Cat experiment

I've have been diligently quilting on the When-oh-When and have already reached my last star. I haven't decided how to do the inner squares (stitch-in-the-ditch or lines marked with masking tape) but before I start that I think I'll try a little of the white space and see how the quilting patten comes out. That's the fun part!


As reported earlier, the cats enjoy sitting on this quilt and they vie for rights to a quilted seat. I hardly turn around before one of them is on it. Even Choco is drawn to a corner of the quilt if it sags to the floor but I'm not so happy with a slightly dirty dog sitting on it!

Do you want to try an experiment with your cats? Last night I was watching a TV program about pets and some lady with eight cats said that when she whistles a certain tune all her cats act like they've been given catnip. She demonstrated and suddenly all of her cats came from various areas of her house and they were meowing and rolling around at her feet and looking like they were half-drugged. It was the funniest thing! So this morning I was telling Tetsu about the program and I whistled a few notes (I'm not a very good whistler) and was very surprised when two of my cats meowed back at me. Tried it again and three of them meowed and started weaving around my ankles. Tetsu, who is a much better whistler, gave it a try and we got a very similar reaction as the lady on TV! It must have something to do with the decibels that animals can hear (like dogs react to ambulances). Lemi was batting away at my mouth (to stop me?) and she purposely left my lap to check out what it was that Tetsu was doing. Give it a try! I'd like to know if this is just a Japanese cat phenomenon!

Pastor Sekine

I'm off for an early morning class in the next town over.

Today I wanted to share a picture of the pastor at my church, Pastor Sekine and his wife. Yesterday was Pastor Sekine's 79th birthday and we sang happy birthday to him after our Bible study. While we were singing a lovely flower arrangement arrived from his daughter-in-law so I pulled out my trusty camera!

Tetsu and I came to this church about 5 years ago after being members of a larger church in the neighboring city for many years (I still teach at the kindergarten there and that's where I'm going today.) Pastor Sekine had been in the ministry for nearly 50 years and when he "retired" he decided that he wanted to start a church out in the countryside where few Christians live. He chose the land that he bought (privately) very carefully along a "main" road between Nikko and the neighboring city (main meaning it still is only one lane each direction but it does have street lights few and far between). At first, he and his wife built their home with living space on the first floor and a large area on the second floor where folding chairs could be arranged, and that was about the time when Tetsu and I started coming. The church is a short walk through the forest for us and we decided if God had put a church nearly around the corner from us then we wanted to support it as much as possible!

After a couple of years with some member growth (but not much) Pastor Sekine felt God had arranged the place, time and funds to build a regular church building and the "church" was built on the same lot as his home. It is a lovely church with much thought given to it with a rounded ceiling and two home made stained glass windows (made by one of the members!) Not much in the way of decoration but it is very bright and cheery. There are three elders in the church, the pastor's wife and his daughter take turns playing the piano, the rest of the members take turns at greeting people and handing out the program for worship (printed out by the pastor). We also take turns cleaning the church weekly. One lady holds an informal Sunday School class during the worship service and she gathers the kids in an upstairs room and gives them Bible coloring books or supervises crafts. The kids range from age 1 to age 16 so you can see she has quite a job even though there are usually only 5 or 6 kids every week. The regular membership averages around 25 and I scramble around after every service serving tea to people.

For his age, Pastor Sekine is quite open-minded and has a very relaxed attitude about his congregation's faith development. I remember one time he encouraged his congregation to come to church and relax in the new cushioned pews (as opposed to the usual hard wooden ones found in most churches)

"The pews are great for taking a short nap and what better place to nap than at church!"

I'm not sure he'd appreciate that I remember his comment but it struck me as humorous especially since Tetsu occasionally nods off at church!

Anyway, we love the fatherly figure of Pastor Sekine and wish him many more years of serving the Lord.

Happy Birthday Sekine-sensei! (pastor)

Golfing anyone?

Choco and I try to get two long walks in every day. Once in the morning with Tetsu and once in the afternoon after I've been housewifely and played around on the computer. We walk past rice fields and forests and meander around orchards and farm houses. Almost everyday on our afternoon walk we've been coming across three or four retired men who are toning up their golfing skills. Many years ago there used to be a factory in this very large lot of land and after the factory was torn down the land has gone back to the wild with weeds and overgrowth. In past winters I would cut across this field/lot to get out to the main road but in late spring the snakes come out so I only use the shortcut in the winter. But not this year because I might get hit in the head by a flying golf ball!

