simple (I did)

5.1 Read what Laura says about a typical working day:
I usually get up at 7 o'clock and have a big breakfast.  I walk to work, which takes me about half an hour.  I start work at 8:45.  I never have lunch.  I finish work at 5 o'clock.  I'm always tired when I get home.  I usually cook a meal in the evening.  I don't usually go out.  I go to bed at about 11 o'clock, and I always sleep well.

My finding: the word "work" are used as adverb.   (RareJob tutor's opinion, Correct)

5.3 You ask James about his holiday.  Write your questions (to the underlined places.) 

Kay: Hi.  How are things? 

James: Fine,thanks.  I've just had a great holiday.

Kay: How did you go?  By car?

James: Yes, we hired a car in San Francisco.

Kay: It's a long way to drive.  How long did it take (you) / were you there?

James: Two weeks.

Kay: Where did you stay?  In hotels?

James:  Yes, small hotels or motels.

Kay:  Was the weather nice?

James: Yes, but it was very hot - sometimes too hot. 

Kay: Did you visit the Grand Canyon?

James: Of course.  It was wonderful.

----

My opinion to the above questions.  I was not able to answer the yellow place.  Anyway, the textbook gives us the correct ones.  They showed us above, but it sound strange to me because
James answered "Two weeks," so why the question could be "How long did it take (you)"?  

I don't think that James drove as many as 2 weeks from San Francisco to Denver.

(RareJob tutor's opinion:  This may cause a confusing question.  Maybe James traveled places to places on his holiday.  He stayed at small inns, and had many stops on his way to Denver.) 

P. 12   Unit 6 Past continuous (I was doing)
6.1  What were you doing at these times?  Write sentences as in the expample.  The past continuous is not always neccessary. 
1.  (at 8 o'clock yesterday evening)  I was having dinner.
2. (at 5 o'clock last Monday)  I was on a bus on my way home.
3. (at 10:15 yesterday morning) I was working.
4. (at 4:30 this morning)  I was in bed asleep.
5. (at 7:45 yesterday evening)  I was getting ready to go out.
6. (half an hour ago) I was watching TV at home.

As for #5 above, I am not sure which is correct? 
A.  I was still preparing for going out.
B.  I was already prepared.

I guess maybe A is corect? 
(RareJob tutor's opinion: Yes, A is right.  He or she was preparing such as choosing he or her clothes.)  

My petbird, Tsuru chan!

I'm sorry to report this, but my pet bird, budgerigar, Tsuru chan is losing weight these days.  Two weeks ago, his weight was 37 grams, but for the first time in these 10 years, it recorded as 34 grams one week ago.  According to the Japanese experts of pet birds' veterinarians, average budgerigar weigh about 30 - 40 grams.  They are thin when less than 30 grams, they are no curable when they become less than 25 grams.  I was so sad when my other budgerigar died when she became 24 grams. 

He was born in June 2002, and he is 11 years old.  As budgerigar's life expectancy is said to be 7 to 8 years, he is living longer.

I am concerned about his health.   He moves slower and slower as he got older.  He was active when younger.

He has a leg problem like the picture below.  He always does like this.  I guess his forefingers don't work very well.

The tempreture of bird's body is 41 or 42 degrees.  In general, old birds are getting weak, so pet owners should try to warm them up so that they are comfortable in the cage.  I am trying to warm his body up.

At first I use 2 pet heaters (each pet heater has 100 kilowatt).  The pet heater has orange color in the pictures. 

I have three pet birds.  Each bird has their own cage.   Two of them are budgerigars.

This is one year old budgerigar.  I named him P-chan.  He is very active, and funny when moving.

Their cages are next to each other.  By they are placed in different cages, they cannot touch, but sometimes they get close, and play by looking each other.

 

Here's my third bird, a hen cockatiel, Pearl chan.

 

 

 

Matsubara Hachiman Jinja

I want to be a good writer, so I ask my tutors to correct my grammatical mistakes,

and also give me some examples for better writing. 

 

Hundreds of people visit Matsubara Hachiman Jinja, a Shinto shrine in Himeji, Hyogo prefecture,

on new year's day until 3rd of January every year, so I had waited for several days to visit. 

Finally I went there this afternoon.

