Wreath Making

I made these pine cone wreaths with the intent to sell them at a local flea market.  However, a typhoon interrupted those plans, so now there's five of these that will need a home.  Probably two will go on my door at Christmas, the others...?

The pine cones are mostly from red pine trees that are abundant around here.  I used a clear spray on each of them to preserve the color; then added the embellishments, some of which can be changed out for other colors.  These measure approximately 48 cm across, or about 17 inches across--a good size for a front door.  There is a padded hanger on the back ready for displaying.

This fall one's foliage can be easily removed and replaced with any other colors according to your seasonal taste.

The Christmas one here has the bow permanently attached while the poinsettia and ivy can be removed. 

These flowers and ivy can also be removed and changed out.

This Christmas-themed one is basically permanent.

The blue balls and red acorns are permanent while the ivy can be removed.

Lunar Eclipse 2014

This night--October 8 in Japan--we saw a beautiful lunar eclipse.  It started in the East outside our back door about 6:30 pm or so  and slowly moved over the treetops. At 9:00 pm the earth was moving the other direction.

About 7:10 pm in the East. The earth nearly covers the moon.

The shadow appeared to move from bottom to top. Here it appeared to be an orange-ish color.

At about 8:45 pm the shadow was about half way passed the moon

Now the shadow appears to move left to right.

We could see the surface of the moon very clearly with powerful binoculars we have, but my camera is not as good.

 

One of God's Creations

This big, beautiful black and orange butterfly was flitting around the purple flowers (name I don't know, sorry)  two days ago, and it was so focused on getting that nectar, I was able to shoot this short video.  Look at those long legs and proboscus!  Simply stunning to watch.

Honeybees

There are several large sunflowers in the yard.  Honeybees have been recorded collecting the nectar starting from the center of the flower and going around in a circle.  I was wondering why the center had these perfect circles in them.  I think these three are the same flower a day or two apart.  The bee's legs are full of the yellow stuff.  They got a little miffed when I zoomed in the lens and got close enough to disturb them.  After eating the nectar, the seeds are exposed.  When the seeds get harvested and dried, the birds will be happy come winter. Another wonder of God's creation.

Thunderstorm!

It rarely thunders here in Kita Kobe.  However, today  (8/16/14) it is pouring down rain and the thunder is right overhead (at about 10:45 a.m.).  During this month of August we have had the oddest weather in our 23+ years here.  While it is usually hot and muggy in August through early September, so far it has rained, sometimes heavily, for 12 out of 16 days.  Something is going on.  Perhaps it is all that "global warming" or "climate change" that's making the weather do odd things. Or not.  :-)  Perhaps it is called "weather."

Have a grand day!

Tyhoon #11

While we get the rain from a typhoon out at sea, it is rare that we get a typhoon passing over us.  The last one was 10 years ago or so.  Today  is Sunday, and we held church as usual.  There we just seven of us, Henry being the only male; Sara was the only child.  The rest were older women.   We decided to hold an early afternoon service and we were finished by 1:45.  Then everyone went home, except us, since we were already here  ;-)

It rained heavily throughout the morning and then the wind started blowing hard, driving the rain sometimes horizontal.  There was not as much damage as could have been.  However, there was lots of water and the yard flooded by the blackberry bush, as well as standing water in the parking lot. That is not unusual in heavy rain.  It means there's also water under the building.  :-(

The parking lot

Water running down from neighbor's upper field

Blackberry bush area

A new creek formed down a hill out back

The flooded creek which normally is just a trickle

An embankment slid into the open ditch below a nearby rice field, causing the water to run over the road.

After the storm passed about 2:30 pm, I went out to check the garden.  This recently-tilled ground was so soft, my boots sunk and I stepped out of one.  Ach! Fortunately the ground where the plants are growing was firm enough to stand on.  The foot prints are still there, though.

Himeji Castle

We took a trip to see what we could see of Himeji Castle.  It's been under renovation since 2010, as part of the upkeep of this World Heritage Site.  I personally think it is the most beautiful of the castles I've seen here.  When we got near the place, this is what we saw:

The building has been wrapped with its image on cloth for the last four years, so to see this beautiful building now was breathtaking.  The previous roof was black tile; now it looks white because of the new plaster added.  The public cannot go into this part of the castle until 3/27/15, but we did tour some of the West Bailey.  It is one long corridor with rooms off of it that wraps around part of the grounds.  The displays tell the history of Himeji castle.

This is another view from inside the castle walls.  It is such a beautiful place and to think that the original has been around since the early 1600's when there were no heavy-duty machines to lift all the rocks in place.  It is a marvel to man's ingenuity.

