my nephews knit

I'm not the same person I was

2008-08-16T13:57:00.002+09:00

It may sound overly dramatic, but the last few months have been so tumultuous, that I really believe the above to be true.

Do I still knit? Yes. I haven't blogged about it in ages though, because
1) I don't design my own patterns.
2) What I do knit isn't really interesting enough to warrant posting about. I'm not technically very skilled--no amazing lace shawls or cabled fishermen's sweaters coming from my needles.

That said though, I still enjoy it, and I'm going to keep doing it, but as long as all I have to post about is a pair of socks that a thousand other people have made, there doesn't really seem to be much point. But I'll probably get back to writing about it eventually, when my days of global wanderlust have been severely curtailed and I'm living in America again.

That's right, I'm leaving Japan. It still hasn't really hit me. I love Sapporo and I didn't want to go. Not yet, anyway. But life happens, and sometimes timing doesn't quite work out the way you want it to.

My mom died in July. I was able to leave and get there in time for her to know that I was there. About 36 hours after I arrived though, she had lost the ability to comprehend us and communicate. So I got there just in time. The next five days were spent watching her waste away. I had no idea what people really experience in an end-stage cancer death. Now I know. It's the most horrific thing I've ever witnessed in person. Basically, she starved/dehydrated to death, in intense pain all the while. She was vomiting stool, which is truly disgusting, especially as she couldn't swallow, gurgle or spit, so we couldn't really rinse out her mouth adequately afterwards, and much of it she had aspirated, making her breath jagged. Hearing her gasp through that for the last 48 hours was awful.

So while I am truly, truly sad, at the end I felt mostly relief. And then guilt, of course, for feeling relief at the death of one's own mother. But seeing what had been happening to her was so gut-wrenching, that I couldn't feel otherwise.

I miss her terribly, but I'm sure death was a relief for her, as I don't know if you could call what she was experiencing "life". Actually, she had been asking my sister to give her a lethal dose of drugs for some time, and talking on end about how she just wanted to die. So now I feel like she is where she wants to be, and I can move on with my life too. I feel like it's been in a holding pattern for some time. For the past three years, I've been pretty depressed. Sometimes even feeling like I wanted the same thing--death--to befall me. And I felt helpless to change things, both with her condition, but also in my own life. I couldn't find a new job. Who knew when I would have to leave to go to Missouri again? I couldn't be happy in my relationship--I needed someone to be my go-to person, to replace the central figure in my life that my mother had always been, the person that I could always count on, no matter what, and instead I got dishonesty. I knew that being with someone I couldn't trust completely wasn't going to work for me. So in spite of all the other efforts he made--and there were many, he's a thoughtful guy--as long as he couldn't be honest with me, I couldn't accept the feelings he professed for me. Maybe they were legitimate. I can't read his mind, so I'll never know. But I do know he couldn't give me what I needed. At that time, it would have been hard for anyone to. I was too upset with myself for being unable to stop what was happening, and for being unable to make what I wanted to happen with my own life be realized.

Now though, I can. That sounds selfish, I know, but in a way, I have been freed. Freed because the uncertainty, the pain of seeing her discomfort, the stress that she was experiencing that she shared with us...they're all gone. I was, honestly, starting to worry about my own mental health over the past couple of years. But now, while I know that I'll always feel a sadness and an emptiness, I'm not mentally ill. I was unable to see the situations in my life--my mother's illness, my dysfunctional relationship, my dead-end job--and not be overtly affected by them. I felt them all too much.

Not that I don't want to feel. I do! And now, for the first time in a while, I'm starting to feel emotions that are predominately positive. Optimism. Excitement. Hope. People who know me well from the past few years will be shocked to hear me thinking such things.

