Halloween

Though Japanese media and commercial enterprises make a lot out of Halloween, families and neighborhoods do very little.  Tonight is Halloween but in all the years that I have lived here I have only ever had children (a whole five... from one of my English classes) come trick-or-treating once.  Fortunately I had some cookies in my cupboard!

However, the kindergarten and the pre-school like to have a Halloween game time and every year I dress up as a friendly witch.  20 some years ago I made a long dress with a Halloween themed vest and I've added pipe-cleaner spider earrings and a felt bat brooch to my costume...

This year the pre-school provided me with a pumpkin and Tetsu carved it for me (saving the pumpkin seeds for Yuma-kun to plant as requested).   On Monday I donned my Halloween outfit and manned with homemade cookies visited the pre-school.  The school is small and the teachers go all out with simple costumes for the kids to dress up in.

I had to ask what these children were trying to be...  They were wearing pointed black garbage bags... supposedly a well known Japanese ghost...  Okay...

And can you recognize Baymax?

After I finished at the pre-school I went on over to Tetsu's Day Service Center and greeted the people there and generally did silly things to make them laugh.

My hat (with hanging bead spider) got put on people's heads and the shimmery cape was draped over shoulders and there was a lot of gaiety among everybody.
This lady is 101 years old and she smiled and cackled as Tetsu took her picture!  Happy Halloween!

 

Problems

We had a rough day on Tuesday.  You all think I have this cute dog that goes on outings with us and while being a bit rambunctious is actually very happy-go-lucky and friendly.  WRONG!!!!!

Tuesday morning, just as my ladies' English class was assembling, the gas man came to the door to ask me if we needed kerosene for our stove yet...  Throughout the winter he stops by and regularly fills our kerosene tanks.  He has been our delivery man for years and years and I will occasionally chat with him while he lugs the heavy tanks back and forth from his truck.

The gas man (kerosene and gas) and I were standing by the tanks figuring out how many I might need this month when suddenly he gives a shout and then crouches down holding his hand.  I whip around and there is Choco racing past and then heading back for another round.  She has bitten the poor man!  Of course he was terrified and I cornered her and dragged her back to where she is chained in the back yard.  She had slipped TWO of her collars (she has THREE on her neck) and was running free when she encountered the gas man.

One of my students/friends came out of the house and sprang into action ushering the man into the house to wash the wound.  I came back frantically looking for gauze and anti-biotic.  Three other ladies arrived and miraculously they produced a large bandage (WHY does K-san carry large bandages in her purse?) and took down information about where the gas man lives and his company's address and telephone number.  When the bleeding had stopped, with a pained expression he left to go see a doctor.  His parting words to me were,

"Don't look so sad.  It will be alright.  And please don't scold your doggy."  (Wan-chan)

Doggy!  That is practically a wolf back there in the backyard!

We KNEW that Choco is not good with people.  She has tried to bite people before but she's never drawn blood.  She is friendly when we are off and away but have someone come into or even near her yard, she turns ferocious.  She especially doesn't like men and boys.  We have tried a harness but she easily escaped from that and thus the three very tight collars around her neck.  One a choke collar.

Tetsu came home immediately when I called him and he went to the gas company to apologize and called the gas man privately to apologize.  He left sweets at the company for both the staff and the gas man (a typical form of apology of any sort) and the gas man called back that evening saying he hadn't needed stitches, he'd had a tetanus shot, he had gone back to delivering kerosene in the afternoon.  Still...

I called the gas man again yesterday morning from kindergarten where I was working and asked about his hand and let him know we had tightened Choco's collars again and entwined them with the choke collar.  I said I hoped he wouldn't be too traumatized to continue being our delivery man.

"I already went to your house this morning and left two tanks of kerosene for you.  That will last you a couple of weeks."

All I could think was what a brave man he is... step right back into the danger zone not knowing if a ferocious dog will jump out from around the corner of the house again!

The rest of my Tuesday I wallowed in guilt.  Choco never did get scolded just because after all the fuss too much time had passed to make a point of it in her head.  She is not the cleverest dog.

I consulted my vet yesterday but he could only suggest the tightened collars.

"She's nearly 13.  You'd think she'd mellow out a bit."

My problem child.

No race

I really wish I could spend some time up in the sewing room working on my donation quilt.  I wanted to take it to Mrs. Furui's on Friday for her to give to the Ronald McDonald House when she next goes... but that's not going to happen this week...

Instead I spent some time putting on borders and machine quilting my friends' mini-quilts... and these  two can be handed back today...  It feels good to have those finished as I have another two quilts (large ones) coming to me on Friday to machine quilt.

But the Nine Patch Split sits all alone in a corner waiting to make the trip to the Ronald McDonald House.  The quilting was finished sometime last week but I have yet to find a block of time to sew the binding on and then it will take a couple of evenings to hand sew the binding down...  I do like to brag and show off my quilts at the monthly patchwork gatherings and if it's not done this week there will be another month's delay.

