Catch-up Post

This is Riku-kun and his very tall clown puzzle two weeks ago. He comes with his family to church on Sundays. 

There are some 40 bushes lining the parking lot area.  Henry took the hedge trimmers to them last Monday and finished the group right in front of the building.  These are now about half the size and have mostly dead stuff exposed now.  Lots of needles for winter mulching around the property now.  

This is the same group as below directly opposite the ones trimmed. 

On Culture Day 11/3 here in Japan we participated in a Swap Meet--aka Flea Market.  Sara made several thread bracelets and sold some (see bottom left of photo below).  Mainly tried to sell things that we did not use.  We did go home with much less stuff than when we came and made some extra yen in the process.  

Garden Update--A tour around the house

For the past few weeks when the weather has been fine, it was time to clean up the flower beds for the winter.  Since we were gone two months, they were in sad shape and full of weeds.  So one by one I dug out everything in the separate beds and replanted what I did not toss out.  Here's some before and after photos of the effort.  Around our big building there are fourteen separate places for flowers and plants.  They are narrow, some long and a lot of work.  May have to rethink how many to have what with my joints not cooperating as well.  :-(

These above two are outside the front of the building facing South and West.  There's mostly columbine, lamb's ear and ice plant in front of the tree. Next photos go around the building to the left and facing South and East.

 This one is opposite the top one next to the ramp.

This is the corner of the building facing South.  Those circles used to be for the septic tank, but now the tank holds rainwater.

Before photo on the Southeast side under the church windows, and after cleanup below.

These are out the Southeast side of the church sliding door. Top left photo iris and other flowers were crowded, so I dug it all up and replanted just the iris and a rose bush. Then I lined the beds with rock so the plants won't get accidentally cut.  :-)  In front is part of the blackberry bushes.

Next on the East side between the church and kitchen decks is red basil and overgrown iris and pink columbine.

 Now cut and cleaned up.

This is the East corner at the back of the house.  Replanted iris hope to do well.  This year was not good for my favorite flower for some reason.

Facing East is another blackberry bush planted about 5 years ago.  The ground got dug up, grasses removed and ajuba ground cover planted, plus the rock border to save future plants from accidental cutting. The building is Henry's shed loaded with man stuff.  

This bed is facing Northwest in front of the parking lot on the left side of the building. It has a big holly bush, some iris, tulip and other bulbs.  Large buckets at the back act as a border as well as the bricks on the side and large rocks and pots in front.

This is the door to our part of the house facing Northwest.  We get beautiful sunsets here :-)  The bed in front has a fall blooming flower I found on a path years ago, plus a red rose bush and small maple tree plus flowers around to the right.

This is the longest flower bed facing West.  The tall plant is an Emperor Dahlia which hopefully will bloom in November before it freezes.  This bed contains iris, dahlia to the left, tulips, lamb's ear, seashells and some other things.  These next photos are closeups of the long bed.

Notice two landscaping elements in all these pictures?

This brings us completely around the building to the front church entrance.  In front of the deck are azalea bushes and to the right there is a tall juniper tree about 10 years old; it is taller than the building now.  That completes the tour of the Inochi no Pan Baptist Church in Kobe and also completes the clean up for this year. Yeah, my knees are rejoicing!

Maintenance work

We have lived in our present home here in Japan since Christmas 2001, and it's long enough that we are starting to need to do maintenance work.

When we returned from the trip to the States, the kitchen faucet had a leak starting a day or two before we got back.  It apparently was leaking out of the faucet valves under the sink and had gotten the floor of the cabinet quite wet.  Fortunately, David had cleared everything out and dried it before too much damage was done.

Turns out the washer in the faucet was broken and the option was to either replace  the unit entirely or try to get a new washer to fit.  Trouble is that American and Japanese plumbing fittings are not quite the same, naturally.  Henry tried to buy some washers that were close in size and put them on.  It worked the first time for about a day.  The second time about half a day.  Finally, Henry just bought a new Japanese faucet which has a sprayer you can pull out.  Monster of a thing.  The Japanese unit fit the American pipes or fixtures, or whatever else it's called.  Henry spent about two days working on this.

The old American faucet with soap dispenser and spray.

This is the new "Monster" faucet.  We can select filter water for drinking or unfiltered water for cooking.  The handle is easy to turn and the hot water comes on quickly.  Henry got a couple of silver disks to cover the holes from the old unit.  

One Fancy Ladies Room

Our layover at Incheon Airport in Korea had the fanciest ladies' room I have ever been in.  You first walk down a short hall of
mirrors, then a central hand-washing place, then the stalls.  All it lacked was a foot bath.

September 8-10, 2015 Return home

The highway to Denver was mostly like this: flat. 

Passed this truck from Katy, TX...hi Teresa!

The entrance to Crown Hill Cemetery where my parents are entombed. 

Dad passed in 1994 and mom in 1979.  It's not often any of us get back here to visit, so I got some artificial flowers that will hopefully be there for a long time.  I had mixed emotions about seeing this again.  I'm thankful they gave me life, though before I met Jesus, it was not a happy one particularly. Siblings will know what I mean. 

The grounds outside the building.  

On a lighter note, my favorite billboards are the Chick-fil-A cows.  

One of the last flags seen before going to the airport.  I love the land of America.

Our flight left Denver at 6:00 am  on Wednesday, local time for San Francisco where we had about a six-hour layover.  We got to Seoul, Korea about 4:00 pm local time, then finally to Kobe after 8:00 pm on Thursday local time.  Special thanks to Dave Harris who left his family so he could take over the church for us.   God kept us safe for over 11,300 road miles, visiting 29 States,  long-lost family and friends along the way.  It was good to have the break and meet new friends as well.  God is good, all the time.  To Him be the glory.  

September 7, 2015 Labor Day picnic

We were going to go with Matthew and Teresa to Denver, but Pastor convinced us to stay the extra day and attend the picnic.  Henry was trying to save renting a car by going with Matthew, but we'll rent one for a day at a cost of about $150.  The one-way rental is $102.  Anyway the picnic out at camp was great.  Here's some of the photos. We started at 10:00 and ended about 8:00 pm and there were still people there when we left.

Bye to Teresa and Matthew catching planes in Denver.  They got home safely.  

Grandma making watermelon balls. 

Hope turned this watermelon into a "grill" 

Some of the young ladies playing. 

While two grills were going, Pastor was deep frying chicken.  Henry got the idea of doing tempura veggies, so dipped all sorts of things and handed them out.  There were none left by the time lunch was served.  :-( 

About 3:30 pm, a group went out to play paintball on their course.  This is serious business with this bunch! 

Beautiful sunset over the lake about 8:00 pm