Restaurant Face Mask

Two of my students told me about a face mask that you can wear at the restaurant while you are eating. They were trying to convince me that it is safe to go to crowded restaurants.  The restaurant involved is a chain family restaurant called Saizeriya. I've never been to one of these restaurants, but they seem to be popular.  The first time I heard of the restaurant, I thought the person telling me was saying "Size Area".  It sounds the same as "Saizeriya" to me.  

Anyway, after the class, I googled Saizeriya face mask and found this story from asiaone. It's not really a restaurant mask.  It is a regular white disposable face mask that you fold and tuck a paper napkin into.  It's like a face bib. This might make some people feel safer at the restaurant, but I feel safe eating at home without a mask.  

What do you think? Would you feel safer at the restaurant with a paper napkin tucked into a face mask folded to cover your nose?

Rare Turtle at iZoo in Shizuoka

There are some strange animals in this world.  A rare horned turtle is now on display at iZoo, a facility showcasing reptiles and amphibians in Kawazu, Shizoka Prefecture. This female Chinese pond turtle was found by a man fishing in Fuji last summer.  It is believed to be about 10 years old, has a 16 cm shell and weighs 670 grams. The horns are about 1 cm in length.  I think it is a little creepy, but I might want to go and see it in person.  After coronavirus, when I feel safe to get on the train, that is. What about you - would you want to see it in person?

Friday Finish - Box Lid

I added some lazy daisy stitches and a few beads, then finished it as the top of a round box.  

This is the third repurposed sweets box I have finished with a stitched top.

Prefectural Personality Survey

I think the Japanese love to rank things.  The latest ranking came from a survey done by online portal J-Town Net.  The survey was to find out readers' thoughts on which prefectures have people with the best personalities. Here are the results of the 3,836 responses.  

Japanese prefecture ranking of residents with the best personalities

47. Yamanashi (20 votes)
46. Oita (29 votes)
45. Wakayama (33 votes)
44. Shiga (34 votes)
43. Saga (35 votes)
42. Kyoto (36 votes)
39. [tie] Kagawa (37 votes)
39. [tie] Yamaguchi (37 votes)
39. [tie] Aichi (37 votes)
38. Gifu (38 votes)
37. Tokyo (39 votes)
34. [tie] Kochi (41 votes)
34. [tie] Hyogo (41 votes)
34. [tie] Miyagi (41 votes)
32. [tie] Hiroshima (42 votes)
32. [tie] Chiba (42 votes)
30. [tie] Kumamoto (44 votes)
30. [tie] Gunma (44 votes)
28. [tie] Tokushima (45 votes)
28. [tie] Tochigi (45 votes)
26. [tie] Fukui (51 votes)
26. [tie] Ibaraki (51 votes)
25. Nara (52 votes)
24. Toyama (57 votes)
23. Tottori (66 votes)
22. Okayama (68 votes)
21. Ishikawa (69 votes)
20. Kanagawa (70 votes)
19. Saitama (72 votes)
18. Mie (75 votes)
17. Nagasaki (76 votes)
16. Kagoshima (77 votes)
15. Fukuoka (81 votes)
14. Shimane (93 votes)
12. [tie] Ehime (97 votes)
12. [tie] Osaka (97 votes)
11. Niigata (109 votes)
10. Fukushima (112 votes)
9. Nagano (118 votes)
8. Akita (127 votes)
7. Aomori (130 votes)
6. Yamagata (132 votes)

5. Miyazaki (134)
4. Iwate (142 votes)
3. Shizuoka (260 votes)
2. Okinawa (266 votes)
1. Hokkaido (394 votes)

Very interesting! I live in Shizuoka now and used to live in Hokkaido, which are numbers 3 and 1.  I have to say, the people I know in these places deserve this ranking.  If you live in Japan or you've been to Japan or know people from Japan, do you agree?

Work In Progress Wednesday

This afghan was my main project this week.