Too bad.  Other things get in the way and it isn't a race to begin with... 

Hats

I have a running battle with the 100 or so children that cross the crosswalk every weekday morning.  They are supposed to wear hats.  Yellow caps for the boys, yellow beret-like things for the girls.  The school emblem is on the hats and the girls have elastic bands to hold the berets in place.  It used to be all schools had hats... kindergartners wore straw hats in the summer, felt hats in the winter.  High school boys wore peaked caps...  The Jr. high school students are supposed to be wearing a helmet when they ride their bicycles to school but that's a whole other battle.

The lower grade children occasionally forget their hats either at home in the morning or at the school "Children's Club" where they will wait for their parents to pick them up after school hours.

"Where's your hat?"

"I left it at Children's Club yesterday."

"Please track it down and wear it tomorrow."

But with the upper grades... especially the upper grade girls, that hat is juvenile and dorky.  They don't like the hats because it messes up their hairstyle.  It is difficult to make an grade school hat look fashionable.

"Where's your hat?"

"Who knows."

"Please track it down and wear it tomorrow."

"Whatever."

Some years I have tattled on a delinquent 6th grader.

"So-and-so has stopped wearing her hat."

That made me the enemy for the rest of the year with THAT child.  She grudgingly wore her hat but never looked me in the eye again!

So I hint...  If I have a chance to speak with the teacher I'll GENERALLY mention that hats are being "forgotten" more and more.  No enemies yet.

One 6th grade girl this year only plops her hat on her head when she reaches the crosswalk, just so that I don't nag her.  It makes the point of wearing the yellow hat moot (to be more noticeable to cars) and besides the younger children look at her and figure that when their time comes they'll stop wearing their hats too...

"Where's your hat?"

Plop it on the head...  it falls off because the elastic is broken.

"H-chan...  Why don't you leave your hat with me?  I'll put some new elastic on it for you and get it back to you before school lets out today."

"You'd do that for me?"

"Sure.  You really need to wear your hat and it can't be easy if it keeps falling off."

So I brought it home and sewed on new elastic (didn't have yellow though...  I may have made the hat look even dorkier.)  I took it back to school an hour later.

This morning H-chan was wearing her hat.  She made no mention of the repair nor did she look very happy with it perched on her head.  No excuses though...

Well, I tried.

 I consider MY hat a bit dorky too but I've learned to follow the rules.

Hiking

Yesterday we took advantage of the nice autumn day and went out for another drive and to play with our cameras.  And Choco got to go with us too!

We headed up to Lake Chuzenji in upper Nikko and then went on through the mountain pass to the next prefecture ending up at a ski resort... but no snow yet.  That didn't stop the ski resort from being a booming place and we enjoyed quite a few hours there.

There was a major rope-way going up the mountain that was tempting (and a bit expensive).  Well, we've come this far...  If dogs are allowed on the rope-way then let's take the opportunity.

As you can see...  dogs were allowed.

"Let's see.  $20 per person plus $6 for pets.  There is a family discount for parents and child... I wonder if Choco would pass for our child?"

(No.  She didn't.)

This is Choco's second time on a rope-way.  The first time the rope-way facilities supplied transport kennels but this time Choco was allowed to ride on leash, and thus could enjoy the scenery with us...

The leaves have just about finished changing...  Still some yellow but not as much red and orange in the upper mountains.  A lot of white birch.

Not spectacular but I love the soft colors inviting the winter season.

At the top of the rope-way Mt. Shirane awaited us.

And at the entrance to the hiking courses, as at most Japanese hiking courses, there was a Shinto shrine.  Almost everyone who passes before the shrine will stop, ring the bells and throw in a coin or two praying for a safe hike. 

Off we went on the shortest, simplest nature trail.  Most of the other hikers were all fashionably decked out in spats and hiking boots and rain hats and bear bells...  I suppose there are bears though they don't show themselves much.  The clanging bells warns them that hikers are near.  I figured if a bear came to check us out then Choco would bark and protect us (or run away leaving us behind.)

 We're not in great shape and took numerous rest breaks.

I got caught up photographing moss and lichen on fallen logs...

I could imagine little miniature worlds on each log with forests of these lichen and fronds.

Back near the rope-way, at the end of our hike, there was a sky-high foot spa that everyone was enjoying.

We took turns relaxing at the foot spa as Choco wasn't invited in.

I'd already made some friends on our hike (way in the back there) and was getting ready to take their picture with their iPad.  Don't drop it in the water, Tanya!

 Heading back down the mountain.

What was I saying about no red trees?  There was red!  This is Tetsu's three color masterpiece for the weekend.

 Some orange too.

A perfect leaf.

Besides the rope-way there seemed to be a campground, a children's obstacle course and a ski lift for ground skiing.  This was a really popular place!  All those skiers who just can't wait for the first snow!

 For lunch I had a vegetable tempura box (served over sweetly flavored rice).

