Ward Wanderings

Typhoon Lan

Typhoon Lan came by Japan on August 22-24, 2017. It mostly stayed out at sea, but it was huge and we had lots of rain and wind for a couple of days. It was recorded at winds over 100 mph at times. The aftermath was that the creeks and rivers were filled and running fast. These photos were taken within a kilometer of our place on the 23rd.

Latest Quilts

Big block quilt about 80 inches square

The back is made of summer cotton Japanese prints

Pink I Spy quilt for a new baby girl Anna

The back is two animal panels.

Kibou-ken Ramen

This is one of the best Ramen restaurants around and it is not much to look at, nothing fancy. My guess is that it is family owned and been there for many years. Maybe 20 people can fit inside. The price is about 1,000 yen per person depending on what you get. The gyoza is terrific as a side dish. It is located on the Arima-kaido about a kilometer from Okaba-eki heading north, I think, toward Sanda.

This is a JA gas station across the street.

Hatacho historic meeting place

Hatacho where we live is a farming community. At the center is a community place where there are old farm equipment pieces on display outside. I'd never been there before today. The equipment is generally wood-made and hand operated. I thought the bamboo buildings they are needing to be rebuilt with new bamboo. :-)

Water pump

Plowing equipment

Rice harvesting, separating equipment.

This is an old-style building that was transported piece by piece from another location. It has a thatched roof and the interior has high ceiling and beautiful wood beams and tatami floors. It belonged to a famous writer I believe.

Bird in my Yard

As I opened the kitchen curtains I was welcomed with the sight of a grey Heron standing still as anything in my yard. I got the camera and started shooting photos through the glass and screen, hence the glare.

This bird never comes into our yard. I always see it either flying up or down the valley or standing is an empty rice field It was a treat to see this beautiful bird. I think it found a worm or a frog for breakfast.

How to divide Iris

Iris is my favorite flower and over the years I have grown thousands of them, probably. They are perennial and easy to grow, little maintenance is needed. Typically every 3-5 years I will dig them up and divide them because they get crowded and won't produce blooms. So this was the year to do it. Here are photos on what I did and the end results.

This one was probably 5 years old and did not flower this year. I took off all the side stuff and broke off three of the bumps.

A typical iris bed around my house. See how they are clustered and crowded. I dug all this up with a pitch fork, so as not to break the roots, and divided them all, throwing away the small side plants and trimming the leaves into a fan shape.

This is one cleaned-up flower bed. The iris now have shorter leaves and no side growths. The roots are buried but the rhizome is above the ground, as if it gets too much water it will rot. Not a pretty smell, either. The other plants are columbine and lily.

Pitch forked this clump. Notice the middle rhizome has no leaves. Time to throw it out and keep some of the larger side ones.

This same clump broken up.

A very mature iris. The roots were cut back, then replanted. Dig the hole deep enough for the roots to fit below or behind the rhizome. Then cover them with dirt and pack lightly. Sometimes these things look like really ugly bugs :-)

These are some of the many larger iris I decided to keep, all trimmed and ready to replant. I threw away a bag of the discarded leaves and plants. Sad to do it, but I have no space for all that I would like to grow.

About 8 years ago I counted in my garden 100 iris growing! They were mostly purple, but also a few other colors. The thing is you can't tell what color the flower will be just by looking at it. I have given away lots of iris by putting them in a basket out at the street with a sign stating they could have as many as they want.

New Homes being built

This new housing development is about a ten-minute walk from us. It will have 200 single family homes eventually. Construction started in September 2016 and progressed to model home being built and opened in August 2017. An opportunity for more families to be reach for Christ.

Streets were started in the summer.

The back end of the development. The park was the first thing finished.

Photo taken from building across the street.

The only street entrance and main street back to the park.

This sign showed up about August 25 announcing the model home opening.

Outside the sales office, hence the "circus land" name.

View from second floor to living/dining room. Tatami room to right. Kitchen is typically small; extends beyond the bottom of the photo. Bath and laundry would be to the right opposite the tatami room.

Master bedroom decor. There was a huge walk-in closet here, plus two other rooms upstairs.

Update for August 2017

This red bird was beautiful so I took a photo of it sitting pretty wherever it was.
I arrived back in Japan on August 18. August is always hot and humid, but this year it was rather cool and cloudy, but little rain until the end of the month.

The garden veggies were in need of some TLC so I cleaned up all that and harvested the tomatoes and peppers. Now to tackle the strawberries. Henry put in ocra and it's doing well. Salads are in abundance for meals now.

Henry working on the front steps. He took out one so now there are four long ones instead of five short ones split in the center. He finished staining all five decks around the house about the first week of September. It does look nice.