Hi David,

I went to your Flickr page and saw all the photos you uploaded. Thanks for sharing them! It's nice to see what you saw in Hokkaido. My favorites are:

On the top of Mashu Dake - The scenery is just amazing!!
Shiretoko - Good shot! I mean, you took this picture from a good angle.
Me and Rana - I get a warm feeling from this one.（ほのぼのして好きです) Rana is cute, your face expression is nice and natural, and I liked the house!(the window, the shelf, and the wall, I like them all.)

By the way, the owner of Koshimizu Youth Hostel has a sheep for a PET?? さすが、北海道ですね～。　いろんなペットがいそう（笑）

I have to cook dinner. See to you later,

Tomo

•  Tomo
• 2008年9月 2日 18:44

Hi David,

Thank you for sharing the photos from your trip. I saw all of them in the Frickr page. I haven't been to Shiretoko yet, so I enjoyed the one at Mashu Date very much. And your friend's daughters, Hina and Rana are cute! You look comfortable with Rana, as Tomo said. You had a very good time with the family, I guess.

Tomo,
A sheep for a pet isn't usual, even in Hakkaido! ;-)

By for now,

Maki

•  Maki
• 2008年9月 2日 22:22

Hi Maki,
Ha ha ha, sorry. I thought that people in Hokkaido could have many kinds of animals for a pet. If I had a big garden, I would have a pet horse!(Just joking, but I like horses especially their eyes.)

Hi again David,
I'm glad to see a lot of photos from your Hokkaido trip including some of the pictures of you. They made me smile:)
It seems like you are still having busy days. I hope everything goes well with you and you'll be able to have a lot of time to play with your lovely bikes in the autumn.

See you soon,

Tomo

PS I'm also looking forward to the autumn weather. Autumn is my favourite season. I like autumn colors like brown and beige as well.

•  Tomo
• 2008年9月 2日 23:57

Hi David,

Thanks for sharing your photos: Each scenery is so beautiful, an shows ‘the Hokkaido’.
I like the shot from Mashu Dake’. The color of Mashuko is so deep, blue and amazing! It reminds me of the song ‘ Kirino Mashuko(霧の摩周湖)by Fuse Akira.(Most of the members might not know the song. It's old, but so romantic one.)
Another Hokkaido-like shot is ‘Rausu Dake’, with white clouds, and your bike are sure to be happy in there!
From your photos, I could see your lovely holidays including the days with Aoki’s.

Hi Tomo and Maki,
When I was kid, we(my family)kept a goat and horse, and those were kind of pets!

Hi everyone,
Have a nice day!
Speak to you soon,

Anne

•  Anne
• 2008年9月 3日 07:40

Sorry
少していせい；
an shows→and shows
I shoud be more careful before posting^^;)

It rainded heavily early in the morning again around here.
Anyway, it's cooler, and nice! I love autumn,too!
I have be back to household chores.

Anne

•  Anne
• 2008年9月 3日 07:48

Hi David,
Thank you for posting your beautiful photos. When I went to Mashuko, I couldn’t even see any proof(!) that there was a lake. What's 'Dake' supposed to mean, by the way?

Hi Riko,
I am Japanese. For the record, I hold Japanese passport. Don’t worry; you’re not rude at all.

•  Jazmin
• 2008年9月 3日 11:50

Hi Everyone,

At last David had a new entry in this blogs. right? At last my sons started school today too! I seemed that the summer holiday was long but I thought that already gone, seemed short. Anyway I have a plenty of a time thinking in English now,

Jazmin,
Thanks for your kind words even thought I asked you a bit rude. 勝手にJazminのキャラクターが作られてしまっていて、大変失礼いたしました。BTW how do I say this sentence? it is quite difficult for me to make '勝手に'.
勝手な事してごめんね。とか、勝手にやっちゃった。とか、勝手にってちょっと英語にするのは難しいと思いませんか？Please tell me. ( and for everyone)

As you question, 'dake' means 岳？I found
In the last couple of years, it's been like a Heisei battle of Shimabara at Unzen-fugen dake.
平成の島原の乱だね。ここ何年かの雲仙普賢岳は。

by 栄辞郎on the web. so it mean 摩周岳？

Anne,
Wow! cool! Did you have a goat and a horse as a pet? Can you ride on a horse?

