Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from the Land of the Rising Sun!

Our family never got together completely in 2018 but Takumi visited in October and I was able to take a picture of him and Tetsu together.  Leiya and I got a last minute selfie taken when she took me to the airport in November.

John has been included in our New Year's card so I suppose he is now considered family.  Toi and Patora still live in the cat house or upstairs during the winter months.  Chip and Cleo wander around the house being careful to stay out of each others' way and Mi there in the middle, is the peacemaker for all of us.

Wishing all my blog friends the best in 2019!

End of the year

2018 is winding up and we are spending the last days cleaning house.  For reasons unknown, spring cleaning is done in the dead of winter in Japan...  Cleaning away the old dirt for a sparkling new year!  It is freezing out though and my heart isn't in it!

So...  What have I got in my photo files...  Not too much as Tetsu is minus a camera and we haven't been out and about for awhile.

John is still with us.  Is he getting better?  Maybe...  But we are still careful with him, still wearing gloves.  I have been keeping a "John's Life" journal so that I can report to our vet on what has been going on.  The vet and I have made a sort of deal where she comes out every couple of weeks to give advice and to do simple treatments (John had an ear infection) and then she and I go through the journal so that she gets some English practice...  It is a nice hour squeezed in during her clinic's lunch hour and on days when she doesn't have surgery scheduled.  John is certainly the most scrutinized dog in Nikko these days!

John behaves best when out on a walk and he is very cute and bounces along beside us.  He gets angry and possessive when food or snacks or toys or his circle get involved...

Yuma-kun popped in the other day for a few minutes.  Yep, that's Yuma!  Big now isn't he!?  I'd say overweight and his size is affecting his knees and walking which isn't good.  Listening to Yuma-kun's grandma I get the impression that Yuma-kun's home life is disturbing to put in mildly but I'm afraid things are quite out of my hands now.  What the family deems normal would be a step for child services but Grandma and an uncle are in the home and doing what they can...  Yuma-kun is heading into his last year of high school but not much going to school because of ill health.  He actually looks pretty healthy (except for his weight) but things are not easy for him.  I was very glad to have him touch base as I hadn't seen much of him since April. I always greet him with a big hug and he always pulls away like I have cooties but I'm guessing he really likes the affection.

My student/friend brought me packing gloves as a Christmas present the other day.  I absolutely love these gloves and I have two other pair that were given to me previously.  They are not offered for sale anywhere and instead the Kuroneko (Black Cat) Yamato delivery service hands them out to their staff.  Along the fingers there are gummed paw prints giving traction and I have discovered that the gloves are wonderful for machine quilting!  And I love the paw prints and the cat motif and now this vibrant pink color!  My friend had "points" with her neighborhood delivery service and the gloves were offered in a point exchange so she ordered two sets of gloves, one for herself and one for me!  Now all I need to do is get back to machine quilting!

We are expecting snow today!

2018 quilts

We only have four more days before the New Year and I guess I've resigned myself to the lack of quilts I finished this year...  I kept hoping that I'd get more done in the latter part of the year but that didn't happen.  I know that simply a large volume of quilts isn't any way to evaluate how I spent my time but then again... what HAVE I been doing this year? 

 So...  this is what my quilting amounted to in 2018.

The top small quilts are just that.  Small.  The cherry blossom quilt is picture frame size but the New York Beauty is a wall quilt that turned out much better than I'd expected.

The large quilt on the bottom left is actually the quilt my patchwork group made for a friend's 60th birthday so I can only really claim one block!!!

The two dinosaur quilts were made for Marcy's nephews whom I've never met but I usually try to make something for Marcy when I am in California and these quilts had their final stitches put in while I cared for my mother at the end of her life.

The pretty star quilt was one one I'd been working on by hand... just because I wanted hand work.  It turned out to be much more striking than I'd expected and it rests on the back of the sofa in my Japanese room.

And the chicken quilt was from a kit that a blog friend sent me and that I really enjoyed putting together.  It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful quilt and I sent it to Leiya's friend's mother who raises chickens!  From the thank you letter she sent, she seemed thrilled to have it and I'm glad it is now in a beautiful farming home in Ohio where hopefully more people can admire it than if it had stayed in my closet!

