Living and Learning

Sakura Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 02:02:00 +0000

If there's one thing that most people associate with Japan, it must be cherry blossoms. Well, that and sushi, of course!

Our first stop this year was Iwatsuki Castle Ruins Park, about a twenty minute drive from our house. There are no actual ruins of the castle to see as far as we've been able to discover, but there are - as Spanky so earnestly exclaimed - "piles" of cherry trees!

The cherry blossom is filled with symbolism for the Japanese. It's exquisite, delicate beauty and quick death make it a symbol of mortality - the ephemeral nature of life. I may not have felt it so deeply as a young person during those first years in Japan, but watching my kids together under the blossoms this year I truly felt the swift passing of this beautiful life.

After enjoying the Castle park we wound our way home through the fields that lie between there and home, enjoying the long winding road that follows the river that passes near our neighborhood. The river road is lined with hundreds - maybe thousands - of cherry trees. That path takes us straight to our favorite park, and we were delighted to find that we were practically the only people there at the magical approach of sundown.

Photo credit: Miss Moppet

I hope you enjoyed sharing a little hanami (flower viewing) with us!

For St. Paddy's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 15:02:00 +0000

That's Paddy. Not Patty!

This guy.

I chose Patrick for his baptismal name when we became Catholic and had him baptized. I have always loved St. Patrick. I've always loved St. Patrick's Day, and all of the green, and being a bit (or more than a bit, actually) Irish. My mom loved it, too, and always made it so fun. Her mom's maiden name was Patrick, after all. But, honestly? My kids didn't really get it way over here in Japan. We had enough, really, with the American/Japanese thing going on.

But now, this little guy is my fellow St. Paddy fanatic. It's his day now, and he knows how to milk it for all it's worth! Though he's never actually kissed the stone, like his mom, he's got plenty of the Blarney! Yes, he and I definitely have the gift of the gab, and today all the gab was about St. Patrick, and Ireland, and all things green!

There were green pancakes for breakfast, potato soup and Irish soda bread for lunch, and Cottage Pie (recipe here) with a side of cabbage and bacon for dinner (no corned beef to be found, but I don't love it anyway!), and cheese cake with green whipped cream for dessert. Whew!

Of course, there was lots of reading to enjoy as well! What a fun day we had.

Whether you've got just a bit of Irish, or a lot, or maybe just feeling a little Irish-ish... Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

As I arise today,

may the strength of God pilot me,

the power of God uphold me,

the wisdom of God guide me.

May the eye of God look before me,

the ear of God hear me,

the word of God speak for me.

May the hand of God protect me,

the way of God lie before me,

the shield of God defend me,

the host of God save me.

May Christ shield me today.

Christ with me, Christ before me,

Christ behind me,

Christ in me, Christ beneath me,

Christ above me,

Christ on my right, Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit,

Christ when I stand,

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

Amen

Three Years

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 03:39:00 +0000

It was a day much like today - clear and cold - when the world changed forever for so many here in Japan. There are still so many who need our prayers.

Bishop Kikuchi, President of Caritas Japan writes:

Immediately after the disaster, many people believed that Japan would have the ability
to rebuild in just a few short years. However, now that three years have passed, we are
seeing that the lives of people affected by the earthquake have not yet stabilized. When we
see that communities torn apart by the tsunami have not yet been rebuilt, we realize how
unrealistically optimistic we were. (Read more here.)

Won't you pray with me for the people of the Tohoku region and all who were, and continue to be, impacted by the triple disasters of that day three years ago?

Thank you!

Winter Goings On

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Sat, 15 Feb 2014 07:57:00 +0000

As we keep an eye on the crazy winter weather happening in the US, we are enjoying our own unusually white winter! We haven't had snow like this around here in 45 years, we are told.

For the record, I did not add the simulated snow to the above photo, and have no idea how it got like that, but it kind of works for me!

The woods became a true winter wonderland!

I mostly stuck with cocoa and popcorn duty, but I had to get some shots of the igloo! I did take a walk to the grocery store for some milk, and it was so quiet and lovely. I do have to say that I can understand why folks in northern parts get pretty sick of the snow after a while, though. A few times at most per winter is just about right for me!

The photos below look pretty blurry, but I did take them at 8pm without a flash, believe it or not! The snow was so bright!!

Before all of the snow started we went on a field trip with some other homeschoolers. We don't have many homeschoolers near by at all (only one family, to be exact), but if we go into Tokyo we can get a nice handful of families together - eight families in all this time.

We met up at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno, and spent the day learning a bit, but mostly chatting and playing. It was great fun!

The hands on room was a big hit, and the kids got to learn about magnets, electricity, momentum, etc.

