Thanksgiving 2013

Here's some photos of what's been going on around here in cold Kobe recently.

Karen joined us for Thanksgiving dinner.

Dahlia after the frost.  I cut them down the same day.

The front doors of the church entrance.  Pine cone wreaths from a few years ago.

Check out this new set of wheels !

Sara and I were passing out Christmas flyers near Sanda today.  On our way back to the car, this vehicle parked behind us, a man got out, unzipped the passenger door, and opened the hatch and took out a bag to deliver to a customer in an apartment building.  I quickly snapped the photo of the cutest little zipper car you ever did see, or may never have seen.  Seems 7-11 convenience stores have at least one of these for delivery purposes.  Must be something to drive, but I would not want to be in an accident while in it.

Isn't it c u t e ???

By comparison, here is another small car found in a parking lot a few weeks ago.

I can't tell, but they may be from the same manufacturer.  Don't think I want to be that environmentally friendly.

Baptisms

Sunday we baptized two Japanese after the morning service.  The first was a 12-year-old boy and the second was a 78-year-old woman.    It was a victorious day!

Ryousei-kun

Matsunaga-san

Henry and Ryousei

Emperer Dahlia Blooms

These plants are more like trees--about nine feet tall, reaching the second floor.  The blooms are now few and is a bit late this year. 

Autumn in Kobe

Beautiful weather lately; crisp mornings, clear skies, colorful trees.

ginko tree 

Japanese cherry tree or sakura

 

 

This is what a street near us looked like after the city crews came and pruned the trees. 

Notice all the beautiful leaves and branches now on the ground and just a wisp of leaves left on the trees.  Takes all the color away for this year.  I guess the city won't need to prune again for 5 years or so.  Lastly, here is a photo of a van parked in  a driveway where this pruning was being done.  Just saying... :-)

Typhoon 27

Is now history, or at least combining itself with Typhoon 28 in the Pacific north of Hokkaido.  Would not want to be in the midst of that wind storm and it's good that it is out in the open sea. 

Anyway, here are some photos of the rain-swelled creeks and yard around our building.

The parking lot becomes a lake in heavy rains; one can watch it grow...

My new garden is a bit flooded

Standing water under the back deck

This little guy sought shelter outside our window

The Emperor Dahlia now has buds and will bloom, hopefully in November.

Music notes

 

Here is a recent musical special between Sara on the piano and Mrs. Wakimasu on the ocarina.  

Beautiful skies after the storm

Wednesday, October 9 -- we got the fringe of typhoon 23, which was going up the Japan Sea side of the island.  There was a good amount of rain and some wind.  Not bad.    About 5:00 p.m. I took these photos of the most marvelous cloud formation running from the West to the East--essentially across the main island of Japan where we are.  I love clouds--and with the sun shining on them, it was so clear and sharp.  God is an excellent sky-painter, yes? 

 Panorama going West to East in front of our house

This one was taken in Nishinomiya on Monday evening:

Lastly, these little birds visit us frequently during the day.  They are atop the electric pole in our back yard that exclusively goes directly to our house. 

Another Victory

October 6 -- We had our second butsudan-burning this year.  That's the family altar to a deceased loved one that is kept in the home.  Mrs. Matsunaga received one from her husband's family at some time in the past.  The previous Friday she gave it to Henry after her Bible study in order for it to be burned.  It is not a common thing in Japan to burn one's butsudan.

After the morning service Henry prepared the thing for demise.  He said a short prayer then lit it (it was doused with kerosene for ease of burning).  The entire church membership (about 14 or so) watched it burn.  It was such a good thing to happen.

Mrs. Matsunaga and Miss Noseh

The End - Praise the Lord!

Fall pics 2013

September has now gone and October is upon us.  It has been cooler than usual here with little rain, a big difference from a rather wet August.  Here are some photos from around the house.

After the rice harvest, these rice-stalk teepees were put up.

An amazing blue sky and wispy clouds.

I forgot what these  purplish flowers are, but they are beautiful.

One of our fat garden friends that will someday become a flying creature.

This red-legged spider was walking across the floor one day.  I opened the door and told it to go outside and it promptly turned and walked out over the threshold. 

When it got outside on the mat (to the left on the black line), it was met by a smaller brown spider, saying, "Nice to meet you; hope you like it out here."  I then shut the door on both of them.

These are a couple of happy pinwheels I found at the local 100 yen store.

On October 1st,  I opened the rainwater holding tank (our former septic tank) to discover this drowned critter. It was not there last I opened it on the previous Friday. Before this,  I only found drowned June bugs, but this was the first mouse.  The water only comes from off the gutters, so it must have crawled through the  downspouts, through the pipes, and ended up in here with no way to escape.  It got promptly buried on the back slope.

I saw this moth out the kitchen window in the next field.  It was clinging to a long grass stem and not moving much at all.  It was still alive the next morning so I moved it to one of my flower beds to see what comes of it.
Update 10/1--it was gone from the spot I put it, so I don't know where it ended up.  :-(

Another beautiful sunset here in Kita Kobe.

Mrs. Matsuda's funeral

The coffin surrounded by flowers

Henry made a short presentation of recent photos of Mrs. Matsuda and friends

All the flowers were cut and then everyone placed them into the simple coffin.  This is a Japanese tradition.

The funeral began at 11:00 a.m. and went about 70 minutes.  Afterward, the family went to the crematorium.  They ate lunch in a special room there for the family while they waited.  About 4:00 p.m. Mrs. Tanaka and her sons and families returned to the church. 

Mrs. Matsuda gets promoted

You may remember Mrs. Matsuda, 88, who got saved last year and baptized a few months later.  Earlier this year we burned her idol shelf and butsudan. (see my post of 2//8/13)  She had been having physical difficulties that come with age for several months.  About two weeks ago, her daughter was able to place her mom into a nursing home in Sanda where the daughter lives.  She came to church on the 18th with a wheelchair.  She was as genki as ever, smiling and talking and asking about Joe.

This past Sunday, it rained hard all morning, so Mrs. Tanaka did not bring her mom to church.  Monday Mrs. T. took mom to the doctor to check her foot.  About a month ago Mrs. Matsuda fell in her home and while she did not break the foot, it was severely bruised and swollen.  Last I saw it the color was normal, but still swollen.  Anyway, Mrs. Tanaka  returned to her home and left mom to go to sleep probably about 9:30 or 10:00 p.m.

Sometime around 11:00 p.m. we got a call from Mrs. Tanaka saying that her mom had died suddenly.  Her heart just stopped beating.  Henry went up to Sanda and was back about 1:15 a.m.    I could not sleep.  Well, as is the custom in Japan since they do not embalm bodies here, they have to cremate in the next day or two.  A hearse brought Mrs. Matsuda's body here to the church.  The two sons of Mrs. Tanaka and their wives were here also, and about 1:30 a.m., the Christian funeral company came and started preparation.  They placed the body in a simple pine box, lined with a white lace and packed the body with dry ice and cloths.  After discussing costs, etc., it seems everyone left about 4:00 a.m.  I think I was already asleep.

Tuesday afternoon the funeral company came back to decorate for the funeral services.   So many flowers and the smell was overwhelming, but still looked beautiful.  The "wake" was at 7:00 pm with mostly family members and church folks attending.  The funeral itself is Wednesday at 11:00 a.m.

Monday night /Tuesday morning about 2:30 a.m. preparation for burial.

The black cloth-covered coffin has Mrs. Matsuda's bible on it.

Photo of Mrs. Matsuda