Winding up the year

2024 is winding up and because we are Japanese (I'M NOT, but I've lived here 47 years!) we are doing end of year cleaning...  To ring in the New Year, everyone wants their house spic and span and despite the cold, windows are being washed, gas range covers are being changed and closets are being purged of all the stuff that got pushed into them during the last 12 months.  Tetsu is still deep in the closet and when I try to help I just seem to annoy him so I'm taking a break to write a blog post.

It snowed yesterday though it didn't stick, and Tetsu has made sure that our tires have been changed over to snow tires.  I think we have food enough to last through the holidays and basically we are sticking close to home...  Influenza is prevalent and we definitely don't want to catch that, so we are back to wearing masks whenever we go out.  The cold has affected us in strange ways such as our cell phones stop working at night until we warm them up.  That shows you how cold our rooms get when we try to sleep without heat!  The battery run clocks have died and so did my car battery.  

One day Tetsu and I went to have a medical check-up at the community center in town.  It is true that in some ways I feel like part of a herd of cattle being moved from station to station to have various tests done, but the whole process was so well organized and well staffed that it was an easy hour.  We turned in our stool samples and were handed a cup to give a urine sample, I was also given a gown and then directed to a station where a nurse took a blood pressure reading and asked questions about medications I was taking etc.  From there I was directed to a curtained off area for an electro-cardiogram test, then an eye exam, a breast ultrasound, a blood test.  I had elected to have a pap smear and so was pointed OUTSIDE to a gynaecology bus while Tetsu went to a barium x-ray bus.  The day's exams were free for Tetsu because he's over 70 and it cost me about $20.  So...  no personal care though you could talk with a nurse if you wanted to, but it was all very efficient.  The results will be mailed to us next month.

Christmas came and went quietly...  I went to church, Tetsu worshipped online as he usually does with our home church in Morioka.  I ordered a Christmas cake, which is a Japanese tradition, and we shared that with the Yamadas when they came over for coffee.  Our gift giving to each other is pretty predictable.  I gave Tetsu socks.  He gave me socks.  Just like last year.  He also gave me handwarmers and ankle warmers (just like last year) and I gave him an assortment of portion coffees (just like last year).  Tetsu bought me shoes (same ones as he bought me last year... he can order them online) and also a BEAUTIFUL towel to use at the swimming pool.  He's bought me a towel a few years ago too but this one is gorgeous (I've already had compliments from my pool friends!)  

One change is that I didn't knit Tetsu anything this year as he no longer wears sweaters and vests and has quite a few neckwarmers, but together we did buy him a new transistor radio... exactly the same as the one he has used for the past 10 years.  We are not much for variety.  I guess we know what we like and so just buy the same thing year after year.

Another reason why Christmas went by so quietly is that it was a normal workday for me.  The school children had school that day so I was at the crosswalk bright and early, and afterwards I had a Traffic Safety meeting at the City Hall.  From the 26th however, winter vacation started and we have been enjoying some sleep-ins on frosty mornings.   

I did some last minute sewing and made my final quilt of the year.  I had brought back all these little triangles from Indiana that were leftover when I was making baby quilts for Leiya and I just wanted to use them up somehow.  

I didn't have much of a plan but made them into small flying geese for a somewhat modern quilt.  I had thought that this was going to be a larger quilt but it is what it is.  

I don't have anyone in mind for this as it was made just to use up fabric...  and I took that aim onto the backing too...

And with that, here is my round up of quilts I made in 2024!  From center left, and actually the quilt above and to the right, these are the baby quilts I made for Leiya to give to her friends.  Those three are the same pattern, just different colors.  On top is a Mexican Star quilt I made for a college friend.  The Wonky Word quilt I made for Takumi.  The strip quilt I made just to practice machine quilting with M-san who made a similar quilt.  She and I also made identical rainbow star quilts to practice machine quilting.  The labyrinth quilt went to Julieta and above that is a mola quilt that I worked on in an air-conditioned room during the summer.  There at the bottom is the last quilt, no name yet, and the Misty Mountains quilt is to go to Leiya someday but I don't trust the post office yet so I'm keeping it safe for her... 11 quilts and a few minor sewing activities like bags, Taiga-kun's Christmas stocking, and a toothbrush rug.  It was a good year for sewing!

