Joy with my new garden

I've been wanting to write about my little garden for a while now. What's been stopping me? I've concluded that it's because it is not perfect, several aren't doing that wel! But that's a terrible excuse. Not all the plants are at their best, but it is winter time here, getting down to zero at nighttime, not the best time for plants! And because most of them are new to me and the conditions in this new apartment are also new to me, so I've been making lots of little adjustments: to plant placement (light and temperature variation), how much I water them.

These last five months has been a rebuilding time for my little potted garden. I got back some of the plants that I gave to others to take care of for the year we were away. Not all the plants made it through the transition to different locations and caretakers, so there was a fair bit of natural attrition. But as I got back some "old friends", I also got some new plants from the ladies who were looking after my plants, which was a surprise. On top of that I bought some new plants too. So now I have 21 pots with plants in them. Some are enjoying the bay window in our living room, two are in the dining/multipurpose area, and the rest are out on our tiny balcony, sharing space with laundry some days.

Parlor Palm

I felt very happy when my new garden was largely assembled. Why? Apparently there are many benefits to having indoor plants in your life (see this Time article, which, amongst other things cites an experiment where people who spent five to ten minutes in a room with a few houseplants felt happier than those in a plant-free room!) They are generally good for your mental health, though obviously not if plants are dying on you, which is why I always advise people to start with easy plants like geraniums, which are super hard to kill in moderate climates (mine survived being snowed on in Tokyo but didn't survive a year in a higher altitude when temperatures are much lower than here)! 

I particularly enjoy plants that I can nurture and see grow, rather than those you can buy fully grown and just water. There is also a lot of satisfaction in making changes so that a plant starts to thrive again. The Parlor Palm we have started out as a tiny little thing I bought for 100 yen (about a dollar)! It's now quite tall.

My sick maidenhair. I moved it outside
because I was concerned the fungus 
might jump ship to other plants, so I 
guess it's in isolation!

The maidenhair fern also started quite small and the second one (pictured) is a baby of the larger one. They've both been through some rough times. I think I'll have to wait till the weather warms us to see how they go. The latest drama with the little one seems to be a fungus of some sort.

Miniature rose

My miniature rose was a gift from David five years ago and it also has survived a few different crises. When we got it back this year it was just sticks and very dry, thankfully regular watering has revived some of the "sticks" and I'm hoping for good things come spring.

On either side of the rose you can see my efforts at a little bit of vegetable growing, but haven't had much success yet: my lettuces are still sprouts and I'm really not sure about the plants I thought were spring onions.

Baby hydrangeas. I don't know why they still 
have leaves...but I hope they flower in June!

The plants with the best story, though, are the two hydrangeas. Last year when we were moving out of our house in Tokyo I posted a photo of the two large hydrangeas in our backyard just as they were in full bloom, noting that I'd miss them. My mum suggested I take a cutting and someone else suggested that I ask a friend to look after the cuttings. I thought it was quite a long shot, but also realised I had nothing to lose. I Googled the topic, did the deed, then gave the fragile little cuttings to a Japanese friend (who also takes care of her parents' farm) and she gave them back to me in September this year looking magnificent. I'm so glad for the suggestion from my mum and friend, and for my Japanese friend who nurtured them! The parent plants are no longer in existence because the whole house and garden was demolished the week we moved in to our new place. But I've still got these little reminders of the place where we lived for 13 years!

The chrysanthemum is flowering quite nicely, with
many more buds forming, the Gerbera will probably
not flower again till it gets warm, and the Japanese Grape Leaf
Anemone looks a bit ill, but again, hopefully it will limp
along until we get to spring.

One of the surprises: another kind of geranium,
but I don't think it is well, it's also in iso.

The beautiful geranium flowered just in time for Christmas.

On the edge here is my lavendar: first time
trying to grow this plant. It's also not
looking great, but I'm hopeful.

My Aluminum Plant. I've shifted it
around a few times trying to find 
the right light and temperature combos,
it seems to be thriving in this spot 
where it gets light for a short period most
mornings.

I'm so glad to be settled in a place where I can have a garden again. I enjoy watering it and tinkering with it. It's a very small hobby that takes little time and not much money, but brings joy and colour into our lives.

An unsettled life

I write on this blog about my fairly ordinary life doing a not-so-ordinary job. It’s good to remind myself about that goal every now and then. Right now I’m feeling rather unfocused, partly because, as opposed to most of my adult life, overall I’ve actually got more time than responsibilities. I’m really struggling with what to do with that and finding it odd. After all, isn’t this what one longs for amidst a too busy life? Not being so busy is harder than I imagined.

It’s also hard to think about making commitments to longer term things because we need to keep our schedule flexible to visit with people and groups. That means committing to something regular isn’t wise, and committing to something that requires a lot of time is also not a great idea.

So, what to do? We’ve got some ideas, but we’re also aware that we’re tireder than we realise. The clue to that is how much recovery time has been needed after events and interacting intensely with people.

