Recently in Household Category

This year end has been hectic and stressful with driving school, health issues, a broken fridge, blah, blah, blah. I was not feeling the usual "I hate Christmas' mood this year as much as I was completely indifferent and almost ignorant of the holiday coming up. 

Boxes arrived from family overseas. I stacked them up. Topped with a bottle of wine, there's our tree for the year. Good enough. I was not interested in being creative.

But inspiration finally struck on Christmas day and I designed a tree out of the cardboard from the boxes. I scissored, taped and slotted to create a three dimensional, self-standing tree. Sort of Suessian, it echoed the shape of the two origami balls we received from the 3rd graders at Nagasa Elementary school.

A string of lights completed the look. I'm rather proud of this tree that came from nowhere. It is whimsical and no-waste. 

We completed our holiday festivities with a lovely dinner and opening the presents that family sent. Tod & I agreed to not exchange gifts this year - the first time in 28 years I didn't buy something for him - but he surprised me with a stollen from one of our local bakers. 

Creole duck breast, mashed potatoes, greens, and wild rice. Yum.

Yesterday at driving school, we went out on the real roads with our new learner's permits. I expected this to be a brief circle around the school, but it was a gorgeous drive along the coast. We did it three times in three hours and each time was better than the last. 

Learning to drive on the narrow roads in town, where there are pedestrians, garbage trucks, bicycles, no sidewalks, and just enough clearance for two cars is quite an interesting challenge. Not at all like driving in the US. I successfully avoided everyone yesterday and plan to continue that success.

Tod pointed out that in our first session yesterday, we each had a department head instructor at our side. In the subsequent hours, it was regular instructors. The newest drivers get the most seasoned instructors. It makes sense. This school really does know what they are doing.

So we did and she did and there we were on October 29th, forking over 300,000 yen each for a full driving course. It seems like a small fortune for re-learning a skill we haven't used in almost 20 years, but it turns out to be a very good education. On the same day you hand over the cash, it starts off with a bang! It was a bewildering and unexpected few hours as we had a lengthy but rapid explanation of the program, a psychological driving aptitude test, and our first classroom lesson. 

I would recommend the school to anyone with the time and money to do the course. The staff want you to pass the exam and want to keep Kamogawa's roads safe. They work hard for you, and if you put in a good effort you will succeed! 

And if you need a ride to registration, I want to pay forward the boon my neighbor did in kicking us out of complacency and into action, so call me!

The kitchen counter was green. The bedframe was sprouting three dimensional orange mould. The futons went to the dump yesterday and floor cushions were trashed. All of our clothes were musty, the shoes mildewed, leather goods dotted with mould.

For the last ten days Tod & I (and friends helping with supply runs) have been combatting the mess. We've washed every wall, floor, and window with vinegar and tea tree oil or bleach. We tore out and replaced the floor of the bedroom closet. Every dish, pot, pan, appliance, and utensil has been scrubbed, along with all the cabinets they live in. We replaced the wooden spoons, cutting boards, oven mitts, laundry baskets, trivets, and chopsticks. We have washed and dried epic quantities of laundry.

We've been sleeping in the upstairs office/studio because it was only lightly affected. I was able to wipe off the white, powdery mildew form the furniture and vacuum the floors and call it "good enough". It's not stinky or damp up there. When we can get the downstairs bedroom back to a reasonable level of must, we will buy a new futon and bedframe. 

Today, the first truly sunny day since we got back, was devoted to airing out the contents of Tod's closet. I broke three laundry poles this morning. Tod has a lot of clothes. There wasn't enough room to air the winter coats; I am hoping for a another sunny day soon. The sun is fading now and I don't think the clothes are fresh yet...

We still have a fair amount of cleaning, repairing and replacing still to do. I am seriously considering another radical decluttering. I never want to have to wash all this stuff ever again. It's depressing and tedious. If you find my mood sour next time you see me, check for mould in my head.

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, so I stepped into the engawa and she went out the door.

I did the project planning, which involved not actually repairing anything but covering the sagging floor with fresh plywood and vinyl. It's an inexpensive, temporary fix. I opted not to nail or glue the new boards to the old floor. I know if we stay here more than a year or two, we will properly re-do the rotting floor. Taking up two subfloors would be a real nightmare, so for today I made a jigsaw of boards resting on the old floor and then sort of held it together with glue and vinyl. It's imperfect and a horror to any professional, but it sure does look pretty and the floor feels much more solid that it did this morning. It took us four hours, half of which was driving into town and shopping for the vinyl. Total cost including materials and Masa's time, under 20,000 yen. Win!

