Traveling to Morioka

Oops...  Time got away from me again but in my defense, Tetsu and I went away for four days and we just got back last night.  We made the 6 hour drive to Morioka, Tetsu hometown and the town I lived in the first three years after I came to Japan.  Although we don't have family there anymore, our family grave is there as is the church we still belong to and of course we have old friends there whom we are eager to stay in touch with.

We have always tried to make it to Morioka at least once a year but just about this time last year I was being diagnosed and treated for rheumatism and I'd begun to have trouble walking.  By the time things were somewhat under control it was too cold and icy to make the trip north, so we missed going last year.  This time around we made it a sort of celebration of my successful hip surgery and we stayed a bit longer than usual...  Tetsu did all the driving.

The Japanese tollways are excellent and well maintained.  There are usually only two lanes going in each direction but there are parking areas to stop and take bathroom breaks or buy a vending machine drink and there are quite a few service areas that have dog runs, restaurants, gift shops, play areas etc.  It is a pleasure to drive long distances... as long as you don't mind the long distance.  I'm not a great fan but there are advantages.  For this trip, we left home at about 3:00 to avoid traffic and get a discount on tolls.  We stopped at one service area for a breakfast of soba noodles (for Tetsu) and fried rice (for me.)

The service area restrooms are super clean and usually have small vases of seasonal flowers making the place feel welcoming.  

As we arrived in Morioka earlier than we'd expected, we made a quick trip to a look out point that Tetsu remembered.  (I didn't).  Alas, Mt. Iwate which is the mountain that regally protects the city, couldn't be seen because of the cloudline this day.  Morioka is a lovely city though and really bustling!

Here are the two travelers.

The next stop was at the family grave to see what state it was in.  Our eldest daughter's ashes and Tetsu's mother's are laid here and we would really like to take better care of it...  Two years of no one visiting had made it quite unkempt with weeds and an odd purplish algae growing on the stone.  Tetsu and I spent about an hour pulling weeds before it started raining and we left if for the next day.

We had quite a bit of time before we could check into the hot spa that Tetsu had reserved for us and I requested that we go find a small but well-know hand-made ice cream shop out in the countryside of Morioka.  We found it and enjoyed our cones in the cozy upstairs of the shop.

I ordered a scoop of pumpkin and a scoop of black sesame seed ice cream and Tetsu ordered a scoop of milk flavored and a scoop of blueberry ice cream.

The weather cleared just as we got to a sightseeing spot showing how the farmers of the area used to live in their thatched roofed, L-shaped houses.  The L-shape was unique to this part of Japan because in the extremely cold winter climate, horses were kept in one part of the L while the family lived in the other part.

Look at the thickness of that roof!  There are no longer any craftsmen who can build these types of houses anymore...

Our hotel for this night was purely Japanese style with futon laid out on the floor and a low table.  I was grateful for a small table and chairs by the window though because though my hip doesn't give me much trouble, I'm not very graceful about getting up and off the floor.

Ikebana at the entrance to our room.

Dinner that night was in the main dining room and had everything you could imagine.  Grilled dishes, stew dishes, sashimi, custard, vinegared dishes, noodles, rice, soup etc.  

Tetsu was a bit disappointed at the view from our room (he knows I love a nice view) but actually we were able to catch a peek of a rainbow this day and the next.  Anyway, the food was great and we were very satisfied with the outdoor baths (taking a bath in a Japanese garden with rain falling around you is wonderful!) and the many different indoor baths offered.  

I had thought I was going to sketch and paint as we were traveling but I find that if I can't be left alone with a lot of time I don't feel that I can paint at all.  I also had hoped to start a very Japanese looking accordian sketchbook that is normally used for stamps when pilgrims visit shrines and temples.  I discoved too late that it didn't take ink and paint very well so my plan to sketch our four days quickly went out the window...

Even so, it was a great first day to our trip!

 

September round-up

It's September 30th in Japan and I'm wrapping up this month today by getting a blog post off and setting up October in my bullet joural.  

