Mi

Mi gets so much love in our house. She really gets an unfair share. But she has cuteness sparkling off her at all times. She has a cute face, she has a cute trill, she has cute mannerisms. The ladies who come for English are tickled pink when Mi chooses their lap to sit on that day. They ply her with kitty snacks and coo over her expression of adoration. The children too come to English, barge into the house asking "Where's Mi?" They hold her like a teddy bear, make a special seat for her with their book bags... and Mi loves the attention!

The other cats deign to make an appearance if it looks like cat snacks are being handed out but they have no interest in ladies' laps or noisy children (except for Chip... she also will sit with the ladies but doesn't like the children). Vel, Cleo, Patora and Toi find English guests, adult or children, tolerable but uninteresting.

And Mi of course is Tetsu's favorite. Much like the English children, he comes home saying "Where's Mi?" and he is quite disappointed if Mi chooses to sleep with me rather than under his covers. Mi waits for us in the bathroom sink, follows into the bathroom, sits by my feet while I wash dishes (not minding the occasional drops of water that sprinkle her head) and of course keeps me company when I sew. She is the only one of our 6 cats that gets along with EVERY other cat... I'm still playing "changing of the guard" with the other cats because one or the other doesn't like other family felines.

Mi is supposed to be the least healthy of our kitties but so far she seems pretty healthy. If love could heal, she is building up a lot of immunities!

Busybody

You are going to think me such a busybody...

Yesterday I took Choco to the vet. We drove about 30 minutes into the next city. Along the way we passed people out walking their dogs and getting a little sun. A nice day for people to be out.

After the vet I went to the fabric shop to buy multi-colored quilting thread. And then I stopped at the bread shop and bought a sandwich and had lunch out on their picnic bench with Choco begging by my side. And then I started homeward bound. One more errand. I had to stop at the pool and pick up my pool bag which I'd forgotten lock, stock and barrel at the pool. (I'm beginning to worry about my brain... this is the third major thing I've just gone off and left...)

On the way to the pool I noticed an older lady, an obaachan, walking on the sidewalk. Wait a minute! Two plus hours ago didn't I see that same obaachan closer to the city? Where was that? That was miles and miles and miles from here! Maybe yes... maybe no... I seemed to recall an older lady walking along and I had thought it interesting/odd that she wasn't carrying a purse nor wearing a hat on this sunny day.

But no. I'm probably wrong. I went on to the pool and retrieved my bag. Should I go home? Should I go 10 minutes back and see if the lady is still walking? I went back. She was sitting at a bus stop now. Okay. She's fine. Make a U-turn and go home.

But something kept nudging me and I U-turned two more times, watching the obaachan on the bench. No one else seemed concerned. Well, if she's just sitting on a bench, no one would think that strange. But if she really is the lady I saw on the far side of town...

I made a quick decision to go get Tetsu (I wasn't far from his convalescent home). If the obaachan was lost then the area she'd been walking has a lot of older people who make use of Tetsu's convalescent home's facilities. I thought about calling the police but if the poor lady was just trying to catch a bus what a ruckus I could cause!

Tetsu came right away and sat down at the bus stop to chat with the obaachan. And realized that the lady was lost and quite confused. So we drove her to the neighborhood police box and after about an hour her family was tracked down. She had walked clear from the OTHER SIDE of the city and had been out since 9:00. (I first saw her at 11:00 and we took her to the police box at 2:00.) Strong legs on that little obaachan!!

Tetsu and the police were quite surprise that I could recognize an older lady in trouble but I have heard so many tales from Tetsu of older people wandering away from their homes or getting out of the day service centers etc. that I guess I'm subconsciously aware of older people out alone.

Whew, I'm sure glad that worked out well. I would hate to be making the rounds today apologizing to everyone for sticking my nose in other people's business!

"Gaman"

Yesterday after church (Tetsu had to work) I took two young friends into the city for a MacDonald's hamburger lunch. Both Joy-san and G-san are from the Philippines and I have written about Joy-san before. She attends church regularly now and every week we pick her up and take her home. She seems so happy chatting with the other young mothers during their babies' Sunday School time.