I'm getting closer with this one, but there are still many little details and backstitching left to do.

The metallic thread looks more green than the gold that shows up in this photo.

The Ladies are my lunchtime stitching project. Here's an overall photo and some closer photos.

Reading Emotions Eyes vs. Mouth

Recently I've been reading about new clear masks which enable the hearing impaired to read the lips of people wearing masks. 

Although I can hear and don't lip read, I think it is hard to read the emotions of someone wearing a mask. I rely on seeing their mouth expressions to understand how they are feeling. Mask wearing is not new for Japanese people, so I asked my students about this. They told me they can tell emotions from the eyes not the mouth, which may explain why wearing dark glasses are not common (although I think it is also eye color that determines the need for dark glasses). I learn many things from my students. 

What do you think - eyes or mouth for reading emotions?

Monday Morning Star Count - Week 18

Year Four of the temperature quilt  

Week 18 

August 23 - 29 

86, 91, 91, 93, 91 93, 95

I am reporting the high temperature each day.  My Year Four temperature/color (Fahrenheit) scheme remains the same: 

100 + Brown 

90-99 Red  

80-89 Orange 

70-79 Yellow  

60-69 Green  

50-59 Blue 

40-49 Purple 

30-39 Pink 

20-29 White 

10-19 Black  

You can see my finished Year One Quilt here.

Typhoons and Hurricanes in 2020

This is a strange year for so many reasons, including weather.  In Japan, we had a long wet rainy season this year, now followed by high temperatures. This year, we had no typhoons hit the four main islands through August. Now Typhoon 10, the first to hit Japan this year, is making its way across the southern island of Kyushu.  

In the United States, there are many hurricanes this year. I read that September 10th is considered the mid-point of the Atlantic hurricane season and the typical year has 12 named storms.  As of September 3rd, there have been 15 named Atlantic tropical storms! 

The Atlantic storms are named alphabetically, beginning with "A" every season. The names are determined in advance by the World Meteorological Organization. There are 21 possible names each season because Q, U, X, Y, and Z are skipped with few names beginning with those letters. It is not common for there to be more than 21 named storms in a year, but if all 21 one names are used in a year, the names go to the Greek alphabet. Storm 22 will be Alpha, storm 23 Beta, and so on. Since naming began, this has only happened one time, in the year 2005, when there were 28 named storms.  

When storms are very deadly or costly, the names are retired and not used in future years.  Some of the names retired are Irma and Maria (2017), Sandy (2012), Katrina (2005), and Mitch (1998).

WIP/UFO Update

I last posted about my WIP/UFO's here. Here's my latest update. I've kept this list in the same order, taking out the finished projects and adding the new ones at the end. In case you are wondering, I did finish a few things - and they can be seen here.

Year 2 of the Temperature Quilt 

Year 3 of the Temperature Quilt 

Year 4 of the Temperature Quilt - It's been HOT!

The House Quilt

The Midnight Mystery Quilt 

Flower Applique Wall Hanging

Hexagon Block Wall Quilt

The Hexie Tree Wall Quilt 

Miscellaneous Hexie Shapes (I used some of these)

Ribbon Album Wall Quilt

Mary Queen of Scots  

Bess of Hardwick 

Paisley Purse

RSN Knot Garden 

RSN Rice Fields

The Miniature Rug 

Miniature Chair Cushion 

Silk Gauze Cat 

EGA Drawn Thread GCC

Blue Hardanger 

White Hardanger

Kogin 

Dogwood Afghan 

Winter Banner

New Year's Eve Mystery

Sashiko Table Runner

Fashionable Ladies - I did add a few since last time.

Fairies Hiding

Redwork Girl

Little Dragonfly Stumpwork Project

Pansy Stumpwork

Sardinian Filet

Sneek Sampler 

Cross Stitch USA Map

Ainu Coasters

Eyelet/Rhodes project 

New Afghan project