Toward the middle of September it finally cooled off in the mornings and evenings though it is still hot during the day.  The season feels strange as the heat is still upon us but sun comes up later and goes down earlier.  Tetsu and I made a trip to a home goods store and I bought a small pot of plants (the one in the orange pot) which I decorated with stickers provided and then pulled out a couple more autumn/Halloween items from my closet.  John is just there trying to be photogenic.

Spider lilies have suddenly sprung up around the countryside and make a dazzling display.  I have heard that spider lilies roots are toxic and so farmers plant a few around their rice field to keep rodents at bay and in a few years the flowers multiply until there is this cascade of color.

I have yet to figure out how to paint Spider lilies...  My project for next week...

In the meantime I took an interest in a Japanese art form called Etegami which translates I suppose as "Picture letter".  It is supposed to be a mindful type of art with very little hand control but with a focus on the essence of the subject being painted.  The Japanese calligraphy brush is held high and and the brush is dragged over the paper...  The colors (there is an Etegami pallete that I don't have yet) are dropped into the outline and usually there is a heartfelt phrase about life included in Japanese calligraphy.  Finally, the stamp of the artist is applied.  I did the best I could with a sweet potato I had been given though my pun is hardly deep and soul searching...  The little red mark is the Japanese character for Ta from Tanya that I carved out of an eraser...  I'm going to try to do more of this art form so bear with me.

My loose version of a temple that I walk past when I walk from the parking lot to the church on Sundays.

I had a scary experience on Wednesday when I was at the crosswalk in front of the school.  At the opposite corner from where I stand there was a sudden crash just as I was guiding the children at my corner across the sidewalk.  I completely panicked because I could see a group of children standing around where the upturned car was and I thought that the school group that crosses there had been involved and that some of the children had been hit.  As I raced to the other corner I called to some of the children who had just crossed to run get a teacher but when I arrived at the accident I was relieved that the car had just missed the children who had been standing there waiting to cross the street.  A passenger was pinned inside but numerous neighbors and other drivers were coming to help and I went back to my post at the school as other school groups began to arrive.  I really questioned myself on my decisions made in these few minutes.  Was I supposed to leave my post?  As a crosswalk guard, no, but as a human, if someone needs help then one runs to help.  Should I have caused the teachers (some five came running) such panic when I didn't really know if students were involved?  We all stayed (after my school groups had gotten safely into the school) directing traffic around the accident.   At least I was in an official uniform and had a yellow flag, but actually the teachers and I had no idea what we were doing and cars were in more confusion because of our bumbling attempts to stop one side of traffic while letting the other flow around.  I was very glad when three police cars, two ambulances and two fire trucks arrived to take over.  I heard later that no one was seriously injured but the school and community are very upset at what could have happened to the children as there have been numerous accidents at this corner.

On another day, I finally got a box of used children's books off to Luka.  The post office system is so confusing these days...  It all has to be done through your phone app and I do not handle these passwords and filling in blocks with numbers and addresses and going from one page to the next very well.  Such a frustrating experience that I always procrastinate when I know I need to go to the post office!

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Luka update!

Luka got to sit in a fire truck and was given a fire hat.  I love the way fire fighters do this in the States, welcoming the children in and letting them be close to their heros.

I think Leiya's family went to a car race and Luka enjoyed that completely.

Is it too early to worry that my grandson is going to want to become a racecar driver?

At least he's still got the trucks and excavators in hand.

 

Food and drinks etc...

Japan's weather is so weird.  This year in particular but actually every year I'm surprised by the SUDDEN changing of the seasons.  One day we have the air-conditioning on and I'm wearing shorts and a tank top and the next day I'm in fluffy socks and a sweatshirt!  That's my attire for today (though I hear it is going to get hot again next week).  Being from Southern California there was such a subtle change in seasons that I wasn't even aware of it when I was a child, but this morning I'm cold!  Humans are hard to please!  Too hot or too cold, we (at least I) are never satisfied!

