Sewing plans

My plan is to get some sewing done this Golden Week while Tetsu is working and I wanted to add another New York Beauty block to the design wall.  This project is my own Block of the Month goal this year but for an awful lot of work I realized that at the end of the year I'm only going to have four squares completed.

I am getting these patterns from Ula Lenz's website and just checking them off one at a time.  I thought I was up to the challenge of these but let me tell you, I'm having a bit of trouble sewing the curves on the sewing machine.  Especially the tighter curves.  My last block, the one at the upper left-hand corner was going along fine until I came to the layers of curves and then it has become slightly warped.  I thought I was going to be better at this than I really am...  Either my sewing technique will improve the more blocks I make or the blocks will become more warped as I venture into some of the more complicated patterns...

I also want to start quilting Colin's quilt which I finally got basted last week.  I have made this quilt before and liked the quilting I'd done then so I went back and looked at the photos of the previous quilt and I think I can do something similar.  Of course all those points are going to be stitched-in-the-ditch, but I am also planning to put some feathers in the white spaces.

I have seen how some quilters will plan their quilting patterns using computer programs or apps on their iPads, but I can't figure out how to do that.  I have a feeling I'd need to go buy a stylus for whatever app that may be... but anyway, I have figured out how to audition different quilting patterns the old fashioned way...  Using a piece of glass and an erasable white board pen!

My piece of glass is from an old cupboard that we threw out but I had the presence of mind to save one of the glass panels.  I lay the panel over the quilt and then trace over the stitch-in-the-ditch lines and then draw in the feathers starting with the spine part first and then adding feathers to one side, going back along the spine and then adding feathers on the other side. 

It is easier to do with pen and a glass panel, that's for sure!  What with turning the quilt and getting from side to side on the sewing machine, this is going to be a challenge but anyway... this is my plan!  I have the variegated green thread that I want to use and I am ready to start!  Today at least I will attempt stitching-in-the ditch!
 

Spring fields and flowers

Today is the beginning of Golden Week... the long set of holidays in Japan that span a week.  I think we are celebrating Showa Day a day set apart for remembering the Showa Era.  There will be Constitution Day, Green Day and Boys' Day next week.  Unfortunately Tetsu has to work most of the holidays so I am on my own...
 
But as I didn't have to go off for crosswalk duty this morning Tetsu and Choco and I went out with our cameras this morning.  Yesterday it had rained all day but this morning the sun was out and the forest was shining.

This is the view from behind our forest.  The rice field has been flooded and the yellow rape blossoms and mountains reflect in the watery mirror.  Last week, before the flowers were blooming, we were eating them!  Delicious!

They are too long and stringy to eat anymore but they sure brighten up the neighborhood.

This is an uninteresting factory that was constructed a couple of years ago next to the rice fields.  I wasn't too happy about having a factory here but even a factory looks pretty reflected in the field.

Too bad this isn't my house.... but it isn't.   Not a traditional farm house either but it looks peaceful set away from the neighborhood on an "island" of its own.

Choco enjoys a change of scenery on our walks...  Some mornings we are headed along the river, some mornings near the rice fields.  We have to be careful of the low electrified fences that are supposedly keeping the wild boars out of the fields.  Though our community is called Wild Boar Storehouse, I have never seen a wild boar... but the farmers I guess do and they are taking precautions to keep the beasts out of their fields this year.  That doesn't make Choco happy.

Heading back home.  The rape blossoms and purple radish flowers make a lovely accent to the scenery.

I started packing away our winter clothing yesterday!

Bamboo shoots

I didn't have my head together enough to take a photo of our meal the other night but I did take a picture of the most important ingredient.  Bamboo shoots!

Bamboo is sprouting up all over the Japanese countryside and the farms often have bamboo groves around their rice fields.  I have a feeling that the farmers are having trouble keeping up with all the bamboo shoots that are peaking through the grove floor and I am getting bamboo shoots right and left!