It started with one older man who must have discovered this place by accident, and he would drive up and park his car and take a small basket filled with golf balls and spend an hour or so practicing his golf shots. He had a golf bag with him too and I'd notice him practicing his putting. He is a very friendly man and always waves his hat at me when I walk by. Pretty soon either he'd arrange for a friend to meet him at his secret place or someone discovered him by accident but anyway there were two older men practicing. I noticed one of them has put a big red tank in the middle of the lot for them to aim at. And recently one of my older neighbors rides by my house on his bicycle with a single golf club slung over his shoulder and sure enough he has joined the golfers in their field. Yesterday there were four of them out there doing a very good job of letting those golf balls fly! They seem to go around after their sessions and putt their golf balls back into the basket before they go home but it looks like a regular golfing circle these days. Actually it seems like a healthier past time than sitting around watching TV or playing pachinko (Japanese pinball). A private driving range! But maybe they need to let the dog walkers know when they're out there practicing! (I guess I'm the only one though...) FORE!

Japanese lunch

What do you consider to be Japanese food? Those lovely Japanese steak restaurants where the chef performs at the grill are few and far between in Japan and if you can find them at all you are talking about $100 a plate!

I think true Japanese chefs follow the idea that food should be beautiful as well as delicious and one of the best examples of beautiful cooking in Japan is kaiseki ryouri. Yesterday a few friends and enjoyed a very beautiful, very delicious, very reasonable kaiseki lunch. Look at this lacquer tray with all the beautiful dishes on it. Isn't that a feast for the eyes alone! The chef goes to great lengths to choose the most suitable dish to enhance the appearance of each mouthful of food that is prepared and served. In the crescent moon dish there was an assortment of small pieces of tempura with a dipping sauce alongside it. In another dish were three pieces of sashimi (raw seafood) and on a long plate there was a slice of grilled fish and a small piece of sweet egg. Egg pudding, pickles, simmered vegetables were on some plates and little covered porcelain dishes that really hold no more than a teaspoon had things like sweet salad, 10 or 12 fish eggs, and 5 or 6 beans. Other dishes held a tiny slice of jellied fish eggs, a minuscule piece of simmered fish. Rice and miso soup were also served. All these little bite size servings actually added up to a very filling meal and it is sort of an adventure to dip into these little cups and dishes with your chopsticks and enjoy the different tastes and textures.

There is almost nothing in Japan that I cannot eat. Somewhere in my childhood I quickly got past the "don't like" and "can't eat" type of thinking and I am willing to try anything once, and usually by the third try I've developed a taste for something. I think this is a quality people need to cultivate if they are going to spend any time in a foreign culture. I have been annoyed at my husband who comes with me to America and turns up his nose at unusual tasting Mexican food and never before seen vegetables (he absolutely hates avocados and artichokes). I get irritated when I talk to Japanese friends who have been to Hawaii or Canada or somewhere and report that they couldn't find good Japanese food.

"Why are you going across the world to eat the food you are normally used to!?"

And I am embarrassed when foreign students visit Japan and are so picky about their eating habits. Sorry folks, if you want to see a different culture, in my book you'd better be willing to give everything a try and if you don't like it you might like it tomorrow so try it again. And if you absolutely can't handle it then don't start wrinkling your nose and claiming the Japanese are strange because they like sugary bean cakes or pink fish eggs or something. (I know. As a child I used those exact same fish eggs to go trout fishing. Now I know what a delicious treat we were baiting our hooks with!)

Yesterday's lunch was made complete with a small scoop of ice cream and a "slice" of cheese cake about the side of a dime. Also a demi-tasse cup of espresso. But look at the beautiful gold lacquer tray it was served on! All of us oohed and aahed as we enjoyed our lunch but the the housewife side of us showed when one of my friends mumbled under her breath that she'd hate to be the person who has to wash all the dishes after lunch!

When-oh-When basted!

I've had a nice long winter break but today I get back to regular teaching. Ahh, I really enjoy the free days though when I'm busy I think I honestly enjoy the hustle and bustle of teaching. During the holidays I got a little cleaning done, a lot of sewing done, some date time in with Tetsu but now I'll go back to daily routines and life in general.

Yesterday I spent a long time upstairs getting the When-oh-When quilt to quilting stage. I had other things I should have been doing (going to the bank, running errands) but I decided that I needed to get the quilt to where I can just pick it up and put in a few stitches at any opportunity. Of course there was the sewing of the backing, the tacking of the batting, the crawling around on the floor giving it a last ironing. Then the seemingly endless process of basting. This is where I strongly debated waiting until my quilting friends were available to hold a basting party but in the end I did it myself. I must have spent two hours just basting and used up all my basting thread.