But the weather has changed enough so that farmers are beginning to harvest their rice fields.  The countryside is turning yellow though not into gold and oranges yet...

M-san brought me a bag of her family's first rice harvest of this year!

This week was again a quiet one and we stayed close to home  (well, this picture was taken when we were out a food court) and I did odd jobs around the house while Tetsu got out with a neighborhood gardening crew to help elderly neighbors with their enwieldly weeds.  Tetsu is looking forward to being able to sit back and relax in his garden after the hot summer which kept us indoors...

My lunch at the food court.  Octopus balls!  And they are delicious!!

Maybe more appetizing to some folks, a sandwich lunch I had when I went out with friends.

I debated for awhile about offering to make a wedding veil for my vet/friend who is getting married this November.  She and I have become very close since John came into our lives because she comes over once a week, mostly to speak in English but also to talk about John and any problems he's given us.  I have heard about her courtship with her husband (already registered at the city hall) though I haven't met him yet.  ANYWAY, she's asked for advice about numerous things and when she was giving me details about looking for a wedding dress (to rent in Japan, not to buy) I hesitatingly asked if it would be stepping out of my place to make her a veil...  I still happened to have the netting left over from Leiya's veil and I spent months making more tatting lace in the same pattern as Leiya's just because I like to tat.  So I figured I probably could make a veil... but a young bride probably wants to pick out something gorgeous (even if it is only to rent) rather than have something handmade...  I really dithered on this offer...  Should I or shouldn't I?  I showed my friend the materials and lace I had in a box and gave her the option of refusing before I even started but she seemed pleased so I went ahead and made it and gave it to her this week.  It isn't as long as Leiya's, and it is pretty simple now that I look at it.  Made by your own mother is one thing and Leiya was very forgiving but I kept saying to the friend "Now, if it doesn't match the wedding dress you picked out don't hesitate to return it.  Don't feel obligated."  We'll see...  The wedding is a closed one for family only so I'll only see photos someday but there you have it...

My vet brought John back on this day after I'd dropped him off in the morning for a shampoo and trim.  He's been looking pretty shaggy and snarled but of course he won't let us brush him...  Still he follows me around everywhere and when I am at home he rarely lets me out of his sight.

And here he is all sweet smelling and shiny!

My most recent loose sketch of the Japanese sweet shop where I stand at the crosswalk in the mornings.  

I sometimes have to remind myself why I am sketching/painting/scribbling every day.  I do it in hopes of getting better at drawing but there are days when I have to challenge myself to find something to paint...  A Japanese painting style I've become interested in teaches that focusing the heart into the painting is important... and then I wonder again if I'm just making a habit of it all and just filling up space in my bullet journal or on paper...  

I guess I'll stop thinking and go enjoy some matcha latte.

 

A week in September

Another week gone by but Japan is still in a heat wave!  Unbelievable!  I wonder if we'll get any autumn at all and the forecast is for a hard winter this year...  

I finished a class on thumbnail sketching on Skillshare this week.  Skillshare was a really good step for me this year and I love trying out all the classes available to members.  I still focus on watercolors and journaling and some whimsical sketching but I have a really good time.  This class by Barbara Luel focused on places we feel comfortable and relaxed and things that we love around the house.  (I'm not sure how my iron got in there but anyway...)

I had two doctor's appointments this week, both at the same hospital an hour away but on different days.  We spend so much time traveling back and forth and then sitting in the waiting room but we sort of make a day of it and try to do something fun before going home.

I got the all clear to do almost anything and I am back at the pool swimming.

And we are back to walking around the cemetery with John who needs the most exercise of all of us.

The cemetery is so pretty in the mornings.

