Hi everyone! I am feeling somewhat better, although it’s a bit difficult to stay sitting up for long periods. I have figured out how to type reasonably well on my iPad lying down on my bed though, so I’m slowly getting back up to speed on the writing side. (I write on the iPad, put the text in Dropbox, and do any fiddling with photos on my laptop. A bit exhausting…)
Anyway, my mother sent me some photos from Japan that I thought I’d share. First up, my niece Lena had a birthday on September 12th. Her grandma got her this very pretty cake.
Lena was born on September 12, 2001. She and her mother are now looking at potential middle schools, since they aren’t that happy with the default public school in their area. It’s hard to believe she’ll be a teenager soon!
There was also a gathering of some of my mother’s siblings at the ‘honke’, or main household of the family clan, where my aunt Chikako lives. It’s in Saitama prefecture, which is north of Tokyo. Aunt Chikako always liked to have tons of food ready for family gatherings.
It looks like they ordered in the sushi, but the rest she undoubtedly made herself. Aunt Chikako has always been a great country cook. I see her nishime (simmered vegetables), her vegetable tempura, and her famous handmade udon.
When she was cleaning out a storage area, she found this rather scary yet beautiful looking thing. It’s an udon noodle machine, and must be at least 80 years old or so. It used to belong to her adoptive mother (my aunt was an orphan). It works like an Italian pasta machine. Apparently it’s still in working order.
My aunt hasn’t used it for decades though, since she prefers to cut her noodles by hand. She was going to throw it out…but my mother claimed it since it looks so nice. Goodness knows where she’s going to store it though! I can’t wait to take a look at it, and maybe even try it out, when I’m back in Japan.
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