Day 4 of retirement

I'm not going to give you a day to day account of Tetsu's retirement as that would get pretty boring but yesterday I could see how some adjustments are going to have to be made. 

Tetsu and I decided to go to the pool as we often do on the weekends but I had a dentist appointment to go to so I dropped him off at the pool first.  When I finally got to the pool an hour later I realized I'd come away without my swimsuit.  I found Tetsu at the pool and asked him if he wanted me to go get my suit (15 minute drive home, 15 minute drive back to the pool) or was he ready to get out.  He raised an eyebrow and shook his head at my scatterbrain and said he'd stay at the pool.  While I was gone I guess he told people about my forgetfulness and everyone had a good laugh.

"A pool veteran and she still forgets her swimsuit!  Hah-hah!"

On hurrying into the pool after changing I realized I still had my small stud earrings on which is a no-no in the pool.  I'd forgotten to take them out in my haste and I had to ask the lifeguard for a little plastic bag to hold them in while I was in the pool.  Tetsu again shook his head and asked where I'd put my brain that morning.  Hah-hah!

And then on leaving the pool and heading to the parking lot, as I knew where I'd parked the car and Tetsu didn't, I went ahead of him (he was holding the keys) and stood in front of my car waiting.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm standing in front of the car."  (Duh)

"No you're not!  That's not your car!"

"It isn't?"

It wasn't.  It was the exact same car as mine but it had an elderly driver sticker on the back.  (Mine has a cat paw sticker on the back.)  My car was three cars down ON THE SAME ROW!  EASY MISTAKE!!!!

"Tani!  Pull yourself together!  What is wrong with you?"

Nothing is wrong with me (I think).  Tetsu just isn't used to seeing my daily forgetfulness...  And I don't appreciate the implication that I have a problem!

Or maybe I just never have realized how scatterbrained I really am... and I do have a problem...
 

Lunchtime

Tetsu and I are in our third day of his retirement.  For me, the biggest challenge is lunch...  I have always been a left-overs luncher or I buy something in the supermarket if I'm out shopping and eat it there.  Now I get to think about if we are going to eat together, if there is anything in the refrigerator for Tetsu if I go out, if there are enough left-overs for both of us or if I need to make something...

To make matters more difficult I tend to be a non-carbohydrate dieter but I have to admit, those carbohydrates would make it easier to put on a quick lunch...  A sandwich, spaghetti, ramen noodles, even rice!  I may have to change my way of thinking over mealtime...

Tetsu however has been enjoying his past three days.  He bought a weed-whacker on the weekend and he now has spent his retirement mornings whacking weeks.  I guess it is a good man-toy.

I have no idea why unless our small yard is not competition enough for his war on weeds, but he is attacking the neighborhood storage lot next to our house and the edges of the forest too.  Well, I guess he won't run out of weeds at least in this season...

Not a great picture here but at the time I had taken it to show the children not the house in the background...  However last week the house burned down in a fire and that has stirred up the neighborhood a bit.  It was a beautiful, old Japanese farmhouse across the street from the elementary school.

In the evening last week I heard the fire engines screaming down the main street in front of our neighborhood and when I went outside I could smell the smoke and see the dark sky lit up in the distance.  From that I knew it wasn't a neighborhood fire but people were coming out of their houses and we all wondered aloud where the blaze was located.  Someone who had just pulled into the neighborhood informed us of what they had seen driving home and then all of us stood watching the sky turn orange and black...  It was a scary sight.

Gratefully no one was hurt in the fire and the family has a smaller house on the same property that wasn't damaged where the eldest son's family lives.  (In Japan the farming families' sons generally build houses near the parents' main house.)  The three children of the family lost their school hats in the fire but everyone is coming to school as cheerfully as before.  The community is so grateful that the forest behind the farmhouse didn't catch fire...  and the school as well! 

Okay... Well, it is lunchtime and I need to go figure out our lunches...

A suprise party for Tetsu!

Last night I pulled off a surprise party for Tetsu!  Japanese do not do surprise parties so this was really a surprise!

I had mulled this over a bit as Tetsu isn't much for parties of any kind and not all that sociable.  He is only comfortable with a few close friends and so my party invitation was limited.  A whole 6 of us planned!  I also figured that Tetsu didn't want a fuss made over him so we didn't have balloons and banners etc...  Just a somewhat quiet dinner at Tetsu's favorite restaurant.  He and I planned for it to be just the two of us but as we go to this restaurant at a drop of the hat I felt the occasion needed to be special.  I wanted to have him think we were having a dinner for two and invite our friends but I didn't think I could pull that off...  He would say we could go another day or later than I planned...  We would suddenly be off on a drive somewhere and if I insisted on dinner at the restaurant without letting him know why we might even end up disgruntled with each other.  I felt I had to get Marlene in on my plan and I told Tetsu that I had invited the Yamadas and thus we were committed to a certain time to get to the restaurant.  On the sly though, I went ahead and invited the Sugas and Tetsu didn't know they were coming nor that this was going to be a "party".

