Life as normal?

Good morning. I have to be at the elementary school in about at hour as a "guest"(officially dressed in uniform) at the sixth grade graduation ceremony. Japanese schools really do ceremonies to the hilt and there are usually planned speeches, choreographed words of farewell from the lower grades, flowers, red bean rice (celebration food) and lots of tears. I wonder how it will go today.

Every morning this week an older couple and a little girl, about 3rd grade age, walk with the children from the neighborhood to the crosswalk (15 minute walk). They say goodbye to the kids and then walk back to the neighborhood. On Monday when they got to the crosswalk they asked me if there was a convenience store nearby. Unfortunately I had to tell them that the crosswalk is about mid-way between two convenience stores, both being about 30 minutes away on foot. This trio is not from around here... On the way back from the crosswalk I found them walking down a neighborhood street so I offered to drive them to the convenience store but they said they were fine, that they had a car and that they live at such-and-such a house. Ah... I later learned that they have been evacuated from Fukushima and are staying with relatives in the neighborhood. I feel sorry for the little girl. Whether she wants to go to school or not I don't know, but all the other children traipse off to their classrooms and friends for the day and she plods back with her grandparents to the neighborhood. She looks lonely.

This morning at the crosswalk the Japanese sweet shop lady was running ragged, taking off in her car, coming back and running up to the school building. I chatted with her as I closed the school gate.

"Today is graduation for all the elementary schools in Nikko so we are filling orders for the red bean rice that will be given out. But my husband is off at the hospital because he is on dialysis and the clinic told him to get there this morning before 8:00 in order to be finished before the scheduled blackout at noon. Everything comes at once!"

Life is affected in big and little ways.

For our part of the city yesterday's blackout occurred from 3:30 to 6:00. I arranged myself in the kotatsu again and by the afternoon light read awhile until Tetsu came home! He had been to seen his mother, had bought toilet paper and milk, and had sat in a gasoline line for an hour but three cars up the gasoline station turned them all away. What a let down! So his gasoline is getting low. Until the electricity came back, we read in the daylight and ate bag a bag of potato chips, but as it got dark we both got sleepy and fell asleep again in the kotatsu (slowly cooling down as time went on.) I hope this isn't going to become a regular part of my routine. Sit in the warm kotatsu all day, eat snacky foods and fall asleep for three hours. As soon as the electricity came back, Tetsu went back to work.

The day after the earthquake Tetsu informed me that my sewing machine was totaled. It completely fell off the sewing table and was on its side under books and lose fabric.

"It is done for Tanya. There are bits and pieces of it all over the floor."

But when I went up to look I find that though the plastic cover had popped off the motor part, and the plastic drawer had come open, it didn't look like it was in too much pain. Ah, all those bits and pieces that Tetsu discovered are the inner contents of the drawer... quilting foot, button hole foot, a few bobbins, extra sewing machine needles, a walking foot etc. I guess for someone who doesn't know, it did look like the sewing machine had been gutted but I'm happy to say that it sews just fine.

Which is to admit that I did some sewing. I should be saving energy (as requested and instructed) but I decided an hour on the sewing machine (and using an iron) was more important for my mental health. (Japanese government and friends, please forgive me.) I made up some string blocks because Mrs. Furui and I had been talking about making donation quilts for the local Ronald McDonald House even before the earthquake. I think I'll make one or two blocks a day while in confinement...

And the boys came for English last night as usual. I set them up in the kotatsu with the Monopoly game (actually a Dogopoly game). What a good time they had! I'm going ahead and showing this picture of them all smiles. I already have permission from two of the boys' parents to show pictures on this blog...I don't know about the other two... but I think it is important to show you that we are having FUN as well as challenges! (You can pray for each of them.) The two round things on the board were LED lights that two boys brought in case we had a blackout during class. Well prepared!

First blackout

Good morning!

I have come back from crosswalk duty (wearing a mask). The children are covered in layers of clothes from head to toe... "Yoo-hoo! Are you in there?" It seems that the situation is serious enough to entail taking precautions from radiation contamination but not serious enough to cancel school... nor even DRIVE children to school.

