Chickadees

There are a lot of birds in the forest.  I know because I can HEAR them and so can Choco and she barks up a storm every morning after we put her outside.  Birds drive her nuts.

Rarely though, do we have birds in our yard though I have tried to entice them in the past with bird feeders and over-ripened fruit.  I think they feel insecure with a pride of cats staring and hissing at them from the window.  Wonder why.

Yesterday I noticed Mi frozen on the sofa looking up through the window, oh so quietly.  A small group of birds, maybe Chickadees, were making a stop in our tree on their way to the forest.  I pulled out my camera and put Tetsu's zoom lens on it.

This is the best I can do with the kit zoom lens.  I have been contemplating buying a stronger lens for my camera.  What do you think?

Anyone out there know anything about camera lenses?  I'd like to photograph things farther away but does that mean I'm going to have start grappling with a tripod?   Instead of just replacing the lens I broke with something identical, it seems like a good opportunity to upgrade...   But does a housewife who takes pictures of cats and quilts really need to upgrade?  Are all these tools of the trade just going to weigh me down?

I sat on the sofa and hand held my camera a steady as possible but I still get some blur.  A stronger lens might take crisper photos.  And what am I planning to photograph besides cats and an occasional bird? 

With my cat population, I doubt the Chickadees are going to return for another photo session anyways...

Homecoming

Our good friends, the Yamadas, have returned from a 6 year stint in Hong Kong!!!  In a way it has been a long time for me to be without Marlene.  Up until those 6 years she has been my only local American friend.  In other ways it seems like it's only been a year or two that we haven't had our rousing family gatherings.  For years and years our families and another family, the Sugas, got together for holidays, the three families' children all with similar interests and close in age.

Of course now the children are spread out all around the world.  The Yamada's children are in Singapore, New York and Tokyo; the Suga's in Germany, Tokyo and Canada; and of course ours in Ohio and Los Angeles.  What a truly international group we've become!

The Yamada's arrived in the city and are staying the next few days at the Sugas until they get their old house back in some sort of livable order.  No electricity, no gas or water, no furniture, no phones or Internet connection, no appliances, nothing.

"It's like we're newly wed and starting out with nothing... but this time there are no wedding presents to help us."

All of us about 60 year old people had a good laugh about that.  We settled down to one of those holiday dinners... minus the kids and the holiday.

Mr. Y and Mr. S labored over getting wine out of the wine bottle...  The cork broke inside and and no amount of hacking away could dislodge it.  In the end they managed to slip a straw inside and MILK the wine out a drop at a time.  That's really wanting to get at that wine!

 I thought this a hilarious scene.  I often find groups of young people all staring at their separate iPhones while being in the proximity of each other.

"What is this world coming to that everyone spends more time staring at their screens rather than communicating with each other?"

It turns out that it isn't just the young people who are ethralled with their screens.  Here we are all looking at our iPads, iPhones and whatever.  And actually it is not that everyone is so addicted to the screens as that we are all trying to figure out how the contraptions work.

"Wait!  How do you use this app..."

"How many mail addresses do you have?  I never know which one to use to get in touch with you."

"What do you mean do you have Wi-fi or cable?  What's the difference?"  (That was Tetsu...  He and I tend to be the least knowledgeable about computerish things...  He had already given up looking at his iPad when I took this picture.)  

I guess the consensus of the group is that we are falling behind the times...  Still we are happy as slightly over-the-hill friends finally together again can be and looking forward to the many years of friendly evenings ahead of us.

Welcome home!
 

Christmas quilts

Yesterday we had a profitable patchwork day.  Mrs. Furui and I promised to have one of the Christmas quilts done by today, and the other will be delivered next Thursday... in time for Advent.

I had spent last week quilting the second quilt and binding it.  The final job was to add buttons and ribbon to both quilts and that was what was on the docket yesterday.

If there was ever a quilt that came together through an abundance of hand me downs, these two quilts claim the prize.  Mrs. Furui and I were contemplating a Christmas quilt for the hospital and had even picked out some pretty green fabrics in the Keepsake catalog.  That was when I stumbled upon (almost literally) a dusty, cobwebby box of velvet pushed into a corner of the kindergarten office.  The green sitting on top was so CHRISTMAS!  Mrs. Furui and I claimed the box (offering to make something for the kindergarten if the fabrics were usable) and discovered Christmas red and Christmas gold fabric inside.  Also some faded blue and yellow.

