Harrell playing Arpeggione sonata

Lynn Harrell at a recital in Tokyo. It might be, judging from the stage and reflective board on the back, at the small hall of Tokyo Bunkakaikan in Ueno around 1980. A video of a program by NHK, possibly.

I have never listened to him in his young days. A true virtuoso. He played effortlessly such a difficult piece as Arpeggione sonata by Schubert. That piece should be played like a humming piece sung at a downtown street in Wien. His cello sounds like that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blALvCjzUIc

Tokyo Bunkakaikan is an old concert halls facility which is close to my mother school. It is located at a corner of Ueno park next to the Ueno station. The park was a walk place for me in student days. I used to attend there for a various concerts then. In my jr. high days, I was a regular member of Tokyo Philharmonic with my father for a while. It was in '60s. Still a lot of fond memories. Harrell, seemingly warm hearted person, has died 4 years ago. I seldom visit that concert hall and even Tokyo now. Time has passed.

GAZA 2035 project

I have heard that, if Trump takes the seat of POTUS, his son would be involved in the development of Gaza, nearly 90% destroyed and more than 30K Palestenians killed, into a resort area. I felt nauseous at it. Does this news mean that?

 

 https://www.thenation.com/article/world/gaza-2035-aec-neom-saudi/?fbclid=IwY2xjawGSJD5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHfAt8tA-p9JHV_L5ULRY0Fc9KhCnCBK3uHUcRmJ6ule_GLp8b6FK5XU3Xg_aem_V0EqF33t8T0rJgTDwsrJVQ

I don't think such a project would come true. It would become a cause of further and more massive conflict. 

I still recall that a lot of industries in the US have been involved in the reconstruction in Afghan and Iraq after war. The biggest one was a division of Halliburton which was managed by the former vice president of Bush administration, Dick Cheney. 

The US still exports arms to Israel. I heard that it had been amounted up to 20 billion  USD. I know it has all started by the Hamas attack last fall. But Israeli counterattack has reached the level of ethnic cleansing as this report says. Endorsement and support to Israel by the US seem to aggravate the situation. If some faction of the US should be involved in this horrible project in the Middle East, it would leave incurable injury in the area and the faith in the US might fall down on the ground, I am afraid.

A missing comment

Scrolling down the previous posts in this blog, I found a comment by John AC4CA to a post regarding music of Piazzolla. Just did it by chance. It was a short but still considerate comment. I have mistaken reading it. Very sorry for that. It was 2017. As already written, he has had his wife in a facility due to her Alzheimer and was living alone at home. Whenever we met on the radio, we talked about music which we were playing as well as listening. He loved playing piano and said Chopin was his favorite. In each conversation, again not long enough but very impressive, I felt, even though he had lived a solitary life at home, he had himself fullfilled with ham radio, birdwatching or music. Of course, seeing his wife Jackie at the facility as well.

I should have talked to him more, especially on how he has grown up. He told little about such a thing. Suffering from neuroendocrine tumor, which has become treatment resistent year by year, and having his wife in a facility as told above, he must concentrate on the life at present. No room to recollect the past, I believe. 

How has he felt on Piazzolla? I have lost the chance to ask about it to him. Sorry but there have been full of such mistakes in life. He has passed in Feb 2023.

One of my Piazzolla's favorites. Already uploaded in a past post. 

I would ask anyone who would give me a comment in this blog as follows. I am trying to answer every comment and please be patiently waiting for that. If you have not got any answer from me, it could never be anything other than my mistake. Please identify youself in a way we both could understand if possible. If you are new to me, add that in your comment. Any comments will be much appreciated. 

On a rainy day

Having posted on poor growth of sweetpotatoes at a field last month, I found there were a little bit better harvest of sweetpotatoes in the other fields recently, despite of apparently overgrowth of the vine. It is always miraculous how they grow and are cropped. Before it gets too cool, the rest should be cropped. I should go on working hard in the farm.

Plants of taro are ready to be harvested as well. Potatoes, spinach, broccoli or carrots are growing. They may be harvested by Dec. 

The global warming is becoming closer to us. The summer vegetables have been affected by it. I have seen several vlogs of farmers who complain of poor harvest of summer veggies. They have been sold at higher prices at store. The fall/winter vegetables should be planted, they say, a week or two later than ususal. It seems the winter is coming quicker than before. The summer has been directly taken over to the winter. No long break of fall this year. 

Early in this hot summer, rice was run out at stores. There are a number of reasons why it has occurred. One of them was the relative crop failure due to the abnormally high temperature last summer. The price of rice has risen even by 50%. That high cost is still carried on despite newly harvested rice is in the market now. The cost of rice has been kept irrationally low. Rice farmers have had hard time with the cost for years. On the other hand, the main food for people in our country, rice, should be reasonable. It is an issue that politics should handle with. It should be argued at the other post.