One day Tetsu brought home a large bag of already boiled bamboo shoots.  This is a welcome present as all I have to do is add a bit of flavoring and serve...  I think on that day I gave half of the bag away to a neighbor (not quite sure how she felt about that as she is getting bamboo shoots right and left also) and I cooked up the rest with soy sauce, sake, sugar and bonita flakes.  Basically one can hardly go wrong if soy sauce, sake, sugar and bonita flakes are added to anything, and the bonita flakes can even be skipped for a blander dish.  Tetsu thought my bamboo shoot dish very tasty.

But the next day he brought home an industrial sized bag of FRESH bamboo shoots.  Like right out of the ground with the mud and dirt still adorning the shoots!  A bamboo shoot can be quite large and I sort of let out a moan when I looked into the bag...  And bamboo has to be boiled up rather quickly as they become tough after a day or so.  And once boiled, bamboo shoots will spoil rather quickly also so they need to be made up into some sort of dish.

So...  This is one of the fresh bamboo shoots that I pulled from the bag.  There were three more then in the sink still.  Now what would you do with that?  First of all, the shoot won't fit into my pot, even though the pot is large enough to make stews and spaghetti etc.  It just isn't large enough for a bamboo shoot let alone FOUR!  Ideally, the bamboo shoot should be boiled as is without peeling it nor slicing into it.  But that wasn't possible with this monster!  I cut off about three inches of the tip and still that didn't get to the bamboo meat inside.  

After cutting away the tips I was able to fit two bamboo shoots into the pot filled with cold water and a bit of rice.  The rice is to take the astringency away but this is the amateur way of preparing bamboo shoots.  A real farm wife would have a stock of rice bran that does a better job of making a milder tasting bamboo shoot.  Rice bran will even be supplied for free at the supermarket if a bamboo shoot is bought there.  No rice bran in my pantry (no pantry) so I used regular old rice.

After about 30 minutes of simmering, I let the bamboo shoots cool in the pot and finally an hour or so later they were ready for peeling.  Inside was the soft bamboo meat that was FINALLY ready for the soy sauce seasonings or Chinese seasonings or whatever.

Remember I had FOUR bamboo shoots so I had to repeat the preparation process but unfortunately the other two bamboo shoots were still too large for the pot even with the three inches cut off so I finally gave up and just cut the shoots into halves.  And this is what the inside of a bamboo shoot looks like.  Can you see the whiter meat there under the yellowish and brown layers of peels?  I boiled my four cut halves up in the pot but without the peels the meat turns an unappetizing brown and maybe has a stronger flavor.  By this time I was tired of being in the kitchen so I packaged all the shoots away in Tupperware.  

But bamboo shoots still spoil easily, so one night I cooked up sliced shoots with green peppers and pork, Chinese style.  Another dish was bamboo shoots fried in sesame seed oil with soy sauce, garlic and Korean seaweed.  Another night I fried bamboo shoots in coconut oil and seasoned with soy sauce, sugar and mirin and then let some cheese melt over it all.  Let's see...  Another dish was bamboo shoots with mushrooms, carrots, burdock root and taro potatoes.  And at about that point I've exhausted my repertoire of bamboo shoot recipes.  

Tetsu and I went over to his mother's and when I told her I'd brought her some bamboo shoots she sighed and didn't seem too happy about the prospect of preparing shoots.

"I've boiled them up already.  All you have to do is flavor them."

She perked up then!  She must feel the same way as I do when I'm confronted with this season's bounty from the bamboo groves.  

"You boiled up the bamboo shoots yourself Tani-chan?  These days not even Japanese housewives know how to do that!  Thank you for all the hard work."

Our family is rather bamboo shooted out this week.  Yuma-kun promised to bring me some more tonight when he comes...

IPhone camera photos

I'm still figuring out the workings of my iPhone.  I spent most of yesterday's English class hours drilling my students on what they know about Smart Phones.  And I learned that there are an awful lot of us that don't really understand how the things work!  But my friends can get their phones to do what they want them to do without too much questioning.  Still, the most common refrain was "I just do it this way because that's how someone set it up for me."

I am reminded of the time when Tetsu and I first introduced a computer to our household.  I had another friend who had just bought a computer too and I distinctly remember the two of us commiserating with each other.

"What a crazy world!  The language doesn't even make sense!  What's this about "windows opening" and "file folders" on my "desktop"?  There are no window nor files nor desktop that I can see and I thought an icon represented something sacred!"