speak soon
Riko

•  Riko
• 2008年9月 3日 19:35

Hi David,

I'm glad to know your trip has finished safely. And also, thanks for sharing some photos of your Hokkaido touring.
In addition, thanks for your Flickr page. I tried to go to there and I saw a few pictures.
However, about last two photos, 'Matilda' and 'max', who's childen, they are?
Sorry I might ask you a rude question, are they your children? They are so cute!!
David, I have one more question. Why don't you use capital letter, about 'max'.
Hi everyone,
Long time no see! I went to real my house for spend summer vocation with my family. So that I didn't touch my PC.
To say truely, I stay my son's apartment house for keeping clean during his absent. This house is very convinient for out going, Internetting, studying, English and official facilities are near.

Speaking Bon-vocation, I had a good chance to communicate with frendly American family in my town festival. They attended for a few kinds of events.
First their three-year-male and female-twins wore yukata, and pulled the festival car with their mother. She also wore yukata, too.
They got a candy and ate it at rest place with Japanese kids.
Their father carried a small portable shrine with Japanese men and women, and yelled 'washoi'.
In the evening, their mother tried to do Bon-dance in dancing circle.
Fanally, we had many kinds of foods and drinks in the tent.

See you soon,

Kiyoko

•  Kiyoko
• 2008年9月 3日 20:36

Hi Jazmin,
As Riko said, ‘ Dake’ means ‘Mountain’, ‘the top of the mountain’, so Mashu Dake means ‘Mt. Mashu’. There are a lot of mountains having ‘Dake’ : 普賢岳、乗鞍岳、朝日岳。。。。。。
By the way, when I went to Hokkaido, I could see the beautiful Mashuko!
Hi Riko,
No, I can’t ride a horse, but my father did. Recently, monkeys and wild boars come out to a city(village) where my parents live, and damage the fields, but　of course they are not pets!
Hi kiyoko,
Can I explain about Max and Machilda? Actually, they are David’s nephew and niece, and are sooo lovely, aren’t they? She is going to be one year old. If you are interested in their story, have a look at David’s entry,’ August 27 2007, and September 24, 2007.

Bye for now,

Anne

•  Anne
• 2008年9月 3日 22:26

I realized 'Dake' now! I was loughing when I realised it!
I pronounced it デューク。But you should say just 'Dake' was ローマ字読み！That's right?

Riko

•  Riko
• 2008年9月 4日 00:38

Boy, how stupid I am!
Riko, Anne, thank you so much for telling me what ‘Dake’ means. I thought it was an English word with the possible pronunciation 〔deik〕. But there’s no such word in my English dictionary, and I was just puzzled. For the record, I AM Japanese! My excuse; I thought it should be Mashudake, not Mashu Dake (^_^;) Uh-oh, here comes the boss, so see you later.

•  Jazmin
• 2008年9月 4日 09:57

Hi David,
Thanks for sharing your phots. I saw all of them. The scenery is so beautiful. I have never been to Hokkaido, so I want to go there someday, and I want to see such a beautiful scenery! Hina and Rana are very cute! I like the phot "Me and Rana". What kind of kanji does her name use?

Hi Riko,
I'm a piano teacher, but I only sing at the concert because I was a song major in college. When I have a concert, it is a small scale, so I usually sing to piano accompaniment. (I have sung with orchestra, though.)

Hi Everyone,
It is getting cooler day by day. Maybe because of it, I have caught a cold... But I don't have a concert for a while, so I think "今のうちにひいておこう". I know this thinking is strange.（笑）

Amica

•  Amica
• 2008年9月 4日 11:44

Hi Jazmin and Riko,
When I watched the photo, I didn’t have any other idea. Yes, it’s not English, French, German, or Welsh, but Japanese!!(ha,ha, ha) I found the word ‘Duke’, and ‘Dak’ in the dictionary.
Riko, to express ‘勝手に'、there are a lot of situations, so we need to use a word depending on each case, and it’s difficult as you said.
Here are a few cases that came to my mind:
＊勝手にしてしまってごめんなさい
　(Sorry,) I should have asked you first.
＊ もう少しあなたの勝手にすれば。
Why don’t you just do what you want a bit more?
＊ あれこれ勝手に決めないでよ。
Don’t decide these things on your own.
＊ あなたの事nativeだと勝手に思ってました。
I assumed you were a native speaker of English because your writings were perfect.