I would point out that the government is trying to replace rice plants to a new spieces or its crossbred descendants. It is a newly developed one which absorbs Cadmium, Cd, much less than previous old spieces. 

As a researcher in agriculture says, there is an area which is polluted with Cd. The national agricultural research center has developed a new rice spieces, which irradiation of heavy particle beam inactivated the gene responsible for absorption of Cd. They are trying to replace the ordinary species to this new one or its descendants. Cd pollution is limited only certain areas in our country. The new species has another serious defect. It is genetically lowered in absorption of another mineral Mn. Mn has an important role in in photosynthesis as well as resilience against pathogens. When this new species is grown, they should add Mn as a fertilizer component. Relative Mn deficit could cause growth issue and liability for infections. Those new species might not grow well in global warming. 

Irradiation could damage the other genes unknown yet. It may cause the other serious issues. Natural selection occurs in a long time scale. Our ancestors have chosen species which work well for us. Artificial gene manipulation with irradiation could result in "magnificient" failure in the future. 

Why do they popularize this new species of rice in our country? To get more money! The farmers, subsequently the consumers of such rice, should pay for the pantent. There should be other factors involved in this new rice species. They are invariably related with money!

OK, that's about it. Even though I won't renew posts so often, I am getting along fine. Today, the rain has kept me indoor and let me write this post.  

Excessive vine growth of sweet potato and a dish of the hypertrophied vine

Plants' growth are told to divide two phases, nutritional growth and reproductive growth. In the former phase, a plant grows individually at its trunk, vine or leaves. In most cases, the latter phase follows it. It leaves crops or fruits. 

The former growth is accelerated with meteological factors and low carbon/nitrogen ratio in the soil. High nitrogen from too much fertilizer is often a cause of this phenomenon.

In the excessive vine growth with the sweet potatoes, the latter, that is, too much fertilizer won't be the cause. Regardless of the remnant amounts of fertilizer, it has occurred in the same manner at different fields. Another evidence that the weather, most likelily the hot spell in the past spring/summer, may be the fact some of Marie Gold planted at different places of the garden, of course, without any fertilizer has shown the same excessive growth of the trunk/leaves. They have bloomed very few flowers. The typical case is shown in the following photo. The two trunks have grown large in unusual way while some flowers are out in the other few plants. I have never seen this overgrowth in the past.  

This is only a hypothesis that global warming is influencing our tiny garden/farm. But we should be careful about such a thing. We are the crops brought by the reproductive growth of the crops. If those crops grow only in the nutritional growth but not in the reproductive growth, it may cause famine.

Last night, I have cooked the overgrown vine of sweet potatoes with chicken as this photo shows. My wife at first prejudiced that it could have been like a menu people used to cook in the war time without much food. But she was pretty happy at this dish when it was cooked. This recipe was published by a lady in Shikoku, my wife's birth place, as an old one from ancestors.    

 

Failure of sweet potato growth

It is the time to harvest sweet potatoes now. As a conclusion, the crop was not very good this year. 

Excessive vine growth has occurred. They say it is due to excessive fermentation and/or too much rain. One of the fields was due to hyperalimentation due to the remnant of fertilizer for the previous vegetable. I am not sure what has brought the problem at the other fields. A climate issue? It is beyond my capability to avoid this excessive growth in such a case.

Some of the poorly grown fruits were bitten by bugs. Vegetables or generally any plants have a system of immunity against such infestation of insects. Those subnormally grown ones are liable to the problem. 

The other day, I was surprised to know, in the case of famine or of war involving our country, our government had a plan to have golf course or school grounds converted to farm and to grow sweet potatoes. The self sufficiency rate of food is only 38% now. Considering of importing the farming materials like fertilizer and its resources or seeds etc, it drops below 10%. This fact has not well known to the people. The government won't do with this subtle crisis without such a terrible plan to grow sweet potatoes. 

As my experience with growing sweetpotatoes this year tells, it is not easy for amateur instant farmers to grow such as sweet potatoes which is told to be a rather easy crop. I would propose the administration officers/politicians to grow sweetpotatoes at the garden of the Diet by themselves.

Now some people are aware of this issue but still only a minority. Food security issue is going on in our country in subtle and serious way.

The over grown sweet potatoes's vine.

 

A T shirt and hectic days

It was 1991 when I visited Cambodia for ham radio operation of XU0JA, usually regarded as DX pedition. After a Hungarian team had operated there, the station was managed by a girl named Sokun, personnel of PTT. I happened to know her operating XU8DX by hersel n 15m SSB. She did not know anything of ham radio. It was necessary to support the station XU8DX there. In 1990, I asked Atsushi JF3NRI and James 9V1YC to visit there and to bring some support items like the PA tubes of the amplifier etc. They have done a good job. It was my turn to visit there a year after. I have spent a hectic as well as pleasant week over there together with a couple of JA friends, JH1OJU and JH0FBH. It was only a few years after the civil war had ended. There was curfew in Phnom Penh. I still remember the streets were vacant after the curfew from PTT to the Hotel Cambodiana where we stayed. I have already written about our trip there a few times already. 