I’m also aware of still feeling so unsettled. Knowing that we’re probably not going to be here for long is unsettling and doesn’t encourage commitment (even to pot plants). I still feel like a bit of an alien in Australia. Not so much in one-on-one conversations, but just in general, when I’m out and about in public. I suspect that that might take longer than 12 months to settle down.

Layered on top of the temporary nature of this assignment is the transitory nature of this stage of life: we’re actively working on helping our two youngest sons to find somewhere to move out to (a complicated process that we are making progress on, pray for favour from a certain landlord, and one more housemate). Them moving out is a big life change for us all. One that’s been looming for a while, so it’s no surprise. It’s the right time for them to be moving on, but still has an emotional impact when lots of other things in our lives are also very unsettled.

Getting any traction in the midst of all this is difficult. It’s even been hard to stay on top of the many plates we still have twirling, because we’re less focused. For example, I’m usually great at promptly answering email, because I’ve usually been on my computer most days in recently years, but my email volume has dwindled down to a trickle, so I’m not on my computer every (work) day now and I fear that some things might be falling through the cracks.

What have I been doing with my time? On days that we’ve not been speaking, travelling, or preparing for either of these, I’ve had a lot more spare time. I’ve been reading more and continuing with my Japanese language review. We’ve been getting more sleep. I’ve pulled out my cross-stitch, something that I’ve not done for years outside of holiday times. We’re watching cricket, playing more Scrabble (and other games), and spending time with people we love. It’s a completely different pace to what we’ve lived at for years, and probably good, even if it feels like an ill-fitting coat.

After several quieter days (we even had a weekend at home last week), tomorrow we’re travelling again. David and our youngest son are driving eight hours north to see David’s mum. I’m travelling an hour away with a friend to a women’s convention for the weekend (and doing a little bit of up-front speaking). Much like I wrote about last week: the pace here keeps changing, and somehow we need to keep adjusting to it. I guess that’s making us more flexible?

Camping obsession

We've moved into another level of our camping obsession. In six years we've worn out the first tent we owned and have now purchased a replacement tent.

In the photo you can see the sad remains of our old tent on the left. Some of it has already gone in the rubbish collection, what remains will (hopefully) be accepted in the next couple of weeks by our kerbside rubbish collectors. On the right is our new (second-hand) tent plus a soft floor-insert. Both bought from a local second hand shop.

It's quite a bit smaller than the enormous 10-man tent we had before (allegedly 10-man, though we never slept more than six in it). But we've got our eyes on the future. With boys gradually moving away we won't need such a large tent. However we've got a spare 2-man tent someone gave us that we can also use if we do camp with all five of us again.

Actually, we're looking at the school calendar and trying to figure out if we can try out this new tent before we go back to Australia on home assignment next June. 

Yes, we definitely have a camping obsession!

Creativity and Christianity

I came across a couple of articles about creativity ages ago and have just dragged them back out of my bulging "draft blog post" folder.

I love the work I do, I've got the freedom to use my gifts to be creative as well as to build others up. So these short articles are very encouraging to me.

The first article I found has an enormous title: Why Christians should paint, dance, quilt, act, compose music, write writes, decorate cookies, and participate in the arts. It lists eight reasons why Christians should be creative. I bet you can think of more, though I wouldn't have thought of these eight if I'd made the list, for example, "beauty reminds us of the Beautiful One" and "when we use our gifts it reminds us (and others) of the Giver of every good and perfect gift". 

Here are some of the creative things I like to do, and why:

• I love to bake as it gives to others, but I also find it very satisfying to work through a series of steps and get a defined result. I actually find it relaxing if I'm not rushed. 
• I love enjoying nature (with and without a camera) because it reminds me of the Creator and lifts my eyes and heart up beyond my current problems. When I share my photos (and blog posts too, I guess) it give pleasure to others and takes them to a place of admiring the work of the Creator too.
• I love to write because it's a gift I have and I can use it to encourage or challenge or inform others. A bit like baking, I like to have ideas and work to get them written down in a way that others can appreciate and enjoy. Editing writing is similar, whether it is my work or someone else's, taking the "raw ingredients" and forming them into something that will benefit others is very satisfying.
• I loved doing cross stitch, it was a relaxing pastime. But also something that I found easy and could create things that I could give to others to give them pleasure. I've taken a break from it in the last year or so, but unfortunately haven't found a viable replacement yet.

This second article (Three things I know about creativity) is by a writer and editor (sounds like someone I know...). She writes about three things that creativity needs:

• to live life: so we have fuel for stuff to create as well as to create space for creative thoughts to form and arrange themselves
• solitude: peace for our souls to be able to commune with God
• community: for refinement, feedback that improves whatever it is that we've created.

I've only just scratched the surface here, I know there's lots more to this topic than I'm seeing or could cover in one tiny blog post. For example this fascinating article from Relevant magazine asking "Is there a place for creative Christians?" with answers by a variety of creative Christians.

