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November 30th. Anko butter sandwich. I baked potatoes and sweet potatoes in my Dutch oven in the morning. I also made tofu and vegetable soup. I added the potatoes in it for my breakfast.
I had the sweet potatoes for my lunch. My favorite variety of sweet potato is Gorojima Kintoki. Whenever I see it, I buy it. And when I bake it in a Dutch oven, it makes the best Yakiimo.
Miya-O is always in a warm place.
I made an Anko butter sandwich. I put a generous amount of Anko between two slices of buttered bread and baked it in a hot sandwich maker. I had it for my evening meal.
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November 29th. A senior driving course. I had salad, curry potato, cafe au lait for my breakfast. Curry potato is a dish served with potatoes baked in a Dutch oven instead of rice.
Today, I skipped my Saturday English Class and went to Iwai Driving School to take a senior driving course. The training course consisted of a dynamic visual acuity test and an instructor observing the driver as he drove around a course.
I have to renew my driver's license in February of next year. When you turn 70 or older, you need a senior driving course completion certificate to renew it. That's why I took the course and got the certificate.
One of my wall clocks broke. I replaced the battery, but it still doesn't work. I tried to replace it with a movement I had in stock. What I thought was in stock was actually a broken item that has been replaced last time. I ordered the movement from Amazon.
I had vegetable and tofu soup, sweet potato, and persimmon yogurt for my evening meal.
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November 28th. Kowa scope camera SQ-16. I had stewed pork ribs, lotus root and carrots, curry, rice with raw egg, yogurt and cafe au lait for my breakfast.
I had soba for my lunch.
I found a misalignment in a lens I had previously modified. It was less than 100 microns, but I thought it could be corrected, so I adjusted it.
The misalignment of the concentric circles is visually discernible at 50 microns. I want to keep the error to 50 microns or less. Incidentally, the dimensional error of general photographic equipment is apparently less than 25 microns.
I took a walk around Yasakakoen in the afternoon.
I made clam rice. Previously, I mixed the ingredients with the rice and then cooked them together. That was easy, but not very tasty.
This time, I cooked the ingredients( fried tofu, vegetables, soybeans, shiitake mushrooms) befor. I cooked the rice and sweet corn together, and then mixed the ingredients with the rice. It turned out really tasty.
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November 27th. Miya-O likes to watch the cars. Miya-O likes to watch the cars driving by from her balcony. It must be freezing there in the morning, but she stays there for about 20 minutes. Then she goes back to her room and stays warm.
I made tofu and vegetables soup for my breakfast. In the morning, I also made braised pork belly and pork curry, which is divided into 150g portions and froze.
I had curry rice and salad for my evening meal.
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November 26th. The Oniyanma model. I made ika furai( fried squid) rice bow for my breakfastl. It's a fried squid version of katsudon. I replaced the pork cutlet with fried squid. I also had grilled atsuage, persimmon yogurt, and cafe au lait.
Apparently, the Oniyanma model is effective in keeping bees away. I bought it on Amazon hoping it would also work on horseflies. 3 pieces for 894 yen. I have never been stung by a bee, but horseflies often bite my skin while taking photos.
I got a lot of yuzu for free. I made yuzu jam.
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November 25th. An Internal Medicine. For my breakfast, I had leftover hot sandwiches, fried eggs, sliced tomatoes, granola yogurt, and cafe au lait.
I had a regular check-up at An Internal Medicine. Doctor said no significant changes and he prescribed the same medication as usual for eight weeks. it was over quickly.
I went to Iwamoto Bento-ya to buy two katsudon bentos. One for my younger brother and one for myself. I ate the bento at my lens factory. Then, I made some lens caps from scrap materials. If you buy them new on Amazon, they'll cost several hundred yen each.
My younger brother gave me a lot of yuzu.
I had tofu soup, natto, and cafe au lait for my evening meal.
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November 24th. SIGMA EX 12-24mm f4.5-5.6 DG HSM No,1007570. I had grilled atsuage, sliced tomato, apple and cafe au lait for my breakfast.
There's been a fire in Yuda since last night. It's next to my friend's house. It is about 200m. I can clearly see the black smoke. I called him and he said that the wind was blowing in the right direction and there was no damage.
I made a hot sandwich for my lunch. I also had fried eggs and persimmon yogurt.
