Tokyo International Quilt Show 2012

Bossy Explorer and I were on the train platform by 8 a.m. to meet Patient Explorer on the first car of the express train to Tokyo. Patient Explorer is our Japanese friend who patiently and graciously puts up with us and until this past summer Weather Explorer. She is patient when we ask her to translate things or explain things or make phone calls for us – all this she does with a smile. She has gone on many of our outings, helped coordinate some and always, always is the consummate Japanese lady. The date had been on our calendar for months – the Tokyo International Quilt Show was our destination. For the past two years I have attended this spectacular display of quilts and was ready to be wowed and inspired once more.

I purchased my ticket and once down on the floor turned to Bossy and said “I’m hitting the vendors first and will look at the quilts after lunch.” I had two hours to make my way through the jam-packed aisles before our agreed lunch rendevous, time to make notes and jot down ideas as I passed interesting displays and tried in vain to hold on to as much of my Yen as I could until I made the full sweep.

Once again, the Japanese Way with fiber art speaks to me. The asymmetrical designs, the simplicity and elegance of the designs – this is what I’d come back for. I made note of which number vendors I wanted to revisit and wrote down the cost of the items I wished to purchase – there would be some serious decision making during my lunch break because for better (my desire to stock up on all things Japanese) or worse (my financial bottom line) I did not find a single vendor who would take credit cards. Not one to let a small thing like “all the instructions are in Japanese” I found myself purchasing the tatami matt webbing that I’ve made several purses from. These bags are so interesting, I could not resist. A date with my sewing machine is in my future

Post-lunch, Bossy, Patient and I headed off to look at the quilts. Bossy’s camera died after only a few shots and I became her photographer. Looking for inspiration for the momentous occasion this Spring when she becomes a grandmother – Bossy’s take on the quilts were completely different from mine and through her eyes I saw and appreciated quilts I might otherwise have blown right by. That’s not to say that I didn’t have my moments too. A few of my favorites:

• The Japan quilt – this quilt was breathtaking and the craftsmanship … unbelievable. The details – the hand stitching and embellishment, the layers of fabric and organza, questions of technique – Bossy was surprisingly patient with me as I took photo after photo of this quilt. It's a two sided quilt filled with hearts on one side and cherry blossoms on the other.

• Framed Quilts – These quilts take up such a small space and yet what the artists were able to create within the confines – it was like a license for details. I really liked the whimsy of the felt beads but will have to acknowledges Bossy’s point that it’s a loose definition of quilt. Fiber Art definitely but quilt? Not so sure.

• The bags – oooooohhh the bags. I love the Japanese handbags at these shows and apparently the Japanese do too because the vendors who were selling handles to create your own boutique bags had lines (organized of course with a man holding a sign to let you know where the end of the line was – I didn’t have to read Kanji to figure that one out).

• The Original Design category and the ‘Wa’ category sort of melded in my mind one into another although Patient Explorer did explain that ‘Wa’ means things Japanese but then she smiled and went on to say that of course it also means lots of other things too. Of course it does. (photos at the top are from these 2 categories)

There was so much to see – around every corner more beautiful art. This year of course had so much to do with hope, hope for the future, hope for those still suffering the aftermath of the March 11^th triple disaster in Tohoku and through this art there is of course … inspiration. 

Epiphany

Epiphany

In Christian churches the epiphany season marks new beginnings, a new year in the church calendar. A time to move forward.

In the Miriam-Webster Dictionary it can also mean “an intuitive grasp of reality through something (as an event) usually simple and striking” or “an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure.”

2011 certainly offered those of us stationed here in Japan opportunities to have more than one epiphany as we struggled with decisions that we hope our friends and family back home would never face. Like Christmas ornaments. On the surface these are just decorations but when faced with a decision on what to keep vs what to walk away from they become oh so much more. Each one laced with a memory. If someone handed you a box containing all your ornaments collected over the years and said you can only pick twelve – the rest you may never see again – what would you pick? How could you decide? These are the questions our children faced back in March.