Maybe I'm blowing this all up too much. My friend in Utsunomiya went out for a nice long walk yesterday and she is hanging her laundry outside as normal. Her philosophy is that Utsunomiya (and Nikko where I am) does not have dangerous radiation levels yet and so people are panicking unnecessarily. Besides which, even if we do get fallout, the consequences will show 30 years from now when she and I will be in our eighties... if we are around at all. I find her cheerfulness uplifting and inspiring. Thus Choco and I went out for our normal 30 minute walk at 6:00 this morning.

On the other hand, there were more explosions yesterday and I have other friends telling me to stay inside because the government isn't giving out reliable information. Don't drive or hang out laundry, wash clothes immediately upon coming in from outside, wear masks with wet filters inside... This is much more disturbing to the mind and makes me feel sad and out of control... I can't think of everything and I might skip an important point that connects me to the future... Yesterday I was trying to think of everything. Today I think I'll "cease striving."

We had our first round of blackout last night from 6:30 to 8:30 (it was supposed to last until 10:00 but someone took pity on us and we got back an extra hour.) Thinking along the everything lines, I dragged out candles (too bad I've never been so fore-sighted as to have flashlights and batteries on hand) I made potato soup (comfort food again) and rice balls. I fed animals (Choco is now allowed run of the house. I couldn't see keeping her in that little kennel for weeks), and I put hot water bottles in the kotatsu. When the lights went out I had an obento, soup, my Kindle, cell phone, candles and lighter, contact lens case and glasses, all laid out on the kotatsu table. I am ready!

Yet when the lights went out, there I sat trying to read my Kindle by candlelight (and a little Bible too) but I just got sleepy and snuggled deep under the blanketed table and slept for two hours. Awakened by the sound of the doorbell which turned out to be an automatic switch on for the doorbell when the electricity came back.

We still have tremors big and small. The room is cold. I'm still trying to conserve fuel and electricity (and avoid using the air-conditioning/heater). This morning Tetsu and I have brought out an absolutely filthy carpet that was headed for the dump someday and have laid that down under the table with the less filthy daily carpet on top of it. Hopefully two layers will keep the warmth in. And two heavy comforters instead of one on top of the table too. The cats are in heaven (except that they fight under there when non-allies meet up.) Tetsu has told me that I'm to let the cats roam the house too. No more protecting them from each other and trying to keep everybody happy in different rooms. They can fight it out themselves.

In the meantime I am working on Mrs. Okutomi's Hawaiian quilt block and keeping my hands busy. When I'm not blogging or chatting with my children on this computer, I am listening to gospel CDs.

Thoughts and doings

The days seem long and short at the same time. I'm not doing much but thinking a lot. It seems like the situation changes every 10 minutes. Right now the earthquakes are the least of our problems and instead we have to concern ourselves with radiation and nuclear explosions...sigh.

Two days ago I was wondering if we had enough food and gasoline to hold us through the period of Japan putting itself together.

"Tanya, you need to save gasoline. Drive as little as possible."

Okay... Yesterday I walked to crosswalk duty and back. Wow, I am going to go back to basics and walk everywhere. Choco will be so happy to have me home a lot and she and I will use the blackout times to walk around."

Not so. An hour or so later the news announces that the nuclear plant has exploded. Sorry to say that that nuclear plant is closer to me than the earthquake epicenter was. And throughout the day the news reports radiation levels in the area of the plant and even where I live. So I had people calling me and e-mailing me from other parts of Japan asking if I was alright, or going to be alright. The answer to that is yes for the present. But of course the news is bad again this morning. This morning I drove to the crosswalk again.

So, after yesterday's news, instead of giving Choco long walks I went out and brought her inside the house and put her in the kennel. The TV reports that we should stay indoors, close the windows, bring in the laundry, avoid using the air conditioning/heater which draws in air from outside. Oh great. And for awhile we were being told to leave an escape route open (doors and windows) and go outside into clear areas if another earthquake occurs. Today's instructions on how to protect yourself also includes wearing a mask (have to eat my words I guess about my dislike of masks) and a hat and gloves at all times. It is a good thing we are in winter.



