The real moss green.

It's raining all day.  I mean it's wet, wet, wet.  I admire those people who act like it is not even raining.  People go jogging or even mow their lawns in the rain.  They don't even have umbrellas.  I don't like getting soaked while putting a baby in a car seat or loading/unloading groceries, I don't like putting kids in a wet shopping cart, and I don't even have the discipline to put on a raincoat for jogging.

One thing I love is the moss around here.  This really bright yellowish growing green is my favorite color. This is something I am impressed with ever since day one of me living in Oregon.

DIY Patio vol.2 -gravel, sand, and paver. Hardscape!

The next thing is putting down 6 inches of gravel.  The hard thing was pushing a wheelbarrow all the way from the street to the backyard, because the trailer was too heavy, and we couldn't get into our steep, tricky driveway.  

When it reached 6 inches, we used a tamper to make it flat, but we didn't forget to make sure it dropped a 1/4 inch per foot for drainage.

掘り起こした地面を平らにして固めたら、砂利を15ｃｍほど入れます。水はけのための傾斜を保ちながら平らにしたら、タンパーで押し固めます。一番大変だったのは、山ほどの砂利を積んだトレーラーが我が家の少し急なドライブウェイに登れず、表の道路から裏庭まで手押し車でせっせと運んだ事かな。重たくて重たくて・・・火事場の馬鹿力でのりきりました。

As soon as the gravel is down, Ryan flew back to the rock quarry to buy sand.  We had a time limitation, because we were renting the trailer from Uhaul for the day.  Before putting sand down, we laid a couple of 1" PVC pipes. As sand gets in, Ryan used a long 2x4 to scrape the excess of sand off.  After that, he pulled out the pipes, and he filled the gaps left by the pipes with sand.  This way, we can make sure it is 1 inch of even coverage.

砂利の次は砂です。砂は2.5ｃｍ。配管のパイプの直径と同じです。そのパイプを2本寝かせておき、それを目安に砂を搬入したら、長い木材を使って平らにします。深さや傾斜を測る必要もなし、ですがほんの少しの凹凸で敷石が波打ってしまうので、慎重に綺麗に仕上げます。パイプは抜き取り、敷石を並べるときに砂で埋めていきます。
ここまでが一日の仕事。トレーラーはレンタルなので夕方までに洗って返却です。大急ぎ。足も腰も腕も手もヘトヘトで、動けないー。時間との戦いでご飯も食べてないー。運転してるライアンは休憩なしー。でも、子供達を見てくれる両親がいたからこそできた事で、 ありがたやー。

Our plan was to put the pavers down first, and then lock them in with a concrete border.  Our guess is, if professional stonemason looked at this, they would say "What the heck?  It's WRONG!".  However, we don't have paver cutter, which can be rented from Home Depot, but it's really hard work, and it's super loud and messy.  Since our patio is not curvy, we decided to lay the pavers first, then lock them in with concrete later. 

First, we built a form with 2x4s. 

Second, we started laying pavers.  It goes very fast, and it is an exciting process.  Notice Ryan is on a board, so he doesn't spread the unsecured pavers with his weight. If we saw any low or high spot of sand, we adjusted before putting pavers down.

砂が風や雨で荒れてしまう前に、朝から敷石を入れていきます。本来、先に鉄やコンクリートで囲いを作ってその中に敷石を敷いていくのですが、石を切るのが大変だし曲線のない長方形なので、先に石を敷いて後でコンクリートで囲う事にしました。まずは、木材で仮の囲いを作ります。
敷き始めたらあっという間。角と端から始めて、後は板を引いた上に乗って敷いた石を崩さないように入れていきます。私が洗った石を父がライアンに手渡していき、本当にあっという間に終了。

After every single spot is filled, we tampered then down.
平らになるように、タンパーで調節しながら押し固めますます。その後、敷石用の砂（三角すいの砂）をまいて、デッキブラシで入れ込んで、敷石部分はできあがり。

この後、地獄のコンクリート作業です。

GIrl's Day.

In Japan, March 3rd is a holiday called Hinamatsuri or Girl's Day.  We pray for girl's health and growth.  This tradition started about 1000 years ago!  The decoration below was mine when I was little.  It was a gift from my grandmother. When my mom brought it from Japan to the US, she discarded some parts, because they were too old.  So, Amalie made them with fabric, paper and foam; although, she was really upset with my mom for throwing parts away.  We still enjoyed installing them together.