I had a slight disaster when I realized one of the fabrics that M-san and I used for our On Williams Street blocks bleeds...  Sigh.  I don't know how this fabric got in my stash...  Ususally I try to weed out risky looking fabrics but this one got through.  I decided to take the block to Mrs. Furui to see if she had any ideas about rescuing it (she didn't) and I even took M-san with me so I got to introduce my two favorite patchwork friends to each other.  That was so nice and Mrs. Furui gave M-san a box of same size squares that come as fabric samples each month from a fabric club she belongs to.  We've always said we need to do something with all the squares that arrive in the mail but we never have so M-san was given the job to make something out of a box of them.  I guess M-san and I decided to use our bleeding box as is and continue to enjoy the process and not worry about the flaws.

Speaking of Mrs. Furui, I subscribe to her son's Instagram channel where he posts photographs he has taken.  He specializes in taking evening and night photographs, sometimes fireworks, even the northern lights he traveled especially to photograph.  I loved this photograph of the Ehime castle in the moonlight and I asked if I could show it here on my blog.  Isn't it beautiful?! 

My livingroom for the summer with the Hawaiian quilt I made years ago.  As soon as it gets cooler this is coming down!

I guess that's about all I've done this week.  I did wash some windows and screens so it wasn't all fun and dance.

 

M-san's quilting

Yesterday M-san came over and we worked on the latest block in our On Williams Street quilts...  I found this website earlier this year and suggested that the project would be a good way to practice machine quilting and overcome some of the fear of new challenges that would be offered.  

We are now on our 9th block and we are thinking of stopping here (instead of going the full 12 months).  I also asked M-san to bring over her latest quilts, the ones that she'd just sent me photos of, so that I could see them myself, photograph them and show them on my blog.

I am just blown away by M-san's skills and especially in machine quilting.  She has certainly surpassed her teacher (me).  As I photographed and raved about M-san's talent, we reflected on M-san's journey with quilting to this point and what she has learned and the things she has made.  There are actually too many quilts that M-san has finished to show all here though I think I managed to record all of them somewhere on my blog.

Can you believe, M-san is a new quilter!  She and I met in 2019 and when she showed an interest in handwork I gave her a quick lesson in tatting and told her to get back in touch with me when she'd mastered the basic knots.  From then on in we met occasionally as her tatting skills developed (she took to that very quickly and easily too), but the pandemic waylaid us for 4 or 5 months, when we decided not to get together.  

From 2021 M-san was doing hand piecing and hand quilting and somewhere in that time I started her on machine quilting.  The first photo that I can find of one of her freehand machine quilting projects was this diamond block quilt. 

This photo was of her first practice piece that she did with a bit of marking on the fabric to guide her.  She was so good even from the very beginning!

This is her most recent piece that she did at home by herself, practicing designs and trying out things that she found on the Internet.  I hadn't seen this piece before.

And this little piece is just amazing!  She said she found an article in one of the quilting magazines that I'd given her about a quilter and she just copied the design as well as she could.  I have certainly never tried anything so intricate and I marveled at her even and confident stitches.  M-san wants to give me this piece but I really think she should hang on to it as part of the journey that she is making in machine quilting.  For now it has been hung in my entry way but I think she should keep it to show more people who come into her life.  Who knows.  Someday she may be a famous Japanese machine quilter!

M-san also brought along a scrap quilt that she had made of the half square triangles that I had in a box from an earlier quilt I made this year.  This quilt is hand quilted, with gold thread no less!  

M-san really likes the meditative benefits of hand quilting and she added sparkle to the quilt's dark border.  Such a nice touch! 

I don't know if M-san's family is aware of her skill in quilt making.  She says they compliment her on the colors she's chosen and they are always happy to hang up another of her quilts, but being non-quilters themselves I wonder if they realize how good she is and how quickly she has taken to this type of handwork.  M-san and I talked about when I first started machine piecing and machine quilting, and I think I began in earnest after Leiya was born...  When I was about 35.  About the same age that M-san started...  I didn't really start machine quilting until 15 years ago... so think where M-san will be in 15 years if she's this good now!

Sorry for raving so much but I am a very proud teacher!