G-san is a young man who came to church last month for the first time. He speaks almost no Japanese having only been in Japan for a year. His English is fair. G-san had originally been working on the coast of Fukushima as a welder but he and other workmen were evacuated during the tsunami and eventually someone found him a job in our town. He was the one who wanted to eat MacDonald's hamburgers for lunch.

We had a nice afternoon, frustrating in some ways, enlightening in others. G-san wanted to buy a cell phone and asked if I could help him. We tried many different shops and talked to many different people but the bottom line was he couldn't get a cell phone. He doesn't have a credit card. He doesn't have a working bank account. His legally permitted time in Japan is too short (it is supposed to be extended every three months) to make a contract with a cell phone company. He doesn't know his own address. His alien registration card is expired! (That's a biggie!)

The cell phone people were very sympathetic and willing to do a lot to help him get a cell phone but until he gets his alien registration worked out there is nothing more he can do. After the frustrating cell phone session (G-san, Joy-san and me with varying Japanese language limitations) G-san treated us all to soy sauce ice cream (!) and we chatted a bit.

These two Filipino young people know a very different Japan than I do. G-san graduated from a two year college yet he works in Japan as a welder because he can't find a job in the Philippines. I was amazed that he hadn't gotten his alien registration updated but he has no idea where the City Hall is, has no idea what is written on his card anyway, has no way to get to the city, nor has any language ability to get things straightened out. I asked about the company where he works and lives... but he claimed that usually he was getting yelled at and told how stupid he is. (He has learned THAT Japanese word quickly.) It is really the company's responsibility to care for their alien workers but someone is behind on that. Giving them the benefit of the doubt I suppose the sudden flee from Fukushima has caused all sorts of other problems too.

Why? Why do you stay then? If you are being verbally abused, if you have family in the Philippines (a wife and baby), if you are afraid anyway of earthquakes and radiation, why do you stay in Japan?

But Joy-san smiled and her comment to G-san was,

"Gaman." (Endure, persevere, bear with the intolerable.) "You have to gaman. Close you ears to the abuse and just gaman."

and to me,

"Sister Tanya," (that's what she calls me)" life in the Philippines is hard for us. We make a small amount of money in Japan and our relatives in the Philippines think we are rich. We may not be treated well in Japan but we make our money and send it back to the Philippines and our families can buy a house!"

In my western thinking of fair and unfair, I questioned my friends' philosophy.

"But you have gone to college. That must mean something in the Philippines. That must get you a better job and a higher salary than someone who has only gone to high school or who hasn't been educated at all."

"Not really. Even a teacher in the Philippines, a professional, can only make $300 or $400 a month. G-san has to work in Japan and he doesn't mind being called stupid because he can send money to his family."

"Yes, I will gaman. It only hurts a little in my heart..."

Shopping

Friday afternoon I went to the camera shop to have some pictures made for my friend. The clerk said that the pictures would be ready in 15 minutes so I looked at the camera displays while I waited. And wouldn't you know, ANOTHER clerk came over and asked if I was interested in buying a camera.

No. I am not. I have a perfectly good camera that works fine though it is losing its metallic finish and one of the levers has pulled loose. BUT... while we are both standing here in front of display cases, yes, please tell me about cameras.

I successfully left the shop without buying a new camera but I suddenly was VERY INTERESTED in one that the clerk STRONGLY recommended!

I think I want that camera! That camera can do amazing things! I can see myself taking beautiful pictures and posting them on my blog! And doesn't Tetsu always says, he doesn't know anyone who takes more pictures than I do! The clerk was so enthusiastic! There is a weekend discount!

I had stars in my eyes and my spirits were soaring! I convinced myself that I needed a new camera. Happy! Happy! Happy! I will be at the camera store Saturday morning with money in hand!

That was my plan.

But I came home and looked online and found that for the same camera, I can buy it at about half price. And though it is a great camera, all the online reviews praised other cameras just as highly. So what about other cameras? I no longer was sure I wanted that particular camera and I was a little disappointed that the nice camera store clerk was really going to make more money off of me than I'd expected.

