Down and Out

I have messed up another whole weekend. And the Christmas program to boot! Well, I didn't mess up the Christmas program but I sure did throw in some cogs. Whatever cold I started with a week ago went to my stomach and Friday I could barely do anything. I had to call Tetsu and have him come home and take me to the doctors. Saturday I was better and I debated having Tetsu drive me to the kindergarten, wait until I'd finished leading the kids in their three English songs and take me back to bed but... Isn't that a pretty egotistical way of thinking?

"I have to be there. Without me the kids will be lost. My presence is so important I need to get out of bed and carry on and everyone will see my sick face and know how wonderful I am."

Forget it. I called and said I'm sorry that there was nothing I could do about the situation and then I stayed in bed all day again and sulked (I admit).

Do you think God is trying to get me to slow down? Or maybe He's saying "There. This is what you wanted isn't it?"

So, I'll back up and tell you about Thursday. I did have a relaxing day with friends at patchwork. Mrs. Harada drove 4 hours to spend the day with us but we mainly chatted and got caught up on our lives and did very little quilting. Still trying to decide about next year's bazaar quilt. I guess we're committing ourselves to that again. I even brought my knitting along instead of quilting because I'm getting close to the deadline for Tetsu's vest.

Mrs. Furui had gotten a lot done this past month. She showed us some of her little embroidery decorations that she'd made for Christmas. She tries to make at least one every year (a different pattern) for her own house and then she'll make a couple for her sisters and if she has time I've known her to sell a couple in an out of the way boutique.

Mrs. Furui is also making great progress on the star quilt for her son. She wasn't too flattered about my post about this quilt and my lack of confidence in her ability to get this done so if nothing else, that has lit a fire under her and she is determined to get this all quilted by March. She may do it too!

She has three of four different quilting designs that she is doing in a dark variegated color and they show up beautifully both on the front and on the back.

Okay I need to get back in gear for Christmas at home... Hopefully I can pace myself better this week...

This and that again

I had a busy day yesterday (I'm going to try to strike that word from my vocabulary. I don't think being busy is all that great of a thing to boast about.) I had to take Choco to the vet for annual shots and she was a very good dog while she was there and all day stuck in the car. She absolutely loves riding in the car and will hang her head out the windown like she's the admiral of a ship setting out on a voyage. Seems sort of subdued when the car stops though. I bought her Chicken nuggets at Mac Donald's on the way home.

Kindergarten in the morning and the children were going through their dress rehearsal for this Saturday's Christmas program. Every year it is nearly the same (different songs) and I did write about it last Christmas so I'll just show a quick picture. Yes, the older class (the top three rows) are holding real candles. I do pray while the program is going on and I do keep a bucket of water handy and I am very thankful when the Christmas program is over. I wish you could hear the beautiful children's voices mingling with the mothers choir. It really brings tingles up my spine.

I also had a stop at the pre-school and they gave me an absolutely gorgeous Cyclamen! That will grace my entryway for the rest of the winter season. I hope the cats don't decide to play with it. Plants don't last very long at my house though I remember when I was in college I filled my dorm room with ferns and spider plants and wandering vines. Now all those leafy things get eaten by the cats... As I recall from last year, they didn't like the taste of Cyclamen.

And finally in the evening I worked on another block for my Mini Round Robin quilt group. I won't show what I'm adding on to this block. This is only the original block and one more has been added already. We forgot to tell people to specify a theme so I don't know what this lady really has in mind... I'm adding a chic flower block. (Whatever that might be.)

Ginko nuts

Do you know what these are? These are ginko tree nuts! We have a lovely ginko tree at the entance to our neighborhood and it has been turning lovely colors of pale green to yellow to brown and now it is bare of all leaves. Did you know that ginko trees come in male and female? The female tree smells!

On the bare branches of the female ginko tree are little pods and the pods have been falling into the street where I am a crosswalk guard. Someone told me that inside the fleshy pods were the nuts that are so delicious when used in stir fry dishes and Chinese custards, so.... I wanted to go natrual and decided to gather up some pods and see if I could really use the nuts.

"Don't!" someone warned me. "Those pods are smelly. Just go to the supermarket and buy some already de-podded nuts."

But no, I wanted to do it the organic way so I picked up about a dozen pods and peeled off the fleshy part. PEEWHEW!!! Smelly is right!!! Throw away that pair of workman gloves! I peeled the rest of the ginko pods by stepping on them with my shoes. When I took my shoes off in the entryway the cats found my smelly shoes intruiging.

