After the rain

Wednesday and another busy day. 5 kindergarten classes, a ladies' class and a children's class in the next town over. Wednesdays don't leave me much time to do anything else though I may take my Kindle and spend lunch hour at a coffee shop. That's always something to look forward to!

Pictures today are of some spider webs that I spied in the forest after the rain. I wondered if it was any easier to take pictures of spider webs with the new camera. (They were a dilly to photograph with the point and shoot camera.)

Not bad... I don't know WHY they came out when with point and shoot I had more errors in my trial and error attempt.

Spider webs after the rain are so pretty. Spiders aren't so pretty at any time.

The rain had all the rice fields overflowing onto the roads around us.

"Mom, our walking road turned into a stream."

Daily sewing

Though I haven't been able to use a big chunk of time for sewing, I do seem to be getting a few things done.

The Crazy Goose Chase quilt is bound and has been washed. It is out on the line right now. Mrs. Furui commented a number of times at how much tape she used to remove cat hairs when she was quilting it but I could have told her it was a lost cause. I did the binding and the cats camped out under it while I finished it off. I stored it in the closet but found Vel sitting on it happily one evening. Sigh. This quilt needed a good wash before taking it for donation... Once it is dried I'll try to get it out of the house before the cats find it again.

Another block of Jenny of Elefanz's BOM has been completed and is in waiting. I am slowly catching up with this project.

My biggest headache has been Mrs. Furui's medallion applique quilt that I promised to quilt for her. There was a lot of white in the center that I didn't know what to do with but I started in with feathers... A bit lopsided but it will do.

Then I started making pebbles but it turned into such a long process and I was getting so minuscule that I gave up and spent an evening taking all the pebbling stitches out. WRONG MOVE!!! With the stitching out I had left over punch holes all over Mrs. Furui's pretty quilt. DISASTER! I should have left the pebbles in... I started in meandering in hopes that the new stitches will camouflage the punch holes.

Still a lot of white. I'm tired of the meandering. How about a crosshatch? Did you know that it is difficult to find a stitching rhythm when doing a crosshatch? It is. I'm finding myself going over stitches, trying to back-up blindly, wrestling the quilt into new positions when I change directions. Meandering was easier... But I'm not stopping now, not with the image of more punch holes hovering in my brain. Crosshatch it is!

Sometimes I think that with all the uncertainty about a pattern, the ripping out of stitches, the finding a block of time to go upstairs and machine quilt... that hand quilting is the faster way to go... (I guess I wouldn't think that after 6 months of hand quilting a quilt...)

Traffic Safety Class

Last week I had to go to the local elementary school to participate in a Traffic Safety Class. The school asks the city Traffic Safety organization to come and teach the basics of crossing streets etc. and being safe walking to and from school. As there is no such thing as a school bus around here, all elementary school children are organized into walking groups and the oldest child takes the role of leader and is responsible for seeing that everybody stays in line (literally!) Some of the children have to walk 45 minutes or so to school and cross a couple of streets, the last being the one in front of the elementary school where I am the crosswalk guard. I was asked to attend the Traffic Safety Class as was the local police officer and someone from the police station. Unfortunately it was raining that day and the assembly had to be held in the gymnasium with a few change of plans.

You may recall that I'm a little afraid of the head officer of the Traffic Safety organization, a gung-ho, no-nonsense veteran traffic safety officer. She led the safety class that day. The whole student body gathered in the gymnasium and sat at cross legged at attention as the head officer barked rules, regulations and past accidents that she had witnessed.

"Okay, we are going to go through the basics of crossing a street. Principal, please chose three groups to demonstrate the process."

The principal asked three walking leaders to bring their groups to the front of the gymnasium.

"Listen closely. This is the road. And this is the crosswalk. Okay leaders. Take your group across the street. Raise your right hands.... Look both ways~ Right, Left, Right... Cross!"

The first group stumbled across the "street".

"That's terrible! Don't you know what you are doing? You'll have to do better than that!"

Me... gingerly stepping to the Traffic Safety Officer's side...

"Um... Excuse me. I think they can do it if they do it in English..."

"English? Well... Humph. Okay, try it again!"

The group arranged themselves at the mock crosswalk.

Me, in English, "Look both ways!"

"Right! Left! Right! Cross!"

Perfect choral synchronization! Good kids! The Traffic Safety Officer grudgingly admitted that the group knew how to cross the street. As did the second group and the third group. (Whew! I'm sure glad we ALL passed THAT test.)

