Day trip to Lake Chuzenji and beyond

Yesterday my plan was to spend an hour or so quietly by myself, painting, sewing, taking John for a walk, eating an instant curry lunch.  Tetsu had let me know that he was taking our neighbor to a local noodle shop for lunch and I'd have the house to myself.  I was sort of looking forward to the quiet time, not having to think about a lunch menu, not checking occasionally to see if Tetsu needed to be hydrated.  

However, as it was a beautiful day after two days of stormy rain and wind, Tetsu commented that he might be later than he expected and he might take the neighbor up the mountain to the Chuzenji Lake in upper Nikko.  Our neighbor, Mr. U, no longer drives though he often walks over and sits and chats with Tetsu in our yard.  When Mr. U expresses a desire to go out for noodles or head to a hot spa, Tetsu arranges a day when the two of them can go.

Yesterday, as an afterthought, Tetsu suggested that I might want to go along...

"Um...  I was planning to do other things..."

"It's a really nice day.  I'm sure Mr. U wouldn't mind.  Why don't you come with us?"

(Hmm...  It is a nice day.  I might be able to take some pictures to try and paint other than what the YouTube artists provide...  I haven't been out much this week...  Sure!  I'm game!)

I often adjust my plans to Tetsu's after his second or third urging and so I pulled on my sun hat, took John for a quick potty run, and I was ready to go whether Mr. U knew it or not. 

We had our ramen noodles (nothing to get excited about) and then the three of us headed up the mountain which is only 45 minutes away.  We took Mr. U to some of our favorite spots (long-time blog friends will now recognize the same scenery that I've shown a countless number of times) and Mr. U had never been to a couple of places so he was very happy to enjoy the sunny day and the beautiful greens of the scenery!  

This is Mt. Nantai, the mountain I often photograph from our backyard.  Up close it has these interesting "scars" along it's side.

From our house (in the evening) it looks like this.

A bit farther up the mountain and we arrived at a parking lot that overlooks the lake.  

It's a great place for non-hikers like us to enjoy a bird's eye view.  (How many times have blog friends scene this same photo shot?)

And up the mountain farther we were met by a sea of green!

Tetsu taking pictures...

...while Mr. U and I sat on warm rocks away from the wind.

And a final shot of Mt. Nantai and Lake Chuzenji before we headed back down the mountain.  The ferry wasn't going out this day because the wind was still too strong, and there weren't many fishermen nor any pedal boat customers on the lake.

Do you think I'll be able to paint any of these green scenes from our day trip?

Applique and painting and a blog book

Yeah!  I have gotten past the slow but enjoyable part of the applique in my latest quilt, Songbird's Garden.  

There is not too much originality in this project, the fabrics are all included in the kit, but it has been nice to sit quietly in the evenings and do the handwork.  The next step will be the pieceing which may go more quickly but will surely give me more headaches because my seams rarely match up as I'd like.  I've already cut all the fabric though so now the challenge will be if I can read the instructions correctly!  The word on the design wall there is one of my wonky words for my Word of the Year.  I don't remember which year this word was for but it reminds me to stick with whatever I'm doing at the moment....  Someday it will get included in a quilt....

While I was in the States, I picked up a book by Isa Downs on Ink and Wash Florals and I've been methodically going through it page by page.  Some of my doodling turns out nicely, and some have been flops but this month I've been try to paint one flower a day.

A poppy.

Agapanthus.

Iris.

Snapdragons.

Chrysanthemum.

I'm trying to branch out into scenery next...  So that will be on my painting to-do list for the next couple of days...

Something that gave me great joy this week was the arrival of the blog book that I made not long after we got home from the States.  

I'd done the same thing three years ago after our last trip which had included Leiya's wedding, a visit to my mother's hometown, and Niagara Falls.  At that time too, I wrote in my blog in detail and had included my favorite pictures in the posts and then "slurped" those blog dates into a website called Blog2Print.  Ta-da!  An easily made book!  It isn't cheap but we got so much joy from looking at those photos and reading all my thoughts about the trip three years ago, I decided to turn the 12 posts I'd written this year into book form again.  

The whole thing is on my blog but I don't really go back and reread posts that often nor do I pull out the computer to show friends what we did, but a blog book is very nice for special occasions!

Not too exciting a life but I'm satisfied and thankful and that is enough!

At Piece With Time finished

Well, I didn't get great pictures taken, but I did get SOME pictures taken of my latest quilt callled At Piece With Time.