Next I washed the nuts that were inside the pods and ended up with a kitchen that smelled like a stink bomb had gone off. These things are deadly!

Finally I put the nuts into a paper envelope and popped them in the microwave. The smell is only in the pods so no more smell and the hard shells burst in the microwave so that I could get the green meat on the inside. With my 12 nuts I made Chinese custard with chicken, vegetables and eggs. Delicious!

But maybe next time I'll buy my nuts at the supermarket. This was a lot of work for 12 nuts...

Thoughts

Thank you for your thoughts. I'm on the mend and up and about again.

So what have I been thinking about the past three days? Not too much. Worrying about things that weren't getting done, reading old books and as you know contemplating the blessings of having a good husband.

Just before I came down with my cold my neighbor informed me that she and her husband had gotten divorced. This was a big surprise to me because they had seemed like such a happy family; mom, dad, two children, a cat and three dogs. My neighbor told me about some of the reasons and in some ways they seemed valid. It must be absolute hell to live continually in a situation where love has been replaced with disdain and contempt.

For years divorce in Japan was unheard of. Families married, not young people. Marriages were arranged (and in many cases still are by the way!) and the newly married couple learned to love each other. A bride was officially given to her husband's family and daughter-in-law and parents-in-laws lived together. When I first came to Japan I wondered about this situation. Often it didn't look like love was in a marriage but rather a weary acceptance on both sides. It was difficult for women to go back to work after having children so even if a woman wanted to get out of an unhappy situation there was no way for her to support herself. Children were considered the husband's family's "property" so a woman who wished for a divorce had to leave her children behind too.

This has changed though and now divorce is prevalent everywhere. Most women have to work anyway these days to help pay off the home loans and children's education and in general Japanese women are becoming very independent and vocal. However, there is still the men's society and the women's society in Japan and couples don't seem to do much together once children are born. Everyone works long hours, children are shuffled to different after school lessons, and I don't think there are many chatty dinners over the dinner table with mom, dad and the kids. This was true in my family too and yes, Tetsu and I had some ups and downs in the past too. What I'm saying is that the divorce rate is rising in Japan though it isn't as high as it is in the States.

Although I was surprised at my neighbor's admission about her marriage, thinking about it I realize that there were signs. The 6th grade boy is no longer cheerful when he comes to English. He has a "I couldn't care less" attitude towards everything (I thought it was the pre-teen rebelliousness.) He rides in with his mother and sister from a new apartment and is often late going to school as is his sister. She can no longer ride her bicycle to school with her friends because she might make them all late so I've seen her making the lonely ride by herself. And even the animal situation has declined. The dogs bark long into the night, lonely I'm sure with no children around. I've found one dog roaming the neighborhood twice, he doesn't get a regular walk anymore. The cat sits meowing by the front door waiting for someone to come home and feed it.

So sad for all concerned. There's certainly nothing I can do or say to help this once cheerful family. I'm more grateful than ever for what I have and I pray that Takumi and Leiya will someday be able to make and maintain their own happy families.

Angels watching over me...

I am hanging in there... What do you think these three are saying?

Under the weather

I have been down and out the past two days so no pictures to show nor events to record. A mild cold caught me and I've been sleeping away ever since. Not so great for my schedule. I really had lots I needed to get done... But lazing about has been nice too.

Tetsu is a natural born nurturer. He's not around much during our normal days but when I get under the weather he comes through with flying colors! His presence is comforting and he works like a beaver so that I feel guilty for all that I don't do and don't get done for him. Yesterday he spent most of the morning when I was sleeping, cleaning the upstairs. Yes, I knew the laundry room was getting out of hand but I didn't realize he'd have to work an hour or more folding clothes, stacking Christmas boxes and putting the whole room back together! And this morning, Tetsu's worked an hour or so vacuuming, cleaning Choco's cage, shaking out sofa covers and in general making the downstairs nice. Tetsu has always been someone who can fix something that is broken, who cheerfully does the dirty work, and he has old-fashioned ideas of "men-work" and "women-work" which I guess doesn't include vacuuming and folding laundry.

28 years ago I finally accepted Tetsu's proposal of marriage the night he stayed at my apartment until 2:00 AM un-thawing the pipes that had frozen. We lived in icy Morioka where the temperatures plummeted in the winter and I would wake up in the mornings with a layer of ice on the bathwater (bathwater is reheated for multiple usage). We had dated for over a year and Tetsu had already introduced the topic of marriage but I just couldn't see me living out my life in Japan, not to mention that I didn't really speak Japanese all that well and Tetsu's English was nil. International marriage? Very impractical idea.