The museum has a great abundance of stuffed animals - of the taxidermied variety. Spanky and Nutkin are pictured with the famous Hachiko. Before he was the hero of a Richard Gere movie he was a real live Japanese dog. There he is peeking over Nutkin's shoulder. Yes, the real thing... er, dog.

The slightly wild looking dog above Hachiko is Jiro, one of the dogs from the true story of a failed Japanese expedition to Antarctica, which was the basis for the movie Eight Below.

Some of us found the "presence" of these famous, once alive dogs a bit disturbing - albeit interesting!

I hope your Valentine's Day was filled with love and goodies. We enjoyed making heart chocolates, as well as an apple pie for Tono - the apple pie guy! For a simple craft we made some simple crayon relief valentines. Thanks to Kim for the idea!

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real - Turning Seven!

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Sun, 19 Jan 2014 09:27:00 +0000

We wrapped up our family birthday "season" on January 15 with Spanky's long awaited birthday!

{pretty}

These photos don't do Miss M's artwork justice at all - they were too large this time to scan on our printer, but you can get an idea. The background on both is actually a gorgeous metallic gold, which just doesn't show up in the photo.

Inspired by Byzantine iconography, she painted the Madonna and Child for my birthday, and Spanky insisted that he wanted one for his birthday, too. So, she went with a St. George and the Dragon for him. I adore them both!!

{happy}

What could be more happy than being the birthday boy?!

{funny} & {real}

I found lots of Nutkin & Bear selfies found on my iPad! That guy!!

He's also really good at photo-bombing!

Join the fun at Like Mother, Like Daughter - hop on over to see more {pretty, happy, funny, real} posts, and link up one of your own!

Goodbye 2013!

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Tue, 31 Dec 2013 13:23:00 +0000

I hope that 2013 holds many wonderful memories for your family, and pray that you will be blessed in the year to come!!

A Very Merry Christmas!

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Sat, 28 Dec 2013 11:48:00 +0000

Before writing anything about Christmas, I have to back up just a bit!

Mr. Nutkin had a birthday on December 16, and I neglected to write a thing! I think I'll blame it on him, though. He is all business when it comes to his birthday, and I truly couldn't get him to stand still for photos. Anything that actually turned out was pure coincidence! So here are just a few to mark the day - whirl of activity that it was.

I'm not sure where he got the idea, but he asked for a Woody for at least the week leading up to his birthday. He has been sleeping with him ever since (ouch!). The funny thing was that this Woody speaks Japanese, while he has only ever watched the movies in English. The look on his face when he pulled Woody's string and Japanese came out was priceless! He has forgiven him for not being bilingual.

I think this is the longest he stopped to actually look and enjoy. Spanky drew him a fire engine, and you can see that he loved it!

And... back to the ripping!

Happy 11th Birthday, Nutkin!

There's never a dull moment when you're around - you are our precious gift from God!!

It seemed like Christmas just slipped up right behind Nutkin's big day. There was a blur of baking, wrapping gifts and other food prep leading up to a whirl of activity on Christmas Eve day and Christmas Day at church. I'm sort of getting used to it. At our former church everything having to do with Christmas was over by the 23rd as far as church functions were concerned. Since the 23rd is a national holiday here (the Emperor's birthday) many Protestant churches just have Christmas Eve services on that day - everyone's already off, so no rushing home from the office or school. It makes sense in a way, but I always felt sad not having anything on the actual Christmas Eve.

No worries about that at our parish now! We spend most of the day in nativity play practice, then eat a light supper at the church, then the real play, followed by Christmas Vigil Mass. There's a tea after Mass, which means we usually don't get home until after 10pm.

Then, it's up the next day for our traditional scones with cream and fruit breakfast, opening of the stockings, and then off to church again! Christmas Day is children's Mass, and then the kids' party until late in the afternoon. Christmas really is spent at church for us, which pushes our Christmas dinner to the 26th (since my kids insist on turkey, which just can't happen on Christmas Day with such little time left)!

So, I have just bits and pieces in photos, but many precious memories were made - if not captured!

A funny shepherd getting into character!

Shepherds and sheep adoring the Christ child with Mary and Joseph - my favorite part!

Spanky actually had a line this year - very exciting!

Big girls play the hand bells.

Father brings Baby Jesus to the manger.

The reading of the Gospel.

Homily by our favorite visiting priest - Father Mario!

Christmas morning finally arrives! Stockings at the ready... but not much time before we head back to church. I was in charge of food for the kids' party, and Miss M was playing the organ, so we had to get there early! What a joy to celebrate with our parish family, and also our own little family at home. We are truly blessed - sleepy, but blessed!

I think the kids have gotten used to waiting until afternoon to open the rest of the presents - it's kind of nice to spread things out a bit, really.

So peaceful when there are new Lego sets to be assembled!