Washi Eggs

If you had walked into our living room nine months ago you would have wondered what I was thinking. Amid all the chaos of trying to pull together essentials and throw them in suitcases to leave for an underdetermined amount of time to an as yet to-be-determined-place, sat our Christmas Boxes. All of them – the big kind that can hold boxes within boxes. I did not bring all of our holiday décor when we embarked on our overseas move, in fact for the tree trimming I only brought the kids Christmas ornaments. I was on a quest for three small boxes.

“Um, mom, what are you doing?” was the question.

I think they were worried … under the pressure of an earthquake, potential radiation fallout and an evacuation I had finally cracked.

“Here’s the deal guys … we don’t know if we’re coming back. The instructions are to pack like we’ll never return. It’s crazy, I know but you all have to decide what is it you want to take. I thought there would be some ornaments in here that were special to you and you’d rather take. You can leave them at Nana and Granddaddy’s when we get there.”

Three faces were looking back at me as this information registered. The suitcases, the dog crate, the paperwork, the passports that were surrounding us … all that was just stuff, replaceable. But the Christmas ornaments? Those are old friends, memories brought out each year and revisited. Sacred territory.

It was only a moment, a few seconds most likely, as my words hung in the air and then like someone throwing a switch they all sprung into action, opening their respective boxes.

The annual ornaments from my parents were apparently a no brainer, as were the ornaments given to my children by close family friends. The others though were harder choices.

“Mom what do we do about the glass ornaments?”

Good question. “I guess we’ll just pack those back up and hope for the best.” Meaning this craziness circulating at the moment about base closures, locking the keys to the front gates and walking away from a nuclear wasteland was over reaction and part of the rumor mill gone viral.

Five months later, in August, when we finally returned to Japan I knew I was going to put a different spin on our holiday tree. What to put on that tree was a bigger question. I did not want the limbs to be bare and so I started working on washi eggs. Beautiful, but time consuming, my visions of a tree covered in nothing but eggs quickly had a reality check. My expectations were reduced to the still Type A goal of a dozen eggs per child – three dozen eggs. Mondays became my craft day and for a couple of months I worked to cover and finish the eggs.

The eggs dangled from the branches and it was a lovely sight. More washi eggs are in my future – I am not ready to let go of my vision of a tree full of these delicate beauties. Sometimes it takes an "illuminating discovery" to realize that two things as simple as an egg and a piece of paper can be joined together to create something entirely new and beautiful. As the new season of the church begins, I chose to mark this time by looking forward and as our 6 month countdown begins search for new ways to be inspired each day here in Japan.

Check back in for pictures and instructions on how to cover eggs with washi paper.

Yamate Christmas Around the World 2011

Christmas Count Down

With Bossy Explorer’s threat of taking me off her blog roll because I have been silent for too long … and the gentle nudges and encouragement from my friends and family I’m going to attempt to pick up this blog once more and figured what better time than Christmas? It’s one of my favorite seasons and it seems everywhere I turn I find inspiration.

Why silent for so long? Good question and no easy answer. 2011 has been a particularly challenging year for many of us stationed here in Japan. My experience, my family’s experience, in no way compares to the loss and devastation of those living in the region of Tohoku. Nevertheless, the events post March 11^th rocked my world both literally and figuratively. The resulting evacuation – or voluntary departure as those here in the military prefer it to be called – made me refocus, realign – a reset button was hit on my internal compass and what I realized is that, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz “there’s no place like home” and home for me is clearly Norfolk. To say that our family has a support group there is an understatement. There are more than a few blog entries to be posted about our experiences during our nearly 5 months of being unexpectedly stateside but I am not ready to post those – not yet.

The focus for the moment is here and now. Christmas is less than a week away and so here’s the first in my series of holiday inspiration found or created here in Japan.

Christmases Around the World

Each year a section of Yokohama known as Yamate celebrates Christmases Around the World. Yamate is where the Westerners were permitted to live once the ports of Japan were opened to the rest of the world in 1856. There are still some western style homes there, built by successful foreign businessmen and diplomats. Each year different countries take on the task of decorating these homes.

