Inconvenienced

Tetsu and my daily routine has been inconveniently disrupted...  Our local swimming pool has temporarily (I hope) closed down!!!

The pool is associated with a natural hot spring which gets pumped from the depths of the earth on the facility's premises.  It supplies the hot water (the NATURAL hot water with all the minerals and health benefits) to the spa area of the facility (indoor and outdoor bathing in the nude), the pool bathing area (indoor, nude) and the pool's jacuzzi area (with swimsuits).  Anyway, the hot spring pump broke down or died of old age and suddenly the whole facility is in an uproar.  It is the end of the year and no telling when the pump and corresponding well etc. can be excavated for repair or renewal.  The facility rents the land from the city so there has to be budget approval before anything can get started.  People's jobs are at stake (the lifeguards...) if the pool has to close down for months...

In the meantime the spa area is having city water piped in and heated but then it isn't considered a spa anymore because of the lack of NATURAL benefits, and the pool devotees have no place to bathe after a swim (different building) and thus the pool has closed and everyone is being given free use of the non-natural-heated-city-water spa.  It gets us clean (Tetsu and I haven't used our house bath in over 15 years!) but we no longer get any exercise with the pool out of commission.

With all my complaining and moaning about swimming laps in the dead of the winter, when my options have been cut I am rather adrift and instead wander around the rice fields with John even more than usual to get my exercise.

My swimsuit is getting a rest...

Cold out!

Not too much going on around here...  We are winding up the school year which I'm grateful for because it is freezing outside when I'm at the crosswalk at 7:00!  I'm wearing my pajamas (well... they are warm and can't be seen under the outer wear) with winter snow pants over them and a down jacket, fluffy neck warmer and a fierce looking regulation coat.  I put Uggs on my feet and gloves on my hands and finally warm up by the time I walk 15 minutes to the crosswalk.  This is a hard job in the winter!

This isn't a great picture but I was trying to catch a shot of the girl on the right in shorts and a t-shirt.  The rest of the world is freezing yet she walks 30 minutes to school (with the rest of her neighborhood group) dressed very lightly.  In the past I have seen a few hard-core boys that insist on dressing lightly throughout the winter but never a girl...  Her older sister wears a jacket when riding her bicycle to jr. high...  The principal and I have both commented on her attire and asked her if she isn't cold but she says she isn't (she's actually not too communicative but she does answer us).  According to the principal, her parents are rather normal...  I guess the girl really isn't cold...

But the principal reported that this week someone called the school saying that every morning when driving to work, the person sees this neighborhood group walking to school and has noticed this lightly clad girl while all her friends are in down jackets and mufflers and gloves.  The person wanted to know if the school was aware of the unusual winter attire.  Well, the principal assured the caller that teachers and staff were aware and had spoken to the girl but she still insists on wearing her shorts and T-shirts...  I don't know what else anyone can do...  She can wear what she wants to wear but just looking at her makes me cold too!!!

As I say, school will be out in a few days.  Let's see...  Tomorrow, the 20th.  Friday, the 21st.  Saturday and Sunday there is no school, and since the Emperor's birthday is on Sunday then Monday is a holiday too.  But can you believe, Tuesday, DECEMBER 25TH, CHRISTMAS DAY the kids have school!!!  Winter vacation starts on December 26th...  Why not just give everyone the 25th off for a vacation that could start the Saturday before?  I don't make the rules...  I will be out at the crosswalk in the cold on Christmas morning....

Ashikaga Flower Park at night

I have a flood of photos today.  Last night Tetsu and I went to the Ashikaga Flower Park which is about two hours away from us.  The flower park of course is famous for its flowers but in this winter season they don't have much blooming.  Right?  WRONG! 

The Flower Park boasts of having the best illumination event in Japan and for a few weeks in the winter the park is a favorite spot for families and young couples.  (A very romantic place!)  Although we have been to the park in the daytime in spring, Tetsu and I had never been to the evening illumination.  It was wonderful!  Even for a crowd hater like myself!

The park was decorated for Christmas of course with the trees entwined with LED lights and panels of changing lights around the borders of the park.

Many of the sections of the park seemed to be music coordinated so that the light colors changed with the melodies and tunes.  Those pyramids in the distance changed from flickering gold to brightly colored pyramids.  The pond lights changed from those flower designs to flickering separate lights.

One of the bordering panels.

At one point I noticed that for the different sections of the park, the lights used were depicting different flowers!  This was rather exciting and I wandered around the park looking for light differences.  Do you see the roses?  The tulips? The wisteria frond?  The water lilies?  And more and more! 

The walkways were well marked and even the small streams that flowed through the park.  Wouldn't want to step off the path into a stream!

 A castle we could go up into... 

 And the view from the castle with the tulip field in front.

Birds and butterfly lights hung here and there...  Animal lights were hidden in the shrubbery.

 Hi Tetsu.  Can you tell that it was cold?

 There were hanging lights in the tunnel arches around the park.

Such a wonderland to walk through!

The Ashikaga Flower Park is most famous for its huge wisteria trees and in the spring the wisteria fronds hang nearly to the ground.  In the wisteria section of the park we could walk through the hanging strands of flowered lights as the softly changed in color choreographed to the music.  It was really a wonderful, magical show!