It's never too late for Turkey. So glad that Christmas Day is only the beginning of the Octave of Christmas! Still time to celebrate!!

I hope your Christmas was filled with peace and joy in the midst of all the activity, as ours was!

A Very Lovely Giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 23:43:00 +0000

Who can resist a lovely giveaway?

Head over to Sarah's blog, Amongst Lovely Things, and see what the St. Andrew Christmas Novena means to her! (Hint: there will be adorable babies to ooh and aah over!)

While you're there, enter to win a gorgeous St. Andrew's Christmas Novena chaplet or bracelet from Loreto Rosaries.

See? Lovely, isn't it?

So, go on over to Sarah's and enter - then pour a cup of coffee or tea, and take some time to look through her beautiful blog. You will be encouraged and uplifted!

*Learn more about the St. Andrew Christmas Novena here, and find a lovely printable of the prayer here.

All Hallows!

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 15:18:00 +0000

Here we are celebrating the Feast of All Saints, and Halloween has come and gone.

We had beautiful weather for Trick-or-Treating after Mass on Sunday. As always, fun was had by all.

The most difficult part for Spanky was keeping up with all of his awesome weaponry. I wish I had gotten a better shot of the hook - it was pretty awesome, as are all of Dad's last minute inspirations!

I also didn't get a good enough shot of the eyeballs Father had drawn on his eye lids. Very creepy!

I love this photo of Sammy and his beloved Father C!

The sisters get in on the action, too!

And, who can resist a tail on a wee little bum?

As has become our custom, the real day of Halloween is pumpkin carving day for us, since there are no neighborhood Tricks or Treats.

Bouncer opted to continue his school work while the rest of them got down to the business of carving - but he did humor me with one shot. I'll take what I can get!

Kind of creepy!

We enjoyed reading The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, as well as watching the old Disney version narrated by my favorite, Bing Crosby, on YouTube.

Before I became Catholic Halloween was not my favorite time, because I was leery of the "darkness" of it all. To be sure, there are some who have preempted it as their own evil celebration, but I have learned that we don't have to give it over to them.

Now, for us it has a deeper meaning - it's is a time of simple fun, dress up, and a bit of make believe. A little creepy is OK (but hold the gory for me, if you don't mind), We just need enough to remind us that we do not have to be afraid of death - because that's what All Hallow's Eve is all about. It's really just the Eve of All Saints - the celebration of all those who enjoy being in God's presence. They fought the good fight, and are enjoying their rewards. Indeed, they are not dead at all, but alive in Christ! Who better to emulate? Who better to ask for intercession?

"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brother, be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord you labor is not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:55-57

Father, All-Powerful and ever-living God,

today we rejoice in the holy men and women
of every time and place.
May their prayers bring us your forgiveness and love
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Fall Get Away!

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 13:07:00 +0000

When the opportunity for a little refreshment presents itself we sometimes just have to jump! In spite of a few niggling concerns about Miss Moppet's first ever PSAT coming up this week, along with the first Spanish test for her and Bouncer's online class, we threw caution to the wind and headed north for a little family time.

Now we are ever so glad we did, because the weather was perfect - and then the PSAT scheduled for tomorrow was postponed anyway due to a big typhoon blowing in tonight.

Can I share a few photos of our weekend?

These guys...

they made us smile! This area was very much damaged by the tsunami, so we were so happy to see these funny-faced boats back in their proper spots!

The rice harvest is in, and left to dry out a bit.

These rice fields were just horrible after the tsunami. I never imagined I would see this sight so soon!

I have to share some photos of our little cabin. This is the north side. It's not visible upon approaching the cabin from the front, but because of the humidity and the relative lack of sunlight it was rotting badly. Tono has worked so very hard redoing the outer wall, putting in windows, and even making a new door (just behind the maple tree on the right) for a side entrance that allows for entry near the shower - very convenient in summer after swimming! I am so proud of his hard work - very impressive for an amateur, if you ask me!

Here's a view of the homemade sliding door. The glass and frame around it was cut out of an old inside door. He built the little deck, too.

This photo shows the south side of the cabin, and the original, old look. I should say that it's the original look to us, though I'm sure it looked different when it was built more than 80 years ago! I like our new walnut colored paint much better than the old black, and though the old wooden framed windows are very quaint it sure is nice to have windows that actually slide properly, don't have thin glass that rattles in the panes, and that actually block out some wind when the weather is cold!

I think these two may be discussing where to build a tree house. Or, something!

Yes, my son is half Japanese, with red hair and hazel-green eyes! How did that happen?

And, what's the use of having one's own yard if one doesn't take every chance to barbeque?!

How do you like our make-shift grill?

The view "up" as I laid back in my lawn chair.

And, as I looked around at my favorite people!

