Apologies

I promised I wouldn't to this to you again but here I am talking about bugs once more.

I went to the kindergarten as usual yesterday and all the T-shirts just caught my eye. Unfortunately I'd forgotten my camera so these pictures were taken on my cell-phone. The kids were so flattered to be asked to pose for the "camera". You can see there really is a fixation on bugs for Japanese kids!

And as a last gross out. Look what Cleo caught when he went out on the veranda yesterday. This is a locust! (Nope! Wrong! Melinda caught me on that and informed me that Cleo had actually caught a cicada! Thank you Melinda!) I had opened door to hang up the laundry and Cleo dashed out and back in with this poor cicada in his mouth making a terrible racket at being captured! Of course that brought all the other cats running to see what the ruckus was about but Cleo took his prey and hid under the table. I rescued the cicada who was in such a state of shock it just sat on my hand while I took its picture. I let it go in the forest.

Cleo was completely disgusted with me.

An old quilt

I pulled out an old picture, taken in Ohio, of a quilt I made when Leiya was 5. At the kindergarten that she went to the parents were encouraged to make a Christmas present for their child (the children of course had made some art project to give to the parents). I decided that year to make Leiya a quilt. At the time though she was into pinks. I expected this quilt to last years and I really didn't think she'd be a fan of pink for the rest of her life (the girly-girly cutie pie era of her life) so I convinced her that yellow would really be a more neutral color. You guessed it. She wasn't really that happy with this quilt when it got finished. She sort of grudgingly kept it in her room all these years though I really like this quilt!

When Leiya was getting ready to go away for high school I thought she should take her quilt with her but she wasn't too eager to. (Maybe she doesn't like yellow). There were a couple rips in it so I appliqued some hearts here and there to remind her of our love. I insisted that the quilt go with her to Ohio and this time I think she was happy that she listened to me. For the first few months at least she kept it on the bed that Bessie (her host mom) prepared for her and it absorbed quite a few homesick tears. It's a little small for a double bed, but it reminds her of home I'm sure. It may be tucked away in some closet now but it is serving it's purpose of tying her to her family so far away in Japan.

So what's the moral of the story? Insist that your kids listen to you or not?

Blankets

Wasn't I just saying how hot it is in Japan? Well it has drastically cooled off and I've had to get out long sleeves and pull out the winter blankets.

Quilting Rush asked me a question. "Why don't Japanese guests sleep in between the top and bottom sheets on the bed? Is the bedding different in Japan? They always sleep between the blanket and the top sheet, not in between the sheets."

This is true. I haven't been in too many Japanese hotels lately and I assume that the bedding there includes top and bottom sheets, but it in the home most people only use a bottom sheet. At least in my family that's all we use and I'm assuming that's true in other families.

For one, the Japanese futon is laid out and taken up every day so fiddling with another sheet is a lot of bother. In any case, the sheets that one does buy for futon are usually pocket like things that the whole heavy futon mat that you sleep on can be fitted into. It is a very tight fit and zips up so that the futon doesn't move around inside it. There is another similar pocket like sheet that the top quilt/comforter (usually heavy cotton batting or feathers) can slip into also. This is a more relaxed fit and you sort of have to tie down the corners of the comforter or else it will get tangled in the covering sheet.

Even so, not many people just sleep with just the top comforter. Usually there is a blanket between the two parts of the futon and Japan has wonderful blankets! I once took one to my mother and my sister-in-law pounced on it and asked me to send her one and then her mother felt it and asked me to send her one, and her friend wanted me to bring her one! Blankets are often two ply and are made of a silky fur-like plush "fabric" . They are soooo soft! I cannot imagine not wanting to just luxuriate in the warm "fur"! So, why use a sheet and deny yourself!

Of course in the summer it is way too hot to use the blanket but there is also a very Japanese invention called a "towelkette". This didn't go over quite so well when I took one as a present to the States. Too heavy maybe? A towelkette is a very large, heavy towel, much larger than a beach towel and heavier, and it serves to absorb the sweat and dampness that accompanies the hot, muggy, summer Japanese nights.

