Wild Wednesday

It's Wednesday. Running around like a mad woman! I'm SO sorry that I'm not working in time to go blog visiting when so many of you come each day. Please forgive me. That Google Reader list of blog friends every day tells me that there are more posts to be read but I'm just not getting to it. I WILL! (but definitely not today!)

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1994's New Year card! The previous year was another biggie for us because we bought a house out in the countryside of Nikko! We also acquired a cat from some American friends who were returning to the States. We named the cat Lammy (after a Sunday school magazine) and my mother often said we had the perfect home, one son, one daughter, one dog and ONE cat. What more does one need?

The house we had seen two years earlier when we'd been thinking we'd like to settle down. My mother had been visiting and together we went out and looked at this house. I loved the wooden walls and odd floor plan but didn't really want to live out in the boonies. And with NO MONEY, we scrapped the plans to buy a house. My mother noted in her diary that we had seen "Tanya's dream house. Too bad they can't afford it." Two years later Tetsu noticed in the newspaper that the same house was for sale and the price had drastically dropped so out we went again and within a day signed papers! Though I was hesitant about moving out of the friendly neighborhood where our apartment had been, my mother could show me her diary entry and assure me that THIS WAS THE HOUSE for us.

Tetsu was so thrilled at being a home owner that he bought a swing and put it together in our living room where it resided for awhile since we couldn't afford furniture. A couple of months later though our good American friends gave us ALL their furniture (as well as their kitty) when they moved back to the States, so you can see how we had real proof that God provides!

What is kindness?

Yesterday something happened that made me think a bit. I was driving to the next city over when I noticed a person lying on the sidewalk. The other cars on the street weren't stopping but I did. Now, what did I think I could do? I called out to the man (it was a man) as I got out of the car and he mumbled an answer. I asked if he was okay and helped him since he was struggling to sit up. He didn't look hurt and he was talking to me so I helped him stand. He wasn't very steady on his feet so I took him over to a stone wall and helped him sit there while I gathered up the plastic bags that seemed to have fallen out of his jacket pocket. I asked him where he was going and he said to the train station. Well, the train station is on the other side of town and he sure didn't look like he was going to be able to make it on foot. I said I didn't know where there was a bus stop in this area so he'd do best to wave down a taxi. By that time I sort of figured that he might be homeless... he didn't seem drunk. I asked if he had any money and he said no and asked me to take him to the train station. Well, no. I couldn't do that (I couldn't see being late to work and driving around with a stranger.) I left him by the roadside with the equivalent to $10. He asked if I had more spare change but I said no and wished him well and waved goodbye.

I really didn't think he'd get far since he could hardly stand and it was beginning to rain, so I made a stop at a police box along the way and reported where the man was and how I'd come across him. The policeman seemed to think I shouldn't have given him money but after pulling out maps he said he'd drive out and see. That's the end of my story.

Tetsu thinks I should have immediately called an ambulance or the police and not tried to help the man stand. It looked like he was really in need but he could have just been panhandling for money because he asked for more after I'd given him some. Maybe I was just alleviating my own feelings of not wanting to get more involved.

Many years ago Leiya and I came across a man who was lying in the middle of the street and we helped him to the side of the road. He was bleeding though and I flagged down the next car and asked them to call an ambulance. We wrapped the man in a picnic quilt that I keep in back of the car and waited with him until the ambulance came. He wasn't making any sense so I thought he'd hurt his head. When he was transported to the ambulance I asked for my quilt back... For some reason I could be kind enough to help someone in need but not kind enough to lose my quilt! Later the hospital called to say the man had dementia and had wandered away from his home. He hadn't been hit by a car or hit his head etc. I sometimes look at my old quilt (still in the back of the car) and wonder why I couldn't let it go...

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1993 and our New Year's card was of us in my mother's swimming pool! This had been taken 6 months earlier when we visited California that summer and it was always a big thrill for the kids to take two weeks of swimming lessons at the local community college and then swim all summer. I think Takumi got a waterproof watch for his birthday a couple weeks earlier which he was very proud of, thus the pose. Leiya, on the other side, was trying to be like big brother. And Shoko, the dog, (who of course didn't go to California) joined the picture by way of sticker applied later.