"Patora! Stop helping me!"

She plays with the thread as I crawl on the floor. She must think I'm down there just for her, purring and meowing the whole time.

And of course, once basted I just had to try the quilting so I finally came down to the warm living room and quilted for a couple of hours too. Never did get to the errands. Yep, hand quilting makes me smile. I love the feel of the fabric and the way the hoop frames whatever part I'm working on. I love seeing the bundled quilt sitting on the sofa or on the floor when I'm not working on it. I love the way the cats crawl under the hoop or find a corner to sit on whenever I'm not looking. It's almost like the kitties are giving my quilt a good kitty blessing during the months that a quilt gets quilted.

For awhile I'll be stitch-in-the-ditch quilting around the stars and hopefully when I get to the border the quilting pattern won't have worn off yet. I may not have much to show you in the next couple months since I'll be forever working on this quilt but I'm loving every moment!

Oh, and I have to say thank you to Karen and Dee and Nancy for their Make My Day awards. That really makes my day! I'm so grateful that I live in an interesting place that allows me make observations and I'm so glad I enjoy writing and I'm so delighted that so many of you make a visit. I hope I can keep it worthy of your expectations and make it a bright spot whenever I can. Any questions are welcome!

Miscellaneous news

Just a bit of this and that today.

I had a quiet weekend didn't get too much done in the way of quilting. Washed some backing but since I don't use a dryer it had to spend Saturday hanging out to dry so I didn't get any farther on the When-oh-When quilt. And there is also the small problem that I don't have a room large enough to spread it out so that I can baste it! I'll work on that problem today or put the quilt aside until I can get to Mrs. Furui's on the 17th.

I did get the bazaar block made on Saturday. I used a pattern called Day and Night from the Quilter's Cache and look... I used brown! Not so skilled at using the trapezoids so it stretched a bit but it's acceptable...

And this is a picture of the New Year's lunch that the "Meals on Wheels" brought to my mother-in-law. Everyday she gets an obento (a boxed lunch) from health care services and I thought this one was just lovely. Usually they aren't this elaborate but someone took great care to make the first couple New Year's obentos look festive. I see carved carrots, sweet egg rolls, traditional sweet black beans, shrimp, orange fish eggs, grilled fish and shaped chicken "hamburgers" along with the usual rice and salady dishes and orange for dessert. Doesn't that look yummy?

And yesterday Tetsu and I finally gave up on the stove that has been on the fritz for the last week and went and bought a new one. We took Choco with us for the day and first stopped at the large home improvement center where animals are allowed if they stay in the cart. So... Here is Choco riding in the shopping cart! She gets a lot of attention from other shoppers and she joined us out on the terrace for lunch and then gave her opinion about dog snacks in the pet section.

This package of CAT food caught my eye in the pet section so I just had to take a picture. The pet store has a line of cat food called "I Love My Puppy". I think someone doesn't understand the word puppy... I thought this was hilarious and did buy a small packet for Lemi to try out. I'm not sure any of my cats would admit to loving their puppy (Choco).

And finally, the whole purpose of the trip, to buy a new stove. Tetsu and I went back and forth to three different appliance shops until I made a decision. I wanted a stove that is large enough to heat the whole living room, has a kerosene tank large enough so that I don't have to fill it every day, and simple enough so that I don't have to use my head about pushing the right buttons. Hopefully we will enjoy the rest of the winter in warmth!

Quilting techniques

Yesterday I spent the whole day looking through patchwork books and the Internet for a quilting design to use on the When-oh-When quilt. I really agonized my choices and finally decided I was being way too perfectionist and that things didn't have to match and tie together. I finally just decided and spent a couple of hours getting the pattern onto the quilt.

How do you put a quilting pattern on a top? Am I still in the dark ages? I trace the chosen pattern onto paper and go over it again with a black felt pen. I pin the traced pattern to the underside of the top and then retrace it to the quilt itself. Yesterday I was relieved that the fabric was light enough so that I didn't have to hold the quilt up to a window and do all my tracing, but sometimes I do that too. (No lightbox.) I use a soft pencil to do my tracing too, not one of the fade/wash away quilting pens that mark in blue or purple. I have a feeling this is an old-fashioned way but it's the way my quilting friends and I have always done it.

Actually I was thinking a lot about quilting in general as I searched for a pattern yesterday.