When I returned from the states Bossy Explorer and I sat down together and made out our bucket list for Japan. At the top of both our lists was a revisit to Yamate. I’ve had this daytrip marked on my calendar for months. Another friend joined us, always open to an adventure outside those gates, she was game for whatever we had in mind. The forecast was grim – 40 degrees and rain – but knowing this was the only date we could coordinate with our schedules I put out the message unless it was typhoon conditions we were a-go. I wanted to see those homes again. Wanted to have a taste of holiday decorations, wanted some more of that inspiration.

The home decorated by France had to be my favorite but Berrick Hall came in a close second with the wreaths wrapped in felt and yarn with the very interesting placement of balls or decorations. Ideas of what do to with leftover yarn started to pop into our heads. We were also fascinated by the clever use of sticks with little balls attached to the end of them and fed into a beautiful cyclamen plant. This is why I get outside those gates ... who would have thought to do something so simple and yet it adds such an interesting holiday detail. I also loved the "bonsai" christmas decoration and thought now there's something Mom and Dad could do with all those Georgia Pine needles! 

It would have been oh, so easy to have stayed home that day. The miserable weather, a very good reason to hunker down inside, but I am glad we did not. Each home offered up a plethora of holiday ideas and of course inspiration.

Earthquake - How to help?

We are the lucky ones – my family and I live in Yokosuka, Japan 200+ miles south of where the earthquake hit on Friday. Out of our five family members only Mitchell and I were together at the time the earthquake hit – but we were quickly able to get home and regroup. Jeff called from the hospital and said that a tsunami warning had been issued for inside Tokyo Bay and we should head for higher ground ...

As I continue to watch the tragedy unfolding on tv/fb/web, my heart aches for our host country. Those experiencing the quake and tsunami in Sendai region did not have time to run home and regroup. They did not have time to get to higher ground.

What can I do? You want to help in times like these, it is frustrating to sit and watch and not be able to act.

Until I can find a better plan, here is what I've decided – if you have kept up with what I find inspiring while living in Japan and/or my other blog about the misadventures of a family of five foreigners encountering a very different culture from our own, or you are enjoying the slide show of what I consider my "best of" photos I've taken since arriving here and you've found joy in any of these, please consider taking just a couple minutes out of your day to make a donation to the Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami Fund through the American Red Cross. This is a secure website. I stopped by the Red Cross office this morning to find out how we can all help – at this moment the best way is through monetary donations. It's easy and if each of my friends just donated $10, I would be honored to think in some small way I made a tiny dent in the huge need that my host country is facing.

Step 1
Go to: http://www.redcross.org/

Step 2
Click on the red "Donate" button located in the top right portion of your screen.

Step 3
Click on "Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami Fund" - this will designate that the amount of your contribution will go directly to helping the victims in Japan.

Japan is an amazing country. My family and I have found the people here to be incredibly generous, for example they will go out of their way to help you if you're lost; they are resilient, they take efficiency to the nth degree, and as they have done since I arrived here 20 months ago, the Japanese people continue to inspire me everyday. Please, won't you join me in making a difference?

Halftime Report

We’ve just completed week six of this 12-step menu program. I haven’t gone back and done a tally yet but I think I’ve had more hits than misses. This exercise in taking control of the kitchen has also had a trickle down effect – the purging and organizing has not been limited to just the kitchen. Not so sure my family is digging this new phase but I am. Last Sunday I woke up at my usual “o-dark-thirty” as my friend Shawn calls it, I started the coffee and realized with any luck I would have two to three hours before anyone else in the house moved. I decided to get a jump on the weeks dinners before my motivation waned.