I attached a wooden knob to the bellows operating handle, doubling the diameter. This made it much easier to operate. I would like to do this on other similar handles.
I won a bid for a Canon EOS autofocus wide-angle zoom lens SIGMA EX 12-24mm f4.5-5.6 DG HSM No,1007570 for 2,161 yen (including shipping). It was broken and the autofocus didn't work. I could use it manually at full aperture. However, the lens was dirty and there was a large scratch on the rear lens. I had overlooked this in the product photo. It's now half as appealing.
I made potato soup for my evening meal.
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November 23th. Kowa scope camera SQ-16. For my breakfast, I made charumera filled with lots of vegetables and an egg.
I put the Kowa scope camera SQ-16 up for auction on Yahoo! Auctions. It is I had accidentally won it in the past.Because I didn't check the details.
I made ham, cheese, cabbage, onion, green pepper, and tomato toast. I also ate lettuce, apple, and persimmon yogurt for my evening meal.
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November 22nd. Waffles. The expiration date of my tempura flour is approaching, so I baked waffles. To me, it's easier than tempura. The texture is a little different, but it's tolerable.
I made stir-fried shredded potatoes, stewed small shrimps and radish, and a lettuce, tomato, and tuna salad for my evening meal.
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November 21ｓｔ. Mt. Hokyo. I made turnip and tofu soup, sliced tomatoes, cabbage and burdock root salad, and cafe au lait for my breakfast.
I climbed halfway up Mt. Hokyo. It took a long time because I was taking pictures of small waterfalls as I climbed, and before I knew it, it was 2 o'clock. I went down the mountain and ate a sandwich I bought at a convenience store.
The lens I used today was the Kodak Anastigmat f 6.3 4 3/8-inch No, 5349.
I made zoni for my evening meal.
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November 20th. Expo Commemoration Park. I had rice with raw egg on top, tofu and turnip soup, granola yogurt, and cafe au lait for my breakfast.
I had ten-seiro soba at my favorite Tsukuba soba restaurant Kimura.
Afterwards, I took photos of the yellow ginkgo trees lining the street at Expo Commemoration Park.
The three lenses I used today were:
PETRI CAMERA CO,.INC. CC Auto Petri 1:1.8 f=55mm No129829
CANON ZOOM EF 35-70mm 1:3.5-4.5 No.1301737
SANKYO KOHKI Komura f=300mm 1:5 No.3314042
I got a good shot that a girl spinning around like a merry-go-round, with Komura f=300mm.
It got cold after sunset, so I turned on the air conditioner. Then it became to a fully automatic electric cat head warmer. She was lounging in front of her air conditioning vent.
I had braised pork ribs on rice with a boiled egg, turnip soup, tomato cabbage salad, and cafe au lait for my evening meal.
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November 19th. Tokina SD 400mm 1:5.6 No,4003284. I had the leftover sauce yakisoba from last night, scallop and hakusai salad, sliced tomatoes, harusame soup, granola yogurt, and cafe au lait for my breakfast.
Miyao was sunbathing in her favorite spot.
I made ham, tomato, potato, and two kinds of cheese toast for my lunch.
I had cabbage and burdock salad, sliced tomatoes, stewed pork ribs with carrots and lotus root, turnip soup, and rice for my evening meal.
Tokina SD 400mm 1:5.6 No,4003284
I won this lens on Yahoo! Auctions in February 2025 for 2,090 yen (including shipping and tax). It comes with a filter and front and rear caps. The front, middle, and rear lenses were in excellent condition. No dust or other impurities have been found. I use it as is, but in dark scenes, contrast is reduced. I used to photograph Mount Tsukuba and Mount Fuji, and the contrast of the images was digitally corrected.
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November 18th. Bando Masakado no Sato. I parked my car in the parking lot at Bando Masakado no Sato and took photos of Mount Tsukuba from the Shimousa Tone Bridge. I went to take photos twice, from 7am to 9am and then around 11am.
Bando Masakado no Sato has a farm produce shop selling local specialties, a tourist information booth, a bicycle station, and more. I bought and ate some anpan from the Setagaya Bakery brand.
「坂東将門の里」https://bando-masakadonosato.com/
I made two servings of sauce yakisoba noodles with lots of vegetables, one for my evening meal and the other for later. I also made hakusai hotate salad.