Chirstmas cake

I suppose all over the world people are getting ready for Christmas. I do wish I was just sitting and knitting Christmas presents about now instead of worrying about schedules, squeezing in last minute errands and practicing Christmas program songs and skits. Not that I don't LIKE being busy, it's just that it does seem that my Christmas cheer is getting lost in the busyness.

I have ordered a Christmas cake. SHOCK! One of Japan's Christmas traditions is the Christmas cake. Not fruit cake, not a Yule log cake, a white sponge cake with lots of whipped cream frosting (not butter cream... Too sweet for Japanese) and 5 or 6 whole strawberries plopped on top. AND at an exorbitant price!!! This is a tradition I have avoided. My kids never had a Christmas cake. I made cookies, I decorated the house, I bought presents for each child, but no Christmas cake. My neighbors sometimes felt sorry for my kids and would bring over half their left-over cake just so that Takumi and Leiya could experience a "real" Christmas.

So why this year? Because I stand in front of the Japanese sweet shop every morning and at Christmas time they deliver Christmas cakes from their son's bakery in another city. (No not made of Japanese sweet beans!) I STRONGLY believe that we should support the local merchants rather than save a few dollars and buy the same thing at a large store. I know the super-stores provide lots of people with jobs and salaries and I am all for people shopping there (I do too!). But the small stores are struggling and the main streets in town are turning into ghost towns. "Shutter Street" as it is called here because so many shops have gone out of business.

When I go to my crosswalk every morning, I am met by open shutters, lighted display cases, grandma and grandpa washing windows and putting out banners and flags. They greet me with smiles. On Tuesday however, the sweet shop takes its regular day off and I come to the crosswalk to a dark shuttered store with a closed sign on it. What a letdown! My energy goes down a notch right then! How much more for the children coming to school every morning! We NEED that Japanese sweet shop on the corner!!! It is boosting morale and helping raise bright and happy children!!! Give them all the business we can!!!! So I happily paid out the normal $35 dollars and ordered a minuscule Christmas cake. On December 24th Tetsu and I will partake and give thanks for our friendly little corner sweet shop!

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Another park. Yes, parks abound in Japan. I think it must be because there is so little private space and even if you own your own home the yards are tiny. Because we live in the country we have a fair plot of land but still... the width of the yard is only about a car wide and we can't park our two cars side by side. One car goes in, and the other comes in behind it. If the first car wants out then both Tetsu and I need to help shuffle cars. The rest of the small yard holds a picnic table and the dog house. That's it. So there you have the reason for all the park pictures.


Boy, Leiya sure doesn't look happy does she! I think she wanted to play on the slide and we had dragged her away to sit while Daddy fiddled with the tripod. And you know that means we took at least 12 pictures in different poses etc. "I wanna play!!!" Actually I don't think she could talk yet. In 1992 Takumi was 6 and Leiya 2.

A good friend

I'm sleepy today. My friend, Chiyo-san, arrived in our town a little after 8:00 a.m. yesterday morning and the two of us talked and talked and talked for the next 17 hours straight with little space for anyone else to get in a word otherwise. Talk over coffee, over lunch, during shopping, over snacks, while swimming and while taking a bath. Tetsu joined us over dinner but fell asleep on the floor while Chiyo-san and I talked on into the morning.

At 6:00 this morning we talked as we walked the dog and on and on it went until we met up with Chiyo-san's husband (coming from somewhere) and the four of us chatted again over coffee. What a lot of subjects we discussed. Solving the world's problems, confirming parent-child relationships, comparing teaching techniques, addressing middle age grievances, reminiscing about 30 years history. Right now my head is full but my eyes are closing!

Chiyo-san used to make an appearance at our house once a year on her way from America to her home town in Japan (she lived 14 years in California). Now that she's back living in Japan I don't see so much of her as the last time she came was two years ago. A very good friend and every time Chiyo-san comes I learn a lot about life, about her outlook on things and about myself. She needs to come more often so that we don't try to jam all our ideas into one trip...

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1991 and we got to a different park. Shoko (the dog, remember) looks like she's part of the family doesn't she? I think I was playing around with fabric by this time and had made friends with Mrs. Furui but still didn't consider myself a quilter... Still mainly a knitter by the looks of the sweaters Tetsu and I are wearing.

