Two weeks ago we planted rice at our Takanezawa community rice field. This year I got to drive the tractor for one pass. Liam and I loaded onto the tractor and the supervisor told me which lever to press to make it go forward. Immediately after I pushed the lever we started to move and the supervisor lost his grip and bailed into the field. He was laying in the mud as I was about to run over him. He had not yet told me what to push to make it stop. I knew which lever made it go so I slammed the opposite lever out of instinct and thankfully it stopped. You can see the supervisors side is all muddy in the picture below, that is the reason why..
After the machine planted we all entered the field to plant the areas the tractor couldn't get or missed.
Liam and Colleen were both very good helpers.
And as always they enjoyed getting muddy and catching frogs.
That all happened the same day we picked up the ducks to take care of for two weeks.
Kate is still making the bentos for the children on occasion. Her latest creation included gyoza with a smiley face as well as a variety of other foods to satisfy the children.
Last weekend we went to the Takanezawa eco center for a small festival. There were a number of displays on hand as well as a variety of food vendors. They also had a hot air balloon making station. The children decided it looked fun and gave it a go. When we went into the room to start we saw that our neighbor Yamashita san was one of the volunteers. Below he is helping Liam to tape the sides of the bag that would become our balloon.
When the bag was all taped up and the gondola was added it was time to decorate. We all had fun drawing on the balloon to spice it up a little.
After the taping and decorating was finished we took it outside to the launch station. The back was pulled over a bamboo tube. Initially a hair dryer was used to inflate the balloon. Once it was filled with air they blew a torch through the bamboo to really heat up the air inside.
We all joined in to give the count down and whoooosh the balloon was let go and flew way up into the sky. String was attached to the balloon so it wouldn't float away, but it still got up pretty high in the sky.
Later we went bowling with the Nakamichi sans. While bowling Kate told Yuta that he had a lucky jacket and she wanted to borrow it. He let her, so she shoehorned into it. Definitely a little on the small side. We all had a good time bowling and hanging out together.
When we finished bowling we went back to the Nakamichi sans. While the adults hung out talking the children played The Game of Life in Japanese.
For dinner the Nakamichi sans ordered pizza from Pizza La (a Japanese pizza company) and purchased pastries from a baking shop just up the street. All of the food was delicious. They also served us a really special Japanese tea that was $8 a bag. It is made from only select tea leaves. The difference in flavor between it and regular green tea was actually quite easy to taste. It was very good, but I won't be running out to buy a bunch of bags any time soon.
This weekend marked the two week mark for the ducks and so we took them back to the rice field to let them go. Everyone was a little sad to see them go, even though they constantly made a huge mess that mostly Kate and on occasion the children had to clean up. Both ducklings grew during their stay. The all yellow one got giant. They stayed healthy the entire time we had them and they were very energetic.
When it was time all the children lined up with the ducks and then let them go into the field. The ducks all immediately jumped in the mud and started eating stuff out of the muck.
They all looked to really enjoy the mud and the company of all the other ducks. We initially thought they may have a little shock going out on their own as Kate and the children really spoiled them with attention, but in the end they looked really happy. The big yellow one was easy to pick out of the crowd so Kate snagged one last picture.
While the ducks were still getting used to their new home we were sent into the field to weed. Anything that was not rice we had to pull out. Liam jumped right in and got to work. He said "if you want to have good rice you have to respect the field."
After finishing with the ducks and weeding we drove to a strawberry farm to pick and eat as many strawberries as we could. I got separated from the group at a signal and so it took a little effort as well as help from some of the other cars that got separated, but we finally made it. I think the weather has been a little tough on them this year and so they were not quite as sweet as last year, but tasty none the less. We all got our fill before leaving for home.
Have a good week...
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