Works in progress this month

I don't have a lot to show for handwork so far... I must be doing something but nothing is getting completed and I still have a ways to go so here are some of my in progress projects.

Stitchery... that I was NOT planning to do anymore of but couldn't resist when the cats showed up. This is still February's block and I'm nowhere near the end. March block has already been posted at Red Brolly but I can't even think about that yet. I'll be happy if I get THIS block done! It should have a bit more color when I get to flowers and things... This looks pretty drab right now.

I am in possession of one of the corners for our bazaar quilt and four of us took home embroidery thread and instructions to stitch around all our previously colored patterns. It will be SOO nice to get this to a flimsy stage. Already we are beginning to ask... "Who is going to quilt this quilt?" "Not I." said the little red hen. My stitchery on this is taking me away from my cat stitchery (and the feathered star.)

Leiya asked me (and who can refuse a daughter living in another country whom you haven't seen in a year) to make her a vest. A knitted vest. Neutral color. Maybe specks of other neutral color. Button down. Not bulky.

Hmmm. She's asking a lot because according to my calendar I am out of the knitting season (November to January) but because she ASKED and because I LOVE her and because I haven't made her anything for a year I went off to the yarn shop and bought cotton yarn and found a pattern I like.

Sorry Leiya, I can't make it to order because I couldn't figure out EXACTLY what you were thinking of. I hope motherly love will cover the faults of unfashion. (And don't count on this arriving in your mailbox for awhile... Think summer.)

And finally a little COLOR on my blog... Three of my 6th graders are
"graduating" from English this month so I set them to work on Happy Villages. Now what that has to do with English I don't know but instead of going out and buying them a pen and pencil set or something I decided I'd rather help them make a remembrance of their six years with me. (And we did some minor sewing over the years.) So the three Happy Villages have been made and I need to get them quilted by Monday. Yes, I know there are only two here in the picture. I'm devoting Sunday night to quilting the last one.

And I shamelessly copied Diane Gaudynski's addition of a quilted cat in one of the houses because I know one of my student's likes cats (me too!).

Got to get back to work!

Elementary school

Yesterday I went to the local elementary school to teach an hour or so of English to the first and second graders. Japan has always had English (of sorts) in Jr. high and high school but no one comes out speaking any English after 6 years of studying so the Education Department is hoping to add English into all the elementary school curriculum next year. There are already foreign teachers hired on a two year contract that make the rounds to all the schools in the district about every other week. I have never thought of applying for that job because I'd prefer to work in small groups and get to know the children. (And I don't want to do a lot of driving.)

But the neighborhood school asked me to come in yesterday and I had a good time. Sort of everyday English which wasn't very interesting but the way I was treated as an honored guest! I thought that was interesting.

At the entry to the school someone had written welcome greetings and ringing the intercom brought one of the office ladies to let me in. Although the other doors seemed to be open and children were freely going in and out, the formal front door to the school was locked. I was directed to the Principal's office and we settled into the deep sofas to enjoy a cup of hot coffee before my class.

Pretty soon a couple second graders knocked on the door and very nervously announced their names and that they were from the second grade, and then guided me down the corridor to where the class was waiting, (also nervously). I "performed" with exaggerated gestures and a lot of action and finally everyone warmed up. A fun 30 minutes.

After class I was led back to the Principal's office and served a cup of hot tea and a sweet bean cake (which I declined until the first grade class was over. I couldn't see trying to teach with my mouth sticky with sweet beans and omochi.) The first graders were shy and sweet and I think we all enjoyed the 30 minutes.

Again back to the Principal's office and I was served more hot tea, ate my sweet sticky bean cake, chatted with the principal and the two teachers who came in specially to thank me for giving up my precious time, was paid for the hour's work and handed cakes and Japanese paper gifts on my way out. Principal, vice principal and two office ladies accompanied me to the front door bowing deeply (me too!) until I was out of sight.

Hm-hmmm~ That was sort of fun.~

Elderly care

My friends and I are arriving at the age where our parents and in-laws need a lot of care. When I visit with my friends, the conversation which once revolved around kindergarten activities and then cram school and entrance exams, now focuses mostly on parental care. And all my friends speak of exhaustion, irritability and broken family relationships.

In some ways, Japan has an excellent system for caring for the elderly. Each person over 70 is categorized as needing a certainly level of care. Those who are still independent, are in fairly good health and have no dementia are eligible for limited care or help. Others who suffer from poor health, who are bed ridden or have Alzheimer's are awarded more hours and levels of care.