It's something I'd like to keep thinking about. As a writer and an editor and an individual who enjoys a variety of creative endeavours.

What do creative things do you enjoy? Why?

Large Cross-stitch Project finished at last

It's been a huge weekend. I'm both tired and elated. Tonight I just want to share one small aspect of it, but I've worked towards this moment for 2 ½ years. 

I've completed a cross-stitch of a bouquet of Australian wildflowers for my parents. I gave it to them at a family gathering on Saturday evening. They've already got it up on their living room wall at home.

Thinking about a new hobby

I'm thinking about taking up a new hobby*: weaving and maybe spinning. During our holidays in September we spent several days at my sister-in-law's place. She owns Alpacas. While we were there I had a go at carding (untangling) and spinning. It was fun, but challenging too. I'm interested in having another go when we go back in December. But I'm also wondering if this might be a new hobby that I could take up. I've been cross-stitching for almost as long as I've been married and perhaps it is time for a change. So I'm investigating. 

Spinning on my sister-in-law's
electric spinner.

The big challenge of a hobby for a missionary is that it needs to be something that is portable and not too expensive. For a missionary in Japan it needs to be something that doesn't take up too much room. I don't have a crafting room, or a sewing table that I can just have everything laid out all the time. All I have is a corner, a corner of a not-large lounge room.

I've tried various hobbies like knitting and crochet. Paper craft (quilling, making cards, origami and other similar things). Sewing (clothes, bags) and considered (but never seriously tried) quilting and patchwork.  But nothing has really captured my interest. I'm not good at things that require precision. Sewing I can do, but it isn't very relaxing, actually I get quite stressed at getting it exactly right and usually make big mistakes. 

As a child I wore out the craft volume of our Childcraft encyclopaedias. I loved craft. Now as a woman with lots of responsibilities and a busy home life, I need something that will relax and fit my lifestyle. Cross-stitch does but I'm getting a little weary of it. I'm wondering it's time to try something new and if spinning or weaving would work too?

So, I've been surfing the web and investigating different options. Equipment is expensive! But the other thing I looked for was spinning and weaving groups. I found one only 15 minutes from our house. They meet on Thursday mornings every week. I've been working up the courage to go one day and join them and today was the day.

The ladies were very welcoming and I'll probably join them next year and learn what I can. I'm thinking about buying a simple loom, perhaps a Knitter's Loom, but as you can tell if you follow that link, it isn't cheap. So I'm still thinking. Another possibility is a Inkle Loom, but as a smaller loom, what you can create on it is limited.

If I join the group I'll be able to ask them to teach me things. Much better than learning from a Youtube video (although that's quite a helpful tool too).

As someone with an unusual lifestyle, it is interesting to drop into a group like this. I didn't tell them much about myself, I didn't use the M word. At the end two of the ladies were probing for what I might choose to do, especially joining the group. I explained to them that we usually live in Japan ("my husband works at an international school" is a useful generic line) and that I'd be looking for a craft that's portable and small. They had lots of ideas, including the above looms.

So, I'm pondering.


*Back here I wrote about why I choose to do craft. And it isn't because I've got too much free time, there is a deeper reason related to staying mentally and physically healthy.

Going camping again today

Today's trip.

Today we go camping again. This time we go 60km north-west of here to a place with a cool name: Chichibu.

For the first time we'll take some friends with us. Friends who've not been camping before in Japan. They are also a family of five, but have two girls. It's going to be a bit different.

One thing I've learned: it takes about the same amount of time to pack for two nights of camping as it does for three weeks.

All the places we've camped thus far in Japan.

This is a map of all the places we've camped at in Japan. It totals 13 different campsites, two of which we've visited two or three times. Two years after starting this, we're starting to feel a little experienced.

So, what's our next challenge? We'd love to do a few weeks camping west of here, down in Kansai, or even down to the bottom on Honshu or even Shikoku. It will have to wait, though, because next Japan summer we'll be packing up for our 12 months home assignment in Australia. Maybe in two years time when we come back we'll see what we can do. Of course we'd love to go camping in Australia while we're there for a year.

Dreams and plans! One of the things I love about camping.

Meanwhile, I'm going to enjoy these two days, our last warm-weather camping trip this year. And boy it is warm, 34/35 is forecast. We'll be a little up in the mountains, hopefully it will be a bit cooler at night at least.

Creative projects help

A few years ago I wrote about how I started cross stitching as a result of a psychologist "prescribing" something that would help me "stop a while".

I've been doing little cross-stitch projects recently, actually for many months, but they aren't as satisfying as a large project. In recent weeks I've begun a larger project and I'm so happy about it! It will probably take me many months, but I'm so happy to have this to look forward to in the evenings.