Allergy protection - the golden rod was everywhere! Poor Miss M.

The beach beckons - it's wonderful in summer for cooling off, but it's really at it's most beautiful in the fall!

Plans to build a sea wall are in the works - supposedly for protection from another tsunami (though, it would not protect from one as big as the last disastrous one). The locals, as well as most in our community are against it. Everyone who lives in the area would much prefer better escape roads instead, since there is plenty of high ground in the area. The sea walls are only really necessary in very flat areas.

They will likely have to remove what's left of our beloved pine trees just behind the sand line in the process of building a wall. It seems that the decision was made at the prefecture level, so we don't have much say. We're hoping that it will take a long time to get around to it, and that it will never actually materialize.

We shall see.

In the meantime, we are enjoying it as is!

We were relieved to find, upon a bit of research, that this bone belonged to a sea turtle!

Cosmos

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 14:10:00 +0000

Dear, beloved cosmos. My emotions get so stirred up when I see them blooming each fall.

One day, when Tono and I were just beginning to become more than friends, we were walking along between some fields in the country - somewhere he had taken me to enjoy the Japanese countryside. He picked a cosmos from the side of the road and gave it to me. I kept it pressed in my Bible for years, until it just fell apart.

He told me the story about how his parents were so poor when they got married, not long after the end of WWII, that they married in the local kindergarten building. They had no money for flowers, but since it was October the kindergarten teachers went out into the fields and picked armfuls of cosmos to decorate for the occasion. Cosmos were always special in his family because of that memory, shared by his parents.

His father was taken suddenly in a car accident - he was hit while crossing the street on foot - on October 8, seven years before we met. In October, I have always tried to have cosmos in our home in memory of the beloved father I never got to meet. Then, seven years ago, his mother passed away on October 5, and the need for cosmos was doubled.

We often used to take the kids for photos in a cosmos field in the fall, but the past few years have found us too busy or we have simply missed our window of opportunity before they faded.

In October 1999, when my mother was still alive, my parents visited us here in Japan - Miss M was not even two and Bouncer was a infant. We found a field of cosmos that was getting nearly finished, and we were allowed to gather the flowers to take home for free. My mother gathered the seeds after they wilted and took them home to South Carolina with her. She scattered them on the hill in her back yard, and enjoyed her Japanese cosmos the next fall.

Cosmos are a very special, memory-holding flower for our family. They are so nostalgic - vessels, as it were, of so many sweet memories. They are really vehicles for time travel - at least in our hearts and minds.

A Prayer for Deceased Parents

O God, who hast commanded us to honor our father and our mother; in Thy mercy have pity on the souls of my father and mother, and forgive them their trespasses; and make me to see them again in the joy of everlasting brightness. Through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Sea Paradise

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 00:19:00 +0000

Hello, there!

We're on Fall Break over here, which means we have a four day weekend. Yesterday we took advantage of the perfect weather and went off to one of our favorite places - Hakkejima Sea Paradise. We woke early and hit the road to beat the traffic, making our way through and under (like 8-10km long tunnels kind of under) Tokyo to Yokohama and the ocean.

Hello, ocean!

Once upon a time we had season passes, and went many times a year, but we hadn't been back in more than three years - I'm not sure why, but I think we just had been spending much of our time off at the cabin instead. We had almost forgotten how much we love this place!

I enjoyed seeing things through Spanky's eyes this time. He remembered some things, but a lot of it felt like new to him, since he was only three when we were there last.

We found a new friend - he wasn't there before! Have you ever seen a sun fish up close? What an amazing, crazy looking fish, that is!

And, who can resist smooching seals and walruses?

Spanky really loved being able to ride almost all of the rides now that he's tall enough...

"Get me off of this thiiiiiing!!"

unfortunately I didn't get any photos of him on the ones he actually enjoyed!

"Can't this this thing go any faster?"

I think Bouncer and Nutkin are pretty thrilled with the carousel, too!

OK, maybe the Viking Ship is a little more exciting!

Last, by not least, near closing time, when the crowds had dissipated we enjoyed time getting in touch with our beluga and dolphin friends. I think Tono may have missed his calling...

So very thankful for time away with the family.

I hope you're having a lovely start to this fall as well!

Learning Without "School"

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 23:13:00 +0000

This school year started out slowly, and has gradually gained speed. The first few weeks did not go as planned, but that is to be expected, and totally OK!

Due to an error in communication we didn't get some of our books as soon as I thought we would, so we started in with what we had, and a little spontaneous science fun.

Like, fun with dry ice...

and more fun with borax.

We are also doing a new memorization program this year called Classically Catholic Memory. We are not really classical homeschoolers, but I do like some aspects of it, including this emphasis on memorizing important facts to form a base of knowledge. I think it's appealing because it's a weak area for me!

