Virginia Weather

This morning as I was reading an email update from our real estate agent in Virginia a news flash went across the screen of the TV about tornadoes that were in Suffolk Virginia. Our house is about 20 minutes from Suffolk so it scared me a bit. Our agent hasn't gotten back to us but I am assuming that all is well with our house or he would have called by now. Please pray for the families in that area as they recover from these storms. I feel guilty with my next line as so many people have now lost their homes but it is something very important to our little family. Also, please pray that our house will sell soon so we will no longer be paying a mortgage on an empty house.

Statue Of Liberty Park

Brandon wasn't feeling well this weekend when another family we are friends with invited us to join them at Statue of Liberty Park for a picnic so...we went without him. I think he enjoyed the quite and we very much enjoyed the trip. Statue of Liberty part is about 20 minutes away in Shimoda (where the mall is). This weekend was also a good weekend for the Cherry Blossoms. They are everywhere! It was a bit funny to see Lady Liberty standing "tall" here in Japan but it was neat. Joey wasn't too happy about climbing up these stairs to see some statue. There were playgrounds to play on and Japanese children to play with. After our visit with the Green Lady (and Joey telling me this wasn't the real one like in Ghost busters), we walked down the pathways through the cherry blossoms and they were beautiful. I enjoyed seeing how they have gone from these lifeless looking trees to these beautiful trees. I had to work to get some pictures with no people standing around in the background, or at least too close, but I think I got a few good pictures. One bad thing with the Cherry Blossoms is it is driving everyone sinus crazy. They are beautiful though. We have them everywhere here on base. I wish they were not already fading away but they are. Its a shame they only last a few weeks. A lot of people traveled to a castle that is about 3 or 4 hours away from here to see the Blossoms this past weekend. We were originally going to but with Brandon feeling bad and the price of gas around here, we decided we would pass. We will try to go to the castle another time when it isn't so crowded though. Once we got done walking around and seeing the blossoms, it was time for the kids to play! The park has a neat roller slide! It is about 20 yards long and it winds its way from up on a hill. It reminds me of a giant caged conveyor belt. Joey very much enjoyed it. After a few times down he figured out that if he sat down on his feet, in a squatting position, he would go faster. He wasn't very happy when it started to sprinkle and it was time for us to go home. We had a nice picnic there at the park. We had chicken salad sandwiches with boiled eggs and potato chips. It was a bit funny. We were the only two American families there and there were a lot of Japanese families there having their picnics as well. They all brought little grills and whatever they were cooking sure smelled good. Then here were the Americans that forgot to bring a blanket to sit on eating our American food. We very much enjoyed the trip and look forward to Brandon feeling better (and me too now that he passed it on to me) so we can go see it again!

Shake Rattle and Roll

So we have moved to Japan and get to experience new fun and exciting things we never experienced while we lived in the states. Then there are the not so "fun" and "exciting" things like earthquakes. We have had a handful of them since we have been here. Nothing too major. For each of the ones in the past I have been inside my little apartment, safe and sound. Our building's foundation is on rollers so when we have an earthquake we roll more than we shake.
Well, today we were out in town when one hit. I needed to run to the 100 Yen store and we were in the kitchen section when everything started to shake. It seemed like it lasted forever. Several glass items fell off the shelves and an entire shelving unit fell over. I quickly scooped up Joey and moved to a center isle. Stores here in Japan pack things inside as tight as they can. With everything shaking and things falling over, Joey got really upset. He started to fuss a bit and wouldn't stop clinging to me. Just as it was winding down, a display of ceramic piggy banks next to us crashed to the ground. Joey really lost it then. He was screaming he wanted to go back to Texas and he wanted his Moe. One of the sweet workers quickly came over to us and tried to help me calm him down while trying to get me to not move so we didn't get hurt with the broken glass and ceramics around us. We ended up with several of the workers sweeping up around us and these two sweet old ladies (one was a store worker) trying to cheer Joey up. I think this was the first time ever I have been to the 100 Yen store and been the only American in there at the time. It was a bit scary. After we were able to leave the store and I got Joey in the van I had fun trying to explain what the shifting of tectonic plates is. Not too sure I got it all right but I tried. We had to take a few detours on the way back to the base. One of the bars on the main street just out of the base had the entire front awning and sign fall to the side walk and another building was surrounded by fire trucks.
Now we are back safe in our building. Joey is still a bit upset but I let him hide in our bed and watch the Smurfs on my I-Pod so I think he is going to be okay.
Fun Fun Fun!

Oh, according to the USGS, the earthquake was a 5.8 magnitude and was 103km or 64ish miles away.