"Pattern, pattern. Don't bother to look in any of my American books and magazines, not that many patterns for hand quilting."

If I want a good selection of quilting patterns then Japanese books have a lovely assortment. One reason for this is because machine quilting isn't very popular in Japan yet. My friend Noriko-san is a pioneer of machine quilting here in Japan but I think she's been misunderstood all these years. Japanese quilters tend to look at machine quilting and think "Hmm. That's not real quilting, that's just a speed process." they don't give the technique fair consideration.

For awhile I tended to side with that train of thought too until I saw Noriko-san's lovely work and decided that before I bash it I need to try it. Last year I ordered machine quilting books and got some first-hand instruction from Noriko-san and tried my hand (or in this case, my machine). Wow! The skill that machine quilting takes, and the beautiful work one can do if you are skilled (which I am still not)! My whole attitude toward machine quilting changed! (gold quilt done by Noriko-san)

Another rarely heard of process in Japan is long-arm quilting. Do you know I have never seen a long-arm machine or ever met anyone in Japan who has ever done it or even knows of someone who does long-arm quilting. (Of course I live in the back woods of Japan.) This may be because the machines are so big that there is no place to put them in a quilting shop let alone a home (no basements in Japan) but it may also be because Japanese quilters still think hand-quilting is the only genuine method of quilting.

Anyway, after long deliberation I decided I will hand quilt my When-oh-When quilt just because I've not developed the skills yet to do a good job machine quilting it on my domestic machine. I know, I know. In order to develop those skills I need to do it more but not right now. Someday what I'd really like to do is send one of my quilts out to be long-arm quilted just so I can have one in my possession and some day I want to just give a long-arm a try just to understand how it really works!

Next step. Basting!

New Year's decorations

You know, when I normally think about living in Japan I don't really notice that many differences. But during these New Year holidays it seems like everywhere I look there are unique Japanese customs. Customs that I don't really know the reasons for but which I accept as part of Japanese culture. Sometimes I wonder if my half-knowledge is really knowledge at all and I shouldn't even mention some of the things but I guess I'll go ahead and show you some of the New Year sights around here whether I understand them or not.

Yesterday, Tetsu and I went out and about again and he made a stop at the convalescent home that he works at so that I could take a picture of the kadomatsu they have displayed. Many houses have kadomatsu and other New Year's decorations though we don't in our own home. One reason is because they are Shinto customs, one reason is since they don't have meaning for either of us, we ignore the tradition. But I did want to show you what are some typical decorations in Japan around this time of year.

At the front of entrances and gates of large homes and businesses kadomatsu are often displayed. I think the three bamboo poles represent heaven, humanity and earth. The other things around the poles like pine branches, straw circles, berries have connotations of prosperity, long life and good luck. There are always two kadomatsu on each side of the door and over the door is something called a shimenawa. The white paper is always found around shrines and torii gates and has something to do with the residence of the Shinto gods. I don't know what the lobster or the orange is doing there!

Kadomatsu come in all sizes, some like these large displays, some as small as these little displays found at the window of the convalescent home office. This rough bundle of pine, berries and straw is attached to the rusting fence of a small factory near my home!

Another decoration is the kagamimochi and these are two discs of omochi (the pounded rice cake) with an orange on top and the paper and sometimes gold and silver cords. You can find this on window sills but most often it will be placed on the family's Shinto altar. Nowadays you can buy these in the supermarket with the discs of omochi in premolded plastic shapes and a plastic orange on top! An everlasting kagamimochi to display! Eventually the omochi can be taken out of the plastic and eaten so it is not all for decoration purposes.

Sometime next week, there will be a celebration in the midst of the neighboring fields and all the New Year's decorations will be collected, properly blessed and burned. (Actually, I wonder what people do in metropolitan Tokyo.) You don't just throw the decorations of the gods in the garbage can!

Well, I don't have New Year's decorations to worry about but I am in the throws of taking down the Christmas decorations. January 4th. Am I on schedule?

Brown

Tetsu and I had an absolutely wonderful day yesterday but unfortunately nothing in the way of pictures. We went to the movies and saw such a great movie. Too bad it is in Japanese and I doubt if it will ever get elsewhere in the world.

So, with nothing to show from yesterday maybe I'll just ramble about thoughts again. It sort of has to do with the movie, sort of has to do with quilting...