Of course I'm not proud of the fact that the kids didn't know what to do without my English preamble "Look both ways!" but I think with the Traffic Safety Officer's lesson they did learn that being careful at a crosswalk is important in ANY language.

This morning everyone crossed the street with hands and voices raised high (I'd forgotten to teach the raised hand technique.) See the kids DID learn something!

Nightingale

Lorraine and Tetsu and I visited a museum on Saturday even though it was still a rainy day. The museum is tucked away in the wilds of the Tochigi Prefecture forests overlooking the valleys and plains. The artist who works there illustrating children's books, is quite well known in Japan for his 14 Mice series and his illustrations are filled with details of nature and the flora and fauna of Tochigi. No photography allowed in the museum of course.

There was a little gift shop attached to the museum and a deck that looked out on the countryside so the three of us sat outside and enjoyed coffee and the sound of rain and the songs of birds.

For awhile Tetsu whistled back and forth to the many nightingales hidden somewhere in the treetops.

And for a few precious seconds a nightingale (I'm assuming he's a nightingale... ) made an appearance in a far off tree!

In honor of the nightingale I'm re-posting a story that I related a couple of years ago on this blog.


How the Nightingale Got Her Song

One morning God sent out word to the birds in His world that He had planned something special for them and that they were all supposed to gather at a certain time and He would give them a present. Birds from all over the earth flew to God's side and He pulled out a huge box of paints.

"Today I am going to paint each of you and give you whatever colors you want. You are to go out in the world and brighten your place!"

The birds were very excited and started lining up in front of God and talking about what colors and feathers they wanted.

The cardinal declared that he wanted to be RED. As bright as possible! And God painted him in a brilliant vermilion.

The gentle swan gracefully came to God and said she wanted to be pure white so that the sun would reflect on her wings.

The peacock wanted each of his feathers painted in detail and it took God a long time to paint the sparkling designs on each long feather. The peacock strutted off proudly displaying God's amazing artwork.

The parrot was a bit of a joker anyway and he said he wanted every color that God had to be splashed on him. And then the toucan, not to be outdone, said that he wanted that strange looking beak at the bottom of the box and the brightest yellow available to spice up his shimmering black coat. The other birds giggled and thought the parrot and the toucan had overdone it but God smiled indulgently and the two birds chattered about who would be the brightest in the jungle.

The sweet little robin came up to God shyly and asked only for a soft red on her breast that she could look down at and admire alone.

All the birds got the colors of their choice and God spent a wonderful day painting and choosing the colors that were just right for each bird's personality. When evening drew near and all the birds were happily on their way home, God started to pack away His paintbox. It had been a busy day and all His wonderful paints had been used to their fullest.

But just then a small drab nightingale came fluttering in all in a panic.

"God! God! I just heard that You'd called all the birds together today! I live in the far off mountains and I didn't get the message! I have just come! God! Please paint me too!"

But God looked into His paintbox and then looked sadly at the nightingale.

"I'm so sorry. All the paints are gone... I used them all up and there is no color left for you my little nightingale."

The poor little nightingale looked so forlorn and so sad that God took another look in the box and at the far corner He noticed one tiny drop of gold.

"Little nightingale, open your beak wide and I think I can give you the best present of all."

So the nightingale opened her beak wide and God took one of His paintbrushes and placed the drop of gold at the back of the nightingale's throat.

The nightingale started to thank God and when she opened her mouth the most wonderful melody flowed forth! She could trill and warble and for miles around her golden voice could be heard over the hills and fields! All the other birds in the world were envious of the nightingale's beautiful song!

Although the nightingale stayed a brown little bird, God had given her the most beautiful voice in all the earth, and she spread her joy whenever she sang her thanks.

Boys' Day 2012

Today is Boys' Day in Japan and though some people set up large metal displays of samurai warrior, the most popular decorations are flying carp banners.

Carp are fluttering over the countryside and flying over roofs and outside of apartment windows.

Tetsu and I found a Boys' Day festival in the paper making town and the parks were decorated with pretty handmade carps of all different colors and shapes. At another part of the festival there were traditional carps that the farmers had set up to flutter and reflect in the flooded rice fields.

It must take a lot of work to get all those carp (about 80 of them) stretched from hill to hill but overlooking the tiered rice fields they were lovely.

Here is my own contribution to Boys' Day. I made this little wall hanging a couple of years ago and have shown it before on my blog. My "flying carp" are welcoming people in my entryway this week!

A day with Lorraine

I had a fun day yesterday with a "surprise" visit from Lorraine!