I took off in the car to the electronics shop. And looked at the billions of cameras available there. And picked them up and looked in their view finders and compared prices and recalled TV commercials I'd seen. I also found that the original camera I'd liked so much was offered there at nearly half the price too and not on a weekend special. I could think about this for weeks if I wanted to before making a decision.

Oh, forget it all. I never needed a new camera anyway. My old one works fine. My spirits are dampened. I dislike the feelings of suspicion I have towards the friendly clerk who is also a very good salesman. In all honesty, I almost wish I'd given in to my first impulse and bought the wonderful camera and could still be excited about it all. Then I never would have looked online, never would have gone comparison shopping and could always feel that there was a friendly, supportive clerk at the camera store I could depend on.

I guess included in that original price was enthusiasm and excitement. Which I've lost. I should have stayed home and quilted.

Blogger returns!

How nice that Blogger came back! It gave us all an unscheduled vacation from the computer or at least from blogging. I caught up on reading blog posts but couldn't comment. I skipped posting myself of course. I replied to previous comments in my g-mail box and verified that it was not just ME that was having blogging problems. (I thought at first that I had done something dreadful.)

I wondered about how I would feel if my blog disappeared entirely and who would be to blame. It's not like I pay fees to Blogger to allow me to post. If they swept me from cyberspace what would I do?

Though in days past I had planned to back up my blog regularly, I never got around to it... Is it even necessary to save my blog? I mean I don't really re-read these things, why worry about it disappearing. But then I figured that at least the past couple months of dealing with the earthquake was "history" of a sort. SO.....

I checked my old posts (Nov. 14, 2010) about how to back up my blog. I followed my own instructions and in an hour was able to back up a year of blog posts on my external hard disk. I even appreciated that I had written that post to the future me and laughed at how well I knew myself.

So, I feel a bit caught up and actually enjoyed my "vacation" though it was a little lonely all by my lonesome.

What did you do yesterday without blogging privileges?

Pinwheel flimsy

I haven't gotten around to all 8 projects that I listed up last week (I crossed off one and added another two!) but I am plugging away on them. Mrs. Ochiai is coming over today and we will work on the Hodge Podge quilt.

One of my projects is a baby quilt for a church friend. I considered getting other members involved but it takes too long to organize something and it is just easier to do it myself. Besides, no one has fabric like I do and it seemed ridiculous to have people going out buying fabric when I have BASKETS and SHELVES and BOXES and DRAWERS of fabric.

So I found a cute pinwheel pattern. And as usual miscounted and made 20 blocks rather than the 12 that was called for. And then laying out the blocks I remembered I had billions of little triangle squares that had been left over from another project of many years ago. Good I can make a notch in getting those used, so in went some lattice with more pinwheels.


I really liked the prairie points which I've never done before and that made another dent in a box of 2 1/2 inch squares I've religiously been cutting out from left-over fabric but have not been using.

(That happens a lot... I have baskets with 2 in squares, 2 1/2 inch squares, 3 1/2 inch squares, 2 inch strips, 2 1/2 inch strips, 3 1/2 inch strips, strings, and all over them ARE NOT GETTING USED!!! They are just multiplying while I do other things.)

Anyway, the quilt came together and looks nothing like the pattern I began with. And then I dragged in my friend Kaoru-san and asked if she'd like to help hand quilt this quilt for our mutual friend. She could hardly refuse with me standing there with a flimsy in my arms looking at her hopefully. Yeah! Kaoru-san is recruited as a main hand quilter! We will round up one or two other friends and this quilt may get crossed off my list!!

Road block

Wednesday, and I'm out of here in a few minutes.

Over Golden Week my wonky carpenter was at work again. I have an embarrassing problem of cats peeing where I don't want them to. I have a feeling the culprits are Vel and Cleo and occasionally Chip. And they like the corner of the kitchen, making the place very unsanitary! Toi and Patora like to pull things off of counters and the stove to munch on while we sleep. My cats are ganging up on me! And my kitchen (and dining room and hallway etc.) doesn't have a door. Very interesting house. No doors. Anyway there is no way to keep the cats out of the kitchen.

So Tetsu made a frame that will fit in the dining room doorway and supposedly that would keep the cats out. It is not very attractive but we thumb tacked an old green tablecloth to it and then I'm draping an old patchwork wall hanging over it all.