So what DID I do yesterday? I called the electric store to see if they can come and right my antenna. They will put us on their list. I made apple sauce. It seemed like a comforting food. I washed our bathtub out well and filled it with water in case our water lines go. I brought out the kotatsu (blanketed table heater) and have set up a central area in the living room by moving furniture a bit. The cats think an earthquake is great, they get a cozy heated sleeping area.

Neighborhood English went on as normal yesterday in the evening. Parents called asking and I said I was here and if the kids wanted to come then we could go about as normal as long as there was no blackout. So I had three little girls come for English (around the kotatsu). Ladies classes were cancelled though because this is quite a distance for people to come and they have their minds on other things. I'm supposed to go to the kindergarten graduation this morning but I'm skipping that. I don't think the children or parents will miss me. The reason again being gasoline shortages. English with friends in Utsunomiya is cancelled again because they are worried about my gasoline supply and because all their husbands are at home. The Honda Corporation has a big factory in Utsunomiya and it was badly damaged so Honda personnel have nowhere to go, thus they are all at home.

My thoughts...

Tetsu's says I'm freaking out. Rats. And I thought I was doing so well. On the one hand he thinks that Japan is breaking apart literally and economically, on the other hand he thinks we only need to worry about the present. If you don't want to go outside then don't. If you do, then do. If you want to use your gasoline go ahead, if you don't want to then lay low. It doesn't really make a difference. Food and gasoline may or may not come. That goes for the radiation too. It may or may not reach us and besides that's a pretty selfish way to think when people closer don't have the option of protecting themselves from it. Tetsu is a firm believer in doing what you can where you are and just because you COULD run away or buy up more food etc, is no reason to leave your friends and others who have kept you well and happy for so many years, in a lurch.

I finished quilting. What should I name this?

God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
And the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;
Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.

The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold.

Cease striving and know that I am God.

Psalm 46:1-3,7,10

March 15 Japan

Good morning.

The scheduled blackout didn't happen but the news continues to tell us that they will start the rolling at any time. I went to the pre-school as normal yesterday morning and then made my way into Utsunomiya to buy essentials. Essentials being toothpaste, (found) toilet paper (none), canned foods (peaches and sweet beans), kerosene (none), dog and cat food (found), thread (none... the craft shop was closed.) In fact most stores are now closed. I made a stop at the vet to pick up special cat food for our cats with urinary tract problems, I tried the various drugstores and home hardware stores but they are closed. I did find a supermarket open that still has a good supply of vegetables and meat but not things that can be eaten uncooked.

And once home I am laying low. The gas lines are long and it doesn't look we'll get more gasoline for awhile.

Church on Sunday was filled... filled meaning maybe 30 people as compared to the usual 20. And many of the regular members couldn't get there because they live in the next city over. But everyone is cheerful and prayerful. A few tears thinking of our fellow citizens in the north.

Am I too blase about all this? Sometimes I feel so. We have constant aftershocks... all night we are awakened by strong ones but the little ones hardly give me a rise anymore. Sometimes I imagine that the house is sitting on a large truck that is idling... An occasional jiggle every couple minutes... nothing scary. The aftershocks at night wake us up and then it is hard to get to sleep again. Not out of fear but because there are so many things to think about.

Should I have bought more dog food?
Now, how is God going to make good out of all this?
I need to give Takumi and Leiya banking information in case I can't get into my American account.
I ought to bring out different heating options... An old kotatsu (blanketed table) could be warmed by hot water bottles and warm cat bodies...

You can see my thoughts fly from here to there.

In my own way I am trying to adjust our lifestyle. As advised, I've pulled the appliance plugs out of all the outlets when they are not it use. Every little bit of energy saved is necessary. I filled a water tank with a water supply in case the water lines stop. Everything is off of the shelves and cupboard tops in case the aftershocks get stronger. I walked to the crosswalk this morning instead of driving two minutes to get there.

Someone; the TV, the local government, the people in authority; do not give us reliable news. Is there school today? Isn't there school today? Which part of the city is supposed to have blackouts today and if we are supposedly in the middle of one why is it I still have TV and computer access? So, are the radiation levels rising or not? Some reports tell us one thing, some reports tell another.