Lorraine was supposed to come to patchwork last week but she came down with a cold and couldn't attend. And she is going back to Australia day after tomorrow so I assumed that she wasn't going to be in a traveling mood and still getting over the after affects of her cold. Still, I invited her to visit if she felt up to it. AND SHE DID!

Unfortunately yesterday was one of the rainiest days we've had in ages. CATS AND DOGS! Ah well,

"I will pick you up at the station."

I got my wires crossed about WHICH station. My fault. I never use the train system and told Lorraine's daughter-in-law the wrong station name. I realized my mistake a few minutes before I expected Lorraine's train.

"Wait a minute... Where is this train bound? I thought that was where I AM!"

Can you imagine me racing through the rain to my car, screeching out of the parking lot, racing 15 minutes to the NEXT train station and scanning the dripping crowds as they drizzled out of the station?

"Where's Lorraine? No Lorraine. Well, I'm 20 minutes late... She's been left with a cold in a strange town with no way to get in touch with me. Poor woman!!! What do I do? What do I do? Call her daughter-in-law... No telephone number... Call Mrs. Harada and get the telephone number!"

So I frantically called Mrs. Harada who must be praised for her quick deduction skills and gleaning my situation with the few gasps into the telephone.

"Lorraine's coming! But she's not here! She's supposed to come today. I can't find her. I need her daughter-in-law's telephone number. HELP!"

Mrs. Harada promised to call me back and she went looking for a telephone number. AND just at that point Lorraine stepped out of the station. Yeah! Because of the rain, her train was late. So. She didn't have to wait in the rain and feel lost after all. I called Mrs. Harada back to give her an update and tell her she could go back to whatever she was doing on her holiday... (I need to call her again and apologize for my frazzled conversation.)

Well, the pouring rain put a damper on the day's tourist plans. I had hoped to take Lorraine to the shrines and temples. Instead we decided to find someplace for coffee. Ah, I know just the place... Meiji-no-Yakata, a historically famous western style vacation home made of stone and now turned restaurant. Instead of just coffee we had an elegant (and expensive) lunch. Lorraine treated!

After lunch I wanted to show Lorraine a wood-carving center. Nikko is also famous for its woodcarving handcrafts. When the shines and temples were built (hundreds and hundreds of years ago) woodcarvers were employed to carve the decorative lintels and reliefs on the walls, From there the carving industry expanded and Nikko is filled with shops selling exquisitely carved cupboards and shelves and boxes and trays. (Again, all at a very dear price.) Lorraine and I stopped at a center do try a little hand carving of our own.

We each chose a pre-printed image on the back of a wooden hand mirror. The "sensei" gave us basic carving instructions and after a bit of practice we dove in. Okay... A bit more difficult than it looks...

"Pull the knife towards you and carve a nice line without gouging out a trench."

Concentrate... concentrate.

Doing a good job there Lorraine.

The "sensei" put the finishing touches on our mirrors making them look not quite so beginners'-work. Look at the hands of a real carver...

Proudly showing off our handwork. Lorraine, do you think we should give up patchwork and start doing woodcarving? Nah... We still do better work with a needle.

Yeah Lorraine!

Weekend winery

More weekend tourist stuff.

On our weekend trip, Tetsu and I made a stop at a sake cellar set back inside a mountain. We're not big sake drinkers but since we were in the area and since there didn't seem to be many tourists around, we followed the signs and flags until we came to a mountain entrance. The local sake brewery is making use of the tunnels carved into the mountain during World War II and the temperature is just right for keeping crates of sake for years and years on end.

Sort of interesting. Dark tunnels going in every which direction with sake crates and bottle shelves lining the rough walls. We were told that many people will order a few bottles of sake when a child is born and then after keeping the bottles in this underground cellar, the brewery will send it to the family on the child's 20th birthday (the legal age for drinking in Japan). THAT'S a custom our family never thought of... I asked if the earthquake affected the sake cellar but the guide said that not a thing fell or broke though many houses in the surrounding countryside lost tiles from their roofs.

There was a sake sampling table in the cellar but we didn't take advantage of that. Tetsu, feeling that we had enjoyed the interesting cellar and taken the guide's time, thought that we should buy a bottle of sake. Umm... We, who never drink? What are we going to do with a bottle of sake? We chose a pretty pink bottle of plum wine... Yes, we were more interested in the wine bottle than in the sake! We even enjoyed an aperitif that night and Tetsu declared it delicious. Sweet. (He likes sweet anything.)

Still, I have a feeling this bottle is going to last us a few years...