Some friends were supportive to us. Eric W6DU, the president of NCDXF, has prepared T shirts with the logo of NCDXF for us before departure. We have worn it all the time throughout the trip. Mine has been found deep in a drawer recently. This is it;

My call as XU/JA1NUT was printed above the NCDXF logo. But it has disappeared in this 3 decades. XU0JA QSL is here. 

It was the days when I was crazy with DXing. With some free time and finance, I could spend much time for ham radio. This was one of the events I devoted to those days. 

Honestly, I sometimes wonder if it was a right decision or if I should spend time and energy for the other things in the middle of my life when I was able to do anything I wanted. Such as restarting practising cello earlier and so forth. I know it is of little use to reflect the past in that way but such an idea of reflection still often comes up in my mind.

I find myself trying to balance my mind convincing myself it was meaningful for me to have had good company through ham radio. Eric was one of them. Blood boiling experience in ham radio was also priceless for me. In this chapter of my life, the other pleasant things like farming or listening good music are being prepared for me. I should never complain of the past.

Now this T shirt is worn by me while I work in the farm. Another hectic days. 

Life's most important task

This is a poem a german missionary of Catholic, Hermann Heuvers, has introduced in his autobio. Heuvers has stayed in our country as a teacher at a university pastoring a church from 1920s through 1960s. When he once returned to homeland, a friend of his gave this impressive poem to him. In 1977, while he served Mass on wheel chair, he developed acute heart attack which lead to death. 

It sure leaves a lasting impression on me. I was going to put this into the previous post titled "The beginning of real retirement". I was too shy or even scared to compare our lives to this way of in devout belief. 

It is still an excellent wisdom of life in old age. I would share it to you here, not in relation to the previous post. I still would spend or try to live the retirement ahead with the motto this poem depicts. This translation comes from a site by Nobuko Muth.

Quote~~~

 What is this life's most important task?

To grow old with a cheerful heart,

To be still even when I would like to be active,

To be silent when I would like to talk,

To have hope in times of frustration,

To carry my cross in humility and serenity of heart,

To put aside envy even when I see younger people walking God's path full of health and energy,

To humbly accept help from others when I would rather work for the sake of others,

So when I can no longer be useful for others because of frailty I need to gently and humbly accept the heavy burden of old age as a gift from God.

I have an aged heart that has been in use a long time and now God is giving it a final polishing so that I can return to my true home all shining.

To gradually release myself from the chains that bind me to this world is indeed a wonderful work.

When I cannot do things let me humbly accept these circumstances in humility.

However for my closing years God has kept for me the most important work of all, and that is:

~~~End of quote

This translation is ended abruptly leaving a few more sentences untranslated. I dare finish it in my way as follows;

My hands could do little to the others

Only I could do until the end of my life is to join my hands in prayer

Praying for God's mercy over to all the people I love

When I have done all I could do, I may hear God telling me in dying bed,

"Come here, thou, you will never be abandoned."

~~~

I have learned about this poem from my sister 4 years elder than me several years ago. As I and the folks are getting older, this beautiful verse hauntingly comes up in my mind. My sister and borther in addition to my wife and myself are stepping into the elderhood. May all of us spend the last chapter of our lives as this poem indicates.

The beginning of real retirement

It is the 72nd birthday for my wife today. It's been a year since she closed her business. Things are settled down and regular routine is formed for her as well as for me now.

Signs of senility are looming to each of us whether we are aware of that or not. It is a reality. She has worked hard as a wife, a mother and a doctor for decades. I owe much to her. I would support her from now on, even though it might be me who should ask for her care. Who knows?

Wishing her peaceful and healthy retirement days even if it is only a brief period of serenity.

We have celebrated this day with a piece of cake last night.

Always the same photo. In the honey moon in 1979.

  

Mahler 9th Symphony and Claudio Abbado

Before going to sleep, I have listened to this symphony for a few days. 

I have posted about this music 8 years ago; here.

Getting older, I feel the theme of this music is getting more familiar or pressing to me.

This is the performance I listen to; Lucern Festival Orchestra conducted by Clauddio Abbado. It was 2010.

Abbado has suffered from gastric cancer in 2000 and has survived it successfully. I wonder how he was doing at this time of the concert. Later, in 4 years from this concert, he has succumbed from the same illness. Was it reccurence or another illness? Whatever health condition he was in at this time, the issue of death must have occupied his mind, I suspect. Once, he used to tell death is existentially an aspect of life. 

In the end of this performance, he has set a time of silence in darkness for a couple of minutes. It seems he has casted a message from the nether world. Reading too much into it?

Cool breeze is coming into the bed room. In otherwise completely silent environment, I listen to this music at midnight.