Maybe these feelings are premature or misplaced. In a month and a half, I will be unemployed. However, I'm seeing that as an opportunity--a chance to spend a few months travelling, and a chance to find something else to do that I will find more rewarding. Maybe I'll go back to school. I've always toyed with the idea of law school, and a few years ago I had to drop out of a doctoral program because of the situation with my mother's illness and the uncertainty it caused in my life. I'm up and moving to a place (Pittsburgh) in which I've never lived. Again, my reaction to this is hope and excitement. I have friends there that I will love to be near again. I can get Penguins season tickets! I can be part of a community again--this may sound like a small thing, but in Japan, foreigners are always outsiders. Yes, I have Japanese friends and I can get by in Japanese, but it will never be enough here. In America, I won't always be Other. I'm sure I will experience reverse culture shock, but there's something so comforting about knowing that I won't automatically be discounted or suspected based on my nationality or appearance. Of course, I will miss the converse--the special kindnesses and considerations that I do receive for being Other--but on balance, I think I just want to be "normal".

And finally, I have optimism about my relationships. Maybe it's temporary, but my sister and brother and I have never gotten along so well. I think we realized that the glue that was holding us together was gone, and if we wanted to actually maintain relationships with one another, we were going to have to make a conscious effort. So we are. Going through everything in my mom's house and remembering our childhoods didn't hurt. I was much closer to them growing up than I think I remembered being. I'll do whatever I can to stay close to them, because they are my main link to the past, and to Mom.

I feel more optimism about friendships, too. Living abroad, you befriend so many other people with transient lives, and then wind up living far away from all of your friends once people move on. I love having friends all over the world, but I would also like to be in a place where my friends don't all "rotate out" every couple of years. My Pittsburgh friends are mostly from Pittsburgh, and I think they're there to stay.

And while I had been suffering through a relationship with someone who had so much potential to be a great partner, but couldn't be honest with me, I have found someone who can. Actually, I didn't "find" him. I've known him for 16 years. We were just friends in college--always completely platonic--but I depended on him inordinately the year that we spent in France. I can honestly say that I probably would have been on a plane home within the first few weeks if it hadn't been for him. We kept in touch and saw each other a couple of times after coming back, even though we were in different states, but we eventually lost contact when he was in med school and I was living in Korea. (That was before the days of widespread email usage. I'm really dating myself here.) Then, a couple of years ago, we ran into each other completely by chance at a wedding. He was a good friend of the groom's; the bride was the daughter of my mother's best friend. Since then, we've kept in touch, and when everything was going south with Dysfunctional Dishonest Sapporo Relationship, it just seemed so obvious to me. I mean, here was a guy in my life who has always been completely open and honest with me, who is sweet and considerate and smart and funny. Why was I with someone who was causing me so much unhappiness, when there were people out there like France Guy? (Who is not, by the way, actually French.) So when I found evidence that Dysfunctional Dishonest Sapporo Relationship Guy had likely cheated--at the very least, had carried on rather inappropriately with someone else who knew nothing of my existence (and I, presumably, nothing of hers), I got out of DDSR and wrote to France Guy, baring my soul and asking him what he thought of me.

I can't believe I had the nerve to go through with it, but I'm so glad I did. He's inconvenienced himself repeatedly to be by my side during my mother's last months. He's halfway across the country from Missouri, but he would take off work, get a plane ticket and a rental car, and be there to be my shoulder to cry on whenever I was home. He was with me at the visitation, the funeral, the burial. He writes me beautiful letters, including the one where he reacts with sadness to my mother's obituary, and assures me that he knows I'm feeling alone in the world because I lost my mother but that he will always be there for me. (DDSRG, on the other hand, wrote back to the email about my mother's death with two sentences of sympathy, and five paragraphs about himself--how unhappy I had made him, and how I needed to get out of the university-owned apartment we had been sharing if I came back to Japan. Nice.)

Anyway, I'm trying to be level-headed and not rush into things with France Guy, but having known him for so long as just a friend--with no pretensions to anything else--I know that he is the real thing. I know I'm not going to find out that he has a criminal record that he has lied to me about (as with DDSRG), or that he has another girlfriend to visit in his parents' home country (again with DDSRG). So no rush--well, maybe a little, he's delightful and I want to be with him as much as I can, which at this point isn't much--but lots of optimism. And optimism is something that I have possessed in the red over the past few years. Now I'm finally back in the black, and it feels good. I just wish my mom were here to share it with.