Hope you all had a merry Christmas!

December is cold!

A few weeks have gone by and things are quiet again.  The days are REALLY cold and the nights colder!!!  At night I have fleecy pajamas on and a neck warmer and ankle warmers and recently I even wear a knitted hat!  The reason?  Our bedroom, our HOUSE is cold!  We have a kerosene heater going thoughout the day in our main room but the heat doesn't get upstairs and neither of us like to have the air conditioner/heater blowing down on us all night.  I do set an electric mat at our feet that warms up the bed somewhat (though Tetsu doesn't like it on all night) but the greatest warmers are the two cats who cuddle deep with me (not Tetsu!)

Tetsu readying my car for me to go to the crosswalk.

In the morning I throw on some fleece lined pants and a fleece sweatshirt as well as heavy socks and gloves and with my crosswalk guard's overcoat (not warm!) I am ready to face the freezing morning for an hour standing in front of the school... While I get dressed, Tetsu warms up my car and scrapes off ice from the windshield.  A great treat is when I get back from the school Tetsu has a mug of hot, sweet coffee waiting for me!  Heaven! 

Autumn wasn't very colorful this year...  We hardly got any deep oranges and reds though the ginko trees were a beautiful yellow.  This photo is of the ginko tree grove in front of the University hospital where I go every two months.  

At the end of last month, the neighborhood had a mochi (pounded rice) event and old and young came to watch the rice being pounded in a traditional mortar which was then served either with sweet soy powder, or sweet beanpaste, or grated radish.  It was great fun for the observers to shout a rhythmical cheer as the pounder raised the mallet and the turner flipped the steaming hot rice for more even pounding.

Our two old cats find places to stay warm...  Cleo, the darker of the two, is 20 and the winter is getting into his bones...  There have been a couple of days recently when we weren't sure he was going to hold out much longer but he seems to bounce back...

One of my English classes has evolved into a craft class...  We USED have free chatting time and then we'd spend the last 30 minutes reading a chapter of a book together and afterward I'd ask questions, but once we'd finished our last book they opted for more free chatting time and less study.  One friend is VERY good at thinking up different crafts to try and so we've made pompoms and used dried flowers to make wreaths, we've done some hand sewing and some knitting, and one of the last times we were together we did some Japanese paper cutting.  I've really enjoyed this craft before and I'd like to get back to it...

Last week, after a couple of hours at the pool, Tetsu and I were driving home after dark when I noticed at the side of the road an eldery lady  sitting on a divider overlooking a stream.  She obviously shouldn't have been sitting there so I jumped out of the car and ran over to take her to some place safer and find out why she was where she was.  She actually seemed quite chipper even though it was dark out and the temperature was only 40 degrees F. (5 degrees C)!  We put her in our car and asked where she was trying to get to and she seemed to think her destination was just up the street a bit more and to the left.  

"There's nothing up that street except fields and mountains and a tunnel.  Where are you trying to go?" 

She gave the name of a park COMPETELY in the opposite direction in the center of town, nearly 10 miles away!!!  The lady really wanted us to keep going up the street and to the left but we turned around and headed for the nearest police box.  Despite the fact that she was lost (and didn't know it) the lady could give us her name and said she was 87 years old and that she lived with her son.  We asked if she had a cell phone on her and she did so she tried to call her son which wasn't successful though the call must have gone through because he called back a few minutes later.  The lady however couldn't seem to figure out how to use her cell phone so I got on the phone with the son and I gave him the name of the police box that we were headed to.  Once at the police box, the lady was in good hands and she waved happily to us as we drove away while she waited for her son to come and get her.  

This is the FOURTH time Tetsu and I have found some elderly person on the street and taken them or called the police.  (I one time confronted an elderly man walking along the road alone and suggested that I help him, but he politely explained he lived in a house within sight and took off quickly to get away from me...  I may be a bit too enthusiastic about helping elderly people out walking...)

And here is a photo taken moments ago of John ACTUALLY SITTING ON TETSU'S LAP!  Will miracles never cease!  John has mellowed out quite a bit, but he is getting up in years too...  He and Tetsu have become friends (on John's terms) and the two of them are very happy together.

Luka got a chance to participate in a Christmas parade in town and he had a great time!