Obon

As I repeatedly mentioned, it was the season named Obon in the mid August. A lot of people have returned to their hometown from big cities and have gathered with their folks. In a tradition of Bhuddism, they were accepting their ancestors at home. Bon odori, that is, traditional dance in Obon, was performed to welcome their ancestors. A lot of festivals were held for the same purpose. I believe only few people were commemorating Obon in this sense. Getting together with family members or old friends is itself a precious event in our life. 

 https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2286.html

Our family is not concerned about this event. I have been pulling the weeds in the farm and garden. Doing that, I was recollecting my parents, an aunt who has started a tuberculosis sanatorium at this place and the other people who have passed. There used to be a lot of pine trees in the sanatorium. Breeze has gone through those trees. As already wrote somewhere, such breeze coming through pine trees is my oldest memory in life. Now, as a typhoon has passed by, it is getting cooler at least at night. I was surprised to have cool breeze touching my face while working in the garden this morning. Fall is not far from here now. This is the way I am spending this Obon. 

Two indices notebooks

I have a couple of notebook, tired and almost worn out, in a book shelf. Before I started using PC logging, I had sorted out after call signs with QSO data / their handle and had recorded them in either index notebooks. One for one or two letter suffices, the other for three letter suffices.

I had pretty good memory when I was young and it was not any sweat for me to recall someone whom I met before without those gadget. However, getting older and memory not reliable all after having made hundred thousands QSOs with the states, I decided to make those index notebooks. It was around '80s.

I was not very punctual keeping the records in them. But I guess I have recorded most of them from '80s through '00. They were taken over to the PC logging in '10s. PC logs are much more handy to record the content of each QSO. There was a space to remark about them in it. It helped me lot to recall of them. 

I could have digitalized the QSOs before PC logging was started. It was, however, too much work to do that. I have given it up. I feel fondness to those old fashioned notebooks. At present, whenever I see any call signs/names which look familiar to me, I look up for them in these notebooks. Unfortunately, it is quite rare for me to find their call signs for now. "My days have already gone", I am convinced. 

Turning the pages of those notebooks, I always find a lot of old familiar call signs. I could remember some of pleasant chats with them. It might only mean I was young enough to remember them. But it also means we used to have enjoyable chats those days.

It may be not my business but I sometimes wonder what those enjoying digital modes or contest style QSO would feel for his hobby in the past time when they are in the end chapter of their lives. I would keep these old notebooks until the end of my life.

Classical music

This story tells us a few important things.

Quiet environment and, with string instrument, appropriate reverberation are necesasry to have classical music appreciated by people.

Even more importantly, we should be psychologically ready to listen to it. A person, a passionate lover of classical music, with the history of severe depression used to tell me that she has lost will to listen to it, however she used to love it in the past. It is a process that requires our psychological energy to devote ourselves to classical music. To those who are too busy or are occupied by the other things, classical music won't smile. At first sight, classical music, especially that of Bach, sounds unfriendly to us. However, when we are willing to know of it, it always respond to us with prosperous gifts.

This story seems to have occurred in reality and was reported on a major paper.

Quote a post in Facwbook; 

 “ In Washington DC, at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

After about four minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule.
About four minutes later, the violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.
At six minutes, a young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.
At ten minutes, a three-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent - without exception - forced their children to move on quickly.
At forty-five minutes: The musician played continuously. Only six people stopped and listened for a short while. About twenty gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.
After one hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one applauded. There was no recognition at all.
No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.
This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.
This experiment raised several questions:
In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?
If so, do we stop to appreciate it?
Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?
One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made…
How many other things are we missing as we rush through life?”
The Love Rabbi-Yisroel Bernath

A small resolution

Getting older, I have been aware of losing knowledge of vocabulary and grammar in English or even in Japanese. It's just an aging process, I know. I wanted to resist that process by some means, even if it is destined to be defeated. Trying to read in English even oftener than before. But it is not so effective so far. 

The other day, I happened to listen to a radio program of Korean language lesson. It offered a training to repeat some sentences in Korean on a rap music. On the rap's rhythm, it sounded lively and attractive to me. Is it a popular method for language learning? Pronounciation as well as intonation sounded clearer with that rap dependent method. Articulated practise may help to master foreign language. Music or other experiences involved with our emotion, I know, could leave long term memory. Korean is an attractive language for me since I have a few Korean friends like Lee HL1DC. But I am a bit too old to start with a new language from scratch. 

Song and foreign language...it won't take me too long before "German for Matthew's Passion" has lit in my mind. I have learned most of the lyrics in German. It starts with the idea that the song of Solomon was realized in the life of Jesus. Toward the death of Jesus on Golgotha, the story will be intensified. With the words "Eli, Eli, Lema Sabachtani?" that is "Mein Gott, mein Gott, warum hast du mich verlassen?", Jesus died. It is the climax of this Passion. Then, recitatives and aria/choral calming down us ensues. It is worth learning again in German. 