Rhodes and Athens

2008-05-26T15:06:00.012+09:00

This time last year, I was in Greece. Unfortunately, this year, nothing so exciting is happening in my life. I'm just more or less biding time until I get a phone call telling me that my mother's condition has deteriorated to the point that my presence is required in Missouri. That kind of precludes much travel for fun. So I'll content myself by reminiscing about last year's trip.

The purpose of the visit was to present a paper at a conference in Athens. But, quite frankly, the conference was lame, and there weren't many interesting presentations to attend (we did try). So, a trip to the top of the Acropolis is far more educational, don't you think?

This was actually the view from our (otherwise crappy) hotel room balcony. (Three stars my ass. This hotel is actually a much better deal, and has tons of charm. I stayed there on my first trip to Athens in 2005. Unfortunately they were full this last time.)

We also stumbled upon this little-visited park that had some nice ruins and an amazingly large tortoise population. We lost count after 30+. I've been meaning to post photos for Cristi for ages! You can't tell in the photo, but the turtles were about the size of human infants. They were enormous. The staff told us that they had more or less taken over the park as the area around it became more and more developed, and the turtles lost their habitat.

But as good as the museums and sights are in Athens, it's still a crowded, polluted city that I don't much care for. Rhodes was much nicer. Unfortunately much of the island has been built up as a package-tour, concrete-hotel-monstrosity, beach holiday destination for vacationing Europeans. I can't imagine a more revolting type of travel, with the possible exception of Carnival Cruises or Disney theme parks. In the resort areas we drove through, we passed more fish and chip shops showing cricket on the telly than we did Greek restaurants. We also came across a hotel offering "Friday: Greek Night!" Uh, yeah, it's Greece. Shouldn't every night be Greek Night?! But the Old Town of Rhodes is still relatively unscathed, maybe because of its UNESCO World Heritage site designation. It's a citadel, and walking around the cobblestone streets enclosed in the castle-like walls is like a trip back in time.

Like in Northern Greece, you see minarets in Rhodes. It's very close to Turkey and was controlled by the Turks for some time. We got to take a bath at the hamam, which I actually liked much more than the one I visited in Istanbul.

You can walk around the ramparts and up the towers.
Outside of the Old Town, there are many beautiful places if you avoid the aforementioned package tour ghettos. I fell in love with this Art Deco bathing/beach cabana complex that was being restored.

I also loved the area around Lindos.

Driving around the periphery of the island and across the center took us to several little villages and beaches that were untouched by tourism. Luckily, since I was travelling with a Greek person, communication was not a problem and we could find great little local places to eat. I had one of the best meals I've ever had in some out-of-the-way village on Rhodes.

Lots of fiber-producing animals, even on the beach!
Those aren't all rocks. Some of them are sheep.

Ok, but how do they taste?

2008-04-19T15:42:00.004+09:00

U.S. beef got banned in Japan, but this is ok?

This is some of the quirkier Engrish that I've seen lately. It was on the blackboard menu in front of a pseudo-Italian restaurant. I took a picture with my cellphone and pointed it out to the people I was with--we had just come out of the bar next door. The hostess saw us congregating and ran out to tell us that last order was in just a few minutes. She thought we were poring over the menu because we were going to eat there, and proudly informed us (in Japanese, of course) about this new English menu that they have "prepared for". I didn't have the heart to tell her that we were just laughing at their sign, or what it meant.

Morocco tips, anyone?

2008-02-22T13:35:00.001+09:00

I'm off to Morocco in a week, but haven't really planned much yet. I'm thinking of an itinerary something like this:

Day 1: Arrive in Casablanca/crash there
Days 2-4: Head to Rabat for 2 nights
Days 4-7: Chefchaouen for 3 nights
Days 7-8: Tangier for 1 night
Days 8-14: Fes/Meknes/Volubilis
Days 14-17: Travel through the High Atlas on the way to the South; see Todra Gorge
Days 17-20: Zagora/Draa Valley
Days 20-22: Ameln Valley or Tarodannt/Anti-Atlas
Days 22-25: Essaouira
Days 25-30: Marrakesh, with possible side trips to the Cascades d'Ouzoud and Oukaimeden (I want to ski in Africa!)
Day 31: Go back to Casablanca and stay there before flying out the next afternoon

It's probably too ambitious. but better to aim for more and cut stuff out along the way if necessary, I think, than to not even try. If anyone out there has any suggestions, tips or warnings, I'd love to hear them!