I started this quilt last summer for the sole reason that I had a lot of time at the peak of the pandemic while we were all stuck at home.  I figured the hand applique would keep me busy for a few months and it did.  I'd also never tried an appliqued medallion center and I wanted to try my hand at getting all the applique pieces centered on the larger triangles before sewing them all together.  (Only mildly successful.)

The title of the book also called to me at this sheltering at home time and there were lots of cheerful phrases and illustrations in the book which made using the instructions uplifting.  I can't say however, that all the directions were that clear and I did have some trouble when I came to the cutting and piecing of the blocks...  But I prevailed!

Besides the fact that I wasn't able to go out and buy fabric, I also wanted to use what I have in my drawers and I seem to have a more cuts of batiks than I'd been aware of.  I'm not sure I'd have chosen these colors if I'd been out shopping but what I used ended up working together pretty well...

Though the colors all worked together, when it came to the quilting (after a lot of swearing and trimming down to get all the blocks to match up) there was so much open space for quilting and as I'd come this far with the hand applique I decided to spend the time (still a lot of time on my hands) hand quilting.  HOWEVER, though the dark blocks were calling out for quilting, when all was done the quilting evaporates into the fabric pattern...  A lot of work for nothing?

Same thing with the border.  It was a different dark batik fabric but my quilting lines, even in white thread, just disappeared.  So, without too much stressing about it all, I randomly drew feathers along a curvy spine as I quilted inch by inch.  Hey, I do it when I'm free-hand machine quilting, why not with hand quilting?  Especially if no one is really going to be able to see all these feathers anyway!

The quilt didn't photograph well outside, and it isn't even very photogenic inside on the wall.  But at least I found a wall big enough!  Dark colors don't photograph well, as John can attest!

Working on this quilt helped me find peace with the time I was given...  

Colored-pencil art

This weekend, Tetsu planned another surprise outing for us.  He seems to like to take me places where I have no idea what to expect.  He often finds places of interest in the local newspaper and that is how he finds events and restaurants etc.  Sometimes his plans work out, sometimes they don't, but this weekend was a definite success!

We drove about an hour south and went deeper and deeper into the countryside.  Where are we going?  We ended up on a very narrow country road that ended in a deeply shaded un-asphalted parking area with three cars.  Are we even in the right place?  We backed out and went looking for a main entrance, but no, we were in the right place.  

A short walk through the forest let out on a very bright open lawn overlooking a river, with benches and tables and a large white building called "Days of Our Childhood Museum".  

It was a private museum of a local colored-pencil artist name Yuji Ando!  A rather famous colored-pencil artist, as it turns out, whose art has been featured all over Japan on posters, CD covers, magazine covers, textbooks etc.  I never knew!

Tetsu knows that I've been interested in art recently...  loose watercolor, urban sketching, colored-pencils, crayons, and he was sure I'd be interested in visiting the museum.  It was wonderful!  The artist mostly depicts scenes from Japanese life and the countryside and his work included small items as well as huge murals (how did he ever color his huge canvases with just colored-pencils?!  Imagine how long and how many pencils he used up!!!)  

So inspiring though far beyond what an amatuer color-er like me can ever hope to achieve.  I should think so!  That's why he's the famous artist and I'm a new admirer!  Anyway, the artist's work was wonderful!

As expected, no photos were allowed in the museum but at the small bookshop (only one staff member who worked the entrance desk and the bookshop) there were many postcards and even some of Mr. Ando's picture books... one of which I decided to buy because of the beautiful way colors are used and to maybe teach me more about color-pencil drawing for myself.  

And there was also some illustrated blank postcards with no color for people to try on their own.  Well, I've never much been interested in coloring books for adults but one postcard...  How hard could it be?  

First, as a sample, I chose one of Mr. Ando's postcards with a hydrangea theme.  Ah... The way he draws rain is so beautiful!

Well, I couldn't do that but I bought a blank postcard to try out coloring hydrangeas.

And I did my best!

I have more respect for coloring books now!!  It was great fun!  I'm going to do some more experimenting with my colored-pencils and see what more I can learn from studying Mr. Ando's picture book!  

On the way out Tetsu took my picture at the pretty colored pencil objects in the forest.  I'm falling in love with colored-pencils!

Days at home

Things are quiet in the countryside of Japan.  Tetsu is enjoying being outside everyday and he is methodically weed whacking the empty lots around us.  He is also getting ready to plant some vegetables so we will have a bounty to look forward to this summer again.

For myself, I finished a quilt!  Alas, I haven't figured out how to photograph it so that will be my next task.   Here is a sneak peak.

In the meantime I have made a start on the Songbird's Garden quilt and I spent two days cutting all the fabric and now I'm working on the applique.  

