Someone came over and offered this flower arrangement for my mother who loved to see white flowers and passed away in February.
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I only wish she had survived to see these beautiful flowers.
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Live for today/
See white flowers/
Oh, the month of February/
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Calligraphy and translation by Chio
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<To the homepage of this website>
Spring is just around the corner. And I only remember my late mother.
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It was such a happy time for me to push my mother’s wheel chair and take a walk with her under cherry trees on a river bank.
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So deeply linked by fate/
Mother and daughter/
Even got tired of the fate/
Spring breeze laughs at the two/
Going, going laughing at them/
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I posted a new video on my YouTube channel (chio_art).
Check this and enjoy seeing how characters are born out of an artist’s arm and a small brush!
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The video shows my piece of a tanka by Hakushū Kitahara.
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As a matter of fact, I chose this one two years ago for collaboration work with my late mother, when I asked her to write the last one letter, “FLOWER”.
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Those who saw her letter were all amazed at its dynamic touch.
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But here, please enjoy the movement of the small brush produced by my arm.
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For some years now, I have been interested in visiting shrines at various occasions.
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Today it is Setsubun, the end of the winter according to the old lunar calendar, so I went to Yoshida Shrine, the most famous shrine in Kyoto regarding this occasion, where people say most elderly people in Kyoto gather for the occasion.
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Oh, birds chirp/
Shrine gave me the oracle/
Written on a pale-green paper/
Translation and calligraphy by Chio
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People have long celebrated the day, January 15 as a kind of second New Year Day, because according to the lunar calendar, it marks the first full moon after the New Year Day.
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The well-known shrine in my neighborhood provides rice porridge cooked with azuki beans every year.
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I got some for my mother who will turn 92 in summer, because the porridge is supposed and expected to bring good luck to the elderly.
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I wrote “avoiding disaster”, “inviting happiness”, “health” and “longevity” for her.
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Yesterday my mother and I went to the exhibition venue held annually by my teacher.
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This year we turned in four pretty big works describing four kinds of flowers of the seasons.
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Everyone was very much impressed with my mother’s works.
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It seemed little attention was paid to my works of my own haiku about those flowers.
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My mother is playing a little child’s smile, at the table of the special dishes for the New Year, although they aren’t cooked in an orthodox manner. I just prepared them casually to please my mother.
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I think they brought back her old, fond memories of her childhood days.
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Mother smiles/
Special meal for the New Year/
Brought back her child’s mind/
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Yesterday, it was cold and rainy all day.
Sometimes we practice together.
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Warmth of mother’s calligraphy/
Beats/
Winter rain/
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These are collaboration works with my mother featuring the names of the seasonal flowers by her and my own haiku about them.
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Waking up mother/
Little, pleasant time/
Reflected in the fall sunshine/
Chio
Today, the third Monday of September, is designated as the Respect-for-Senior-Citizen Day in Japan.
When I wake up my 91-year-old mother and help her get ready and have breakfast is my happiest time these days.
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My greatest pastime lately is practicing calligraphy with my mother who turned 91 in July.
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I thought I would practice a lot today. However, seeing my mother nodding off sitting beside me, I myself became sleepy as well….
Drowsiness turns/
Ink slab/
Into late summer sea/
Translation and calligraphy by Chio.
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I wrote this one about four years ago after visiting the facility for the elderly my mother then belonged to for the first time for a fun event for both the elderly and their families, a little concert of reed pipes.
In every household/
Is a good-hearted oldster/
Gourd flowers/
Translation and calligraphy by Chio
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My mother wrote these on postcards for her important friends. Both of them are from other countries. My mother is much more cosmopolitan than people would normally think.
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As a little, humble present for the temple we follow and support, I asked my mother to write one letter on a paper fan, a hiragana (Japanese syllabary character). The letter is the first one of the temple’s name. As my mother turned 91 years old last month and is rapidly forgetting various things, I showed her what to write.
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Looking after an old parent is no easy task, even if you are dealing with your own mother.
According to the old lunar calendar, today marks the first day of autumn.
Unleashing love-hate/
To mom/
Autumn begins/
Translation and calligraphy by Chio
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As my first calligraphy teacher (秋山公道the late Mr. Akiyama Kodo) and my mother were both born in the year of dragon, I like visiting shrines associated with dragons.
Yesterday, I went to Shinsenen Shrine. It was a beautiful place full of agreeable atmosphere. I felt pleasant breeze blowing but unfortunately, I didn’t feel existence of dragons around, which some people with supernatural power may feel.
The photo shows my work of the letter 龍or dragon and a passage on the written oracle I got there.