So with this program we take a week or two to memorize a set piece of information in several different subject areas. There are science facts, math facts, Bible/catechism, history, geography, time line, Latin and poetry. The program is aimed at elementary aged students, but I am having the older kids join in the areas where they have gaps. I'm also finding that it's a great opportunity for the older kids to teach the younger kids material they have already mastered.

They're working on a giant animal classifications poster - an idea born out of our science memory for the week. Thank you, Miss Moppet!

And, finally... box day!

Our basic curriculum is Sonlight, as usual, with adjustments as necessary to suit our needs. Mostly that means that we do our own thing for Bible and Catechism, and replace most of the "missionary story" books with Catholic missionary or saints books. This year we are jumping into Cores 100 - US History, 200 - History of God's Kingdom, and Core B - Intro to World History, Part I. That's a lot going on at once, let me tell you!

Some books are more thrilling than others!

Most of the photos were a blur of happy activity. Yes, we do love our books!

I spent way more time than I liked over the past couple of weeks trying to work out glitches with the online Spanish class Miss M and Bouncer are doing this year. Apparently Java does not like me! Thankfully that is all worked out now, but boy-oh-boy was that a pain. I am excited to see how that works out for them - the teacher is very enthusiastic.

So it begins.

Or, rather, it continues!

We are also very excited that Nutkin's speech pathologist is coming to Japan - for a "volunteer working holiday" as she put it. We will be meeting with her as much as possible next week and the week after, and are so very thankful for her!!!

She asked for some photos of the kids to use for work on sibling words like big brother, little brother, etc. I think we got some good ones.

Summer's End

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 05:19:00 +0000

We 're back from our cabin, and trying to settle back in, and adjust to the heat. So far, not so great, but we'll get there - or, it will get cooler at least!

I have just a few photos to share. Miss M and I took lots, but I hesitate to share photos with other people's kids in them. Since our summers at the cabin are all about community and friends we only get to see in summer there aren't many photos that I can post!

The summer up north started out very cool and rainy, but most of that was finishing up by the time we got there. Pardon my blurry iPad photos!

We got plenty of beach time this year.

Bouncer continues to get better at surfing - he was very thrilled to get compliments from a serious surfing friend this summer.

Spanky practiced his synchronized swimming...

One of my favorite activities we have is the Beach Cricket. We are so blessed to have a member of the Japan national team and the president of the Japan Cricket Association in our community (you may catch sight of them in the photos - ahem)!

Our annual Fun Night was filled with laughter this year. This little boy with large hands got plenty of laughs!

I was seriously afraid that he was going to choke on those noodles, but he managed to get them down. I was very impressed by how the owner of the hands managed to feed him, brush his teeth, etc. without poking his eyes out. Hilarious!

We also had skits - Miss Moppet helped with some kids skits - as well as some fun music performances, some magic, and even a Newly (and Oldly) Wed Game. Fun Night is definitely one of the highlights of our summer - I'm just relieved that I won't be in charge of it next year. I'll be able to sit back and enjoy for the first time in a few summers!

Last, but not least, we celebrated Tono's birthday with apple pie as usual! Happy Birthday, my dearest!!

I hope your summer was relaxing and refreshing. I know that many are already back to school, and others are just gearing up and organizing curriculum like I am. Here's to a new, fresh school year. May it be filled with new opportunities to learn and grow!

Let it Begin!

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 03:58:00 +0000

Actually, that should probably be "Make it Begin," because packing for 6 and getting the house in order doesn't just happen. It has to be pretty intentional!

And that's not the half of it!

We're off to our cabin for fun in the sun (maybe? it's been pretty rainy up there), enjoying time with friends, camp fires, and dozing to the cicada song, and all that. I may check in... then again, maybe not. I hope to unplug as much as possible!

Hope you're having a great summer - see you on the other side!

One never knows...

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 07:53:00 +0000

what one may see in Japan, that is.

We're driving down the road, and there is a tiny kei van in front of us. As we get closer I notice something a bit unusual.

What is in the back of that van?!

Is it... could it be?

A horse's you-know-what?

Why, yes it could be.

It is!

It is a very small pony!

We couldn't help looking over at the driver and passenger as we passed by. They looked completely serious, and unaware of the stir they were causing in our van.

Totally made our day!

pretty, happy, funny, real

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 07:16:00 +0000

{pretty}

Father's Day photos! This year I decided to give Tono an actual printed out and framed photo of the kids. The kids cooperated very nicely, for a change. He was thrilled, and took it to school to display on his desk - a very proud Daddy, he is!

