fuki, frogs and butterflies, and three babies- Thu 10 May

Whoopsy, I missed Thursday, even though I'd prepared it. Here 'tis.

I woke at the advised 7:20 to again find the guys gone. Okaasan has offered demonstrate Sadou, or tea ceremony, with me on Saturday morning before I head off. She explained that in tea ceremony, there is no status, only the host and the guest. She pointed out that in traditional tea houses, there is a tiny doorway, through which no weapons could easily pass, so there was little chance of being killed with weapons. She added, however, poisoning was still a possibility.

We watched over bubbling pots of soy-sauce-seasoned fuki stalks, cut from plants which grow wild around their home in their big yard. They hope to sell them to Japanese guests who come to participate in experience farming at their property.


I bottled the tips of boiled bamboo shoots - they look like alien body parts, with what look like little tentacles and internal valves.

I went out with Yohei to a megamarket to buy the ziplock bags to store the cooked fuki in. I bought myself to some chocolate snacks. I've had such a craving for sweet things creep up on me while I've been on no-meat, no-sugar diets in Japan. We dropped off pamphlets for Yohei's upcoming rice planting event to various friends and shops, along with some onions as sweeteners. He's hoping he'll get the attendance and helping hands of one hundred participants.

While okaasan and I shoveled the seasoned fuki into plastic bags, she told me of old poems and songs, with syllable counts of 5-7-5-7-7. She ran through some from Hideyoshi, an emperor who rose from being nobody to ruling Japan. His last poem before his death explained that at its end, life is revealed to merely have been a dream, and that we are born and disappear like summer dew.

Okaasan watches over the pots.


I dressed up in rain gear, and cropped some fuki from the yard, to be boiled plain for dinner.


I saw this beautiful butterfly waiting for the rain to clear.

If you blow gently on their wings, they spring open - so beautiful!

For lunch, Yohei made pastry with fillings. They were less of a success than his pizzas, copping flack for being a tad ugly.


I helped Takki cut down weeds around seedlings in the fields around the house.


I was delighted to come across a frog that didn't vanish at my presence.


Okaasan asked me to transcribe Waltzing Matilda for her, saying it's one of her favourite songs, and to explain the lyrics and record myself singing it so she can learn to sing it. I have a video of our first singing session, she was extremely cute. :) It is SO stuck in my head now.

I got paranoid today that I've caught tapeworms from one of the friendly cats. I had some difficulty explaining this and my need for a pre-emptive treatment to my hosts - they appear unfamiliar with the 'Combantrin' concept in Japan.

Along with Yohei's sister Kayoru and her son, tonight there was another sister with husband and daughter, and sister with daughter. All three kids are under one. There were plenty of cute Japanese baby moments.


The eldest baby girl, Midori, broke into wailing tears every time her eyes make contact with mine, all night.

It was Midori's first birthday tonight, and she was sung Happy Birthday, in English. Later, it was explained to me that Japanese people traditionally all age one year on New Year's Day, not on their birthday.


Midori and her parents are staying the night tonight. Her father is a carpenter and joiner, and is going to do some work on the roof tomorrow.