The movie we went to see was called "Always Continued, Sunset on 3rd Street" (my English translation) and this is a continuation of a movie of the same name. It is about the years after the war when Japan was drastically changing into a modern world with cars and factories and dreams for the future. Japan in general fell in love with this movie because is was so heart warming and brought back such vivid memories. Yes, memories. Even for me who didn't live in Japan at the time and wasn't even born yet! I loved the first movie so much I kidnapped Tetsu's mother (she didn't want to go but I forced her!) and took her to see it. She absolutely loved it (I knew she would) and hasn't stopped talking about it since. I'll have to see if I can force her to go see this continued version though she's two years older and in even worse health...

Ok, back to my thoughts. I happened to see an interview with the movie's director and he said that one reason the movie is so nostalgic to so many people of all ages is because he used so much brown in his settings. The era was very drab with dirt roads and wooden buildings, somber clothing, dark interiors, the scenery every hue of brown. And the director went out of his way to use brown in as many ways as possible because, according to him, brown is a comforting color that brings up memories. Yesterday I kept that in mind as I watched the movie and truely, brown was the theme. Of course here and there red in the signs or red and yellow in the clothing but yep, basically brown. And yep, an extremely comforting movie. (picture from the movie's website).

Now to a completely different subject. I'll be back to brown later so don't get lost.

I was reading the book "Collaborative Quilting" by Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran. If you've seen their book or know their quilts you'll know they use a lot of color! I can't see myself making anything quite so bright but they have interesting ideas. Ms. Moran made an interesting comment:

"I am fearless in my use of color with the exception of brown, which I consider a non-color. If there are no bad colors, just misunderstood ones, I can say for sure I do not understand brown." (Collaborative Quilting p. 66)

Elsewhere in the book was the quote from Winston Churchill:

"I cannot pretend to be impartial about the colors. I rejoice with the brilliant ones, and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns." (Collaborative Quilting p. 110)

Don't you think this is interesting? I started quilting after I came to Japan. I've mostly been influenced by Japanese quilting books and Japanese fabric stores. Let me say it plainly. They use a lot of brown!!! Some very famous Japanese quilt designers seem to only use neutral colors with brown or black! And the quilts are beautiful! But definitely not bright and cheerful. Subdued, genteel, rustic. When I go to the States and visit the fabric stores I am struck by the color that abounds everywhere. When I leaf through American magazines I am bombarded by color! And when I buy fabric in the States and make something to show my Japanese friends they smile but I can see they think my colorscheme is a little off. How many times have you heard me refer to my Japanese friends' quilts as elegant, delicate, refined etc. It is because of the colors they use which are nothing at all like the color choices of American quilters! (some of my "brown" creations)

I don't know where my thinking is leading me. Maybe the brights are part of a noisy, optimistic culture and the browns of a quiet, reflective culture. Both are necessary and good. I have learned to use more colors this year than ever before, but I still love the somber browns. How about you?

Sleeping New Year's

I'm afraid nothing to exciting to report. Tetsu came back from staying overnight at the convalescent home, and we attended church together. Yes, even though January 1st was a Tuesday, in Japan Christians go to church. There is a Japanese custom of visiting the Shinto shrine around midnight of the 31st and on throughout the first days of New Year's. People will get dressed up in kimono (one of the few times in a year) and go to the shrine to pray and buy lucky trinkets to display in their homes or in their cars etc. Again, so that Christians don't miss out on this custom (and maybe so that they don't also make a trip to the shrine) Japanese churches always have a New Year's Day service.

Home we returned to loaf around the house all day. This is called "Ne-Shogatsu". Sleeping New Year's. In our case (and elsewhere I guess since there is such a word) Tetsu works such long hours and has so little free time that when he does get two or three days off he doesn't know what to do! No hobbies per se, so he ends up on the sofa watching TV and sleeping. In the past this has caused regular arguments because I am not a TV person nor do I like napping. What a waste of a free day! This year though Tetsu puttered around fixing things for me and when I seemed satisfied that he had accomplished something he settled on the sofa. Tetsu fixed the heater (hmm. It still seems temperamental) and the bathroom door and the light switch and I told him he was wonderful and let him crash out for the rest of the day.

Velvet chose to keep me company while I was sewing the last borders on (if my seams aren't straight I'm blaming it on Velvet!) but Choco sided with Tetsu and slept the day away.

Happy New Year!

"Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!" Happy New Year in Japanese!

I know I'm supposed to list some resolutions but I always get disappointed in myself when I notice two weeks down the line that I've dumped them by the wayside, so I'll stick with goals to aim for. (Aren't words interesting? "Resolutions" feels binding, "Goals" seem optimistic and "Purposes" empowers me!)