And that is the tally of this year's quilts!  Here's hoping I make more time for sewing NEXT year!
 

Customs

Merry Christmas!

I am getting things in order for the new year. 

Cleaning house...

Writing Christmas cards...  (I should hope!  It IS December 25th today!  But in Japan the cards are considered New Year's cards so I guess I'm okay.) 

Actually the custom of writing New Year's cards had to be evaluated this year...  In Japan, when there has been a death in the family, the family will send out notices at the end of the year explaining that they will not be sending New Year's greetings nor will they be expecting any (because they are in mourning).  We followed this custom last year because my mother-in-law had passed away.  I cheated a bit though and went ahead and sent cards to my friends overseas explaining that refraining from sending cards was not the mourning custom elsewhere in the world.

THIS year, with the loss of MY mother, Tetsu thought we should send out notices again and skip the New Year's cards custom.  BUT!!!  It is MY mother that we lost this year and I certainly don't have the mourning custom.  We missed hearing from all our friends LAST year so I said I wanted to go ahead and make cards.  Tetsu agreed and we compromised with the cards not having the normal Japanese New Year's greetings.  I'm happy and I doubt my mother cares very much!
And while I am putting things in order, I made up a collage of the fabric postcards I'd made for my mother during the first part of the year.  This year there were only seven cards and I didn't continue with the custom I had followed for the past four years. 

Back to cleaning house!
 

Inconvenienced

Tetsu and my daily routine has been inconveniently disrupted...  Our local swimming pool has temporarily (I hope) closed down!!!

The pool is associated with a natural hot spring which gets pumped from the depths of the earth on the facility's premises.  It supplies the hot water (the NATURAL hot water with all the minerals and health benefits) to the spa area of the facility (indoor and outdoor bathing in the nude), the pool bathing area (indoor, nude) and the pool's jacuzzi area (with swimsuits).  Anyway, the hot spring pump broke down or died of old age and suddenly the whole facility is in an uproar.  It is the end of the year and no telling when the pump and corresponding well etc. can be excavated for repair or renewal.  The facility rents the land from the city so there has to be budget approval before anything can get started.  People's jobs are at stake (the lifeguards...) if the pool has to close down for months...

In the meantime the spa area is having city water piped in and heated but then it isn't considered a spa anymore because of the lack of NATURAL benefits, and the pool devotees have no place to bathe after a swim (different building) and thus the pool has closed and everyone is being given free use of the non-natural-heated-city-water spa.  It gets us clean (Tetsu and I haven't used our house bath in over 15 years!) but we no longer get any exercise with the pool out of commission.

With all my complaining and moaning about swimming laps in the dead of the winter, when my options have been cut I am rather adrift and instead wander around the rice fields with John even more than usual to get my exercise.

My swimsuit is getting a rest...

Cold out!

Not too much going on around here...  We are winding up the school year which I'm grateful for because it is freezing outside when I'm at the crosswalk at 7:00!  I'm wearing my pajamas (well... they are warm and can't be seen under the outer wear) with winter snow pants over them and a down jacket, fluffy neck warmer and a fierce looking regulation coat.  I put Uggs on my feet and gloves on my hands and finally warm up by the time I walk 15 minutes to the crosswalk.  This is a hard job in the winter!

This isn't a great picture but I was trying to catch a shot of the girl on the right in shorts and a t-shirt.  The rest of the world is freezing yet she walks 30 minutes to school (with the rest of her neighborhood group) dressed very lightly.  In the past I have seen a few hard-core boys that insist on dressing lightly throughout the winter but never a girl...  Her older sister wears a jacket when riding her bicycle to jr. high...  The principal and I have both commented on her attire and asked her if she isn't cold but she says she isn't (she's actually not too communicative but she does answer us).  According to the principal, her parents are rather normal...  I guess the girl really isn't cold...