A long time ago a friend gave me a book called, "Affliction" by Edith Schaeffer. It is a book you should definitely not read while in the midst of affliction! I actually found it quite difficult to get through (she rambles around quite a bit), but there are some great gems in there that have helped form my own "theology of suffering". One of the more unusual pieces of advice she gives is having a creative project always on the go.

"(Write a) list for things that are not absolutely necessary to be done that day, but that are creative projects. . . Painting? Dressmaking? Knitting? Gardening? Writing? Exercising carefully for your back, or to get two inches off your waistline? Always have some projects in progress, even if you have to neglect them. It is quite a different thing to feel that you have neglected cutting out your new dress, or the leather animal you are designing or the wooden tray you are decorating with an electric needle, than to have nothing concrete to have 'neglected.' It is psychologically very different." p237-8

She says, of those who are too tired after the essentials of life are done,

"...energy also diminishes when there is not enough incentive, and beginning a creative work, some sort of project you can watch take shape, can often carry with it a fresh supply of energy. I have had a short two-month period of being hemmed in by two rooms, caring for Grandmother Schaeffer after her stroke . . . I didn't leave the two rooms except to run—and I do mean run—to the corner store and back. . . (she longed to be back with her husband and children at L'Abri) Then I suddenly realized that I was begin given time to do some of the things I could never do any other time without feeling guilty. So I set out to make doll clothes." p239

I agree with her. While I'm not currently in the midst of "affliction", this idea of having a project on the go is a sound one. It certainly helps me keep a good balance in my life. Other things that help me in this way are books and our more recent hobby of camping. Having these to look forward to really helps. I particularly noticed that back in 2011, after I had suffered some serious "affliction" in conflict on top of watching disasters in both Australia and Japan. Planning camping trips was therapeutic at that time.

When I wrote about this back in 2010, Ken added an interesting comment to my post:

"Everyone needs a hobby to balance out their life. It should be something which has no consequences attached to it. Except perhaps something decorative or useful at odd times. It should also be a hobby which is not co-optable. There is a great pressure today to force everything into some kind of useful cost/benefit mould.

I discovered making latchhook rugs after the kids left home and we were restoring order in the pantry. I wondered about the little tool and all the balls of thick yarn. I also had a book of Roman tile floor designs at the time. So I put the two together and began work on a rug using the leftover bits. Nothing to do with work, nothing to do with satisfying demands of other people, nothing to do with justifying my existence in the world. About 8 months later I had a large rug, which I then gave away. I mght start another one or I might not. Not many activities in our live today give us that kind of freedom."

Do you have a hobby that helps you get through those tough days? What do you look forward to?

I beat the stress with creativity

I recovered from my adventure last Thursday and Friday pretty well. As you may know, I'm not a great traveller. It wears me out, even when I'm travelling on my own and know where I'm going.

Anyway, probably the main reason I recovered well was that it backed onto a quiet weekend. And on Saturday I had a "creative" day. Look at all I did. It didn't wear me out at all, it energised me!

Sneaking a look at the chocolate chip cookies in the
cupboard. Got to look quickly, or they'll all be gone!

Love these! Snickerdoodles. The name gets an award to start with. But I'd forgotten about these particular type of biscuits until someone baked them for the Thrift Shop workers a couple of weeks ago and it took me right back to childhood. When I came home, I went searching in my recipes, and lo and behold, I have my mum's recipe. So I made these. They taste and smell wonderful! Thanks Mum.

Snickerdoodles—coated in cinnamon and sugar.

This was also a triumph for dinner. For the entire time we've lived in Japan we've made home-made pizzas using a yeast base mixed in our bread maker. Unfortunately our family is out-growing the breadmaker. Meaning, the amount of dough it can produce is only barely enough to feed us for one round of pizza. (Reason we make our own: bought pizzas are ridiculously expensive. The only other time we have pizza at home is generally Costco pizza.)

So, inspired by my friend Rhoda, I decided to try making a larger amount of pizza dough from scratch. It really isn't too hard and certainly the 10 minutes of hard kneading could be quite therapeutic.

My middle son helped with the toppings. He loved working
in the kitchen with me and I enjoyed his company. Bonus!

And my non-baking achievement: sleeping bag covers. Both these sleeping bags were bought second-hand at Thrift Shop a year or two ago. Neither had covers, only plastic bags that were rapidly dying. So, I bought some material and made covers. Simple!

Perhaps the covers cost me more than the bags, though!

The bonus was the cord on the blue bag. The cord was recycled from the plastic bag that had carried the sleeping bag before. I just love the colour contrast with the blue.

Confession: I didn't finish the second one till Sunday.

I love creating, especially very practical things that don't require a lot of fuss. The weekend was the perfect foil to the stress of the week preceding it.

A mishmash of a day

Today we've had no plans, no plans to go out. That usually ends up being a bad thing, even if us adults are craving a quiet home day, the boys usually are not. It is two days post Christmas and they've hit a bored patch. 