I have a novel in German I would like to read in original language some day. It is "Unruhige Nacht" by Albrecht Goes. I might have written about this poignant and impressive story before. I still have a copy of this novel. Maybe, learning German again, I might challenge it someday. 

Even though it is often quite questionable if such a resolution may last long enough with me, I decided to learn German again with the text of St. Matthew's Passion. Making a note like I used to do in school days. I brought out this old German Japanese dictionary, which I learned with in my school days, from the college to the medical university. The cover is almost torn out. The biggest issue is that the fonts are too small to read with my old eyes. I have ordered a new dictionary. Everything is ready. Never ending study. I am excited to start it. No goal to be achieved but the process of learning itself is the goal. 

 

 

The antenna be down this fall

It was in 2006 when I renewed this antenna. I still remember assembling the parts before going for work in very chilly morning. I had used the same model since 1988, which I liked so much and wanted to have the same model. It is a kind of tribander for 40 through 15m, 3 element for 40m and 4 element for the other bands. Both of them have worked a marvellous job for me. Especially, on 40m, with this antenna, it was a big fun for me to work the long path in morning and evening in fall/winter months. What a joy it was for me to talk to friends all over the world with it! It was a real dream antenna for me. 

I have decided to take it down this fall after having wondered if I should maintain it or not for the past couple of years. I still have a wish to come back on the radio. But that wish is becoming smaller as time goes by. There are less friends on the air, whom I would talk to. It seems the digital modes which I am least interested in are becoming the main modes on the radio. Preparing for the case I may die all of sudden, I think it is a good choice to have it down very soon. 

Some may say I should do it without announcing it in this blog. But this announcement would make it a decision. 

I am not sad at all. Thanks to this fine antenna, I have enjoyed ham radio all my life. The first one for 18 years and the second one for another 18 years! Only grateful to this antenna.

 

How to avoid damages by insects

 For the past few years, tomatoes have been often eaten before harvest by larvae of tobacco moth, which dig a small hall on the surface and eat the content completely. Stink bugs are another pests for tomatoes, which aspirate the content through sharp mouth. The aspirated fruits are gradually degenerated and not edible. This kind of pest has been also a problem here.

A farmer who have been farming without chemicals after the method in Edo era told in an SNS that such insects would damage vegetables because of paucity of weeds in the farms. They would not damage vegetables if there are a lot of weeds for their lives around the farm. This is a kind of natural farming idea. They say the farms are a system of ecology including weeds and pests. With all of the weeds pulled away, there could be pests eating vegetables in stead. That natural farming farmer tells us to cut weeds at the height of a feet. Remainder of weeds would work as the environment for life for those insects. 

I have been pulling weeds around the vegetables completely and use them for grass mulch and for the source of compost. I don't think keeping weeds at certain height would solve the problem completely. But it may help to reduce the damages by the insects. I may try it from now. And seeding vegetables at the best time for them is another solution for this issue. In suboptimal conditions for vegetables to grow, for example, too early or too late sowing, they could be damaged by insects easily, I know from my little experience in farming. Too much fertilizer also makes the vegetables liable to damage by the insects.

A lot of learning in the farm. Very interesting. Being intrigued so much, I would go on farming.

Another fresh salad dish. Tomatoes and okras are the product at my farm.  

In elderly, we are apt to regret our pasts

At the age of 75 years, there are a lot of things in the past I should regret or scruple in the relationship with others. Sometimes, it makes me insomniac. Even though I know it is of little sense to recall the past things in that way, it still comes up in my mind. I sometimes wonder if it is a sign of elderly depression. Or is it the consciousness of sin in life? 

I could still eat, do daily routine and prepare for things in the future. It seems I don't need to consult to my wife yet. Maybe, it is a critical period for elderly which we should go through at some point of our lives. It is not advisible to do self-justification and deceive myself with it. There is no solution to such a problem. I believe I just accept it as it is and live the rest of my life with introspection after that.

In facebook, there was a thread regarding such a problem. I uttered something like this above mentioned. A comment has been given by an old friends of mine, David, N1EA, a professional radio operator on aboard, as follows;

"My only regret is that on my last sea voyage to Naha, Japan, I didn't try to visit one of the best Morse operators in the world: Dr. Onisawa."

To my mind worn out to the bone, this simple and still warm hearted comment was a real medicine. I was almost shedding tears at his comment. Even though he just told only his regret in his career or just a diplomatic comment for my skill on CW, his words have pnenetrated and warmed deep in my mind.

I think this feeling of scruple may make me more sensitive to the others' pain and let me appreciate deeper such a music as St. Matthew's Passion. And, hopefully, I would be like David who would send such encouraging words to the others even without aiming that. 

I only hope to catch David on the air someday and go on chatting as we did in the past, even though I know both of us are not able to operate radio at present. I thank you so much, David.