How does all this get washed? Well, the futon covers and the towelkette can be washed normally. The blankets are a little more tricky, they are so big and bulky. I take mine down to the laundromat and wash them in a big washer there about once a year. At any rate, Japanese bedding, the bottom futon, the blankets, the top comforter and everything, is put out in the sun to air whenever the weather is nice and this fluffs up and sterilizes the bedding. (I think I wrote about this once before...)

Since I'm talking about bedding again, I'll mention that Tetsu absolutely has to use a pillow made of buckwheat husks! It makes for a very hard crunchy sounding pillow which I shun completely! Give me a feather pillow any day!

I'm sorry about these pictures. I was hoping I could give you a feel of what the plush blankets look like. Sort of abstract isn't it?

Raw fish

Yesterday I went to the supermarket and sort of had Anne from Quilting Bebbs in mind. Her daughter is doing a report on food in different cultures (I think. I'm not really sure of the details on that.) and so I took along my camera "just in case". Well, look what I stumbled upon! The supermarket was hosting an event where a tuna was being cut up for sashimi right in the middle of the shopping aisles. This may be a more common sight in the towns along the coasts of Japan (and most of Japan is coastline) but we live in the mountains about as far away from ocean as you can get in Japan so this was a big deal. There was quite a crowd of spectators awaiting samples and ready to grab the sashimi as it got put out so I wiggled my way in there and took some pictures.

Just as I pulled out my camera the tuna head was being put in a bag and there were people grappling for it so what you see in the headless fish. I think this was a fairly small tuna, some are so big that use cranes to hoist them from table to cutting "board". I did pounce on a chunk when I was finished taking pictures and it was the main dish of last night's dinner. Tetsu pronounced it one of the most delicious pieces of sashimi he's had in a long time.

I went along and took other pictures as I shopped. Well, canned goods and vegetables while they are different from what you find in American supermarkets, are not that interesting to look at but I did snap away in the delicatessen department. A lot of sushi and a lot of colorful obentos. Obentos are wonderful boxed lunches and they can be a lunch option instead of noodles or fast food. I found this hilarious article about obentos. It really gave me a laugh!

Yum. I'm getting hungry!

A craft show

I came home yesterday with some unexpected purchases and gifts. Tetsu asked if I wanted to go with him to a "fair" that was being held in a local library where artwork and crafts made by the mentally handicapped were being displayed and sold. Tetsu works for an organization that sponsors one of these circles where the young adults are trained and taught and so he wanted to see what sort of things they were making.

It wasn't a very big exhibition but look what I found and look what I bought! In our area there is a lovely type of weaving called Saori which I've always been drawn to. I love the roughness and beauty of the threads and weave. Someday I really want to spend some time learning how to do this! Even the kindergarten where I teach has a loom and they let the kids practice with their mothers. Saori is quite expensive because the setting up of the loom takes a lot of work and the thread is costly but I think I have one lovely scarf in my possession. Yesterday when we entered the lobby look what I was given! This cute little cat key ring! I could tell right away that I'd found a place I was going to like! Isn't this darling?

After wandering around and seeing all the crafts I came upon this wonderful "pillow". I sort of planted my feet in front of it and looked longingly from it to Tetsu and he generously bought it for me. Hey, cats and the Saori that I've admired for so long! How could we leave without this! Aren't the colors lovely?




On our way out I came across this booth selling postcards and that stopped me in my tracks again. I have a couple pieces from this local artist in my home (do you remember the little acorn man that used to on my header? I think the header is at the bottom of this page now.) I think this artist is just donating proceeds from the art work to the association but I riffled through the postcards trying to decide what to buy and ended up buying the whole set! I don't even write postcards anymore! Seeing these little fellows just makes me smile. Because I bought the whole set they gave me a poster too so right now I have that up on my wall. Here is the other knick-knack that I own. Actually when I bought it a few years ago it wasn't for sale but I convinced the lady who was selling it that since I was an English teacher that I really needed this piece!

