Diary of a Nobody

Well, I've been at this blogging business for a week now and I still have no comments, no followers, no feedback of any sort... Ho hum... I guess I'm too boring...  Oh, nobody loves what I'm doing here....  It sure is sucking up lots of time and I'm feeling a bit like I'm tossing my best efforts into a big black hole, though. Maybe I need to toot my horn a bit more, eh? But, I guess for now it is for my own pleasure. A lack of pressure is probably a good thing though, especially as I get the feel for my own personal style; contemplate why I actually decided to dust off my first effort of 2 ho hum posts written more than 2 years ago; and figure out how I want things to look.

I have thousands and thousands of photos sitting around in digital format and probably as many on old fashioned print form... I was really enjoying time on Flickr as Pine57 until Flickr did a major overhaul in their web design and caused me to flee. I just don't find it as user friendly as it was before, even though it is certainly flashier looking. But, I enjoyed the chit chat of finding others with similar interests via our photography and somehow the new design just isn't as appealing to me as before. So, I've been mulling over branching out a bit and adding more context to my photos by blogging.

I have many hobbies and passions. So, I'll introduce a few here to help myself with some future topics to delve into a bit deeper later on.

First off, I was born on a farm and remain a country girl at heart. I just don't like the big city and apparently the big city knows me for what I am!

Apologies to that shop as I did have to tweak the photo a bit to show the store's name as it truly is. My original photo had a bit of glare on it so it just wasn't as easy to read as it is now. But, no lie, this truly is a shop and brand in Japan! 

 

 

Instead of the fast pace of the city, I prefer to explore the quiet side of Japan. Shizuoka Prefecture is a great place for that as it is home to "quiet hills" as the name means in English and, of course, green tea.

 

 

I love the beautiful fine chinaware that is a part of everyday life in Japan. How about a cup of local green tea at home?

 

 

 

Or, maybe some English tea with a beautiful Noritake cup that mirrors flowers clipped from my own garden?

 

 

 

 

Yes, gardening is another of my pleasures. I started on this little backyard of rocks and rubble 25 years ago and now it has matured enough, with the survival of the fittest plants for this climate, to give me a lot of joy at certain times of the year. At other times of the year, like mid-winter, it is very drab and bleak looking...

 

 

Ok, maybe I exaggerated a bit! We don't get a snowy winter and my maple turns brilliant in December! But, once it's dropped it's leaves, which times quite badly against a Christmas tree, things do get a bit drab.

 

 

 

 

 

I fell in love with David Austin's English roses and planted several varieties. Some have done better in my region of Japan than others did (i.e. they quickly died off).

 

 

Ah, I just love my garden in May when so many things bloom!

 

I love nature, too!

 

I especially love irises in all their various forms. The violet-shaded Chinese orchids go so nice together with them, too!

 

 

June brings the hydrangeas in to bloom in the garden. The wonderful thing about them is that they are native to Japan so really need no special care at all to thrive. I actually have 3 more cuttings that I grew from this deep blue hydrangea.

 

 

I've also got this pinkish hydrangea too.

 

 

 

Well, if you looked closely at the size of my garden in one of the photos above, you'll see that maintaining it is a bit different than an American sized backyard.

 

I have no need for a big noisy lawn mower here! Just push this toy-like mower around and then get on hands and knees and trim the rest with scissors!

 

 

When I was much younger, living in a cramped Japanese apartment, and with small children, I dreamed of having my own home. On the wish list, besides the backyard that could supply beautiful flowers for arranging, I also envisioned having a cat, a sofa, and enough free time to do something homey like quilting. Lucky me, eventually I got it all!

 

 

 

Yes, home is where the heart is.

 

 

 

 

I've never gotten a dryer, though. But, I've lived so many years now without one that I don't miss it at all. Back in the day, I had to hang a lot of cloth diapers on the line no matter what the weather was though.

 

 

 

I am a self taught quilter. I took up the hobby in part to get back to my roots but also to add some homeyness to the sterile white walls in what was then my new home. We didn't have the money to indulge in works of art so I set about creating something to make our new house a home. You'll probably be seeing lots of my handmade quilts in my photos. I use them for accents and change them according to season. I've made way too many Halloween quilts and will write about them one of these days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love decorating for the season. It started off as a way to teach my children about the culture I grew up in and then just sort of took off from there as they have long since grown and flown the coop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love decorating and creating the mood for Christmas too.

 

 

Looking at this, I'll bet you imagine that I have lots of nice presents under the tree. Nope, I don't think anyone in my family has remembered to give me a gift in at least the last 3 Christmases. Maybe it's been longer. Oh, it's just toooooo depressing to think about.... So, moving on....

 

 

I love nature, mountains, forests, backwoods, camping, hiking....

 

Set the mood...

 

 

And eventually, it happens that I get to go out, out, out, into the big beyond where few venture to go.

 

...And, the Mr. gets to enjoy playing with a campfire and cooking rice over the open flame of a charcoal fire!

...And, I get to sit back and enjoy a cup of coffee. Don't worry, I make one for him too!

 

 

 

So, my life here in Japan is lived between two cultures.

 

 I, also, collect a variety of knick-knacks, postcards, stamps... I grew up in a multi-generational home, with lots of family history, so most of the little vintage and antique things that I have here come from my childhood home. They have lots of emotional memories tied to them. But, I keep my eyes open to add a bit of this and that which strikes my fancy too.