Marlene and I had even gone out together last week and hit the department store and she helped me consider what I might buy Tetsu as a retirement gift.  Clothes are out.  He doesn't have any hobbies.  I didn't think I could wing a reservation at a hot spa and work out train schedules or whatever by myself...  Marlene had said she gave her husband an expensive pen because he does a lot of writing and correspondence but Tetsu is not that way inclined either...  However...  He does like writing with a brush pen...  Tetsu's calligraphy is beautiful and he likes to use a brush pen when he address New Year's cards or has something he needs to sign.  Marlene and I found a very nice brush pen in the stationery part of the department store and that became my present to Tetsu.

Later I also couldn't get the idea of an overnight stay at a hot spa out of my mind but whenever we head off to Morioka or overnight anywhere Tetsu carries his clothes in plastic bags!  Of course we have suitcases, but for an overnight trip a small carry-on bag might be nice and he could use it even on an airplane the next time he makes a trip to the States.  So on my own I found a nice carry on bag as a second present.

My plans were laid...  Reservations made.  I had earlier on a back page of my blog written about the blessings Tetsu has been given by God to enable him to support us all these years and I got to thinking that those thoughts ought to be expressed to him (not only to blog friends).  I tried writing my thoughts down again in Japanese (my non-English speaking husband would not get much from a thank you letter from me in English) but finally, at 9:00 at night, the night before the party, I enlisted Leiya's help and she corrected my strange Japanese and told me I had to write it all out by hand (rather than to e-mail Tetsu a copy!) for posterity.  Thus late at night I was struggling with a Japanese dictionary to write out my thank you/love letter to Tetsu on a card.

Sunday Tetsu had neighborhood business that left me to go to church alone which was great because afterwards I could stop by 31 Flavors and buy a dozen scoops of ice cream for our party.  Unfortunately he saw the box of ice cream and questioned why we needed so much ice cream for just the Yamadas.  I'm good at making up excuses...

In the evening Tetsu wanted to buy some gardening tools and so suggested we leave home early and go straight to the restaurant.  He wanted to wear cut off jeans and a holey T-shirt!

"We are meeting the Yamadas!  You can't go looking like that!"

He grumbled that he didn't think he had to change clothes just for the Yamadas...

Persuading Tetsu to take MY car (my present was hidden in the back) we went off to the home and gardening center.  The Sugas' son made a surprise return from Germany where he has been living for the past three or four years and I had Keiko change our reservations to 7 on the sly as I was already with Tetsu.  Tetsu bought his weed cutter at the gardening center and put in the back of my car pushing aside my big beribboned present for him and not noticing in the least.  Whew.

A bit early at the restaurant parking I suggested waiting for the Yamadas in the car but Tetsu insisted we needed to get a table (making reservations at a restaurant has never crossed his mind) so while he locked the car I practically ran into the restaurant and said I had a reservation and it was supposed to be a surprise for my husband.  The ladies at the restaurant know us, if not by name, because we go there so often, and they directed us to a big table set for seven.

"This is too big for four of us.  And besides, it is low seating.  Wouldn't a table in the other section with chairs be better? (tables that only seat four)."

"No.  This is fine.  The Yamadas won't mind."

Thankfully it was only a few minutes later when the Yamadas and the Sugas and the Sugas' son made their appearance saying, "SURPRISE!"

In the shuffle I went out and got my present from the car and with the help of the restaurant ladies hid the big bag behind their cashier's counter...

We had our delicious dinner and some great conversation and I was able to give Tetsu his presents and he got all embarrassed and blinked a lot.

Back at home Marlene and I served the cake she'd made, with all my ice cream, and both families gave Tetsu retirement presents. 

Gardening tools,

 hat and gear,

 and flowers.

My party was a success and Tetsu felt very loved thanks to our family/friends the Yamadas and the Sugas!

More Stumpwork!

Thank you for all the warm wishes on yesterday's post.  I read them to Tetsu this morning and he was very happy.

It is interesting that all of our Japanese friends and acquaintances who have retired bemoan the fact that there is so much time and nothing to do and it is so difficult to live off of social security and that one is likely to go crazy or die early if one retires so it would be better to continue working as long as possible or find a new job to pull in some income and keep one's wits.  No one seems very happy about having to retire.  On the other hand, all my blog friends' comments were about how BUSY one can be in retirement and how ENJOYABLE it is going to be...  A difference in thinking?  A difference in culture?  A difference in retirement benefits?