 

 時差がありますが、昨日はひな祭りでしたね。今年も楽しくお雛様を飾りました。桃の花やみかんの木などなど、古すぎて母が捨ててしまったものをアマリがフエルトやら厚紙やらで作ってくれました。「グランマ、捨てちゃったからアマリがつくらなきゃ！」とプンプン怒りながら。

I made traditional Chirashi-sushi for dinner.  The dolls were made with sushi-rice, egg, lettuce, sliced deli turkey, radish, seaweed and carrot. The tomato just looks like a plain tomato, but it's pealed, and it has chicken salad inside.  The diamond-shaped mashed potato, broccoli and salmon represent rice cake, which is traditionally part of the display.  We also had veggie soup. It was not much dinner, and I felt sorry for my family.  It's been really busy, and I'm even having a hard time doing all the events for kids.  Ha, excuses, excuses, excuses・・・

定番ですが、散らし寿司でお雛様つくりました。お顔は蒸したラディッシュ。シャケとジャガイモとブロッコリーでひし餅。それから、湯剥きしてくり貫いたトマトにはチキンサラダが入ってます。お野菜とお豆腐のお味噌汁も一緒に。なんだか、質素な夜ご飯。昼間来客もあり、これで精一杯。最近忙しすぎて、行事をこなすのも大変だな。

DIY Patio vol.1 -planning and digging. Hardscape!

I thought we were crazy when we started making the patio while we were still working on remodeling our kitchen.  My parents were here to help us to watch kids and do household chores, so we could finish the kitchen as fast as possible, but one morning, they asked me if they can do some sort of project as well, so I said, "You can dig our backyard, so we can start putting in a patio."  Then, the next thing I noticed was they were outside with an extension cord and a tape measure.  If you notice, my mom is still in pink PJs! 

まだキッチンのリフォーム中に始めた、パティオ造り。衣食住を支えるキッチンを一刻も早く作り終えるようにと家事と育児を手伝いに来てくれた両親が、滞在最後の週末の朝「せっかく手もあるんだし、何か手伝えることはないの？」と言い出したので、「じゃあ、裏庭掘る？パティオ作るから。」と軽く答えコーヒー片手に座ったら、目の端にちらちら人影が。延長コードと巻尺を手に「いや、そこで直角が出来るから！」って大声が響き渡っていました。ちなみに母はまだピンクの部屋着のまま。いやぁ、超特急だな、いつでも。

We use these left over pavers from our driveway to make the patio.

ドライブウェイを作った敷石の残りが材料です。出番を待ってました！

 

My mom and Amalie started digging.  I don't know if Amalie is really helping or what?!

早速、母とアマリが掘り出しました。アマリのシャベルの位置、役に立っているのかは疑問ですが。

My dad joined, so my mom can cook dinner.  F.Y.I., I wasn't sitting around.  Ryan and I were still full time construction workers building our new kitchen.  Besides, my parents were born, raised and living in downtown Tokyo, so doing something outside like this in real dirt and grass really excites them.

父も加わって力仕事です。私とライアンは相変わらずキッチン改築中。両親に向かって「庭掘って来い！」なんて鬼娘のようですが、東京で生まれ育った二人は楽しそう。二人そろって来れたのも7年ぶりだし、みんなでこうして過ごせて良かったな。

Amazing!  They dug this out in a couple of days.  After digging, we borrowed our neighbors tamper to make the surface even.  

芝生を剥がすのが精一杯だろうと思っていたのに、なんと2日間で掘ってしまいました。平らにしたら、 タンパーで押し固めます。

I almost forgot this important fact; we made this mostly flat, but dropped a 1/4 inch per foot for drainage.  Since, Portland gets an average of 155 days of rain a year.

水平をとって平らにしてありますが、少し傾斜をつけて雨水がはけるようにしてあります。一年に平均155日は雨なので、これ大事。

Big flowers on girl's hair.

Little girls can't be cuter if they have big flowers on their head. I wish I can go back to the time when I could wear things like this in my hair.  I made these flower hair pins with some wool felt and Japanese kimono silk, which was my grandma's left over fabric from decades ago.  I think even bigger flowers can be charming.

 

小さい女の子に大きなヘアーアクセサリーって、とてもキュートで思わずにっこり。少女の特権なんだなぁ。毎朝、どのお洋服をきてどの髪飾りをつけていこうか、って考えてた頃にタイムスリップしたくなります。娘のために、和裁が趣味だった祖母が遺してくれた着物のはぎれとウール素材のフエルトでお花のピン止めを作り出したら、こんなにたくさんできてしまいました。姪っ子たちにもおすそ分け。今度はもっと大きく作ってみよう。きっと可愛いはず。