Notice that Tetsu is taking photos on his iPhone?  HIS CAMERA BROKE!!!  (Or maybe he broke his camera.)  You can guess what Tetsu's Christmas present is going to be this year!

 An iPhone selfie.

There were photographers set up around the park offering to take your photo (and suggesting you buy a large version...)  We settled for the small post card version.

More hanging lights...

 I started playing around with my camera trying to get out of focus lights...

The blur adds a romantic touch don't you think?

I love how the reflections made the park twice as magical.  Look at the geese flying over the pond and reflected back.

And the park did what it could with real flower displays to keep with the theme of flower park.

A wonderful evening and though we didn't get back home until nearly 10:00 (two hour drive back), it was well worth braving the cold and the drive.

Two projects

I finished Tetsu's sweater this past weekend and immediately got to work on my next project...  Tatting.

First the finished sweater.  Raglan sleeves.  I've tried it on and it is too big for me but that is good!  Tetsu is quite a bit larger than I am and often times I make a sweater or vest that is too small for him and it just gets put in MY drawer. This sweater at least is his size.  My knitting friend suggested I do some steam blocking of the arm seams and collar seam but basically this is done.

The tatting project is edging, and I hope to make enough for Leiya's bridal veil that I've offered to make.   When checking out lace and ribbon for the veil I got to thinking that instead of trying to find the perfect thin lace with just enough but not too much flair, that maybe I could use my tatting skills...  I gave it a trial run with finer thread which I really liked a lot but I can't find the same weight and color thread and besides, this slightly heavier thread is easier to work with.  I've decided to go ahead using what I have and am diligently hoping to make three or four yards of edging...  I've got a foot or two now...

I can't tell if this is going to be too heavy or not nearly gorgeous enough, but I guess all that really matters is that it is hand-made by mom.  Leiya is pretty easy going.

Sweeping leaves

I think we can safely say that we are now in winter.  It was freezing this morning when I walked to the school for crosswalk duty!

The past few weeks Tetsu has been ENJOYING the daily job of sweeping leaves off our driveway, off the street corner, down the street two blocks, and on the side of the forest.  He would spend two or three hours a day sweeping leaves and though neighbors and I pointed out that the trees were still shedding leaves and all his work was for nil, he seemed to find fulfillment in his daily self appointed job.  He also got a great report back on his blood tests last week and he claims that it is thanks to all the exercise he gets sweeping leaves!  Now that the leaves are almost gone I wonder what he is going to do for daily exercise...

I'm not sure if John enjoys the autumn leaves or not...

A couple of days ago while I was out and about, I drove past one of the girls' high schools in the next city over.  Most of the high schools in Japan still require students to wear uniforms and these girls must have been on leaf sweeping duty and donned the required aprons over their uniforms.

The girls are using the same bundled twig brooms that Tetsu uses when he is working in front of our house (he doesn't wear an apron though).  I can't imagine American high school students out sweeping leaves every few days aproned or not...  I wonder if the high school boys at the boys' high school in the city sweep leaves too? 
 

UFOs

If anyone has noticed that I haven't been blogging much about quilting...  you're correct!  I haven't been doing any quilting!!!  What has happened?

My last major quilting project was a quilt that I had been putting together with Thangles...  that has been in flimsy form for months now and I even had taken flimsy, batting and backing to a patchwork group meeting hoping my friends would help me baste it.  Unfortunately, at that meeting there was an emergency that caused us to disband quickly and my quilt in progress came home with me.  It has sat in the original transport bag for MONTHS now and it is no closer to getting basted...

 (The unbasted flimsy back there in the corner, IN the bag still, UNDER the batting...)

I have no place to baste quilts.  There is not a room in this house with enough floor space for more than two people to pass without bumping shoulders.  Tables, heaters, sofas, chairs, floor carpets.... all make for an obstacle course in the world of basting...

There were times when I board basted even though the larger quilts' backings and battings would drape over the table (not a large table) but with Tetsu retired now, we use the table at least twice a day and a large quilt takes a few hours to baste.  I think my Thangles quilt is too big for the table anyway.

I might even resort to the rather expensive way of spray basting this quilt just to get it out of the bag but again... the above problem of nowhere to lay out the quilt...  I can just imagine when I DO take my quilt out of the bag that I'm going to have to spend an hour just ironing the flimsy and the backing again.  Oh the aggravations!  This problem does not seem to have a solution in sight yet.  My patchwork group is not meeting for any length of time for the rest of this year.  Sigh.

I was also working on some applique for awhile and I have two more blocks to go on that project before I get down to some piecing... 

 The applique has been laid aside for...

Knitting!  I've spent a lot of days and nights knitting a Christmas sweater for Tetsu which I hope to get wrapped up this weekend.  (Yes, Tetsu sees me knitting...) I knew that a sweater was going to take me more time than a vest which is what I often make during this season and I had gotten started early but ran into snags with the pattern...  It is such an act of faith to knit a garment!  After all this time and effort is the sweater really going to fit Tetsu?  The pattern just gave instructions for the number of rows and stitches rather than the measurements of how long the sleeves etc. were supposed to be.  And I opted for raglan sleeves on a circular needle which has confused me greatly.  This will be a very warm trendy sweater for Tetsu... or for a gorilla with long arms...  We shall see...  The unveiling (or the reknitting) will come after Christmas.