For example, my mother-in-law lives alone in an apartment but she no longer walks without a walker and holds onto arm rails. She also doesn't see very well but she survives with certified "helpers" provided by the city to come in to clean and occasionally cook a meal. The helper will also do some light grocery shopping but that had to be negotiated between our family, the care manager and the city. My mother-in-law also gets daily meals brought in and has access to "health care taxis" which will take her to the doctors. All this is at a VERY minimal fee but my mother-in-law balks at paying anything and she isn't very happy about the way the helpers clean or cook etc. If she had been "categorized" as being less independent or slightly senile or in poorer health, the care would have been more complete and cost even less so right now my mother-in-law is not happy that she is considered healthy.

The levels of care include in home medical care; short stay programs where a convalescent facility will accept an elderly person for a few days (in order to let the family have a break); and day care services. Day care programs will pick up the person by a facility van, will provide meals and activities and in some cases the person will be bathed. At the end of the day the person will be brought home. Some of my friend's parents use this service three or four times a week. My mother-in-law won't have anything to do with short stay care nor day service care and so she is getting along on the helper system.

Convalescent homes in general are dreary places (sorry Tetsu). They are warped linoleum, thumb tacked announcements, plastic aprons, crowded feeding centers. It is no surprise that so many elderly people do not want to go there. There are private convalescent homes that may be comparable to nice American facilities that one must pay a lot for but Japanese are not used to paying for health care so only the extremely wealthy are able to live in these private facilities. I'm afraid I wouldn't want to live in a subsidized convalescent home and I guess Tetsu isn't thinking of putting his mother in one yet...

For so many families, the burden of caring for their elderly falls on the daughter or the daughter-in-law. Japanese men work long hours. They aren't particularly good at expressing their emotions and the pain of watching elderly parents decline is pushed onto the women. In many cases the husband has been transferred to another city (or country!) and the wife remains in the in-laws home to take care of them. Resentment sets in between siblings and spouses. By the time the parents are gone, no one is speaking to each other any more!

I once got into an argument with a neighbor for saying something simple like,

"I don't see my children ever coming back to living with Tetsu and me. They have their own lives and we raised them to go out into the world and touch others."

"What on earth is the point of having children if they are not going to take care of their parents! After all I've sacrificed for my children, their first duty is to care for the parents who brought them into the world and gave them everything so far!" (And in my neighbor's thinking, her son needed to find a good wife who would cheerfully take care of his parents. Good luck!)

It is an impossibility to explain one side to the other and by far, the children's duty to the parents plays a very important role in Japan. By those standards Tetsu and I aren't doing well by his mother nor my own.

Japan has the highest population of elderly in the world. Actually the government is having trouble keeping up with social security, health care and services. The ideal is to keep the elderly person as independent as possible and many programs are being developed and businesses abound. Still, it looks like it will be a long haul before everyone is satisfied... In twenty years or so I'm going to be needing some of these services myself. I hope they get it worked out.

Lucky

I finished my paper piecing quilt. It is nice. I hope my friend likes it. It was a "see if you can do it" type of quilt. A combination "Paint by number" and "Brain teaser" project. There is not a lot of creativity in this quilt because I ordered the pattern and fabrics from Silver Linings Originals and it turned out about as I imagined. I put in some wonky letters (that aren't very wonky) but that's about it for individualism.

My friend, Mrs. Shibahata lost her beloved dog Lucky, last month. Although I don't believe in luck, Lucky lived up to her name. When I first met Mrs. Shibahata she shuddered whenever an animal came near. NO PETS FOR HER! But her young son wanted a dog. NO WAY! How about a hamster? When they went to the pet store to look at hamsters Mrs. Shibahata felt ill at the possibility that she might turn into a "mouse" owner. They came home without a hamster and the Shibahata household remained petless for a few more years. Her friends, including me, just couldn't imagine an animal in the Shibahata family.

A few years later a stray dog was found in the neighborhood and it looked like it was destined for the pound. Would Mrs. Shibahata take it? Gulp. The son was pleading. Mrs. Shibahata agreed that UNTIL the/an owner could be found that the dog could live in their yard. The SECOND the dog entered that car, Mrs. Shibahata was touched by an angel and fell absolutely in love with her new dog!