Crape Myrtle blooming

Crape myrtle has started blooming at the entrance gate of our home. In my view, it is a flower in late summer. Looking up about this tree, it seems to bloom from July to October. It may go on blooming until early fall from now.

I have cut the lawn in the garden yesterday. It was deadly hot. Feeling a bit nauseous possibly due to dehydration, I have had a blow of breeze on my back, making me feel comfotable for a second. 

For the coming month, we should undergo the cruel burning summer. Weeds may not grow so rapidly but it is still necessary for me to care for the garden/farm. Sitting in the garden/farm doing the work, I still recall of my father, who used to do the same thing for years. Quietly recalling of him while working in the garden/farm should be a commemorative ritual for him. As already written, I have not held any event for his 20th anniversary of passing this month. But this unceasing occasional remembrance in daily life should be a replacement for such a formal event.

Crustal movements and big earthquake/tsunami in our country

An interesting video movie by Geographical Survey Institute. It depicts the crustal movement in Japan continuously around the big earthquake in Eastern Japan in 2011.

 https://mekira.gsi.go.jp/movie/crustal_movement.mp4

The modern platetectonics tells two oceanic plates, Phillippine Sea and Pacific, are sliding below into the two continental plates, Eurasian and North American, and that movements are causing distorsion on and around our country. The distorsion could be freed as big earthquakes occuring here at regular interval. 

It is only a retrospective instropection but the crustal movements were predictive for the earthquake. Historically, it was known that there had been big earthquakes/tsunami in the Eastern Japan repeated in the interval of a few hundred years. 

The earthquake researchers had warned another big earthquake/tsunami. The power line companies with nuclear power plants were reluctant to accept the warning mainly from the economical burden. Only Japan Atomic Power Company took the warning seriously and, apart from the bureaucratic attitude of lining up in a line among the other power line companies, dealt with the weakness in cooling system of their nuclear power plant, Tokai Daini NPP, which later turnd out to be free from serious accident by the big earthquake in Eastern Japan.

It is amazing that the same power line companies and the administrative offices regulating them are hurrying up to rerun the other nuclear power plants all over our countries. They are far from taking out the debris from the crippled nuclear reactors in Fukushima. It has taken over 20 trillion JPY so far to proceed the decommissioning process of the reactors so far.

Twenty percent of big earthquakes in the world occurs in this small country. They won't care for that chasing only profit from nuclear power generation. People are cheated that nuclear power generation is cheap and is necessary for this country without any fossile fuel. Those propaganda are erroneous and are only to cheat them. 

Father's anniversary, Hilary Hahn with an arm nerve issue, Bach

 It's beeb a couple of weeks since I last updated this blog. Weeds are growing cruelly fast for now with much rain fall. It is still keeping me busy.

It was my father's 20th anniversary of passing on July 9th. I was aware of that but didn't do anything to commemorate the day. I still often remember how he looked on the bed in a hospital on the very last day of meeting when I had to leave for work. So worried and helpless. I iterated it in the past. I should have stayed with him. i could not help feeling bitter echo of regret. No sense to regret any longer, I know. But that feeling often unexpectedly hurt my heart. Caring for the garden/farm by myself, I often recall of him. Couldn't it be a way of mourning for him working that way as he used to do? 

My sister seemed to have held a commemorative meeting for father with her husband and their children. She has summarized father's bio in a brochure and sent it to me. 

I often listen to Bach's unaccompanied sonata and partita for violin played by Hilary Hahn. I have already written about her performance in the past. The best one for this great music. Impeccable technique and warmth in expression. I don't know how that "warmth" comes from. I still feel soothed as well as consoled whenever I listen to her playing this piece. With its profound structure, I feel as if wittenessed the universe creation but it still comes into the depth of emotion and appeases my mind. Hilary used to write in her blog that she started practising violin with one of this piece every day. Seems she loves this music so much. Her devotion to it might bring that appeasing emotion to the listener.

Last month, she announced she should cancel the recital trip to South America due to pinched nerve problem. She said it was doubl pinched nerve. I don't know what problem she has had. Maybe, compressed peripheral nervous system, possibly, median nerve at multiple points. As a violinist, it should be a serious issue. I hope good rest will get rid of the problem very soon. She has dedicated to the world of music so much. I wish her to continue her activity very soon. 

She often plays one of those enormous pieces as an encore. 

Tomatoes, hydrangea and marigold

A large number of tomatoes are harvested. Some of them are featured on a salad dish of also homegrown cabbage which is boiled. They are very fresh and sweet. Egg plants and bell peppers are also prolific this year. 

This hydrangea, fully blown now, has grown so big. It might have been planted for over 20 years for now. We are discussing to goldly cut it after the flowere are gone.

Marigold is told to suppress the nematode in the soil which parasites in the root of such as tomato etc. I have been keeping a lot of plants of marigold in garden/farm for years. They leave a lot of seeds in fall. This is a cluster of marigold spontaneously grown at a corner of the garden/farm. They keep flowering until the end of summer. Very lovely.