However, in late January after an all day date Tetsu took me back to my frozen apartment where I found that the pipes had frozen. Being a Southern California girl I had absolutely no idea how to go about de-frosting them but Tetsu took over and spent an hour or more wrapping the outdoor pipes in towels and pouring hot water over them (probably had to break the ice in the bathtub to get the water to begin with!) There I was, in the warm apartment and Tetsu outside in the frozen night air cheerfully taking care of me. That night it struck me that I'd found somebody I'd be safe with for the rest of my life even if it did mean I'd be living in Japan. I was good for him (I made him laugh) and he was good for me. But I think I got the better deal.

Even though it sounds very old fashioned, Tetsu is still cheerfully taking care of me. I don't know about how much I make him laugh but he says I'm good for him and I know he's the best for me!

Sorry. When I'm sick I get all gushy and nostalgic.

Messes

I'm off in a few minutes for the kindergarten so just a quick picture or two here.

Sigh. Well, so much for the Christmas tree. Toi is the culprit. He loves those hanging ornaments. Chip was overjoyed at the mess on the floor. There is now a blank spot on the table and I've put the decorations back in their box. It must be hard for cats to realize the stuff mouse hanging from the cat tree and the stuffed snowman on the Christmas tree are different.

And as for more messes. This is what Choco has done. It is so cold outside but she does not appreciate my thoughtfulness and instead ripped her cushion to shreds. Dumb dog is now sitting in front of her kennel complaining that she's cold. I'm not giving her another cushion.

Batiks

I have a treasure! The Calico Quilter from It's the Cat's House, I just live here sent me a package of batiks! She was having a giveaway on her blog and was generously offering three prizes, a book on Baby Quilts, a mini-Jacob's Ladder quilt and 5 fat quarters of batiks! All three prizes were lovely but I really loved the batiks! Batiks are not popular yet in Japan and so I don't think I've ever seen any being sold, at least not in the fabric stores around me. I really want to make a batik and hand-dyed quilt someday and I've had ideas in my head for ages (quilting ideas are like that) but first I needed to collect some batiks, soooo...

A couple of California summers ago my sister-in-law conned my brother into driving us to a few quilt shops. Marcy (SIL) does not quilt but she was willing to wander the quilt shops with me. Of course my brother has even less interest in fabric but dear brother gave up his day off and chauffeured us up and down the freeways of Southern California with Google maps in hand. We hit 5 quilt stores that day and while I drooled and hyperventilated, Marcy made suggestions, and my brother stood by the shop doors or sat on the car fender and smoked cigarettes.

With all this family support, I really couldn't go into my normal shopping mode which is to look a long time, ponder prices, color combinations, and project plans, decide that it is all too confusing, put everything back in the racks and leave the store empty handed. This drives everyone crazy and with my brother sacrificing his time and gasoline I decided on the outset of the day that at every one of the quilt shops I would buy three fat quarters of batiks (for the someday quilt). Oh what a wonderful day!!! After 5 quilt shops I came home riding on a cloud and had a wonderful selections of batiks.

I've used some of my summer batiks for a Wonky quilt for Leiya, and I gave a few away to some Japanese friends who fell in love with them. My batik stash has been somewhat depleted but now with the Calico Quilter's beautiful assortment my mind is starting to get into gear again. I just love the colors and the leaf patterns on these!

Thank you Calico Quilter!

Prayer quilt in blue

On Sunday I got the okay sign to make a Prayer and Square quilt for one of our church members who will be facing surgery and we would like to present it to the congregation for prayers next Sunday. Since I had a couple flimsies in the drawer I thought I would chose one of those, safety pin baste it, and then put on a binding this week. However the flimsies in the drawer were sort of flowery and in pink hues. The prayer recipient is a man. Yeah... I guess I can get a new flimsy made quickly...

I put aside my knitting (I've finished the vest back!) and yesterday after morning teaching I spent about three hours in my sewing room. I was horrified to see that the sewing room calendar is still turned to August! Do you mean I haven't really used that room since the summer? I'll have to check my back blog posts and see if I've done any quilting at all this year!

Yes, I have lots of blue and green fabrics and I quickly made my strips and sewed them together. Really once I get started I hum along at a very satisfying pace and before my afternoon class I had the flimsy made up. Well, I'm back at square one for basting and putting on the binding but I think I can still get this made up for Sunday worship.