I'm feeling the same frustration now...  What are we talking about when someone tells me about GBs and "pushing" notifications?  I don't even understand the language!  (And the language is different for the Android model and the iPhone model and then of course I've got to figure out the difference in Japanese and English...)  Well, I did become comfortable with computer language (to a degree) so I guess the iPhone language will come to me with time.

But anyway.  I decided to give the iPhone camera a try and then see what iCloud is all about.  Sorry, I don't seem to understand that, or at least I don't understand how the iCloud file gets organized in my computer.  Too much learning for one day!  I'm leaving it as "here is the picture I want.  I don't know where it is now in my computer."  Pathetic!

So...  THIS is a picture of flowers that were brought to me yesterday.  My neighbor, Mrs. Sumi came over with the flowers for Vel.  She and her daughters have been our cat sitters for years and they have given Vel (and the other kitties) much love and care when Tetsu and I were in the States together for many days at a time.  Mrs. Sumi became quite teary speaking of Vel.  She has her own menagerie of elderly dogs and outdoor cats and knows the heartaches of losing a furry family member.

And then my student/friend, Eiko-san brought over the Forget-me-nots from her garden for Vel.  I will plant those out by where we have buried Vel and hopefully I'll get them to grow each year.  So nice of my friends to make a fuss about my sweet kitty!

This is a photo I took on my iPhone this morning as I was standing at the crosswalk.  How is the quality?  I must admit that it is sure easier to slip out the iPhone and take a picture compared to bringing out my Olympus camera.  And I really don't feel that I can carry around that camera while I'm at the crosswalk as I AM on duty.  The iPhone can be pulled out and tucked away in my uniform pocket in a second or two.  In the distance was one of the walking groups heading through the rice fields from the residential area.  The rice field in the foreground is just beginning to be flooded so the tracks of the tractor are still visible.  Tomorrow morning the field will probably be all filled and look like a mirror on the landscape.

So that's my progress on the iPhone for today.  Does anyone know why I have to sign-in to Google's Blogger and Gmail and Google Drive each time I switch from computer to iPad to iPhone now?  It must have something to do with syncing but I don't understand that either...
 

I don't know why...

Okay...  I've had a weekend with this iPhone.  Not that I'd planned my blog to be a progress report on my iPhone but actually that is about all I can get my brain to think about the past two days.

I managed very easily to contact Leiya on Saturday morning.  Just type in her icloud address to the message box and there is Leiya!  She quickly got on video chat and I had my first face-to-face chat with her using my iPhone.

I had also tried to send a message to Marcy and Kiana in California and to Takumi who for some reason can't do messaging but can do Line which is a Japanese texting service.  I have no idea why he can do one but not the other.  BUT I couldn't connect with Marcy and Kiana...  And Leiya helped me with that finally by having Kiana contact ME and then I could reply.  Again, I have no idea why that worked but the other way didn't.

"Does it matter?  It worked!"

Leiya taught me a few tricks for typing things, and for changing settings and she promised to help me now and then.

Next Takumi contacted me...  through Line.  And we video chatted again!  So cool!  We tried to get my blog icon downloaded somewhere into my iPhone so that I can check in every once in awhile but we never did get that accomplished.  It seems that Blogger no longer has an icon to download... not to the iPad nor the iPhone...  Does anyone know what I'm talking about?  At any rate I seem to have to go through Safari and into Favorites to see my own blog whereas with iPad I could just click on the icon...  Actually I have no idea how to visit ANYONE'S blog on my iPhone yet.  I could use some help with that too...  Takumi's advice was to talk to someone who has an iPhone,

"Because I have Android so I don't know what iPhone does."

(but remember, HE recommended iPhone as he thought it would be easier for me to use as I already have the iPad...  NOT the same!)

I also don't seem to understand the theory behind Wifi and Cellular service so I don't know when I'm using what nor how much of the storage or the service or the packet or whatever it is called I've used.  I seem to have spent quite a long time talking with both Takumi and Leiya and already gone over the limit I was allotted this month.  Well, I guess it was worth it to gain a bit more knowledge and help from them.  Now I'm afraid to open up the iPhone at all again!  In two days I've gone over my quota!  (Maybe... I need to check with a friend who may be able to look inside my iPhone and see what I've done.)