On the quilting side, the When-oh-When quilt will get priority over all else. Sorry about that for the other things that I'm working on. I'd like to put them all at the top (especially that Wonky Word Quilt from Tonya's class) but I want the When-oh-When quilt finished by spring and I think I've decided to hand quilt it. Yesterday I spent the whole blessed day up in the sewing room! Is this the way to put on a border? Usually I put the borders on each side and then adjust the corners, but I really needed these corners to match so I did it this way. Not a "perfect" fit, (I don't like that word either) but maybe the waves will quilt out. When this quilt was still only in my mind I had plans to make a somber, antique feeling star quilt. I chose dark browns, maroons, muddy greens. Then I added fabric from my stash, pinks, blues, rust, and look what happened! It is definitely not somber! That doesn't mean I don't like it. I do, it just isn't the quilt I started with! So, the border, which Elaine pointed out is quite cheery seems to match the center much better than the grey I had planned to use at the beginning. Today I hope to put another white border around it and then figure out a quilting pattern.

I will work on the Wonky Word quilt when I get a longing for the sewing machine (otherwise remember I'm going to be hand quilting). I am not putting this in a box!!!! First I still need to make more hearts.

Good-bye to the Feathered Star quilt for awhile. No deadlines on this. I hope it doesn't turn into a four year quilt like some I have.

365 Day Challenge will hopefully go along at a regular pace.

And this month I need to make one block (one measly block!) for the bazaar quilt. We decided it will be a combination pieced and applique quilt with no set patterns. We are sort of doing it Round Robin style and we'll pass blocks around amongst 6 of us and then combine all the 6 blocks sometime around springtime also. I hope I can get some great ideas from the books that Leiya sent me for Christmas!

On the home front, I really need to declutter a bit. For only two of us living here I wonder why we have all this stuff!

And I need to get back into the habit of thanking God everyday for 5 of His blessings.

Ahh. I am a wife, a mother, a daughter, a teacher, a blogger. I wonder how many other roles I dabble in? Lord, use me this year where You know best.

Omochi

Good morning!

We are already on December 31st here in Japan and the day has started off with a bang. The computer won't work! The heater won't work! Tetsu is overnight at the convalescent home so he gave me a hug, said he was sorry to leave me in these straits and didn't have much advice. So here I am, bundled up well thinking maybe I should go up to the sewing room and heat it with the little electric heater and sew for two days forgetting about the rest of the house and about blogging.

I don't know what we'll do about the computer. It crashed this morning and I no longer can get into Internet by normal routes. This means I have temporarily lost all blogging links unless I search for them through Google. I cannot find Bloglines! I also finally got into my own "create a post" by going through Tonya's blog and into her class blog and into my own profile etc. I hate to be so computer illiterate in some ways and so dependent on it in other ways. I feel I should have a balanced degree of computer knowledge but not so. I have sent an SOS e-mail to my son (in California!) and maybe he can give me advice or get into my computer some way.

I fixed Tetsu's mother's hanten. Tetsu took me directly from her apartment (where we determined it was really too short) to the fabric store and I bought more fabric and sewed it and tacked it on so that it doesn't look half bad! I think I got points in her book not only because I can make a hanten but also that I could fix it in a day's time. Tetsu took the longer version back to her yesterday and she says it fits perfectly now. Yeah!

And do you know what this is? This is called omochi the official food of the New Year. Omochi is made of sticky rice (a different type from what we eat normally) and it is pounded until it turns into paste. This is then shaped into balls or into a slab and in the case of the slab, it hardens and is later cut into squares. Our omochi came from three different sources. My pear farmer friends give us a huge slab at the end of every year and I've already cut it in half and taken one piece to Tetsu's mother. The other omochi pieces were given to me by English children whose parents are farmers. I see that the green one has soybeans in it and it has been colored green probably by seaweed.

Omochi itself is tasteless but on New Year's day it can be put into Japanese vegetable soup or mixed with different things for entirely different tastes. Too many to go into here! Tetsu likes it mixed with sweet soybean powder or sweet beanpaste. Sometimes we have it with seaweed, soy sauce and butter. Anyway, you can't have New Years without omochi.

Since my grandparents on my mother's side were from Japan, omochi wasn't unkown in my American home and occasionally we'd find it in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo. My mother liked it but my Caucasian father thought it absolutely terrible! He used to tease my mother and say things like "Do you know why Japanese only eat omochi on New Year's day? Because it stays in the pit of your stomach for a whole year!" It is true that it is a very heavy food and we really don't need to eat much else except for omochi on New Year's Day.