 

David and I, however, are hitting our holiday strides. I pulled out those third pair of tracksuit pants (US=sweat pants) that I've been intending to make, and tried to finish them off. After several unpicks, I'm up to the elastic and the hems. Any luck and I might get them done before I go to bed. Trouble is my sewing table (aka card table) is packed away in favour of the Christmas tree and with nowhere else to put the table, I'm relegated to hoisting my sewing machine on and off the dining room table to accommodate the hungry hoards five times a day!

 

David and I are also busy looking at possibilities for travel in July and early August. We're planning on visiting Australia during CAJ's long summer holiday. This is mostly a holiday and time to visit friends and family, probably with a bit of deputation thrown in. We've decided to rent a motorhome and drive several thousand kilometres into the red centre of Australia to see Uluru (formerly Ayers Rock). None of us have been there and it really is a pity, especially as we keep meeting non-Aussies who have! It is also great opportunity to show the boys something of the essence of their passport country. 

But again, it is the possibilities that we find exciting. Both of us enjoy planning that sort of thing (although David is better at nailing down the details than I am). Strangely enough it looks like we'll book the motorhome a month or so before we book the airplane tickets! The travel agency we consulted today doesn't open the books for July until late January, early February.

So it has been frustrating to deal with bored boys when we're having a great time ourselves. Thankfully our youngest son had a friend over for a short while this afternoon. However they couldn't find enough stuff to do. 

Actually all four boys plus my husband ended up in the lounge room at about 3pm. My husband was helping the two Grade Oners with a science activity (Snap Circuits) the older two were just bored and causing trouble. This room isn't big, has paper-lined floor-to-ceiling doors on one side and the opposite side sliding cupboard doors that are also paper-lined (although slightly more sturdy). At present there is also a heater, and a Christmas tree in there too, besides our small TV. It is the only room in the house with carpet, so it is a magnet for boys wanting to wrestle.

But it just is too small for wrestling and indeed, that many restless boys. It is days like today that I really miss Australia with its larger houses and backyards. In fact we ended up throwing the middle son out of the house with his older brother who decided to do a mile run. The middle one isn't into running, but I think he rode alongside his brother. When they got back about 15 minutes later, I fed them and then allowed them to watch their new Top Gear DVD. Peace . . . for a little while, anyway! But I won't bore you with the rest of their painful antics today.

My big achievement is that I did actually finish those pants just after dinner. I was really desperate to finish them. I just wanted this project done and over with! I've decided that while I'm handy with a sewing machine, sewing isn't really my gifting.

My husband asks, "So, what's your next (craft) project?" Well, I have material for a tablecloth for our new extending table, but I think I'll wait on that until I can put up my sewing table again (in the lounge room!). I have a small cross-stitch that I'm framing and probably should get on with doing some more stitching. I have a large backload of small projects that people have given me over the years. They are easier than the larger ones, but the start up and finish (that I'm bad at) take up lots of time and slow my enthusiasm for them. 

Tomorrow, though, I think we'd better concentrate on the boys a bit more. Today's reactive parenting hasn't worked well.

Boxing Day reflections

Yesterday felt like a very normal Christmas to me. That is because it began in a very similar way to the Christmases I grew up with. We got up, ate breakfast and went to church. When we came home we had some Christmas cake (British-style home-made fruit cake) and then opened presents. 


Differences? 

• It was 1.5 degrees Celcius outside when we got up and hence we put on quite a lot of clothes before hopping on our bikes to ride to church. Note to self: buy better ear muffs to avoid frost bite.
• Riding to church was of course different. Who does that in Australia? 
• Church was at 9.15, not 8am like it was growing up. 
• Church was in Japanese, with carols that were familiar, but translated into Japanese.
• We ate a hot roast turkey dinner with home-made cranberry sauce. I cannot remember having a hot Christmas dinner as a child. Neither did we eat turkey or cranberry sauce.
• We spent time talking to family on Skype. Growing up we usually had a very nuclear family Christmas on Christmas Day. So Christmas here being "just us" isn't so strange to me. (Maybe that shouldn't be in a "differences" list?)
• Somehow I have more of a melancholic streak over Christmas than I ever had as a kid. Back then it was mostly pleasure. These days I usually have a mixture of feelings, including sadness and disappointment (and no, it isn't because some people continue to give me pink presents).
• Oh and of course I'm the mum now, not the kid. That means I get the pleasure of giving the presents and seeing their joy. I'm also the one who, at the end of the day, gets to make them stop playing, clean their teeth, and go to bed.

And today, Boxing Day (non Commonwealth readers see here for an explanation)? That feels strange. No cricket on TV, no travelling to see other family (a feature of Christmases since I've been married). And if I venture out to do some grocery shopping, I'll see it is a normal work day in Japan. All the Christmas decorations would be gone and Japanese New Year preparations are in full swing. No Boxing Day sales either (not that I usually patronise those, I hate shopping in crowds).

