Good Morning Week!

AHHH!  I feel like I might be on the mend.  Finally!  My fever has been gone for an entire day now.  My spots have all started the first steps to disappearing.  I think the anti-viral medication the Dr. gave me was the turning point.  Hubby and I had a very lazy weekend, full of knitting, (for me), and movies on the television.

Just as we were falling asleep last night the phone rang.  We've learned not to panic when it rings after 10:00 p.m., it's usually Alex in Japan.  And it was.  He was calling to tell us all about the apartment he's found in Tokyo.  It's about a 15 minute walk to the university he'll be working at.  I was appalled at the price but he assures us that it's very reasonable for Tokyo.  He can see the Tokyo Tower, (Looks like the Eiffel Tower) from the street outside his door.  Now I have a fairly good idea of the part of town he's in since I've been to the tower a couple of times.  He begins his new job on February 1 and his emotions are torn.  He absolutely loves the people in northern Japan, but his girlfriend lives in Tokyo.  The jobs are in Tokyo.  You could just hear the excitement in his voice about new beginnings.

Here's a picture of Anri, (Alex's girlfriend), and me in September.

 And here's Alex, Anri and her dog during the same visit.

Now a few ta-da moments for you of different projects I managed to finish up while laying around all week.  Enjoy!  I also made 4 pink hats that I forgot to photograph.  These were boxed up this morning to send to the "Lil Troopers" charity.  It's a group that provides baby items for miliary families.  I just found this pattern and I love it.  A hat takes about 1 1/2 hours to knit so it's a fast, satisfying knit.  You can change the size just by adjusting your needle size.  Very easy.

 This will be a hat for our local hospital.  I was trying out a new crochet pattern and it looked huge so I tried it on a doll I have that is newborn size and it fits perfectly!

 This blanket is one I wasn't really happy with the end product, but too much work went into it for me to rip it out.  It was boxed up this morning too, for the ongoing baby shower at Pine Ridge Reservation, another charity group I'm in.  It's the feather and fan pattern.

 I think you'll be able to see the pattern better here.

There is another box to mail with two scarves and two hats for the "Outreach to Appalachia" charity group I'm in.  I forgot to take pictures of those items for you.

I finally finished the queen size crocheted blanket for the wedding shower I have later this month.  It seemed to take forever, but maybe that's because I was sick.  In actuality, it was only 9 days.

 A close up of one of the squares for you to see.  I love the pineapple detailing.

So apparentlybeing sick was a productive time for me!  Three boxes off to different charities and the wedding blanket done.  Now I can relax a bit and plan my next projects besides the ongoing baby hats.

I collect angels and my best friend gave me this one for my birthday last year.  She hangs on the wall right next to the bed.  Isn't she beautiful?

 And, of course, my Chloe baby.  She's been right next to me on the sofa the entire week.  How I love this dog.  She's such a great companion and so gentle.  She acts so shy when I take her picture!  Just like a girl!

I hope I'm well enough tomorrow to take all my boxes to the post office. I really want to beat the rate increase.  Now I need to get started on more hats for the local hospital.  My needles sure seem to keep busy. 

What are you up to today?  The sun is shining here.  How about where you live?  Have a wonderful Monday everyone!

Blessings,

Betsy

It's Cold!

Hello Everyone!  It's cold here in the northwest!  Tuesday and Wednesday mornings were in the upper teens and today was 22 on our back deck.  The weatherman said it was warmer than that, but we always seem to get colder temps and more snow in our area.

A friend dropped off 2 boxes and a bag full of old, old, old knitting magazines.  I picked through and chose about 8 to keep.  She has someone else that wants to look at them too.  It was so much fun to look at the patterns from the 70's and 80's.  And the hair!!!  Oh my!  What were we thinking?  I imagine that will be what people say in 20 years when they look at pictures we're taking now.

This is what I did this morning.

We have Bible Study at our house tonight and although we usually don't have snacks, just coffee and tea, I decided that the cold weather dictated some yummy muffins.  Then I realized that it's Cheryl's birthday today, so it is very appropriate to have baked goodies.  Right?  These are chocolate/peanut butter chip muffins.  The filling is chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, cream cheese and sugar. In other words, no calories at all! :-)

I finished this set on Tuesday evening.  I think I've made 6 or so of these sets this year.  I like the flower on the hat.  Every flower I put on the girls hats are different because I can't remember what I did before!  It is chocolate brown and pink, made from Caron's Simply Soft yarn.