"Oh, the applique won't be a big job..."

Ha!  I realize that I have over 80 leaves to prepare for the whole quilt and as I like to shape them against freezer paper templates with starch, I've been standing over the ironing board with starch, paintbrush, stylus and iron in hand and am slowly getting the leaves ready to applique.  The applique is done in the evenings.  I have finished the center block and am hard at work on the four borders...

My work schedule has started on its normal schedule again.  A couple of ladies English classes, really just friends getting together to drink coffee and eats sweets and chat in English.  We will continue to wear masks when we are together but as all of us have been vaccinated three times now, we feel comfortable meeting even though Covid numbers haven't drastically decreased.  I think Japanese have decided to try and live with Covid instead of trying to isolate until it is eradicated.  These past two years have been hard on everyone.

I am also back at the crosswalk in front of the school and yesterday I had a helper!  Our prefecture has an ice hocky team called the Icebucks and the team's mascot joined me at the crosswalk.  This was fun for everyone, children and drivers alike and Shikatti, the mascot, helped stop cars and bowed and waved to everyone who went by.

Mother's Day was celebrated at our house with a text message from Leiya and two boxes of sweets from Takumi and Julieta.  

This pretty little box with preserved flowers was filled with cookies and I've decided it makes a very nice sewing tray to keep by my chair while I applique! 

Old and new quilts

I'm afraid I'm not going to have much to post about now that our lives have gone back to quiet country living...  I've started a new quilt though and it will keep me busy even if it is not too blog worthy for awhile.

Leiya had seen a picture of this quilt and had sent it to me saying that she really liked the colors and that the quilt matched her carpet...  I thought that was a good enough reason to order the quilt kit and months ago I had the kit sent to her house and now I've brought it home to work on.  It will be a good long term quilt again!

Leiya and Tetsu and I had an interesting discussion while we were together, about what to do with all my quilts.  I've been a quilter for 40 years and I have a lot of quilts!  On this trip to the States alone, I think I took eight quilts to be delivered to various people.  The conversation sort of revolved around my quilts but I think the bigger picture is what are my kids going to do with our house and stuff in Japan when the time comes...  The quilts are just the easiest way to start the conversation.

This topic is much more interesting to Tetsu than to Leiya and me, and he began it by pointing out that I have hundereds of quilts in boxes, on shelves, in closets, on quilt racks and of course on my walls.  I'm rather embarrassed by what a pack rat I seem to be but unless I've been working on a quilt specifically for someone, the quilt sometimes claims my heart, and sometimes it just feels "rude" to give someone a quilt that I've just got laying around the house and that I didn't have in mind for them when I was making it...  Some of my quilts are just so old now, they have stains or the fabric has worn away in places, or they are faded or the style and the fabrics are so old fashioned that I can't imagine anyone wanting them... but they are a part of the history of my quilting days...  So they rest in boxes.

Leiya made the unsentimental remark that she certainly had enough of my quilts in her house already and though they were lovely, she didn't really need any more.  Unless I had some quilt that I absolutely wanted to stay in the family for posterity or was going to make for family members.  She suggested putting quilts up on ebay or mericari or some other online shopping site.  Actually, Tetsu didn't take to that suggestion well...

"You don't know how much time and effort your mother puts into her quilts!  They are very special!"  

"I DO realize how precious they are, but there is a limit as to how many Takumi and I can take, and I can't honestly say I'll treasure ALL of them as much as you do.  You could just put aside some that you really like and label others as "do as you like"."

This reminds me of my mother who went through her photo albums and papers and sorted them into boxes which she mostly labeled "Stuff to throw away after I'm gone.  No need to open the boxes."  There are some things I guess we just can't bear to part with ourselves.

Leiya asked me what I wanted done with my quilts (she could see that Tetsu was getting touchy) and I said I have envisioned that at my funeral, the quilts would be laid out on tables and all guests would be welcome to take home anything they wanted, first come, first served.  After that anything left over can be tossed.  I can see that, if a farewell reception is in the near future, but not really if I'm going to be around another 20 years and most of the people who admire my quilts now will already be gone or certainly not need anything more in their homes...   Am I becoming morose now?

So my question is...  what do we quilters do with all our old quilts?  I can try to make certain I make new quilts for specific people but the ones languishing in my home...?  They haven't even been relegated as dog and cat bed appropriate yet.

As an aside, I also wonder what going to happen to all this fabric and the quilting supplies but hopefully that stash will be of use to a younger quilter someday...

