◆1 jeweler : 宝石商

◆2 amber  : 琥珀
◆3 crystal  : 水晶
◆4 refer to : ～を参照する

◆5 recipe  : 作り方
◆6 ingredient : 材料
◆7 agar : テングサ ◆9 stove : コンロ
◆10 batch : １回分の量 
◆11 reject : 不合格品
◆12 know the ropes : コツを覚える
◆13 colorful  : 生き生きとした・興味深い

 

 

   I’ve been waiting for this! Finally, I came across¹ a surfer figure² at the dollar store.

 

  Starting last summer, I have been enjoying making some story in the sink on the top of the water tank in the bathroom. ( I talked about it in my July 16, 2017 blog. ) When the seasons change, I rearrange that spot and make another story.

 

  Sadly, before summer, when I opened the box where (I thought!) I kept all the stuff³ to decorate the sink, I recognized a surfer boy was missing⁴.

 

  Summer came and I changed the decoration for summer without the surfer. Instead⁵, three hedgehogs, which I used for the winter version of the decoration, covered up⁶ his spot. In the winter, longing for⁷ the spring, I used them as groundhogs for "groundhog day".

 

  In the meantime⁸, I was trying to find a new surfer boy from a store, but I couldn’t and I almost gave up. Then!!! The other day, I found one! Yippee!⁹ Even he was the last one on the shelf. This time, the surfer boy has a little wave around him.

 

  Will also found a shark with a splash¹⁰ and said "let’s put them together", so now our sink on the top of the tank has a little tension¹¹.

 

 

  p.s. The missing surfer showed up shortly after¹² this. Why now? What timing? Now we have two surfers.

 

 

◆1 come acros : ～にばったり出会う

 

 

   I haven’t reported yet that we had another fun Sunday. Sorry, it has been 2 weeks since then. f(=_=;) Yes! We went to the Handmade Fair of Oyakushi-san at Yakushi-do, which I mentioned at the end of the last blog.  

 

  It was SO MUCH FUN to visit there, and at the same time, it was so DANGEROUS to stay there because the longer we stayed, the more we were tempted to² spend more money. There were really a lot of interesting things!

 

  We walked around and saw a lot of stuff³ which grabbed our hearts⁴. We also talked with the crafters⁵. 

 

  Some of the makers who we really liked were a mom and a daughter who make pottery⁶ and bags with hand-dyed⁷ cloth and an old guy who makes woodcrafts⁸. Of course, we came back home with some of their handicrafts⁹.

 

  I bought a shoulder bag which the daughter made. It’s simple but I like the details that she cares about¹⁰. She attached patches at the ends of the fastner, and for buttons, she uses her mom’s pottery work. 

  We chose three pieces of pottery, which have the softness and warmness of soil¹¹ with a little humor¹² of the mom.

 

 

 

  Will brought a running horse back home. We both love the wood-warm movement and the detailed technique. We and our students, from kids to adults,  can’t pass by¹³ it in the entrace hall¹⁴ without turning the handle and making the horse run in the air.

 

 

  It‘s so nice to have handmade things and feel the artists’ heart in the work.

 

 

 

◆1 artsy : アートの

 

 

 

  This Sunday, it was really hot and muggy, wasn’t it? However, we had a nice Sunday. First, we took our dog, Ichigo, to the vet and came back home. Then, we had a late breakfast with English muffins, which is our regular Sunday breaky menu. 

 

  After that, Will, me and Ichigo, who was happy to be free from the nervous visit to the vet, jumped into the car again, and off we went to our friend’s jewelry show.

 

  We were exited to spend our Sunday in a different way than our usual routine. Even finding the gallery was already a little adventure. We enjoyed trying some new roads with a little map that our friend had given us in our hands. 

 

  The gallery was in a building which has a little funky place on the first floor, so first we couldn’t tell if we were at the right place or not. I called my friend and she came out to fetch us. Then, we all climbed up the stairs which had some interesting artsy decolations, and there we were, at the door of the artsy wonderland!

 

  Once we opened the door, there was a very nice space with many treasures. The room was really simple but warm with nice handmade wooden flooring, and we could see a lot of handmade things, like shirts, pants and scarves made from cotton and linen, and of course, in the center was a jewelry table of our friend’s work. 

 

  I’ll show you some of her stuff. We always enjoy her nice, soft and natural taste, with a touch of humor sometimes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  These were made by Suzanne, our friend who I have talked about in my blog several times before. The show is until the 14th of July so please visit there if you are interested. ( For details, google it by typing "Colors of Summer, Suzanne".)

