bath time for Nami

Oh, she likes her bath.
It does take two to bathe her though!

Christmas Eve

Here is our precious Piglet!  She enjoys these Winnie the Poo toys and there are certain people who think she resembles Piglet!
Japanese are famous for Christmas cake and Jack's cousin surprised us with a wonderful one which just fit with Waka's meal that she brought over from Kamakura for us.
Here we are gathered around the table for our Christmas Eve Dinner 

German Village Lights

Most famous Christmas lights in Sodegaura can be found at German Village.  Please enjoy some of the exotic lighting.  After 4 p.m. the admission is free except for the 1,000 yen parking fee per car.


Below is my favorite as it is a white owl.

Simple wreath

Here is the wreath I made for my dentist friend.  Every year I make one for his office and his office staff always prefer these simple creations to ones where I stick on too many pretty sparkly things!  I do tend to be a bit artificial if given the chance!

Schools Christmas decorations

Above is the wreath and lights I strung up on our electric sign.  Below is inside and the tree with a star on top the tree that lights up and the decorations were purple/red/white ribbon bows with icecycles.  You don't see the red lights but they do shine and make the tree more pretty.
Below is the white board decorations.

AFWJ Christmas Party

17 foreign wives of Japanese met in BayTown for our annual Christmas party.  Not all tables had so much booze.  This was the lush table.  Most tables were empty except for our food!
Even the big kids got to sit on Santa's lap and get a present.
Many beautiful children wait for Santa to call their name.  Below was actually first when they were watching him come in!

Sodegaura Park

Beautiful Fall colors
Sometimes when Jack and I get tired of our usual walking course we walk around Sodegaura Park.  Above is a sample of the cats that are discarded there.  Below are the strange birds that sit on the water trees.  Don't ask me the names as to me birds, flowers, insects, trees, and fish are just that.

Sodegaura Art Festival

Last week was the Sodegaura Art Festival.  The one room had the ceramic showing of the best works of the artists and art students in Sodegaura.  Above is a young artist who did the sumo sculpture in wood.Above my husband who is the leader of the ceramic section, gives a speach to the people who attended.  He commented on many of the works and answered many questions.  His work is the round one the lady is bending down in front of.

medication/suppliments

Above are the suppliments I take everyday and below are the medications I was given to get over my cold.  I had had a plugged sinus and after a week of enduring and finding not enough help in just allergy clearing medication I visited the local eye/ear/nose specialist and got the following stuff.  Well they did the trick and now my cold is completely gone and I feel great again.

carrying Nami

Here we go carrying Nami.  This car seat carrier for infants can be taken out and carried this way.  Or it could be put in the stroller that we forgot to bring.  But for such a short ways this is the best way to carry her.

Skype communication

These past few years with SKYPE have been marvelous for communication.  I remember the old days of cassett recorders and sending cassetts through the slow mail system to communicate when I first came to Japan 34 years ago!  Now it is just a click of the mouse pad and we are talking face to face.  Above you can see my son in California.  Below you can see Nami trying to tell her daddy to hurry and come to Japan.

Passport photo for Nami

Nami needed to get her Japanese Passport, so we took her to our local photo professional.  For adult passport photos it is more common to use the self serving booth.  But for an infant my husband was told we should use the professional.    Above we were standing giving eye contact while mother supported her from the base.  Below the professional is taking the photos.  
The room was cold and so between shots we would wrap up Nami to keep her warm.  It took many shots and even a messy diaper change to finally finish the job.

Baby in our arms

Finally the day arrived that we got to hold Nami in our arms.  Above is Hi-Ojiisan. (great grandfather) So much nicer for him to touch her check here.  On SKYPE he is touching my screen!  
Above Nami is in the arms of her grandfather.  Who you can see has similar eyes, nose, fat cheeks and high forehead!  Below is great grandmother with both of them looking down.
Below she is having a conversation with Auntie Waka.  Nami does love to talk and she really is trying to make words not just crying or grunting.
Below is all you can see of me holding her.  See I was the camera woman and no one volunteered to take my photo holding her!  But believe me I probably got to hold her more than anyoneelse.

single quilt

Here is the little single quilt I finished.  I doubt I'll get back to quilting until next year.  Right now I'm waiting for my little granddaughter and daughter in law to arrive from the airport.  So might not hear from me for a few days.  Also been suffering from sinusitis that started with a tiny cold.

High Kotatsu cover

Okay here it is.  The final quilting done and the edges hemmed up too.  I always wanted a high kotatsu so I wouldn't have to sit on the floor and still get the benefit of the heater.  One problem is this is the only place in our house I can put it!  When my granddaughter and her mother come next week, they will sleep on this hideabed so where will I put the Kotatsu?  I also took the quilt off to save it so it will be completely clean for them to sleep under while they are here.  Below you can see it spread out on my bed.

Steps to make a quilt

Here you can see the trouble I had getting this huge kotatsu quilt stretched out on my small frames!  The size was 7 and 1/2 feet square.  I had to cut a bamboo pole to use on two ends as my frames weren't that long.  Then the bamboo poles would twist and it was hard to get them under the clamps.  Finally after getting the base stretched and sewed on I put on the filling.  I used only a single layer which cost over 10 dollars for just the filling.
The four corners were held up all differently.  2 were put into the bookshelves and the outside 2  were put on a color box and the old empty tv case.  Then I had to get a ladder to hold up the one side that wouldn't stay in the bookcase, so it was quite a chore.
Here the top pieced layer is put on.  That needed to be pinned down first and then stitched.  In the second photo above you can see the 100 yen thread I bought for stitching it.  While stiching below, a terrible thing happened.  The one old bamboo pole broke and I had to take it out and take the two shorter frames and clamp them together to get it long enough to substitute it for the bamboo pole!  Finally it was okay and I finished.  Tomorrow I'll show you the end result.