Sam-san brought very healthy and delicious brownies.
He also brought his home roasted coffee. It has special aroma.
We talked about new WHO guideline, “Sugar is toxic!”
サムさんが特別なプレゼントを持って遊びに来てくれました！ 砂糖抜きの手作りブラウニーと、手作り焙煎した香りのよいコーヒーです。
サムさんが作ったブラウニーには、体に良い食材しか入っていません。アボカド、ひよこ豆、くるみ、豆乳、ココナッツ、チョコなど。おいしい！！
そしてWHOの砂糖に関する新しいガイドライン、砂糖の毒性について、サムさんから、とくとくと講義を受けました（笑）～～はーい！？
(中村美智子）
I took a walk before breakfast.
朝食前に散歩しました。
（中村美智子 – 藤沢市善行）
warming winds
dormant thoughts rekindled
spring begins
風温み熱き思いや春が咲く
かぜぬるみ あつきおもいや はるがさく
– Chay Schiller
– Nakamura Michiko
white snow sparkles
twinkling slowly fades dark
sun vanishes away
When snow first falls, it blankets the ground in white. The fallen snow glistens and sparkles looking majestic. However, slowly, the snow begins to get dirty and turn an ugly dark color. Eventually, the snow melts and fades away completely under the harsh sun.
雪解けや輝き褪せる積もり雪
ゆきどけや かがやきあせる つもりゆき
雪が降り始めると、地面は、一面、雪でおおわれ、真っ白になります。降った雪は、きらきら輝いて、厳かな感じがします。しかし、雪は、だんだん汚くなり始めて、黒ずんだ色になります。最後には、強い太陽の光によって、完全に溶けてしまいました。
– Ben Clark
– Japanese by Ben Clark and Nakamura Michiko
home again
couch and a sandwich
all I need
また帰り心を満たす居間と飯
また かえり こころ を みたす いま と めし
– Chay Schiller
– Japanese by Nakamura Michiko
東部のボストンは雪が７フィート（２メートル余）降り、除雪車は雪の持って行き場に困っているとのニュースですが、ここネブラスカはただひたすら寒い（午後２時 零下２０度）ばかり。そういう時はパズルに挑戦するのが一番です。なかでもジグソーパズルはちょこちょこ好きな時にやれて気に入っています。
Preparing For My Farewell
さよならの準備
walking back
shedding no tears
voice trembles
heart’s tremors
emerge in writing
needing comfort
I’m going to quit my job soon. It’s going to be very hard saying goodbye to all my patients, but I still need to prepare them. What’s more, I need to prepare myself. I also need to surrender my rehabilitation efforts to someone new.
There are some elderly people here who feel great pain when saying goodbye. There are others who take a while to cope with change. Still others cannot control their emotions very well due to their illnesses.
I told a patient recently about my imminent resignation. At first he chatted with me cheerfully and gave me words of encouragement, but as he walked away, his voice began to waver and he wasn’t walking straight. Later, when he completed the written exercises I gave him, I saw unusual errors in his handwriting. He’s probably really shaken up over all this. I’m going to gently try and help him process these feelings and pull himself together.
帰り道涙流さず声震わす
かえりみち なみだ ながさず こえ ふるわす
文字に観る心の揺ぎただ寄り添う
もじ に みる こころ の ゆらぎ ただ よりそう
もうすぐ今の職場を退職します。
患者さん達に別れを告げるのは悲しいです。
でも事前に告げて、心の準備をしていただかなければなりません。
それに、私の心の準備もしなければなりません。
また、新しい担当者にリハビリを引き継いでもらわなければなりません。
高齢の方は、別れに対して悲しみが強い方もいます。
受け入れることに時間がかかる方もいます。
病気でうまく感情がコントロールできない方もいます。
ある男性は、私がもうすぐ退職することを告げると、
明るく話を続けたり、励ましの言葉をくださったものの、部屋に帰る途中、声を震わせて話したり、いつもよりつまづきやすかったりしました。
そしてその日に出した書き取りの宿題で、いつもとは違う字の間違え方をされていました。
動揺されたのかなと思いましたが、私は気持ちに寄り添い、心が落ち着くのをそっと待ちます。
– Fujisaki Yukiyo
– English by Chay Schiller
from the deep blue sea
a whale’s beautiful song
fills my heart and soul
深海の鯨の歌に包まれて
しんかい の くじら の うた に つつまれて
During the whale season, it is very normal to see whales on the surface. Sometimes they breach, slap their tails on the surface or spout water. Often it is all three together. Unfortunately it is very rare to see a whale underwater but it is very common to hear the mother and calf “singing” to each other. When scuba diving it is an amazing sound and one that I can never get tired of hearing. It is very easy to tell the difference between the mother and her calf as the calf has a high pitched call while the mothers’ call is much lower.
ハワイでは、鯨がやって来る時期、海面で鯨の姿を見かけるのは、ごく当たり前の風景です。時として、鯨は飛び上がり、尻尾を海面にぴしゃりと打ちつけたり、潮を吹いたりします。しばしば、この三つのことを同時にすることもあります。残念ながら、水中で鯨を見るのは、非常にまれなことです。しかし、お母さん鯨と赤ちゃん鯨が、互いに呼び合う歌声のような鳴き声はよく耳にします。スキューバーダイビングをしている時、その鳴き声はもの凄く素晴らしくて、いつまで聞いていても飽きることはありません。赤ちゃん鯨の声は高く、お母さん鯨は、かなり低い声です。鳴き声の違いは、大変わかりやすいです。
– Jim Woodhull
– Japanese by Jim Woodhull and Nakamura Michiko
– Photo by Jim Woodhull
In the past I have written about one of my nine lives being used up. I have another story of when I felt that I used up another one. During the New Years of 2000 I was working for a tug boat company. There were about 5 full time crews and boats at that time but for some reason on December 31st, 1999 the boat that I was on was the only one that had to work. On that particular boat there was myself, another deck hand, captain, mate and an engineer. The Captain and the Mate were very angry that they had to work as they wanted to watch the fireworks. Our job was to take a fuel barge to the island of Maui.
The night of the 31st of December 1999 was absolutely beautiful! The sky was so clear and the stars seemed s close that you could touch them! The ocean was like a giant pond. We were actually able to see the fireworks display from Maui even though we were far away. I had the midnight shift and I was sleeping when my Captain knocked on my door and said I needed to go to the deck for a big surprise. All of the other staff were there and my Captain and the mate said that we would have our own private fire works! They brought fireworks aboard! Very illegal! They set off a few bottle rockets that shot straight up into the air and fell onto the deck of the fuel barge.
It took about 10 seconds to realize the huge, dangerous error that they had made. The fuel barge has vents that come out of the deck and are shaped like a big upside down “U”. The reason for these are so that air is filtered through the tanks and clears any gases that can build up. The sparking rockets landed under the vents! If even one spark were to be sucked up then the whole barge would blow up along with the tug boat! There was nothing any of us could do. The other deckhand shook my hand and said “It was nice working with you Jim.”
Fortunately nothing happened. I went back to bed and the next morning the Captain asked me to quick get rid of all the evidence when we tied up to the barge. After there was a meeting and the Captain and mate begged us to never tell. From that time on they treated me like I was there best friend in the whole world! They also turned in a report about how great a job I and the other deck hand did! If the worst would of happened it would have been the biggest fireworks ever in Hawaii!
