One Day Later

The subtle rolling and gentle shakings are fewer and farther between. I walked up to the Ichikawa JR Station late this afternoon to get some exercise and to see how things seemed to be going. It's Saturday which is usually a day when families do something together. The shops are busy and so are trains.

Today there were people walking purposefully as usual. Women with several bags of grocery shopping. Moms and dads with babies. The sidewalks weren't crowded, but there were people doing the usual things. At the station building itself, which is full of all kinds of shops, people were looking at and buying food. I went to the gates for the trains and saw that they were running the Rapid Service toward Tokyo and toward Chiba, but it didn't look like there were trains running on the local line. Periodic announcements were being made over the PA system. These, as in stations around the world, are difficult to understand on a good day. I thought perhaps they were saying that the Blue Line was working as a "stop-at-every-station" train, but that can't be right, there aren't platforms at all the stations for the Blue.  A large screen was running through the list of train lines one-by-one saying if it was operating or not. Glad I didn't need to go anywhere.

I went to the bank and used an ATM. There was one other woman there doing the same. I went to several shops that sell ready to eat food and they had  sold most of their inventory. Some were hurrying to make more, and it seemed that some were running specials to make sure they sold everything.

This evening there are problems that everyone has heard with the power plants. Tokyo Electric is talking about "rolling blackouts" (where have I heard that term before?) so I went ahead and took a shower in case there is no power later, or tomorrow morning when I want to go to church. I need to get a flashlight out of my emergency kit. It's not too cold yet this evening, but if it's dark I suspect I'll spend some time under the covers with a book and my battery operated book light.

Like the Japanese I have adopted an attitude of making the best of a difficult situation, and staying calm as the Prime Minister has urged. No moaning and complaining - others have much more difficulty to cope with than I.

OMF Japan works with an Organization called CRASH - Christian Relief, Assistance Support and Hope - which is a network supporting Christians to do relief work in Japan and around the world. Hopefully some of us will be able to contribute various talents and skills to the recovery through working with them. If you want to do something tangible, go to their website http://crashjapan.com/ to see what you can do. If you're looking for a place to make a monetary donation, click on the tab for donations.

Keep Japan in your thoughts and prayers.

Thankful

Having lived through the intermittent shaking, sometimes weak, sometimes incredibly strong, of the past twenty hours, I am thankful.

To have survived relatively unscathed first of all, and to have news from every quarter that those I know and love are okay. I'm also so thankful that I had several avenues of communication open to me so that I could send messages of inquiry and reassurance to many places.

Most of all I'm thankful that God is sovereign. I have more questions than answers like most people, but I am sure God Knows, cares and understands. May he give you that peace today.

10th Annual 'Dome Show'

I dragged myself out to the first Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival in 2002 after a nasty bout with the flu and was nearly overwhelmed at the size of the thing. The next one I was able to attend was 2009. Of course it was bigger and better. In 2010 I was invited to attend the Opening Ceremonies. It was a delight to watch Princess Masako among other dignitaries, cut the ribbon, and then be able to walk into the displays with very few other people just before the doors were opened to the general public. Today I went with a visiting friend, who only had today free, to the second day of this year's Festival. To say it was crowded is a gross understatement. The Dome was packed with quilts and more vendors and people than I've ever seen there. I found myself taking pictures of just a part of a quilt because so many people were in  the way, or of an interesting detail because I was close and there was no space to back up for a long shot.

Banners for IHQ Singapore

The banners I've been working on for about 9 months are complete and waiting to be transported to Singapore. Before you get all excited about how I did the graphics, let me say that they were done by Thai craftspersons - working in batik and silk screening. My job was to get them all to the same size, add the lettering, join with batting and backing, apply the borders and hanging sleeves on the back.

I was working at odd moments between my other jobs and activities, and some of the difficulties required study and thought. Hopefully I got the measurements right and they will fit into the space that has been prepared for them.

I've never been to Singapore, but maybe I'll get there some day. It would be nice to see these installed in their place.

Featured

The latest issue of a Japanese quilting magazine called "Patchwork Tsushin" contains an article written by my quilting teacher about the exhibition her classes had in July. My quilt, "To Everything There Is A Season" is featured. The article is of course written in Japanese. I asked sensei for a translation, and she has promised to type one up for me. What she said it was about is her experiences learning quilting in America and how the process goes beyond sewing pieces of fabric together. She sees a thread, if you will, running through people's lives connecting people of different cultures, experiences and beliefs into one community of quilters. My quilt is a Japanese Memory Quilt and in it I used first, the theme of seasons, relating both the differences in American culture and Japanese, and then some universal elements that tie us all together. The design grew from a very basic idea and involved research and thought into Japanese colors, symbols and methods.

Making Mochi in Ichikawa

I went to Ichikawa "city center" today to meet a friend for lunch. When I stepped out of the bank I noticed a crowd down the pedestrian Ai Ai Road. Upon closer inspection I saw that there was a group of people and all sorts of equipment more or less under a marquee. Several of the people were of a rather large size and dressed in yukata  (are they real sumo san, or wannabes, I don't know).

They were using a large wooden mallet to pound cooked glutinous rice into mochi. When it's finished it's a sticky white mass that is used in all sorts of traditional sweets. This is the time of year for mochi making and all sorts of confections featuring mochi are available in stores.

Of course mochi can be preserved and is available year round in blocks that can be softened by heating in toaster ovens or microwaves or under the gas grill. Mochi is also an ingredient in the traditional New Year's soup called zoni. Every year people are reminded to be careful when eating mochi. It is so difficult to bite a small bit off the mass of mochi to be chewed and swallowed that a person often gets more than they bargained for. It's quite easy to choke on it!

These sweet sisters were enjoying their treat as were many others.

Christmas Dinner 2010

Hosted by the Aylings and gathering in family and friends from here and there...

featuring a beautifully done turkey and Christmas pudding.

Thanks for a lovely Christmas day!