Yarn love

Nadine and I went to Kamata yesterday to a giant complex of craft shops - one for yarn and needle crafts, another full of beads (mostly plastic and glass), a flower shop and a fabric store...it was great! After having a yummy lunch on the way, we got to shopping. Ms. Poppins is planning to knit some really cute pants for the baby, and she picked up gorgeous dark blue merino wool for the project. I can't wait to see the results!

As for me, I found the motherlode.

Yes, it was a whole wall of Noro.Isn't it beautiful? They have it all; Silk Garden and Kureyon Sock being my favorites at the moment. It took a lot of willpower to talk myself out of buying a whole bunch, but I am occupied with two projects of my own at the moment and awaiting sock yarn from Mama, so I resisted.

But now that I know it's there? The Noro is calling to me.

I should have listened when they told me to bow

Apparently I'm being sent a message by my neighbors: straighten up, gaijin, or you're sleeping with the fishes. I found this on my balcony yesterday morning.

Yep - behind that beautiful little thyme plant, it's a dead fish. DEAD FISH. On my balcony. A dead fish.

Let me paint the picture for you. I've been getting up really early this week, before 6:00, to have coffee with Josh before he heads off to the gym and work. We've always had different sleeping schedules, and neither of us likes it, so I'm trying to adjust. (Nota bene: I'm tired and getting up at 5:30 fucking sucks.) Yesterday was no exception; we got up early and I made us coffee, then Josh left around seven and I stayed on the couch, chatting on Skype and surfing the web until eight thirty. I had to leave at 9:15 to meet up with a tour group visiting a Japanese department store.

So at 8:30 I got up to rush to the shower and, for some reason, looked out the sliding glass door and saw Mr. Swimmy there. I, of course, froze in place and stared at it for about 3 minutes, a puddle of astonished drool forming at my feet. Then I remembered the time and thought to myself...I'm just going to pretend I didn't see that and hope it's gone when I get home.

It wasn't.

I went on the stupid "tour," which consisted of English-speaking employees taking the group to each floor and saying "this is the sixth floor. Meet here in an hour and we'll go to the fifth floor." Thanks, I couldn't read the floor numbers, which are the ONLY THINGS I UNDERSTAND. Grr. But anyway, when I came home the fish was still there, and I knew what I had to do. I had to ignore it until Josh came home and then pull the dainty laydee card and make him dispose of it.

NO! I'm a FEMINIST, dammit, didn't you read the masthead? And I am the home-maker, these days, and I eat nicely butchered and filleted raw fish all the time, and I can DO THIS. I put my big girl pants on and psyched myself up - standing in the living room with an inside-out ziploc bag on my hand, saying "It's just a dead fish! I handle dead fish all the time and this is no different. Just don't look it in the eyes, it's dead, it is DEFINITELY not going to spring to life and eat my face off. Probably." And I grabbed and sealed it up, and threw it away.

Well, I sealed it up and poked at it through the bag for a while, then sealed that bag in another one, tossed it, shuddered mightily, and plunged my hands into a bucket of turpentine. But whatever.

I don't really think it was a message from the neighbors (OR DO I) since we have flocks of seahawks, which I just learned are ospreys thanks Mom!, swarming around the ocean across the street. I could see a long gash near the fish's gills, and its poor little ribs were sticking out, and I think some osprey lost the little sucker and couldn't see where it dropped. Also if it were a threat from a person here, it probably would have been wrapped beautifully in expensive paper.

Really I think the opposite of what I said - I think this is a good omen. You know how when the cat brings you a mouse, it's an offering? I'm going with that.

Bright blessings are dropping from the sky - what a life I lead.

I really think so

Learning Japanese, I think I'm learning Japanese...

It's taking a long time, and it's not easy, but I am working on learning written Japanese. This is an incredibly complicated process - there are three alphabets, two with 46 phonetic characters apiece and one with over a thousand. That last one, kanji, comes from Chinese and can take a lifetime to learn, so I'm not planning on becoming fluent. But the other two are really necessary for basic communication, grocery shopping, etc, so I'm committed.

But oh, it's not easy.

