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A Reflection on Sayonaras
Today I said goodbye to a friend from our neighborhood who is leaving for new adventures. She’s been a colorful character in our area for several years and as the only middle-aged white American women in this part of Chiba, we’ve become close and had each others backs for the unexpected events of country living. …
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Did we have Covid-19?
Test result said “negative,” but the Omicron-like symptoms said yes. We will never be sure. For about a week, Tod & I had raw sore throat & congestion, cough, runny nose, exhaustion, brain fog, and digestive problems. But neither of us had fever, so no way to get an official PCR test. On the 3rd…
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Walks in the Woods
Southern Chiba’s low and rolling mountains are criss-crossed with old roads, ancient cow trails, and other overgrown signs of past habitation. Walking them together is our happy time on weekends. Tod is very good at spotting interesting little mountain turnoffs that lead to a beautiful drive and/or a lovely hike. Many of the trails are…
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The Tile Mines
Recently, Fujii-san acquired 12 tons of tile that was going to be sent to the dump by a construction company. 8 enormous bags of it that needed to be lifted by crane. Each bag is filled with completely random odds and ends from projects. There’s all kinds of stuff in there, bathroom tiles for floor…
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Time to rest
At the end of today, it was done. The kominka is nothing more than ashes and a few piles of straw and rubble. There’s more to do, of course. Those piles of hay need to be moved and the lot flattened out and readied for the next stage. But we’re all overdue for a break. …
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Quiet on a hot tin roof
The weather today was sunny and felt more blistering than the 23C the weather apps said. Everyone at 555 seemed tired. Despite that, we all worked hard and many things happened. The yumbo lifted off the large section of totan sheeting that had blown off the roof in 2019. I have been wondering how we…
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Stele
There is a stele at the top of the east road at 555, right around where I think the old road branched down the hill to the next village. This stone tablet was hidden by weeds until this week, when someone in the work crew uncovered it. It’s a bit of a mystery. 大日如来 (Dainichi…
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Embers
After a day of heavy rain yesterday, we were back at the burn. I didn’t take too many photos today because around midmorning, one of the hydraulic lines on the yumbo sprung a leak. We spent a couple of hours feeding the fire manually while we waited for a repair. Fortunately for us, Komatsu had…
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Offered to the gods
This morning I sang an improvised dirge as we started to burn the broken beams of the house. I don’t think anyone heard it but me, but it was comforting to sing to the house. It was a sad moment for me, and I can only imagine how the Kawasakis felt. They were quiet. While…
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Breaking it down
This morning, I woke up feeling insecure and my anxiety was turned up to 11. I saw on Facebook that they had been working at 555 yesterday, but I’d missed it. I asked about today’s plan and Fujii-san said he thought they’d be gathering again but he didn’t have any details. I am acutely aware…
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