I have a feeling that the prayer recipient visits my blog occasionally (he likes cats) but he knows we are praying for him and part of the Prayer and Square policy is to always get permission from the person to make them a prayer quilt, so this is not supposed to be a surprise. On Sunday the church members will tie the threads into the quilt and with each knot they will say a prayer. And I have had the privilege of praying for this dear man while upstairs in my sewing room.

Christmas decorations

Tetsu and I spent Saturday putting up Christmas decorations around the house. I still can't find one box but I think except for the Christmas tree decorations everything else is up. Tetsu put lights up around the house and on one of our outside trees. My little plastic Christmas tree sits on the end table next to the sofa but it is still bare. Maybe the English kids will enjoy decorating it for me today.

HOWEVER... We seem to have a major problem this year because Chip and Toi find the decorations I've put up to be the absolutely most wonderful cat toys they've ever seen. They especially like my plastic canvas needlepoint creche that at the best of times tends to fall over. The creche figures are light, furry and have pretty colors, just right for kitties to carry around and play with. Toi and Chip have invented a type of ornament hockey and they bat Jesus, the sheep and the Wise men around the floor and I find donkeys and shepherds in my shoes (Japanese shoes are taken off at the front door and are left at a step lower than the floor right?) I can't think of another place to put my needlepoint creche this year so maybe it will go back in the box before some of the figures are lost.



Here is what this creche is SUPPOSED to look like. I shudder to think what the cats are going to do the hanging Christmas tree ornaments.

Persimmons

One of the sights that I love most in autumn are hanging persimmons. In Japan, most farms have two or three persimmon trees and even in the forest, wild persimmon trees can be found heavy with fruit. When it rains or after the night's dew fall, the tree trunks and branches turn such a dark color they look like silhouettes against the sky. The leafless trees seem to be hung out with hundreds of little orange Christmas balls!

There are two types of persimmons, (that I know of...) sweet persimmons and stringent persimmons. The sweet ones, well, you can eat them right off the tree. But the stringent ones... Wow! Take your tongue right out of your mouth! However, stringent persimmons can be made edible by drying them and of course the drying process means that persimmons can be eaten throughout the winter.

Persimmons are peeled with the stem left on and then they are tied 5 or 6 to a rope. The ropes are hung out over a line or a pole and left to dry in the very cold pre-winter air. In case of a sudden rain the persimmons are hung out under the eaves or they are hurriedly brought into the house or farm shed. In the past couple weeks, wherever I go I see curtains of persimmons drying on the balconies and next to farm houses. Occasionally there will be daikon radishes out there too being dried for winter pickling. I've seen persimmons drying outside of apartment windows and even on the kindergarten playground!

In Southern California I rarely had persimmons so to me these are a very Japanese delicacy and the screens of drying persimmons blend in so nicely with Japanese countryside architecture. The patterned tile roofs, the rough wood frames around the windows, the gold and yellow of the autumn leaves. To me, drying persimmons is the ultimate of Japanese scenery.

I have tried drying my own persimmons but my few attempts ended in disaster when I let them get damp in the rain or dew and they molded! I'll never make a good traditional Japanese housewife. That's okay! I have people like my friend Mrs. Ide who brought over a few persimmons that she'd dried in her front yard. Tetsu was overjoyed and gobbled up these delicacies with a cup of steaming green tea. He's very glad I have friends who can do all these things his foreign wife can't!

Hen-pecking

Hmm. Do I want to talk about trials or do I want to talk about normal life? Well at least I don't think of normal life as being a trial...

Yesterday I saw Japanese society first hand at its worst. I had to go to a Homeowners meeting last night because of my position as a traffic/safety officer. Last night's meeting was attended by all the neighborhood block heads, the Homeowners Association Chairman, co-chairmen, various officers and the Child-raising Association's Chairman (in this case a chairwoman). Maybe 25 people in all. The Child-raising Association's Chairwoman, Mrs. T also brought her 7 year old son Ken, who comes to me for English.

I never did understand the problem but somehow there was a misunderstanding between Mrs. T and the Homeowner Association. Fewer parents are taking part in the Child-raising Association, however, they still have duties that pertain to the children but also service the whole neighborhood; festivals and field trips etc. A request was made by Mrs. T to have the Homeowner Association take over some of the duties (she doesn't have man-power behind her) but boy, did she get jumped upon!

