Home Again

Hubby and I arrived home yesterday and when we finally went to bed last night we had been up over 37 hours straight. We have learned though, to try to stay up until close to your normal bedtime when arriving in a different time zone and jet lag doesn't usually hit as bad as it can if you don't get right back to your normal schedule. That being said though, I'm sure both of us will "hit a wall" about 3:30 or 4:00 this afternoon. That always happens for a few days too, so I try to be really productive in the mornings when first arriving home. The strange thing is, it only happens when coming home, never when arriving in our vacation spot. I've been told that it's because of the direction you travel. And now, on to some photos.

Arriving at Narita airport after a one hour flight and 11 1/2 hour flight. I think those airplane seats get closer together on newer planes. My legs were practically at my chest!

The second pictures is our first morning in Tokyo at Maui coffee roasters for breakfast with Alex. Since we didn't get to go to Maui for the past two years, this is as close as we'll get!

The next pictures were at the Edo Museum in Tokyo where we were lucky enough to be there on the last day of the beautiful demonstration of koto playing by these two beautiful girls. The music was magical and made you feel as though you were in another world altogether. This museum has the history of Tokyo during the Edo period and is very interesting. Rickshaws were scattered everywhere we went in Japan. The athletic ability of these young people pulling them was amazing. Young men AND women!

We spent a few days in Kyoto too and Alex made reservations for us to visit the Imperial Palace there. These reservations aren't easy to get and we felt very lucky to be able to actually see the inside of the palace. The gardens were amazing! Those are handpainted panels that are thousands of years old. It's amazing how they have stood the test of time with the heat and humidity in Kyoto in the summers.

A look at our room in Kyoto. We stayed at a traditional Japanese ryoken across the street from the temple. You sleep in a room on futons. Teas is also served to you in this room. We were lucky enough to have a toilet and sink in our room but the shower is a communal shower and tub set-up. WAAAAAY out of my comfort zone. It has six showers and one big hot bath in the same room. I wanted to get pictures of the shower room for you but it was always occupied when I tried. The first two nights we were there I think I was the only female guest so I had the shower room and tub to myself. The last night was very busy so I skipped the shower/bath. There are exact steps you are to use when showering and bathing in these rooms and I'm always afraid I'll wash or not wash in the incorrect order. :-)Not to mention I'm not fond of being seeing in the "altogether" if you get my meaning by a bunch of tiny women!

Alex is wearing the traditional robe, that you wear to the shower/tub room. Each of us had one and if you visit my facebook page you'll see a great picture that Alex posted of the three of us wearing them. The last three pictures are bathroom pictures! Can you believe the door is only 14 inches wide? Not very big people in Japan!!! Of course the famous heated seats and fancy sprays, etc. and the last is the traditional Japanese toilet in the floor. On my last two trips to Japan I had no problem using these, but my leg muscles are getting old along with the rest of me! I stood in line waiting for the one "western" toilet in a lot of restrooms. :-)

I don't want to leave you with bathroom humor so here's a beautiful photo of a garden that we visited. Do you want to see a few more photos next post or are you done with Japan pictures? I don't want to bore you.

Blessings,
Betsy

Now it's REALLY SNOW!

Two hours ago. Snow but not too much.

Then about ten minutes ago.

To give a bit of perspective. In that last picture you can barely see the Rhubarb peeking out of the raised bed. It's about 6-7 inches tall! These are the snow flurries that the weather person predicted. I just had the news on and they said the snow is over for Spokane. Really? Come look at my house. I'm in Spokane! It's still coming down like gangbusters and makes me really thankful for this:

Yep. My hero came home last night and rid the stove of the dead bird. I soon had a roaring fire going and I happily sat and knitted the evening away in front of it while Hubby went to yet another meeting. Poor guy.

The fire is crackling away merrily again and there is a bonus. Even though it got down to 21F last night, our furnace only came on once all night since 4:30 yesterday afternoon. Maybe we'll see a decrease in our heating costs this winter.

Here's the progress on my scarf which I want to join into a circle for a cowl. It's about four feet long and I think I need another foot on it. Then blocking. I so want to take this with me on our trip. Maybe there is a chance! I do have to add shoveling the sidewalks to my to-do list now. :-(

Blessings,

Betsy

Snow?!