So I guess, in the absence of much else going on, I'll pull out a couple of projects that have been waiting on some spare time. A pair of pants to sew and a small-but-important cross-stitch to frame.

Wrinkles in my creative sewing

Creating is all very relaxing if it goes well, but I've "got a wrinkle" in my current creating. I wrote back here about sewing some long pants for my boys. But I keep running into problems and it's getting annoying. Most of the problems are my mistakes, so I'm annoyed at myself. 

For starters the pattern I'm using is for small children, so I've had to add length and width – not too much of a problem, but not as easy as just tracing a pattern, pinning and cutting out. It takes me a while to get my head around the spatial issues with sewing; it really is my chief problem (and with packing boxes too). This all added the issue of how much material I should buy, which has turned into a major problem, as you'll see.

Then the boys requested pockets, which weren't on the pattern. I thought I was doing well when I found this blog by an amazing Indonesian lady who lives in Japan. I love the name of her blog: VeryPurplePerson. She makes her own clothes and blogs about them very well. Here I found a helpful tutorial about putting side-pockets into pants/trousers (whatever you like to call them). 

All very good, except that the pattern doesn't include a waistband and you have to make your own pattern. No worries, I added some length for the inbuilt waistband. But it turned out I didn't add enough. The pocket openings are too small to fit their hands into. So I've had to do some (and yet to do some) serious modification. In the case of one pair, I will have to add an extra bit to the waist and in the case of another, will have to add a bit to the top of the pocket lining. All very frustrating.

But the biggest frustration is my miscalculation on how much material I would need. I got it right – but only if the material was 1.20m wide. As it turns out the material is only 0.9m wide. So I went back to get more material for the third pair, but I didn't get enough. I figured that out as soon as I laid it out for cutting. And dashed back for the third time the next day for more. Unfortunately I encountered every sewer's worst nightmare: they'd run out of the material I was using. The lady who'd served me the day before kindly explained that they had some 20cm sections I could buy if I wanted. (I could just imagine the back of my 12 y.o.'s pants made up of a patchwork of 20cm sections of material!) Then she said they'd reordered it and it should come in about a week . . . IF the manufacturer was still making that colour. Arggghhhh!

(Mind you I was pretty happy that I'd managed all of this in Japanese!)

Today, nine days later, I dashed back to the store in the hopes that it would be there. But no, it isn't. This shop attendant could give me any information I didn't already know.

So I'm left with two alternatives. I wait another week and drive back again (getting annoyed at going to this shop, however, it is not too far away, but means going across railway tracks and heaps of traffic lights, though I guess I could also ride). Or I can take a sample and catch a train a few stations to a different shop and hope for the best. This is just taking too much time and money for my liking, if only it were simpler. I really don't like it when things take up more time that I'd like them too. 

So, a creating project that is turning bad on me. Maybe I should have a go at overcoming some of the pocket issues tonight and maybe then I'll feel a bit better about the project. It is so easy to give up on something like this when you hit a snag.

My Creating Day

Reporting back on how my "quiet" day is going.

I've managed to stay on-track. I did some baking. I stepped out of my comfort zone a little and tried a couple of new recipes. 

Here we have Gingernuts (left) and Melting Moments (right). (I just discovered that Melting Moments is also an Icecream brand, obviously not in Australia, maybe the US?) I've had mixed success. The Gingernuts are pretty tasty and weren't very hard. One of the things I occasionally miss from Australia is store-bought Gingernut biscuits. These aren't quite the same, but not too bad. Some of them have a too-brown bottom. Victim of our non fan-forced oven and a distracted cook.

The Melting Moments are pretty bad in my opinion (but my husband begs to differ). I used an Australian Women's Weekly recipe. Their standards are high. For starters the biscuits are supposed to look like this photo, piped out of an icing bag. But my icing bag doesn't come with anything that will produce a star that big. Plus I hate icing bags, they are messy to use and difficult to clean afterwards. 

The chocolate mixture you are to dip in uses an ingredient I didn't have, solid shortening. I substituted Olive Oil, but didn't think carefully about it. What it needed was an oil-base that is solid at air temperature. Result? Chocolate that isn't set at room temperature! And it's lumpy because I stuffed up the melting-of-the-chocolate.

The filling between the biscuits is also too soft. Probably should have used butter rather than margarine. Hence I don't feel like they are a great success. The jury's out as to the opinion of the boys. The biscuits really aren't lunch-box material, but they'll do for after school snacks.

Next time I might use this recipe, that says you only have to flatten balls of the mixture with a fork and you don't have to dip it in chocolate! Sounds good.

This is the other recipe I made. An old stalwart, Coconut Loaf. I acquired this recipe when I did some cooking in Primary School. And I know why they chose the recipe, it is simple and fail proof. This has no butter or eggs. Only flour, raising agent, coconut, sugar and milk. It always works and is always tasty. I've frozen one of these for an event next Monday.