Do you know what I mean when I talk about a hen-pecking party? When one person does something that doesn't gel with the group and then everyone starts getting vocal, pointing fingers, accusing, words flare and feathers start flying around the room. A few people are indignantly and loudly discussing the irresponsibility of others, everyone is talking at the same time and most of the talk are attacks on the original person who made the unfavorable comment or did something out of the ordinary.

Last night's fiasco was aimed at Mrs. T and she was accused of being a shirker, being irresponsible, being a poor leader and an uncooperative follower. Mrs. T was defending herself but other attacks flew at her from all sides. A few of us sat and looked at the floor and one man tried to come to her defense, and he was attacked too. (He has always been ostracized anyway in the neighborhood so he probably figured a few more black marks could hardly hurt him).

"If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem."

My face grew red and I thought, "Here I am not saying a word and watching Mrs. T try to make people understand her position. For all she knows I'm silently accusing her also. I am part of the problem."

I really didn't understand the situation but I did understand that Ken was watching out of the corner of his eye as his mother was being verbally abused.

So in the midst of the flurry I whispered to Ken to come with me, tapped Mrs. T on the shoulder and told her I was taking him and walked out of the heated room. On the way home, holding my hand, Ken said,

"Everyone was angry at my mom."

"Your mom was pretty angry too. That's okay. She's strong! She was doing a good thing."

Ken and I went home and ate packaged cookies and read I SPY pages and played UNO for the next hour. When his mother came to pick him up she burst into tears and allowed me to give her a hug.

"I didn't cry in front of everyone. I held it in until now. I shouldn't have brought Ken to begin with. Thank you for taking him out of there."

I wasn't part of the solution but at least I didn't sit there and be part of the problem either.

Headaches

I've got a headache from playing around with my dumb Christmas cards. And yes, I know if I'm going to complain and be in such a grumpy mood that I should zilch the plans to send out Christmas cards at all because it is not in line with the Christmas spirit.

I messed around for most of the day on Tuesday trying to get my pictures right and I finally called my friend Mrs. Ochiai (the computer genius!) and asked her advice. Actually I just sent her the picture and asked her to put a proper frame on it so that the camera store would take it. She kindly did and sent it back to me within an hour.

I managed to download my picture into a memory stick (oh I am learning how to do so many things!) and today I toodled into the shop and confidently handed them my memory stick.

"Oh no, Mrs. Watanabe. You have to give us a print if you want us to make cards."

Fine. I can do that. I go to their machine and upload (upload, download, I don't know which one) my picture into their computers and hand the man at the counter my order printout. They hand me an order form. I fill it out and hand it back to the man at the counter.

"Oh, so sorry to trouble you Mrs. Watanabe. You ordered the wrong size print from the computer. You needed the smaller size."

Fine, fine. Let's do it again. Here you go. Here is the printout for the smaller size print I have now ordered. Here is the order form for a 100 cards.

"So sorry Mrs. Watanabe. But to do this you need to have a frame around your picture."

"Ah-hah! I DO have a frame around my picture so go ahead and order my 100 cards."

"Begging your pardon Mrs. Watanabe but our computer screen shows that your frame is not to the right dimensions. You need 10,000 and 10,000 pixels (well, some number of pixels) and 10,000 and 10,000 (more odd numbers) of pixels of frame. Here are the directions for making your own picture with the correct frame about it."

"Wait... I did this last year and haphazardly put a frame around it. Are you sure it isn't going to work this year?" (Desperation in my voice.)

"Well... of course you could send it in this way but it might come back very lopsided and you might lose some of the picture. With all respect, I think you should try to redo your picture. By the way, the deadline for the discount is tomorrow."

"There isn't any other way to do this?" (my head started hurting at about that point.)

"Oh yes! If you want to bring in your pictures separately we could arrange them for you in a similar layout. Since you have so many pictures (family picture and 6 animal pictures) it would run about $80."

"Forget you! I'm outta here. I'll go back home and rack my brain for computer technology!"

Actually I've come home and called Mrs. Ochiai again and scanned and sent her the specific directions for getting the correct sized frame around my picture.

And on the way home I stopped at the convenience store, bought a chocolate bar, ripped into it and ate the whole thing before I got into the driveway...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

For us in Japan, it is a normal Thursday. Nothing planned in the way of a feast and no turkeys in sight. A couple of days ago Japan celebrated Labor Thanksgiving Day which has different connotations but schools and businesses did get to take the day off. It is no where near the family, feasting day that Thanksgiving is in America.