{happy}

This photo is in honor of Nutkin, who took the photo himself. That's not why I'm posting it though. After much hard work, he is now able to pronounce the word "car" correctly, after years of saying something like "wuff." He says it perfectly, and I want to do the Snoopy dance every time he says it. But, wait, there's more. Not only can he say it beautifully, he now says it without prompting, and completely spontaneously!! Victory! Yay, Nutkin!!!{funny}

Tono's Father's Day apple pie turned out looking like it had cutesy hearts if you looked at the right way. Looking at it another way it just looked like the pie version of The Scream!
{real}

Real, as in, really tight space. This is our laundry/bathroom. The first door in the right is the WC, and the second is the shower/bath. Yes, the WC door does bang into the counter if one is not careful, or in a big hurry.
I found this on the camera and decided to post it as a testimony to our small living quarters (which I actually do love in many ways), and an excuse to whine about the fact that it's rainy season and I have no dryer for the very obvious reason that there is simply no space.
I have to admit that it is the norm not to have a dryer in our area of Japan, since we have very sunny winters, whereas folks on the Japan Sea side do tend to have dryers due to their typically gloomy winters (or, at least that's what a friend from that area told me).
So, when you are feeling down about your piles of laundry (and maybe are tempted to post about it on Facebook), remember those of us who would toss our wet clothes into the dryer with glee if only we could! Now, please excuse me while I go and hang some more wet laundry around the apartment...

For more {pretty, happy, funny, real} link-ups, in addition to a wealth of great reading, head over to Like Mother, Like Daughter and check it out!

Confirmation

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Sun, 19 May 2013 11:21:00 +0000

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations.

Bouncer with his sponsor.

Through Christ Our Lord,

Amen.

Congratulations, Bouncer, on your Confirmation!

A very blessed Pentecost!

pretty, happy, funny, real - Golden Week Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Fri, 03 May 2013 00:33:00 +0000

We're winding down our Golden Week over here. We weren't able to travel far from home this time, but we have managed to get some things done, and have some fun outings.

One goal for me this week was to get to the U.S. Embassy and get passports renewed. I recently realized that three of the kids' passports were expired! Heh. Not so great when one lives overseas. I got a big dose of reality when I went online to get forms and saw that we can no longer go over there and apply on any day the embassy is open. We now have to make an appointment. Arg!! And, of course, since lots of other folks had the same idea that I did - seeing as both parents have to be present to apply, a vacation week is the ideal time to go - the schedule was all filled up until the end of May.

At least we were able to get the Japanese passports taken care of relatively painlessly, so we're halfway there. I was thinking about posting their passport photos, but I'm not really that mean!

For some more {real} we have "the school."

Tono has been working here for 27 years. The building itself is more than 50 years old. In a land of earthquakes that is getting pretty old. In Europe, for instance, where people still live in 400+ year old buildings, it's a thing probably unimaginable, but they are preparing to tear this school down, clear it out, and build a new one in its place. It is a practice that was very surprising to me when I first came here. I don't know that I ever actually witnessed a building being pulled down in the US, except maybe on TV, which shows what a big deal it was - it was on the news! In Japan we see it all the time.

So, they get a new building in about a year and a half, with the hope that the children will be safer in case of the "big one" hitting Tokyo. In the mean time they will be squeezed into a smaller temporary building.

Seeing as I also used to work here, and, indeed, we were both working here together when we started this adventure of life together, we were {happy} to be able to get some photos before the demolition, even if some turned out a little {funny}.

Heehee!

A little squinty, but a rare photo together can't be passed up!

Afterwards we left the car on the school grounds, and hopped a few stops on the train to Ueno and the National Museum of Western Art to see a Raphael exhibit. It was pretty crowded, but we enjoyed it so much. Even Nutkin and Spanky loved seeing the gorgeous Madonna del Granduca, and St. George and the Dragon and other paintings of familiar saints and scenes from the Bible. It was not a large exhibit - only 23 pieces - so they were able to focus and not get bored. We have many prints of famous paintings around the house, and tons of art books, but nothing can compare to seeing the real thing. I highly recommend it to anyone in the Tokyo area!

We were blessed with nice weather the entire day. Miss Moppet got a couple of {pretty} shots with the iPad on the way back over the river from Tokyo to Saitama.

Have you captured any {pretty, happy, funny, real} moments this week? Link up over at Like Mother, Like Daughter to share your thoughts and photos!

pretty, happy, funny, real

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 08:43:00 +0000

The pretty, happy, and funny are below... the real is that I realized when I was almost finished writing this post that it is Thursday, and I could have linked up! Well, I am going to be a rebel and link it anyway, as is, not in order or anything, because the other "real" is that I must go cook supper, so I don't have time to go back and fix the order and add the {pretty, happy, funny, real} labels !

Spanky declared that his wish for today was to dig a hole. How could I refuse?!