But the principal reported that this week someone called the school saying that every morning when driving to work, the person sees this neighborhood group walking to school and has noticed this lightly clad girl while all her friends are in down jackets and mufflers and gloves.  The person wanted to know if the school was aware of the unusual winter attire.  Well, the principal assured the caller that teachers and staff were aware and had spoken to the girl but she still insists on wearing her shorts and T-shirts...  I don't know what else anyone can do...  She can wear what she wants to wear but just looking at her makes me cold too!!!

As I say, school will be out in a few days.  Let's see...  Tomorrow, the 20th.  Friday, the 21st.  Saturday and Sunday there is no school, and since the Emperor's birthday is on Sunday then Monday is a holiday too.  But can you believe, Tuesday, DECEMBER 25TH, CHRISTMAS DAY the kids have school!!!  Winter vacation starts on December 26th...  Why not just give everyone the 25th off for a vacation that could start the Saturday before?  I don't make the rules...  I will be out at the crosswalk in the cold on Christmas morning....

Ashikaga Flower Park at night

I have a flood of photos today.  Last night Tetsu and I went to the Ashikaga Flower Park which is about two hours away from us.  The flower park of course is famous for its flowers but in this winter season they don't have much blooming.  Right?  WRONG! 

The Flower Park boasts of having the best illumination event in Japan and for a few weeks in the winter the park is a favorite spot for families and young couples.  (A very romantic place!)  Although we have been to the park in the daytime in spring, Tetsu and I had never been to the evening illumination.  It was wonderful!  Even for a crowd hater like myself!

The park was decorated for Christmas of course with the trees entwined with LED lights and panels of changing lights around the borders of the park.

Many of the sections of the park seemed to be music coordinated so that the light colors changed with the melodies and tunes.  Those pyramids in the distance changed from flickering gold to brightly colored pyramids.  The pond lights changed from those flower designs to flickering separate lights.

One of the bordering panels.

At one point I noticed that for the different sections of the park, the lights used were depicting different flowers!  This was rather exciting and I wandered around the park looking for light differences.  Do you see the roses?  The tulips? The wisteria frond?  The water lilies?  And more and more! 

The walkways were well marked and even the small streams that flowed through the park.  Wouldn't want to step off the path into a stream!

 A castle we could go up into... 

 And the view from the castle with the tulip field in front.

Birds and butterfly lights hung here and there...  Animal lights were hidden in the shrubbery.

 Hi Tetsu.  Can you tell that it was cold?

 There were hanging lights in the tunnel arches around the park.

Such a wonderland to walk through!

The Ashikaga Flower Park is most famous for its huge wisteria trees and in the spring the wisteria fronds hang nearly to the ground.  In the wisteria section of the park we could walk through the hanging strands of flowered lights as the softly changed in color choreographed to the music.  It was really a wonderful, magical show!

Notice that Tetsu is taking photos on his iPhone?  HIS CAMERA BROKE!!!  (Or maybe he broke his camera.)  You can guess what Tetsu's Christmas present is going to be this year!

 An iPhone selfie.

There were photographers set up around the park offering to take your photo (and suggesting you buy a large version...)  We settled for the small post card version.

More hanging lights...

 I started playing around with my camera trying to get out of focus lights...

The blur adds a romantic touch don't you think?

I love how the reflections made the park twice as magical.  Look at the geese flying over the pond and reflected back.

And the park did what it could with real flower displays to keep with the theme of flower park.

A wonderful evening and though we didn't get back home until nearly 10:00 (two hour drive back), it was well worth braving the cold and the drive.

Two projects

I finished Tetsu's sweater this past weekend and immediately got to work on my next project...  Tatting.

First the finished sweater.  Raglan sleeves.  I've tried it on and it is too big for me but that is good!  Tetsu is quite a bit larger than I am and often times I make a sweater or vest that is too small for him and it just gets put in MY drawer. This sweater at least is his size.  My knitting friend suggested I do some steam blocking of the arm seams and collar seam but basically this is done.

