Mothers

I hope everyone had a good Mother's Day!  My day started out well but by afternoon...  Hmmm.

I awoke to my iPhone letting me know that Leiya was writing me messages to wish me Happy Mother's Day.  Lots of nice sentiments from her!

And an hour or so later a delivery man came to the front door with a box that Takumi ordered for me.

Japanese sweets!  The basket was tied up in the furoshiki (traditional fabric wrapping) and the sweets were sweet potato cakes...  the little round one says "thank you" in Japanese.  Takumi knows how I love sweet potatoes!

So the day started well.  However I was made aware of a problem Y-kun had caused in a youth group that I had taken him to...  and I apologized and tried to be objective but inside I felt like someone was criticizing my son... or in this case my nearly grandson.  See I've gotten so involved that it feels like an attack on me personally.  Ah well...  Too bad I had to be informed second hand but Y-kun probably didn't even consider that he was overstepping boundaries.  I hope he's learned from the experience.  I think I have.  One... That there are a lot of different people and opinions in the world.  Two... choose the people you trust...

In the afternoon Tetsu and I visited his mother but she wasn't in the mood to have her picture taken.  This one surreptitiously taken by Tetsu while I occupied her with looking at photos in my iPhone.

And I didn't do a thing for my own mother which makes me feel like a terrible daughter... She doesn't realize dates anyway...   I am sending her this month's fabric post card later this week.  Does that make up for it?

Local quilt show

Yesterday Tetsu took me to a local quilt exhibition that he had read about in the newspaper. 

Tetsu had asked me earlier in the week whether I preferred seeing works by famous teachers and their "apprentices" or seeing works by local quilters like myself.  I said that though I was amazed and inspired by the famous quilter's works, I enjoyed seeing what regular quilters were making.  Thus the trip to the exhibition.

A cute exhibition with quilts made by a small group of women plus some students' works from community workshops.  Most all the quilts were wall quilts and there were many many bags. 

Not too much originality as probably the teacher supplied all the materials but still it was a very nice exhibit with a lot of detail in the works.

Tetsu, as usual, took loads and loads of photos but I focused on the more Japanese quilts to show here.  Flying carp Boys' Day quilts.

 These depict the Japanese New Year's hagoita, a game similar to quiet badminton played by children.

 And of course Girls' Day quilts.

 There were a few probably independently made quilts...  This stunning log cabin quilt.

A very bright quilt of a forest (those are trees decorated with English words).  I was interested to find that this quilt was machine quilted and I overheard a woman explaining to another woman how machine quilting is done "by moving the quilt itself!  You need a special attachment for the sewing machine!"  Machine quilting is slowly moving into the outskirts of Japan!

 Another traditional quilt that was just beautiful.

And there were tables set up with small projects being taught...  A badge that children could make, a pocket tissue cover, and a snap coin purse.

A simple but very nice exhibit.

Making mice

Yesterday my Friday patchwork group got together for lots of chatting and a bit of sewing.  We realized that we actually have two WIP going on but one has been in a box for months and we had even forgotten what we were making.  We will have to get back to that at a later date.

The other WIP is another quilt and I SPY book for the children's ward at the local hospital.  The quilt is turning out chic and clean... not exactly cute like we'd hoped...  Oh well, it is made of Liberty Fabrics so it naturally turns to the elegant side...  Anyway...  A few of us sandwiched the quilt and got it ready for some stitch-in-the-ditch hand quilting.  Another group of us were comparing their circles that will be on paper for the book with the circles on the quilt, and making up I SPY riddles.

I quilted a few circles and then we all put aside the circle quilt for some playful mice making.

Mrs. Furui had made a couple of mice out of felt a couple of months ago (that I once showed on the blog and someone asked if I had a pattern).  Well, I didn't have a pattern then, but I do now... or at least a template...  The problem is don't know how to make a PDF file...  So anyway...  here are the pieces for the mice making.  Cut out two pieces each of the shark fin shape and the small oval-like shapes.  The other two pieces are the bottom of the mouse (so that it stands) and the tail.

