Happy Birthday Jan!

We want to wish our longtime friend Jan in Alabama a very happy birthday.  I stitched this little bookmark for her back in June, but couldn't post it then because I wanted to keep it a surprise. Now it is on its way to her.  Ted and I both think the world of Jan and hope she has the happiest of days and a wonderful year ahead. (This is a picture of a picture, so I’m sorry it’s not so clear.)

Biscornu Finish

Our lavender sachet biscornu are finished!  Okuda San had some help stuffing hers.

Here’s what my little bird biscornu looks like.

Next week we are going to do some non-counting stitching.  Stay tuned to find out what we work on next……

I'll have a Decaf Please

Not in Hokkaido, I won’t.  In the US, Ted and I would often have a cup of decaf coffee after dinner. Not here. We have yet to see decaf coffee anywhere in Hokkaido, not in the store, not even at Mr. Donut.  This is the regular ground coffee from the grocery store.  A 400 gram bag costs 298 yen.

I thought we would find decaffeinated coffee at the Big American Store because, well, it has the big American products.  Nope, no decaf.  A green package of coffee normally means decaf, but not in Hokkaido, not even at the Big American Store.  This Kirkland coffee, made by Starbucks, sold at the Big American Store in a green package, is caffeine coffee.

You can’t get just decaf in Hokkaido.

Blue Heart Teacup

This means the blue teacup with a heart, not that the heart is blue.  I didn't make up the names.  Anyway, one more finished teacup – three more to do.

I can’t help thinking about what I'll work on next, maybe a beading project……

Bon-Odori

Two evenings last week there were Bon-Odori events held all over.  From my apartment, I could hear the music from two different events nearby.  I walked over to one held at a park two blocks away. The Bon-Odori is a traditional dance event held during Obon.  Each area has its own music and dance.  Hokkaido is known for the fishing folk song Soran Bushi.

There is a stage area with the recorded music and the drums at the top.

Many of the children and a few of the adults were wearing kimonos. People dance in a circle around the stage. There are arm movements and claps and turns. I tried to follow what the other people were doing. (Maybe I should get someone to give me lessons before next year.)

It was dark and the dance circle large, so the pictures aren't great, but I hope you can get the idea. It was interesting and fun.

Shamrock Teacup

This one stitched up quickly. There are only eight colors of thread and a lot less backstitching than many of the others.

Mouse Toy
I made this little mouse toy for the Neko-chan last night and plan to take it out to her with her breakfast this morning. I hope she likes it.

Rest in Peace Robert “Poz” Posladek 1926-2012

I met Poz when we both worked for the City of Springfield, my first job out of law school.  After I left that job, I moved five times over the 20 years and we stayed in touch. I could always recognize his handwriting on the envelopes filled with newsy letters, photos and sometimes newpaper clippings. He was a good man with a good heart.  He will be missed.

The Shibori Adventure

Yesterday morning I was out feeding Neko-chan in the rain when a woman walking by starting talking to me about Neko-chan and her little house. 

The amazing thing was she was talking to me in English.  Her English is better than any other Japanese person I’ve met here.  She is an art student at the university and we continued talking while the Neko-chan nibbled.  Her area is textiles and her senior project is shibori! Shibori is a Japanese reistence dying technique.  I’ve been fascinated by it for ages.  I had a wonderful book in the US, but it had to be left behind.

My new friend, Miwako, invited me to the university lab to see what she is working on. I was thrilled. She is trying out various colors and patterns and will later dye fabric to be made into a kimono for her senior project. 

After showing me around the lab and explaining various projects in the works there, she gave me a piece of cotton fabric to try it myself. First, I stitched around and pulled it up tight.  Next, I tied up some circles.  When the fabric was all tied up, we put the fabric pieces in some water for 30 minutes.

Her fabric pieces were numbered and she kept a record of all she did in a sketchbook.  She drew pictures of how she tied the fabric and mathematical notes about the types and amount of powdered dye, chemicals, and water.  The formula is all very scientific, not like the Rit dye we used to make tie dye shirts years ago.

She had two scales to measure the grams of the white powder (I think it was some kind of salt) and the grams of dye. She had beakers for the liquid chemical and water – both hot and cold.

We let the fabric soak in the blue dye solution first. 

After the correct amount of time elapsed, we washed the excess dye out and put the fabric in a spinner to get excess water out. 

Then we took out the thread ties and retied it.  She recorded what she did in her book.

Next we put it in the yellow dye and went through the process again.

After taking out the thread this time, we lightly pressed the fabric. 

