Waiting out another storm

I have a feeling that, like the last typhoon, this one is going to just amount to rain and hype. The weekly schedule goes on, rain or shine and the homeless will get their onigiri tomorrow morning, rain or shine ... well, not much shine at four am.

My sewing group met Friday and I had prepared these four blocks to pass to a member with a project in mind.

I still have not passed them on because Friday was my Cub Pack meeting and timing is everything when one does not live in the area.

Maybe next week I can pass them on. I could have made all four blocks the same but I liked the challenge of trying different lay-outs for the focus fabric and the three others I selected to go with it.

Saturday was the school's "Taisokai". Many schools hold sports days or athletic meets this time of year and Jiyu Gakkuen has a gymnastics day. I especially like the Danish gymnastics done by the boy's or girl's departments, all synchronized to music. As I watched the pre-school go through their simple race ... run to the hats, find their hat and put it on, run to the next station and pick up their notebook, then to the next station where they found their school bag, put the notebook inside and buttoned the bag, putting it over their shoulder, and raced to the finish line, I couldn't help thinking back forty some years to when my little daughter did the very same thing ... only in a very "big sister" way, as she helped all the kids who needed help and was last across the finish line.

The last part of the event is to release pigeons from their cages. The pigeons return to their school ground and an announcement is made upon the complete return.

This year the pigeons were released from the front of the field rather than the end, but otherwise very little has changed in all these years.

I have showed pictures of the athletics in the past but thought this time I might show a part of the campus that I love ...
the nature.


The Akebono-sugi, Dawn Redwood, or Metasequoia Glyptostroboides, was thought to be extinct and found only in fossils until it was discovered growing in China in 1941.

This tall pointed tree in the background must have been one of the first samples to be brought to Japan.
It is particularly nice that it was planted with enough space to grow naturally. Often these trees have to be pruned to keep them under control so this is a particularly fine sample.

In the late fall, the needles turn reddish brown and fall.

The Ginkgo, another "fossil tree" is also found growing on campus.

The Japanese Red Pine, Pinus densiflora is dying out in many places because of a pine blight carried by a beetle.

It is nice to see many large trees surviving on the campus.

Another huge tree is the Himalayan Cedar,  Cedrus deodar, The only "true cedar" in Japan, though many evergreens are referred to by  the name "cedar"

This specimen has probably undergone trimming at various times but it still is a very large tree.

Pyracantha, sometimes called "Fire Thorn", was planted long ago outside the office where the money was kept, the idea being it would protect the building from someone trying to enter through the windows.

I don't know if it ever did that job but it certainly likes the chosen spot and those bushes are very tall and thick and covered with berries (which will certainly please the local birds over the winter).

Most of the bushes looked so full of berries that one could hardly make out the leaves and thorns.




And the last piece of fall I always admire are the "Hototogisu".
The name comes from the spotted little cuckoo, a bird with a pattern similar to that of the flower's spotted corolla.

Interesting that by now the bird has left to its winter quarters. I have these in my garden at home ... rescued from a bulldozer that was turning a garden into a parking lot.

The family is Tricytis and it is often known as "Toad Lily". ... or hairy toad lily.

I hope you had or are having a pleasant weekend. I have been working on more four inch blocks, having decided to make the quilt into a standard size that might be more useful in the future to one of my kids. Maybe if it rains tomorrow......?

A change of plans

Wasn't it Robert Burns who said ... the best laid plans of mice and men, gang oft awa?

Well, I thought I had a plan. With the banner out of the way, I thought I would get busy with my book club block to represent "The Goodbye Quilt". In the story, the mother is making a memory quilt with bits and pieces she remembers from her daughter's life.

My grand plan was to make a 12 inch block using fabrics from quilts I have made for my kids and grandkids. I drew up a pattern of 16 squares and was planning to use two fabrics from each quilt. Oh, it was going to be great fun to make. I cut out the templates and planned to trace and cut the pieces for take-along work. ..... Then .... I went sifting through my scrap collection to find the left-over fabric.

Five hours later, this tiny pile is about all I could come up with. Yes, I still had leftovers from the two most recent baby quilts but darn little else.

I still have not made it all the way through the thousands of one inch blocks so I might find a few more. The truth is, the idea I had in mind is not going to work

So ....... it's back to the drawing board. Maybe I can use the design and templates for something else.

The Taisokai at school was wonderful ... perhaps one of the best I have seen in all the years I have been going. The day was sunny and still a bit warm. The grass area was a bit browner than in past years, not surprising for such a hot summer.