Greece, March 2007

2008-01-31T16:27:00.000+09:00

Bulgaria wasn't the only country I visited in March. I also spent some time in Northern Greece. I had been to Greece before, but only Athens and Crete. Northern Greece is completely different. For starters, it was cold! This was actually quite a relief because I hate hot weather. I was also surprised at how desolate a lot of it was, how flat Thrace is, and what a large, visible Turkish-speaking Muslim minority there is. In every town and village in Thrace, there were minarets and women in headscarves. Mostly we were in the countryside, but some of the cities (towns?) we visited were Xanthi, Kavala, Alexandroupoli, Komotini, Edessa, and of course Thessaloniki. I wanted to make a pilgrimage to Oreo, but alas, we didn't have time!

My favorite city was Xanthi. It's in wooded hills, with a lovely cobblestone old town and a lively atmosphere.

Everywhere you go, there are ancient ruins. Usually there's a big sign, advertising how many Euros the EU has provided for excavation, some abandoned looking bulldozers and buckets, and a surly guard with a key to the gate.
The most impressive ruins, I thought, were the mosaics at Pella. I don't know much about Alexander the Great, but I do know that this was his city. These photos don't show the scale well--these are absolutely massive, and very intact, considering how old they are.

One of the towns we visited, Soufli, is famous for its history of silk production. I was really looking forward to going to the local Silk Museum, which details the process and is housed in an old Ottoman building. No such luck. It's closed for refurbishment until 2009. Cute though, isn't it?
My favorite thing about Greece is the food. Thick yogurt, amazingly fresh and colorful produce, plus an obsession with butter pastry...it's so good.

Bulgaria, March 2007

2008-01-30T20:25:00.001+09:00

So I've always intended to blog about the international trips that I take, because I know some of my friends and family who read this blog are interested, but last year I was really bad about getting around to it. In 2007, I went to Ireland, Sri Lanka, Korea, Canada, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Greece (twice, different parts of the country). My trip to Canada was just a few days in Vancouver to visit friends, and I've been there several times before, so I don't really have much to say about it, and I've blogged about Korea and Ireland. Bulgaria is somewhere than I hadn't really thought much about visiting previously. I mean, I'm always interested to go anywhere, but it's not a place that has long held a sense of enchantment over me, like Morocco and Namibia. But when I decided to spend a couple of weeks in northern Greece in March, it seemed silly not to look into what Bulgaria had to offer, since it was so nearby, and because I didn't want to spend much of that time in Greece proper...long story. In my research I found out about Plovdiv, a historical city in southern Bulgaria. The Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It's truly a fascinating place, especially for those interested in history and architecture. Roman, Greek (well, Macedonian), Ottoman, Soviet Bloc...it's gone through several changes of power and these are all evident in the buildings, ruins and monuments. This sounds completely cliched, but Bulgaria is truly a landscape of contrasts. I remember donkey carts and BMWs on roads with massive potholes, scary Soviet-era nuclear power plants and beautiful Ottoman houses, mountain monasteries and women in glittery polyester hotpant outfits. In any case, Plovdiv and the surrounding Rhodopi mountain villages are lovely, and I would highly recommend visiting there if you have the chance.

And there's inexpensive wool yarn, and lots of folk knitting and textiles! I bought some traditional handknit socks as a souvenir.

The hotel where we stayed, the Hebros, is in an old Ottoman house and is one of the most characterful and charming places I've ever stayed. I'd be thrilled to go back someday.
I'm not a good photographer and these pictures don't do the place justice at all, but if you're really interested I suggest you check out Emilofero's photos on flickr. Plovdiv is his hometown, and he's done a wonderful job capturing it.