 

There were few people, so I fully enjoyed my visit.

 

If many people get there at the same time and pray to God for their new year's wishes, He must get  too busy to hear them.

 

Maybe He will miss listening to some of your prayers!

 

But I thought He listened to my prayer because the shrine wasn't crowded.

 

The gate was with New year's decrative stuff.

 

 This poster shows Mt. Fuji and sunshine.

 It looks like the Japanese flag.

 

 

Nanten or Heavenly bamboo, which has tiny red fruit, is planted in a pot surrounded by bamboo.  

It is also decorated with big purple flowers called habotan or ornamental cabbage.

 

 

This shrine has one big horse statue.  I don't know why they erected a horse statue instead of other animals.

 

According to the Chinese calendar, 2014 is the year of the horse.

There are 12 kinds of animals in Chinese zodiac such as rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and boar (wild pig). They represent year 2008 to 2019 respectively.

When a person celebrates his or her birth year of his Chinese zodiac, Japanese people use the terms: "Toshi Otoko" or "Man of the Year" and "Toshi On-na" or "Woman of the Year."

I was born in the year of horse which means I am one of the "Toshi On-na" or "Women of the Year."  It's my fourth time to celebrate my zodiac year so it also means that I’m turning 48.

As I was standing in front of the statue, I thought why not be active and work like a horse sometimes? I am getting older and weaker, though.

 The red gates are beautifully arranged in a certain order.

I haven't been to this shrine for a couple of months, so I had a good time.
It takes only 10 minutes by bike from this shrine to my home but instead of going home, I went to  Sukiya, a Gyudon (rice topped with sliced beef and onion) chain restaurant, and ordered lunch.

 

It was nice and easy, and I had another good day.

Himeji Shizen Kansatsu-no-Mori again

This is a continuation of my previous entry (please click here).

We drove for about 40 minutes, and visited Himeji Shizen Kansatsu-no-Mori yesterday.

We found only Yamagara bird coming to the bird feeders last month, so we were delighted to find three kinds of birds such as Atori (or Brambling), 　Kawarahiwa (or Oriental Greenfinch), and Yamagara (or Varied tit) on the bird feeders.

I brought my compact camera there.  My husband didn't want to bring his heavy camera because this was our second visit in this season.  But when we arrived home, he regretted that he should have brought the heavy equipment.  Anyway, I uploaded some pictures which I took there.

    The Welcome Board of the Nature Center located
in the entrance of Himeji Shizen Kansatsu-no-Mori

                                       

      The bright pink flower is called Sasanqua (camellia).

 Doesn't the tropical color give us energy in the cold season?

                                        

 Two Kawarahiwa birds came to the birdfeeder.

 One Yamagara bird flew there to pick up some food, then, flew away immediately.

 I felt wonderful when I saw the three different kinds of birds

came at the same time on the bird feeder. 

I tried to take a good picture of it, but I couldn't.

After bird watching, we drove to Yoi Onsen hot spring.
We left the place for birdwatching, we drove to Yoi Onsen hot spring. 

On the way, we found a very tall monument made by rice straw.

 

 

  

 On January 14 or 15, some Japanese rural towns hold an event to burn the New Year's decorations, and pray to God for their happiness & safety for the whole year. 

 

It's called Donto Festival.　(please click the highlightened words for pictures.)

 

The New Yea's decorations will be brought by families in the neibhorhood. 

I think they will burn this fantastic monument monument very soon.

 

 After a 30-minute drive, we arrived at Yoi Onsen Hot Spring in Shiso City. 

 

The entrance has a traditional Japanese New Year decoration.

Usually, this hot spring is not crowded but we saw many people visiting the place yesterday.

A Happy New Year 2014

A Happy New Year 2014

I want to be a good writer, so I make comparisons sentences between tutor's and my original sentences.

(Tutor's sentence)

I hope all the RareJob teachers,staffs, and other people including my friends have enjoyed the new year!

(My original sentence)

I hope all the RareJob teachers, and staffs, and other people including my friends have been enjoying the new year!

*******

(Tutor's sentences)

I think that Osechi boxes usually costs around 10,000 and I think this is a little bit too much from me since most of these Osechi boxes contains food that I really don't like to eat.