No trip was taken without Lucky being along. The family excursions were planned around which hotels would accept dogs. Lucky was introduced into the social life of cafes that catered to dogs and Mrs. Shibahata's life was enriched by many dog owner friends. A dog door was built into the window, a terrace and ramp led to Lucky's yard. Lucky lived in the living room in her own little quarters and Mrs. Shibahata happily made organic treats. The neighbors adopted Lucky on the few times that Mrs. Shibahata absolutely had to leave her alone and pictures of Lucky adorned the Shibahata picture frames.

Then a couple of years ago Mr. Shibahata was transferred to Germany. What to do? Lucky was getting old. She had back problems. But it was unthinkable to leave her so all the paper work and shots and health examinations were completed so that Lucky could go to live in Germany. And Lucky and Mrs. Shibahata traveled first class on Lufthansa airlines so that Lucky could sit at Mrs. Shibahata's feet during the flight!

Reports back from Germany were that Lucky was a real star and she had happily adjusted to doggie German life. More lunches in dog welcoming restaurants. More travels, this time around Europe in hotels that accepted animals. Lucky's bad back made it necessary to transport her around in a stroller/buggy type arrangement but that only made her all the more popular with other tourists and Lucky often posed for pictures in her stroller. After a year, the Shibahatas and Lucky were back in Japan but gradually old age was taking its toll on sweet Lucky. Finally last month she passed on with Mrs. Shibahata by her side.

On a table in the Shibahata living room is a digital picture frame where the pictures change every few seconds. At first glance the pictures seem to be of the glorious scenery of Europe but in every picture there is Lucky, sitting proudly in her stroller, being held by Mrs. Shibahata, walking along the shores of some famous resort.

Lucky was a very "lucky" dog. But I think it was Mrs. Shibahata that was even "luckier"! A small, friendly Beagle changed her life and changed her heart.

A poppy

I love poppies. I wonder why. I like their strange furriness. I like the primitive way they insist in dropping their outer hull from the tip of the flower down to the stem. I like their crinkly petals when they escape their hulls and I love the way they pull themselves from a bowed position to revel in the glory of the sun.

Tetsu brought me some poppies a couple of days ago that I thought might not make it because they were so stooped and dried out looking. This morning one flower has lifted its head and with it's vibrant orange (who imagined such color could be hidden in that hull!) has brightened the window sill. The other buds are sure to follow today!

Illiterate

Hmm. What have I got to say today? Not too much. On days like these I should just close the computer and not force you to read drivel. Writing is a habit I can't break. I guess I don't want to.

Which leads (I knew it would lead somewhere) to the fact that I can't write in Japanese. And I've always wondered if the frustration of being illiterate for more than 30 years is why, when blogging entered my life, I've gone completely manic and feel like I have to write something!

Yesterday I was "writing" my resume for the crosswalk job. That hasn't been approved yet, I was asked to send in a resume. So I sat there with pen in hand saying things to Tetsu like,

"Umm. Is there a "to" or an "in" or an "of" in there? (I have trouble with prepositions.) Is that word supposed to be in formal Japanese (honoring the person reading the words) or in informal Japanese? (humbling myself.) I can't remember how to write that Chinese character. I'm using all the simple characters for this. Oops. Made a mistake there. Where's the White-Out?"

Tetsu, who didn't think writing in a daily crosswalk log was going to be much of a problem for me, seemed to be having second thoughts.

"Come on, Tanya. You can't use a lot of White-Out on a formal resume. You're going to have to start over. What? You don't remember how to write that simple Chinese character? You know, when you speak Japanese I don't notice how much you DON'T know."

"Thank you, Tetsu." (I think...)

I had thought when I came to Japan that I would study Japanese writing and be able to read and write anything in a few years. WRONG!

When we were married I tried to get Tetsu to teach me to write Japanese. As anyone who tries to learn how to drive with husband as a teacher will tell you, this is a good way to end a marriage quickly.

I thought I'd do Takumi's homework with him when he got to elementary school and we would learn to write Japanese together. Hmmm... Can't keep up, BUT I have another chance when Leiya hits elementary school.

33 years later I don't know what my excuse is for not being able to write Japanese but I scribble along furiously at 1st or 2nd grade level. (And that's being optimistic!)