And Taiga has begun climbing and standing.  The two boys keep Leiya busy but they also seem to have a lot of fun together!

To end, here are a couple of colorful pages in my bullet journal!

More Travels

I have been out and about again!  After all these months of not really going anywhere, I've been out and about twice this month!

A short trip that Tetsu and John and I made, was up to the lake region of Nikko as supposedly the leaves were changing colors...  The news had shown beautiful colors of autumn and Tetsu and I decided to head up the mountain, early in the morning before the crowds came.  We later learned that the day before it had taken traffic 6 hours to get all the way up the mountain but as we started out very early and it was the last day of a three day weekend, it was fairly smooth driving all the way.  Unfortunately, the news stations hadn't been showing recent autumn clips of Nikko, or else they have really good filters on what they show because there really wasn't much color yet!

Off in the distance we did see Mt. Fuji which was a surprise! 

Hiroko-san and me

Then a week later, I took off with my friends to Shizuoka, south of Tokyo, on an over night trip.  We had two purposes for this trip.  One was to see the Toshogu Shrine of the area, and yes, it is the same name as the Toshogu Shrine in Nikko.  Hiroko-san who is a guide in Nikko, had taken us on a tour of Toshogu and we wanted to compare shrines (and Hiroko-san wanted to see how a veteran guide guided).  We also were hoping to see Mt. Fuji because Shizuoka is one of the best places to spot the beautiful mountain...

We got a glimpse of Mt. Fuji from the Bullet Train.  It was covered with an umbrella cloud which is rather rare and we heard about on the news the next day!

Four of us left from Utsunomiya on a Tuesday morning, and one friend joined us near Tokyo and another friend met up with us in Shizuoka. 

There is a folktale in this area, about a celestial maiden who was tricked into performing a dance in order for her to return to the heavens and so we got into the mood by dressing up in maiden clothing and posing before a PHOTOGRAPH of Mt. Fuji.  It was still hiding behind clouds when we arrived in Shizuoka.  This is why a girlfriend trip is so much fun...  We laughed and said how we'd never act so silly if we were on a trip with our husbands!

Sachiko, me, Eiko, Mari, Hiroko and Kaoru.  Alas, one more member of our group couldn't attend as she's been having health problems.  She was with us though as we remembered all the other trips the 7 of us have taken together.

Mt. Fuji was spotted behind the clouds again.

The area was also famous for the thick, bent pine trees that line the coast.

My depiction of the pine trees and coast.

We stayed in an traditional Japanese style hotel and ate loads of seafood and delicious morsels of food!

The next morning we woke up early hoping to see the sun rise over Mt. Fuji, but again it was playing hide-and seek and wasn't out.  Instead, we played around like girls again (not like the 60's to 80's year olds we are!)

As you can see, the shoreline was really rocky, making it hard to walk, but I found a Mt. Fuji rock and watched the sunrise over that!

Mini Mt. Fuji

We visited a small shrine and enjoyed the morning.

We hoped to see Mt. Fuji from a famous look out point but no luck this time either!

But Mt. Fuji could be found in other unexpected places!

Faintly.... very faintly...

And then it was time to meet our guide (who spoke English, German, Korean and Chinese as well as Japanese of course!)  He has been a guide at Kunozan's Tosho Shrine for 20 years.  He had a lot of information to give us but I'm afraid all the high steps wearied us long before our guide was finished explaining everything!

A gorgeous and impressive place!

We said goodbye to Sachiko-san and boarded the Bullet Train to take us back to Tokyo.

And look who came out to see us off!   Beautiful Mt. Fuji!

And those were the photos we took (and pages from my sketchbook once I was home).  We are already talking about where we'd like to go on our next trip!

Back in Nikko... I'm sewing...  Actually doing maintenace work on a quilt whose binding had become threadbare.  M-san comes regularly and I MADE her make a Mexican Star quilt of her own.

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Leiya sends photos to us regularly too...

Taiga-kun is scooting around and keeping everyone in smiles.

I love this photo of Leiya though she says she was dressed up for Halloween...

Tony isn't going to be able to do this too much longer!

And Luka's pre-school photo with him trying hard to smile brightly.

And I guess that's about it for this post!  Thank you for sticking with me!