 

(My origincal sentences)

I guess that the boxes of Osechi set cost about from 10,000 yen, and they usually contain some foods which I didn't really like to eat.  Price of 10,000 yen is just too much for me. 

    

(Tutor's sentences)

I have two empty food boxes that look like Osechi boxes (please refer to the picture).  I decided to put the foods I want to eat for New Year in these boxes and tried making them look like Osechi.

(My original sentences)

I had two empty boxes, which is the picture, in my house, and used them to put in the foods which I wanted to eat on the New Year's day.  I tried to make it look like a kind of Osechi. 

*******

 

(Tutor's sentences)

I bought some pre-cooked dishes which were priced at about 1,000 yen at a local supermarket and put them in Osechi boxes.  Typically, housewives cook the Osechi dishes by themselves but since I am not that good in cooking, we usually buy the pre-cooked ones.  I wanted to save money for this year's Osechi so I decided to do it like what was shown on the picture below.  I arranged the dishes that I bought from the super market and ate them on New Year morning.

(My original sentences)

I bought some of prepared dishes which priced about 1,000 yen in a local supermarket, and put them in the boxes.  For Osechi dishes, many housewives cook the food themselves.  But I am not very good at cooking, and we usually buy prepared Osechi.  For this year, we tried to save money,  I chose this way for this year.   to arranged mini Osechi boxes and ate them on the new year's day's morning.

 

(Tutor's sentences)

After that, my husband and I went outside to visit the nearest Shinto Shrine.
I stayed inside the house for so long that I didn't think that it would be very cold that day, so I was surprised at the temperature when I went out, it wasn't snowing that day though.  My husband wore several layers of clothing.  He didn't meet any acquaintances on our way to the shrine but if we happened to meet some of his friends in the street, probably no one would have recognized him.

 

(My original sentences)

After that, my husband and I went outside to visit the nearest Shinto Shrine. 

I stayed at the house so I didn't recognize how it would be cold, but it was really cold, not snowing though.   My husband wore a lot of clothes.  He didn't meet anyone at the time, but if any of his friends came across, maybe none of them could figure out it was him.

 

(Tutor's sentences)
On our way to the shrine we passed by some flowers that are in full bloom.
This kind of flower is called Tsubaki.

(My original sentences)
On our way to the shrine, we found some beautiful flowers called Tsubaki in full bloom.

Lemon Trees

The gate of the shrine

 

 

 

It's The name of the shrine "Aso Hachiman Guu"

 

(Tutor's sentence)
I said a prayer of thanks for being guarded/guided in the past year and
I also wished for the new year to be a happy one.

(My original sentence)
I prayed that thank for guarding us for last year, and I wish the new year will be a happy year.

 

 

(Tutor's senteces)
I had some omochi, a kind of rice cake, today.
I had some omochi today. It's a kind of rice cake.

(My original sentence)

 I had some omochi, rice cakes today.

  (Tutor's sentences)

We ate a lot over the New Year Holidays and I gained one kilogram. Because of that, we wanted to lose some weight. We decided to climb up Jinju-zan mountain (175 meters in height) this morning.

 

(My original sentence)

After we ate a lot, I noticed that I gained one kilogram, so we wanted to lost some weight, and we went up to Jinju-zan mountain (175meter height) this morning. 

* * * * * * *

  

(Tutor's sentence)
It takes about 15 minutes of walk from our house to get to the foot of the mountain and after that, it takes another 20 minutes to go up to the top.

(My original sentence)
The foot of the small mountain is about a 15-minute walk from our house, and another 20-minute going up to the top of it.

* * * * * * *

 

(Tutor's sentence)

On the top of the mountain, there are several antennas used by radio stations to transmit signals.

 

(My Original sentence)

There are antennas for radio stations on top of the mountains.

 My husband already looked tired after 5 minutes of going up.

(Tutor's sentence)

After the 30 minute struggle, we arrived on top and enjoyed the great view of our town.

(My original sentence)

              After 30-minute struggling, we arrived on top.  We enjoyed a great view of our town.

(Tutor's sentence)

To get to the best physical condition possible,

I think it's better if I lose about 3 to 5 kilograms of my current weight this year.

 

(My original sentence)

To make my physical body condition best,

I think it's better to lose weight about 3 or 5 kilograms this year.