New Year's picture 1990

I have an overnight guest coming in an hour so this has to be short today.

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Lots of changes in our lives by the time we sent out our 1990 New Year's card. First Tetsu changed jobs and started working in convalescent care. A month or two after moving to a new city and a new apartment TETSU picked up a stray dog (see, it's not just me!), Leiya was born a couple months after that and Takumi started kindergarten!

This picture was taken in the convalescent home's yard. Yes, we are wearing the convalescent home's slippers in the yard. We named the dog Shoko, which is a typical girl's name in Japan. Leiya, on the other hand is a completely made up name that no one has ever heard of. For all the years that we had this dog people would get very confused and wonder if our daughter's name was Shoko rather than the dog.

Thursday patchwork

Yesterday was patchwork day and we 5 ladies had such fun. I can't tell you how we laughed at Mrs. Furui's organizational skills. Every time someone mentioned a pattern that they would like to make or some fabric that we had past used or some tool that had come in handy, Mrs. Furui was able to pull it out! Including templates, including Xeroxed patterns, including left over fabric, including measurements, dates comments etc! She's like a fairy godmother! Bibbity Bobbity Boo!

And we started on NEXT YEAR'S Bazaar quilt. No matter that THIS year's quilt was just raffled off in November, we already feel that we're a bit behind schedule. (How could that be?) We had previously decided to do a tree quilt this year so after perusing different books and Internet sites we came up approximate sizes and got a tree trunk drawn, cut out and basted to the back ground fabric. Mrs. Harada took that home to needle turn applique this month and the rest of us are going to go about preparing leaves to be appliqued later... Here is our start!

Yes, we are down on the floor ironing. A few reasons for this. Mrs. Furui's standing ironing board (from Germany) broke (months ago!) and so she irons on the floor. This is not so strange since most people iron while sitting on the floor anyway. Yesterday we wanted to lay out the whole background flat so we were ironing off of an old tablecloth. Nice for the quilt. Bad for the knees.

Mrs. Furui's house is ready for Christmas. She has so many nice little European Christmas ornaments spread out around her house. Here are just a couple of her little wooden ornaments that she bought while she lived in Europe.

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1989. Same park. Are you getting tired of the same park, same people? Have no fear! Tomorrow Leiya makes an appearance! I remember trying to pull myself together for this picture because I had morning sickness! Such funny memories old pictures bring up.

Udon noodles

The other day I showed you pictures of different Ramen noodles that we can get in Japan. I don't know how Ramen noodles are made but I think they must have egg and oil or something in them. They are usually thin noodles that slurp up easily. (Did you know that proper manners require noisy slurping when eating noodles in Japan? Yep! Splash noodle soup all around you!)

Another type of noodle in Japan is Udon noodles. These are much thicker and have a different texture. I think (but am not sure) that these are traditionally Japanese noodles. I once went to a Udon noodle making class where we kneaded noodle dough and let it set for an hour or so and kneaded it again and then walked up and down for ten minutes on the noodle dough which was inside a plastic bag. The stomping of the noodle dough was supposed to make it strong and chewy. All I remember is that it was a lot of work and that I will probably never make Udon noodles from scratch again. I'd prefer to eat my Udon here!

This is a Udon shop near us where you can get steaming bowls of noodles (or cold if you prefer) and either eat them direct in soup or dip them into your own dipping sauce.

At the first counter the customers order what type of noodles they want and as you go down the line you can pick up tempura of your choice for about a dollar a piece. I had cold noodles in sesame sauce and a tempura pumpkin slice and squid tempura. Tetsu had direct from the pot Udon with dipping sauce and mixed tempura and also chicken tempura (and also a rice ball). (Tempura picture from the Internet.)

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This was our 1988 New year's card. Same park. Tetsu's wearing another hand made sweater. I guess we were late that year getting a photo taken and it had already snowed. For a few years I went back to glasses after years of contacts but somewhere along the line (the next year?) vanity won out and I returned to contact usage...


The little illustration in the corner is depicting a traditional bamboo New Year's ornament.