And this, this is my dear friend "V".  I visit her a couple of times a week and I love her to pieces.  I used to help care for her and her husband who has now passed away.  She calls me her "knitting angel" because she has Alzheimers and can't remember names.  She knows who I am though and I love her like a mother.  My Mom died when I was 29 years old. "V" is within 2 weeks of the age my own Mom would have been had she lived.  Maybe that's why I care so much for her.  One of the aides took this picture for me on Tuesday.

Now I'm working on a hat and scarf for myself.  Now that's a shocker.  I hardly every keep anything for myself but decided to make some cold weather things for myself.  I'll post pictures when I can.

Alex has recieved yet another box of hats, baby items and mittens for the people in Japan.  Thank you all for the support you have shown this project.  He apologizes for not distributing the last 3 boxes he's recieved.  He's been very ill with a flu-like illness and has not been able to get out. He's much better now and will get the items to their new owners as soon as possible.

Here's a verse from a song that's been repeating itself over and over in my head all week long.  It's from the song "Hosanna" by Hillsong. I hope it means something to you too.

Heal my heart and make it clean.
Open up my eyes to the things unseen.
Show me how to love like You have loved  me.
Break my heart for what breaks Yours,
Everthing I am for Your Kingdoms cause,
As I walk from earth into eternity.

I do want my heart to break for what breaks my Lords' heart and I want to be His hands and feet while I walk on this earth.  Let me know your thoughts on this if you would like to share.

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Blesssings,

Betsy

Thursday!

Ever have one of those days where you do lots of stuff but it doesn't look like it?  I was very industrious today, sweeping floors, dusting, cleaning the bathrooms.  I even trimmed the bushes outside on this very beautiful fall day.  But the thing of it is, nothing looks any different!  I guess now that it's just Dennis and myself, the house doesn't get very cluttered or dirty.  It was much more rewarding when I could see the difference it made when I cleaned.

I also started another Rainbow Baby Blanket.

Not too bad of progress for day one.  Hopefully I'll finish it tomorrow.  I actually sold one of these for to a friend today for a baby gift.  I wish I could find an outlet to sell more of my things to help pay for my fiber habit.

I just took this picture of my baby Chloe.  You can see how disturbed she is by having her picture taken!  She is just the sweetest dog I've ever known.  She loves her coca-cola blanket.  It's one of those really soft fleece blankets and she loves to snuggle on it in front of the fire.

Tomorrow night and Saturday I'm going to a ladies retreat up in the mountains north of here.  It's about 50 miles south of the Canadian border and a beautiful place in the fall.  Of course, when you get a bunch of women together there isn't much sleeping going on.  I've heard rumors that there is going to be a chocolate buffet tomorrow night.  Oh, I'll definitely be in Heaven!!!!  So much for Weight Watchers this week.

I've been asked to speak at a "ladies day" in Montana next month.  They want me to talk about the Hats for Japan project and how it started as an idea and with the help of many, progressed to almost 1500 items to help keep people warm this winter.  I think the theme is something about how we can all do something, even if it's small, to help others.  I am NOT a speaker.  This is definitely NOT in my comfort zone.  Don't get me wrong, I love to talk. To one or two people.  Not in front of a group.  Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I prepare my "talk".

Have a wonderful Friday everyone and enjoy your weekend.  I plan to eat lots of chocolate!

Blessings,

Betsy

Rainy Day

We're having another typical fall day. It's raining, raining, raining.  But then, rain is much better than snow so I'm not going to complain. 

I went to my Weight Watcher meeting this morning.  It was my first day weighing in with jeans on and not a sundress and it showed on the scale.  I've been maintaining the same weight all summer and it's time for me to 'fess up and get serious.  So, I'm publicing telling you all that I'm a Weight Watchers member and I'm beginning anew today!  Whew!  I did it.  Now you all need to hold me accountable.  The only good thing is that I didn't gain over the past few months.  But, I'm paying for these meetings and I don't want to keep on paying with no results.  I need your help!

Now, back to Japan.  I hope you're enjoying the pictures.  Here are a few more to help you "go with me" and experience the trip with me.  These pictures were all in a town called Tono.  It's not too far inland from Kamaishi and Alex had always wanted to visit so we had lunch and went to the museum on our way home.  Lots of fokelore in the area and he loves that kind of history.  There is a mythical creature that lives in the creek that Alex is standing my.  People fish for this creature called a "Kappa" with cucumbers.  Really.  Cucumbers!



Spider web at the museum in Tono.  Isn't it a work of art?




My favorite colors!  There was a huge meadow of these flowers.

The next three pictures are of silkworms and a spinning wheel.  If you look closely in the top picure you can see the silk threads running from the bowl to the wheel.  The third picture is of the silkworms in the trees hanging from the ceiling.  I actually got to spin some silk!  For those of you that know me, I'm an beginning spinner and have my own wheel at home.  This was a wonderful experience for me.

