With so many plums on hand, I've gotten creative. There's only so much jam you can make and give away when everyone else is also making it. It's sort of like "zucchini season" in Pennsylvania when everyone is overwhelmed with their harvest.

This is an adaptation of a British chutney recipe from Saveur. I localised it to use ingredients we can get here in Japan.

Ume chutney
makes about 4 cups

1.3 kg ume
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar (tubinado/cane)
1 cup rice vinegar
1 cup raisins
1 onion sliced thin
2 large cloves of garlic, sliced thin
1-2" fresh ginger, mined
1 Tbsp black mustard seed
1 tsp peppercorns
6 whole dried chilis
1 Tbsp salt

Wash the ume and discard any with holes that show the fauna have been nibbling. Count the ume (optional but you'll be grateful for this later) Boil the ume until the skins break and the fruit is a little soft - this shaves hours off the total cooking time. Drain the water and set aside.

In a large pan, bring the vinegar and two sugars to a simmer. When the sugar is dissolved, add everything except the plums. Bring back to a simmer and allow to cook for a few minutes. Add the plums.

Simmer for 1-2 hours, stirring to avoid sticking.

When the pits are obviously detatched from the fruit, fish them out with tongs or however you feel like doing it. When your pit count equals the ume count, from when you washed them, you can be confident you got them all.

Put the pits in a strainer and smush the pulp back into the pot. Continue to simmer until the chuntey is a camelised brown and a soft channel forms when you run a spoon through the mixture.

Transfer to sterilised jars, nad process them in a water bath in the standard canning procedure. Sealed jars should last a year unrefridgerated. Unsealed jars, about a month in the fridge.

All the ume trees in our yard are producing plums like mad this year. We made ume-shu and with the remainder of the first harvest I cooked up this jam. It's really good. I'll be making some more because we're harvesting plums every other day now.

Ume-zing spiced plum jam
makes about 2 cups

1 kg ume
500 g sugar
1.5 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mace

1. Wash the ume and discard any with holes where bugs and birds have nibbled
2. Boil ume in a large pot until the skins split. Drain.
3. Add sugar and spices
4. Simmer until the sugar dissolves and pits are mostly separated from the flesh
5. Remove from heat and strain the pits and skins out
6. Bring the jam to about 100C, just boiling (it will set at 102C)
7. Transfer to sterile jars.

Consume with a month or so, or process the jars in the traditional canning method.

Months ago in Bangalore, my friend and colleague, Karthik, asked me about what sorts of jobs I've had. I started recounting them. it was a fun exercise in memory and I recalled all sorts of work adventures. I was sure I didn't remember everything so after our conversation, I made a list. It started out sort of chronological, but it isn't really in any order by the end. Anyway, there are fifty eight things I've been paid to do since I started working at 15.

1. Babysitter

2. Lifeguard

3. Aerobics instructor

4. Camp program assistant

5. Tutor

6. Video rental clerk

7. Bartender

8. Photocopier

9. Retail sales

10. Teacher

11. Secretary

12. Desktop publisher/designer

13. Corporate marketing/events

14. Stage manager

15. Telerama school director

16. Prep cook

17. Academic computing trainer

18. Academic IT manager

19. Feature writer

20. Interviewer (journalist)

21. Academic courseware developer

22. Webmaster

23. Year 2000 test center manager

24. Entrepreneur

25. Scriptwriter

26. Camera operator

27. Boom operator

28. Gaffer

29. Continuity girl

30. Video editor

31. Logo designer

32. Graphic designer/illustrator

33. Model

34. Narrator/voice actor

35. Ghost writer

36. Jewellery maker

37. Translator

38. Fixer (video production)

39. Brand designer

40. CMS programmer

41. Technical writer

42. Test subject (cosmetics)

43. Hoop performer

44. Hoop dance teacher

45. Wedding planner

46. Costumer

47. Yoga instructor

48. Circus performer

49. Choreographer

50. Circus teacher

51. Ringmaster

52. Circus prop maker

53. E-book writer

54. Business manager

55. Art teacher

56. Meditation teacher

57. HasGeek director

58. Musical performer

No wonder I don't know what to do next. Maybe it's time to review and repeat some of the best ones.