It was so much fun! Thank you Miwako!

The Posy Teacup

I’m glad this one is finished (#13 of 18).  It’s my least favorite of the ones I’ve done and I really had to make myself work on it. It’s not even shaped like a cup.  I bet it would be hard to wash, too. What is a Posy anyway?

Here’s what the whole thing looks like so far.

I’m going to run the vacuum cleaner around the apartment, then get started on the Shamrock Teacup. 

Neko-chan
Ted is gone on a camping trip with one of his classes, so I am the kitty catering service while he is gone.  Neko-chan is a very nice cat. She likes to be petted and scritched behind the ears. She's very quiet and well mannered and needs an inside home before the snow falls.

Obon

Obon is the yearly Buddhist event in Japan where it is believed that one’s ancestors return to visit. Obon is an important family time and many people return to their hometowns.  It’s not a national holiday, but businesses close and employees are allowed to take off work.  It lasts three days, but it seems like there is some flexibility as to when those three days are, depending on the location.  Here, it is observed the 13^th – the 15^th of August.  When I checked online for the dates, I saw 15 July (Tokyo), 15 August and 15 of the seventh lunar month (Okinawa). The university has been closed these three days. Mid-August is one of the three big travel times in Japan, the others being Golden Week and New Years.

I tried asking my neighbor about Obon, with the help of the English-Japanese dictionary. She said people bring snacks and sake to their ancestors and clean the grave site and pray. I wanted to know who is drinking the sake (not the ancestors, right?).  She made motions like passing around the cup and drinking. She said the ancestors like to have round bean things for food.  If this isn’t right, I blame it on the dictionary.  I also asked her about who takes the things away from the Jizo area. She said people in the neighborhood. I’m still wondering about that.  I know I wouldn’t feel right about taking something away that someone else had brought.

I downloaded a book to my iPod called Buddhism, the Essence by David Tufffley, but I haven’t started reading it yet. Maybe it will give me some Buddhist basics.

Dinner with the Okudas

If you’ve been reading for awhile, you probably already know we like our downstairs neighbors. The husband/father teaches in the PE department at the university and is also the basketball coach.  The wife/mother and I stitch together, and she has her hands full with a very active two year old.  The son is, well, he’s a two year old.

Ted bought a box of frozen Japanese food from someone in his Aikido group.  It was a large amount of food, so we invited our neighbors to come over to eat with us, and also to tell us how to cook the food. (Remember, we are illiterate and can’t read the directions). It was later decided that we would bring the food and eat at their apartment, so that the little neighbor could be entertained with his own stuff. Ted bought a bottle of sake at a sake factory (or whatever a place where sake is made is called) recently, so he brought that along.

In addition to the Japanese frozen food, we also brought American potato salad and a green salad made with lettuce and tomatoes from our garden.  Okuda San made a cold noodle soup, but I can’t remember the name – it was like soba but skinnier noodles. She also had scallop sashimi.  We ate a little bit at a time, over a long time, which seems to be how Japanese meals go.

We enjoyed our evening and had plenty to eat!

Flower Teacup

Woo Hoo!  This finish is #12 of 18.  I feel like I am in the marathon cross stitch event. Each teacup is taking 2 or 3 days to stitch and I am stitching most of the day and into the evening.  This is a gift with a time deadline, so on to the next tiny teacup.

Ted the Housebuilder

Our little Neko-chan looks like she is filling out a bit, eating her Purina Neko Chow.  She’s a sweet little cat and we would like to keep her, but we are not allowed to have pets in our apartment.  If you are in Hokkaido and looking for a pet that you don’t have to spend 198,000 yen to purchase, please adopt her!

In the meantime, Ted set out to build her a shelter.  He collected a wooden stool and a couple of wooden desk drawers out of the trash pile.

He brought out his tools and found a couple of other boards and some insulation and some other odds and ends and started building Neko-chan her own little home in our back yard area. She is supervising from under the tree as she nibbles some Neko Chow. As you can see he is very handy.

The next morning she was waiting for him, so he took her breakfast and his coffee out to the Neko House.  She seems to like her little porch.

He made a front door and a back door, so she can escape if she needs to.  He even gave her some art work that can also be used to scare away wild animals. He put a towel on the floor so the inside will be comfortable.

 He found a bigger board for the roof, and it covers her porch area as well as protecting the whole house from the elements.

She seems to enjoy her porch, but we haven’t seen her in the house yet.  I guess she just needs to get used to the idea of having her very own house.  Nice job, Ted!