Sew the shark fin shapes with a running stitch on both sides up to near the tip...  A little more than half way.  Sew the base piece to the shark fin bottoms with a running stitch trimming off any excess (so that base template can be pretty iffy to begin with.)

Fill the mouse body with pellets or beans (that's why it was left open) and then add a bit of batting at the tip.  Continue the running stitch around the tip of the piece, hiding the knots.

Tack on the ears and the tail and add two french knot eyes.

There were seven of us at patchwork yesterday and we each made a colorful mouse.  It took about an hour for all of us to make one mouse.  We made up our own story in Mrs. Furui's window sill.  A mouse attack!  That crochet cat (Mrs. Furui's only cat accessory... she is not a cat fan) is escaping to the roof of an embroidered house!

Just to be different I tacked on a scrap of felt for arms and my mouse holds a small flask for flowers...  My mouse came home to keep the cute stuffed cat that Julita-san gave me company.  Unfortunately, Mi has fallen in love with my mouse and I've had to rescue it from under the table three times this morning!

Neighborhood nature

Daily I go out with the camera looking for pheasants.  I blogged that we HAVE them around here but dang it all, though I can hear them, I can't sneak up on one close enough to photograph him!

In the meantime, there are other things to take pictures of.

 The dandelions are going to seed!  There are dandelion puffs EVERYWHERE!

 I don't think I really understand the process of a yellow dandelion flower getting to the puff stage... 

 Choco and I walk through the field and her legs and leash are covered with dandelion puffs.

The decorated leash...

 The fields are mostly flooded now and the rice has been planted.

 The wild wisteria is blooming everywhere.

Wild!  The wisteria vines that are being tended are gorgeous and reach nearly to the ground but the wild ones are up in the trees and covering the telephone wires.

We came across a wheat field which Tetsu says is much more photogenic in the autumn when the stalks turn golden.  I sort of like the fresh green and blue tones!

Swimsuits

Yesterday we had an "incident" in the swimming pool locker room.  One of my pool friends was "delivering" swimsuits... and she got in trouble for holding a swimsuit shop in the locker room.

The woman scolded for selling swimsuits claimed that she wasn't really "selling", that someone she knew was closing down their sports shop and had all this leftover merchandise that was being liquidated at half price.  The pool friend was just letting a few of us know that she would be in the pool locker room on such and such a day and at what time... with swimsuits.  All I knew was that I had a chance to look through half-price off swimsuits.  In all honesty though, I did mark the date in my iPhone as "Swimsuit shop", so even I considered it a business exchange.

It seems that the pool friend let quite a few people know about the merchandise opportunity and by the time I got to the locker room there were 10 or 15 people pawing through her bags.  I found a swimsuit I liked, I paid for it right there and then went swimming in my new suit.  A rather racy swimsuit and I mean that it is a sleek, full body racing swimsuit, not a sexy swimsuit.  But a few minutes later, other friends coming into the pool told me that the pool friend with the merchandise had been asked by staff to desist in her swimsuit distribution and she left in a huff.

It seems someone complained...  And I guess we all know who...  The lady who banged locker doors and told us all to "Get out of the way!"  "What's all this hub-bub about!"  She was not happy about all the people milling around and trying on swimsuits in the locker room and on her way out she let the staff know.

Actually the lady who was upset is in the right.  There shouldn't have been a swimsuit shop going on in the locker room.  But in defense, a lot of people were very happy to buy swimsuits (there were at least 10 new swimsuits in the swimming pool yesterday) and it would have been difficult to direct all these random people connected only by the swimming pool, to a private home.

I hope the pool friend returns.  I felt that she had made a lot of ladies happy though maybe the enterprise could have been thought out a bit further... 

And now that I have a new swimsuit I have no excuse not to swim more laps! 
 

Sans, Chans and all the rest

A couple of weeks ago when Takumi and all were visiting, a blog friend asked why I referred to Julietta-san with the SAN at the end of her name but didn't add the SAN at the end of her brother's name etc.  Answer:  I DON'T KNOW!  There must be something subconscious going on...  We could take a survey...  Julie, Carin, how to do you refer to your friends and family in Japan?

There are different "titles" in Japanese used when speaking of or to different people.  We have "chan" and "kun" and "san" and "sensei" and "sama".  I can't think of any more...