No English today (no one can drive out this far) so I am going to be quilting. And I've noticed that our TV antenna is about to fall off the roof so I'll have to contact someone about fixing that. I don't want to worry about it falling on my head when I run out the door escaping from falling books!

Earthquake report March 14

Good morning from Japan.

This morning I am alone in the house with only the cats to keep me company. Lorraine left in a whirlwind yesterday morning when trains started running again. She bravely faced hours of travel and two train transfers in uncertain conditions and after a 5 hour trip (it was supposed to be 2 hours) arrived safely at her son's house. I am sure she was met with hugs and tears.

Compared to northern Japan, we are relatively untouched by the earthquake and tidal waves and nuclear fall out. However it looks like we will be feeling the struggle of the whole nation in the coming weeks. As of this afternoon we will be under a controlled blackout and from 12:00 noon until 4:00 the area that I live in will have no electricity. This is expected to continue for weeks. So I will not have computer contact during those hours.

It is going to be a challenge figuring out how to live without electricity for even a few hours everyday. Cooking... Heat... Information from the outside world. The news is giving instructions about how to keep things cold in the refrigerator without electricity (store everything in the freezer during those hours). Even gas stoves need electricity to light so those will be unusable as of course rice cookers. (I bought rice yesterday... I guess I can go in the forest and collect wood.) How to shop. No vending machines will work. No ATMs. No cashiers in any stores. All refrigerator services will be suspended. The gas pumps can't run without electricity but there is no gasoline anyway. Reminders to recharge cell phones during the electricity on hours. Instructions on how to deal with appliances that might turn on automatically when the electricity comes on resulting in fires. The trains won't be able to run during blackout hours... It was a good think Lorraine got out of Nikko while she could. Even the signals at the intersections won't be working so the city hall called me to say be especially careful if the children should be going to school during those hours (Signals were working as usual this morning.)

The children by the way, came cheerfully to school this morning. More cheerful than some days! And none of them had the yellow hats that they usually wear nor the regulation backpack because that had all been left at school on Friday. Many mothers walked with the groups all the way up to the school and a few of the teachers went part way into the neighborhoods hidden by forest to walk the children to school. This will all be done in reverse at 12:00 today because school will only be held in the morning.

I managed to wait in a street line for gasoline yesterday and now have a fairly full tank again. A few cars after me the gasoline station ran out and were turning cars away. So with my precious gasoline I made the 30 minute trip to see Tetsu's mother who was virtually untouched by the earthquake and has very little idea that things are such a mess. She said a few papers fell off the shelf but nothing on the cupboards and her Buddhist altar with vases of flowers and picture frames moved hardly at all. She lives in a fairly new apartment building so it must be sturdily built. I really cheered her up with tales of my adventure in the Oya rock quarry! Got a big smile out of her. This picture is for Takumi and Leiya to let them know that Obaachan is well and as happy as she ever is.

On the way back home I had to drive through the town of Oya and I noticed the entrance to the Oya museum and quarry was blocked off and a police man was stationed in front of it. There were three or four people chatting and trying to get information about what had happened in the quarry but no information was coming out. Only that it had been labeled a danger area and citizens were not allowed inside until specialists could assess the damage. I became the center of interest when I piped up that I was one of the few people that had been INSIDE the quarry when the earthquake struck. Wow, the look of respect in their eyes! They were plying ME with questions about whether rocks had been falling around me etc. I could report that no rocks fell inside the quarry while Lorraine and I were escaping but there was a lot of dust which coincide with the rumors that part of a hill collapsed.

Back in my immediate neighborhood there are walls that have fallen over and the gravestones that have collapsed. Hand written signs are posted warning people to stay clear of debris and not try to right the broken gravestones.

Tetsu put our house pretty much back in order and he is getting little sleep what with running the convalescent home and napping in front of the TV trying to gather information about what services will be available. Can they cook for the home? Can they get gasoline for their vans that pick up people from their homes? He was a bit snappy with me when I asked if he thought I should cancel my activities (English) or go on as normal as long as my gasoline holds.

"That is the least of MY worries. Go on with normal until someone tells you they don't want to be studying English at a time like this. As for gasoline, use it while you have it. Go buy out the store or something. There is going to be a food shortage. And no, I can't give you a list of what we might need because the stores aren't going to have anything anyway. You'll have to think that one through yourself!"

