Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Zach in his new Slanket. I told him he looks like a jedi.


Zach being goofy on his birthday

Happy Birthday, Zach! Today is Zach's 35th birthday, and I wanted to post some birthday wishes to my husband. He opened his gifts a little while ago, and one of them is a blanket with sleeves, called a Slanket. I snapped a few photos of him modeling the thing; I think he looks like a jedi. Hee, hee. If you have a gamer in your life, you might want to consider getting them one of these. They have a website: http://www.theslanket.com/. The idea is that you can stay warm and still have your hands free to work and play on your computer. Geeky, no? It's still too warm to actually use the thing, but come winter, it will be nice. Of course, this also means that I'll never get him off the computer, but that's another story. Happy Birthday, Zach-san. :-)

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Rice


Fields of rice near our house


This has to be the creepiest scarecrow of them all.

She doesn't look like she feels very good, does she?

The Audrey Hepburn of scarecrows.

"The fields are alive with the sound of Ellen's screams."

No, Kid Scarecrow, you can't come over to play.

"Hey, throw the ball over here."

"I'm too cool to look at you."

Birds, birds everywhere.

Hello! I came across some things that had to be photographed, and I'm wondering if they will creep you out as much as they creep me out. Zach and I like to go for walks in the evenings along the paths in the rice fields near our house. We've been watching the rice grow for a few months now, and recently grains started to appear on the stalks. Lots of happy and hungry birds are swarming the fields in search of food, and the farmers have erected their very special Japanese scarecrows. Up until this year, scarecrows never actually scared me. I mean, wasn't the scarecow in the Wizard of Oz one of the nicest characters ever? But now I've seen the Japanese version of a scarecrow, and there is something super-creepy about them. Maybe it's their faces. Maybe it's their eyes. Their hair? I don't know. All I do know is that even though the farmers have done a great job making their scarecrows realistic and creepy to humans, the birds don't care a bit. But does that really surprise you?

Monday, August 18, 2008

Hee, hee, hee.


"Do you like to draw? Yes."


"What is the weather like?" (Oddly appropriate for the wife of a weather forecaster, no?)

Hi, there. I hope everyone is well. So, um, Tofu Man was feeling kind of lonely. I couldn't resist this pink square of cuteness, so I handed over some yen and brought her home. And no, Zach didn't run away in fright. He might have rolled his eyes a little, but he didn't run away. I don't know why many of you find these stuffed creatures disturbing. I think they are cute and so different from anything you'd find in the States. As you can see, I've been expanding my wardrobe as well. I always seem to get a chuckle out of Japanese folks when I wear my Tofu T-shirts, and I've had Seiko translate them for me so I don't have to worry that I'm wearing something that has an offensive saying on it.

Things are good here. Today has actually been sort of mild in the weather department. We've been staying pretty close to home, but this weekend we did get out a bit. On Friday, we went to the army's version of the game show "Deal, or No Deal." They were giving out cash prizes and free food, so we decided to check it out. Unfortunately we didn't win anything, but it was entertaining in a weird sort of way. On Saturday we went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant with this new club I joined, the Atsugi Enlisted Spouse Association. They do a lot of volunteer work for the community and plan fun activities for navy spouses to partake in. Sometimes they also do activities where you can bring your husband, and Saturday night's activity was one. A friend from my washi paper class invited me to join. I think it will be a fun way to connect with other spouses, and I hope to volunteer some of my free time.

So, that's about it. Enjoy the photos, and don't worry. I have control of the situation with this tofu thing. No, really I do!

Friday, August 8, 2008

Strawberry cake and coffee, anyone?


Close up

Hello! Hey, for those of you who like cool number combinations like me, it's 08/08/08!! Just thought I'd share.

So remember a few months ago when I was talking about these really neat felt food kits that they sell at Yuzawaya, and how I wanted to try to make one but didn't really know how to justify spending hours of my life making fake food? Well, I bought one of the kits that a few of you encouraged me to get, and I finally put it together this week. I couldn't read the directions because they were all in Japanese, but the pictures were good and I used them to figure out how to sew it together. I had a blast making it, and my brain is going crazy with this whole new world of felt food. How can you not love Japanese crafts?!