Happy Birthday and miscellaneous news

Dilemma. I need to answer comments. My e-mail box is piling up. I need to go visiting blogs. My blog friends will think I've forgotten them. I need to get some sewing done. There hasn't been an interesting quilt picture on my blog in ages. I WANT to write today's post. Let's face it... I like writing.

Do you think blogging is taking over my life? No... No... I guess I'm still getting things done... just not on my planned schedule.

Miscellaneous.

Today my son is 25. Happy Birthday Takumi! I asked him what he wants for his birthday. He said he wanted a coral. A WHAT? What he'd really like is a Nudibranch. That sounds slightly improper to me... A Nudy what?! A Nudibranch. For his aquarium. Ah.. I didn't know he had an aquarium. I didn't know he was even interested in aquariums or Nudibranches or whatever. A complete new side of my son. Oh well. I'm not going to be able to send him coral or Nudibranches from Japan so he'll just have to wait until I get to the States... Maybe someday I can show you what a Nudibranch looks like (think yesterday's caterpillar only in the water.)

Sigh... Though no one really cares (not even in Japan), Japan's prime minister has changed again. Mr. Hatoyama stepped down yesterday. Japanese prime ministers seem to change every few months. Mr. Hatoyama lasted 9 months. I think I heard that in 20 years there have been 14 prime ministers... It's hard to keep up with Japanese politics.

On a happier note. My friend Miku-chan visited with her baby this week! Miku-chan made her first quilt for her baby in March and so Mei-chan (the baby) came visiting wrapped in the sweet hand made quilt. So cuddly!

I have been sewing slightly. I made an Alabama Beauty block hoping that I could get my friends to each make me one for our block exchange but it is WAY too difficult (and no one will piece by machine) so I've "scrapped" that idea.

Instead I'm thinking about spool blocks though I'm not sure how I'll arrange them when they get back to me. I don't think I want a regular spool quilt but these are fun and easy to make.

Found

I found my camera after a couple more hours searching. I found it here. Obviously I've taken the camera out of the camera case to take this picture... I don't recall bringing it into the laundry/bedroom.

But I guess it gives me a chance to show an old, Bargello quilt. No label again. I made it back when the kids were in elementary school and for awhile it got hung on a wall. Later I made another larger, more complicated Bargello quilt and this one got put away. A few years ago it got relegated to a back room and is used to hide old videos on a shelf...

I read somewhere that one should take a picture of your e-mail address and keep it IN your camera so that in case it is lost and some nice honest person should find it, they will probably look at the pictures at some point and will come across the e-mail address. It seems like a good idea but rather slim and doesn't help when the camera owner loses the camera in the laundry/bedroom but anyway I've taken my picture and will leave it in the camera.

And HERE is the caterpillar!

Lost

I cannot find my camera. It hasn't been missing long... Where could it be? I know that the last picture I took was of a caterpillar on Sunday. It is Tuesday morning now. Nothing going on to take pictures of yesterday and so this morning I was going to hook up my camera to the computer to post the caterpillar picture. But no camera.

It is supposed to be hanging over the computer. Not here. It often resides in my purse. Nope. Did I take it out of my purse after the caterpillar photo? Yes... I'm pretty sure I did. I think I even took in on my morning walk yesterday hoping to take other caterpillar pictures. But I couldn't find any caterpillar's. So.... Did I leave it in my sweatshirt pocket and wash the sweatshirt? No residue of it in the washing machine nor in the closet.

Hmmm. Did the cats take it? They get blamed for a lot around here and I KNOW they steal socks and pincushions. I've looked under tables, chairs and the sofa. No camera. Did I carry it to the sewing room? Can't see anything in there to really know so I've cleared the desk and ironing board thinking it might have gotten lost under some scraps. Nope.

In the car? Did I take it to crosswalk duty? Not there now! Heaven forbid, did I leave it in the car and it got stolen at the supermarket? I don't think so. I don't think I took it out of my purse. I'm pretty sure I locked the car (my new car locks by the remote control button. I find that such a fun toy!) Not IN my crosswalk uniform. I've patted all the pockets.

I didn't go to the pool yesterday and we can't take pictures there anyway. I don't see it in the kitchen but I'm not willing to clean the refrigerator just to make sure... I'm not that out of it yet... I've vacuumed. I've straightened and put away. I've hung out laundry and various articles of clothing that I found lying around. No camera. The house looks pretty good.