I am a very happy gal today!

A walk with Christ

One of my blog friends asked me how I became Christian so I hope you'll bear with a little of my Christian background.

I grew up in a Christian home though my father wasn't a church goer. My mother took my brother and me most Sundays and I was fairly active in a high school youth group. When I went away to college I met a nice boy that was just "different". Friendly to everyone, helpful, cheerful I found out he was Christian and I could just see Jesus shining through him. In one of our conversations he asked me if the cross pendant I was wearing meant something to me or if it was just an accessory. Unfortunately it was just an accessory and after talking to me about it he said "Oh, you're not a Christian." "I most certainly am! I've gone to church all my life!" Over the next year he mentored me and brought young Christian girls into my life who became my friends and guided me. There was some point that I surrendered everything to Jesus and acknowledged that I didn't know the reason for everything but that that was ok. I wanted to walk a Godly way.

For the next couple years of college I stayed close to the Christian youth association and studied the Bible and when I went to Japan for an 8 month exchange program I wrote my research paper on the history of Christianity in Japan. When I was ready to graduate, my desire to return to Japan and desire to share the gospel led me to apply to the Presbyterian Board of Missions and I was accepted. I must admit that my desire to be in Japan was greater than my desire to evangelize. I've always been a terrible missionary since I have a very hard time "convincing" people and I can always see their side of a situation. (Why the person is suspicious of the Christian, why their situation makes it difficult to believe.) This is something that still nags me to this day. I can't just pin someone down and say "You need to know this!" I hope loving the people around me is enough but I'm not sure that God is saying that it is. I often remember my "shining" friend and hope Christ's love shines through me and people will be drawn to God.

Tetsu was the first person to come to Christ who was directly influenced by me. He wanted to date me and I was at church on Sundays so he met me there and gradually started coming to church with me. He was baptized a few months before we married and we have made the church the center of our home. (I should say Jesus, but we tend to be serving people and are involved in lots of church service work.) The first church we attended (and where Tetsu was baptized) was the Holiness denomination which is an off branch of Mennonites, but that has very little meaning in Japan. All churches were forced by the government to integrate into one main Protestant church (and one Catholic church) during World War II, and many of the church denominations just have stayed in the main Japanese Protestant Church. Right now we attend an average size church in our neighborhood. In the whole city of Nikko I think there are only two Protestant churches and one Catholic church and our church is very new, built about 7 years ago. The average attendance on a Sunday is about 20. This is an average size church remember. We've attended churches when there were only about 10 people every Sunday.

Sometimes I feel that I am part of a great miracle of God. I am a rather shy person and have always had trouble speaking in front of people. But nowadays I find myself giving short messages at our little church about once every month or two. So what? Sometimes there are only 10 people there. But for me to be speaking in front of people at all, let alone in Japanese, seems like a miracle to me every time I get up there. It can't be me! I'm not sure if the message stays in anyone's mind, but I leave that to God and just make myself available.

Also last year I was given the opportunity to be featured on a Christian Japanese television program and God overrode my hesitancy about evangelizing and I gave a minor message to viewers. Basically I just quoted the nice saying "Bloom Where You're Planted". God puts us in a certain place and whether we like it or not, whether we want to play a bigger part or a smaller part, He uses us where we are.

I'm sure that's more than enough Christian testimony for some people so I'll stop here. Thanks for reading.

September goals

We're at the end of August. I didn't get too much sewing in this month. Hopefully next month will be more productive but with classes starting and a new class to prepare for I may get bogged down. (This includes blog posting and visiting. I've got be out of the house by 8:30 some days so that is going to cut into my time in front of the computer.)

Let's see. Goals for September.