I had downloaded some of the Splendid Tables podcasts to my iTouch, so I plugged myself in and cooked the morning away while listening to the familiar voice of Lynn Rossetto Kasper (http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/podcast/). There’s something very comforting to me about her voice accompanying me while I slog through the exercise of feeding a family of five. It reminds me of living in Norfolk – the NPR station there would broadcast her show at noon on Sundays, just as we were coming home from church. I would walk in the house, put on my apron, make another pot of coffee and with any luck get a jump-start on that nights dinner. It was a routine, a ritual, like putting on comfy slippers when you walk through the door. With her voice and laughter filling my kitchen last Sunday morning I longed for our Norfolk kitchen – it was as they say the heart of our home. We have a counter with a breakfast bar and countless conversations were held here while I cooked. Homework assistance was meted out and because I believe in my kids head mom is so much less of a threat when she’s occupied (as is also when she’s driving) – great questions were asked, school/sports experiences were shared, topics on NPR were addressed. Here in our base-box I am stuck in a galley kitchen and I realized what I was missing from our old kitchen (apart from the duel/fuel gas top/convection oven that I never ever want to have to live without again) was what really matters, family communion. Since I can’t get myself out of the galley I’m already working on a way to get the rest of the family to come back into the kitchen and help keep me … inspired.

Week in Review

Black Bean Tostada – Moosewood, three thumbs up.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup – three thumbs up http://www.bhg.com/recipe/soups/curried-squash-bisque/. (note to readers: I don’t use coconut milk because of allergies, I sub in evap. milk. We leave out the chicken and no one seems to have noticed) 

Cheater Dinner – It was a long day for me and while I was supposed to have made Eggplant with rice and cumin I ran out of time. I cheated and used a prepared Eggplant Parmigana that Jeff and I love but apparently the kids do not. Bummer. Three thumbs down.

Monjardra – Lebanese Lentils served with couscous – I enjoyed this recipe a lot, given to me by a friend whose family is from Lebanon, but it was a major no-go with the twoteensandatween, maybe I need a new category – the Empty Nest recipe collection for when I can finally cook what I want with no complaints (because I swear in the nearly 27 years of marriage to Jeff I don’t ever remember him complaining about a dinner, even new recipes that I tried out and I didn’t want to finish eating).

“Boys hit the fridge” – For the fifth night in a row Jeff was not home for dinner, Wrenn had a babysitting job and I knew there was still some of the Eggplant in the refrigerator (for me), so I declared that it was leftover night. I have no idea what they ate, they just had to make sure they cleaned up after themselves! There’s a lot to be said for self-sufficiency! 

Carol’s Beach

There is something about being close to large bodies of water that help clear away the cobwebs in my brain. There have been quite a few cobwebs lurking in my head lately and even though I really should have been at home taking care of the business of running a family, I decided to jump at my friend Debbie’s offer to take me to “Carol’s Beach” one morning and hunt for sea glass and blue and white pottery shards.

Jeff, Wrenn and I tried to find this beach almost a year ago with directions that would only have been clear to someone who’s already been there. We spent over an hour trying to find this beach – well known among the GW crowd here in Yokosuka but not so much for those of us living on the fringes of the GW community (Carol's Beach is what the American women here on base call it after the CO's wife from the GW who has led countless field trips to this beach). Wrenn and I have our beaches in Hayama that we like to frequent looking for sea treasures but I still had this beach on my “must hit list.” So with Debbie driving I tried to pay attention to some of the details of getting there (see directions below). 

The morning was nippy, the locals must have had fires going because as we walked along the cove area the smell of incense mixed in with the smell of firewood would periodically waft our way. It was quiet, with not much more than the occasional car driving by or the one man fishing junk puttering out of the cove and it was clear – not quite clear enough to catch all of Mt. Fuji but she was there, a small side shoulder seen across Sagami Bay.

We meandered along, poking through the beach detritus, finding a keeper every now and then. We talked, we listened, we had moments of silence. My friend was in the middle of housing battles trying to purchase their retirement home from half way around the world (One day I just may land on your doorstep Debbie, in an effort to escape the three H’s of a southern summer, New Hampshire will sound oh, so wonderful. I can work for my keep – give me a shovel, a rake and a good pair of gardening gloves and I’ll be happy for hours). She listened … the woes of Navy life – orders/no orders, twin sons in their critical high school years. She’s been there done that with all but one of their children out of the nest. With the cobwebs gone, treasures in my bucket, we got in the car and headed back to the base. It was just what I needed, I felt rejuvenated and more peaceful – once I could feel my fingers and toes again.