So, my adventure has begun.  I tried GPS yesterday for 5 minutes while we were out just to see if it works. (Yes!  It does!  And in English too!)  I tried to listen to an audio book while I was in the car but for some reason I couldn't do that.  I don't know why...

That seems to be my reoccurring chant.  "I don't know why..."

Progress on my New York Beauty blocks include a third block now...  It is the green and blue one on the bottom left.  That's the only progress I feel confident about these days what with iPhone questions...

Ahgahhhh!

I don't know....  This may be more headache than it is worth!!!

So...  I went to the iphone shop yesterday.  And I have a new iPhone!  Yeah!

But... it is not so easy...  Once I had an iPhone it had to be set-up right?  And that proved a lot more difficult than either I and the iPhone clerk planned.  What is my account email going to be?  What is my account password?  Yes, I can use the ones I've already had.

BUT!!!!  TANYA IS A COMPLETE DYSLEXIC (or the word is different for numbers but the same idea) AND CANNOT TYPE IN A NUMBER CORRECTLY!!!  NEVER MIND TWICE IN SUCCESSION!!!

This meant that passwords got in there wrong and then they couldn't be used again and then they had to be changed and then I'd mess up again or not put in the capital letter where I'd planned.  A HORRENDOUS project!!!  And that was with someone beside me coaching me!

Next was getting into the Google account so that I can... look at emails?  Connect my iPhone and iPad.  The clerk had THOUGHT that would be no trouble but what with Japanese and English accounts and instructions in both languages we were both on the edges of our seats.  I was in the shop with this poor man from 4:00 until 6:30 when he finally told me that we were going way beyond just buying an iPhone and that I really needed to have someone who knew computers help me.

"WHAT!!!  You mean I have to walk out of this store with an iPhone that I can't figure out how to use?!"

I felt like I'd been thrown into deep water not knowing how to swim... But I can't blame the poor clerk.

So I've come home and tried to do things.  And did get connected with Leiya and she in turn figured out how I could connect with Marcy and Kiana (she had to contact them direct and get them to send me a message first...) and then I got in touch with Takumi and he and I have tried to get a few more things straightened out...

So nice to be able to talk and SEE my children through this amazing piece of technology!  Another Japanese friend let me know I had contacted her (automatically it seems) and now we would be able to text message each other... So I'm learning.

BUT!!!  What with all the password typing and whatever yesterday I find that I couldn't get into my blog this morning (Google passwords) and dang-it-all if the computer wants me to change security levels IN JAPANESE!!!!  I can hardly do it in English!!!!

So you can see that I was able to get back into Blogger to blog...  BUT that has meant changing passwords AGAIN!!!!  I don't know if I'm going to be able to get back into the iPad or the iPhone because already they were both telling me that a new device was attempting to invade the Google account.  Does anyone even know what I'm rambling about?!!!!  My hands are cold and sweaty from this most recent data confrontation, and I'd like to go build a fire and live in a tent for a few years...  No computer, no iPad, no iPhone NOTHING!!!!

I've got to get my excited/adventurous spirit back from yesterday...

"I think I can... can't... can...  Maybe with a lot of time I can...  or cannot... no, I can..."

I need to go take a walk.

Trying something new

Thank you for all your kind words yesterday.  It means a lot to me that so many people know of Vel and how he played an important part in our lives.  That's quite a lot to say for a once stray kitty that never wandered more than a few yards after he became part of the family.  I will give the left over love I poured on him to all of my other animal family members (well, I suppose the human ones too....)

*****

One of the many conversations that I had with Takumi and Leiya while I was in the States was whether or not I was going to join the Smart Phone world.  (I can just see Julie cringe at those words).  My children are of the opinion that as we are spread out internationally, not to mention that Grandma's situation changes daily, that I should have a Smart Phone.  Why am I limiting myself just because I feel I am getting older and can't learn new things.  That's all the more reason to try something new!  

I go back and forth... Is it worth the cost?  Am I up for the challenge?  Will I use it any more than I use a computer or an iPad that we have already?  I think towards the end my kids were feeling that I just like to talk about it and then be a martyr about not having one. 