We were all tired when we got home but Choco especially enjoyed being part of our outing.  So often she gets left behind, but on this trip she was well behaved and lapped up the attention paid to her from other hikers.  And from Tetsu.

The Couple Who Ate Flowers

Tetsu brought home a bag of chrysanthemums.  No, not to look at, to eat!

Chrysanthemums sometimes find their way to the dinner table in Japan.  When I first learned of that custom years ago, a long ago recollection of a grade school teacher reading us a book called "The Boy Who Ate Flowers" floated into my memory.  I remember being so delighted at the absurd thought of someone eating flowers!

But Tetsu and I don't eat flowers very often...  For one, I don't know how to cook them.  For another, Tetsu isn't very fond of the slightly bitter tang of chrysanthemums.  But there sat a bag of chrysanthemums on my counter that someone had given him so I had to figure out what to do with them.  It turns out that they are rather easy to cook.

I could have just dipped a whole flower in batter and deep fried it as tempura.  That would have been pretty and delicious but I've gotten away from deep frying things recently and didn't want to start another whole bottle of oil.

Instead, my trusty old Japanese recipe book turned up a recipe for vinegared chrysanthemums with seaweed and I thought that would make a good side dish to my Japanese meal.

First I plucked all the outer petals from the flowers.  (The inner petals have more bitterness.)

Then I boiled them up for a few seconds (yes, seconds) in slightly vinegared water...  I don't know why the vinegar was needed.

Next I squeezed out the water and cut up some seaweed (wakame) which was actually a bit tough so I boiled that too.

Finally I tossed it all with a vinegar dressing made of 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar (I sampled apple vinegar but the dish no longer tasted Japanese) and 1 Tablespoon of sugar. 

Tetsu looked at my chrysanthemum "salad" and said,

"You know I'm not very fond of chrysanthemums..."

"You brought them home, mister, so they have to be eaten!"

And what do you know!  He had a generous portion and went back for seconds!

"Thank you.  You did a good job of eating those chrysanthemums."

"Because they were made by you they tasted all the better."

Lovely husband.

This was the rest of that meal...  Stuffed tofu pouches with dipping sauce, Chinese greens fried with garlic, and turnip miso soup.  (And that tablecloth now has a plastic sheet over it!)

Brain exercises

I have sort of put myself on a busy schedule this month as I accepted a translation job from the prefecture.  This is the third time that I have been asked to do translating and it is all very official and has a deadline.  I am working with a Japanese associate and we have til the middle of next month to translate a thirty page medical booklet for English speaking foreigners.

I really enjoy doing translation work though it holds a lot of responsibility as these things get published and heaven forbid there are any mistakes!  This is translation from Japanese to English and I feel that I'm pretty good with expressions and grammar and making things sound natural.  However, I could NEVER do translating from English to Japanese.  Too much unknown vocabulary, too many nuances and the Japanese language differs in vocabulary and expression depending on the formality of the situation. 

But from Japanese to English, with some thought and with time, I do a fair job.  My main handicap of course is being able to READ the Japanese (which consists of complicated Chinese characters) in order to translate but even that has become easier over the years...  I have my little Japanese-English dictionary... In a pinch (I haven't had to use him yet) I can ask Tetsu to READ me the sentence that needs to be translated if I can't figure out the character myself.

With nearly 40 years of living in Japan, I guess I've gained some literacy...  Maybe I can read things easily at Jr. high level...  With some brain exertion  I can manage more difficult text... thus the translation job I'm doing this month. 

The Japanese associate/friend is someone I've worked with before whose spoken English is nearly flawless.  She will be translating some pages of the medical booklet and I will be translating other pages and then weekly we will get together and go over each others' work.  Me, to make her English more natural, she, to make sure I haven't completely missed the point!

So I'm hard at work the next couple weeks translating things like doctors' office procedures and how to fill prescriptions.  Already I've had to take an aspirin this morning...  Too much work on the brain!  If my headache gets worse at least I've got the medical booklet (still in Japanese) at my fingertips! 
 

Cosmos fields

The sky is blue and the trees are gradually changing colors.  Tetsu and I took a drive to a nearby park that was having a cosmos festival.  The festival consisted of mostly a few fields of cosmos and a few food booths but with our cameras we enjoyed the scenery very much.  Thus a lot of flower photos today.

We used to come to this park quite often when our children were little...  Someplace I have photos of Takumi and Leiya and their kindergarten friends when we had a picnic next to the cosmos fields.

 Deep purple, light pink, white, yellow.  So many different kinds of cosmos.

 "Now which flower out of all these should I photograph?"

 One lone pink bush in a field of white cosmos

 This was an interesting type of cosmos... the petals were like little trumpets.

 Trying to get a look inside a trumpet...

Here was another blossom that stopped many photographers...  The inner petals were frilled.

Ahh.  I found that old photo...  Now the children in the foreground are all 30 years old!  And both babes in moms' arms are 26!  How time flies!  The cosmos don't change much...