Anyway... I may not be blogging (reporting) as much as I'd like since electricity will be off in a few hours. But we have so few worries compared to others in Japan. It is a very little inconvenience.

Earthquake damage in the house.

Good morning from Japan.

Everyone has been so good to ask about us and pray for us and the people of Japan. Watching the news is so sobering. Of course, the nation is on national emergency and the news is a continuous reel of new disasters being discovered. The TV reporters are wilting before our eyes, many of them being on air for nearly 24 hours before a change and then the first ones are back. The scientists look like they are very smart... but the ones who seem to have the most knowledge also seem to look the gloomiest.


The piano moved away from the wall.

When Lorraine and I returned from our Oya adventure we were met with debris throughout the house. The piano and some of the cupboards had moved away from the wall by over a foot and books, dishes and games covered the floor. Chip and Cleo were hidden under the sofa and cowering in the corner but Toi and Mi found the whole mess very curious. Choco was sleeping in the yard unperturbed by the past couple hours. Chip has suffered the most trauma it seems and will hardly let a second go by without climbing on someone's lap or trying to crawl up a leg if she's being ignored. Her bathroom habits are now discombobulated and she is adding to the confusion by making puddles on top of debris.

Tetsu finally came home yesterday afternoon and related the headaches of making decisions about 50 some elderly people's health and safety. Take them back into a shaking building? Leave them out in the open with only a few blankets? Everyone was routed to a room (without cracks) where there was no second story over their heads.

Lorraine and I made a jaunt to the supermarket (Lorraine paid for our week's worth of groceries) and I was surprised to see that the shelves were fairly well stocked still. But surely that won't last for long. There was no bread however and the milk was almost gone. I talked with a neighbor this morning whose family runs a gasoline station and she said that they have hit the bottom of their supply because the cars were lined up in the street yesterday. I hadn't thought of that. My neighbor's advice was to sit tight and not try moving around since gasoline won't probably be available until next week or later.

Lorraine had some trouble sending word to her son and daughter-in-law that she was still in Nikko (with me) because of course they were gathering up their children from school and for many hours the phones and cell phones weren't working. It was agreed that we should all sit tight and see what the next day brings.

The elementary school principal called me (when the phones started working again) to say that the school had held the children on the grounds without shoes (they'd all run out of the building) and without their back packs for two or three hours until all the parents came to pick them up. That sounds smart because Lorraine and I had been surprised to see jr. high school kids riding home on their bicycles immediately after the first earthquake and what with tiles falling from roofs and walls tumbling, it seemed to us that students would be safer at school. Anyway, the principal was just checking his staff (including me) so see that everyone was okay and to ask that I report for crosswalk duty as usual on Monday as the children were to have regular school and get an education in how one picks up and cleans the mess in a school building after an earthquake.

The nuclear explosion plant is a few hundred miles north of us and as Tetsu says, we can't be worrying about everything at once. Takumi gives me regular, if not too comforting, updates from the States. What the world view is of our situation. What the Japanese government is doing right or wrong. His advice to me was

"I heard that you should protect yourself from the rain. If it rains don't go outside. There might be a radiator in it. Don't go outside."

Thank you Takumi. Tetsu and I feel all your love and concern in those few words. Gave me a laugh too. The word is radiation.

All in all, though things don't look too fun for the future, Tetsu and I and Lorraine and our families and our pets and our friends are all well. I'm quilting, Lorraine is embroidering. We don't act like there are any inconveniences in our lives at all!

Earthquake experience

You know, there is not a lot for Lorraine and me to do. We tried picking up the books and games that had fallen out of shelves but what with the aftershocks, it seemed stupid to be right under the same shelves and putting things back when for all we knew they would all fall out again. Cooking too has had minimum success though I have gas and electricity and water. Dried out vegetables at the bottom of the refrigerator? Will those turn into a meal? And every time I go into the kitchen the house starts shaking again so I have to flip off the gas pretty quickly. Dinner last night was fried rice.