I'm hoping that if I become a crosswalk guard and am FORCED to write in a daily log, that my Japanese will improve! I can just see you out there shaking your head and saying,

"Tanya's letting herself in for a lot of headaches. A glutton for punishment?"

Of course, when the city officials see the Japanese on my resume, they may put it quietly away and tell me to apply again AFTER my Japanese has improved.

Sisterly love

You do not want to know how long it took me to delete comments yesterday and this morning... I found more in my old posts and some were in English and Spanish. So now I've put moderation on posts over 14 days ago and I caught a couple this morning too. It must be all computer generated. It makes no sense otherwise. People, no matter how weird, couldn't have that much free time! I sure don't have the free time to spend my hours deleting! We'll see how moderating comments goes before trying passwords.

***********************

Okay, on to other, NICER things!

I was at Mrs. Furui's house Thursday and the first thing I notice is a Work-In-Progress that wasn't there a month ago. What HAVE you been doing, Mrs. Furui?

Another baby quilt! It is almost disgusting how many nice things Mrs. Furui makes and all of such heirloom quality. Sometimes I wonder why I bother! Every last inch of this is hand pieced and hand quilted. The colors soft and sweet. The whimsical placement of the blocks. The carefully chosen quilting patterns for the circles. The complicated quilted border.

Would you make a quilt like this for your grandchild? Yes, you would. It is absolutely darling. Would you make a quilt like this for your sister's friend's baby whom you will never meet? No, I would not. Not with all the time and thought and love that went into this!

"Mrs. Furui, you are scary! What are you going to do someday when your own children have babies? How are you going to be able to top this?"

Message to Mrs. Furui's sister.

"Please treat Fumiko-san to an expensive French lunch and a buying spree in a quilt shop!"

Delete

I am upset this morning. In my Gmail box there was a comment about one of my blog posts. The comment was in Japanese and it was to an OLD post. It wasn't anonymous (those don't come any more into my mailbox). So I went back to the old post and clicked on the comments button to see what the person had said. (Instead of reading it in Gmail.)

Once in my comment box I find that there have been many more comments. All in Japanese. And with my poor Japanese reading skills I tried reading one. Shall I say my face burned? Or that I burst into tears? Or that I felt violated? You get the picture.

My first reaction was to DELETE FOREVER! as fast as possible, which I did, but there were others. In fact, going back to the post box I discovered that there were 182 comments, the last 159 in Japanese and offensive. I spent about 30 minutes frantically deleting but I have not come to the end.

I do not want this filth in my comments box. Even though people don't really visit the old posts, even though they don't read other people's comments to old posts, even though all this junk is in Japanese, I DON'T WANT IT THERE!!!!!

I could delete the post altogether ridding my blog of contamination but I liked my own post...

The bigger problem is to how to protect this from happening again. As you know I have never put comment moderation on my blog. I find it a slight nuisance to put in passwords and stuff when I go blog visiting and I liked the trusting, friendly feeling of just allowing people to comment as they like. I've never had a real visitor who was offensive. There have been occasional spam like things that seem to be selling something or generically say "great!" and then ask me to visit their website but I usually ignore those or delete them. I had noticed that the number of spam things have been increasing but they have all been in English.

This morning's infiltration is all Japanese, and all within an hour or so... I do not know why that one particular old post was chosen and I'm wondering now how many other old posts have offensive comments in them that I have never been aware of... Do I go back and check all of them?

I will see what happens over the next couple of days... If this happens again I may resort to the moderation-password option. I will be sorry to do that but it is better than being afraid to read my own blog...

I'm going back to my deleting now...

On top of the world

I'm off to a mini-patchwork group meeting... Three of the ladies can't come today.

Rumor is that the Mini-Round Robins aren't going so well. One lady who hates quilting anyway (she likes to piece) has been busy caring for her ailing parents so she can't do the quilting stage of her MRR. Mrs. Furui (the professional of the group!) is at a loss about what to quilt on hers and has sat staring at it for a month. Her opinion is that these are really more suited for machine quilting (an overall pattern or something) but since no one but me does machine quilting, everyone is at a stand still... Don't look at me please! I have enough to do! The goal of passing the MRRs on to the next person for binding today will not be met...

And for no other reason than that they are cute, here are Toi and Cleo demonstrating elevation therapy. Toi has decided the dog towel basket on top of the dryer is a good place to relax until Mom lets him out of the laundry room. Why get upset about life (like Patora)? Just find as comfortable place as possible and take a nap.

