Hiroshima and Miyajima

I took the Kinetsu Semi-Express to Namba Station.  Then I transferred to the Midosuji subway line.  I went to Shin Osaka and caught the Shinkasen to Hiroshima.  

Then I took a street car to the Peace Memorial Park.

This the remains of the dome that was destroyed during the WWII atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

The dome from across the river.  The park is really quite lovely.

Between the Centograph and the dome is the Flame of Peace.

After the Peace Park I took a ferry to Miyajima.

This is the Miyajima Itsukushima Shrine gate that appears to be floating in the water.

The Ituskushima Shrine.

The torii gate from another direction.

Saori Projects to Date

My first Saori project.  I wove "treasures" into the weft.  Treasures include bits of wool and yarn left over from the projects of others.

Close up view.

Saori fabric I wove using the clasped weft technique.

The following month Hirome helped me weave it into a top.

Purple and yellow fabric woven with cotten yarn.

Another view of the same project.

My first sampler piece using a variety of Saori techniques.

Sampler I practiced the week after doing the first sampler.  I decided to send it to Jame.  Then she said on FB how much she loved (LOVED) it.  Little did she know it was on the way to her at the time.

I wove this fabric to make a grocery bag that will fit in my bike basket.  

Kyoto: Heian Temple and the Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts

This is the giant torii gate in front of the Kyoto Museum of Modern Art.

Heian Temple was having some type of martial arts exhibitiion so I left and went to a Traditional Handicrafts store.

I had lunch at a souflee shop.

I went back to Heian temple.  This is the left side of the courtyard.

The cenral portion of the courtyard.

The right portion of the courtyard.

A close up of the the left side of the courtyard.

Trees with prayers attached to them (written on paper).

You can buy a small placque and write a blessing on it.

Families purifying themselves before entering the temple.

The Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts.  I wish they allowed me to take pictures.  They had a cool loom with what looked like punch cards.  They had video demonstrations of Kimono painting, the making of lacquer boxes, basket weaving, and many other crafts.  They a cord braiding apparatus set up.  String is tied on "yo-yo" like "cookies."  When you alternate them in patterns they make different types of braids.

Birthday Ice Cream

Birdie, Tomomi and I went to a Turkish restaurant to celebrate my 50th birthday.  We had ice cream for desert.  

Ikoma: Lucky Garden (reprise)

Ikoma:  Lucky Garden - the view of the mountainside on the way to Lucky Garden.

Me, summer of 2014.

Birdie summer of 2014.

A snail climbing a tree next to our picnic table.

The flower arrangement on the picnic table.

Nara Festival

Nara Festival:  I went to Nara for the second time to see a festival.  I was not feeling very well, but I want my time off from work to be meaningful.  There as a parade of street dancers.  The man above was doing a ninja like dance.

The women pictured were dancing with fans, but some of the moves seemed to be more hip-hop like than I would have expected.

When I arrived at the festival site, they were selling fish sticks, no not really, grilled fish on skewers.

They had a booth with Pikachu.  It made me smile.  Pokemon sure has staying power.

Children were dressed in Kimono and blowing bubble with huge wands.

I didn't figure out why we were praying for Japan, but that is okay.

There was an amphitheater with fabric strung across the top.  People were waiting for a show so I waited too.

It turned out to be a singing and dancing number with three school girls and a cross between a reindeer and a Buddha.

There was a light show in fog.  It reminded me of the giant kalidescope in Woodstock.

The temple (relatively recent) was illuminated and there were votive candles on the ground.

This is the first giant sculpture that was illuminated.

The second sculpture that was illuminated.

The third sculpture that was illuminated.  It gave a 70's disco ball meets the cosmos kind of feel.

ABC Craft Store

  I found ABC craft store.   it was a lot like JoAnns or Michaels.  I found a blog with what I thought was a pic of the building.  So I went to every floor and the store wasn't there.   I finally asked someone on the 6th floor where it was and she said it was at the Q mall.  You go out the door and turn right.   I asked her how to spell Q and she said Q.  To my credit some of the mall is spelled cues.   

The store is on the third floor. I don't know where the blogger went but it didn't seem like there were 5 floors to me.   Maybe it is the sister store in Tokyo.   

People were spending a lot of money on yarn.   I would say the equivalent of a kitchen garbage bag.   Most skeins are 40 to 50 gm.  I found acrylic yarn in larger skeins that came from Turkey.   They only had three colors ecru, lavender, and maroon.  The maroon was okay I almost bought that but they had Noro yarn on sale 40% off.   So I bought that instead.   It looks pretty cool to me.  We will see how it works up.   

They had 12 registers open and there were two lines of people about 10 deep.   After I took a bunch of pictures I saw a sign that said no pictures.   So sorry!!!

This reminds me of the yarn Grandma Richards used to make rugs.