The tatting project is edging, and I hope to make enough for Leiya's bridal veil that I've offered to make.   When checking out lace and ribbon for the veil I got to thinking that instead of trying to find the perfect thin lace with just enough but not too much flair, that maybe I could use my tatting skills...  I gave it a trial run with finer thread which I really liked a lot but I can't find the same weight and color thread and besides, this slightly heavier thread is easier to work with.  I've decided to go ahead using what I have and am diligently hoping to make three or four yards of edging...  I've got a foot or two now...

I can't tell if this is going to be too heavy or not nearly gorgeous enough, but I guess all that really matters is that it is hand-made by mom.  Leiya is pretty easy going.

Sweeping leaves

I think we can safely say that we are now in winter.  It was freezing this morning when I walked to the school for crosswalk duty!

The past few weeks Tetsu has been ENJOYING the daily job of sweeping leaves off our driveway, off the street corner, down the street two blocks, and on the side of the forest.  He would spend two or three hours a day sweeping leaves and though neighbors and I pointed out that the trees were still shedding leaves and all his work was for nil, he seemed to find fulfillment in his daily self appointed job.  He also got a great report back on his blood tests last week and he claims that it is thanks to all the exercise he gets sweeping leaves!  Now that the leaves are almost gone I wonder what he is going to do for daily exercise...

I'm not sure if John enjoys the autumn leaves or not...

A couple of days ago while I was out and about, I drove past one of the girls' high schools in the next city over.  Most of the high schools in Japan still require students to wear uniforms and these girls must have been on leaf sweeping duty and donned the required aprons over their uniforms.

The girls are using the same bundled twig brooms that Tetsu uses when he is working in front of our house (he doesn't wear an apron though).  I can't imagine American high school students out sweeping leaves every few days aproned or not...  I wonder if the high school boys at the boys' high school in the city sweep leaves too? 
 

UFOs

If anyone has noticed that I haven't been blogging much about quilting...  you're correct!  I haven't been doing any quilting!!!  What has happened?

My last major quilting project was a quilt that I had been putting together with Thangles...  that has been in flimsy form for months now and I even had taken flimsy, batting and backing to a patchwork group meeting hoping my friends would help me baste it.  Unfortunately, at that meeting there was an emergency that caused us to disband quickly and my quilt in progress came home with me.  It has sat in the original transport bag for MONTHS now and it is no closer to getting basted...

 (The unbasted flimsy back there in the corner, IN the bag still, UNDER the batting...)

I have no place to baste quilts.  There is not a room in this house with enough floor space for more than two people to pass without bumping shoulders.  Tables, heaters, sofas, chairs, floor carpets.... all make for an obstacle course in the world of basting...

There were times when I board basted even though the larger quilts' backings and battings would drape over the table (not a large table) but with Tetsu retired now, we use the table at least twice a day and a large quilt takes a few hours to baste.  I think my Thangles quilt is too big for the table anyway.

I might even resort to the rather expensive way of spray basting this quilt just to get it out of the bag but again... the above problem of nowhere to lay out the quilt...  I can just imagine when I DO take my quilt out of the bag that I'm going to have to spend an hour just ironing the flimsy and the backing again.  Oh the aggravations!  This problem does not seem to have a solution in sight yet.  My patchwork group is not meeting for any length of time for the rest of this year.  Sigh.

I was also working on some applique for awhile and I have two more blocks to go on that project before I get down to some piecing... 

 The applique has been laid aside for...

Knitting!  I've spent a lot of days and nights knitting a Christmas sweater for Tetsu which I hope to get wrapped up this weekend.  (Yes, Tetsu sees me knitting...) I knew that a sweater was going to take me more time than a vest which is what I often make during this season and I had gotten started early but ran into snags with the pattern...  It is such an act of faith to knit a garment!  After all this time and effort is the sweater really going to fit Tetsu?  The pattern just gave instructions for the number of rows and stitches rather than the measurements of how long the sleeves etc. were supposed to be.  And I opted for raglan sleeves on a circular needle which has confused me greatly.  This will be a very warm trendy sweater for Tetsu... or for a gorilla with long arms...  We shall see...  The unveiling (or the reknitting) will come after Christmas.