Old Friends

I spent a couple of wonderful hours yesterday reminiscing with friends.  Tetsu is going to be surprised at the pictures in this post. 

Leiya's host mother from over five years ago, contacted me asking if I was available as she and two of her sons were coming through the area. The last time we saw Bessie and Noah and Tyler was the year Leiya graduated from high school after she had been living with their family for three years.  I think we computed back and figured out that our family had originally become friends with Bessie's family when they were in Japan thirteen years ago!  The family had moved from Ohio and started attending the services at our small, completely Japanese church and two of their sons attended the kindergarten affiliated with the church.  I helped out with translating and interpreting and their family invited us for homemade American style lunches after church. 

Then the family moved back to Ohio and a few years later I contacted them asking about taking Leiya into their home...  for THREE YEARS!  And thus, it was due to this family that Leiya got to America, was able to get a high school diploma, had the opportunity to go to and complete four years of college which led to her now being able to work in Ohio and be on her own.  The Watanabe family owes a lot to Bessie's. 

But though Leiya stayed in Ohio, Bessie's family has moved around in the last five years and now reside in Arizona though there are relatives in California, and it was this trip BACK to Arizona that Bessie and two of three sons were making.  Could we get together? 

Well, Bessie hasn't changed at all, but Noah and Tyler sure have!!!  Tall and good looking!!!  Let's see...  When Noah was going to 1st grade in Japanese elementary school I would translate some of the classroom messages that he brought home to his parents...

"This one is important.  That one isn't.  This one you'd better mark on your calendar.  Throw those away."

I was better at keeping track of Noah's messages than I'd been about my own children's.  With my own, I'd had Takumi read them to me!

And Tyler... He and his middle brother, Caleb (who wasn't in California this summer) went to the kindergarten and between the three of us we taught the class English a Christmas song.

♪♪♪"Christmas is a happy day and we say thank you God..."♪♪♪

ANYWAY...  Bessie drove 6 hours from San Francisco to Grandma's house, and we left Grandma dog-sitting Skippy while the rest of us went out to lunch.  I heard about college studies and upcoming marathons and future plans.  I filled Bessie in on Leiya's and Takumi's accomplishments and what all was going on at the church and kindergarten back in Japan.

Too soon Bessie gathered up Skippy and was back on the road to Arizona...  Another 6 hour trip?

I'm so grateful that Bessie and Tyler and Noah were willing to make the stopover that let us get back in touch with each other.

Miscellaneous pictures, miscellaneous days

I seem to have difficulty writing a post with any rhyme or rhythm.  My routines have changed from what they are in Japan (now there are no routines) and I guess there is not a lot of structure in my life.  I jump around from one activity to the next, ten minutes here, ten minutes there.  Even blogging seems to change during the summer.  One big random activity!

Let's see...  What's left over in my photo files?

What is this?  For years (like 45) there was a tree behind my mother's casita, but it was threatening to fall down so sometime this past year the family had the tree trimmers take the whole tree away.  Well, a branch had grown right around a telephone pole cable (to keep the telephone pole upright I think) and rather than have to call the telephone company people out, the trimmers just cut around the cable. 

Occasionally on my morning walks, these dogs will spot me from afar and yap-yap-yap at me as I walk down the whole street (and their yapping alerts other dogs in the neighborhood who take up the call and meet me as I turn a corner.)  The dogs jump off of the second floor balcony onto the overhead sundeck roof and they have a fantastic view of the hills and street and walkers like me.

"Why are you taking a picture of the paper towel roll?"

My brother shakes his head at me as if he thinks I've lost my mind.  Well, American paper towels have such nice designs on them.  I wonder if I can incorporate that pattern into a quilt someday...

Here is Simba with his toy mouse.  He is a Catador Retriever and he can play a retrieving game as long as any human will throw the mouse.