Good Monday Morning to you all! It's so good to be able to get up and come to the computer and say hello to all of you out there in blogland. I really do feel like many of you have become friends. With your sweet comments and things that you've shared with me through this blog and yours. I'm SO glad to know you all! Seriously. I am.

It was a busy, busy weekend. Hubby and I spent much of Saturday running errands in preparation for being gone almost two weeks. We also wanted to pick up some gifts for anyone we might meet while there. The custom in Japan is to give a small gift when you meet with someone. It may be a bookmark, a pencil, candy, etc. Alex also wanted to see if we could find Huckleberry tea for the ladies in his office. They drink lots of tea and since the Inland Northwest is known for it's huckleberry's, that's the logical choice to take. We had to try a few places, but success was had at last! We also bought a few packages of Huckleberry candies as small gifts to give.

Our Japanese "daughter", Harumi lives in the Tokyo area, so we'll be able to visit with her too. When I was there two years ago, she had just had her baby, Harutaro, the day before I arrived in Tokyo. I was very excited to see him so soon after his birth. I told her it was very nice of her to time the delivery so well! I was only in Tokyo for two days that trip so it really was amazing that she delivered him right at that time. I send Harutaro little gifts once in awhile. This is the outfit that we bought for him on Saturday. It looks like it will be really big for him, but better too big than too small. He will always grow, right?

The shirt is actually purple checks but the color isn't showing up well.

Our bags are full and I don't even have my clothes in there yet! Uh-oh. I know I'll figure it out, I always do. But that doesn't mean I don't panic in the meantime.

You remember the title of this post? Snow. Yes we got our first snow yesterday. It melted as it hit the ground at our house, but about 2 miles from here had 3 inches on the ground. Thankfully it's gone now, but it was a BAD reminder of what is in store for us this season. Ick. The time change was bad enough yesterday, but snow too? I'll say it again. Ick!

Our small group had the hospitality lunch after church yesterday. That means we were responsible for fixing lunch for any visitors and/or members that wanted to stay for lunch and chatting. It's always fun, but it is a lot of work. Hubby and I arrived home five minutes before our cord of wood was delivered. Yep. A little over a cord of wood dumped in our driveway. So guess what we did all afternoon? We hauled a cord of wood, one wheelbarrow load at a time to our backyard and stacked it. Hours later it was done. I should have taken a picture then, it looked so nice all stacked and ready for a nice fire. But...I forgot so I ran out this morning and lifted the tarps a bit to show you. I'm so looking forward to a nice fire.

About 1/4 of it is stacked close to the family room door for ease of retrieval this winter. The rest is stacked on the side of the house further away.

I have a confession. I went to light a fire this morning and when I opened the stove door-there was a dead bird. I just couldn't do it. I closed the door and called Hubby at work. He was in a meeting but I left him a voicemail saying I had a little job for him when he gets home! I know. I know. I'm a wimp. I just can't deal with dead animals. Especially birds. I didn't even take a picture to show you. I just slammed the door shut and ran! I guess I'll be sitting by the gas fire today!

So on a much more pleasant subject, I finished the socks I was working on even with the busy weekend. I have started another pair for me, but they will remain barely started until the plane trips. I wanted to do just enough so they could see that they were really socks and knitting needles, but not too much that I would run out of a project before I get home. It's always a dilemma for me. How much yarn should I pack?

This is my current project. I've ripped it out yet again and started it for the third time.

Do you remember it? It's my birthday yarn from last year. The silk and silver and cashmere yarn. I'm making the pattern up as I go and I so wanted to have it done by the time we leave so I could wear it over there. But I'm afraid that won't happen. It's barely 11 inches and it needs to be at least 60. Oh well. Who knows it MIGHT happen. Stranger things have.

Okay. I really need to get busy. I can't wrap any of the gifts because of TSA, so I'll take paper cut to the proper size and tape. Lots of other little stuff I need to get done today too.

Have a lovely day my friends.

BLessings,
Betsy

"Be still and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10