Tomorrow will be our first "weekday at home" during retirement...  Do I spend the morning doing patchwork as I often do or I do I adjust my routine to fit Tetsu's new life...?

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I need to start some new handwork to have by my sewing chair.  Most of what I have been doing recently is upstairs in the sewing room.  I'm actually inventing projects that don't really need to be done but I have to keep my hands busy...  I was considering what to do for my mother's monthly fabric card and suddenly thought she might like/be interested in a Stumpwork Lady and thus I brought down materials to see if I could make something on my own without Queenie's encouragement.  First the finished project.

These Stumpwork figures are so much fun to make.  You never know who is going to turn up on the embroidery hoop!  They just seem to appear with their own personality and name...  I'm calling this lady Savannah...  I don't know why.  A free spirit, sort of gypsyish...

Hmmm...  I thought I was taking photos of this project as I went along but it did go quickly and I was so engrossed in the details that I guess I forgot...  I chose a more colorful background than for Shirley of last week.

Savannah's nose turned out a bit straighter, her eyes closer together and blue. 

Again, clothing was great fun.  The high neck which I decided needed buttons...  The green blouse and shawl which made her seem on the hippie side.  I tried putting fringe on the shawl to bring out the gypsy mode...  Hair was great fun with a few strands of brown tweed yarn that I just wrapped around my fingers a bit.  And then to pull off the gypsy costume I added the bandana hat.  I was still contemplating hoop earrings as before but with all that hair she didn't seem to want earrings... 

I have made this up as a postcard for my mother, sewing the background onto a paper postcard and realizing that the bulk of Stumpwork makes it difficult to write on the postcard afterwards and may be a bit of a problem to send (always in envelopes).  I will see how this fits into an envelope tomorrow.

I am very glad to meet Savannah and she was a lot of fun to make!  Does it look like I'm giving up patchwork for Stumpwork?  It is tempting...

Retirement

Yesterday was Tetsu's last day at work.  He has been counting the days until this day and it finally arrived!

Unfortunately I had committed myself to a meeting and dinner with the Traffic Safety Crosswalk Guard organization and I wasn't home to make a fuss over Tetsu.  I have seen Japanese dramas and TV commercials where the retiring businessman comes home on his last day looking lonely and dejected.  The husband is greeted by his wife kneeling in the entryway of their home and she bows deep with her forehead nearly touching the ground in front of her.

"Thank you for your hard and determined work.  Long years you have spent supporting our family.  We appreciate your sacrifice.  In our future life together, I beg for your continued consideration."

(Roughly translated, you realize, but the thought is accurate though it sounds rather archaic in English...)

Tetsu came home to a dark house and his congratulatory dinner was a convenience store obento that he bought himself.  I did show up a few minutes later bringing home supermarket cake and a bottle of Pepsi for him.  (Non-drinker he is and I won't even touch soda so he had to toast himself.)

HOWEVER...  I DO have a dinner planned for Tetsu at his favorite restaurant on Sunday night with friends to celebrate!  Marlene and I have been planning and she is making him a cake.

Tetsu brought home loads of flowers from work and a wonderful signature board that the staff from the various convalescent care offices that he over-saw contributed to.  Last night was too dark to take pictures but I got Tetsu to pose this morning.

I think the photos of some of the staff with mustaches are supposed to be a take off on Tetsu's signature mustache...

So some background...

When I met Tetsu he was working at a loan company and after we were married the company transferred him regularly to different prefectures in the north.  When Takumi was born Tetsu quit that job and spent a couple years working in places as a sort of gap-fill.  He was with a hotel for awhile, and he was even worked in development in the convenience store world.

Not long before Leiya was born Tetsu was offered a job in accounting at a convalescent home in the prefecture we now live in.  From there on in Tetsu has always been in management in various convalescent care organizations.  He worked at the first place for three or four years and then changed jobs to work at YMCA in the prefecture's main office.  Finally the last 10 or 12 years he has been with another convalescent care organization working in three of their offices.  As Leiya is this year going to be 29 I guess that means that Tetsu has been working in various management positions in convalescent care for 29 years...

Tetsu's not quite sure what he's going to do with his free days...  Gardening while the season is nice.  Probably spending A LOT of time at the swimming pool!  Studying English on Duolingo!

ご苦労様でした。
Gokuro sama deshita!

Thank you Tetsu!　(Even if I'm not kneeling with my forehead to the ground.)
 

Spring morning

Japan is warming up and everywhere we look it is GREEN!

 An early morning walk shows the sparkling grassy banks of the rice fields.