1. Stay on top of the 365 Challenge
2. Keep up with assignments on Tonya's online class
3. Do my turn on the quilting for the Bazaar quilt
4. Decide on a layout for the Feathered Stars and start corner blocks
   
5. Start a quilt with the fabrics I bought in the States

The last goal is something I've been planning to do but I have no idea where to start yet. I want to do something with stars in somber colors and I bought some fabric already but didn't do any calculations on how much I actually need. This is going to be a gift quilt so I don't even know if I want to make it bed sized or wall sized or what. Hopefully I can make those decisions in the next couple of days. Does that sound like too much? Three of those goals are sort of reachable just by my own discretion. I'll give it a go.

And just this morning a friend, Mrs. Ochiai, sent me a picture of this beautiful quilt top that she made so I'll show it here. She's been working on this for a few years and had it in her closet but she is finally at the quilting stage! I hope that once she gets her quilting lines drawn that a bunch of us will help her get it basted so that she can start quilting. I wonder how long that is going to take! Isn't that a beauty! And look at the applique! She said she had 119 leaves in that border!

Beetles. Not roaches!

Yesterday was a day of errands. Kindergarten in the morning. I took Lemi to the vet just to find out if her bathroom problem is medically related. It is not. She is in great health. Good news. I'll just have to figure out some way to discourage her from using the new carpet as a toilet! (Bought another cat box!)

No. These are not cockroaches! I don't want to freak any of you out, but did you know that in Japan some kids keep bugs for pets! I suppose if the house is too small for a cat and there's no yard for a dog, then there is not much smaller you can get than a bug! I know traditionally crickets were kept (and are still sold in pet stores these days) because they make a ringing sound in the summer that is "cooling" to the ear. They are not set free in the house of course, instead kept in small plastic bug boxes (used to be small bamboo cages).

The most popular bugs for kids are two different types of beetles, a Kabuto mushi and a Kuwagata mushi. Do not ask me what they are called in English. I've even seen kids put little leashes on them and pin them to the shirt so that they can't fly away! The pet stores sell special beetle soil and beetle houses and beetle food. Anyway, they are very popular with young Japanese boys and the really industrious boys in our neighborhood will go into the forest with nets and try to find their own beetles. (Most parents buy them at the pet store for their kids though.) I think the pet stores in the big cities can sell them at quite exorbitant prices though around here they sell for a few dollars apiece. Kids who really get into it will keep beetles year round and watch the whole hibernation and hatching process. Hmm. Grubs in a box. No thank you.

Even though I say that, before Takumi entered kindergarten and we still lived in an apartment we did try our hand at keeping a pet beetle. As I recall, I got grossed out and we let it go in a nearby park after a few weeks.

These are pictures taken at the kindergarten and the kids were proudly showing off their beetles to the camera. Can you hear me pleading "Do not get any closer to me! For heaven's sake! Don't step on them!"

Uh oh. I hope I haven't lost any blog readers because of this post.

My last star

Ok, this has been finished for a few days but I got sidetracked (a common problem). This last star turned out greener than I expected though since I was using a leaf print I don't know why I am surprised. Even so, I think I'm finished making stars. I have 12 stars altogether. I started sometime last year (but before I started blogging so I have no record of a beginning) and made one a month though I took a sabbatical from it for a couple of months around Christmas.

Next step. What to do with them? Bzyqltr gave me some ideas to pursue and I've been trying to design the layout of the stars. I'm not very good with this part. As I've mentioned before, I hate numbers. I am at a complete loss in even the simplest math and so trying to figure out how much fabric is needed for 12 blocks with 20 corner blocks and 31 between sashings and......Oh forget it! How big is this quilt going to be? How many pieces do I need to cut? How much fabric do I still need to buy? How do I cut it so that I get the most out of the fabric? Sometimes I think I'm not suited to be a quilter (what a waste of 22 years!) I've scribbled all over a couple sheets of paper and made some calculations and put it aside for awhile and now looking at the paper have absolutely no idea what it means. Well, the cats as usual like my block. That's Lemi christening it and Cleo asking for a turn at sitting on it.