"Memory Support is a tribute to the forgotten stories of family and the remembered stories of friends. When the structure is full and and the cloth faded, I will burn it to send the memories to the sky, then bury the ashes to enrich the earth."

This has been quite a year of making, reliving, questioning, and forgetting memories. From the brain fog of pre-menopause to my mother's dementia to the loss of several friends - I've been mired in memories.

Overwhelmed by some sad news of a friend's tragic demise, I went outside to tidy the garden. I ended up building a structure of felled bamboo. It just seemed right and opened a flood of detailed memories about friends and family. I was compelled to write some of these recollections on ribbons of cloth and tie these burst of color to the poles. Over the next few days, the collection grew and some friends joined me in adding their memories to the piece.

Today, I am opening the project to the world. I invite you to add your memories to Memory Support. You're welcome to stop by in person and rummage in my bag for cloth and a pen. If you aren't nearby, you can participate via post.

1. Write a memory on a strip of cloth or a ribbon at least 20cm/8in long. Any cloth is good and any memory you want to share is fine. You can create as many as you wish.

2. Tie your memory to the structure, or send it to me and I will tie it on for you.

Mail your memories to:

Kristen McQuillin
Hiratsuka 1577-2
Kamogawa, Chiba 296-0232
JAPAN

Be careful what you wish for. First Italy, Vietnam, and China with Rob then triangulations among Kamogawa, Bangalore, and Ephrata. Always home and always homeless.

And all the 25 Word entries I've written since 2001:

2016
Half century joys: circus successes; drawing again; driver's license; warm neighbors; loving husband. Sorrows: multiverse branched and Zoupi vanished; my heart broke; mould ruined everything.

2015
A new era began with Japanese eijuuken and freedom to do anything! We quit Tokyo for rural Chiba. Now we have time, space, and ease.

2014
Our 25th anniversary. Eyes opened in Ireland and India to a new life together. More adventures, independence, inventiveness, alliances. Yes, yes! The ayes have it.

2013
Running away to the circus confused me. Spent ten months wondering "What next?" Tried resting, contests, midwifery - not my things. Travel, teaching, performance? Yes. Circus.

2012
Hooping took me up to Tohoku, down to Niijima, and around the world on tour. Ukulele, yoga, improv, songwriting, skating, visiting, & fundraising filled the gaps.

2011
Mother Earth trembled and futures fell apart. Uncertainty ruled us for months but in the end I'm still in Japan, married, hooping, and feeling happy.

2010
Lived my hoop dreams, wheeee! Connected, created, collaborated, choreographed, costumed, capered, camped, coordinated, but then crashed hard. Ouch. Healed and found my truth. Full circle.

2009
Rose petals in blue sky and the scent of muddy elephants conducted me to presence. An intense upwelling of joy revealed the universe inside me.

2008
I made dresses, meals, 100 necklaces, friends. Grew food. Witnessed a birth! I am greying, wrinkling and fading, but I started hooping, so who cares?

2007
Food ruled 2007: went almost vegan, developed recipes, and lost 10 kilos. Also sewed Morsbags, made political statements with robots, and explored Tokyo real estate.

2006
Forty was a pleasure/pain year - a roiling emotional sea. Heartbreaking anguish half drowned me but also un-dammed a flood of patterns, photography and creativity.

2005
This year, a lesson in
How to bear pain and loss.
Travel doesn't cure heartache;
Friends ease the agony.
Healing and peace flow like water.

2004
Did more, finished less.
Strengthened friendships and traveled.
Constructed 18 videos, knitted scarves,
Shared my pencils and my love.
Still seeking realisation of my principles.

2003
Hello Tokyo finally done
Neon Chopstix now begun.
'Twas mostly work but also fun.
Hosted friends from far away.
Another visa for three years' stay.

2002
Celebrating four years in Japan, I exercised my right brain and my poetic voice. I filmed then procrastinated. I waited for the axe to fall.

2001
Spent seven weeks on holiday in Maui, China, mainland US. Wrote lots, taught many, earned little. Saw the inside of my head. Didn't do enough.