A roundup of little things I’ve observed in the past few weeks – none big enough for their own feature, but worth remembering anyway.
Over at Oyama Senmaida, school experiences are back in full swing and I’ve been busy with papermaking and straw craft, but that’s not all.
I suggested rearranging things at Gonbei, and my proposal was accepted. Now restaurant guests have more room to maneuver and there’s a nicer setup for the gift shop. Also created posters (not seen here) with explanations of the featured ingredient – chikko – and a bilingual menu.
Mariko and I have been working on the donation boxes. All of these visitor improvements and adjustments take time, as they are not as important as the work of farming, but they are moving along.
I also helped set up the LED in the fields for the winter illumination. It starts officially this Saturday. Tomorrow afternoon, students will come to set up and light torches – which is a one-night only spectacle. I will be helping with that, too, and will have my camera ready.
I saw the beautiful comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS one night. It was stunning. I waited at the bottom of the driveway as the sun set and it appeared over the valley. When I walked back up to the house, I realised I could see it from there, too. See it was one of those experiences that puts you in your place: a small being on a small planet in a vast and old cosmos.
Sunrises have been lovely recently, too. I am grateful to see the sun from start to end every day.
I have been trying to give creative projects more time. I am playing with paper craft band to make various things from baskets to ornaments. And I’ve been drawing a little bit, too.
I will be exhibiting handbound books at the end of November in Kamogawa’s Community Center Festival as a member of the Handcraft Club, so my focus has been on making some new journals. I have lots of materials.
This has somehow been a month of gifts and mail. I sent in my US ballot by mail and it was accepted. Jenny sent me a box of her cute aprons (so useful) and some yoga cookie cutters. I was invited for coffee to Inoue-san’s house and left with an armful of eggs and loofahs. And Lawrence prepared a fig tree from a cutting of his plant. The generous go-around of gifts that is Japan. I am so bad at it. I must have a long list of people waiting for “return gifts” from me.
The shed is taking shape. It’s not really a shed; it is a small building. Today the cladding is almost done. Soon we’ll have windows, a door, and a deck. Then I will move my stuff in and start working on cleaning and preserving the barn, which is framed very nicely in the shed window.
That’s enough for now. I have some books to bind.