And then a couple of evenings after I'd gotten back from the States, I became annoyed with Tetsu.

We DO have an iPad and the plan had been that while I was in California the iPad would stay in Japan with him so that we could all text message each other through it.  My brother's family has iPads and iPhones etc. and of course so do Takumi and Leiya.  Maybe we could even do some Facetime or Chat or whatever the possibilities are...  And yes, we do regularly Chat with Leiya with it but it's ME who controls the iPad.  Before I left I made sure to teach Tetsu how to use the texting app.

"Look for this icon, click on this button.  If we call you first then you swipe here...."

HOWEVER...  He never did get on the iPad.  He said it froze on him or maybe it was completely broken.  So we communicated through his office computer...  And when I came back to Japan, it was one swipe in a different direction that put the iPad back in use.  Sigh.

"Don't you even WANT to learn how to use it?  Are you just being stubborn?  It isn't THAT hard.  The technology is at your fingertips and you won't even try."

Ooh...  Bad wife!

But I sort of heard myself scolding myself and the conversation about TRYING with the kids came back to me.

So yesterday I got the info about purchasing and maintaining an iPhone...  I'm going to do it!  I just needed to check with Tetsu one last time that he wasn't out and out against me joining the new world of technology...

"Hmm.  Maybe I should get one too...  When you were annoyed at me last week I heard myself in your words criticizing the people in my office who are too stubborn to learn anything new.  Maybe I should try an iPhone too."

Well!  That was a surprise!  Yeah!  So maybe we'll both learn some new tricks...  (Though Tetsu is still in the back and forth stage....)  Today I'm off to the phone shop. 

"I think I can -- I think I can -- I think I can!"

Vel

Well.

We had a rough but short two days nursing Vel and he passed away early this morning.  When I mean rough, it was only rough on our hearts.  Vel was fairly quiet during the past couple of days and I spent all day yesterday either holding him or petting him or turning him over once in a while.  I even took him outside and laid him on the grass for a few minutes but it seemed too cold to stay out long though he sniffed at a few leaves beneath him.

Why is it that I always feel like I could have done more?  Or that maybe that I did too much?  Nothing is pure and simply enough.  Should I have let him stay outside longer?  Should I have had him put to sleep the day before?

In the end I went to bed around 10:00 and Tetsu stayed on the sofa next to Vel all night.  When I heard Tetsu moving around at 3:00 I came back downstairs... but the vigil was over.

Not unlike my stay at my mother's bedside, I spent yesterday sitting next to Vel making an embroidered postcard.

Sweet Vel last July taking a nap in my JoAnn's sewing bag.

Normal days

My normal Japanese routine has returned and I am back at the crosswalk at 7:30 in the mornings.  While I was gone a new school year has started and so there are new first graders coming to the crosswalk with their walking groups.  They look at me with wide eyes when I start my spiel.

"Okay.  You can push the button...  ...Look both ways!  Right!  Left!  Right!  Oudan! (you can cross!)"

I can just see in their eyes the surprise at being confronted by English at the school crosswalk.
 
"What is going to come at us next?!"

*****

Yesterday I took Choco to the vets to get a rabies shot.  And I consulted with the vet about Vel's care...  Yes, I could have brought Vel with me but I didn't want to have to make the decision to put him to sleep right then and there.  I was given paste food that he may eat... but he probably will only lick at it.  Today I am teaching English so he will be in a blanketed cage for a couple of hours and after that...  well I guess I'll just hold him the rest of the evening.  I need to get some embroidery out so that the two of us can have some constructive quiet time together.

*****

Yuma-kun called me this morning, before school!  I guess he just wanted to make sure I was back now and to let me know he'd be over Thursday night.  I am flattered that he keeps close tabs on me...  for all his dislike of English study... 

And I guess that's what my schedule is for the next couple of days...  Vel care, English teaching and crosswalk duty.  And enjoying the warmer spring weather!

 The official flower of Nikko City, the Katakuri flower...  Japanese dog's tooth violet.
 