Great! It fits in the doorway! No entrance to the dining room and kitchen (for humans either). It is a bit of a pain to move every time Tetsu or I want to use the area but it serves the purpose... At least for the peeing problem.

But unfortunately the frame is not an obstacle for Toi. The other cats are stumped by the road block but Toi easily jumps over it. Oh well. Toi was not doing the peeing anyway.

Rock quarry again

So...

After digging up bamboo shoots, Mr. Takahashi asked us if we would like to see his rock quarry. Mr. Takahashi, though retired now, owns a rock quarry and a few mountains and large areas under the town where his company digs out Oya rock. Oya rock... Remember that name? I was visiting an Oya rock quarry with Lorraine during the earthquake of March 11.

Because it was early Sunday morning there was no one at the rock quarry when we pulled up. A lot of rocks! Besides carving rock out of the earth, Mr. Takahashi's company shapes the rock into pillars and slabs to be used in "bricking" up interior and exterior of buildings, making columns for entrances etc. To say that Mr. Takahashi is proud of his rock quarry is an understatement. He is PASSIONATE about his rock quarry and ZEALOUS about Oya rock!

Oya rock is very porous and is used abundantly in our prefecture for property walls and in cultural buildings. But probably most people around here see so much of it that we all take it for granted. A rock is a rock. NOT SO according to Mr. Takahashi.

We admired Mr. Takahashi's rocks. We marveled at the many heavy machinery that he explained do marvelous things like shape rocks into curves and domes. We gasped at a shaft dropping down into seemingly endless earth, left over from previous cutting away.

"Would you like to see the inner part of the quarry?"

Mr. Takahashi knows that I was in the city Oya rock quarry during the earthquake. He pooh-poohed my tale of escaping from the dark cavern while Lorraine and I scrambled to the exit.

"That is the city's quarry. It is made for tourists. That's not the real thing. I'll show you MY quarry."

Okay... Let's go see it... Tetsu looked at me like he was seeing a different person. He later said he thought I'd been traumatized enough with being in a quarry during an earthquake. Why would I be willing to go down again?

Mr. Takahashi pushed open a low gate and headed for an iron staircase that disappeared into what looked like a dark room.

"By the way... This staircase is only attached to the roof of the building. It is hanging down into the quarry. That means that when we walk on it it will shake. I just wanted to let you know that you are not getting dizzy nor is the shaking the result of another earthquake."

Okay... I can manage a slightly shaking stairway for a few steps...

Mr. Takahashi took the lead. Tetsu took the rear. I had two strong men to depend on. There is nothing to be afraid of. HAH!!!!!!!!!!!

There is such a fine line between courage and foolishness. As we descended into the black pit on a shaking staircase I thought how stupid it would be to have been saved from a crushing death in a quarry and then two months later go back down in one never to return to the surface again.

Down, down, down. How far down are we going? When are these steps ever going to end?

"Oh, it is about 50 or 60 meters to the bottom. That's about 7 stories in a building."

Only thin metal handrails separating me from the dark abyss on all sides of me. No walls. At the stairwell turns only thin cables crossing in the center to keep one from making a dive into darkness. Tetsu kept telling me not to look down. I gripped those handrails. I had both elbows on those handrails as I firmly planted each foot on a lower step.

"Tanya-san, you haven't looked once at what's around you. The light coming in the shaft is very beautiful on the far walls."

I cannot look at far walls. I can only concentrate on going one more step down.

Finally we reached a "bridge" that was attached to the rock wall.

"This is slippery here, so watch where you step."

Oh my gosh... The bridge is just strutted out into space. Tetsu was mumbling behind me about whether this rickety thing was going to support his weight. I hate to say it but the bridge, the staircase in general was very old and somewhat rusted.

Close to the bottom we straddled a gap to another bridge and finally went down a crooked ladder ending up at the bottom of the quarry. A wet, quarry with water seeping from cracks and the sound of dripping echoing off the walls. In some places I couldn't even tell if the area was a deep pool of water or only a few inches of water... and it would be very easy to make a misstep and go plunging into the murky pools a few steps away. Except for a few naked light bulbs lighting our immediate area, the caverns were dark and eerie.