A great leap of faith I took yesterday was to join Tonya's online quilting class! I'm such an ol' stick in the mud it is hard to try new things but I really wanted to study under Tonya and I'm thankful for this computer age when we have the ability to at our fingertips even though she lives in France and I'm in Japan. We're supposed to keep things a little mysterious on our blogs so I may not have much to say about this upcoming experience but I will drop hints about what we are doing.

Touche

Oh how fun. What is this button? I just noticed that next to the Add Image button.

Hey, I did it!



No, those aren't witches or some strange cult figures walking around. Those are kids in their padded kendo outfits with helmets and metal armor around their chests and somewhere in that group is Leiya. Actually this is a video I once took when Leiya was in jr. high during her kendo practice. I just wanted to see if you can really put a video on a blog. (It's the only video I have). Unfortunately I don't seem to have any sound for this but I remember being so shocked that my little girl was attacking someone and yelling bloody murder on top of that! Ooooh! Scary girl!

Kendo is Japanese sword fighting and is a common sport like judo and karate in Japan. The "sword" is made of four pieces of bamboo that fit together and there are arm guards as well as the helmets and body armor. Tetsu was so-so about Leiya doing kendo. He really wanted her to follow his first love and do judo but the kendo team was better at this school so this is the sport she chose. I think the purpose of kendo was to "bang" your opponent as hard as possible, preferably over his head.

Those three years of jr. high school kendo were very interesting to me and I think they taught Leiya a lot about teamwork, perseverance and bearing up under pressure. She was really very good and I have fond memories of this time. Here she is in a real competition. By the way, that suit of kendo wear cost us about $1000! Supposedly you don't really grow out it so if the student makes this their life sport you were getting a good deal. Three years? Well, I don't regret her buying it. It is still in the closet somewhere. That little dinging hanging down with Japanese characters is our last name.

Getting together

Yesterday turned out differently than we'd planned. (How often do I say this?)

All day Saturday Tetsu and I had worked on the "Nightingale room" and thus we'd unplugged the computer and the telephone. Around 6:00 I plugged everything back in and checked e-mail. Leiya had written to say that her host father "would be" in our city on a business trip. She sent the hotel address and telephone number but didn't say when he'd be here. I wrote back immediately to ask when. Yesterday morning at 6:30 after our morning walk I checked the e-mail again. Mail from both Leiya and Scott! He is here! Scott was trying to get in touch with us but the telephone wasn't working (Because we'd disconnected it all day!) So even though it was before 7:00 am. I called the hotel and made contact with him. Since he is in Japan on business he didn't really have much time for visiting, but he did have yesterday free so of course we were bound and determined to see him!

Problem. The house was in shambles from the day before. (We had been too tired to clean before going to bed.) One or both of us had to leave the house in about an hour in order to pick Scott up and go with him to church. Leiya needed some stuff from the computer put on a disc. So...I took off for the hotel about an hour away and Tetsu cleaned house and played with the computer! (Which, by the way we couldn't figure out so Leiya didn't get her stuff)

What a wonderful reunion with Scott! I talk to him occasionally when I call Leiya in Ohio but hadn't seen him in nearly 2 years. He had two business associates with him and the four of us went to church at the church where our family had first met Scott's family 6 or 7 years ago. It was good to see old friends (even for me) and everyone welcomed Scott like a long lost family member (which of course he is, in the family of God!) I got back into my mode of translating which means scribbling the sermon into English as fast as I can. My head doesn't work as fast as it used to and my handwriting hasn't gotten any better. I don't know if any of the three Americans could make heads or tails of what the pastor was saying even after reading my translation!

After church we headed back to Nikko where Tetsu was waiting, the house clean! My husband is so good about cleaning. I was amazed at how good he could get the place looking in just a few hours! He even put down left over carpet tiles in the kitchen! A quick look around and then we headed out to lunch.

A quick aside. Tetsu and I both drive moderate-sized cars. Not vans or SUVs but certainly not little compact cars either. At least for Japan they are medium size. But all three of the American guys were big and squeezing them into my car was painful to see. Knees up around their ears. Neck twisted to one side or the other because they couldn't sit up straight! Poor guys! We went in two cars to lunch but even so, I felt sorry for them as they folded and unfolded themselves when getting in and out of the cars.