As a unexpected bonus, Masa dug up the ugly, creepy compost bin from the middle of the yard. When I mentioned that was on my list of projects to do, he lit up. "Can I have it?" Yes, of course! So with my newly purchased shovel, he dug down 20 centimeters and pulled it out of the ground. The compost inside was a mix of nice dirt, eggshells, and cockroaches (ick). It will be really fine after I dig it into the garden. And now I never have to see that dreadful bright teal plastic bin ever again. I'll make a less obtrusive new compost heap somewhere more useful, like outside the kitchen door.

Next up: amadoi (not amido or amado, which also need attention) - the gutters.

Friends suggested that a cat would keep away the rodents. But we're not ready for cats at the moment. However, whoever hands out cats from the great heavens had another plan. We now have a cat. Actually it has us.

A few days after the rat/cat discussion, I was taking a nap. I opened my eyes and saw...a cat in the hall.  Tod, in the room opposite, confirmed it wasn't a late afternoon dream. A cat was sitting in the hall grooming itself. Tortoiseshell markings, so female. I sat up to say hello and she bolted out the front door. Feral, but wise to houses.

A few nights later, there she was again. She opened the front door herself, walked quietly toward the kitchen. But I heard her, called out, and she stared at me for a bit before bolting. She snuck in another evening while we were out and ate a piece of bread. Poor kitty must be very hungry. Should we feed her? Despite a divided opinion, Tod brought home cat food a few days later. And then she snuck in again and ate half the butter we'd failed to put away.

So now, we close the kitchen door and make sure all the food is away. Good policy in any case.

She continues to visit so I've given her a name, Pel. Two days ago she peeked her head around the corner into the living room where I was working. I'm not sure who was more surprised. She gave me that, "It's it dinnertime?" look so I filled her bowl. She meowed when she finished.

Last night, she turned up at about 1 am in my bedroom. Pel has never been in the same room as me. She did seem a bit unnerved when I rolled over and saw her, but she didn't flee. Maybe she is gentling herself. We looked at each other for a while, then she walked out into the hall to pace a bit. She let herself into the living room, then climbed into the closet and deliberately knocked a small box off the shelf. Such a cat. I stuck my head out the bedroom door and she retreated to the end of the hall. We just sat together for a while, until I was too tired and crawled back into bed.

Pel has a friend, too. I call him Pep. Similar colorings, but Pep is fat and doesn't come inside. He eats the other half of the cat food every night and does the same sitting and staring thing as she does. After eating the other day, he sat at the open front door for a while, then moved himself to a place at the end of the walkway where he could watch me in the living room.

These are strange cats, but I'm kinda happy to have them around. Maybe some day I will get to cuddle them - and take them to the vet.

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. 

PLUG 1: Tod measured the plug - 34 mm - and we biked over to the nearest home center, Komeri. We also brought the old bath plug as a backup. Apparently this is a common thing, because the packaging for the new plug was designed to let you fit the old plug into an indentation to test the size. Very clever. Except that our bath drain is actually 36mm - the old plug's rubber had shrunk. 

PLUG 2: So we bought a different plug at the other home center, Cainz, a few days later when we were in town to register our move. Except Tod accidentally grabbed the wrong package and we ended up with another 34 mm plug. We promised ourselves we'd return this one (unopened) next time we went to Cainz. 

PLUG 3: In the meantime, a week or so later, Shreyas and Tod bicycled over to Komeri again and got a plug that was sure to work! It had a sloped design marked suitable for drains from 34mm - 38mm. Except that it didn't work because our drain has a little metal cross in the bottom of it that prevented the fancy plug from going in far enough. 

PLUG 4: Yesterday, we were in town again for "Beach Work Friday" and made a trip to Cainz. We exchanged the too small plug for one that works! We had a hot bath and it was wonderful.

So...if anyone needs a new bath plug, tested but never used, we have a size 34mm and a 34-38mm plug available for cheap. 

First you take the paper off by dampening the old glue and peeling the paper away from the frame. Our shoji haven't been redone in a very long time and the brittle paper ripped rather than peeling. I spent a long time carefully peeling off the bits with a butterknife until the wood was clean and smooth. But I eventually got both sets of interior hall doors un-papered.

The next step is to put the new paper on. I sort of cheated and used iron-on paper. It's backed with a heat-set glue so I didn't have to fuss with a glue pot and drips. But it was still a bit of a challenge to get it smooth and to neatly trim away the excess paper. If you come over to visit, don't look too closely.

I discovered some writing on one of the door frames. A Yasuda grandchild must have practiced his name in pencil. It's invisible when the doors are closed; I wonder if that was on purpose? 

The final product looks pretty good. Fresher and tidier. And with luck it will remain hole-free for a while.