You see, there are two (plus one!) alphabets. Did I mention that? One of them, hiragana, is used only for words of Japanese origin. The other, katakana, is only for words of foreign origin. (Check out www.realkana.com if you want to see how I'm practicing). So imagine you want to say "I'm going to wear my kimono to the party," that would use all three! The word for party is paa-ti, from the English, so it would be written in katakana. I'm learning katakana first, since it will be more useful for me to identify ketchup and pizza than miso and kimonos, but even the foreign words are different. For example, I've learned about a dozen characters so far (WOOT!) and I was actually able to read a sign at the grocery store yesterday! Here's what I could make out:

EE

N

SU

TA

N

TO.

Ee-n-su-ta-n-to.

Een-su-tan-to.

Een-s'tan-to.

INSTANT! INSTANT! INSTANT!

Internet, I was so excited! I had looked up at the aisle sign and determined that if I want to buy instant, I look here. Instant ____________, that is - I couldn't read the kanji for the last part of the phrase. But it was instant, and I knew it.

This is going to be a long road.

Oh Good Bread*

I thought I had made good bread before, but I was wrong. I mean, it was okay, yes. But I have another love now - and her name is Laurel's Kitchen.

I got the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book at the library yesterday, and it is fantastic. The book was published in 1984 and it has hundreds of whole grain recipes. Recipes, that is, along with detailed instructions for making perfect wholemeal bread.

It worked.

Now, I am not good at this yet. The dough was sticky through all the fifteen minutes of kneading I did, and the loaf was supposed to rise a bunch more. But oh, the taste. It tastes great and it looks fantastic, and I can't wait to try more!

Confidential to Mom: yeah, I want your copy of this cookbook.

*Everything sounds better in French, doesn't it?

Love is a box of candy and newspapers

Care package! CARE PACKAGE!

One given, one received, all in the same day. I love care packages - they are a recession favorite, an inexpensive (sometimes) way to show love and, dammit, care during tough times, or any time really.

The one I sent was to my other brother Daryl, not really Daryl, but Joe.Yes, I realize I'm in that picture - I tried to crop it but unless I wanted just Joe's FACE, there was going to be part of my head, and, well, all of my head looks better than 1/3 of it, and well, it's my damn website.

Joe lives in the Florida Keys, he being the fun-loving, easygoing one of the three of us. (Ben is the hardest worker, and I am the type-A one. Or I was. Until I stopped working. SHUT UP.) He is also a single male living with other single people, all on small incomes given the cost of partying living down there, so I decided to send him a "here's how you cook healthy, cheap food, little bro" birthday care package. And it arrived, and he liked it. Mission accomplished.

On the receiving end, I got a big box from Melanie today! She sent me falafel mix (which I asked for, since making it from scratch with no food processor SUCKS), organic chocolate truffles, peanut butter cups, and a chocolate bar, dried strawberry treats, tea, mints, and a whole bunch of newspapers and magazines commemorating Barack Obama's historic win. What a great box - Josh and I have already dipped in to the candy and we're having falafel for dinner tomorrow night. YUM!

So, dear readers, is there anybody in your world who could use a little thoughtful treat in the mail? Some candies and a used paperback maybe, or a candle and some homemade bath salts? A little effort and you might just make somebody's day.

Speaking of marriage

Congratulations, brother!
She said yes!

I'm asleep but she's talking to me
She's walking round wearing all of my clothes
As she runs out of things to say
And grabs my coat to walk away

How bout another first kiss, she said
How bout another first kiss, I said
I want another first kiss like this
How bout another first kiss

Other people were too sentimental
Always worrying about their hair
Got tired of wasting all my time
Now Im not worrying at all

How bout another first kiss, she said
How bout another first kiss, I said
I want another first kiss like this
How bout another first kiss

You could tell me we belong together
And I could tell you belong with me
But we've run out of things to say
And we'll be happy anyway

So....

How bout another first kiss she said
How bout another first kiss, I said
I want another first kiss like this
How bout another first kiss

~They Might Be Giants

Marriage

There's a reason we have a binding contract for marital relationships, a reason why 'civil unions' or 'domestic partnerships' just aren't the same thing. It's so when your partner says something like "You're not a cow. You talk too much to be a cow," you can't just storm off forever. There's paperwork, and furniture to divvy, and the like - and that, boys and girls, is why we have marriage.

I should mention here that I called myself a cow, and it didn't have anything to do with weight, and it was apropos of the latest bad movie we were watching, and it was actually kind of funny, and I did exact my revenge.

But still. Bad move, Surinsu=san. Lucky we're married.