Lorraine and I became friends through patchwork connections and visits with her have been recorded on this blog from two years ago. She has made the jaunt to our patchwork gathering twice before and has advised us on techniques and has let us know what is going on in the world of patchwork in Australia. Lorraine has sent us information of patterns, Australian magazines, fabric, and even a BOM quilt with pattens and materials that our group successfully made and raffled off last Autumn at the kindergarten. Anyway, we owe a lot to Lorraine.
Lorraine has been in Japan the past two months visiting with her son and family and she timed her visit just right to make an appearance at the Tokyo International quilt show. She also has explored the cities and towns and connecting train lines on her own and knows a lot more about Tokyo and its suburbs than I do. She seems to know where the good quilt exhibits and other special events are in nearby cities and she is certainly not afraid to go off adventuring on her own! Thus the two and a half hour trip from her son's place to mine all on her own on Wednesday.
Any international travelers out there! Take a lesson from Lorraine! She eats anything... Fish eggs, sweet beans, whatever. She goes anywhere... Public baths, walks around unknown countryside, the public library. And she makes friends easily... So what if she doesn't speak Japanese, do some pointing, some smiling and people will figure out what she needs or go in search of someone who can speak a little English. Lorraine also keeps handwork in her bag so she is quite happy to hole up in a Mister Donuts or someplace until I can get back to her after teaching a class. She also doesn't mind cats which is a great plus for any guest planning to stay at Tanya's house.
Yesterday Lorraine and I went again to Mrs. Furui's for patchwork and she greeted everyone like a regular member (as she is... she comes once a year). She left with homework too."Sure, I'll make a block for you for your game. And one for you, too. Okay, and one for YOU too!"
Right now Lorraine is off exploring the fields and forests around my house. I considered sending her out with my cell phone in case she got lost but it would probably be too hard to explain a Japanese cell phone to her anyway. With all her practice Lorraine has more directional sense than I do so I expect that she'll come toodling back and have things to tell me about my own neighborhood that I don't even know!
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