In Tokyo Bay, in Futtsu City is this huge statue overlooking a beach, jungle and the bay. This was always one of my mother's favorite places to visit when she came to Japan. In the lower photo you can see how huge the statue really is. My family at the base are almost like ants. The next few days I'll show you what it looks like inside and explain more about it.
The ship is now on the way to Chuuk with the Nissan Prarie. We managed to find this little scooter to put in with some other donated inner cargo. We had to lay down all the back seats and then take off the mirrors to get it in. We had been collecting a lot of clothing and toys so these were padding. On top we covered with an old kingsized blanket. Hopefully the island people of Chuuk can enjoy these donations.
Years ago my tennis friend would bring me jabon from Kyushu when she came back. Well, I was so happy and kept begging for more than one year she came back with a tree for me! It has grown up quite a bit. Here it is. With the cutting of the pine trees, the jabon tree should be much happier! Last year I pruned it like I used to help the folks do in Idaho. I guess I did too much as there were no fruit last year. This year there are a few blossoms which if you enlarge you can see are still in the bud. When the flower comes out I'll have to pollinate them.
One morning during Golden Week, DH cousin came over and we had a 1/2 day of trimming the row of pine trees that stand on the edge of the cliff overlooking the PIL garden. Above you can see DH standing by the next one to be cut. Right beyond him is the drop off. You can also see how short they cut them down. We're determined to not let them get out of hand again!
Cousin had a back hoe that he would tie a rope to to pull the cut branches over to the mountain side instead of letting them fall down into the garden. My job was to pull the cut branches over to the pile for drying before burning (probably my job next fall!)
When I was a child, my grandmother had a whole section of her massive flower garden devoted to her "hen and chicks". About 5 months ago I visited this lady who had this massive plant and she gave me a lot of starters which I planted in this pot. I was amazed when in the center these blossom developed! Then they bloomed! Grandmother's never did that I remember!
With my scrap blue,green, & white pieces I'm making a patchwork spread. Do you think it would look nicer to sew them together as a solid patchwork like above, or should I put in some running strips? I'm also thinking to buy some solid blue and make a ruffle around the edge and bottom and buy enough for strips. Any ideas? The last photo is a quilt I did years ago that is on my king sized bed.
Here my husband sits between 2 of his high school classmates. The guy on the left is one year younger. They guy on the right they hadn't seen for 40 years.