Homeowners' Association

My days are rather uneventful though maybe fraught with petty annoyances...  Hardly worth blogging about but I might as well show my true colors!

Tetsu and I bumped heads this past week over the Homeowners' Association here in our neighborhood.  The original disagreement began YEARS ago coming to a predictable road for an argument nearly two years ago and now coming to its resulting major argument now...

I dislike our Homeowners' Association because of all the back biting, all the duties that seem a waste of time to me, and Tetsu has always known how I feel about its hullabaloo.  When we moved to the neighborhood nearly 30 years ago the first thing a homeowner did was join the association.  I thought it was required by law but it turns out not to be so...  Joining the association means we pay quarterly dues, we are supposed to attend annual meetings, we take our turns as block leader for the homes on our block, we participate in trash area cleaning, quarterly full neighborhood cleaning and yearly community center clean-up, sports day, festival preparations, and we are asked to take on board member duties.

In return?  Hmmm...  Some of the board members get paid a small yearly fee...  Every month a ream of papers and pamphlets get delivered from the city letting us know of concerts or lectures or classes offered in the city.  Notices are passed along by block leaders through a neighborhood chain about funerals, new neighbors, clean-up days, sports days and community clean-up.

For years and years I attended all the meetings that were held and Tetsu stayed far out of it all.  It was rather devious on our part as anyone could see that the Watanabe family's wife, the FOREIGNER, wouldn't be able to take on important duties that required writing or reading or speaking in public and that kept Tetsu from having to take on board meeting duties. The strategy didn't keep me from two years being the neighborhood's safety officer (I was already volunteering at the crosswalk).  And when we have been block leader (five times in 30 years?) I would collect the dues, get all the pamphlets to the right homes, go to the monthly meetings and pass along the important notices.

In the meantime... the homeowner's association has slowly been shrinking.  New families moving into the neighborhood opt out of joining, (hey!  I didn't know that was an option!)  They don't care whether they get notices or pamphlets but guess what...  Neither do I!  They don't want to pay dues that only embroil them in the neighborhood politics...  Neither do I!  They don't want to clean up or pass along or participate in sports days or in any of the other neighborly things that the Homeowners' Association promotes.  Well...  I guess I don't mind clean-up days but I could definitely do without the sports days and festival preparations etc...  Another contributing factor to the shrinking Homeowner's association is that the neighborhood population is growing older and now many people are in their 60s and 70s, the most often given reason for leaving the association is having to live on social security thus being unable to pay dues and the physical inability to participate in neighborhood activities.

When I weigh the advantages to being in the association against the disadvantages, I'm sorry, but there don't seem to be that many advantages!  As those who leave the association say, it's not like non-members can't use the garbage service or the water system or the roads etc...  It's not like if there is a major disaster and we all have to evacuate to somewhere that the community center is going to say,

"Oh, sorry, you are not a member of the local Homeowner's Association and thus aren't eligible for medical and relief care."

So I've been suggesting for years that we too remove ourselves from the Homeowner's Association but Tetsu feels that staying in it sends that message that we are supportive of our community and our neighbors...

Two years ago he was approached, MANY TIMES about taking on the simple Association's duty of checking the accounting at the end of the year.

"SIMPLE job!  ONE TIME thing!  As a board member you'd be asked to attend monthly meetings but we UNDERSTAND that you are a busy man and won't be able to come regularly.  YOU'RE a WORKING man!"

"Tetsu, don't do it.  Once they get you in their grasp, you are never going to escape.  Don't give in!"

But after like the fourth visit by two of the members to our house asking Tetsu to reconsider...  guess what....  He took on the SIMPLE job of looking over the accounting.  That was two years ago and if nothing else, Tetsu is conscientious and even attended monthly meetings as much as possible (and also we were the block leader this year so one of us would have had to attend those meetings anyway...  Kill two birds with one stone.)

Hah!!!  Now two years into this the board is approaching, INSISTING, that Tetsu becomes the HEAD OF THE HOMEOWNER'S ASSOCIATION for the next two years!!!!!  The same Homeowner's Association that his wife hates!!!!!  There have been MONTHS of meetings and individual visits from the members asking Tetsu to take on the responsibility!

"Oh, there's no one else that can do it.  You OWE it to the neighborhood after living here all these years.  You're retired now.  You have no excuse not to extend yourself for the neighborhood."

Oh yes he does.  His wife isn't talking to him!!!

Unfortunately for me, or fortunately for the Homeowner's Association, Tetsu has resigned himself to accepting the position of Head.  He has explained that he respects my opinion but he is tired of all the members coming at him from all sides telling him he has to do it.  It is true, he is retired and has the time and still the ability to get involved.  He is not happy about the marital argument that has ensued between us and wishes I would back him up on this and make the next two years of his Homeowners' Association Head position easier. 

"Please be supportive!"

Right now I am just getting around to talking to him again...