My camera lives in a bright orange case. It shouldn't be that hard to spot. I will start panicking tomorrow.

You missed out on a caterpillar.

Headlights

Saturday Tetsu and I were driving into the next city. "Pika-pika" An oncoming driver flashed his headlights at us. Tetsu quickly checked his headlights but no, ours weren't on. Ah... There's a policeman up ahead somewhere out to catch speeders.

Tetsu slowed down a bit (he's not much of a speeder anyway) but no policeman. Hmmm. What was that about? Another mile or so and ANOTHER driver flashed his headlights at us. Tetsu checked his headlights again. Nope. There IS a policeman somewhere rounding up speeders.

And finally, a THIRD driver flashed his headlights at us and sure enough, around the corner there was a speed check going on with a policeman sitting by his radar equipment in the bushes and another team of policemen a few yards further down directing cars to their van and the awaiting speeding tickets. Tetsu and I drove quietly past feeling sorry for the caught drivers, relieved that we weren't among them, grateful for the warnings, guilty for thinking of the police as the "bad guys out to catch us."

The police are only doing their job and their job is to reduce accidents. If requiring speeders to pay a stiff fine will make drivers think twice about speeding thus saving people's lives then the police are definitely the good guys! And that makes the nice drivers who warn others, and speeders who slow only because of the warnings, the bad guys.

Still, I was pleasantly amazed that three "nice" drivers would warn other strangers on the road. And though I was very relieved that we weren't caught speeding I don't think I'll be so nice about warning other drivers... What is nice and not nice, who are the good guys and who are the bad?

Foot spa

More scenery...

On Friday a couple friends and I went out for a noodle lunch way off in the boonies in a hot spring town. The whole town is a full of resort hotels and health spas and we took advantage of a town owned foot spa that overlooked the river. Tourists and visitors can just stop in, take off their shoes and relax in the beautiful outdoor surroundings. The water was really, really hot and we had to let our feet dry out because we hadn't brought along towels but it was a nice break in a day.

Oh my. I really ought to take advantage of a California pedicure this summer, shouldn't I!

Babies

This is a friend of mine, at church with her baby on her back. Most Japanese women will sling a baby onto their back in a ombu himo and go about their housework or even drive with the baby sleeping peacefully papoose style. I suppose it is a warm place and offers a lot of soothing movement. Strapped to the back, a crying baby will be joggled into sleep, sometimes so soundly that its poor neck is lolling around behind! There are jackets and vests (like my friend has) that wrap around both baby and mother and it all looks very cozy.

Actually I never used an ombu himo myself. It takes skill to swing a baby around to your back without catapulting it like a slingshot! And I liked to see what my baby was doing anyway (and I didn't like the lolling neck). What I DID use to carry my babies around was a dakko himo. (Ombu means "piggy back". Dakko means "carry". And himo means "strap".)

I made my own dakko himo and I could hang the baby in front of me kangaroo style but with its legs hanging down in front. We could smile at each other and I could point out things as we wandered... It seemed like an extension of "carrying" my baby after birth. And I had a great jacket that covered both of us. I got stopped a lot when I was visiting the States and everyone was interested in the strap and jacket. (The drawback however is that one can't cook with a baby hanging in front of you. And someone pointed out that if you fell with a baby strapped to your front that you landed on your baby....) I carried my babies in the dakko himo (and never fell) until they were nearly walking!

This week I made a dakko himo for my Filipino friend. This is the young woman who stumbled upon our church a few weeks back. Thank you for your prayers. She is much better now and every week she has been coming to church. Unfortunately she will be working on weekends from next week and I won't be seeing much of her anymore. It is hard for the Filipino women here in Japan because most of them have to work to send money back to their extended families in the Philippines. I wanted to give her something hand made that represented love enfolding both her and her baby. I wonder if she'll ever have a chance to use it...

Here I am demonstrating how to use a dakko himo with my Filipino friend's baby! I know... I know... Someone else already told me that I look like a proud grandmother. NOT YET! (Rats... It's the greying hair...)

Spring

I'm on the run again today. I wish I could get to the sewing machine....

The rice fields are flooded. The flowers are blooming.

In the forest the ferns are uncurling and making interesting outer space objects. Spring has arrived.