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Mascot
I think I can keep up with the 71 year olds who are my crew. But I truly cannot. I arranged rocks in the gabions for about 45 minutes yesterday morning. It was hot (87F/31C) in the sun and the work was hard. My heart started beating its experimental jazz rhythms, which at first feels…
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Getting going with gabion
Yesterday we started building the retaining wall. This is going to be a lot of work. But it was a fairly easy start. The first step, after leveling and tamping down the ground with gravel, was to roll out protective sheeting and a thick non-woven mat. Then we started to assemble the cages and set…
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Where new meets old
There are complications where the new stretch of ujiko meets the old. Unlike the new part, which is measured carefully and levelled, the old section heads off at an angle, at a lower level, and on a slope. Trying to decide how to connect one to the other has involved a lot of discussion, measurements,…
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Grass cutting
I have been learning a lot about how to effectively wield the grass cutter, thanks to working with the Monaca team at 555. This morning, I cut the grass at home. This is the neatest I have ever managed to make our yard. I’m sure to be feeling pain in my shoulder tomorrow. Swinging the…
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Moon viewing
Last night was お月見, the traditional moon-viewing night. The September full moon is said to be the most beautiful. This is the start of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, where they eat delicious moon cakes to celebrate. In Japan, we have tsukimi dango (a pyramid of small mochi balls) and restaurants put fried eggs on everything.…
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Phoenix vase
The Kawasakis have been piling up metal junk for recycling – old siding, rusty tins, bent wire fencing – and on Tuesday they came over to load it into the k-truck and take it away. Amongst the odds and ends towards the bottom of the pile was a vase. Mr. Kawasaki thumped it to listen…
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I made the most beautiful post box
The other day, Tod got a call from the water company. They had noticed that we had a new service at a different address and wanted to know where to send the bills and put the meter reading slips. Clearly, it was time to mount a mailbox somewhere at 555. But we don’t have a…
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Ujiko
There is art as well as science to creating a good drainage ditch. Along with the retaining wall, we are having the site drainage reworked. Old ujiko (U-shaped concrete forms) have been removed and will be reused behind the barn and new ones arrived for the house surround. At 30kg, they are too heavy for…
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Burning down the (out)house
Today we took down the outhouse and burned it, creating more space for a usable patio & workspace at the side of the barn. It was a sturdy thing, built in Showa 53 with beautiful carpentry joins. Shimizu-san and I expressed our admiration and respect for the builders, mixed with frustration at how challenging it…
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The houseplans
When I was a girl, I dreamed of building a house with a 2nd floor library, a turret, a secret staircase, and an interior garden. None of these features made it to the house I am actually building. What we are going to construct is a modern re-imagining of a traditional Japanese house. It’s 92…
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