Category: Slice of Life

Ehoumaki

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"Ehoumaki" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO5000
 “Ehoumaki” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.

こんばんは！Hello everyone, how are you doing?

Tonight I am in a little bit of pain (nothing serious). I was pitching to Koa at the batting facility this evening, and a ball that he hit bounced off the ceiling net, over my L-shaped pitching barrier, and hit me square on my glasses and above my eye. I got a small cut, even! The cut hurts a little bit, but luckily I don’t think I will have a bruise. I’m guessing the seam of the baseball made the cut, but who knows? At any rate, I think I got lucky. Next time I shouldn’t look up to see where the ball is, but rather should just cover up a bit.

Today’s photo is of the sushi roll called “Ehoumaki” which is eaten on Setsubun. In order to bring good luck, you need to eat the entire sushi roll (by hand like a burrito) while facing the current year’s lucky direction. 2016’s direction is south by southeast. In addition, you cannot talk until you finish your sushi! I look forward to ehoumaki each year since Mariko makes a super delicious sushi roll!

I don’t have a compass app on my phone anymore, but I do have this little combo thermometer/compass that keep in my backpack. I think this may be the first time it has been useful!

USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/105 sec, ISO6400
 USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.

By the way, the weather tonight has gotten cold once again! And we recently had a day in the 80s… Stay warm tonight wherever you are. Have a nice Thursday!

おやすみなさい！

-バロン Barron Fujimoto

Goodbye Miki

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"Miki" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2012.
Photo info: SONY SLT-A77V, 35mm, f/1.8, 1/100 sec, ISO800
 “Miki” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2012.

こんばんは！Hi everyone, how are you today?

Our family had a pretty difficult day today because late last night, our cat, Miki, passed away. She was 16-years-old, which is apparently the equivalent of 80 human years! We loved her very much and will miss her a lot. She was with us when we brought both our sons home from the hospital, so she has seen them grow from newborns! And my sons have spent all their lives with Miki in the family so it must be hard for them. I’ll miss Miki a lot because she used to come snuggle next to me every night and act as a little heater. I’m sad, but also grateful that we got to share 16 years with her. She was an amazing member of the family.

I think I will turn in for the evening. I hope you have a great Wednesday.

おやすみなさい！

-B Barron Fujimoto

End of the month

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USA. Texas. Austin. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/125 sec, ISO3200
 USA. Texas. Austin. 2016.

こんばんは！How are you doing tonight? Can you believe that we have reached the end of January already? Time really flies.

As expected, it was very warm today… I think the high temperature got up to 81° F! It was so nice outside that I went for a 2-mile run. That felt great, and I broke a sweat early on it was so warm.

Before the run, I went to the market to buy things for dinner, but I made sure to go the the extra-large supermarket nearby to get some Pickapeppa. Do you know this sauce? It’s from Jamaica, and it is delicious.

My mom was born and raised in Jamaica, so when I was growing up, we had a bottle of Pickapeppa in our pantry at all times. We usually used the original (brown) sauce, but there was also the hot pepper version in a smaller bottle. I didn’t really like that when I was young, but now, that is the one I prefer. This morning my kids had some Jamaican patties for breakfast (my Mom made them) but we ran out of the red Pickapeppa. That’s why I made it a point to go to the market that I knew carried the red version.

"Jamaican Pattie" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/125 sec, ISO5000
 “Jamaican Pattie” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.

Well, it’s only 8:15pm now but I am exhausted. I think the combination of the afternoon run and the fact that I woke up at 5am means that I need to go to bed early tonight. Tomorrow the kids have the day off from school which means I don’t have to prepare breakfast for them… that means I can sleep in a little bit later too!

Let’s have a productive Monday!

おやすみなさい！

-B Barron Fujimoto

Kitty kitty

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"Maneki Neko" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/40 sec, ISO6400
 “Maneki Neko” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.

こんばんは！How are you today?

My current condition: sleepy and ready for bed. Last night, I only got about 4 hours of sleep, and while I felt great all day, a wave of fatigue just hit me a little while ago. Barely hanging on!

This morning was very productive. I went to the bank to deposit some money, then stopped by the UPS store to drop off a return package to Zappos, and after that, to the post office to mail of our property taxes. I did this all before 10am! But that seems like ages ago… It was a great day, however! 😀

Today’s photo is of some cute cat figurines in our home office.  I’m not sure when Mariko got them but I really like them! They usually hang out on the cabinet shelf above Mariko’s side of the desk, but I moved them onto the desk for this photo. I really like the bokeh that the Fujifilm X100T produces. Lots of character!

Okay, I think that is all my brain will allow me to write tonight. So, until tomorrow!

おやすみなさい！😴

-バロン Barron Fujimoto