A lot of you have asked where I am in relation to the epicenter. Well, there has been such a series of quakes and the epicenters are pretty spread out. The first and largest shake was about 200 miles to the north and east of us. That was the 8.8 magnitude one and I'm supposing that was the one that did the most of the damage to the house. And the reason I'm not sure about that is because Lorraine and I weren't at home when the first quake struck!

Lorraine had hoped to go home on Friday afternoon around 3:00. Remember how in the morning she went walking around by herself? Well, she came back and asked about all the stone store houses that she'd seen along side of the farmhouses. Oh, those! Yes, it just so happens that we live in an area of Japan where stone is excavated for the use of building walls and traditional storehouses and some of the fancier pieces of architecture. It is known as Oya stone. Well, if you are interested in Oya stone, why don't we go visit the caverns where the stone is cut out an carried away. It is an unknown tourist spot that is slightly interesting...

You do see where this is leading.

After lunch (in a renovated stone storehouse) I took Lorraine over to the Oya town and explained along the way about how the stonemasons have for years carved out stone from the mountains and from under the countryside until the area is catacombed with huge areas under the earth. In years past some of the older quarries have even collapsed with farmhouses disappearing into the earth... But that was a long time ago. The quarry that I wanted to show Lorraine is one maintained by the city and it has a little tourist course that leads down into the depths. A small museum and gift shop stands outside the entrance and the area is surrounded by interestingly shaped mountains that have been carved away.



Lorraine and I parked and took a couple pictures of the cut out hills surrounding the parking lot. "Now isn't that an interesting formation. Just cut away a shelf there didn't they?"

We went into the museum and then started down the well lit stairway that leads into the bowels of the earth. The walls on each side of the stairway are interestingly wedge-cut and I reminded myself to get a picture of them on the way back out.

The first tunnel stairway opened out onto a huge empty area and there were signs on the walls saying that during the war the quarry had been used by an aircraft factory to construct aircraft. That's how big the place is inside! The farther you go, the colder it gets and Lorraine thanked me for reminding her to take her jacket. The stairway leading down the one wall was open over the cavern on one side with a fairly study handrail separating the stairway from open space. Once down at the bottom, the cavern sloped lower and there were different catacombs where the city sometimes holds concerts and such because of the mystical surroundings and interesting echo effects produced by the straight cut walls.

(Picture from the Internet)

Lorraine and I had just admired a very interesting tunnel-chimney like shaft directly over our heads and we were peering into a dimly lit cavern when I heard a sound like a train coming from far away. Air conditioning switched on? In this place? But the sound got louder and louder and I noticed the plastic chains baring tourists from unknown places swinging freely.

EARTHQUAKE! I grabbed Lorraine's hand and started back the way we'd come. What a place to be in during an earthquake! And the shaking got stronger and stronger! We got to the stairway with images of the mountains crashing in on top of us and the place was shaking so much that we had to grab the slim handrail with both hands. There was only one other couple in the quarry with us... younger... and they speeded past us and up into the final leg of the stairway-tunnel. I was hanging onto Lorraine again telling her there was just a little more to go. We were all right now because we were past the empty cavern. We ran up those stairs at top speed and I wondered about Lorraine's heart after this horrendous scare and sprint up a shaking stairway. We'd never discussed heart health before....

At the top of the museum entrance we both collapsed onto some stools with me holding on to Lorraine for dear life and telling her we were fine, it was all over. Until a museum worker came in and told us the building might collapse so we'd be safer out in the open. The open though turned out to be dusty and hard on the the lungs. Some people who had still been in the parking lot said that part of the mountain/hill that we'd minutes before been admiring, had collapsed in a cloud of dust.

There we sat, a group of 6 of us while the shaking came in waves. Someone wondered if the area we were sitting at would go falling into the earth and maybe we'd do best to get completely out of the area but a gift shop clerk assured us that the ground under us had NOT been carved out and that we were in the safest place we could be.

In a period of lull Lorraine got out of the area as fast as we could and made our way to Tetsu's convalescent home which was on the way home. We found all the residents out in the parking lot being cared for by staff while Tetsu ran around checking on the building itself. After Lorraine and I calmed down a bit we headed home and were surprised to find roofs of Japanese homes minus their tiles, stone walls with bricks scattered along the street, a whole stone storehouse with a gaping hole in it's side.

