Seiji Fujishiro

Tetsu took me the Fujishiro Seiji Museum that just opened about two weeks ago.  Not that many people recognize Mr. Fujishiro's name, but most Japanese will know his art work.  I didn't know what Tetsu and I were going to see until I walked in the door of the museum.

"Oh!  I've seen this man's art all over!  He's been featured on TV and I have enjoyed seeing excerpts of his life."

The museum is nestled in the woods of a little resort town and to get to it from the parking one must walk over wooded paths and around moss covered bridges.

Along the path were these cute little cat figures directing visitors in the right direction.

Mr. Fujishiro turned 89 this year.  He has been an artist all his life sketching, painting. He began doing cut-out art some 50 years ago... cutting silhouettes from black paper and illustrating magazines and advertising.  Gradually he branched out into cutting not only paper but also colored cellophane and from there he began creating a fantasy world illustrating children's books, Biblical scenes (I think his grandfather was a pastor) and whimsical landscapes always marked with one or more of his signature elves.  Mr. Fujishiro uses razor blades and his fingers are always covered with band-aids!  He has two cats who lounge upon his works-in-progress and he features them often in his art work.

In the museum, which is mostly dark... Mr. Fujishiro's works are back lighted and because his creations aren't limited to two dimensions, the back lighting gives areas of his work an out of focus, mystical appearance.  Of course, photography wasn't allowed in the museum (too dark anyway) but I bought a photo book of his works just published last month.  The illumination doesn't show up in the printing but I am thrilled to have this wonderful commemorative collection of this amazing artist.

So these are pictures of pictures in the photo book.  Oh dear... I hope they won't appear hum-drum whereas the actual artwork just sparkles!  Of course I HAD to take a picture of this.  Cats and a quilt!!  And not painted remember!

Here and there in the museum were little alcoves to just sit back and relax in and enjoy the scenery.  The windows were glass from floor to ceiling and the walls were all floor to ceiling mirrors.  Tetsu and I relaxed for a few minutes and I took the picture of us facing the mirror on the far wall.

In the complex there was also a small chapel which can be used for private weddings I suppose.  Mr. Fujishiro's works were depicted in the stained glass, again a lot of color and fantasy.  On the walls, mermaids and sea creatures.

The rose window depicting Noah's ark.

Tetsu felt a close up of Mr. Fujishiro's signature and the date was very important to preserve in a photo.

So all this was beautiful and whimsical and a magical sight for the eyes, young and old.

But when we walked into the room of Mr. Fujishiro's most recent works I had to catch my breath.

Here are a couple of the works he has done since the earthquake and tsunami of 2011.  (At 87!)  Mr. Fujishiro visited and sketched the disaster sites and later put his impressions in paper and cellophane and light.

Do you know the story of the Lone tree?  There had been a forest of these tall Japanese pine trees lining the coast of Iwate prefecture, but the tsunami of 2011 crushed the forest like so many matchsticks and one solitary tree remained.  It became a landmark of hope and determination for the town people and has much been in the news.  Unfortunately the tree could not withstand the damage and destruction to its roots from the tsunami's torrent and sea water and has since had to be taken down...

And this is Mr. Fujishiro's interpretation of the reconstruction process going on in Fukushima.

"I can see great hope and power in the regeneration of the rubble." 

Seiji Fujishiro

The origami cranes, symbols of hope and peace, were very moving.

If you ever have a chance to see Mr. Fujishiro's works by all means do so.   My pictures do him no justice at all...

Hydrangeas here, hydrangeas there, everywhere hydrangeas, hydrangeas!

I had an absolutely wonderful Saturday yesterday... thanks to Tetsu's planning again.  I had told him a couple of weeks ago that he really didn't need to feel he had to take me places every weekend as I rather enjoyed sewing at home while he puttered in the yard.  I'm afraid he was a bit hurt as he'd thought he was doing me a favor finding places I could show on my blog...

"Tetsu, we've about run out of places within driving distance.  I LIKE staying at home too!"

So we've had a couple of quiet weekends but yesterday we were off and about again.  So today I have LOTS of pictures of a hydrangea park that we visited.  I think hydrangeas are my favorite flower though Tetsu says the bushes are so ugly in the winter that he doesn't particularly want them in his yard.

 The entrance to the park.  So many colors and shapes of hydrangeas!