Wrapping up our trip to the States

I think I'm about done with all the stories and pictures of our trip to the States.  Just a few things to add.

There are always many differences between our lives in Japan and the lives we see our friends and family living in the States.  Part of it is cultural, part of it is we are just old timers, and this time we we saw differences in how governments respond to situations, specifically the response to Covid.

First our families.

It seemed like every time we turned around, at Leiya's house, at Takumi's, someone was saying "Hey Google!  ...  What time is it?" or "Hey Google!  How do you spell...?"  Tetsu and I are not up to this level of technology in our home and it was a surprise to have people just call out a question in the middle of a conversation.  We noticed this too while walking down streets.  People would just be chatting into the air and though we were aware that they probably had a bluetooth device in their ear and were telephoning someone, still, in the past we might have wondered about how connected to the real world the person was...

Speaking of voices out of nowhere, Takumi's house also had a voice security system and it would call out randomly that someone had opened the back door or the garage door or the front door when a door (and I suppose a window) was opened.  At least we knew where everyone was, though the dogs had a pet door to themselves that didn't get announced.

Takumi's house was also equipped with a motorized vacuum cleaner (which is becoming more popular even in Japan) and this was the first time for Tetsu and me to see it at work up close.  The first day I followed it around the house amazed that it could get out of corners and manuever under tables and avoid dogs.  It seemed to take longer to do the job than I would if I'd just pushed a vacuum cleaner along myself though...

One bit of technology that we are now thrilled with is a powered toothbrush.  Japan has them too but I've pooh-poohed them for the longest time.  While in California however, I'd hear this buzz in the evenings coming from the bathroom and I finally asked what the noise was.  Takumi and Julieta claimed that the powered toothbrush was amazing and the day before we left California, Takumi bought us a set that connects to our iPhones!  Wow!  I never would have thought but Tetsu and I are both enthralled with the fresh squeaky feel our teeth have now!  Thank you Takumi!!

A funny story, maybe illustrating a cultural difference, happened when we stayed at the lovely AirBnB in the mountains.  We couldn't work out how to use the fan/light above the beds and Leiya called the AirBnB manager and he offered to come over immediately.  A very friendly, chatty man arrived to look at the fan and he climbed up onto the double bed to look at the ceiling fixture.  But he left his shoes on!  Tetsu was horrified because in Japan we don't even allow shoes in the house let alone on a bed, let alone on a guest's bed!  Leiya and my eyes met too as we stifled a laugh...  The nice man figured out how to get the fan to work and as he left he gave us a double thumbs up and said "Now make sure you give our AirBnB a five star rating for great service!" which made us all laugh hilariously after he closed the front door.  Well, besides the shoes on the bed, we did rate the AirBnB pretty high!

The response to Covid these days is still very different between Japan and the States.  While we were in California, the mask mandate was removed on airlines and even before that we were surprised at how no one wore masks at all except in medical buildings.  In Japan masks are still mandatory in all buildings and we wear masks when visiting private homes and even when outside walking.  At my niece's wedding, guests were specifically asked to NOT wear masks as she wanted everyone's happy faces to be visible in her wedding pictures.  

The biggest difference in the response to Covid was the requirements for entry into the countries at the airports.  After getting our PCR tests done before leaving Japan, we were amazed to be waved through the Los Angeles International Airport with no one giving a glance at our documents.  Then, coming back to Japan, we were very nervous about meeting the Japanese government's requirements for Covid testing as they required certain tests and doctors' signatures.  The PCR test at the California pharmacy was very haphazard (handed our kits and told to go at it) and the original results did not meet the Japanese requirements so I had to contact the medical laboratory and ask for more specific test result data.

When we finally got back to Narita Airport in Japan, despite our documentation, Tetsu and I and EVERYONE ELSE on the flight were directed through a maze of corridors and rooms to an official Japanese Covid testing site and it took three hours to get through that puzzle of red tape and hundreds of medical staff!!!  Truly!  I think I counted 20 stations to get through of people checking our documents, asking questions, making sure we sat in designated waiting areas, directing us to tables, booths, lines, chairs, getting monitoring apps installed in our phones, waiting for Covid testing results, getting documents stamped etc.  It was a horrendous experience and even though I had heard that it was difficult to get through the Japanese airport, we were irritated and exhausted when we finally left the airport!  That experience alone (never knowing if your documents and results were going to be rejected or not!) has put me off traveling internationally again until this whole pandemic is past history.  And that's not even having to deal with the mandatory quarrantine that was still being issued a few months ago in Japan!  At least we didn't have to go through that!

We arrived back in Japan, tired but happy and finally at home.