Sometimes the military life can be awesome – you meet new people, you see and experience things you never would have if you’d decided to homestead. Other times it can be incredibly overwhelming – the sense of loss as you miss landmark holidays and celebrations with friends and family back home and the frustration of the waiting game as powers that be decide you family’s future fate (and no, this is not God I’m talking about). Out of necessity, I believe military spouses develop a sixth sense, the intuition to know when to reach out and offer support, when to back off and give someone space, when to let someone just be. It’s a sisterhood I never thought I would be a part of, and certainly not for more than 20+ years, but it’s one I’m incredibly grateful for especially here in Japan. I wouldn’t dare attempt to name all my sister-spouses here in Japan that have made this overseas tour so much more enriching for me and of course have with their endless talents, wit, intelligence and compassion left me … inspired.

Directions: From Yokosuka take Rt.26 to Rt. 134. Route 26 ends at a T-intersection, take a left. You will see the Japanese School (JMSDF?) diagonally. Follow 134 until you see the intersection with the Terabun drugstore on the right (see photo) – Arasaki Ent., take a right and follow this road along until you pass the red/white/blue buildings on your right, then the cove – contineue to veer towards your right, following the water, until you see a small space to pull over and park next to the water. The red/white/blue buildings (from top photo) will be almost directly across the water from you.

Why do taste buds change?

Is it just my children or is this universal – what they seem to love, or at the very least eat one week will change by the next (I’ll state this right up front, I do not have picky eaters). When I make a recipe I will write next to it comments such as “very good,” “excellent,” “not a hit.” I’ve also started writing a date next to the recipe the first time we test it out. Some recipes seem to hold up year after year. Others though … take the Chickpea Vegetable Medley this past week. This was a recipe from the original Big Red (BH&G) cookbook – not exactly one of my vegetarian go-to books and reprinted in the Virginian Pilot. I first tested this one out in 1998 – the year our daughter was born. I am not sure if I’ve made it since then, and that’s partly why I’m going through this 12-week exercise, to rediscover oldies but goodies and weed out the no-hitters. This particular recipe I was looking forward to making again, it had “excellent” written next to it followed by exclamation points – how could I miss? Miss I did though, the twoteensandatween were less than enthusiastic, a bite or two and then the tell tale plate turning. That is never a good sign, when one of my kids takes the plate and turns it so that the offending item is somehow further away from them, or maybe if they look at the plate in only one direction the item in sensory question is out of their peripheral view. No matter how they handle it, the message is clear – not a hit. For my part, I thought it was good but not worthy of the high praise I bestowed on it over a decade ago. This made me wonder, why do your taste buds change? When the kids were younger I used to make spinach lasagna and they loved it but now it is on their most hated list (I used to make it when my parents would come to visit because they loved it and I knew the four of us could put a dent in the casserole dish, I haven't had it for nearly two years now ... wonder if it's as good as I remember). Wrenn was rabid about sweet potatoes when she was little, she would eat them like I was giving her a bowl of ice cream – she won’t even put them on her plate now. At times I sigh and think it was easier to feed them when they were toddlers, with two misses and only three hits this week I swear I think serving prepared foods would just be so much easier – but those three hits are what keep me going and … inspired.

Delicious Fish (swapped out for salmon on the grill when one teen declared he’d had enough eating salmon for a while) – oldie but a goodie – three thumbs up.

Mulligatawny Soup – a friend gave me this recipe and said her family loved it but it was not a hit with the Cleary Clan, “I like your other soups better” was the comment.

Spaghetti with Lentil Sauce – thankfully, still a hit, three thumbs up

Chickpea Vegetable Medley – three thumbs down

Tuna Noodle Soup – was supposed to be sandwiches but I was feeling a bit under the weather and this is one of our family’s comfort foods, three thumbs up.