Not to do for Maxie though...  By the way, all of the pictures I take of Maxie have to be done on the sly.  I sit as still as a statue (and she won't come closer than 10 feet away) and then I slide my camera along a table or in this case, to the end of my knee and then without looking at her or through the camera, I snap the shot.  Some come out, some don't.

Why a picture of feet?  This picture makes me laugh...  So typical of California life.  We all run around barefooted.  From house to house that is no problem but when taking the garbage out to the end of the hill, ouch... ooh... hot!  Still, bare feet are the norm for us.  I notice Takumi even slips off his flip-flops when he drives.  This picture might surprise my Japanese friends because ONE ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT GO OUTSIDE WITH BARE FEET IN JAPAN!!!  Of course we are barefooted after we take our shoes off at the front door but outside?  Outside lurks parasites and germs and dirt and all sorts of deadly things that Japanese don't want brought into their homes.  I am often asked how Westerners can bear to have dirty shoes that have been walking around outside, traipsing all over the carpets and floors in a Western house. ...Well... Doesn't everyone vacuum daily?  Anyway, playing outside in bare feet is a big no-no in Japan.

And here is Grandma with a heavy winter sweater on and a fleece blanket.  The rest of Southern California is hoping that the heat wave will end soon but not Grandma.  We are trying to keep Grandma settled with her feet up because her legs are so swollen... probably from the heat... so she is content to sit and read and stay cozy.  The rest of us sweat just looking at her!

"Grandma, Grandma.  Your thermostat is really discombobulated."

KaBloom flimsy

I have made visible progress on the McKenna quilt top! 

Everyday I make up a flower or two and then iron it down.  Everyday Grandma asks if I'm finished yet but I have to tell her that I've a long ways to go.  On this day I was working on the trellis and Grandma was helping me hold onto the pieces.

"I don't think I know what you are doing...  Can I throw these away?"

"No!!!"

When I'm ready to put the main piece aside it goes under the card table on the floor.  It goes without saying that there is no more room ON the card table nor on the coffee table nor on the desk (mother's papers from 40 years ago piled there) nor on the ironing board nor on the dining/scrap table (a finally finished jigsaw puzzle that yours truly finished up the first week she was here hoping I could take it down and clear some space...  "Oh!  The puzzle's done!  I need to start a new one!")

Under the card table is a fairly safe place.  The dogs carefully walk around my quilt top, humans glance down and admire it.  But Simba was visiting Grandma the other day and what does he do?

This is a cat who has never seen a quilt in his life yet, as do most cats, he gravitated to it and plopped himself down to test it's comfortableness.

"Excuse me.  I'd really appreciate you NOT adding any cat fur to my piece."

After Simba left I put the last remaining flowers on and even put in the borders.  A flimsy has been born!  Nice, nice.

And now for the machine quilting...  Can I do it?

Family fun

Yesterday, I had a fun day with Takumi and Bianca. 

 It was a hot day and they played around in the pool a bit.

Later, as we chatted, Bianca finished up her McKenna quilt from last summer.  I'd brought a kit then too and I had instructed her on how to put the top together.  She was putting the finishing touches on that when I left last summer and during the year she got it all machine quilted.  These past two weeks have seen her sewing down the binding. 

 Ta-da!  A finish for Bianca and she did a great job!

Let's see...  Takumi and Bianca and I also made a trip to Costco and Takumi was most impressed that I had a Japanese Costco card that allows me membership worldwide!  The three of us stocked up on fruits and water and edamame. 

Back home the whole family got involved with playing beanbag toss. 

My grumpy looking brother is the family's all around beanbag toss champion and though everyone challenged him throughout the evening, he won hands-down.

 Look at that concentration.

Kiana has her good pitching arm from all that softball she did in high school, but maybe a bit too much power as she continually overshot the beanbag boards.

We moved the bench out a bit further for Grandma so that she could sit and watch the fun.  And I guess even Colin was playing though by that time it was getting so dark that I didn't get a picture of him. 

A family that plays together, stays together!  (or was that "prays" together?)