July 2014 update

We took the Rokko Mountain Ropeway up from Arima.  The view was breathtaking over pristine cedar forests.  It took about 12 minutes to go just over 2 miles.

July 25 we went to Kyoto for the day.  This is a view of the pagoda at the East Temple. 

We went again to the Kodai Yuzen-en and hand-painted some gifts.  Henry did this bag for our visitor from Yap, Hannah.

We then went to see the Nijo Castle in Kyoto and spoted this grey heron on the grounds.  

The castle boasts of wood floors that make sound when walked on--called the Nightengale floor.  The squeak is really pretty to listen to; its purpose was to warn people of someone entering the house who wasn't supposed to be there after hours.  This photo is from underneath an outdoor deck around the house.  It uses metal pieces wedged between the beam and floor to make the sound.

This is a beautiful red pine on the castle grounds.

Another view of the pagoda from the opposite direction.

Our neighbor gave us a big sack of potatoes.  This was one of the most unusual shaped things I've ever seen.

Sand Museum in Tottori

We took another trip to the Japan Sea town of Tottori.  It has huge sand dunes and this museum of sand sculpture.  Amazing what the artisans did with just some sand and water.  It's all indoors except a couple of exhibits, and very detailed.  This exhibit highlights Russian history.

The masses getting baptized with explanation below 

Russian palace/Kremlin

Russian astronaut Yuri----

 

Stacking dolls

Lunch==veggies and rice

Yakisoba-type dish

The latest bag

I was asked if I could make a patchwork tote bag using pinks.  This is what I came up with.

Front measures about 39cm x 19cm with 60cm handles.  The handles, sides and bottom are a pink bow on dark blue print.

The back side.  The pink strip is just a bow embellishment from a Moda Marble fabric.

I added one side pocket with two slots for keys or a cell phone maybe. The background there is in my sewing room. 

The interior is a pink floral print.  

Should I do this again, I will add additional pockets in the interior and possibly an outside zipper pocket and a button enclosure at the top.  As it is, the person wants this to carry her two Teacup Poodles in, so pockets on the inside are not necessary.

Blackberries - the bush

Highlighting our 12-year-old blackberry bushes.  First, these are thornless.  These are easy to grow and easy to propagate.

We have  two stakes about 10 feet apart with three rows of wire stretched between them.  The plants are placed about 3-4 feet apart.  The plants grow long, thin branches which we anchor onto the wires with twist ties.  When they get long enough to touch the ground from any height, you can bury the tip of the branch about 4-6 inches in the dirt and it will root and become a new plant after a minimum of six weeks.  Then you can cut it from the mother branch.  It can be dug up and planted in another area if needed.   You can also cut the long branches and it will form side-branches and fill in the bush.

The flowers are in a clump and are a light pink.  Once fruit appears, place a net over the bush so the birds don't eat the fruit.  It first is red, then turns dark and is easily pulled off when ripe.   Lots of seeds in the berries. We use a standard fruit plant fertilizer.  Water well in dry weather.  It flowers in May/June and fruit is ripe in July/August.

Fruit grown on branches this year will not produce again and need to be cut down to the ground after harvesting is over.  That gets a little tricky when tracing the branch entangled with others.  New growth this year will produce fruit next year.

The bush from one end. It does not need a wide space, but enough to get around the entire bush.  The deck makes it a bit tight, but do-able.   Lots of new growth extending beyond the stake.

The flowers will be blackberries in July.  Last year there was a multitude of growth as you can see it's bushy on the left and right, while the mid-section is a bit sparse.  This is normal growth.  Many new plants/canes were started last year.

This particular plant is at least 8-9 years old.  Old canes are cut to the ground after harvesting, so the base gets thick.

The thick canes are new growth for next year's fruit.

More information can be found at these links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackberries
http://www.bhg.com/gardening/plant-dictionary/fruit/blackberry/

This won't happen again...

...at least in  the lifetimes of Henry and me.  I was never that good with numbers except balancing a checkbook.  :-)

On May 18th, I turned 60....drum roll....OK, that's enough.  Henry turned 60 in January.

On  May 16th, Stephen turned 30.

Up to June 10th, Sara will be 15, she turns 16 on the 11th.

So here's the deal...Currently, we are twice Stephen's age and he is half our age.  In turn, Stephen is twice Sara's age and she is half his age.  And we are four times Sara's age and she is 1/4 our age.
Spiffy, huh?

To celebrate this momentous three weeks, here's the newest of the iris in the garden--a beautiful deep purple with crinkly petals.