Hydrangeas seem so mystical to me with the way the different colors all mix and blend together.  Deep dark blues next to white blossoms.  Some plants have purple and pink and blue flowers all blooming at the same time!

Hydrangeas, hydrangeas... everywhere we looked there were hydrangeas.

 Hydrangeas and the Japanese bamboo fences just seem to go together.

 Hydrangeas and bamboo just go together!

And I just love seeing big leaves sprinkled with raindrops and dew.

There are so many new hybrids of hydrangeas.  I love this type with a crown of blossoms around the frothy center.

Oh dear...  Here's another one I can't bear to not post.  Tetsu and I drove an hour or so to this park and got there around 9:00 so last evening's rain was still evident on the petals.

I think this is called the fireworks variety... The white bursts against the dark leaves of the forest really reminded me of fireworks!

Well, here I am enjoying the scenery.

That was the morning visit to the park... more tomorrow about our next stop... a magical art museum.

Pocket tissue cases

Yesterday I spent 30 minutes or so making pocket tissue cases.  (I took them to my friend and her roommates in the hospital.)

This is a QUICK project with nice results that I have even made in Sunday school classes for Mother's Day...  If you keep your wits about you and have an idea of what you are doing, it really is a simple, lovely gift. You have to be able to iron, but you only sew two seams... 

You need a piece of fabric 21 1/2 inches long and 6 inches wide.  (Give or take...  I have pieced the fabric before.)

Sew both ends at 1/2 inches from the edges.  Sorry, my tension was not great on my sewing machine when I was doing this.

Fold and iron the left-hand end to the right (meaning top) side of the fabric 1 3/4 inch from the edge.

Fold and iron the right-hand end to the wrong side of the fabric 1 3/4 inch from the edge.

Right sides together on the one end, wrong sides together on the other end.

Now... ignoring the fold that you just made at the right-hand side (that last step) bring that edge (on the right in my picture) up to the edge on the left side of the strip. The two edges should touch.  This is the tissue opening.  The crease you just made on the right side just follows along and does nothing at this point.

Lift up the extra fabric on your right-hand side and bring it up and over to the left-hand side, not shifting the tissue opening and letting the fabric crease naturally at that ironed point that was doing nothing.

If you let the fabric crease while lining up the extra fabric with the left-hand side (I'm pinching that fabric here) it will make a nice neat sandwich-like piece.  It should measure about 7 inches.  Iron it all down, pin if you like at the four corners (I don't) and take it over to the machine.  Sew both open sides a 1/4 inch seam from the edges.

 Now you have a unit that is wrong-side out with a pocket.

 Turn the pocket right-side out... the long extra stuff first.

Then turn the short end right side out... and there you have a tissue opening with a longish flap on one side.

Get the corners pointy, iron it all down and the tissue case will also have a place for a handkerchief or supermarket cards or something.

The flap folds down to cover the opening after you've put in a pocket tissue.

Japanese pocket tissue sizes and other countries' pocket tissue sizes might be different... but maybe you can figure out the measurements to your own pocket tissue...

Fashion over safety

I'm just back from crosswalk duty. 

Standing at the crosswalk every morning is a really nice way to start the day.  I like greeting the children, I like smiling at the passing cars.  So far there has never been any situation that has been too dangerous.  Among my activities I open the school gates (and close them afterwards); I greet the sweet shop owner and her cat; I pick up trash if I find any along the road; if it is raining I wipe down the guard rails.

I exchange greetings with the high school students riding their bikes to school, and I say hello to the jr. high students also on their bikes (usually get no response from them); I chat with the vice principal who comes to crosswalk also; I ask about skinned knees or missing glasses or unusual items being brought to school.  The children suffer patiently the routine of checking the traffic in English,

"Look both ways...!  Right!  Left!  Right!  Okay!"

One more of my duties is to make sure students follow the traffic rules.

No hands in their pockets. (This is so that if they fall down they won't smash their faces.  Sorry... I don't make the rules...  I've yet to see a child fall down face first.) 

No sweatshirt or jacket hoods over their heads. (This is so that they can HEAR the traffic as well as see it...  I too, am supposed to keep my hair pulled back behind my ears.)

And every child is supposed to wear a yellow hat...  In the case of boys, a yellow cap, in the case of girls, a yellow beret type hat.  An occasional child will forget his or her hat at home and I'll ask where it might be and they'll tell me it is either forgotten in the school or in their house.  Usually the next day the child will be wearing the hat again.