Watching and harvesting these plants/vegetables, we often talk about how long we could live and care for them here. It is not too long for sure. I have written long ago how I was born and spent my toddler days here. This place was a small tuberculosis sanatorium around WWII managed by my aunt. My parents have started their family at that facility. My very first memory in my life was some hymn sung by the people staying in that small facility. The song was coming to me on a breeze through the pine trees in the property. Before that, this place used to be a large  pine tree forest. Whether we worry or not, this place may return to such a quiet forest in the future. Until that time, I would go on caring for this property.     

Farm and garden growing

Finally, we are in the rainy season. Fine raindroplets are falling endlessly throughout a day. On the fine days, however, I am kept busy cutting weeds and piling them on the farm bed for grass mulch as well as compost, and caring for the growing vegetables. The following photos were taken several days ago. Something like tomatoes or cabbages are being harvested for now. Broccholi is already over.

One of the tomatoe plants. Fruits are already ripened now. Very sweet. 

Egg plants are also ripened for now. The fruits cooked with vinegar, sake, sugar and ginger/garlic pastes. It is a very simple and tasty dish. My favorite and special dish.

Plants of pumpkin are growing as well. A few fruits are already growing. They may be cropped by August. I am trying to seed it at present. It may hopefully get matured late in fall.

The red rose flowers are prolific. Of course, it is not a vegetable. This outlook comforts us whenever we go beside the plant.

 

A big tree of Satsuki, which our parents used to plant almost 30 years or so ago. The gardener has cut it in this beautiful shape.

Too many photos...I would go faster. Beef with broccholi. The latter was a big fruit grown in the farm.  

 Fresh salad featured with pieces of cheese. Tomato was not matured yet at this time. It was a fruit sold at a super market. Lettuce is a harvest in our farm. It has been productive this year. Now I am going to take the seeds from them.

Sorry for this lengthey post in a kind of mannerism. I just would like to tell you I have been enjoying working in the garden/farm. Maybe, I have already told this but it could be very peaceful and comfortable when I work there withoug any worries or anxieties. I feel I am in the nature and a part of it myself. I would return to the mother nature in some years. What a blessing if I could go there in peace! Selflessness in devotion to working in the nature may lead me to the day upcoming. 

PS;Oops, the last two photos were already posted in the article on Jun 2nd! Is it a sign of aging? Maybe, there are some readers chuckling at me. 

Intermezzo OP118-2 played by Seymour Bernstein

In the very last days of life, John, AC4CA, was in hardship. His wife was institutionalized due to progressive Alzheimer and the corona pandemic refrained him from seeing her in person. He had neuroendocrine tumor becoming uncontrollable with the previous treatment and had to attend to MD Anderson oftener for further choice.

In that situation, he has played Waltz by Chopin, which unfortunately I could not recall of the name of, as he told me. It seemed music was a real relief in his life at that time. 

I told him to listen to the latest sonatas of Beethoven. I thought they would have given him conslation and even more power for life. 

He answered me he would. But, listening to this Intermezzo by Brahms played by Seyour Bernstein, I realized I was wrong then. He needed a piece of music closer to his heart than encouraging Beethoven, even if Brahms stood on the same level as him without any solution to his problems. Mostly emotional and almost staggering as if ceasing telling the story halfway. 

A couple of years ago, he has passed away like a puff of wind. This performance by Bernstein has reminded me of that truth in life in relation with the memory of this important friend.

 

Origin of music breathing together

The hunting tribe, Baka pygmies, has kept their life style in the central Africa since over one hundred thousand years ago. Their culture is thought to represent the origin of our culture. 

They sing the song for certain important events. Surprisingly, it's not a simple monophony but a polyphony with elaborately constructed rhythm. Each participant sings own unique part which collectively becomes a polyphonic music. I firmly believed it was not possible without synchronizing their breath. One of our ancestors' direct descendants, Baka pigmies tribe, may still maintain that style of the origin of music. 

Since age 50 years or so, I had been immersed in playing cello, which I started at the med university as I often mentioned. I often wished I had taken more lessons in young days whenever I had difficulty to play it. However, with kind good company of music, some from the university days, I could enjoy some chamber music as a cellist. I learned that breathing together was the key point in music. I believed it was how music was born among our ancestors. Breathing together brings us pleasure. Since we live together with them. When I knew of the polyphony this tribe still had held since ancient days, I was convinced that I had been in the stream of music if not perfect way. 

This piano trio has reminded me of that history of music which is not well conscious of even by music players. This piece, one of my most favorite ones, requires very intimate attitude to it when it is played. Each player seems to have realized that atmosphere in this rendition. 

https://youtu.be/W4_cP_-mf5w?si=zUHetGV4DBS6Nn0I

It is always a big pleasure for me to find such an ensemble.