And last week I brought home a bolt of batting which I store on top of the quilting shelves Tetsu made for me. Cleo has discovered that this is a WONDERFUL, fluffy place way on top of the world and he is now living with Velvet in the sewing room. I don't know how happy Velvet is about the situation but as long as Cleo stays up on the batting, Vel will stay down in his cave (box under the ironing table).

Territory Enlarged

This is a boring post. I'm just trying to reassure myself that I'm doing what I'm supposed to do.

Last week I had a phone call from the neighborhood elementary school principal. She contacted me with a "request". I have known the principal for the past couple of years and she often comes to the crosswalk that I man every morning when the children are going to school. I have been a volunteer crosswalk guard for the past 8 years. Five days a week I go out with my homemade flag and spend about 30 minutes at the crosswalk until the 15 or 20 children leave the neighborhood.

The school principal asked me to consider a paying job at the SCHOOL crosswalk. The man who has been the crosswalk guard is retiring after 10 years of work and the city must have a crosswalk guard in front of every school. Since I have already been doing this for 8 years the principal wanted to recommend me for the position.

"You will be helping so many more children, Tanya. It is a necessary service for our small community. It is a paying job!"

I thought about this a couple of days. Yes, I have a love for the children and feel confident that I could continue doing what I've already been doing as a volunteer. I have settled in my heart that I want to be of use wherever God leads me and with a door opening up like this I feel this is what I should do. I have turned down jobs that took me to the other side of the town or that required I stop teaching where I already teach. A job that can be completed early in the morning, leaving me to teach or sew as I always have done sounds very appealing. I was a bit concerned about leaving my current post but there are other volunteers that come occasionally and maybe if I am not there they will commit themselves daily. At any event the chairman of our neighborhood who already comes to the crosswalk is fully behind me moving down the street to the school…

Moving to the school crosswalk will mean I have to leave the house earlier and stay longer. Tetsu isn't opposed to that. It will mean he is the one who will have to put out the garbage twice a week but he is willing. It will mean we don't have a leisurely cup of coffee on weekdays but that's okay with him too. "We could always wake up earlier." We get our chatting time in on our walk with Choco anyway.

Today I went to talk with some city officials about formally applying. Actually they admitted that there isn't anyone else applying so this is just a formality.

BUT… I didn't realize, but should have expected, a lot more "duties" are involved in this job. Even though everyone assures me that I don't HAVE to do everything, it is ENCOURAGED and has always been that way (the message was they expected me to follow the procedures but were willing to overlook a few lapses…)

1. A crosswalk guard must always wear her uniform. Oh glory be! A little skirt and jacket and hat? Gulp… This is going to be a great joke on me. I may never live this down. Forget it, Tanya. That's your pride talking. What you wear doesn't change the fact that you will be performing an important service. Okay. I can live with this rule.

2. A crosswalk guard makes daily entries in a log.

"Wait a minute, please. I do not write Japanese. At least I don't write it well. Second grade level at best. I am not going to be able to write in a log and send regular reports."

"No, no. Don't worry about that. You can just write things like "It is cold today." "The children looked happy." It doesn't have to be long and tedious."

As my blog friends know, I am pretty disciplined about writing daily… Well… a line a day in Japanese? Maybe… Discipline Tanya, discipline…

3. A crosswalk guard attends seminars to keep up to date on traffic rules and get feedback from other crosswalk guards.

"You'll make friends. We have a lot of fun."

I don't really need to make friends. I just want to perform a service. I told the officials that I work daily. I'm not going to be able to come to their monthly seminars.

"That's okay. Just attend when you can." (I'm saying, not much at all!) "You'll have to attend the first one to get the lowdown on what to do. You'll have to attend the ceremony where the former crosswalk guard retires and the position is passed on to you. After that you can attend when it fits your schedule. Oh, and we have an overnight seminar once a year too."

"Besides the first couple, I don't think I'm going to be able to attend overnight seminars or monthly seminars at all. I teach daily!"

"Okay, well, we'll work around it then, but do attend when you can." (…That's what I'm trying to tell you… I don't think I can…)

"And then there is the farewell ceremony at the school. Of course you'll come to that because you are invited even as a volunteer and there are the Entrance ceremonies at school which you'll need to attend because you have to be introduced to the students."

