Comments

I thought Maggie's comment yesterday was so funny.

"I wonder if you ever read your comments."

Hah! Sometimes I have to remind myself that I am keeping a blog for myself and family not for the number of comments that come in! Comments are encouraging, enlightening, they make me feel like I have friends who care about me. But if I were just writing for comments then I might not write about the dull everyday things or I might avoid some topics.

But Maggie! I DO read every comment and strive to answer them (but sometimes get too bogged down and decide that most bloggers would prefer to be visited on their blog than get a reply to their comment). I think you are on no reply so I've never answered personally, but I do thank you for visiting!

What I DON'T do is respond to comments on my own comment page (I've seen bloggers do that). I sort of like to see how many people came visiting and with myself on there too I'd get confused. So you see... comments may be more important to me than I think.

And speaking of comments.

Lois~~~! TWO people asked on my comment page what takes you to the high seas for much of the year. They read YOUR comment on my page and would like more details! Go right ahead and fill us all in on the comments page if you feel inclined!

Knitting and piecing

Now that I am done with Tetsu's Christmas vest I am back to doing random handwork. I took my four tree blocks to Mrs. Furui last week and in exchange she gave me another set of templates for another tree block.

"Since you're already finished..."

No deadline on the new block but without knitting to do I got it put together in time to hand it to her yesterday. It was almost like she was expecting it!



"Since you're already finished..."

and she handed me ANOTHER set of templates! Such a slave driver!!!

(I know that Mrs. Furui never cajoles, never pushes, never manipulates. That's why I love making things with her. And she is such a whiz about making those templates! I would never think of complaining about the homework I get from her when she is the one that does the hard work.)

I have also been knitting! Just when I get one set of needles put away I pull out another set!

This time I am making a scarf for Leiya. (Sorry Leiya, I'm blowing the surprise.) I really liked this variegated yarn that was fluffy in parts and smooth in other parts.

I found a nice pattern called Directional Scarf on the Lion's Yarn website, (I think you have to be a member of the site but it is free to join.) This isn't difficult and it is interesting.

And don't you like my little knitting needles? I found these in some yarn shop nearby and though I have the same size knitting needles the birds make me smile. (I also bought sheep needles in a different size). Talk about collecting things that one doesn't really need!

Bank talk again

I've just spent 30 minutes talking with my American bank (again.)

Last week my mother , age 90, sent me a hand written letter and included a bank card. On the top of the page she wrote,

"I don't know when I wrote this. It has been on my desk awhile. G.L."

(she initials her messages... like I wouldn't know it is her?!)

My mother predicted that I'd be surprised at getting a letter from her and I was. It's been years since I've seen her handwriting! Looking good! She wrote that since the bank had sent me a new Visa card, that she decided to enclose a letter. Oh how nice. Newsy but hmmm... Haven't I heard this news before? Ah well.

I waited until this morning to try to activate my card by telephone (since I'm not in the States to use the ATM machine I couldn't do it that way.) And it didn't work! Story of my life with the bank. So I had to call and talk to someone in person and explain my predicament.

The nice lady verified and re-verified that I was who I said I was. She gave me a temporary PIN number. She said she would activate my new card and that I could cut up my old card. And I brought my old card out to look at it before cutting.

WAIT! The old card is valid longer than the new card! What does this mean? The nice bank lady went away for 10 minutes and came back telling me that I should use my OLD card and cut up my NEW card! And that the old card's PIN number would remain the same and my problem was now solved. Nothing was changed.

Now... why did we have this rigmarole? I have a feeling that along with the old news in my mother's letter, she also enclosed an old bank envelope... with an older card that never got sent to me (last year?). That may have been why I've had so much trouble with my bank this year...

The nice bank lady never hinted that I might be the culprit in this card game and she apologized profusely for any inconvenience (although I'm pretty sure the inconvenience came from my side.)

Got to love my mother for trying!

I got a nice handwritten letter out of it!

Seminar disaster

On Saturday I was "required" to help with a city "Safety" seminar. I think the police department and the traffic safety office collaborated on this. My job was to stuff envelopes, greet people at the door and hand out reflector gloves. There must have been about 20 of us crosswalk guards doing odd jobs (some were sent out to direct parking).

It was a LONG~~~ program starting at 1:30 and I actually had no idea what the seminar was about. City Council members and the mayor giving speeches, police chief speaking on the importance of safety, a couple other people who I never figured out. While listening to the speeches I sat wondering WHY this was important. (Isn't that terrible of me?) The same words used in each speech, the same points...keep our children safe; the elderly population is growing and drivers need to be careful of them; Japan is trying to recover from an astronomic earthquake.