Sunday morning walk

How about a Sunday morning walk?  I left the house this morning at about 5:55.  It was still a bit dim.

This is the view from my mother's front door.  On the left there you can see my brother's house, barely a hop and a skip away.

I was headed up a hillside this morning, into a residential area above the valley.  At the first ten minute mark, the only thing photogenic was some nice plumeria growing in a yard.

And finally at the top of the hill... about 15 or 20 minutes into my walk.  I've never tried to go up farther as I huff and puff just to get up this far.  Probably the view is more spectacular from higher up or there is no view from the street because of all the homes. This view is spectacular enough for me and I always take a once-a-year picture from this viewpoint.

Here's another shot from under a palm tree.

I stayed around a few minutes shooting with different modes on my camera so my walk timing got discombobulated.  Lots of DRY flowers and brush around.

Okay, let's start on down the other side of the hill.  Ten more minutes of walking and lots of beautiful homes.  I liked the driveway lamps that were still lit along the street.

Ah...  Here we are back on the main road.  My legs got a workout today on those hills.  And up in the extremely tall trees (sorry I didn't take the telescopic lens today) were the neighbors' noisy peacocks.

Another ten minutes and I reach my old high school there on the left.  I marvel at the fact that I probably walked to the high school only three or four times in my four years of attending the school and yet after I hit middle-age I make this walk everyday of every summer.

I found someone peering down at me.  What is this?  I don't think it is hawk... but we have those too in the area.  Sadly all too often we hear of people losing their cats or dogs from hawks and coyotes (which I haven't spotted yet though they were great abundance last summer).  I guess hawks and coyotes and this fellow have to eat too.

And here I am ten minutes later heading back towards home.  This is the only street that I have to run across and though on Sundays there isn't much traffic, during the weekdays it takes me awhile to get across.  No crosswalk or light here.

Not too photogenic but a shot of my brother's long driveway leading from the street.  The house is way back at the end behind the farthest trees.

And here we are a minute later back at my brother's/mother's house.  My mother's casita is directly in front, my brother's main house is to the right.  That big window used to be my old bedroom when I was a child and Kiana occupies it now.  The house is set back away from everything and everybody, no traffic, not much noise.  Everybody, including my mother, meanders back and forth from house to house.

And once home from my walk (today it was an hour and ten minutes) I'm ready for some Trader Joe's granola!

A good friend

I am back from my two day visit south.  I was treated to great Mexican food, a viewing of the fun movie Maleficant and some wedding planning for my friend Jane's daughter.

Jane's lifestyle is always an eye opener for me, and not just because she lives in a gorgeous mansion and travels around the world at a drop of a hat.

She is extremely well read and loads me up with a bunch of books to peruse and consider.  On this morning I had been given a Mah Jong text to "brush up" on my Mah Jong skills as I had brought Jane an authentic Mah Jong set from Japan. 

A more disciplined and organized person I don't think I've ever met and I wish some of Jane's orderly habits would rub off on me. A simple bowl of fruit and cottage cheese turns into an elegant breakfast when I'm with Jane.

Unfortunately I don't think I'll have a chance to imitate any of Jane's interior decorating talents... I can't see a chandelier hanging over my kerosene heating stove...

Isn't it interesting that our lives are so different yet we remain such good friends after all these 45 years.
 

Feet

Not much going on besides lazing about, occasionally shopping and a lot of eating.

I'm off in a few hours to go south and visit a high school friend for a couple of days.  It is always a highlight of my California summer to stay a night in my friend Jane's elegant home.  This year we will have a lot of chatting to do about an upcoming wedding in her family.

Marcy and Kiana and I went and got our toenails painted.  Hmmm.  It feels so nice to have clean, pretty toes...  I dislike having to make those ladies do the dirty work and sit there at my feet as though we are back in the days of mistresses and handmaidens, but I must admit it is pleasant to have calluses banished and scratchy heels smooth again.  Now with pretty grey sandals that Tetsu bought me for my birthday and a summer color, my bunioned feet don't look half bad!