I don't think they got around to digging much - the ground seemed to be pretty packed. It mattered little, really. The main thing is that we got outside and soaked in the spring sights and smells, exercised a bit, and gave pleasure to little Japanese kids eager to use their English.

A conversation on the road:

(heard from a distance) "Look foreigners!"

Japanese mom: "why don't you say something in English?"

Kids: "Hello! hello! hello!"

Us: "Hello! How are you?!"

Kids: "I'm fine, sank you!"

Japanese mom to cute Japanese kids: "Wow! You can all speak English?"

Kids: "Yes!"

Then, to us: "Ciao!"

:o)

Very, very cute!

I took about a gazillion shots of the four, but most of them turned out like the above - many were a bit better than this, but at least one kid was looking away (usually Nutkin) or had their eyes closed.

I'll take what I can get!

Miss M gives me a really hard time about photos, but I have found that if I delete the ones she hates - without question - she is a little more willing to let me post the ones she deems acceptable.

Bouncer, not so much, but he did get in a couple of the group ones for me, and for that I am thankful!

I read a blog post the other day (and now can't seem to find it anywhere!) about the importance of getting in front of the camera once in a while. Our kids will be so sad one day if we moms hide from the camera all the time, and they end up with no photos with us! I felt convicted.

Watching my kids interact during the photos, watching Nutkin and his innocent wonder of the world around him, Spanky saying, "I think this may be the best day ever" again (his thing to say when he's happy) - these things made my day wonderful.

This guy...

what can I say? That face just makes me happy!

And that's {pretty, happy, funny, real} all wrapped up together! Head over to Like Mother, Like Daughter for more linked-up posts!

This and That

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 08:37:00 +0000

Now that our long sickly "Spring Break" is finally over, we are beginning to actually enjoy the spring a bit. We pretty much missed the cherry blossoms this year, but wild flowers are making their way inside thanks to little exploring hands. The zucchinis have been fairly cheap at the grocery, and we are enjoying roasted veggies and zucchini bread.

On the school front, things are proceeding nicely, I think. We have a rather long school year, since we start in Sept., but keep on schooling through the American school year, until Tono is off for summer vacation around the third week of July. I really like being able to take a bit of a leisurely pace - and it sure comes in handy when we need to take sick days or other things come up.

Spanky ended up taking off with reading so quickly that I ended up putting aside some of his phonics work and moving on to more challenging things. This is one of the huge benefits of homeschooling!

Miss M has reached the dissection part of her Biology. She isn't nearly as thrilled with it as I had imagined. That is to say, she has been more squeamish about it than I thought she would. She would rather pick up a live frog than this stiff, black fellow. Not sure why it's black - it is kind of gross looking.

She managed pretty well with the worm... we'll see how she handles the frog! She had some eager "helpers" as you can see in the photos. They are learning along side, and finding it all quite fascinating.

I remember dissection in high school. My two lab partners were boys, and they both absolutely refused to touch any of the specimens we were supposed to dissect. Their trepidation gave me courage, and I did all of it by myself while they watched, cringing and making "helpful" comments all the while. I was really proud of myself!

Today, right after Mass, Spanky had his "entrance ceremony" into Sunday School. He is one of only two first graders this year. He was nervous about having to be "interviewed, " but he said his name loud and clear like a big boy! It's nice that he can have this little taste of Japanese school culture at church. I can hardly believe that all of my kids are now "school aged." How quickly the time flies!

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 03:53:00 +0000

The "Back in the Saddle" version...

Chiming in a little bit late, but I did start the post on Thursday, US time. I hope that counts!
{pretty}

Miss M psyched herself up for at least a week before going off, all by herself and getting her hair chopped. I think the final boost of confidence came from the umpteenth watching of Roman Holiday with me while I was in my sick bed! I think it looks fab. The stylist at the salon asked if she would be interested in being a head model for her. She would allow them to do their thing in front of students to demonstrate various techniques, then get the haircut of her choice. In two years, when hear hair grows back out, we may contact her. :)

{happy}

So happy that we learned about pysanky from Auntie Leila and the girls! We really only got a few done this year... well, I only did one (the one with the red flowers), Miss M did the rest, and one attempt by Spanky. I think they get a little better each year. Sorry for the blurry photos - it was so dark and rainy the entirety of Holy Week. I just couldn't get any good lighting!

{funny}

I don't know if I should say that Poppy's girth is funny. We really try not to over feed her, but she is a total pig. It's weird, but you can't really tell how very chubby she is until she flattens herself like in the photo above and you can see her stomach bulging out on the sides. Another funny, but kind of not funny, is that she is bald around her right eye because of Winky obsessively cleaning her in the same spot. Poor, silly rabbit. This is our Easter Bunny shot, I guess.