Just outside your eaves/
It maybe storming/
But/
Inside your house/
Is springlike warmth/
Translation by Tomoko
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Today is my mother’s 91stbirthday. She hasn’t been very well for some time. But now she seems to be recovering her health. It is thanks, I think, to all the well-wishes and help from the people around her.
Even the rainy season feels nice and sweet/
When I cook the millet seeds/
My dear friend sent us for her/
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I have a dear friend who says she always thinks of my mother and me.
I suppose to think is to pray.
https://www.facebook.com/Calligapher.Chio/
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いつも母と私のことを考えていると言ってくださるありがたい友人がいます。
考えるというのは、祈りなのだなと思います。
https://www.facebook.com/Calligapher.Chio/
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At this time of the year, I seem to be thinking what would be a good present for my mother with little awareness of it.
I picked up a blouse/
Mother’s Day is coming near/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
https://www.facebook.com/Calligapher.Chio/
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やはりこの時期には、プレゼントは何がいいかな・・・？ と考えているみたいです。
https://www.facebook.com/Calligapher.Chio/
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Yesterday, my mother did some calligraphy at the facility for the elderly (above).
About the same time, I was practicing calligraphy at home (below).
The caregiver who drove my mother home looked a little surprised to know we were doing the same thing.
https://www.facebook.com/Calligapher.Chio/
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昨日、母がデイサービスで書いてきました（上）。
同じ頃、私は家でお稽古していました（下）。
母を送ってきてくださった介護ヘルパーさんは、母娘が同じことをしていたので、ちょっとびっくりしておられました。
https://www.facebook.com/Calligapher.Chio/
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This month I finally got to visit the grave of my mother’s natal home. It was the fourth try since I first planned it. I was almost angry with my grandpa, suspecting if he didn’t want me to come and visit him.
When I was preparing the offerings for the ancestors, a lady came and talked to me. I was sorry I didn’t remember her, because she was one of my distant relatives.
I then had a new idea that maybe he tried to make me come at that time of that day.
In the spring sunlight/
Only dusts are dancing in the air/
What never changes/
Is Mother’s hometown/
https://www.facebook.com/Calligapher.Chio/
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今月に入ってようやく母の実家のお墓参りに行きました。初めに計画したときから数えると４回目でした。もうだいぶクサっていましたよ。おじいちゃんは私に来て欲しくないのか！？ とか。
お供え物の用意などしていると、女の方が話しかけてくださいました。申し訳ないことですが、私は覚えていませんでしたが、親戚の人でした。
おじいちゃんは、この日、このときにおいで、と呼んでくれたのか？ と思い直しました。
https://www.facebook.com/Calligapher.Chio/
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My mother loves clothing of indigotic color.
https://www.facebook.com/Calligapher.Chio/
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母は藍色の服が好きです。
https://www.facebook.com/Calligapher.Chio/
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Yesterday I took my mother to a beauty parlor.
Beautician’s hands/
Working lightly/
Cool breeze/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
https://www.facebook.com/Calligapher.Chio/
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昨日は母を美容院に連れて行きました。
https://www.facebook.com/Calligapher.Chio/
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I was planning to visit the grave of my mother’s natal home. However, some serious affair prevented me from it.
昨日は母の実家の墓参りをするつもりでいましたが、別の要件のために行けませんでした。
https://www.facebook.com/Calligapher.Chio/
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At the annual new-year calligraphy exhibition
My mother who turned ninety years old last summer did the last one letter, and I did the other three letters.
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恒例の新春書藝展にて
昨夏９０歳になった母が最後の一文字を書いて、私が他の三文字を書きました。
https://www.facebook.com/Calligrapher.Chio/
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My mother did the last stoke of the letter, “DREAM”「夢」to finish the work.
https://www.facebook.com/Calligrapher.Chio/
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母に「夢」の字の最後を書いてもらって、これで仕上がりです。
https://www.facebook.com/Calligrapher.Chio/
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The task for today’s practice session was a calendar for the year 2019.
As you can see, the last stroke of the letter 『DREAM 夢』is still missing.
I am going to ask my mother to finish the letter when we practice together next time.
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今日の課題は、２０１９年のカレンダー。
ご覧の様に『夢』の最後の点はまだ書いていません。
今度一緒にお稽古するときに母に書いてもらいます。
https://www.facebook.com/Calligrapher.Chio/
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After dinner on the eve of harvest moon, I went out for a short walk with my mother on her wheel chair and was in an ill temper a little, hoping she would feel better. As she was appreciating the huge, beautiful moon, she obviously began to feel better and peaceful.
