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Going to Driving School
Whooo! Watch out on the roads; we have our learner’s permits now. Three weeks ago, after a year in the countryside with only bicycles and busses for transportation, Tod & I enrolled at Kamogawa Driving School. Our neighbor, who runs the Korean restaurant, heard we were considering it and insisted that we set a date…
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OMG, Mould
This September was the rainiest one on record, which was really bad for our house and all the stuff in it. When we returned after visiting family in the US for a month, our home was completely coated in mould. The kitchen counter was green. The bedframe was sprouting three dimensional orange mould. The futons…
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On the Devastating Loss of a Stuffed Friend
I feel slightly sheepish writing this. The grief I feel over losing my friend, Zoupi, pales in comparison to the death of a human friend or a living pet. It seems unfair to even compare them at all. But People and pets die and we sort of accept that is going to happen some day…
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Pel, the cat who likes bread
I went downstairs to get breakfast this morning and saw the door was open, Pel-style. She’d nested in the closet again and was still snoozing. When I came into the genkan, she didn’t bolt the way she usually does. Instead she calmly tried to avoid me while still leaving. Hard to do in the hall,…
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One Day, Two Renovations
The kitchen floor: after, in progress, and before Sometimes it pays to pay for help. I had my friend, Masa, come over in his role as handyman to help me out with fixing the kitchen floor today. We did the work in record time and I feel good for ticking this off my list of…
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Cat from nowhere
A few weeks ago, we were hearing a mouse or rat up in the rafters, scurrying and clambering around with great verve around sunset and at dawn. It ate the tops off come cookies I’d baked and left on the counter. Friends suggested that a cat would keep away the rodents. But we’re not ready…
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Reds & Greens for a Merry Holiday
All of these photos were taken in my rural neighborhood this month. There is a reason we see red and green in our holiday decor at this time of year. So pretty.
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4 Plugs
When Tod ran us our first bath in the new house, we discovered that the old bath plug was no longer sealing the drain – a slow leak meant that the water was noticeably lower upon getting out after a good soak. PLUG 1: Tod measured the plug – 34 mm – and we biked…
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Shoji repairs
The holes and the old paper removal process This old house is totally wonderful and it is full of projects to do. Today I learned how to replace shoji, the paper on our interior doors. First you take the paper off by dampening the old glue and peeling the paper away from the frame. Our…
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Unpacking in Kamogawa
The movers arrived at 9:00. 90 minutes later, everything in that truck was in the house. How did we get so much stuff and where is it all supposed to go? We’ve spent a few days now sorting through boxes and trying to put our square peg into this round hole. My favorite Japanese word…
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