Anyway, we had a wonderful time with Scott and his friends and covered many topics of conversation. Not too much said about Leiya except that she is studying very hard and doing well in school (Scott's observation) and our repeated thank yous for giving her the opportunity to study in the States. It was a great day!

The Nightingale room

We survived! Look, look, look at my wonderful new carpet in the Japanese room! (Maybe I should call it something else since it no longer has Japanese tatami mats.) Tetsu spent all day from 9:00 to 5:30 working away and it is finished!!! I absolutely love it!!!

The whole project was not without aggravations. First Tetsu took out all the furniture. That left the living room also a mess for the day. Then he took up the tatami. Did you know that tatami mats are really very thick boards of matting. They are heavy and unwieldy. Easy part done.

Next Tetsu went off to buy lumber with very rough measurements. I don't know why, but we do not have a tape measure and he didn't seem to think it necessary to buy one and instead was using my quilter's ruler to do his measurements. Even those, he was content with the "roughly 54 centimeters" type of thinking and he came back with a lot of wood that he then had to cut by hand. I offered the suggestion of borrowing a neighbor's electric saw but Tetsu preferred to huff and puff and do all the cutting with this little hand saw that was so old I thought he'd make more progress with my kitchen knife. "Do not give unnecessary advice." I kept telling myself.

Choco tried to be helpful (stealing the rag) but all in all was quite happy that she had Dad out in her yard cutting lumber all day. The cats were very good and even with the windows and doors open, didn't venture downstairs at all. Too much confusion.

Next came the laying of lumber and nailing down the frame and then the base. There is a little patching under there but I didn't take pictures of the mistakes. Someday someone tearing down this house is going to say "What was this builder thinking?!" It serves our purposes and only Tetsu and I know the flaws.

Finally the laying of carpet tiles. That was the fun and easy part. Tetsu wasn't sure about the color I chose, "Orange? You want an orange floor?" Well, I wanted a cheery floor. I teach in this room and I figure the kids should be in a happy atmosphere while they're here. True, it doesn't really go with much but it is cheerful and sort of vitamin color! I love it!!

The new floor isn't perfect but I think it is wonderful! It creaks when you walk on it! Hmmm... Not much we can do about that now. That's ok! There is a famous castle in Kyoto, called Nijo Castle where all 33 rooms in it have purposely creaking floors so that no one could creep up on the Shogun there. The floors are called "nightingale floors" because they make bird like creaking sounds. I could call my former Japanese room, the "nightingale room". Sort of has a nice ring to it and so does the floor!

What do you think? Isn't my husband wonderful (and tired looking!)

Keeping up with the Joneses? (or my brother?)

Hopefully this is going to be the last picture you see of these Japanese tatami mats. Tomorrow, Tetsu and I are going to try to put down carpet tiles.

I came back from the States two weeks ago and walked into the Japanese room to be met with a smell. The smell has been around for awhile but believe me, a month of heat, dampness, unrestrained cat habitation and closed windows had made it extreme. (Sorry for any of you squeamish people.) I have mentioned before that though Japanese tatami mat rooms are beautiful and convenient, they are a bit of a mistake if the owner has cats, and we have four. Sooo.... A couple of days after coming back to Japan I put my foot down and made some declarations!

"Tetsu, there is no way I can use that Japanese room any longer. The smell is too bad. We have lived in this house nearly 15 years and have never changed those mats. I am not out of line to insist that we make some changes!"

Tetsu sighs. "You've been to America. You've seen your brother's nice house and the changes he's made there. Now you want to start fixing up ours."

"Unfair!! It is not just my brother's house. People in America are constantly renovating and re-painting or re-carpeting or doing something for the up-keep of their homes! Our house just sort of sags into disrepair! There are only three weeks left til summer vacation is over. I'm going to hire someone to come and take out the tatami mats and put down flooring." (Then at least I can wipe up after the cats.)