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November 17th. A lens hood. I made a soup made with turnip, hakusai, shimeji mushrooms, onions, and atsuage. I added a mochi and a boiled eggs, and had it for my breakfast.
When using an old lens, there are many times when I want a lens hood. Until now, I have blocked the light by holding my hand or the cap I wear.That is inaccurate. Because it is often insufficient, I am currently making lens hoods for each lens. I am using waste materials such as spray can caps, empty cans, and discarded parts.
I made pork and hakusai soup, persimmon and lettuce salad, and sweet corn rice for my evening meal.
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November 16th. The effect of sunlight.. I waited on Shimousa Tone Bridge before dawn. My goal was to photograph Mount Tsukuba illuminated by the sunlight just after sunrise.
The light had no effect on Mount Tsukuba as I thought, but it did have an effect on the factory and steel tower in the foreground. There is a big difference between the two images on the left, taken before and after sunrise. This is my favorite spot to take photos of Mt. Tsukuba, but I haven't been able to get a satisfactory image yet.
I took a photo of the Kannon stone statue early in the morning to check out the bokeh effect of the telephoto lens Tokina SD 400mm 1:5.6 No,4003284.
Today, I celebrated the birthdays of two of my junior high school classmates with seven of them. Well, we went to an izakaya and had drinks together.
I don't drink much alcohol and I was hungry, so I had the Chutoro teishoku first.
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November 15th. The quickest way. I added boiled eggs and rice cakes to Chinese cabbage soup for my breakfast.I also had 2 inarizushi, granola yogurt, and cafe au lait.
I made a soup with tofu, hakusai, carrots, pieman, and shimeji mushrooms for my evening meal. The quickest way to make it is to just put everything together and make a soup.
I
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November 14th. A pair of kitchen scissors. Starting today, I have to cook my own meals again.
My younger brother brought some free radish, turnip, Hakusai, and lettuce. So, I made mix soup with radish, turnip, and Hakusai for my lunch.
Miyao was sunbathing in her favorite spot for the first time in a while.
My neighbor gave me some turnips and persimmons.
Miya-O jumped onto the cupboard, but lost his footing and fell. She was disappointed. Perhaps it was because she hadn't exercised in the past few days, or perhaps it was because she was getting older.
My son gave me a pair of kitchen scissors as a thank you for making a hometown tax donation. They're made by a manufacturer in Seki City, and my wife also uses the same ones.I
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November 13th. The Kannon stone statue at Jizo Pass. My wife cooked some dishes for our breakfast.
I called Fuji Ice and ordered three packs of five Jiman-yaki at 9:30 am. I walked to Fuji Ice at 10:30, despite the reservation, it was extremely busy and I ended up waiting about 20 minutes longer than the scheduled time. I bought one for my father-in-law, one for my younger brother, and the other for myself.
Today I was going back to Iwai with my cat. Before that, I took a detour to Jizo Pass to take photos of the first, second, fifth, sixth and seventh Kannon stone statues before heading back to Iwai. The Kannon stone statue at Jizo Pass is a place I definitely can't miss.
We arrived in Iwai at 7:30 pm.
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November 12th. Roast pork. My wife cooked some dishes for our breakfast.
The weather was nice again today. The yellow of the ginkgo seems to have deepened. I field tested the PETRI EE Auto C.C Petri 1:1.7/55 No. 274122 at the castle ruins park. This lens was produced in the 1970s. Petri lenses produce good bokeh. However, they are cheap and not very strong. If dropped or hit, the lens barrel may bend.
Time passed by in a flash. Before I knew it, it was around 3 o'clock and I was hungry. I bought two Jimanyaki at Fuji Ice Cream. They started to give you a numbered ticket when you ordered and to wait. I waited a lot today.
My wife made roast pork for our evening meal.
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November 11th. Tempura soba at Katanaya. My wife cooked some dishes for our breakfast.
My wife went to her flower arranging class.
I walked around Yanagimachi and other areas and took some photos. I tested with PETRI CAMERA CO,.INC. CC Auto Petri 1:1.8 f=55mm No129829.
We met at Katanaya and ate soba noodles together for our lunch. We both had tempura soba noodles, which are soaked in the hot shiru in a bowl. Neither of us orders shiru soba noodles in broth very often. The last time we were at Katanaya, the customer next to us was eating it with gusto, so we wanted to try it.
Afterwards, my wife went home, but I returned to the castle ruins park to take photos until sunset.