 I love the ray effect that comes when shooting directly into the sun.
The farmers are harvesting their fields of, I guess hay or alfalfa.  These newly wrapped bundles of hay dot the fields and they seem to gleam in the sunlight.

 Mt. Nantai in the distance with the pretty late spring clouds.

Tetsu concentrated on the poppies along the road.

The rice fields are all planted now and the reflections can be seen through the rows of young plants.  Soon the rice will grow so high that the ducks have to swim through the rows as if they were in a maze.

Introducing... Shirley!

Queenie posted her last step of Stumpwork this weekend and my Stumpwork lady now has a hat!!!

I was inspired by all of the fashionable millinery worn by the female wedding guests at this weekend's royal wedding.  My Stumpwork lady NEEDED a hat to join in the festivities!

I had a teeny-tiny scrap of that sheer ribbon left (that I'd used in the clothing step) and I decided to try and fashion it into a hat.  I cut the scrap into two parts, one to cover the head, one to make a brim and with a lot of effort got a hat made.  The sheer ribbon kept fraying and my pieces kept getting smaller and smaller!!!  Well, this is definitely NOT going to be washed in a washing machine so I think the ribbon will withstand time with delicate handling.

And, though not too original, I made another bundle of flowers for the hat to match the corsage on my lady's dress... and VOILA!  Shirley is born!!

Yes, I have christened her Shirley as a couple blog readers submitted the name (her middle name can be Tilda... another name suggested).

This was such a fun project!  I will see if I can get Shirley into card form or into a frame.

THANK YOU CARIN!!!!!
 

Stumpwork hairstyle!

Queenie's Saturday Stumpwork post made all the difference!!!

I can now show my Stumpwork lady without scaring people!  Just making my lady makes me think what a difference a hairstyle makes.  Maybe I need to go upgrade my own look!

Ta-da!  My elegant Stumpwork lady is now a CHIC, elegant lady!

I played around with different threads and yarns but ended up with this pink/orange...  I tried yellow which was nice but blended in too much with the white background.  (If there is ever a next time on this project I would like to try a colorful background).  I tried sparkly blue which was very pretty but a bit on the funky side.  This odd fuzzy pink was from a sample bundle that for some reason Mrs. Furui had given me years ago but the amount was such that it would never get used in scarves or hats or anything but made excellent hair (if you like pink.)

Long hair...? short hair...?  A long style (I sort of flopped a few threads over the head to get a feel) sort of got in the way of the clothing and became very wild and turned my lady into a free spirit.  As I was going for elegance I tried a short bob... with bangs which was a bit of an adventure for me...  I actually trimmed the bangs after they got sewn on.

I tried bead earrings but then remembered I had some necklace clasps leftover from some of my tatting projects and those were easily sewn in place.  Ooh!  A bob and hoop earrings!

I'm tempted to leave this just as is because I'm so satisfied but Queenie is thinking about one more lesson on hat making and I already have ideas for that!

My Stumpwork lady now has personality...  What she needs next is a name...

Deco-lattes

Two of my friends came to visit yesterday and we chatted from 11:00 to 6:00!  That's a lot of chatting!

Though I have friends/students that come to my house regularly, some very close friends only get to my house once every 15 years or so!  It is just easier for me to make the 30 minute trip into the next town and do errands while I am in the city than for the friends to drive out to the country where I am.  There isn't much to do out here besides visit and no one is going to be able to get a few errands done on the drive home...  Thus, I don't get that many friends coming out this way.  One of yesterday's friends actually lives in Tokyo and though she makes the drive to my nearby city for patchwork once a month, the extra 30 minutes out of her way to get my house makes for a long drive.  She said she left her house at 7:00 yesterday morning (that means she had a 4 hour drive!)

Anyway, the only thing I can offer except for a long chat looking out onto trees and forests is the Deco-Latte cafe I found a few months ago not too far from me.  Thus every time I have out of town friends over I make it a point to take them to the cafe.  I am becoming a regular at this cafe.

Yesterday's deco-latte (decoration latte) we enjoyed with many oohs and ahhs again.

 I asked the barrista to make me a Nikko Sleeping Cat latte....

And my cat lover friend asked to have a cat sitting in a coffee bath....  We loved how it jiggled in the "bath" as she lifted the cup.

And the other friend happened to have a photo of a drawing her artist friend had made and the barrista did a 2 dimensional take off from the photo.  Rather a talented fellow!

We sat and enjoyed looking at and photographing our lattes for quite awhile before sighing and finally drinking them down.  A fun way to pamper ourselves and sort of an unexpected treat in my countryside town...

My Tokyo friend took the expressway back to Tokyo and arrived in an hour and a half.  Great, but it costs $40 to use the expressway that distance.  Makes it an expensive deco-latte!