Sigh. And I thought I was just standing in front of the school every morning… The first two months may be hectic and take a lot of schedule shuffling… But I HAVE warned them that I don't have a lot of free time (except in the mornings…)

Hey, this may not be any worse than the dumb traffic committee I was a member of for four years. That was pretty bad but I didn't get paid for that.

I've got to remember not to complain about any of this to Tetsu since he didn't really see why I would want to take an official crosswalk position anyway.

"They say they need me… Hey, I'm 55. People don't usually get offered a job at my age. If I enjoy this it could be regular income far after I'm too old to play around with the kindergarten and nursery school kids. I'm an early bird anyway. I've always believed in taking the opportunities that God drops before me. Didn't even Jabez ask God to enlarge his territory?"

Japan has so many rules and ceremonies and formalities. I'm not very happy about them but I have lived with all of them for 30 years. This is just jumping feet first into FORMAL, OFFICIAL Japan.

I would appreciate prayers for patience and contentment.

Dolls

Yesterday my friend sent me a picture of her Japanese dolls put on display for Girls' Day, (March 3rd). The display is beautiful but can you see in the upper left-hand corner that a furry family member is up there too trying to look like one of the dolls? My friend's cat carefully made its way up the tiers and past all the dolls and implements, and delicately seated itself next to the Emperor doll at the top. Those are very expensive dolls so I hope the kitty continues to be careful about where it sits!

And though we are a little early I thought I'd show you some of the Girls' Day "dolls" I have around my house. (Actually my little traditional ones are still packed away in their box. I'll have to get them out this week...)

Tetsu brought these home last week from his convalescent home. The care workers were making a pair for each resident to decorate the dining room tables. I think they are made of milk cartons and Japanese paper and Styrofoam balls. So cute! And they rock back and forth when you touch them!

Then I got in on the act and decided to try some "origami" Girls' Day dolls. I had a little trouble figuring out the directions for these so they are not perfected yet. I'm going to have to try this again. The cats have great fun batting these around so they may not last very long...

And while I was at it I tried a paper doll that is cut out and pasted together rather than folded. Too many little pieces! (That sounds funny coming from a patchwork quilter.)

Can you tell why it takes me so long to finish quilting projects? I'm always ready to try something new!

Training?

I was EXHAUSTED yesterday after spend an hour at a training gym. I am definitely NOT a sports person.

Our little town recently built a multi-million dollar community center and gymnasium facility. One branch of the facility has conference rooms and classrooms and health related rooms, the other branch has a large gymnasium with multiple basketball courts and showers and a body building training room.

In order to use this very nice training room, the residents of Nikko must take an hour seminar to learn how to properly use the equipment. Last week Tetsu and I made reservations for the seminar and had a guided tour along with 10 other people. According to the reservations director we were come 10 minutes before that appointed time (in order to have our blood pressure taken and recorded) and to wear clothing that was "easy to move around in". Tetsu and I went in jeans which is the easiest clothing I have in my closet but we weren't allowed to use their machines that night because we weren't in "gym" clothing... Frown, frown. Not only Mr. Kokubo has to obey the dress codes...

So after church yesterday Tetsu bought me some gym clothes.... And then we went to the training room and played around on all their machines. Walking on their tread mill. Rowing. Step climbing. Elliptical machine (I don't think that's the right spelling but I don't know where to check...) Bicycling. Abs machine... More machines that I don't even know what they were supposed to be doing but I tried them all.

By the time we were finished I wanted to go to bed! But being hot and sweaty Tetsu wanted to go to the pool (on the other side of town) and sit in the sauna awhile... And the pool does have a nice hot bath and jacuzzi so we spent an hour there too. THEN I came home to collapse and get nothing else done for the rest of the evening!

I don't think I'm going to be a regular visitor to the training center... But I've got the gym clothes in case Tetsu invites me to join him again... Come to think of it, he was the one who suggested we join the swimming pool and I go far more often than he does! I don't think he'll get to the training center much either....

Two projects down...

Y-kun's Happy Village quilt got quilted and returned to him this week. I about strangled him though because when I gave it back to him I said

"Now, don't go showing this to the other boys. They didn't have a chance to make one and they will be jealous. Leave it in the envelope until you get home. Now that's a promise right?"

"Oh, yes, yes. It's a secret between Tanya-sensei and me!"

Ha! The second I slipped it to Y-kun on his way out the door he started waving the envelope around and in a sing-song voice he taunted,

"I've a secret. YOU guys didn't get to do it! Too bad for you! You guys lost out and I had a lot of fun!"