Recently I have one 6th grade girl who doesn't wear a hat.  The first couple days I ignored it... "She's forgotten it somewhere."  (One time a boy lost his hat for the whole week... He'd left it at swim school.)  And then I asked her about it.

"It's in my bag."

"Well, tomorrow put it on please."

I certainly don't want the children to start out the day being scolded so I try to keep my tone light.... Sometimes that doesn't work.  Today, the 6th grade girl is still not wearing her hat and it is still being carted around in her bag.  She pulled it out to show it to me!

"I have my hair in a ponytail.  My hat won't fit over it!"

She doesn't seem to care that the yellow hat is supposed to be making her more visible to drivers...

I also have a jr. high school boy who completely ignores my guidance about wearing his bicycle helmet.  He most often gets away without wearing the helmet by taking a road going away from my crosswalk thereby not having to meet up with me at all....  But I see him in the distance... and he comes into my neighborhood before and after school, never wearing the helmet that sits in the bicycle basket.  I figure it is my job to make noises about the helmet when I am in uniform but I don't when I'm just out walking Choco.  I wonder if I'm sending the poor boy mixed messages...

Just yesterday the boy rode his bicycle near my crosswalk without wearing his helmet until he noticed a police car patrolling the school route.  The boy pulled that helmet out of his basket and HELD IT over his head.  Once the police car had gone away, the helmet was back in the bicycle basket and the boy was worriedly checking to see if his carefully spiked hair had been flattened by the hated helmet.

Everybody thinks fashion over safety...

Here is a picture of Takumi in his high school days when hair spiking was so important to him.  In high school there are no longer any rules about wearing a bicycle helmet.

Sweet sleep

Wonderful Wednesday!

(I'm trying to think positively...  Wednesdays tend to be an exhausting day in the week for me...)

I have been visiting my friend in the hospital and I continue to send her cards.  She is not much of a cat lover but I sent her this one after she told me that she had trouble sleeping with all the noises going on in the hospital.  Nurses checking patients, machines bleeping and doing various functions like massaging legs etc.

Because my friend is doing so well, I am pretty much in awe of modern medicine these days.  Keyhole surgery and already talk of going home this week.  Everyone in my friend's hospital room looks so GOOD and seems so cheerful!  Having roommates means that they can compare their progress and share their setbacks.

"You all seem like comrades going through your healing together!  Please don't include me in the club..."

But truly, I see modern medicine as a miracle, and I'm not saying that glibly.  What once was impossible is now routine.

Still, we will all be happy when my friend is back home in her own bed...

Picasa

Some blog readers asked how I put Bible verses on my pictures.  I use a software (is that what is is called?) called Picasa that I downloaded for free years ago.  I have no remembrance of how I found it nor how I figured out how it works.  There is probably a paid for version that does more things but I've only used the free download.

You can find the website here.

So once I got Picasa downloaded, it seems to automatically import my photo folders into its whatever...  And then I can chose pictures to edit as I like.

For example, when I click on a picture then I get a choice of ways to edit...

Recropping is a favorite because I can get in closer to an image than what I photoed.

And Straighten is handy when I find I've shot something crooked (I use this so often that I'm getting a complex... I think my head is on crooked.) 

The I'm Feeling Lucky shifts the contrast and the color automatically and sometimes I like the software's interpretation more than I like my own camera settings.

Retouch is good for taking out license plate numbers...

And there is that Text button which I use to add text to a picture.

Fonts can be changed... as can the alignment and the text size.  Also the color.

When I have a layout I like then I click the export button and I get a small watermark so that my name stays on the picture... I really would like other options on the watermark option but since Picasa is free I'm not complaining...

There are other pages offered too for editing.  (5 pages in all I see)  And tint or sepia or black and white are added options.

Wow!  What about that one?  I've never used that button before!  It is called pencil sketch.

Picasa also offers a collage creation button and after choosing certain photos the software makes a collage... and you can shuffle the pictures or put gridding between them etc.  I use the collage option at the end of every year when I count up how many quilts I've made...

So there you have it.  Picasa has worked well for me...  I've tried my friend's expensive photo software but it was way too confusing for me.  Picasa lets me play a bit but I don't get too confused. 

Give it a try!  If I can do it then anyone can do it!