31 October 2012

Happy Halloween

We carved our pumpkins!
While we were working on them, we talked about various things. The first topic was "are we wasting time and food by carving pumpkins?" I guess we are very unsure about our situation and worrying too much.
But I am so happy that we did this. I don't want to regret about not enjoying my life. And you never know if we will have nice company to do these things again next year!




As you guess, the barn owl one is mine and the beautiful cat design is by Rosemary Shojaie! Since barn owl seems to be called ghost owl or death owl, I thought it would suit Halloween.

I remember in the first autumn I had here, I also made an owl jack-o'-lantern. It seems like ages ago.

27 October 2012

Nyponsoppa

We made an amazing dessert soup, nyponsoppa out of the rose hips that we picked around our house. It is a Swedish dish and literally means rosehip soup. We have been enjoying this harvest season!



Rose hips from a cultivated rose (big round one) and from the dog rose (small oval one, Rosa canina).
スウェーデンのデザートスープ、ニューポン・ソッパを作ろうと、栽培種のバラや、公園や共有地の垣根になっているヨーロッパノイバラの実を集めてきた。



鍋にローズヒップと水を入れて火にかけ、少量の砂糖を加えて煮詰める。煮立ってきたら、実をつぶしてピューレ状にし、水で溶いた片栗粉でとろみをつける。裏ごしをすればできあがり。



It tasted so nice with a drop of yogurt and almond slices!

26 October 2012

Twitching

A few days ago we went to Norfolk coast for birdwatching and ended up twitchering. Northeasterly wind on Monday brought many migrants to the Norfolk coast and the foggy, dump weather for the next few days seemed to force the birds to stay on the coast. Lots of twitchers were there to watch the rarities. But funnily enough, the two rare species that we saw were fairly common birds in Japan!



In The Sense of Wonder, Rachel Carson wrote about her memory of watching beautiful stars at night all alone with her friend on a flat headland. She said "if this were a sight that could be seen only once in a century or even once in a human generation, this little headland would be thronged with spectators."
The migrant bird which happen to land on an unusual land and to be found by enthusiastic birders is exactly the case. But the same bird at their original site will not get much attention because...
"But it can be seen many scores of nights in any year, and so the lights burned in the cottages and the inhabitants probably gave not a thought to the beauty overhead; and because they could see it almost any night perhaps they will never see it."

知人に連れられて、イギリスではじめて、珍鳥追っかけの人で賑わう地を訪ねた。どこの国にも珍鳥情報のネットワークがあり、特別な種が「出た」となると人が集まる。でも、何となくイギリスのトゥイッチャーの雰囲気が許せてしまうのは、大砲のようなレンズを抱えたカメラマンはまずいなくて、純粋に双眼鏡や望遠鏡で鳥を観察しに来ているバードウォッチャーが多いからかもしれない。

22 October 2012

Autumn Sale

Autumn jewelry are now on sale!



I want to hang those berries from my ears!

Sweet chestnut

Leaves are turning yellow, berries and mushrooms are everywhere.
Yesterday, I picked several sweet chestnuts. I will try steaming them or candy them!




オウシュウグリ(Castanea sativa)

12 October 2012

Japan Bird Festival 2012

秋のお祭りの季節。今年は絵の展示、グッズ販売、(そして本人も)いろいろ参加します。



◇◆◇ ジャパン・バードフェスティバル2012◇◆◇
日にち: 2012年11月3日(土) 9:30-16:00、4日(日) 9:30-15:00
場所:千葉県我孫子市手賀沼湖畔

ワイルドライフアート展
リノリウム版、消しゴム判子で刷った版画を3点出展します。
会場: 我孫子市生涯学習センター「アビスタ」 1Fロビー壁面、1F工芸工作室。
千葉県我孫子市若松26-4。我孫子駅南口より徒歩10分。JBF巡回バスまたは路線バスで「アビスタ前」下車。

◆例年通り、ブックカバーや「きびだんご」シリーズ、アオバトやカワウのモビールなどの物品も販売予定です。わたしが関わらせていただいているのは、
・水の館前 ワイバードのブース
・水の館前 Hobby's Worldのブース
・アビスタ エントランス 日本ワイルドライフ協会のブース



今年はワイバードのFacebookページへの投稿用に作成した、ポストカードサイズの版画をそれぞれ限定10枚(@1500円)、販売します! リノリウム版、消しゴム判子、ステンシルを併用したオリジナル版画で、どれも微妙に色や模様が異なるので、選びたい方はお早めに。



◇◆◇ 第19回 大磯宿場まつり ◇◆◇
今年も、こまたんの『あおばとや』に鳥グッズを置かせていただきます。
日にち:2012年11月11日(日) 10:00 - 15:00。
場所:大磯町大磯 山王町旧東海道松並木

10 October 2012

Heather pattern

A pattern of heather inspired from my recent trip. Heathland has such an atmosphere. It is interesting that by changing the background colour, I can get very different image.


 

 

8 October 2012

Watercolour and pen

On Wednesday, we spent time in London and visited the Illustration Cupboard in the evening to meet Lisbeth Zwerger! Some of her original watercolour paintings were exhibited and it was so wonderful to see them.
The next day, of course, I was tempted to pull out my watercolour, taking a break from linocut and rubber stamps.




Snow Bunting(ユキホオジロ)



Kestrel(チョウゲンボウ)

5 October 2012

I'm sleepy...

Somehow I become already sleepy before ten o'clock these days!



Let's go to bed and wake up early tomorrow...

3 October 2012

ピート



Peat for fuel
燃料用のピート(泥炭)の山。土壌生態管理学の授業で出てきたやつだ! 今思えば農工大時代は、生活する中で出くわすトピックをいろいろ勉強した。こうやって現物が見られるのはやっぱりうれしい。
ピートは、低気温の湿地帯では、いまも燃料として使われている。燃やすと燻製のようなおいしそうなにおいがして、大地を感じる。ただ現実的には、泥炭は年間1ミリしか堆積しないので再生可能なエネルギーとは言い難く、しかも泥炭が固定していた二酸化炭素を一気に大量に放出することになるようだ。ローカルにちょっとずつ利用している分には、許容される範囲なのかもしれないけれど、なかなか難しい問題だ。