There was an announcement of the number of people attending but I am lousy at remembering numbers ... even long enough to write them down.

Each year the event begins with a march past, the band playing and classes beginning with the college students all the way down to the pre-schoolers marching in ant lining up on the field. I was sitting at the back and it was difficult to take pictures over the heads of the crowd.

The little kids do relay races

The middle school through college do Danish gymnastics. Each year a Danish man and lady come to the school to supervise and teach the classes. To me, little seems to change from year to year except the choice of music to with they perform.

There is always a maypole dance by the 1st and 2nd year JR High and 1st year SR high girls.

This year the weaving of the ribbons on the poles was the best ever.

The high school boys department always make a human pyramid.

Even that seemed a bit more skillful this year.


It is always pleasant to sit in this peaceful setting, meet with friends and catch up with former students. The original buildings were done by Frank Lloyd Wright and this campus was designed by one of his disciples. This sight has history going back to the Jomon era. It is truly a treasure, as are the students who follow in the tradition of Mr. and Mrs. Hani, the founders.

And behind the scenes was the fragrant smell of the "Kinmokusei". Like the spider lilies, the Sweet Olive is one of October's offerings.

Since the flowers are small and hidden among the leaves, you are more likely to notice the smell first.

They will last until the first big rain storm and we will all forget until next year when they are sure to return with the shortening daylight hours.


Tonight I am off to review Scouts for advancement. There is no take-along-work for my block. I will have to see what the one inch box has to offer before coming up with plan B.
Luckily, I have a good book to read.

Blue and white scraps

As I may have mentioned in earlier posts, I like to organize my scraps. When I have bits and pieces left over from other projects, I mark them and cut them into whatever size will comfortably fit on the scrap, and store them in a tin. I have a tin of 4x4" pieces, 3x3' pieces, 2x2" pieces and lots of one inch sorted into baggies by color.

When it comes to tenugui and yukata fabrics, I cut those scraps within an inch (not only squares but 4x2" or 3x2" and the like). Those I put together in a container with no plan in mind other than not to waste them.

Friday my quilt group met and I needed something to work on so I took out the little box and laid a bunch of those bits and pieces into five inch squares. One of my friends went off and returned with a few more yukata scraps she had been saving. I don't have so many of these scraps saved but I might end up with enough five-inch blocks to make a table runner. Here they are laid out on my design table. Some were made yesterday and some were done today while at the school's "Taisokai".

Every October, Jiyu Gakkuen, where I teach an English group, holds a gymnastics/sports day.

This Saturday started out cloudy with the prediction of rain but around the starting time, the sun came out.

There were races beginning with the pre-school and those have not changed at all in format since my eldest daughter was three ... over 40 years ago!

The Jr. and Sr. high students do Danish gymnastics and a May pole dance is always part of the program.

The campus buildings were all built by disciples of Frank Lloyd Wright, who built the first building on the then main campus in Mejiro, while in Tokyo building the Imperial Hotel. His hotel building has been partly moved to an architectural  village. It was used as headquarters during the Tokyo Olympics and later taken down to make a larger building. The school campus is in a beautiful setting and the buildings, though old, are very "Wrightish" or "Wrightesque"?.

The grass field is a bit greener than it appears in the picture. It was torn up in the spring to fix a channel for a stream that runs underneath,

All the buildings and grounds are maintained by the students. They weed this field and rake any leaves that fall. In autumn they pick up ginkgo nuts and clean them. They also have garden plots where they grow some produce that is used in meals.

This area has a history going back to Jomon days and there is a wonderful collection of pottery from this sight. In order to build any modern building, a certain amount of time has to be spent on a "dig". To some degree I believe the students get to take part and the school is allowed to display the items found.

Here are a few more gymnastics by ... I think, college boys.

This is part of the afternoon program. The sky clouded over and there were a very few sprinkles.

Because the rain was expected, the afternoon program was moved up by half an hour. I saw a bit of lightening far off to the west but before the program was over, the sun came back out.

The marching band that had led the parade of students on to the field at the start, played for the final march-by and the school flag was retired.


To some degree or other, this is a scene that plays out in every school throughout Japan during the first few weeks of October. These students practiced very hard and considering not every kid is an athlete or a dancer, the group effort was stunning.

My husband is a graduate of this school and my eldest daughter went to the pre-school here. I have had an association here through the College Women's Association of Japan, and teaching in the high school. This is a place that knows how to make people feel welcome and this crowd of over 2700 people had a fine day.