My wife made gratin for our evening meal.
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November 10th. The soba restaurant Fujiosanso in Azumino. My wife cooked some dishes for our breakfast.
The weather was nice today. My wife and I went to Azumino again. We had to cross two mountain passes, but it was fun driving through them again.
We went to the TRIAD IIDA KAN Museum, but it was closed on a special day. This museum is located on the premises of Harmonic Drive Systems Co., Ltd. This company makes a very unique reducer called the Harmonic Drive. It's a very interesting museum. But, unfortunately...
My wife and I were in Azumino and had a craving for soba noodles. I asked an elderly woman who seemed to be a local as she emerged from a public hot spring facility. "Do you have any recommendations for soba restaurants around here?" she sade、"There is about ones that are popular with tourists,..." I interrupted, asking, "No, no, please tell me which soba restaurant you often go to, and recommend." She recommended the soba restaurant Fujiosanso. Then she led me to the front of the restaurant. It was delicious and reasonably priced.
Afterwards we visited the Picture Book Museum and the Jansen Museum.
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November 9th. It was raining a little today. My wife cooked some dishes for our breakfast.
It was raining a little today. I took some photos while walking around the neighborhood. I tested the PETRI lens C.C.Auto Petri 1:3.5 f=28mm No.132878.
Despite the rain, there were more tourists than usual at the castle ruins park. Perhaps it was because of the Autumn Leaves Festival.
My wife grilled saury for our evening meal. I also added some braised pork belly and braised pork belly that I made.
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November 8th. The summit of Mt. Nagamine. Today, my wife and I went to the summit of Mt. Nagamine. Mt. Nagamine is on the edge of Azumino, which is the northern part of the Matsumoto Basin. To get from the Ueda Basin to the Matsumoto Basin, you have to cross two mountain passes. We enjoyed driving along the mountain pass road.
We got a good view of the Japanese Alps from the summit. What's more, there was a plathome stand for hang gliders and paragliders at the top of the mountain. It seemed like there was some kind of competition going on today. More than 20 of them took off one after another. Unexpectedly, I was able to see them take off up close. We ate our lunch there.
We then visited Daio Wasabi Farm in Azumino, which was recommended by an Ueda friend of my wife.
Azumino is a collection of alluvial fans. As a result, there are many springs and the water is very clean. Wasabi cultivation is also popular, and there are many wasabi farms. Among them, Daio Wasabi Farm is famous for welcoming tourists and being transformed into a theme park.
For me, it was big, however just a view of the wasabi fields, and it wasn't very photogenic or impressive. It might be better if we could get closer to wasabi. The only thing I took a picture of wasabi ice cream. Even this, I don't need wasabi in it.
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November 7th. Empanada. I had cafe au lait, and oden fish paste and vegetable soup that is leftover from last night for my breakfast.
At 1:30pm I left for Ueda with my cat.
The expressway was congested because there had been an accident near Tsurugashima Junction. I exited the Ken-O Expressway at Sakado Interchange and entered the Kan-Etsu Expressway at Tsurugashima Interchange.
I drove along a narrow, unfamiliar road relying solely on the navigation system. I wouldn't have attempted such an adventure if it had been dark.
There's no way to know if the arrival time has been shortened, so the only thing left was a little adventure fun.
I arrived at Ueda my son's house at 5:30.
I had some Empanadas that my wife made for my evening meal.
Empanadas are a dish that was introduced to South America from Spain and are especially popular in Argentina, Chile, Colombia. My wife seems to have modeled her recipe after Argentine empanadas.
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November 6th. My Canon EOS M5 broken. I had coleslaw salad, fried egg, granola yogurt, and cafe au lait for my breakfast.
Last night, while I was using my Canon EOS M5, some of the buttons became unresponsive. I tried again this morning, but it was still unresponsive. It's broken.
I bought it as second-hand from the Kitamura Camera online shop, and it came with a six-month warranty. It's still within the warranty period.
I took it to the Kitamura reall store in IIAS in Tsukuba City and asked for repairs. It's expected to take two months to finish.
I had oden fish paste and vegetable soup、cabbage and tomato salad, and inari sushi for my evening meal.
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November 5th. The table was became tidy. I had salad, a fried egg, a croissant, and cafe au lait for my breakfast.
For my lunch, I had cherry tomato cheese toast topped with basil leaves and cafe au lait.