Back in Japan

I've arrived safely back in Japan.  Life goes on, though not maybe as we planned.  Thank you for your concern after the news of the earthquake.  The first shock hit Japan on Thursday morning (the day I was flying back to Japan) and that was horrendous, and then the series of "aftershocks" have added more damage and claimed more property and lives.  Japan is fairly well prepared for earthquakes but this large one has destroyed relief systems.  Though it was without any tsunami and nuclear accidents, the direct hit to residential areas has put southern Japan on hold.  In Tokyo and places north, we are unaffected but from the day I returned to Japan the news covers the earthquake situation 24 hours a day.  There have been so many major aftershocks that I have become confused about which quake has destroyed bridges, which wiped out castles and shrines, which moved mountains.  We will be watching the news about the damage inflicted by the earthquake and the TV will have emergency  updates rolling through the screen of one that happened minutes before.

Before leaving California I was able to see Takumi one more time a few minutes before boarding my plane, as he had left something at my brother's house and we wanted to return it to him and he wanted to pass along something to me also.  He had 30 minutes to drive to our meeting point and make the exchange, eat a sandwich together and then go back to work.  My son in working mode.

I arrived in Japan about 8:30 at night (the plane was a little behind schedule) and Tetsu was at the airport to meet me. We had a four hour drive back home and pulled in in the wee hours of Saturday morning. All 6 cats and Choco greeted me and they seemed happy enough that I was home.  Tetsu was the most happy though because Vel my old cat has been failing, and he really wanted it to hold on until I got here.

So that has put a damper on my return.  I leave my elderly mother wishing that I could have stayed by her side until the very end and come home to my elderly cat which I really dread having to see through to the end...  Tetsu doesn't understand my thinking and I don't either.  I was perfectly content and expected to be with my mother but the idea of watching Vel decline is heart breaking.

 (Mi, Vel in the back and Cleo sitting on a heated mat.  Tetsu took this photo at the beginning of April.)

This is ridiculous.  My goal was to keep my mother comfortable and happy.  Why can't I keep that goal for my cat?  Vel is wandering now and meowing.  He is looking for something, somewhere to go.  We have never been decisive about putting our animals down and as long as he is free from pain I don't think we are going to make the decision.  Maybe that is what I am dreading...  Having to make the decision.  Why my last days with my mother were fairly tear free and now I am weepy I really don't know.

"Vel was waiting for you to come back.  Look how he sits with you.  Be happy that you can spend the time with him again."

Still... maybe my month of Grandma care has worn me thinner than I thought...

On a brighter note.  I wasn't home more than 12 hours than Tetsu was whisking me away to go search out some cherry blossoms.  He was sorry that I missed that very beautiful season of Japan and figured that if we headed north a bit and maybe into the mountains, there still might be some cherry blossoms blooming, and he was right!

There was only this mother and her two children at the side of a school yard having a picnic lunch in the shade of the trees.  So much more relaxing than the touristy cherry blossom viewing parks back in the city!

 So I got my cherry blossom treat and know that spring and warmer times are upon us again.
 

Day 29 - Memories made

My bags are packed.  I said goodbye to my brother last night as he was out of the house this morning at 4:30.AM.  Takumi forgot something at the house last weekend so he will be meeting us at the airport to collect that.  I've joined Grandma in eating donuts for breakfast together.  We've told her repeatedly that I am leaving today abut she always acts surprised.

After my mother hit 80, every summer after my California visits I would leave thinking that I might not see her again.  That is the down side of living on the other side of the world though I suppose it is the same even if you live in another state from an elderly parent or across town when they are very ill.  But Grandma has stayed healthy and each year we count down the days until I will be visiting again (Grandma starts counting the day I leave California).  Today's leaving will be even more uncertain...  I've let Grandma and Marcy and other friends know that I may be back in 6 months.  So basically it is,

"Grandma, hang on 6 months!  I'll see you then!"

Marcy predicts that Grandma will be sad and withdrawn the next few days or weeks.  Marcy sees this every summer...  I wouldn't know.

I wonder though...  Grandma already doesn't remember that Leiya was here nor that friends who visited yesterday bringing gifts have stopped in.

"Where did the flowers come from?  Who brought the teddy bear?"