Okay, I need to do some shopping since tomorrow all the stores will be closed. Then I'm spending the day sewing! Hope I can get back into the blog tomorrow.

New Year's Cards

Tetsu had a rare Saturday off yesterday so we spent the morning writing New Year's cards. My Japanese friends reading this are going to say, "Hey, those needed to be off 5 days ago if you expect them to arrive for New Year's!" but better written late then not at all.

New Year's cards in Japan are uniform size post cards. I mean, that is what New Year's cards are! You don't choose patterns and sizes like you do Christmas cards in the rest of the world. In Japan, around the middle of November the post offices will start selling New Year's cards. Basically you can buy blank post cards at the post office that already have printed stamps on them and write your own message. These cards also have a row of numbers at the bottom and sometime in January there will be a nationwide raffle and everyone checks the New Year's post cards that they have received to see if they have won anything. I think the grand prizes are tickets for traveling somewhere and maybe electrical appliances but in all the years I've lived here I've only won two or three stamps and once a letter set! Even so, it is fun to check the post cards every January to see if you have any of the winning numbers.

2008 will be the Year of the Mouse (Chinese Horoscope calendar) so all the New Year's greetings revolve around mouse characters. One can buy ink stamps, stickers, software etc. for making your own designs on the blank post cards or of course you can buy ready printed cards featuring mice of all different patterns. Some people do silk screening, some do wood block printing, some paint pictures by hand. Japan becomes very creative when it comes to New Year's post cards!

Some differences between Christmas cards and New Year's cards besides the size are the fact that not too much in the way of information is related on the New Year's cards. You can't really fit a year's worth of family activities onto a post card so unlike the American custom of sending a Christmas letter letting friends know what the family has accomplished over the year, the Japanese New Year's card basically says, "We're thinking of you and wish you the best in the New Year." period.

Another interesting thing about Japanese New Year's cards is that no matter when they are sent out in the month of December, all cards arrive at their respective addresses on January 1st! Yes, all New Year's cards are held at the post office until New Year's Day and then loads and loads of students are hired part time by the post office to deliver a packet of New Year's cards to each house's post box! Can you imagine the mad house the post office must be in right now, trying to sort all the New Year's cards into piles house by house for the whole month of December!

Something I've never really understood about the custom of sending New Year's cards in Japan is that if a family member has passed away in the previous year, the family always sends out a similar post card (black and white) in early December asking friends to not send New Year's greetings. This is a custom that has to do with mourning and not expressing joy or celebration in the New Year. It seems to American me that if you've lost someone you love, then this is especially the time when you need people writing to you and saying that they are thinking of you in your sorrow but that's the way it is in Japan.

Tetsu has beautiful handwriting and every year he seems to enjoy addressing our New Year's cards by brush. It takes him quite awhile to write each address and then our return address so he rarely has time to write a message (which to me is the whole point of sending the cards). When he is finished though I always think he has made them look like a work of art by themselves. Anyway, our New Year's cards have been plopped in the mailbox and hopefully they'll arrive at friends' homes sometime during the first three or four days of the New Year.

And yes, I'll be posting a New Year's greeting to my blogging friends too, but you'll have to wait til New Year's Day like the rest of Japan!

Deliberating borders

Some things work out, some things don't. I got the hanten made for Tetsu's mother, but it was NOT successful. Too small! I had figured that since she is a much smaller lady than me that I needed to cut the length down but I must have figured because this looks like it's for a child! I wonder if there is a little girl around I can give this to... Ah~~ Well I tried. Since Tetsu's mother is quite stooped over (very typical of elderly Japanese) I had thought that the length of a hanten would be inconvenient and would get in her way when she was doing things. She leans over so much when she stands. Of course, forgot that when one stoops forward that means the back is lengthened so now I've got what amounts to a crop top hanten. Well I'll show it to her and then maybe find someone else who might use it. It's the thought that counts right?

The rest of yesterday I auditioned fabric for the When-Oh-When quilt since I really wanted to get a border on it. Nothing struck my fancy. And all that fabric too! Is it true for anyone else that you buy fabric and when you go to use it it just does not work? I had bought fabric in the summer that I hoped to use for this quilt's border. Remember I was aiming for a somber look so all the fabric was dull grey and I was so sure of the fabric I bought enough for backing too. So why has the quilt changed from what I thought I was making? Now with the top mostly done, the grey doesn't go at all! Ok. I had ordered three yards each of some other fabric to someday use for borders too,so I pulled those out. Nope. Too bright, too orange, too yellow etc. etc. Makes me want to fold the top up and forget about it but I really need to get this to quilting stage.