After lunch I visited my favourite craft shop for the materials to make three pairs of long pants for my boys. It is such a soothing shop. Not over-the-top like some large barn-sized craft shops I've been in in Australia. 

 I shopped at a leisurely pace and found some heavy knit black material that will make fine pants. My choice has been confirmed by a unanimous vote in favour of the material by all the boys. I'm looking forward to making these.

So, the only thing I missed was a nap. Creating is restful for me. And I'm feeling pretty relaxed, so that is good. My sewing table is ready to set-up for the days to come and I have some tracing paper to make the patterns for the pants. The snack-pantry is full and I can head into the rest of my "quiet" week with a bit more in my energy bank. A good day all round!

What a "quieter week" looks like

I'm trying to have a quieter week this week, after two crazy ones. I'll let you know at the end of the week if I managed.

Today I did a bit of household maintenance (probably should have included cleaning, but it didn't – no surprise there). I filled up the larder and did a couple of errands. Helped a colleague from Hokkaido with some research by introducing her to some friends and took her to the station with her bags on her way to her next stop-over. I also made it to the gym again, first time in nearly a week and I cheered the participants in the CAJ Fun Run, a rather low-key event that the cross-country runners are required to participate in. My son got a PB of something like 2 minutes faster than he's ever run 2 miles before. A really fast run that surprised us all.

Tomorrow I've deliberately not scheduled anything. Here's what I'm thinking: I'll do some baking, because the school lunch-box biscuit supply is about at an end. Then I'll do some shopping – I'm going to buy some material to make at least one new pair of long pants for each boy, maybe more. 

Long pants for boys are things that you don't often find at Thrift Shop. Guess why? The knees get torn out, if not that, the crutch busts out. So, it is pattern modifying time (I have a pattern for adult shorts and little kid's long pants, but not for school-aged boys). And time to pull out my sewing machine again. 

And I'll probably do some lying down. I know myself well enough to know that I cannot keep on going at this pace without some catch-up time, otherwise I'll be paying for it with some kind of physical dysfunction.
 
Wednesday and Thursday each have one meeting apiece plus "computer time" which encompasses everything from preparation for the writer's retreat/workshop that I am helping facilitate in a couple of weeks to answering email, editing articles and writing the magazine's Style Guide. Oh, yes, and preparation for my English Evangelistic Bible study on Friday morning, better do that. Yep, shouldn't be too bad a week.

Have you figured out that for me, a quieter week usually doesn't mean nothing to do? It just means less scheduled in my diary and less deadlines. I do hope that the baking and sewing tomorrow will be relaxing though. They usually are.

Can I pick up a latent skill again?

I'm practising this piece at the moment. No particular reason except that I used to be able to play harder pieces than this . . . 20 years ago. I also find playing the piano a soothing activity (when you aren't performing). Oh, and a friend in the neighbourhood has a baby grand piano (my favourite instrument) that I could play, if I make the time. 

It has been a long time since I practised a classical piano piece, though. Listening to this makes me realise how much more I need to do. Could take a while! For those of you who want to know, this is Bach, Two part invention No. 13 in A minor.

A Shared Hobby

I'm really happy about this new camping venture our family has taken on. One of the reasons is because it is becoming like a hobby for my husband. It has been hard for him to find a hobby that doesn't take him away from the family for long stretches (or be too time consuming), cost a lot of money, or take up a lot of room. I know how important it is to have a hobby: to have something non-work related that you enjoy and helps you relax. I wrote a little bit about the benefit of hobbies back here.

Probably many missionaries find themselves a bit limited as to what hobbies they can take up. A number I know are bird watchers. This is mostly older folk or singles, it wouldn't work for us – we rarely see wildlife when we're hiking, we're too noisy! Some take up movie watching. We do a little bit of this, but it can be quite time consuming. Probably good for people who don't need as much sleep as we do! Some women do handicrafts or cooking. I do both. But it isn't easy for the guys. We have no room for model trains, or a workshop, or a shed. We can't store a boat for fishing or go to the cricket.

So it has been great to find that camping is a hobby that we can take up as a family. One where we're all together and all enjoying it. David and I are enjoying the planning aspect of camping, something we can do together, something we can look forward to in the midst of a tiring school year.

It's been 12 days since we came back from our last camping trip. We've put that time to good use. We've bought a few more things to smooth the adventure, so to speak. Here are some of them:

A collapsible box which is not only useful for camping, but at other times too. That is one key to living simply and in a small place: have 'things' that are multi-use. 

In the box you can see our new water cooler too. We discovered we didn't have any large water-containing device last time and thought that would be a good addition to our gear.

We replaced the four thin sleeping mats we'd borrowed from colleagues with air beds. Ours is the most luxurious, the boys are more utilitarian. It was quite difficult to find basic air beds in Tokyo. Strange! Here's hoping that I'll sleep better this trip!