"We can't afford that. I'll do it."

"Ha! You always say that but you don't have time (or know-how.)"

"No, this time I really will. It will save a lot of money."

Last Saturday we went to a interior and housing superstore and checked out options. How does one put in flooring? How about linoleum? How about carpeting? How about carpet tiles? Yeah! They lay down easily. They can be removed one at a time to be cleaned. They can be replaced in spots. We decided that is the way to go.

Today, my job is to get everything out of the bookcase and off the computer desk and tomorrow we will move any other furniture out of the room entirely. Tetsu is planning go go to the hardware store and buy enough lumber to put a heavy foundation for the floor in and Sunday he hopes we'll be able to lay down the carpet tiles. (which we've already bought! We're committed to this project!) I can foresee irritation and arguments tomorrow but I will try to be a sweet, helpful wife and keep him plied with ice cold drinks and praise. I may not get around to blogging tomorrow but keep me in your thoughts (27 years of marriage is at stake!) Maybe Monday I can show you a carpeted Japanese room!

This is what greeted me when I took a look at the bookcase this morning. Scared me out of my wits! I didn't know she could get in there!

Creative at last

I AM SEWING AGAIN! Yeah me! I feel like I've found myself!

Though I miss having Leiya in her room, I cleaned it all up and got it back to my sewing room arrangement. I contemplated rearranging the furniture but it was too hot and I didn't have enough muscle power and it would take me another two days so I just pushed some things back against the wall and arranged it like before. I've shown those pictures so I didn't photograph it. My sewing machine is up and waiting patiently for me to come and make daily use of it again!

Once the cleaning was done I sat down (in the air-conditioned livingroom) and did some piecing. I was a little distressed that I hadn't finished the Feathered Star blocks (I thought I'd done all twelve) but happy to find that I'd cut out most of the pieces for the last block. I had hoped to finish it all yesterday but I've still got a little way to go. You'll probably see the finished product tomorrow. This was a year long project and I did it all hand piecing (why!?). I'm stopping at twelve blocks and now I have to figure out how I want to put them together. This may mean a lot of computer time looking through blogs and websites. Anyone have any ideas?

In case anyone was wondering, my mom is doing ok with her week "alone". My brother and family has been gone since Sunday and I'd been worried about her eating habits and medication. I've called to remind her at least once everyday and Marcy's mom comes in once in the evening to bring food and remind Mom to take her medicine. This morning she said that the neighbors had invited her to dinner the night before (they'd been alerted to the situation) so it seems God has her in good hands.

As for Tetsu's mother, she's still in the hospital but more to protect her from the terrible heat wave that Japan is having. She probably could have been released after a couple of days, but going back to an unconditioned apartment would just send her back to the hospital so she is comfortable where she is. By the way, she is annoyed that she has to pay $30 a night to stay at the hospital and thinks it a waste of money. $30 is nothing!

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!

Resolutions

Summer eating habits are getting back at me now. Do I really want to commit myself by telling you I've gone on a diet? Yes, because that is the only way I'll stick to it. I know it isn't interesting but as I've said before, putting it in writing makes me stick with something so these are my resolutions:

• I'm dieting until I lose 3 kilos. For pounds people that is a little more than 6 lbs. I could lose more but I need to be realistic. You notice I'm not saying by when... I may live the rest of my life on this diet!

• I'm keeping a food journal. At least writing it down makes me aware.

• I'm upping my pedometer number to 14000 a day. This seems horrendous to me but what must be done must be done. I was getting to 13000 fairly easily these past few years but these last 1000 steps are a real headache and I find myself marching in front of the TV a lot in the evening. Sigh.

• I'm trying a 20 stretch and exercise website that is nice now but may not fit in with my schedule when I start teaching again.

Ok. I won't go into the gory details.

