Adirondack Shiver Blanket

The Adirondacks visit Japan shiver blanket style.   32 rows completed between Sunday in New York and Tuesday night in Osaka with the 13 hour time change.  The box contains what I would call Japanese clementines.  It was my first purchase at the Co-Op.  

Dial 7, JFK and China Airlines

I Dialed 7 and was picked up at Stewart Airport (yes FL friends Stewart not Stuart) by a Chinese driver.  Thanks Mom and Dad for dropping me off.  I miss you and Happy Hour already.   My driver was very informative.   China Airlines is not from Mainland China it is from Tiawan.  It is a good thing he knew the difference because there is also Air China which leaves JFK from a different terminal.   The trip down was great.  It was awesome to see the Frogs Neck Bridge aka the Throgs Neck Bridge and NYC.  I even got to see the Planisphere at the site of the US Open.  I got dropped off at JFK Terminal 4.  I couldn't find China airlines so I asked someone with a walkie talkie.   She said after the Emerites flight left they would take down the signs and put up the China Airlines signs.   And they did!   The wait at the terminal was fine.  I am making a new Adirondack Shiver Blanket with some variegated pink yarn.  Mom was right it helped pass the time and is a new project for a new adventure.   The flight was great.  They have this map of the world on a screen and as your flight progresses the airplane moves on the map.   I saw the Long Island Sound, the Hudson River, the Finger Lakes, four of the Great Lakes, and Niagra Falls!  I think they should have a geologist give a little commentary as they fly over.  My mistake was to go to the bathroom.  While I was gone they closed all the window shades.  I met my new boss Birdie and drove an hour to my new home away from home.  I didn't get homesick until it took me a half hour to figure out how to flush the toilet.

A list of things to remember:

A four year old Indian girl in a lime green dress with gold trim and hot pink sneakers

A television camera taking videos of the Jewish men leaving for Isreal

The statuesque Emerites Flight Attendants in the pill box hats with a white scarf hanging down the right side

The Chinese Airlines Attendents closing the drapes to their little work area so they could put on little pink aprons over their mauve suits

The six foot three blond boy and his travel companion doing yoga in the terminal

Seeing Niagra Falls from the plane

 Getting fingerprinted by the visa men in their raised box

Seeing the irregular landscape of Japan from the air and the Kobe Airport built on the water

Not seeing Kansai airport until we were just above the water and ready to land

Getting excited to see car dealerships because I could read the words

The sticky humidity of the air

Trying to get in the car on the wrong side

Seeing jiggly puff on a package at the coop

Tiny Steps in Sassy Socks

Tiny Steps in Sassy Socks:   Today I received my Certificate of Eligibility for entry into Japan.   It was obtained by my sponsor in Japan from the Department of Ministry and FedEx'ed to me in New York.  The part I still can't wrap my mind around is that you have to give the Japanese Consulate the following information to get your work visa:  my passport with a blank page, the certificate mentioned above, a two page passport application (photo from within 1 month, the address you will be residing at, your sponsor's birthdate so you don't forget to give him a present, when you will be arriving, etc.), a liability release form (in case all your information is lost or stolen), a copy of your driver's license, and a return envelope with 16+ stamps on it.   The one that takes the proverbial cake is a copy of your flight itinerary.   They have four to seven days to process your paperwork, unless there is a problem, then it can take up to two months.   Luckily, being the Renaissance woman that I am, I bought travel protection for $56 so I can change my ticket if the visa doesn't arrive in time. 

Ode to Sassy Socks

Black socks, blue socks, in your shoe socks

Striped socks, plaid socks, five little toe socks

Knee socks, Elite socks, two left feet socks,

By the bag or by the batch, take your socks and mix and match

Short socks, tall socks, in a ball socks

Ripped socks, darned socks, Sassy knits with balls of yarn socks,

Ankle socks, crew socks, pairs and pairs of brand new socks

Argyle socks, print socks, full of lint socks.

Typhoon Neoguri

Typhoon Neoguri:  A typhoon is the Pacific Ocean's version of a hurricane. Typhoon Neoguri was a super storm until shortly before landfall on Okinawa, Japan.   My uncle, infamous for eating the larger half of the pie and saving the last puzzle piece, aka Tommy, was stationed there during The Korean War.   I will have to prime the familial pump and gather some more tidbits about his military career.  

Meanwhile I will continue to track the storm to make sure my new friends in Osaka are fairing well.   Why is it that the word typhoon seems so much more exotic and dangerous than the word hurricane?

Tanabata Past, Present and Future

Tanabata: Past, Present, and Future

Legend has it that the cowherder and the weaver fell in love and ignored their respective trades.  In anger the gods turned them into the stars Altair and Vega and separated them by the Milky Way.  Once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month they come together as lovers.   Japanese people celebrate Tanabata by writing their wishes and putting them on a tree or a bamboo pole.   They sometimes burn them or set them alight and float them down a river.   

7/7 marks the anniversary of Grandma Richards death (7/7/77).   She was a remarkable craftsman.  She wove rugs, crocheted shiver blankets, and knit mittens all with equal ease.   She was never without some type of handiwork albeit doily, Barbie doll dress, or a jumpsuit for my decapitated baby doll, Baby (pronounced Baybee).   I remember my father charting her biorhythms shortly after her death.   All three lines reached a low point on the day she died.   Mom, Jame, and I have been reconstructing the Shiver blanket pattern.  She created a unique pattern by crocheting into the back side of the stitch.  This made a rectangular shaped ridge for each row.   I've never seen this done before.   

My contract for employment with Hummingbirds Learning Center was slated to start today.   In theory, I could be in Japan today celebrating Tanabata.   Depending on the region, I still may have a chance to see it this year, or I may have to wait another year, just like the cowherder and the weaver.   

Fourth of July

Fourth of July:   My sister and nieces made me a patriotic potholder to take to Japan.  They wove red, white and blue strips in a herringbone pattern.  The strips are cotton and make a thick potholder.  I love it and will think of them when I use it.  

Dead Tree Art

Dead Tree Art:   I suppose I got my love of dead trees from the Sassy One.  It is kind of like cloud watching; if you see the wood stripped of its leaves it uncovers its inner essence.  What I see above is a cross between a rabbit and a moose sitting on its bottom on a picnic.  Why does the neighbor have this piece of wood?   No idea, maybe for the same reason I took the picture, because it looks cool.