Okay. How about a pieced border? Triangles? 9 patch? Braids? Something from Bonnie's website that uses leaders/enders? Yep that sounded good since I'd already used some of those L/E in the quilt itself. Next, did I want a white checkerboard effect? A print checkerboard effect? A scrappy effect? (Does the above make sense to anyone except myself?) I chose the scrappy effect after making samples of each and I will continue along these lines until I've got enough border to go around. Anyway, yesterday was filled with a lot of thought process and not that much sewing...

New Year's preparations

Well, the year is winding up. I think in Japan, we are officially "end of year" meaning the New Year foods are being sold in the supermarkets and outdoor markets, the decorations that are put up on the doors and cars and being sold by the roadsides and people are in the throws of end of the year cleaning. Being a slight rebel I never see why I have to do what everyone else is doing and I don't like end of the year cleaning. Why start washing windows and floors and changing paper shades and airing futon when it is freezing cold out and threatening to snow!? No thank you, I'll do my spring cleaning in spring. (Well, maybe...) My husband has already announced that he'll help me clean tomorrow so I guess I can't just ignore the custom but I'm not planning to work myself to exhaustion!

And in preparation for the New Year I noticed someone had dressed these little stone statues in bright new red outfits. These are called ojizousan and you can find them all over Japan. I have heard that they are erected for the spirits of unborn children but I'm not sure about that. These are just on the edge of the fields near the farmers' houses and throughout the year someone brings flowers (though for all the years I've lived here I've never once seen anyone actually praying here!) Once a year I guess the same someone makes these little outfits and dresses the ojizousan and towards the end of the year the outfits fade to light pink, I was expecting that they'd have new clothes sometime in the next week and sure enough, here they are brightly decked out!

Yesterday afternoon I went to a cooking class that I attend once a month. As you know, I am a lousy cook and vowed that once the kids were out of the house I'd be adventurous and learn to do more some Japanese cooking. A homestyle Japanese restaurant offered to teach small groups of 4 or 5 people a couple dishes each month so I spend a couple hours cooking with friends and then we bring what we've made home to feed our families that night. I don't know if my cooking abilities are improving but at least once a month Tetsu gets some true Japanese cooking.

And one of my friends at the class gave each of us some chopstick holders that she had made for New Year's. It looks like she has folded a small origami paper into the shape of a crane, the symbol of long life, and the chopsticks slip in to make the New Year's table festive. She also gave me matching toothpick holders! Aren't people clever!

365 Continued

Yesterday I had a very nice, quiet day of sewing. I set up a heater in the sewing room and spend almost all day up there with a few hours for cleaning, walking Choco and blogging.

Yeah! I am caught up on the 365 quilt! Whew! That was a close one! It was like, if I didn't do it right now, then it would be forgotten forever. I spent some of the time trying to remember (checking my schedule book and blog) and then writing the entries and finally sewing them into weekly sections. I decided to use my Christmas fabric for the month of December and I had a wonderful selection to choose from, given to me from Nancy at Blogging, Near Philadelphia. She had offered some Laurel Burch Christmas fabrics and she pulled my name on her give away last May. I was so thrilled to have these bright CAT prints and still haven't thought up something wonderful enough to use them for but as an accent to the 365 I was pleased to work with them yesterday. So I had Nancy on my mind all day and especially her sweet furry family member who has been sick. My sewing room is my praying room too so I spent the morning praying for Bo as the Laurel Burch fabrics passed through my fingers.

And here is Tetsu posing again for me (twice in two days!) so that I can show you that his vest worked out fine and is neither too big nor too little.

Choco got a bath yesterday and I let her run loose in the house while I was sewing but upon returning to the kitchen I found my yogurt jar (I make yogurt every other morning) was only half filled. I distinctly remember filling that container with milk earlier and setting it on the counter so that the yogurt could culture. Choco has a bad habit of checking out the counters just by standing on her hind legs so I guess she is the criminal. Amazing that she didn't knock the whole thing over, just lapped up half the jar! The rest got dumped in her bowl and she had a snack of homegrown yogurt. I love her but I was not eating that after she's stuck her tongue in it!

And the cats are trying to stay warm by congregating on the heater every morning. Not enough room for four cats so Lemi chooses someone's lap instead but these three look like sparrows crowded together on a telephone line! Nothing like keeping your bum warm for comfort!