At the last sentence, I used ‘ assume’ to imply’勝手に'、but I’m not sure.
少しだけ、考えてみました。
Hi Amica,
I like your way of thinking'今のうちにひいておこう’.
Take good care!

Bye for now,

Anne

•  Anne
• 2008年9月 4日 22:08

Hi Riko,
I agree with Anne's idea. As you say, it's difficult to translate ‘勝手に’ into English because it depends on the situation.

‘勝手な事してごめんね’or ‘勝手にやっちゃった。’ I would say..
Sorry, I should have asked you first.（The same as Anne's idea.)
I did it without asking you, sorry.
I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done it.

‘勝手に’ can be replaced with another words, like ‘知らないうちに’, ‘いつの間にか’, ‘聞かずに’, ‘許可なしに’, ‘自分の好きに’ and etc, so I think you need to put it in another way when you express it in English.

Talk to you later,

PS Amica, hope you feel better soon. Take care!

•  Tomo
• 2008年9月 5日 10:22

Riko, Anne and Tomo,
As all of you mentioned, I don’t think there’s a certain word for 勝手にin English. It depends on the situation.
As for the line 「勝手にJazminの～」, I would say “I just formed an image of you from your writings.”　　What do you say?

•  Jazmin
• 2008年9月 5日 11:04

Hi David, Anne and everyone,

Anne,
Thanks for your guidance about David's nephew and niece, Max and Matilda.
According your explanation, I've back to that David's previous entory, last August and September, and I found the Bakers photos.
Result, I've become having a friendly mind more. Incidentally, I've read some parts of member comments.

Sorry, my the day before yesterday's comment has a misspelling in last line sentence, as 'Fanally'. Finally is right.

Bye for now,
Kiyoko

•  Kiyoko
• 2008年9月 5日 17:04

Hi everyone,

How have you been spending your time? It has been raining for a couple of days here. so I'm worrying that a flood will be damage somewhere again. if it rains continually several days, it will be the flooding for sure.

I saw a big puddle in a car park and some narrow roads after raining several times. There are a lot of ill-drained road in England.

Thanks for helping my questions. I got a couple of nice verbs if I said ‘勝手に’after this it would useful for me your guidance.

Amica,
Thanks for telling to me about you. Cool! If we have a chance to see someday please sing a song for us! (for our blogs member)
o(≧∇≦o) また私はお馬鹿な事を言ってるのかしら？

So you should have a cold now so that you don't have a cold in your concert!! Take care to catch a new virus!!

Riko

•  Riko
• 2008年9月 5日 19:31

先日はお世話になりました。
妃南も羅菜もデビに遊んでもらったり、保育園に連れていってもらったりと、とても楽しかった様です。
最終日、デビが愛知に帰ったのも知らずに帰宅した２人は、デビがいないので残念がってましたよ。
今でも羅菜は、いくら説明してもデビのことレビットと言っています。（笑）
また遊びに来て下さい。

•  aoki
• 2008年9月 8日 00:30

Hi Aoki san,

コメントを入れてくださって、ありがとうございます＾＾　妃南ちゃんと羅菜ちゃん、かわいいですね～。　名前も素敵です。(お家も素敵！)
‘レビット’←笑わせてもらいました(笑)　小さい子どもの言うことは面白いですよね。（ウチにも羅菜ちゃんと同じくらいの娘がいます。)

こちらのブログにもまた遊びに来てくださいね！

•  Tomo
• 2008年9月 8日 07:40

I like what you guys are up too. Such clever work and reporting! Carry on the superb works guys I’ve incorporated you guys to my blogroll. I think it'll improve the value of my website :)
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•  compare auto insurance prices
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•  モンクレール 新作
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