Author: eddie

Hiking in Chiba

Hi there! This morning I got up early, and went for a hike in the Futtsu area of Chiba. There are some great trails there, and I thought it would be a fun and healthy way of spending my Sunday morning.

The start of the trail
Kyon miniature deer

As I was walking, I saw a few miniature deer. Can you see the one in the picture?

Getting higher up the trail

As I got higher the trail became steeper and rockier, but the views were well worth it.

Beautful view from the trail
Old steps carved into the rock
The blue lake

This was the best view of the morning. Looking out over the mountains, and seeing the blue lake was spectacular. Anyway, that’s all for now! Eddie

August is here!

It was a scorcher yesterday!

Long time no blog post! We have been staying home a lot due to Covid, so haven’t had much to report. I am still doing my AES lessons on Zoom, and they are going well. The kids have adapted well to online lessons. By using a few different apps for reading and spelling, and the online versions of the textbooks, the lessons are just as good (or better) than in person lessons.

New sign at AES

We had a new sign put up a while ago. With all our lessons being online now, to some people it might look like we are closed. So, I thought a sign along the main road would be a good idea.

Sparrows

We have put a small bird feeder behind our house. Our kids love it as they can see the sparrows feeding while they are doing their homework. Anyway, not much to report. Once we start going out and doing things again, I will post something more interesting!

Tadpoles!

We got some frog spawn from the pond in the local park a couple of weeks ago. I had an old tank in the loft and we thought it would be fun to see how many hatched.

Hungry tadpoles!

We read on the internet that they like eating rabbit pellets. Lucky for us, we have a rabbit and hence an abundance of pellets.

There are lots of them!
Put some rocks in too, ready for when they become frogs.

Anyway, will update again when we get some frogs!

Stay safe,

Eddie

The grass is greener…..

Hi there! Long time no blog! We haven’t been able to go anywhere for a long time, so nothing to blog about really. But, the garden is looking nice, so I thought I would post a few pics here.

The roses have done really well this year. On the weekends, I like to sit on that chair and have a few beers in the sunshine.
The grass has never done very well in our garden. So in the spring I sowed some white clover seeds. It’s much greener because of it.
It’s our first time growing potatoes. So far, they seem to be doing ok.
This is Hana’s herb garden. She likes to dry them and put them in jars!
I found this when I was out for a jog in the woods one day. Maki calls is Bear Grylls!
The flowers in the car park at AES are all in bloom at the moment.
I have a few Bonsai there too.

Anyway, time to get back to my Mother’s Day duties!

Eddie

A brighter day!

Hi there! It finally feels like we are turning a corner. Being stuck at home, and not having our business running at full speed hasn’t been great. However, people are starting to get back to work and school now, so hopefully things will start to improve.

We added a small vegetable patch to our garden a couple of months ago, and we are already starting to get some fresh veg from it!

It’s only small, but we a growing carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, mini tomatoes, sweet potatoes, green peppers, and asparagus.
Not long until we can eat some mini tomatoes!
We had a cucumber salad with lunch today. Great with oil and vinegar!
As you can see, it’s not very big. We just moved some of the gravel out of the way, and used some old signs from our English school for the border.
Everything else in the garden is growing up nicely too. I found that old iron wheel. I think it will look nice when the roses bloom.
I was given an old cable reel from the phone company. Painted it green and put a few plants on it.
Not sure what this is called, but every year it looks great when it comes into flower.
The one with the blue flowers on is my favorite. It flowers from May until November, and is really hardy.
The flowers along the fence at our English school look great at the moment too.
Lots of different colors.
The Hydrangea has more flowers than leaves!
The Conker tree from England is still alive!
The Oak tree from England looks more like a bush now. I try and keep it short so people can see our school from the road.

Anyway, hope you are all well and that we can all get back to normal very soon!

All the best,

Eddie

Local wildlife

Hi there! We will open AES again from next week, but will do all the lessons online. Looking forward to seeing everyone again!
While we have been closed and the kids have been off school, we have been going on lots of bike rides. Obviously at the moment we can’t go to crowded places, so we have been going to places off the beaten track.

The kids need the exercise!
We have seen so much wildlife too.

Here are some of the other animals we have seen whilst we have been out and about on our bikes.

Anaguma (Japanese badger)
We saw one on March 16th 2020
Grey Pelican
We saw one on March 17th 2020
Arisui (Japanese woodpecker)
We saw one on March 17th 2020
Hakubishin (Masked Palm Civet)
I often see these near my house. But have never found their nest until now.
The nest in this tree was huge! It was a couple of meters across, and the branches had claw marks on them. We concluded that this must be a Hakubishin nest.
We saw a hawk on March 18th 2020
We saw a wild board for the first time ever on March 18th 2020.
Then the next day we saw a raccoon dog.
On March 19th we saw a kestrel. It was amazing as it was hunting just a few meters away from us.
We see Pheasant almost everyday when we are out and about.
It was my first time seeing a weasel (Itachi) in Sodegaura.
The kids have become much more interested in the local wildlife, and have learnt their way around a bit more too!
It’s a good time of year to be outside!

Anyway, that’s all for now. Hope you all stay safe,

Eddie

Bamboo Stilts!

Hi there! While the schools are closed, I have been trying to find things to keep our children entertained. So, a couple of days ago we decided to try and make some stilts.

We went to the wood behind our house and cut some bamboo down. Then I knocked up two pairs of stilts.

A bamboo stilt

I thought that if our children could get into stilts, it would keep them busy, get them outside in the sunshine, give them some exercise, and best of all it wouldn’t cost anything.

The stilt walkers!

They have got really into it! They are making courses and having races with each other.

Maki takes the lead!

They are really enjoying the stilts. Maki even said she wants to walk all the way to school on them!!

Anyway, hope you stay safe and healthy,

Eddie

Maki riding

Hi there! We have closed AES for a couple of weeks, as all the schools here have closed due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

While I had time I thought I would post a video from last week. The place where we go riding has a small riding area for young children, and a bigger area for older children and adults. Maki has been allowed to start having lessons in the bigger area, and last week was her second lesson there. I think she is doing quite well. Here is a short video:

IMG_6546_TrimDownload

Anyway, that’s all for now!
Eddie