Let's start with "chan".  Somebody-somebody-CHAN is used when the person or thing is cute.  It is an endearing expression.  Babies are always referred to as "baby-chan" and it has a slight feminine quality to it.  In our family Mi, is always called Mi-chan, maybe because she is so cute.  I notice I don't call my other kitties with the "chan" at the end of their names...  Are they not so cute?  Tetsu's mother still refers to me as "Tani-chan" though at 61 with my gray hair, I am definitely no longer cute...

Then there is "kun".  "Kun" can imply cuteness in boys and I've always referred to Yuma with the "kun" at the end of his name.  (He's not very cute anymore either...)  It is another endearing term.   When I am at the preschool, heaven forbid I call on one of the boys and put a "chan" at the end of his name!  He is a "kun" and he will get teased by the other children for being referred to as a girl.  My mistake!  I just looked at this cute three year old and subconsciously added the "chan".  Whoops.  "Kun" may be used to make a distinction in social rank... the boss of the company will refer to ALL his underlings, male and female with their name and "kun" at the end...  I think that custom is fading away these days though...

Then there is the most common "san".  "San" can be translated as Mr. or Mrs. or Miss, or Ms.  Of course all last names have the "san" added to the end to indicate honoring the person.  And one never speaks of their own family members to others with a "san" attached.  That would be considered placing the person on a pedestal.  "San" is used with first names too... so people will call my husband Tetsu-san or Watanabe-san.  Somewhere along the line both kids stopped referring to us as Mom and Dad and we've always been Tetsu-san and Tani-san.  At least the honorific "san" is there!  And blog friends have noticed that I usually refer to even my very good friends as "last name-san" such as Furui-san.  And then I confuse everybody even more because she often becomes "Mrs. Furui" on my blog like she's some ancient dowager.  Almost all of my close friends I refer to them with their last names and a "san" at the end.

"Sensei" you'd think would be pretty straight forward.  It means "teacher" so any school teacher is called by their last name and then "sensei" at the end.  But "sensei" is added to names of lawyers, pastors, doctors, politicians and even hair-dressers!  Anyone who may have had more education or training I guess...

And there's "sama" which is the ultra honorific form of "san".  It is basically only used for when referring to the Japanese Imperial family.  Princess Masako will be called Masako-sama, or the young nephew of the Crown Prince is referred to as Hisahito-sama.

So...  WHY did I add a "san" to Julieta's name?  I don't know.  An honored friend of my son's...?  And her brother?  A definite non-Japanese in my mind?  And why do I refer to some friends by their first name with the added "san" and some by their last names with the added "san"?  Again, that may be subconsciously using first names with people I often speak with in English...  Kaoru-san, Mari-san...

Tetsu doesn't get any honorific form at all in our house...  He's plain ol' Tetsu.  How rude!  Unless I want something and then my voice goes into sing-song mode...

"Tetsu-SAMA!♪♪"

Extra wildlife

You would think with five cats and a dog I would have enough of a menagerie to keep me happy, but no.  I LOVE the wildlife that I can find around me!  I'm sure I can hear owls in the forest (though I haven't spotted one yet) and I know the call of the pheasants when I am out for a walk.  I haven't been able to get close enough to photograph one yet this year but the males are strikingly beautiful!  I see quails running behind Choco's dog house but they are too quick to catch with the camera too.  Supposedly there are weasels and raccoon dogs behind our house and I do see footprints in the fields but they elude our cameras also...

So I am left with... tamelife... as opposed to wildlife.

 "MOOOOooo!!!"

We live near a dairy farm...  Just close enough so that the wind carries the aroma of farm life in the summer.  Which I consider a plus for our neighborhood (I am in the minority).

 The cows are interested in Choco...  an escaped calf perhaps?

But Choco pointedly ignores the friendly bovine.

The ducks have arrived in pairs to swim around the flooded rice fields.

We have also recently discovered that we have a new pet.  Can you spot him?

A pet frog living in a potted plant!  Our mini plum tree in a cup now houses an amphibian resident!  In the evenings he hangs on the window and eats mosquitoes!

I love living near the countryside.