I've added more elements to the Ka-Bloom quilt.  A pathway shadow, a picket fence and the garden is starting to bloom with cosmos and sunflowers and snapdragons!
Daily I sit and cut out flower parts and daily, maybe 5 or 6 times a day my mother asks me what I'm making and why and how and if I'm finished yet.  I could make a recording of my answers!

"I am making a fabric art quilt.  Sort of like paint by numbers but with fabric.  Some very nice person sent me the kit and I thought this would be a good summer to work on it.  I trace the pattern onto transfer paper, iron it onto the corresponding fabric and then cut all these eensy-weensy pieces out and iron them together.  I'm about two thirds finished and yes, it will all have to be sewn down in the end."

If only my mother was a blog reader she would have that information at her fingertips.  By the way, after writing about the pieces curling and someone's comment that why didn't I just iron everything down as I went along, I thought

"Yeah.  Why not?  Even though the directions say do it at the end.  It sure will make photographing this a lot easier!"

So now the pieces are down there for good!  No changing!

Off to the freeways!

Random pictures

I made my brother's day by sewing him up some bean bags.  He and Colin have made a couple bean bag boards and my brother had tried sewing a bean bag himself which was not too successful.  Hey, as long as I'm here, I'm the resident seamstress and already I've repaired a sofa cushion.  Bean bags are NOT difficult for me.  

Voila!  10 bean bags and their boards.  This seems to be a popular local game these days.

Here is Colin helping prepare green beans for dinner.  A seat on the counter, pull a bean from the bag, snip off the ends and cut the bean up into the sieve.  Hey!  At least he's helping, right?

You will not believe that I went swimming at the city park pool!  And after all my complaining about not liking swimming!  But it seemed like something was missing from my day and I noticed that the city pool was open a couple of hours a day for lap swimming.  It was different from swimming in our Japanese park pool, that's for sure. 

The city pool is cheap $2 a time compared to Japanese single use which is $10 (but Tetsu and I are members so we get to use it for a lot less). 

Guests bring their own lock if they want to secure a locker (but I didn't know that so I just stuffed all my clothes back in my bag and kept it by the poolside).  In Japan the lockers have keys that you have to wear on your wrist at all times. 

The city pool had lanes (so nice!) so I could swim back and forth by myself and not have to dodge people playing and walking in the pool as I do in Japan.  Oh, and the city pool had a shallow and a deep end while the Japanese pool is just shallow for all the walkers.  I have never seen a deep end of a pool in Japan... not in the school pools, not in recreational pools.  So Tetsu wouldn't have been able to enjoy the California pool as there is no place to walk in it and he doesn't swim. 

The one lifeguard was a part time student where in Japan there are usually 3 or 4 full time employed lifeguards (for a smaller pool but maybe more people). 

And in the locker rooms there are nice signs that say "All swimmers must wear swimsuits when using the shower".  See... I wouldn't have known that if the sign hadn't been there!  I would have stripped and walked around the locker room and shower area naked (which is the norm in Japan) and somebody might have called the police!  So all was good.  I don't know if I'll get the uncontrollable urge to go back and swim laps again....

Julie asked how my mother had enjoyed my fabric cards.  Well, every time I show them to her she is delighted and wants to know where they came from.  She doesn't seem to remember that most of them have been in her casita awhile.  The only one she doesn't particularly like is the wisteria one because she doesn't like the 'bug' on it.

"It is a bee, and by the way you are holding it on it's side...  See it is hanging wisteria."

BUT!!!  You will notice that there are only six cards there and I have sent out seven.  Yes, one is missing!  June's card with the socks has never arrived, according to Marcy who would have noticed it because it was in a transparent envelope.  Now I asked specifically at the post office if the card would go through being in the transparent envelope and they said yes but it hasn't made an appearance yet though the July owl card has. 

Back to McKenna!