Thanks for visiting me today.  My dear husband and I are planning a trip to the Seattle area this weekend to visit an older couple that I met a few years ago.  They had to move last summer to an assisted living center to be closer to their children.  We're going now to avoid the snow and road closures on Snoqualimie Pass that happen every year.  We're hoping to visit Leavenworth, WA a quaint Bavarian village nestled in the Cascade mountains on our way home.  If the rain stops, I'll try to get some pictures for you all.

Blessings and happy Wednesday to you all,

Betsy

It's Monday!

What a beautiful day we're experiencing today in Spokane.  I think I need to get out and enjoy it this afternoon since the next three days are supposed to be rain.  Boooo! I am not one of those people who like fall.  I think it's because I know that winter comes right behind fall and I absolutely detest snow.  We had such a long cold spring this year that it doesn't seem possible that summer is over.  It seems like it just got warm and now it's getting chilly at night.  No furnace yet but it did get to 44 a few nights ago and that's pushing it for open windows!

For those of you that think all of Washington State is like Seattle and rainy all the time, Spokane is on the other side of the state, right on the Idaho border.  We're considered high desert and don't get much rain here.  Usually we have at least 3 months every summer with NO rain at all!  Every time I tell someone I'm from Spokane they ask me if I get tired of the rain.  :-)  When I tell them we're in the desert and hardly get any rain they are always surprised and ask me if I'm sure!  Well I've lived here 18 years and it's been like this most years!  So yeah, I'm sure.

I thought I would show you some miscellaneous pictures from my trip the next few posts.  Not much to do with the Hat Project, but interesting, (to me anyway!)  I hope you enjoy them too.



This is Alex an I on the train to Tokyo right after I landed at Narita.  At this point I had been up about 22 hours.  Don't you just love all of my chins?

 

This is me with Anri, Alex's girlfriend and most likely my future daughter-in-law!  Add a few more hours onto the awake time from above.  At a certain point you're just not tired anymore but in a fog.  We were at a very nice restaurant in Tokyo but for the life of me, I can't remember the name of it.





This is Harumi, our "adopted" daughter.  She stayed with us while completing her bachelors degree in the states.  I told her she had to have the baby by Saturday because that was the only day I would be able to see her in Tokyo.  Always accomodating, Harumi delivered Harutaro by an unplanned c-section on Friday.  She plans to bring him to visit us before she returns to work.  I'm looking forward to her visit very much.

 


  





Harutaro
Isn't he beautiful?

These are ladies in Alex's english conversation class that he teaches in the evening.  They made me some wonderful food on Tuesday evening.  It's kind of like a Japanese pancake with lots of goodies inside.

Alex and I took a walk near his apartment.  These water lillies??? were all over a pond in the park.  They were so beautiful.  It was raining lightly and it made all the colors even more vibrant.

I hope you enjoyed these pictures.  I'll try to return tomorrow with more to show you.  Tonight we're having friends over for dinner.  I'm making homemade chicken and noodles, baking powder biscuits, pretzel strawberry salad and green beans from the garden.  I made a rubarb pie yesterday for dessert.  I had frozen the rubarb last month from the garden.  I better get busy if I plan to get it all done in time.  See you all soon.
Blessings,

Betsy

Kamaishi

It's the last day of September already.  It's hard to believe that the month is already over.  It was a busy one, that's for certain.  Well, I promised pictures of Kamaishi and here they are.



Can you believe this huge ship, just sitting on dry land.  It will cost millions and millions of dollars to move it back to the sea, so no decision has been made yet as to the future of this beautiful ship.



Kamaishi seemed to be even worse than Ishinomaki to my untrained eyes, but then we didn't travel throughout the whole of either town.  I'm almost completely wordless when trying to describe the devasation and it's not just these two towns.  This kind of scene repeats itself along the entire eastern coast of this area.  Add to this the nuclear disaster and it becomes almost unfathomable.  So many people are homeless, jobless, almost to the point of giving up hope.  Please don't forget them.

I'm so grateful to each and every one of you that has contributed to them in whatever way that was.  Next week I'll post some happier pictures with some of the lovely people in Alex's town who made me feel so welcome.  As always, thanks for reading.

Blessings,

Betsy

Address for sending items to Japan

I mentioned in my post earlier today that unfortunately I can't continue to collect items for Japan.  After that was posted I recieved a message on Ravelry from craftyrider who gave me a possible link.

I emailed the contact given to me and he graciously emailed me back a long note about his project.  His name is Bernd Kestler and he lives in Yokohama, Japan.  He would LOVE to continue recieving items from any of you would like to continue sending them.