We washed the fabrics (to remove the cobwebs and whatever else might be living in amongst the folds) and turned the wash water pink and green and blue accordingly.  So we knew from the start that these are not going to be washable quilts...  Too much bleeding.  But for once a year up on the wall, probably a Christmas quilt could survive without regular baths.

We used a pattern from one of Mrs. Furui's old books called simply, Advent Calendar and in tandem we made up two quilts.  In the meantime Mrs. Furui's volunteer group has been making patchwork ornaments and those will be added daily to the hospital quilt in Advent style.

With the quilting very simply done (I didn't want to press my luck), we started thinking about how decorations could be hung.  Buttons seemed obvious AND...

"Wait a minute.  Someone gave me a box full of gold buttons a few years ago.  When I opened the box I thought I'd never find a use for such gaudy buttons but they might be just the thing!" 

I found the box and spilled out the contents for Mrs. Furui to admire.  I felt like we were witnessing a miracle.  Is there any more perfect place to use these buttons but on two Christmas quilts?! 

It was such fun to paw through the box and pick buttons for the quilts.  Quite a few gold animal buttons, lots of hearts, some with jewels, some slightly filigreed.  We pulled 70 buttons that we liked and yesterday sewed on 69 buttons (the kindergarten needed 35 buttons rather than the uniform 34 as on the other quilt). 

69 buttons take most of the day to sew on.

Ta-da!!!  Almost identical.  The colors of the presents at the bottom are reversed and the hand tied ribbons are different and there is that one extra button along the bottom boughs of the one tree...

We are so pleased with our efforts!  As I say, the hospital will add decorations here and there over the next month.  The kindergarten quilt will probably be decorated with the children's artwork (and there is a possibility of 35 children in a class... that's why the 35 buttons) though the principal said she wanted to use the quilt as is this year.

I rather doubt that I am going to get out to the hospital at Christmas time but I will ask Mrs. Furui to take a picture of a fully decorated tree.

Apples!

It is apple season around here!

Tetsu and I eat a ton of apples every year.  There is the apple I chop up daily for our morning granola.  (Nowadays it is Tetsu's granola.  I am pure apple.)  On weekends a couple of apples will go into our fresh juice.  And of course there is the occasional apple for snacks and more for apple crisps or crumbles during this season.

To our family's good fortune, we live just a couple of miles from apple country, though I suppose in our part of Japan practically anywhere could be considered apple country.  As I drive down the country roads throughout the year I look at the apple trees along the roadsides...  In some seasons the trees will be full of leaves, in later seasons little knobs of fruit will be on the branches.  As the months pass there will be ladders set among the orchard as the farmers go about their pruning.  During the summer the farmers will have laboriously wrapped each growing apple in paper bags to keep them from coloring too quickly.  And in autumn, the bags are removed and the orchards are blanketed in thin aluminum sheets to reflect the light so that the apples will be bathed in sunlight from all directions.

I watch the growing apples and especially the orchard that I buy my apples from, with a sense of pride and ownership.  Not that I've ever done anything to help with the raising of apples...

"What beautiful apples we are going to have this autumn!"

And when the farmers put out their banners signaling that apples are for sale I am one of the first customers to visit the stone farming shed where the apple farmer's wife cheerfully recommends specific apples for her customers' needs.

"The Kouyou apple is very good for cooking."

"The Fuji apple is delicious and has a heart of sweetness in the center."

There is a rickety table under the eaves of the shed with an assortment of apples set out for customers to sample.

"Let's see... What does the Jonagold taste like?  That's nice.  How about the Akane?  Now which should I buy?"

Although I almost always sample the apples I know perfectly well (and so does the farmer's wife) that I am going to ask for a bag of the orchard's B-rated apples.  Apples whose color might not make the grade, that have had a pecking from a bird, maybe a fallen apple (but the ground in the orchard is so mossy and cushioned the apples rarely bruise).  I get a great variety of apples at a very nice price!

"Oh, and while your at it, please make up a bag for my mother-in-law too."

Tetsu's mother is delighted with the gift of apples.  I've already been to the orchard twice this month...  I'm a very good customer.

A last drive to Lake Chuzenji

The weekend was rainy but suddenly on Sunday afternoon the sun broke out and Tetsu wanted to go for a drive so back up the mountain we went to Lake Chuzenji.  Other people in Japan put Lake Chuzenji on their someday travel list but we live within 30 minutes of it and can pop up whenever we like.  I must admit that with it and the other World Heritage Sites being such a common sightseeing places, I often take them for granted. 

"We already went up once this season."

"Who says we can't go up twice."