The table was became tidy. I think this is a limited, short-term phenomenon.
I went to Torisen to buy milk. I also bought some Sukeroku sushi, which was half price to reduce food waste.
I had vegetable soup, cabbage and tomato salad, natto, granola yogurt, and Sukeroku for my evening meal.
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November 4th. Nikon EL-NIKKOR 50mm 1:2.8 No. 2037188. I had vegetable soup with sliced fresh cherry tomatoes, grilled atsuage, granola yogurt, and cafe au lait for my breakfast.
Today was a nice, warm day with no wind. I opened the windows wide and cleaned all the rooms. However, the table remains overflowing with photography equipment. I should. Let's finish by the evening.
I had vegetable curry soup, braised pork ribs, and rice for my lunch.
I chose the lense from spread out on my table, I would use today. I would use today. In the end, I decided on the Nikon EL-NIKKOR 50mm 1:2.8 No. 2037188, for which I recently made my own mount adapter. EL stands for enlarger lens. It's a lens used for enlarging, but I modify it and use it for taking photos with my digital camera.
I bought croissants at "momofuQ," which I had heard about during my last Saturday English class. The exterior of the store looks like a renovated warehouse or garage. It's near Nagaya Temple. I was surprised to find a croissant specialty store so close to me.
Then I went to the Nagaya temple and took some photos with EL-NIKKOR lens. This lens created images that are even more captivating than I expected. I think this will come in handy a lot.
For my evening meal, I had braised vegetable and pork innards, and anko croissant bought at momofuQ.
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November 3rd. Pork ribs, lotus root and carrot stew.I made vegetable and vermicelli soup with mochi, lettuce and cherry tomato salad, granola yogurt, and cafe au lait for my breakfast.
I bought some discounted pork ribs at Torisen to prevent them from going unsold. I made a soy sauce stew of pork ribs and carrots and lotus root.
Today is the anniversary of my mother Tomiko's death, so I went to visit my family grave. However, the wind was so strong that I couldn't light incense. There was a risk of fire, so I decided not to light incense.
I baked graham bread in my automatic electric bread maker and it didn't rise as well as it used to. I baked graham bread in my automatic electric bread maker, but it didn't rise as well as before.
My wife says that domestic wheat flour doesn't rise as well as imported wheat. Indeed, this time I used flour from wheat grown nearby. It doesn't rise as well, but the aroma and sweetness are wonderful.
I had pork ribs, lotus root and carrot stew, tofu, cabbage and tomato salad, and natto for my evening meal.
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November 2nd. Mount Tsukuba. It was cloudy this morning. The clouds looked nice, so I went to the Shimousa Tone Bridge to photograph Mount Tsukuba at 7 am. The bridge is several meters higher than the Tone River embankment, so the view from above is excellent. What's more, Mount Tsukuba and the paper mill can be seen overlapping. I parked in the parking lot at the roadside station Masakado no Sato at the foot of the bridge and walked to the center of the bridge.
I also took a photo of Mount Fuji from the side of the road in front of my parents' house.
I had rice with raw egg on top, potato salad, lettuce and tomato, grilled atsuage, granola yogurt, and cafe au lait for my breakfast at 9am.
The table was full of photography equipment. I should tidy it up. I had the photography class at Kamioumi in the afternoon. I tied it up when I get back.
I joined the photography class at Kamiomi Community Center from 1:30 pm. Today was the final session.
My classmate, Sakasai, whose family produces pork, sells it under the brand name "Minori Buta." I bought a 600g pork shoulder loin, which was half the usual market price from her.
I had braised pork belly rice bowl, natto, vegetable soup, and lettuce salad for my evening meal.
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November 1st. The beautiful silhouette of Mt. Fuji. I made Charumera with lots of vegetables for my breakfast.
I went to my lens factory and worked there. I make mount converters that convert Canon FD mount to Sony E, and FD mount to Eos EF-M mount. I also make mount adapters with helicoids that allow a Nikon enlarger lense to be attached to my digital camera. Today I was able to skillfully cut metal and create beautiful parts.
On my way back from my factory, I took a photo of the beautiful silhouette of Mt. Fuji. Then, the Tokyo Skytree was brightening into view. So, I took some photos of it.
I had tofu, potato salad, pork kakuni, vegetable soup for my evening meal.