He is also collecting knitting needles and crochet hooks and yarn.  Preferably natural fiber yarns but will take anything.  They are teaching classes in all of the various areas affected by the tsunami/earthquake/typhoon.

How wonderful is this?  I know many of you still want to continue to help.  He said he knows postage can be an issue but that even "one wooley hat will keep someone warm and will fit into an envelope with not much postage".  He clearly has a heart to help the Japanese people.  Here's his address:

Bernd Kestler
Yokohama-shi 223-0062
Kohoku-ku
Hiyoshi Honcho 6-39-9
Japan

His blog is at  http://knitforjapan.wordpress.com/

I hope any of you interested will check it out.  I'll be back tomorrow and show you the pictures of Kamaishi as promised.

Blessings,

Betsy

Matsushima Bay

After we left Ishinomaki we stayed the night in Matsushima Bay at the Japanese equivilent of a bed & breakfast.  It was very nice and we had a traditional breakfast of miso soup, fish, rice, pickles and green tea.  Yum!  Matsushima Bay was also affected by the typhoon but not as severely as many other towns.  From what Alex and I saw, the bay bore the brunt of the storm and protected the town itself.  Here are a few pictures of that area.

This was our room.  They served us green tea when shown to our room.  No furniture to sit on, just the floor.  The T.V. was 100 yen just to turn it on!  Needless to say, we didn't watch T.V. Alex was making phone calls to arrange to meet a daycare provider that evening to give her hats for the families in her area near Kessenuma.  Notice the only mirror in the room on the 6 inch box on the floor!

When we returned to the room the table had been moved and our futons set up for the night.  My 22 year old son insisted we move them to opposite sides of the room because he was NOT going to sleep that close to his mom.  That would be too "weird" you know!  :-)  They were actually very comfortable and cozy.

This was the bay area where all the bricks had been washed away from this sidewalk by the tsunami.

A boat, tossed onshore by the wave.

This was an undamaged mosaic on the sidewalk.  Notice the bricks to the left are washed away.



There was supposed to be a footbridge out to this island but it was destroyed and found inland after the tsunami.

 I did want to get more pictures of Matsushima Bay because there was much more damage, but it got dark very quickly.  We planned to go back to the bay area the next morning but woke to fog and rain.

I have been asked if I am still collecting items for Japan.  As much as I would love to continue, I simply can't afford to keep sending boxes there.  Alex has also exhausted his savings mailing boxes around Japan to areas we couldn't drive to.  If I find an outlet that will accept items directly from crafters I'll be sure to post the address for anyone who would like to continue to send items.  I know anything that can be sent would be appreciated.

I'll be back tomorrow with pictures of Kamaishi.

Blessings,

Betsy

Ishinomaki

Good Morning!  This morning I want to tell you a bit about Ishinomaki.  The two towns Alex and I visited were Ishinomaki and Kamaishi.  Tomorrow I'll post pictures from Kamaishi.  These towns are very close to the Sendai area that was on the news so much.

We delivered the knitted items to a gentleman named Fumito Suzuki.  He told us his story of the day of the tsunami-riding his mo-ped to try to warn people and almost getting swept away himself by the giant wave.  He said when he finally escaped, he looked back and saw people being washed from cars and being swept away.

He opened up his home to over 40 people after the disaster.  That was amazing when you think about how small most Japanese homes are.  He spends his days trying to help the many, many people still in shelters.  He is a photographer by trade, but feels bad about charging people in these difficult days so he is working mostly for free.  Fumito is an amazing man who is just trying to get by, day to day and help those who lost everything.  He feels guilty and humbled by turn to still have his home and possessions so does whatever he can for others.

Here are a few pictures of Ishinomaki.  I'll let them speak for themselves.  As I said yesterday.  All were taken from the car as we drove through.  I didn't want to seem to exploit the people any further by stopping to walk around.



This is a huge pile of debris that has been collected.  You can see how much has already been done in the cleanup by this pile.  But you can see by the pictures, how much still needs to be done.

 



This is the hospital that so many of you probably saw on the news.  It looks fairly good from this angle, but the first 3 floors are destroyed.  Windows gone, equipment gone.  Patients were floating out the broken windows.  The hospital is just 2 blocks from the ocean and they had virtually no time to react.



 

These pictures don't begin to show the absolute devastation.  Blocks and blocks of flattened areas with no buildings at all.  These used to be bustling towns where people lived and worked in the same buildings.  There was no dicrimination in the damage.  Well-to-do and poor people alike lost everything and now have to begin again.  After the typhoon last week, it was another large blow to the area.

Tomorrow I'll show you a few pictures of Kamaishi.  Thank you again for your help.

Blessings,

Betsy