But Mr. Takahashi was in ecstasy explaining about the beauty of the solitude, the years of working down here alone (or with his wife!!!) the love for bringing a slab of rock to the surface and releasing it into light.

"You appreciate Oya rock when you choose one down here and then see it emerging from this pit. This rock is alive! I don't bring just anyone down here you know. This is not a place for tourists. I only bring people who will LOVE Oya rock.

We stayed in the cold quarry about 20 minutes and gradually I began to realize that I was going to have to climb that rickety ladder and bridge and stairway to get out of here. I did NOT want to do that. But I did NOT want to live out the rest of my life in a quarry either. We headed back towards the shaft of light illuminating our lifeline.

Same as before but this time I had to watch my feet as we went up and I could see down through the slats into the darkness below. All the while Mr. Takahashi expounded about the wonders of Oya rock. He would stop in the middle of the stairway and turn around and wave his hands while he explained and all the while, me thinking....

"Oh dear. I don't think I'm going to be able to do this. Please just go to the top and explain later!"

At one point I even began to feel light-headed.

"I am not going to faint on a staircase hanging out over nothing. Tanya, you are not dizzy. Actually, Tanya if you just stopped holding your breath your brain might get some oxygen. That's a good idea, just breathe!"

We made it to the top! Thank you Lord for rescuing me out of the pit AGAIN! I will never do that again!

But that's not to say that I'm not glad that I saw Mr. Takahashi's quarry once. I will forever appreciate Oya rock. Whenever I see Oya rock I will think about the men who go down there daily. Oya rock really is beautiful to me.




Mr. Takahashi let us pick out a couple pieces from his quarry to bring home. Maybe they are his rewards to us for stepping down into his world, and appreciating it.

Bamboo digging

Tetsu and I finished off our Golden Week with new experiences thanks to our pool friend, Mr. Takahashi (also known as Mr. Company President.) He had already given us bamboo shoots from his grove and Tetsu raved about them so much and bemoaned the fact that he didn't even know how bamboo shoots were grown, that Mr. Takahashi invited us to his bamboo grove.

"Be at my house by 6:30 am. Morning is the best time to dig for bamboo shoots." (I don't know why.)

So bright and early Sunday morning off we went to Mr. Takahashi's. We followed him a few minutes to his lovely bamboo grove. Morning light filtering in through the bamboo poles... a fresh damp smell to the earth and mulch... Birds singing far above us.

"First you have to FIND the bamboo shoots. They're here somewhere."

What fun! Much like a Japanese Easter egg hunt! Do we even know what we are looking for? Mr. Takahashi did but even so the bamboo shoots weren't so easy to find. We must have spent 20 minutes or so just watching where we tramped.

"Here's one!" Mr. Takahashi found the first shoot and he demonstrated how you dig one up.

"You've got to start quite a ways away from the shoot and dig through all the roots. The farther you get down, the more careful you have to be. And with this bamboo shoot digging tool you make a good swing and.... there you have a bamboo shoot."

It takes a good 10 minutes to dig up a shoot.












In the end Mr. Takahashi found all the shoots but Tetsu dug up the last three.

A quick lesson on how to peel a bamboo shoot to even GET to the food part. The tough leaves have to be sliced through and then opened up to reveal the softer bamboo meat inside.

A great morning workout! My job was taking pictures. And we brought home 4 bamboo shoots for me to figure out how to cook again!


But that wasn't the end of our morning.....

Stained glass and quilt exhibition

Yesterday morning, Tetsu took me off on a surprise date to the culture center in the next town... To see a quilt and stained glass exhibition! Just beautiful! And very inspiring!

I took lots of pictures which are self explanatory... I did ask one of the ladies standing around which had been made first, the quilts or the stained glass. She informed me that there is a group that does stained glass work and then they lent the stained glass patterns to a quilting group that specializes in stained glass quilting. And for the first time the two groups collaborated to have a stained glass quilt show.

I hope you'll enjoy the pictures!


































Now... Who wants to make a stained glass quilt?