Yesterday I made up some packets. Here are home-made "trail mix" and American term I've learnt since being in Japan. A mix of nuts, dried fruit and a smattering of M&Ms. I also put together a packet of dry ingredients for the Doughboys/Twisties that were so enjoyed last time.

And here is The List. I figured, why re-invent the wheel? So I took the handwritten list I made last time and typed it up, so we can print it out every time we need it. I love lists! In this case it is wonderful to know that if we take everything on The List we'll have 99.5% of what we need (important as we won't be near any shops). A wonderful worry-remover.

Back later with some great photos and stories, I hope.

I'm proud of these

A couple of weeks ago I wrote that I'd gotten the sewing machine out to help with holiday boredom – the boys' that is. The novelty has worn off now, but I was inspired to do some sewing of my own. 

Here are the shorts I made last Thursday and Friday. I surprised myself at how fast I got them finished. And considering that the pattern is for a size 12 woman and they are for a nearly 9 y.o. boy, (I downsized the pattern myself) they don't look so bad, And no, the legs aren't different lengths, just badly laid out on the floor! My model didn't hang around for a photo, so I cannot show you how good they look on him!

My next sewing challenge (after we get back from camping this week) is to make a pair for his younger brother – to my delight there was enough material left-over from the remnant that I bought to make these from. That's two pair of shorts for only 1,100¥ (about AU$12). Not bad.

What are you doing on your summer holidays?

It is quiet just now, so I'm taking the time to write. Amazing how much less quiet time I have now that the boys are at home! Actually, not that amazing, really. (As soon as I wrote this paragraph, the noise began again, oh well.)

Here's a few things we've been doing.

Day tennis camp 

Last week for our 6 y.o. (one hour a day) and this week for our 8 y.o. (three hours a day). This has helped the dynamics at home, one less boy for a while helps!

Memorisation

Unfortunately there wasn't a summer program item that interested our eldest son at the right time (i.e. when we weren't away with our friends or at conference). So he is a little bored. He started the 11 weeks with goals and plans, but many of them are falling by the wayside out of a lack of motivation to do the hard-yards to achieve his goals. One thing he is finally getting into is the PTA Scripture Memorisation challenge. Each summer the PTA offers a reward of 10, 000 yen (around $100 AU dollars) for every student who can memorise a certain passage of scripture about 100 verses long. Last year it was 1 Peter and this year 1 John. You would have thought the monetary reward would be enough extrinsic motivation, but apparently not. He is awesome at memorisation, but we've had to instigate a daily reward (non-monetary) to motivate him and he's puttering in the right direction now. As for the goal of pre-season training for cross-country. He's a lot behind. But I have to admit I have a quite a lot of sympathy as it has been so hot. But on the other hand, this boy has to move, and sometimes we are throwing him out of the house telling him to run so that we can stay sane.

Baking 

Somehow they eat more when they are on holidays. Maybe it is out of boredom? At school there is always too much else to do than eat. Unfortunately, up until yesterday it really was too hot to bake, but I did it anyway! We're in the middle of a short cool change with a typhoon heading up from the south. Most grateful! 

I've fallen in love with these paper baking papers. Cath sent them to me from Australia. Not only are they gorgeous, there is less washing up (also tough in the heat). These banana muffins I topped with lemon cream cheese icing and they didn't last long!

Sewing 

Yesterday I pulled my sewing machine out. It's been more than two years since I saw it! This year my 12 y.o. did home economics for a term, so he know knows how to use it. It was fun seeing him explore my machine and explain it to his brothers. Their interest in this machine was fascinating. As a friend pointed out, it has moving parts, sharp bits, makes noise and you can "drive" it. Of course boys would be interested! This has helped a little on the 'boredom' front that I mentioned earlier.

 

Of course my idealistic self would love to do a simple project with each boy on the sewing machine. I'd like to make some shorts for each of them and myself too, but will it happen? Probably not. The whole idea of trying to do a sewing project with three boys hanging over my shoulder sounds prone to disaster. I only managed to cook with them because I am so familiar with the recipes I'm using. Sewing, however, is a different matter. I'm a competent sewer, but not so good as I could do it in my sleep. It takes a fair bit of concentration on details. Something that I find myself particularly lacking when the boys are all home from school.

Reading

Lots of reading, as usual on holidays. Every afternoon after lunch we have an enforced SQUIRT time. Supposedly: Super Quiet Uninterrupted Individual Reading Time. Some days we get closer to the ideal than others. It is a recharging time for parents and kids alike. A necessary break from interacting with one another.

Another thing we've been doing as a family is introducing them to a childhood favourite. Enid Blyton. I've been reading the first of her Famous Five books, Five on a Treasure Island.  It's been a fun adventure into literature that is "old" enough to not be attractive to the boys to read on their own, but the story is still interesting enough to hold them when they are forced to. Actually I "force" them no longer, they are now being held captive by the story itself.

Well, that is enough for one post. I need to get and pull together some lunch for these kids. Wow, feeding them every two or three hours; it gets tired after a while!