AI assisted medicine

In 1963, a famous neurologist, Professor Shigeo Okinaka of Tokyo University has published at his retirement lecture that the misdiagnosis rate throughout his career as a doctor was 14.2%. He had been eager to have made autopsy for the patients in charge, when they died, to confirm his own diagnosis for them. Of course, the diagnosing means, such as laboratory exams or diagnostic imaging, were limited those days and the concepts of diseases were different from now. But his misdiagnosis rate was accepted by doctors with much surprise. It was a surprise that such an excellent neurologist as Okinaka could bring on such a rate. In my med student days, this anecdote was often told as a lesson to study hard of the diagnostics.

Reaching correct diagnosis is always the very beginning of medicine. It determines whether a patient would go dead or alive in most serious cases. The more important it is for a patient, even the more essential it is for a doctor. 

 

In the recent issue of Science, Eric J. Topol of Scripps Research Institute has written how accurate diagnoses could be made when generative AI is introduced in the diagnostics in medicine. 

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adn9602

As introduced in this article, there are possibilities of misdiagnosis in two aspects of clinical medicine. Clinical doctors at the front of medical service are always diagnosing their patients in System 1 thinking way. Without laboratory tests or diagnostic imaging, the doctors should give a diagnosis, even if tentative, to the patient before him/her. Automatic, near-instantaneous, reflexive and intuitive manner. In Japan, under the system of the socialistic medical economics, most of the doctors could not spend much time for each patient. Generative AI may benefit the doctor as well as the patient since there would be less chances for the bias of the doctor in charge. 

On the other hand, deliberate, thoroughly exmined consultation, which only few patients could receive at exceptionally specialized institutions at present, may depend on System 2 thinking. This could be supported by generative AI as well. It may give the updated knowledge of medicine to the doctors which is essential for the correct diagnosis. This may happen less frequently than the former cases but may determine the prognosis of the patient.  

Generative AI sounds very helpful to us in clinical services. There could be, however, two issues, so far as I understand, when generative AI is introduced into the clinical medicine. 

The first is who would pay for the cost of AI. At least, the present system in medical economics would not afford that for routine use. Could only limited number of wealthy patients pay for that? In our country, MHLW seems to replace the area the publich health insurance covers to that of private insurance. The people is told they would have more chances for better medicine in that private insurance covering area. They don't know how much private insurance costs everyone.

The second issue is who would take the responsibility of misdiagnosis by generative AI. In our country, they won't bring such a case to court so often. With system being americanized, there should be more cases of law suits. Who should be responsible for such a case?

As a whole, however, it should be a progress in the medicine. It would be accepted and used properly in clinical medicine in the near future. At least, much better than development of the AI controlled arms. 

Still getting along well

Again, it's been a pretty long interval since last post in this blog. We are doing just fine. My wife is busy at the activities of local community, which is told to be voluntary but, in reality, is compulsory from the order of the local government. Anyway, she seems pretty happy to do with the neighbors. I am still kept busy at the farm/garden. I have been planting various summer vegetables. Spring broccoli, lettuce, green pea, fava beans and potatoes have been harvested. As an unexperienced farmer, I knew how short potatoes could be preserved in ordinary condition. I was a bit shocked. In summer, it would get too hot to prevent budding of potatoes! It turned out to be a useless and desparate trial to keep them for half a year or longer. I am serious to prepare for food shortage which could be brought with the poor policy of agriculture by the government. Maybe I should grow rice or wheat for such preserved food in our country. You know the food self sufficienty rate is only 38% in our country, which drops to around 10% considering of dependency of fertilizer or of the other sources for farming on imports from the other countries. I have already written about it in a previous post.

Another reason why I am apart from renewing this blog may be that I am less concerned about relationship with others, that is, am not caring for any approval or supports by others. The internet SNS is a handy tool to get in touch with others and to inform them how I am getting along, most probably expecting any praise by others, or if not so much, any concern toward me. Year by year, I am feeling that way. Maybe, it is a sign of senility. They say losing sociability is an early sign of congnitive disorders or, at least, a risk factor for those illnesses. So I would adhere to blogging a bit more hoping it would prevent or delay the arrival of real elderly. 

Sometimes, I am still cooking dinner. This is a dish of beef with newly harvested broccoli. The broccoli was 8 inches in diameter. Without any fertilizer but with only compost, it has grown that size without much damage by bugs. This was seasoned with oyster sauce. 

Another cook is a simple fresh salad. The lettuce and green pea were the products in my farm. Tomatoes are getting ready soon. I expect hundreds of them will be served for salad etc very soon.

So that is how I am getting along. Still reading a lot of books regarding mostly politics, economy and music. Listening to good music such as Art of Fugue as I recently mentioned of or chamber music of Brahms and so forth. It is a time of treasure for me to listen to them before going to sleep.   

This blog should be named "An old man's monologue" for now. I still appreciate anyone who visits here. I would continue it until it becomes an old man's solo diary and I am told to stop it.