Bright moon/
Untangles/
Old mother’s emotional tension/
https://www.facebook.com/Calligrapher.Chio/
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中秋の名月の前夜、食事の後で、ちょっとご機嫌斜めの母と夜の車椅子散歩に出ました。大きくて綺麗なお月さんを見ているうちに母の心もほどけて行きました。
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Today is my mother’s ninetieth birthday. We received best wishes for her from a number of people and some pretty flowers from her pretty niece.
https://www.facebook.com/Calligrapher.Chio/
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今日は母の９０回目の誕生日。お祝いの言葉が届き、可愛い姪っ子からは可愛いお花が届きました。
https://www.facebook.com/Calligrapher.Chio/
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These are the results of today’s practice session; copying practice and having a fun writing on a paper fan. For the latter, I chose the first letter of my mother’s name, 絹(silk).
https://www.facebook.com/Calligrapher.Chio/
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今日のお稽古の成果を並べてみます。臨書と、団扇に書きつけるというお楽しみ。母の名の初めの字（絹）を書きました。
https://www.facebook.com/Calligrapher.Chio/
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My mother has been hospitalized almost three weeks, and she committed to rehabilitation during that period. GOOD FOR HER!
Undergoing rehab/
Anchorage for tomorrow/
Oh, rose periwinkles/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
https://www.facebook.com/Calligrapher.Chio/
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３週間近い入院でしたが、その間母はよくリハビリを頑張ってくれました！
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Year after year, a kind neighborhood lady gives us gorgeous hydrangea flowers. Just for a moment I thought of bringing them to my mother’s hospital bedroom. However, I changed my mind, since she will be back in a couple of days.
Girl split up/
Thrusting up/
Balls of hydrangeas/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
https://www.facebook.com/Calligrapher.Chio/
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毎年いただきますが、今年もご近所からもらいました。
母の病室に持って行こうかなと考えましたが、２〜３日もすれば帰ってくるので止めました。
https://www.facebook.com/Calligrapher.Chio/
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My mother and I found this while taking a walk. I wish I could take a picture when it was stretching its neck to the maximum.
Blue heron dances/
Waiting for the rice planting girls/
To appear/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
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母との散歩の途中で見つけました。ぐんと首を伸ばしたところを撮りたかったのですが・・・。
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Gerbera daisies that late Mrs. M. who was a very good friend of my mother’s gave us bloomed this spring again.
If primulas are grandpa’s flowers, gerberas are Mrs. M’s flowers.
Gerbera daisies/
Keep on blabbering/
In the darkness/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
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今はもうおられない母の親友のお庭からいただいたガーベラが今年も咲いてくれました。
プリムラがおじいちゃんのお花なら、ガーベラはMさんのお花です。
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Because the task for today’s practice session was to choose and write one letter from our own name, in other words, the same as the last time, this time I chose one from my mother’s name.
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今日のお稽古の課題は、先日と同じように自分の名前から一文字とって書く、というものでした。それで、私は母の名前から一字書きました。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
In our garden, primula flowers are beginning to bloom year in, year out. My mother told me my granddad liked this flower and when she got married and came to our house to live, the flowers were already there.
My mother and I didn’t know the name and used to call this flower “granddad’s flower” until the lady next door who is a keen gardener taught us it was “primula”.
Granddad/
Is a very warm/
Stub/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
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今年も毎年のように庭のプリムラが咲き始めました。母によると、祖父がこの花が好きだったようで、母がお嫁に来た時には既に咲いていたそうです。母も私もこの花の名前を知らなかったので、「おじいちゃんの花」と呼んでいました。ガーデニングがお得意のお隣の奥さまに教えてもらうまで。
＜このサイトのホームへ。>
Today I paid a visit to the grave of my mother’s family, which I do twice a year.
In my mother’s hometown, I have always felt more sunlight, that is, less shaded areas, and the air with much more dusts compared to Kyoto, my hometown.
In the spring sunlight/
Only dusts are/
Rising up/
Nothing has changed/
In mom’s hometown/
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今日は、母の実家の墓参りをしてきました。だいたい年に２回のペースでしますが。
母の実家の町は、私が生まれ育った京都に比べるといつも陽射しが多くて、つまり日陰が少なくて、埃っぽい気がします。
＜このサイトのホームへ。>
My mother’s name is Kinue and mine is Tomoko. I put these sounds Ki, Nu, E, Tomo, and Ko at the beginning of each line and wrote a poem.
I got this idea from a wonderful poem with a warm taste I found at a calligraphy exhibition I visited the other day.