I haven't shown any pet pictures for awhile but it is so hot all they do is sleep all day. They won't even open their eyes for the camera! The only time I could get a cat picture is when I was feeding them all. The two on the white linoleum, Patora and Lemi are the females and they eat regular food. The two that you can barely see on the flooring, Cleo and Velvet are the males and they both need special Urinary Tract something-or-other food. They seem to know the difference in their food so they stay on their respective sides though Patora, the fattest, will eat any and all left-over food.

And here is Choco looking hopeful for a treat. Sometimes I wonder about this dog. Absolutely wild when we let her in the house. Chasing cats, standing on the table, knocking over the trash cans, sticking her head in the sink etc. I try dog psychology and give her a lot of love, but though she gets more excitable when you pay attention to her, she absolutely never will look me in the eyes. You can't even pet her without her doing flip-flops in ecstasy. She seems happy but she responds only to reprimands and scoldings, not to praise. Hyper is putting it mildly. Still, we love her and make sure she gets a lot of exercise. I would love to have her inside all the time but she is uncontrollable right now. (I keep hoping she'll relax with age or as she gets used to us etc. but we've had her for two years and she isn't relaxing yet!)

Ok, off to do my 20 minutes exercise.

Green Japan

Not too much to talk about today. The hot weather is making me very lazy and I dread going up to the sewing room which is very hot and not cleaned up yet. I make quick trips up there to plug in the sewing machine and sew a seam or two on the 365 Challenge but I have yet to do anything creative. What happened to my patchwork blog!

It also rained and thundered big-time yesterday so I ended up unplugging the computer, the TV, and the air conditioner. Brought Choco in and then spent the afternoon reading. and cleaning (still!) I hope to see some friends today though. Need to be a little social.

Japan's humidity and heat are hard on the body but it does make for beautiful scenery and a lot of green so here are a couple of pictures of the lovely countryside that I live in. I always feel like I'm walking on a green ocean! These are the rice fields that are beginning to get heavy with rice.

And these other green pictures are of a nearby lotus "field" or bog that I pass on my daily walk. The flowers are about the size of a small pineapple and the leaves are about two feet in diameter. Lotus roots are quite crunchy and delicious and at this time of year we get to enjoy the lovely flowers and delicate green.

Fingers

Ok. Here is a bit of trivia that Quilting Rush Aug. 10, brought up and I thought I'd mention it on my blog. Quilting Rush has been having Japanese foreign students come to stay in her home each year for the past 8 years and she wanted to know why the kids always flash the peace sign when they have their pictures taken.

I don't know, but it has been a pet peeve with me since my kids were little. All Japanese children, teenagers, adults, even the grandmas and grandpas flash their fingers and smile when they are asked to look at the camera lens. You ask them why and they don't know, it is just the pose you are supposed to make for pictures. I think it looks ridiculous and my mom would get angry with my kids whenever they would start flashing the peace sign for their pictures. Are all these kids sending out a message of peace to the world? I don't think so. There are a couple of other poses too but the peace sign is the favorite.

I checked Wikipedia yesterday to see if there was any reason for this custom and I found out that there was! It seems that Janet Lynn, the skater came to Japan in 1972 and became an instant celebrity with the media. A few years later she became a peace activist and the Japanese media who was still following her, saw her use the peace sign and broadcast it to the nation. It became popular around that time and has remained so though not many people remember Janet Lynn these days.

I have another theory though. Japanese are basically very shy people and it used to be that picture taking was only done formally and in those pictures you were never supposed to smile. Wedding pictures, passport pictures, school pictures, driver's license pictures etc. are even now taken with a serious look on the person's face. I smiled for my driver's license picture once, and had to take it again! This is truer of the older generation who don't really know what facial expression to take when a camera is pointed at them. I think the "pose" gives them something to focus on besides their expression and thus it became popular.

Whatever the reasons, I have finally trained my kids not to use fingers when I'M taking the picture but I notice Leiya still does it when she is just with her friends in a picture taking session.

How's that for trivia? This is a picture of some of the kids I taught a few years ago, and I thought I'd better to keep them anonymous for my blog. That's Leiya goofing off when she was in jr. high. Fingers anyone?