It wasn't really until Lorraine and I got back home and turned on the TV that we realized how far spread the damage was from this quake and the others that came on it's tail while we were driving home. Home by the way being Lorraine's home too until the trains are back in operation but who knows when that will be.

However we have all been in touch with family and everyone close to us is accounted for. Lorraine's family was especially glad that she hadn't been on the train already and lost somewhere in the chaos of Tokyo.

So all is well and we are bearing up nicely even with all the aftershocks. More tomorrow.

Japan morning

We've had a long night just because every few minutes the house would start shaking. Really, I wonder if it is some type of shell shock. Every time it seemed like things were quiet I would think that the constant trembling beneath me was really just my own breathing or pulse or something and then the tremble would turn into a shaker again. So I don't know how much is all in my head.

I haven't turned the TV on yet this morning so I haven't seen the footage of the disasters but from what little we saw yesterday I imagine it it bad. It got so that Lorraine and I were growing depressed listening to the continuing reports and seeing the film footage and every so often the news announcers (wearing helmets in the newsrooms) would let us know that another quake was predicted to hit in a matter of minutes so everyone please get under tables and move away from furniture and pull over to the side of the road of you were driving. Lorraine and I tried to sleep on the hard, cold floor of the living room (we didn't want to get caught upstairs in case we needed to make an escape outside) and besides, with all the stuff that had fallen on her bed and my futon upstairs it made us glad we hadn't been asleep when the quake hit. Tetsu, by the way has stayed the night at the convalescent home and is trying to keep things together there.

Earthquake report

Thank you for your prayers. We are all okay. The house is a major mess. Everything but everything has fallen over or out and there are a lot of broken dishes and picture frames everywhere. What a story I have to tell you but maybe I'll wait until things settle down. We are still getting regular tremors every few minutes. I mean, stand up and grab a wall tremors! Lorraine is with me and we are camping out in the living room tonight. No train service for her and little telephone service. The computer works. I did chat with Takumi to let him know we are okay. More news tomorrow morning.

My friend, Lorraine

No, I haven't disappeared. My friend Lorraine is visiting from Australia for two days and we have been chatting so much that I'm not getting anywhere near the computer!

Lorraine and I became friends through patchwork connections and visits with her have been recorded on this blog from two years ago. She has made the jaunt to our patchwork gathering twice before and has advised us on techniques and has let us know what is going on in the world of patchwork in Australia. Lorraine has sent us information of patterns, Australian magazines, fabric, and even a BOM quilt with pattens and materials that our group successfully made and raffled off last Autumn at the kindergarten. Anyway, we owe a lot to Lorraine.

Lorraine has been in Japan the past two months visiting with her son and family and she timed her visit just right to make an appearance at the Tokyo International quilt show. She also has explored the cities and towns and connecting train lines on her own and knows a lot more about Tokyo and its suburbs than I do. She seems to know where the good quilt exhibits and other special events are in nearby cities and she is certainly not afraid to go off adventuring on her own! Thus the two and a half hour trip from her son's place to mine all on her own on Wednesday.

Any international travelers out there! Take a lesson from Lorraine! She eats anything... Fish eggs, sweet beans, whatever. She goes anywhere... Public baths, walks around unknown countryside, the public library. And she makes friends easily... So what if she doesn't speak Japanese, do some pointing, some smiling and people will figure out what she needs or go in search of someone who can speak a little English. Lorraine also keeps handwork in her bag so she is quite happy to hole up in a Mister Donuts or someplace until I can get back to her after teaching a class. She also doesn't mind cats which is a great plus for any guest planning to stay at Tanya's house.

Yesterday Lorraine and I went again to Mrs. Furui's for patchwork and she greeted everyone like a regular member (as she is... she comes once a year). She left with homework too.

"Sure, I'll make a block for you for your game. And one for you, too. Okay, and one for YOU too!"

Right now Lorraine is off exploring the fields and forests around my house. I considered sending her out with my cell phone in case she got lost but it would probably be too hard to explain a Japanese cell phone to her anyway. With all her practice Lorraine has more directional sense than I do so I expect that she'll come toodling back and have things to tell me about my own neighborhood that I don't even know!