Apparently, a mother wrote a poem putting the sounds of her daughter’s name at the beginning of each line, which I heard made the daughter so very happy. I tried the same manner.
Who are you?
What a strong bond we have had!
Like a coloring picture/
Let us continue painting together/
This picture of our lives, so VIVID/
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母の名前は、絹江。私の名前は知子。それで、その文字を行の頭に置いて歌にしてみました。
このアイデアは、先日見学した書展で、お母さんがお嬢さんのお名前でほのぼのとした良いお歌を書いておられるのを見て、ちょっと真似したものです。それで、お嬢さんはとても喜ばれたそうです。
＜このサイトのホームへ。>
This is another one I sent to the exhibition. It has my own tanka and haiku about my mother and looking after her. However, as I was afraid my poetry writing was not good enough to convey my feelings and present situation, I put a commentary as well.
Star and Moon/
Facing each other like smiling at each other/
To their beauty/
Mother offers/
Gratitude/
Taking old mother’s hand/
Flying in the universe together/
Starlit night/
I was pleasantly surprised to see my mother offering her gratitude to the beauty of the Venus and the Moon facing each other as if they were smiling at each other, when I put her in her wheel chair and went out for a short walk, because she became fretful after dinner one evening in fall.
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新春書藝展に出品したもう一つの作品です。母のこと、介護のことを短歌と俳句に書いて、それだけでは拙くて分かってもらえないといけませんから解説も付けました。
＜このサイトのホームへ。>
My mother and I went to the new-year exhibition of the works by our teacher and her students. My mother is smiling so delightedly. Just as the last year, I asked her to write one letter, this time “flower”.
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先生のお弟子たちのグループ展で。
今年も母に一文字だけ書いてもらいました。今回は「花」。
＜このサイトのホームへ。>
I chose a tanka by Hakushū Kitahara for a collaboration work with my mother. As I did last year I asked her to write the last one letter meaning “flower”.
＜To the homepage of this website.>
白秋の短歌を書きましたが、最後の一文字だけ母に書いてもらいました。去年と同じです。
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This is what I desire the most at the moment, peace of mind. However, I definitely want to keep on challenging even for the sake of my mother who continuously gives fits to me.
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今一番欲しいもの。でも、挑戦はし続けたい。私を心配させ続ける母のためにも。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
My mother with mental disorder seems to be forgetting many things from the past. She definitely liked shaved ice, however, it doesn’t interest her any more at present.
Kindness called forgetting/
Oh, shaved ice/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
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精神を病んでいる母は、昔のことをどんどん忘れていっているようです。かき氷が大好きだったのに、今では興味も示しません。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
Do you often hug your mother? This kind of physical contact is not very common in Japanese parent-child relation. However, since my mother became mentally ill, it is a daily occurrence for us. Strangely enough, I no longer feel hesitant or shy to offer a hug or express my true feelings to her.
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お母さんを抱きしめたりしますか。私は、母が精神を病んでからというもの、しょっちゅう抱きしめています。そういうことや、心の底の本音を話し合うことが不思議に自然にできるようになりました。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
Since both my mother and myself caught the flue for the first time in years, I haven’t been able to post a new entry for long.
A child suffering from flu/
Insists/
Yokai ogre caused it/
Translation and calligraphy by Tomoko
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長い間、新しい記事を書けませんでした。母も私も何年かぶりにインフルエンザに罹ってしまいましたので。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
As in the evening of January 1st around seven o’clock my mother grew fretful like a little child, I put her on her wheel chair and we went out for a walk.
Then we found the crescent moon and the evening star beautifully shining. I straightforwardly admired my own mother for her expressing pure gratitude to the stars’ beauty.
Star and Moon/
Facing and smiling to each other/
To their beauty/
Mother/
Extended gratitude/
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元日の夕刻７時頃、母が子供のようにむずかるので、車椅子に乗せて散歩に出ました。
西の空に三日月と金星が向かい合って美しかったです。母がその美しさに対して感謝していて、素直に偉いなあと思いました。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
These are for my mother and myself wishing us have a very good first dream of the year.
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いい初夢が見られますように。母の分と２枚です。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
These are for my mother’s longtime best friend who always cares about my mother.
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いつも母を気遣ってくださる母の旧いお友達のために二人で書きました。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
December 13 has been supposed to be the day when people start preparation for the New Year. I put mother’s work and mine at the entrance of our house.
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今日は１２月１３日で、事始め。玄関に母の作品と一緒に飾りました。
＜このサイトのホームへ。＞