 

  In a comfortable space, meeting our friend and the very nice owner of the gallery, and seeing (and of course buying) some handmade work, we had a nice Sunday afternoon!

 

  Talking about handmade stuff, now I remember  the Handmade Fair of Oyakushi-san will be held on the 8th. This time, the 8th sits on Sunday. I feel like going!

 

 

 

 

 

◆1  : 

 

 

  It can be like the letter U or the letter O. It can also turn into a snail or some shape you can’t describe¹. Can you tell what it is?

 

 

 

  The answer is ….. a saxophone mute! To soften the sound, we put this in the bell of the saxophone. I had been wanting to make one so I could practice at night. I even used a stuffed animal², but it wasn’t quite right.

 

 

  To make the mute, I used an old child scarf³ which had been sitting in the closet for a long time. This was perfect to save money and time! I just stuffed⁴ some cotton inside the scarf and put a bendable⁵ wire in it which I had in my craft box, and voila! I didn’t spend any money.

 

  After making one, now I know how easy it is to do it — so I offered to make one for my French teacher. Yeah, after he got to know that I play the sax, he also started lessons with my teacher.

 

  What could I use this time? I didn’t have another scarf, so I had to think of something else. The mute has got to be bendy and soft, so rather than normal cloth, some stretchy⁶ material⁷ is better. I decided to use a sock! This time, I was making it for somebody else, so even if it was washed and clean, I couldn’t use my old sock. I had to buy a new one, but thanks to the dollar shop, I found a pair of kids socks for cheap⁸.

 

  I found the perfect one! It says "French Bulldog"! The saxophones were originally French instruments and I was making the mute for a French guy.

 

 

  After this photo was taken, I refined⁹ it 2 times under my teacher’s guidance. Mine was for the tenor sax, but the second one was for the alto sax. The size had to be modified¹⁰ quite a lot. Last week, finally, I gave it to him. I hope he enjoys practicing the sax with it.

 

  After I started using my mute, I can practice at night not worrying so much about my neighbors. That’s one good thing, but also I like the sound which is softened by the mute. I think my cat Tasha does, too. She comes in and sleeps next to me when I practice. Not only that, she likes the nice bed! She sleeps in my saxophone case!

 

 

◆1 describe : 説明・描写する

◆2 a stuffed animal : ぬいぐるみ
◆3 scarf : マフラー
◆4 stuff : ～を詰める

◆5 bendable : 曲げられる
◆6 stretchy : 伸びる
◆7 material : 材料・素材
◆8 for cheap : 安く
◆9 refine : ～を改良する

注）

 

 

　No way! Was I that lazy²? Hope not. Just now, I looked for the old blog of mine to see when was the last time I worked on our business sign. I found one in June, 2012. Maybe, I fixed it one or two times after that, but I just didn’t bring it up to³ my blog, I hope!

 

　Anyway, once in a while, I have to redo⁴ our business sign because I liked the natural look on the sign, so I burned the letters using an ironing⁵ tool on the bare⁶ wood. The problem is this method means that the sign needs regular maintenance, and I didn’t have time to work on it. 

 

 Recently, the sign looked so bad that I had to do something.

 

  This time, I took Will’s suggestion. I used some paint. First, I didn’t like the idea of using paint, but paint will last longer and I won’t have to fix it as often, so I changed my mind.

 

  Tada! It looks like this.

 

  In an attempt to⁷ give it a natural look, instead of painting the background evenly, I used a rag⁸ and rubbed the paint on⁹. For the letters, I paid a little more and bought antique looking paint which is rusty blueish¹⁰ color with a matte finish. It looks better than I thought.

　

  We did one more thing to make the side of the house look better. We brought out¹¹ the shelf I made a long time ago to use as an accent. It warms up¹² the spot and kind of matches the sign’s new look!

　

                    

 

 

◆1 refine  :　～を素敵にする
◆2 lazy  :　怠け者の
◆3 bring up : ～を持ち出す
◆4 redo  : ～をもう一度やり直す

◆5 iron  : 鉄で焼く
◆6 bare : 裸の
◆7 in attempt to + do : ～しようと
◆8 rag : ボロ布

 

   
 

◆1 potty  :　トイレ
◆2 fix  :　～を修繕する
◆3 decorative : 装飾の
◆4 fancy  : 上品で素敵な
◆5 stuff = things
◆6 for sure : 確実に 　
◆7 different from ~ : ～とは違う

◆8 feline : ネコの
◆9 criminal : 犯人
◆10 Once S + V, : 一度SがVすると、