I was surprised at how she thrilled at the teddy bear... talking baby talk, petting it.  Just the cuteness, the softness is cheering to her, but it reminds me of the elderly who think they are carrying around a child...  Well, it gives her comfort.  We should have known that she might have bonded with a teddy bear because she's always been such an animal lover and would trap a struggling animal in her arms.  Now she has a teddy bear she can talk to.

So... I'm hoping that Grandma forgets right away that I was ever visiting... and thus won't feel the pain of my leaving.  Still, subconsciously she's going to feel that some daily presence (mine) isn't popping through the door, isn't joking and touching and loving her.  I have to trust that Marcy will do enough that Grandma doesn't even notice and with the slew of hospice staff she will certainly have more company.

Such laughter we've had this month.  I honestly wondered if all Grandma's laughter was going to rob her of oxygen or give her too much (I didn't know which way it works).  One day she had a sniffle.. a "booger" in her nose and every time she breathed she produced a whistle.  Oh the hilarity of it all!  Grandma laughed and laughed and we joined her and my funny faces at her funny noises just made her laugh more and more.

Another time we found Grandma sleeping peacefully in bed but with no diapers on...  Did she lose them when she was sleeping?  Have they fallen under the bed?  Leiya finally found them in the bathroom so Grandma had crawled to the end of the bed, past the rails, worked her way to the bathroom, done her business and then done the reverse going back to bed.  Fooled us all!

"Grandma!  How did you DO that?  Did you climb over the rails?  You are so sneaky!"

Grandma thought is so funny that her family was standing around her bed trying to figure out her antics.  Safe it wasn't, but fun it was! And maybe safety isn't everything.  A good memory was made and we were all given a jolt of cheer.

So...  Who knows...  I may be back one more time this year.  That would be nice for all of us.    

Day 28 - My California visit

Today will be my last full day in California.  A lot of miscellaneous photos in my files and a lot of miscellaneous thoughts too.

Before Leiya came to visit she had just bought a new camera...  a mirrorless one on my advice (smaller than a regular lens changing camera) but she didn't buy any of the interchangeable lenses thinking that she needed to figure out how to use what she had.

 She was having so much fun with it that she will probably splurge for another lens in the near future.  She and Tetsu are alike in their camera usage as both of them just point and shoot 10 pictures of the same thing and hope that one of the photos comes out.

 I am more selective in my shooting.

We walked in the mornings dangling our respective cameras around our necks and taking pictures of flowers and scenery, comparing shots.  Over the years, some things I've learned about my camera could be applied to her new one though hers has many more features and for some reason one of my lenses stopped working this trip...

Anyway we had fun with our cameras... a new Mother and Daughter thing.

Kiana took both of us one day to the fitness club she goes to and the three of us attempted a yoga class.  A lot more work than I was planning to do!

One night when Takumi was visiting we had a Canasta tournament!  Eight of us (a family friend joined us) hunkered down over two tables and played for most of the night.  Such fun!  I wonder why Tetsu and I don't play cards more often...  Not many adults do in Japan.  Cards and games are just for kids.  Leiya remembered a game night that she thought that we had in our family regularly during her childhood, but I couldn't remember that at all.

"I think that is just wishful thinking.  The four of us may have played cards two or three times but it wasn't a regular thing."

We appealed to Takumi later and he claims that as a family we played maybe 10 times but Leiya insists it was more.  I'll have to see if Tetsu remembers.

The few times that we got out as a family were the days that Takumi planned.  It did mean that we were on a schedule though as Grandma couldn't be left for more than 5 hours.  (My brother doesn't do diaper changing even though he will feed and give medications.  He missed this outing.)

But here he is actually SMILING with two of his favorite girls.  (Whoops.... where's Marcy?)

Grandma lapped up the attention and was oh so happy when Leiya and I crawled into bed with her.

Trying to take a threesome selfie which Grandma could NOT figure out at all.  Leiya was a real trooper getting into the muck and yuck of Grandma care.  She is nearly always cheerful and along with Marcy, the three of us thoroughly enjoyed taking care of Grandma together.

Yesterday I went to Jo-Anns' to buy some decorative thread.  Today I'll need to return library books and pack.  I have to be at the airport by noon tomorrow.  The summer went quickly.