 

 

Besides the beauty of nature, I love visiting Japanese temples and shrines. As my husband has said, the people who envisioned them and carried through with the idea were the "rocket scientists of their day".

I hope you enjoy getting to know me. Please, don't hesitate to leave me a comment or become a fan of my new blog!

 

 

Yoroshiku!

My pathetic July garden...

 

Summer is definitely here or should I say "hear" as the cicadas have started their incessant early morning whine. I hate the Japanese summer as it is just so hot, and humid, and endless... We have no big travel plans this summer so I really need to psych myself up for the simple pleasures of a summer spent in puddles of sweat. It's a little early for the wonderful fireworks displays and nighttime festivals. My morning glory put out a week or two of beautiful light purple flowers and then promptly seemed to die. It never grew more than a foot or two tall and now seedpods are forming!

I have been enjoying my green backyard this year, though. Last autumn I finally found some "lace" curtains for the living room window that would fit their unusual height so bought them. They were super cheap at a Jusco, off the shelf, but were a major disappointment when I got them home. For one thing, they were just a wall of white and totally blocked out the outside view. They were replacing an ordermade cream colored curtain that had been hanging for nearly 25 years. But, those had become so damaged from UV rays that even the slightest pressure when opening them would cause a new tear and soon me with a needle and thread trying to delicately repair another spot. Anyway, I tea stained the new curtains to match as close to the other less damaged ones in the room. As they were so opaque we took to opening the lace curtains during the day and now it's become habit. Suddenly, we can enjoy the fruits of our labors in the 25-years and growing backyard. It was just rocks and rubble when we got the house. The wall of green delights me each day. The survival of the fittest plants, including some volunteer trees, are reaching maturity. I only wish the people who have the neighboring house felt the same about gardening as late last summer they had a crew of senior citizens "Silver Service" come in and shave every single plant in the backyard down to the nub!

I enjoy flower arranging and clip greenery through the year to bring a bit of the outdoors inside. Today, I chose the smallest leaves of a funky plant my husband rescued more than 20 years ago. At the time, he misidentified it as a maple. But, it is great for ikebana and would certainly work better than a fig leaf for protection as fig leaves are downright itchy!

 

 

As I said, we have to no big travel plans this year. My RA is stable and my health has been improving by leaps and bounds over the past couple of years. So I decided to give gardening a little more attention than I have in the past decade when poor health took over my life. Before my husband could plant another pathetic watermelon in his jumbo sized planters, I snuck in some tomato plants, eggplants, cucumbers, basil, marigolds, nasturtiums, parsley, and shiso. I was looking for companions plants and my husband was calling them a new Japanese term that was something like "bridal plants".

 

 

 

 

 

Within 6 weeks of planting, I got the first cucumber and mini-tomato on June 25.

 

 

Rainy Season was mostly a no show this past June. I think we will have serious water shortfalls by August if things don't improve. This morning, I took a few shots to record how things are growing. Over the past month, we've already enjoyed several regular sized tomatoes from the 2 plants I purchased. They were a branded type that are often seen in the supermarket so promised a good taste. I grew up on a farm, with a massive vegetable garden, so sniffing that weird tomato fragrance when you brush against the leaves is an added nostalgic bonus for me. I know I can't count on having the same bumper crop next year as tomatoes are heavy feeders of the nutrients in the soil and shouldn't be planted in the same spot a second year.

 

One of my favorite summer flowers, that always produces masses of blooms no matter the heat, is the portulaca. I usually plant several starter plants and enjoy them until late in the early winter kill-off. This year, I experimented with a packet of seeds. I've NEVER had luck with planting seeds in Japan.  I had high hopes when masses of early sprouts came up with the seeds this year, though. Now, into July, there is one lone plant and looks as if it will bloom soon. Guess I should have stuck with starters as I would have been enjoying flowers weeks ago!

I had high hopes for refreshing summer drinks of lemon and mint when I planted a spearmint and peppermint plant a few months back. Indeed, I did enjoy a container or two. But, now mid-July, they look absolutely pathetic. I'm not too worried as I know they will probably take off and be as hard to kill off as that pesky lemon balm in garden. But wait, how did I kill off their predecessors?

 

Ah, I had so much hope for future rhubarb pies? Looks like one plant has died and the other is attempting a final stand. I killed off the previous plant by moving it too often. This was the first time I have seen rhubarb in my neck of the woods as I brought the former one down from Nagano about 20 years ago.

 

I don't have many stellar ideas on how to use rosemary. This plant looks pretty pathetic. It may just take off yet. Hopefully, by then, I'll have found a few nice recipes to use it in.

 

Love to see a rose in bloom! Nice bonus this morning when I spotted it.

 

Here is a goya, the so called "green curtain" plant, that everyone is urged to grow for eco- friendliness. I planted 2 this year. They still aren't tall enough to cover a window yet, though.

For some variety, I planted a yellow mini-tomato besides the standard red ones. So far the red is producing far more fruits.

Waiting for dinner in a
 few days time is the tomato below.

 

The mini-tomatoes that got a planter of their own are doing great.

 

Basil and tomatoes are supposed to be good companion plants. I've been picking basil nearly every day to add to lunch and dinner. My previous attempts of a lone basil plant produced a pathetic wispy plant that the bugs soon devoured. So, this has been a resounding success!

 

And, finally, the smell of an aging Japanese taxi driver's hair tonic has now been revealed as the scent of the kinkan (kumquat)!