Japan Day

Here are some more pictures from Japan Day. I will add better descriptions and explanations later but it is after midnight here and I might want to get some sleep at some point. Sorry I haven't blogged much lately. I've had the blahs and just haven't felt like sitting down and trying to get the photos and such all in order on the page. The little drummers were neat to see. These little ones were as small, if not smaller, than Joey and they all took turns not only at the drums but also dancing and playing the keyboard. Joey enjoyed making the kites. It took forever to dry but he enjoyed it. I love dolls and very much enjoyed the dolls they had set up in one of the rooms. I hope that I can find where to learn to make those. The Saki figurines are kind of neat. They were giving samples and just couldn't understand why an adult would say no thank you. I tried to explain "Religion" but it didn't do me much good. And then the socks and shoes are the traditional ones here. Not traditional as in you only see them at historic things or formal things. They actually wear these things ALL the time!

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Spikey

Joey has decided that it was time for him to start doing his hair so he looks "cool". He wants to look like a porcupine and boy does he.

Its cute how his personality seems to change when he spikes up his hair. My sweet little boy now spends more time on his hair than I spend on mine (hey, it takes how long to brush and put in a ponytail?). You can't tell in this photo but his shirt says "Blame It On My Parents". Gee, isn't that right on. You might also notice that the shoe on the floor next to him is the type you have to actually tie. We are working on that. Not quite got it down yet but we are still working on it. Our little boy is just getting too big.

Kogin Embroidery

At our recent Japan Day held at the High School here on base, I was able to visit with one of the local artist who teaches a craft I was actually very familiar with. My Grandmother taught me how to make afghans with monks cloth and yarn, called Swedish Weaving. It is something that I enjoy doing quite a bit and have been frustrated with not being able to get the monks cloth here (thanks mom for the material you just sent).

After staying in the room for a bit to do my "sample" they were teaching the Americans to do, and being told how well and quickly I picked up on it, I ran back to the house to grab the afghan that my Grandfather made for me as well as one that I am currently working on myself. When I got back to the room they were demonstrating in, the main teacher had gone on a lunch break. The other "teachers" (they are actually students of the head teacher in their apprenticeship, all in their mid to late 40's) quickly surrounded me as I tried to explain that we had a similar craft. My two afghans were quickly spread across a table and I had about 8 Japanese men and women closely inspectin them. It was a little embarrassing. They kept commenting on how beautiful they both were and how it was such a great work.

They were amazed by the variegated yarn we used. It was kind of funny, the one that I was working on had the yarn and needle with it and after they had me show them how to use our flat needle and they tried themselves, somehow....my yarn disappeared. Not a problem, I can get more. I had taken my two afghans in thinking that it would be a quick, "See, we have something kind of like that" to the teacher and about 10 minutes later I would leave. Nope! Over an hour...yes 1 HOUR later, I left. Someone had run quickly off to get the teacher from her lunch break so she could see my work. We had fun trying to work with our interpreter (that turned out to be the Mayor of Misawa) in explaining it all. We also exchanged books. I gave the teacher one of the Monks Cloth Swedish Weaving Books and she gave me a book of the Japanese Kogin Embroidery. They all wanted to take pictures of the afghans and watch me do a line myself. It was quite fun to see how close our crafts were but I was amazed at how intricate theirs can be. The material we were working with was simple burlap, the same material that the students begin with, and it can be bought for less than Y100 (100 yen) at the local version on Lowes. The material that they move up to (see examples) can cost up to several thousand Yen for every 10cm. WOW!!!!

What meant the most to me was how the Teacher was explaining that this was a craft that was traditionally passed down generation to generation. She pointed to one of the older ladies that had been helping the Americans to make their project and told me this was her daughter. She then pointed to a much younger girl (she could not have been older than 9) sitting in the corner working on her own project and told me this was her granddaughter. I was a bit emotional (yes, me emotional...like always) in explaining again that this was taught to me by my grandmother and that the completed afghan was the work of my grandfather, now in the hospital.

That afghan means a lot to me. When I am just having a crummy day, I go into my bedroom and lock the door. Then I crawl under my afghan on the bed and just lay there. I wish there were words to describe just how comforting laying there under my PawPaw's afghan for 20 minutes can be.

Sooo...PawPaw (and JuneBug) you are a superstar when it comes to the weaving here in Japan and the instructor was very impressed with your work. It was very neat to share a common

craft we seem to share with the Japanese people.

Below is the description that was on a handout they gave us:

Kogin Embroidery was designed by farmers in Tsugara, Japan. Tsugaru is located in the Aomori prefecture. This is a popular craft during the winter months, when farmers can't harvest their land.

First they make hemp from Karamushi, a type of reed. The hemp is then dyed "Ai", also known as Indigo. This fabric is used to make clothes. Finally, a pattern is embroidered using thread. This cloth is a good insulator and is strong. Embroidery is also used for repairing clothes.

Kohaba clothes are called "Koginu". Koginu means cloth that is short and single ply made by hemp. Koginu is a stitch design called Sashikogin. This beautiful design is a part of Kogin. Once "Sashi" and "Kogin" stitches are designed it is called "Koginazshi".

Oh, on the pictures, the one with the green diamonds and brown tic-tack-toe board is the sample one I made.