After speeches someone in the police department got up and read traffic accident casualty figures. Then someone else in the police department got up and read city crime figures. All the figures were written on a paper so I don't really see the need to go over it all in such detail. (I feel like such a bad city citizen writing the above.)

Next there was a small "musical" about watching out for those pesky elderly that are going to jump out at your car. The musical was put on by one of the young police officers and his wife and was really cute, but maybe grade school drama level.

Next a bicycle simulator was brought out on stage and another "grade school drama" was put on about being careful while riding a bicycle. The "grandma" who demonstrated the simulator wasn't very good at using the simulator so it took many falls and many restarts before she got the hang of it. She and another policeman did another skit about watching out for the elderly.

By the end of that everyone started filing out of the auditorium. I stood at the exit wishing people a good day.

"What are you doing! The main speaker hasn't begun yet!"

What? But it is already 4:00. I thought city auditorium was supposed to be empty by 5:00... But sure enough the main speaker was being introduced to the minimum audience who had stayed.

"Forget the introduction! I've spoken to over a thousand groups and this is the first time I have been kept waiting nearly an hour! I had a lot of very important information to speak about today (earthquake and disaster preparation and protection) but I'm going to have to skip most of it to be finished by 5:00."

The speaker was ANGRY!!

His talk was interesting but he let his irritation show throughout the hour.

"Do you know what this sign means? Raise your hands if you think it means this... Okay, raise your hands if your think it means THIS. Well, that sure proves how little Nikko city citizens know about safety. I label you WORST 1 of all the places I've ever spoken."

And at another point, speaking about fire prevention...

"...and first of all, yell out 'FIRE!!!!!!'"

and the speaker let out a scream that had us jumping in our seats... And I was listening carefully!

"There! That should wake up those of you who feel the necessity to sleep while I'm talking!"

As seminars go, Saturday's was a disaster.

A vest finished

Yee-hah! I have finished Tetsu's vest! Hey, it looks good! It took me much longer to knit this than most of my winter knitting... the afghan stitch is tedious but makes for a thicker, less stretchy stitch. This looks like it is going to be a VERY WARM vest. I'm glad I'm finished with it though and probably won't use my afghan needed again for awhile.



Tetsu has seen me knitting this every evening for the past two months so this vest is no secret. Still, I'm putting it away until Christmas so you'll not see it on him for awhile. If I ask, please remind me that it is on a clothing box in the bedroom closet. I can picture me frantically looking for it on Christmas Eve!

Ouch

Thursday I had to go for an endoscopy (stomach camera) checkup. The last one I had was 7 years ago and this time when I made an appointment the doctor said that technology had improved and the camera could be inserted through the nostril these days.

"Much easier on the patient."

I didn't know what to expect. The nurse did her prep stuff. OW!!! This is painful!

"Hmm. Let's try the other nostril. Feels the same? Okay let's go with the right side again."

I had tears on my cheek by the time she finished.

A few minutes later the nurse was back by my cot apologizing.

"I'm so sorry. I forgot to give you anesthetic. Let's do that all again."

I would rather have not but we did and it was a little easier but not much.

With the doctor the exam went smoothly and I saw my pretty pink insides. Looks good to me!

But I needed a nap in the afternoon. I sure hope I won't have to do that again for another 7 years. And next time I'll know the routine and make sure I get some extra anesthetic! OW~~!!!

Endurance race

Yesterday was the neighborhood elementary school's annual "Endurance Race". The school (and others around Japan) has been doing this since education began. As can be expected, some kids enjoy this but a lot do not.

It was an cold day yesterday. All of the parents that turned out to cheer on their progeny wore fluffy down coats and mufflers that hid their faces. The kids were in gym shorts and t-shirts and stood at the starting line shivering!

"On your mark! Get set! Go!"

The first and second graders went around the school yard and then out the back of the school, along the roadside and back in the front gate (the first graders got a bit of a head start.)

A teacher brought up the end and when all those children had returned, the third and fourth graders took off with the bang of a starting gun. The third and fourth graders had to make TWO laps out of the back of the school, along the roadside and back in the front gate. My English student Soichiro made a star run coming in way ahead of everyone else! (He is usually not much of a star in other endeavors.)

The same teacher brought up the end of that group and when all those children returned, the fifth and sixth graders pounded around the yard and then had to do THREE laps out the back, along the road and back in the front. The very last girl over the finish line walked the last two laps and she was NOT a happy runner despite the fact that all the parents cheered her on and the same teacher trailing behind her kept up a running patter of encouragement.

"Come on K-chan! We're almost there! Don't give up! Yeah K-chan!"

As they turned the corner to go back into the school a little kindergartner, come to watch an older sibling, yelled out.

"Yeah Teacher! Don't give up!"

I guess so! That poor teacher ran the whole track 6 times. Albeit at the slowest child's pace...