Of course that sent the other four boys into gales of protest that Y-kun was teasing them and what was it that he had that they didn't get to have and why was I playing favorites with him again.

Sigh. I guess I should have been able to see that this was the way things were going to go with Y-kun... Ah well, one out of five boys happy...

And I spent yesterday putting a Prayer and Square quilt together. I must have shown this flimsy months back when I first made it (I try to keep one or two Prayer flimsies at hand) but I sandwiched it and basted it and put the ties on last night. I always think that if I just have a flimsy available that it will be a quick job to get it ready for being tied but it ISN'T a quick job! It took most of the day to put it all together. I wonder if I should go ahead and make flimsies AND sandwich them AND bind them before putting them aside... But that's being more organized than I want to be I guess.

AND I'm doing some paper piecing which I hope to show next week. I'm not a big fan of paper piecing but I have a project in mind so this is sort of a challenge. I'm thankful that I have always liked puzzles and brain teasers because that's what it feels like to put a complicated paper piece block together!

A new quilter

Yesterday I had the honor of helping a young expectant mother learn how to quilt.

Miku-san has never done patchwork before. A couple of weeks ago we went together to a fabric shop and she picked out some fabric and I taught her how to hand piece. She had only a small pocketbook sewing kit so we purchased some basics too, needles, pins, and thread. In a couple of hours she learned how to trace a template, cut pieces, hand piece and iron seams. I left her working on her first nine patch and offered to help her make a few if she began to feel overwhelmed.

This week Miku-san said she was ready to learn how to quilt and so yesterday she came to my house with her FINISHED flimsy! The pattern I had given her was in English (which wasn't so hard for her but the measurements in inches rather than centimeters provided a challenge) and so I had never expected her to get so far without my help!

Together we marked quilting lines (grid) with my quilter's ruler which she had never seen before and was very impressed with, and then we sandwiched her quilt and hand basted it. So far so good.

I had an extra quilting hoop and demonstrated how to hand quilt. Oh! I had forgotten the agonizing first stitches a new quilter tries to make! The hoop gets in the way, the needle doesn't go through the quilt sandwich, the stitches don't come out even, the thimbles fall off the fingers or wave around over and under the quilt never getting near the needle! I preceded all instructions with the phrases,

"This is the way it is supposed to be done. If you can't, then do it the way that is easiest for you. If you want to make future quilts it is worth it to practice the technique. You'll get the hang of it. It just takes practice."

Miku-san wanted her stitches to be perfect; to be tiny and even and beautiful on the back and the front.

"I didn't know it would be so hard... I thought I'd just have to push the needle through...."

"It's your first quilt. You can't expect it to be perfect. If you keep working at it by the time you finish this quilt you'll be a pro and your stitching will come naturally."

Again I offered to do part of the quilting for her if she got tired but she insisted that she wanted to make her baby a quilt all by herself...

"Okay, but don't try so hard that you go into early labor! Remember to relax and take breaks!"

I hope Miku-san enjoys herself, will be happy with her baby quilt and will want to go on to make other quilts in her lifetime.

"Ganbare Miku-san!" "Go at it, Miku-san!"

Kindergarten crafts

More snow today. I have a feeling I'm not going to get to my monthly patchwork group gathering. I'll miss my friends' company but as mentioned yesterday, I have a lot to keep me busy around here.

Yesterday I was at the kindergarten and managed to snap some pictures of the children doing some handwork. The oldest class (5 year olds) braid and sew a basket throughout the year. First they are taught braiding skills (holding the end of the rope between their toes and braiding towards themselves) and then they are taught to use a needle and thread.

This project has been going on at least 20 years because both my children have baskets that they sewed when they were in this same kindergarten. I noticed that the mothers have gotten fancy and have made a pincushion for each child fashioned from a soda bottle cap, fabric, cotton and elastic. My kids never had those in their day. Notice how it fits on the thumb as the person sews.

The teachers make sure that each child has made a basket by the end of the year but of course some children are faster than others and don't need much help. Those kids get to graduate onto felting and a few of the girls were busy stabbing balls of wool into different shaped cookie cutters to make felt figures. This is a new project from my kids' days. I'd like to try this too!

