Hokkaido Updates

Garden – We are eating beans and salad every day. The beans are nearing the end, but we are thinking about planting a new batch.  We don’t know if there is enough time before it snows to harvest another batch.  The sunflower stalks are as big around as baseball bats, but they are having a hard time staying upright on the windy days.  Ted has them tied to poles to help.  The corn plants are growing tall, but no sign of actual corn yet.

Summer Weather  It’s topped 80 degrees F. a couple of times now and it’s been warm enough for me to wear shorts twice now.  It rained yesterday and is staying mid 70’s now.

 Watermelon prices – have come down a bit, but are still pretty pricey.

 Jizo – I’ve been riding in the car to the garden so I haven’t been able to take a picture, but I watch out the car window as we drive by.  The can of oolong tea is gone and there is a toy action figure in its place.

End of Semester – I’ve graded the final exams and figured the grades for the students.  Now I need to figure out how to post the grades on the university grading web site.  Being illiterate makes so many things difficult!

Stitching – I’m working on the tiny teacups afghan.  Just so you know - the teacups aren’t that tiny, even though that’s the title of the pattern book.  On this afghan fabric, each teacup is about four and a half inches square.

Neko-chan – After Ted’s bike ride, the cat was under a car in the parking lot in front of the apartment building.  Ted sat down and had me throw a little bag of ham and cheese out the window to him. He was able to get the neko-chan to come a little closer with each little bite of food.  We’re going to buy a bag of dry cat food at the big grocery store for our new little friend.

Big Bug – Mary (http://acoloradostitcher.blogspot) is not only a famous blogger and stitcher, she also knows about bugs.  She left a comment on my bug post that the bug in our apartment is the Asian Longhorned Beetle and is causing a lot of damage in the US.

Left handers? – I have still not seen a left handed person in Hokkaido.  What do you think – are there no left handers or have I not seen one yet?