For many years our family was invited to Marlene's house for Thanksgiving and she always had a turkey ordered from Tokyo. Marlene's family, our family and another family with American connections would gather on the Sunday closest to Thanksgiving Day and have a traditional Thanksgiving feast. I'd bring green beans and a salad and maybe an apple pie, the other family would bring condiments like cranberry sauce, black olives and pickles (the husband always had a business trip to the States around this time of year) and Marlene would roast a turkey, make mashed potatoes and bake a pumpkin pie. We all spoke a combination of Japanese and English and had a big "family" day. Poor Marlene! She has always been stuck with the big job of roasting the turkey because she is the only one of us that has an American sized oven that the turkey can fit into! The rest of us bake in ovens that hold 9 cookies at a time.

Another Thanksgiving I remember before I ever met Marlene, was when a couple foreign families decided to celebrate together and one lady, Helen, ordered a turkey. I think what happened was when she went to roast it she found it wouldn't fit in her oven. Disaster approaching! We called Mrs. Furui because I knew she had an large German oven from her days of living in Germany.

"Mrs. Furui! We are trying to roast a turkey but it won't fit in the oven. Could we use your oven today? Of course please join our Thanksgiving party!"

Mrs. Furui was happy to help us but she had plans for part of the day. She suggested that whoever was roasting the turkey could come over and camp out at her house even if she, herself, wouldn't be home.

Blond Helen went over to Mrs. Furui's and spent the day alone roasting the turkey. No problems until MR. Furui suddenly came home in the middle of the day and found this blond stranger standing in his kitchen! He backed out of there very quickly and pondered whether he'd stumbled into the wrong house! As I recall, thanks to the Furui's, it was a lovely Thanksgiving day with lots of laughter.

As I said, this year Tetsu and I are having a quiet weekend. Marlene of course invited us again, but she has a lot of company this year and Thanksgiving doesn't mean a whole lot to Tetsu anyway. Should I figure out how to bake a pumpkin pie? I think my oven can handle that...

Busy days

A rush, rush day today. I don't like Wednesdays just because I have to have my wits enough together to take materials for three different places and 6 classes and I invariably forget something. I also seem to be on the run and checking the clock all the time. And I finally get home around 6:00. It makes for a long day (for me... For my husband who works until 9:30 at night, he can't understand what I'm griping about.)

Question: Do you think you are too busy or not busy enough or have just the right balance in your days? I think I am too busy. It seems like I don't have time to enjoy chatting with friends, and of course I could always use some extra time to work on quilting projects. I imagine a Tasha Tudor sort of life sitting among animals and flowers and quietly making things. I wonder if and when I have time to spare that I'll melt into boredom and think about the good ol' rushing around days.

My personal opinion is that in Japan at least, everyone is too busy. I have English kids who go to soccer or band practice after school, then get bused to swim school, then come to English and finish up the evening with abacus lessons. It seems that almost every child I come into contact with has some type of lesson every day of the week. Karate, boy scouts, piano, cram school, ballet, etc. etc. I can hardly talk since my English classes seem to be part of the problem but still I feel sorry for kids who have no time to just play or read or something. Maybe kids don't do that anyway anymore. Maybe they all sit in front of their TV and computer games so the parents figure keeping kids occupied is a better way for them to spend their time.

But it is not limited to just kids. I teach an English class at the kindergarten for mothers and there are supposed to be 10 students but for the last month I have had 3 or 4. The reasons? One week the kindergarten offers the mothers kimono dressing lessons, another two or three weeks there is preparation for a tea ceremony party. A few weeks there were doll making classes and puppet show preparations. Sometimes there is birthday lunch day for the kids. Of course there were bazaar preparations and Sports Day preparations. I actually applaud the mothers who tell me they just can't come to English anymore because there are so many other things they have to do. I should say so! At least they are not wearing themselves thin and juggling one extra thing.

I have no idea if Tasha Tudor ever made Apple Crisp but it sounds like something warm and hearty that she would serve her guests. Yesterday I made some for friends and students but Tetsu has been too BUSY to sample the piece I saved for him...

Apple Crisp

4 cups sliced apples
2/3 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup oats
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/3 cup margarine

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Arrange apples in greased square pan. Mix remaining ingredients; sprinkle over apples.

Bake until topping is golden brown and apples are tender, about 30 minutes. Serve warm and if desired with cream or ice cream.