{real}

Miss M and Bouncer volunteered to paint our WC. Here Bouncer is trying to get off the last bits of wallpaper. They did manage one layer of paint, but then everyone got very sick - I mean "worst Spring Break and Holy Week ever" kind of sick. Now we have a thin layer of this ugly blue paint. No one ended up liking the color, so we've been looking at it for a couple of weeks now with bleary tired eyes and thinking that we might try to find a nice green for the second coat. When will it get done? We shall see!
We were all sort of on the mend mid-week last week. We made it over to the Christian Academy for the Iowa test on Friday, but Bouncer was complaining of a headache all day. By bed time he had a 39.1C/ 102.3F fever. Poor thing! The last bout that we all passed around also started with him. Nutkin has an ear infection, and not a single one of us is feeling really good.
In fact, I was feeling rather pouty about missing some of the Holy week Masses - it really is my favorite time of the Church year. As I lay in bed with fever, unable to stand without getting dizzy, on Easter Sunday morning I realized that as important and wonderful as those Masses are, Easter is not about doing it right. or doing it all. It's about Jesus, and Him crucified, and most of all... that He is truly Risen! And, in the Catholoic Church we get to celebrate for 50 days - woohoo!

Head over to Like Mother, Like Daughter for more {pretty, happy, funny, real} link-ups!

Habemus Papam!

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 23:30:00 +0000

Pope Francis I

I am attempting to pull myself out of my fog of sleeplessness to welcome our new Pope!

Last evening we kept our computer tuned into the "chimney cam" watching for smoke coming from the Sistine Chapel signaling the election of a new Pope... or not. The morning smoke signal occurred at about 7:40pm our time. We moaned and groaned when we saw the black smoke, and I lamented the fact that we would be asleep during the next voting.

Miss Moppet insisted that she was going to set her alarm for 3:00am so that she could wake up and see what might happen. I told her to wake me if someone was elected.

Well... I woke suddenly in the night, and when I checked the clock it was... 3am! I got up - Miss M had not been able to wake up, so all was quiet. I turned on the computer, and clicked on the live "chimney cam". There it was still and smoke-free. I glanced away from the screen for a second, only to look back to see smoke billowing out!

At first it looked a bit gray, but quickly became white, so I turned up the sound to see if I could hear the bells ringing, and, indeed, I did!

I woke Miss M so that we could see our new Pope. After a bit more than an hour, and having woken Bouncer as well (boy, would he have been mad if we had let him miss witnessing this historical event!), we waited with the rest of the Catholic world to see our new Papa.

Now, we are just beginning to get to know Pope Francis, but we are so pleased to have him. I loved the way he asked for the faithful to bless him, humbly bowing his head, before then giving his blessing to all watching!

Here's my favorite quote about him so far:

He is known for his personal humility, which is manifested in his decision to ride buses, live in a spare apartment, and make his own meals. He has a deep commitment to helping the poor, and a passion for evangelization. (Read full article here.)

Viva il Papa!

Mardi Gras

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 01:45:00 +0000

The King Cake has been eaten (though not photographed, unfortunately, due to the fact that my family said that the dribbled light green, yellow and purple icing looked like seagull poo - harrumph!). It was very tasty. Truly.

Today we begin Lent. This evening we receive our ashes, reminded that we are dust and unto dust shall return (Genesis 3:19). We are reminded that we must "turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel (Mark 1:15).

Lent is such a special season. It reminds me of all that I longed for back in our days before becoming Catholic - the marking of the seasons of the Church together. We walk in the steps of millions of faithful before us as we delve into this season of penance, prayer and alms-giving.

Whatever your faith tradition, I pray that this season before Easter will be one of growth and the deepening of your relationship with Christ as we look forward to his glorious Resurrection!

Winter Light

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 06:26:00 +0000

The weekend went by so quickly, but I captured a moment of peace on a Saturday morning. Our living space may be small, but I always appreciate the light. I can make do with cramped quarters as long as I minimize things and if I have plenty of light.

Today I dropped Miss Moppet and Bouncer off at the Christian Academy for a week-long program for homeschooled teens. I have to admit that I'm feeling a bit lost without them. I knew that I would miss them, but to be honest, I was mainly thinking about how I'd have to clean the rabbit cage, and how Nutkin would be asking about them non-stop for five days. The reality is that I just miss them - their precious faces, their laughter, the running commentaries about the latest things to catch their interests. (I have learned more about Napoleon over the last few days than you could ever imagine just from listening to Miss Moppet tell me all about the biography she has been reading since our last trip to the library.)

However, I am determined not to jump a few years ahead in my mind. I will not. I still have them for a few more years, and though this week may be a small taste of what it will be like when they fly the nest, I am determined not to think about that... much. I am praying that they forge some good, wholesome friendships this week, and come home refreshed - and, ready to tell me all about it!