The rope-way was closed because of wind though near the lake we didn't feel it.  The paddle boats were all moored either because of the lateness of the afternoon or because of the wind. 

We went to the highest driving look out point and yep, there was wind!  Icy wind!  The kind that freezes your ears and makes the inside of your head throb!

"Quick!  Jump out of the car, take a picture and jump back in again!"

It was hard to stand upright and hard to keep the camera from shaking in the icy blasts.

"Too bad we can't photograph the wind."

Well, I can photograph Tetsu's hair being blown every which way...

The autumn leaves had mostly fallen and the scenery was a soft gray.

The sunlight was just hitting this lone tree in a final burst of yellow.  The road to this lookout point will close from the first of December until next May so this will be our last trip up this year.

On the way back home we stopped at a lakeside tea house and had hot sweet bean paste soup with pounded rice and hot tea.  The sweet-salty burdock root tidbits are to make the sweet bean paste seem sweeter.

Making coasters

Let's see...  I never showed Yuma-kun's latest project.  A couple of weeks ago he came insisting that he had to make something for the seven 3rd year girls who were graduating from the brass band.  I was ready for him this time and said he could make them coasters.

Take five squares of fabric, two of one color, three of another.  These were 4 and 1/2 inches square but they could be larger or smaller...

Fold four of the squares in half, wrong sides together, making rectangles.  The square left over will be the backing.

Layer the folded rectangles one on top of the other with the folded sides in the center.  (Yuma-kun messed up on his first coaster and it wasn't until it was sewed that I caught the mistake.)  Slip the end of the last rectangle under the first... like a checkerboard pattern.

Place all of those on top of the backing with the BACKING RIGHT SIDE UP.

Sew completely around the square.  There is no need to leave a gap for turning.  Clip the corners.

Turn the whole thing from the center of that checkerboard.

I suppose we could have top-stitched around the whole coaster but we didn't.  We did add beads at one of the corners though.

It works.

Here is Yuma-kun with a couple of his creations.

And the whole batch of seven coasters plus one fish one for himself.  Not bad for an hour's work.

All four accounted for (the other two stayed upstairs)

We have a back door that sometimes doesn't close properly and this morning I found it partway open (and cold air blowing through the house) and three cats missing.  Velvet, Cleo and Mi.  Chip was peering down with an alarmed look from the back of the sofa.

"Somebody's going to get into trouble...  The house is in danger with that door open!"

I sighed and looked out the back door.  And there was Vel getting ready to take a stroll on the porch.  Vel is used to wandering around the yard while I stand watch.  I grabbed him up and deposited him back in the house.  One cat down, two to go.

When I gave a call for Cleo and Mi, Cleo came streaking back into the house on his own power.

"I don't think I like it out here.  Let me in!  Let me in!"

Two down, one more to go.

Cleo has never been very adventurous.  He and Patora and another brother spent probably only a few hours in a box out in the woods before Tetsu and I found them as kittens (the brother was adopted).  Cleo is scared of bird noises and falling leaves.  For that matter, Chip too has never liked the outdoors because she was left probably only minutes in our yard while I was taking Choco for a walk. I had to feed her milk from a straw the first few days.

But Mi?   No Mi.  Mi lived out on her own at least three days until we finally broke and adopted her.  She went back and forth though the streets so you would think she was somewhat street smart, but not the way she dashes when she finds a way to escape.  And Mi is always trying to escape.  I guess she got just enough outdoor life to whet her appetite and wants to see more of the big wide world. 

I called my Tarzan kitty call but realized that I've rarely had to call for my cats so none of them respond.  You know the... 

"Here kitty~kitty~kitty~kitty~kitty~kitty~kitty~kitty~kit~ty~~~~~!"

I went up and down the street calling for Mi and probably annoying my neighbors with my jungle warbling.  Thanks to some frantic barking from Choco I spotted Mi behind our house in the forest.

"Mi!  Come here Mi!"

Would she come?  No, she would not.  She just streaked out into the street and to the opposite side of the forest and under a shed.

I spent a few minutes crouching by the shed until Mi finally came out from under it, and  I snatched her up to her many complaints.

"I don't WANT to go in the house.  I LIKE it out here."

Too bad.  The Watanabe cats are all indoor cats.  All three cats rounded up!  Since morning Mi has been sitting by the door meowing pitifully.  With all the love she gets what grass could be greener on the other side of that door?

And here is the good little cat that stayed home.  Chip, who was trying out the fit in a cooking pot that I was getting ready to put away.  I guess she decided it was too small to sleep it but will serve as a throne.