And there were a couple girls (extremely advanced?) who were busily making pompoms. Measuring out yarn, tying the centers, cutting to equal lengths and then attaching the pompoms to elastic and ribbon for hair decorations and bracelets (I guess.)

And finally, here is my handcraft for the day... I finished up the Bunny Hill May BOM and am ready to cross that off of yesterday's list.

Too many projects

You know, for someone who doesn't have a lot of quilty material on her blog, I sure am involved in a lot of unfinished projects... Yesterday I listed the ones I'm working on and the ones I need to work on and the ones I've got downloaded and am ready to start and I counted 16. And nothing to show for any them!

This is a little unnerving because I fear that the bigger ones won't get finished in my lifetime... The smaller ones sort of dribble into the free minutes in my day... A couple of them are participant projects (bazaar quilt, Mini-Round Robin) so they should go quickly, and I am ahead on the Bunny Hill BOM, but the list hardly fits on one page.

Marie sent me a link this week and that was what sent me scurrying to tally up my projects and see if I can squeeze in another one. If you are a cat fan (and so many of you are!) and like to do stitchery (and I was saying my eyes wouldn't hold out for another embroidery project!) this is absolutely darling. Today I'm off to the next town over for a day of teaching. And I'm stopping at the craft shop to pick some more embroidery floss.... Pray that I'm not tempted by anything else new.

Attitude

The big news this week on Japanese TV is about how the Japanese Olympic delegation barred their star Olympic snowboarder, Kazuhiro Kokubo, from attending the opening ceremonies in Vancouver. The reason? The way he wore his uniform was inappropriate for an Olympic athlete representing Japan. The Japanese congress even got in on this and had a debate about whether the boy should be allowed to compete at all!

Oh dear. The boy is 21. Personally I don't like his style but it doesn't mean he isn't a good snowboarder. But he is supposed to be representing Japan to the rest of the world and to wear dreadlocks, have two piercings in his nose, let his tie hang loose and have his shirttail out while dragging his pants around his hips... This is a no-no in Japanese eyes... And when questioned about his appearance the boy gave a rather undiplomatic "Ah, ****~" (In Japanese of course, which comes out quite mildly as swear words go...)

Goodness. Don't tell me Mr. Kokubo sprouted those dreadlocks overnight or didn't have his nose pierced from awhile back. He's been going to college looking like this. But a uniform is a uniform and wearing the uniform in such a fashion is a slap in the face to all the people who are supporting him (and his fan club disbanded because of all this too!)

When Takumi was in high school he had to wear a uniform. And he wore it in about the same way that Mr. Kokubo wears his! Low pants, (I had to cut strings off of the fraying pants cuffs), shirttail out and loose tie, (as well as ripped jacket, torn bag, smashed leather shoes, etc. etc......) Takumi and I both hated that uniform. Yeah, it was a slap in my face too! What kind of mother raises a child that looks like this!

In Japan there is an English test that is sponsored by the government (I guess) and that jr. high and high school kids are encouraged/required to take. There are many levels and the kids must apply, go to a designated testing area, take a paper test and then a few weeks later take an interview test. For my kids this wasn't a big deal. Takumi passed the paper test easily. A few weeks later he went for the interview and since it was given on a Sunday (and not at the school) Takumi did NOT wear his uniform... Low pants, a sweat shirt, sneakers... And when the interview results came back he HADN'T passed! Hey, that's a surprise! Takumi's spoken English and comprehension was much better than most kids his age so what happened. On the result card there was a memo that he had marks taken off for ATTITUDE. Hmm. Takumi's not ornery. He makes a good first impression. What did you do, son, to lose ATTITUDE points? Nothing that he could think of...

When talking with a teacher friend about Takumi's results, she asked if he had worn his uniform that day. Oh no, it wasn't a school day.

"Tanya, students get points taken off if they aren't in uniform. They have to look like students. Tell Takumi to wear his uniform and look good at the re-test."

I passed the information on to Takumi who thought the whole system ridiculous.

"How does what I wear have any connection with how much I speak or understand English?"

"I don't know, but I suggest you play by "their" rules if you want to pass "their" test."

At the re-test a week or so later, Takumi went dressed in his uniform and he passed his test with no marks off for ATTITUDE.

Japan places great value on looking alike and at least on the outside playing the roles properly. I do hope that Mr. Kokubo does well in the snowboarding event just so that he won't give people more opportunity to criticize.

Here's my son impersonating a gang member and a "good boy".