Family and other animals

2008-01-18T15:47:00.000+09:00

Remember how, in my last post, I mentioned that Christmas always culminates in a major drama with my family? Well, I thought we had gotten off unscathed. On the 30th, my sister, her boyfriend, and her kids showed up, we did a quick gift exchange, and then all of my mom's extended family arrived from all over the state for our annual soup and sandwich lunch. It was actually *nice*. Almost everyone--about 50 people--came, except a skiing cousin, another cousin's new spouse, and my black sheep brother. My 85-year old grandma was confused about who was who, but didn't make any nasty comments aimed at my sister's boyfriend-of-another-race or any of the Catholic spouses-of-cousins. No drama! After that, my sister's family and I went to our father and stepmother's for the meal he prepared especially for us--frozen pizza. Not even the good ones. The ones that are less than 99 cents and only have one topping each. Crappy, yeah, but if that is the worst that happens on Christmas, then it's a banner year for us.

Or so I thought. The 30th came and went, and still, things were pretty quiet. That is, until the day before I flew back to Japan.

We had gone to St. Louis that afternoon as my flight was early the next morning, and it was a chance to have dinner with my sister's family and my brother too. Except my brother didn't show. We had just talked to him earlier that afternoon...what had happened? My mom left him some messages and thought he might turn up at the restaurant later, but he didn't. I wasn't really worried, because my brother is a flake and a liar--he pulls stuff like this a lot.

Later that evening we were at my sister's, hanging out with the kids while she was at work. She called, my mom took the call, went white and started bawling. Seeing as my sister is a nurse in one of the biggest hospitals in St. Louis, I assumed my brother had been brought to the ER or something.

Nope. Of course not. His teeny tiny house had been raided by the cops for 4+ hours that afternoon, and he was in jail. The fact that the DEA was involved in the raid will give you some clue as to why.

I don't know a lot of details. I do know, however, that he is facing felony charges, including drug trafficking, and that he's out on bail and now living with my poor mother yet again (she just got him out of there last April). I know that all of his money and gold bars (he didn't trust banks or the Federal Reserve) were seized, so he doesn't have any assets to speak of. I do know that he is 29 years old and old enough to understand the consequences of whatever he may have been doing. I know that he knows our mother is very sick and can't really take this kind of stress. I also know that he is completely selfish, dishonest, and he knows that no matter what happens, my parents will do their damnedest to bail him out. Especially with my mother feeling like she doesn't have much time left. I doubt she wants the last time she sees her only son to be when he is being taken off to the state pen.

Before this mess, my mom had been considering spending the rest of her money on an expensive experimental, alternative cancer treatment center in Mexico. A scam, maybe, but her money and her body. But is my brother using the services of a public defender? No. Where did he get the 10k retainer for the lawyer he talked to? Hmm.

I'm pissed. Especially at my brother of course, but at my parents too. Am I being unreasonable? Maybe I am, and if so, tell me. I don't have a kid so it's easy for me to say "cut the strings". I've seen him verbally and physically abuse, manipulate and scam both of them, and so many others, for years and years. My parents' failure to refuse to take this anymore smacks of enabling to me--especially from my mom, who still talks to him like he's a little boy. I've gotten to the point where I don't have any qualms about declaring that I no longer have a brother, and least not until he radically changes his behaviour. Is that wrong?

Bah humbug

2007-12-20T17:22:00.000+09:00

Yes, I know it's December 28, but my family isn't "having Christmas" until the 30th, so this is still timely for me. I was tagged by Undercounted Sassy. I'm not going to tag anyone else, because for most people, Christmas is probably already a memory.

What was the best Christmas present you got as a kid? I got almost exclusively lousy gifts. My parents were of the "let's get them something they need" ilk, which meant I usually got something like sheets or a new chest of drawers. They only fun things I can dredge up out of my memory are my maternal grandmother's habit of giving us the Montgomery Ward or Sears catalog and telling us to pick what we wanted (limit=$10--the only thing I remember choosing this way was a purple acrylic argyle vest when I was 11, but looking through that catalog sure was dreamy) and the time that my paternal grandparents got us a generic (Sears-brand) Atari. We were stigmatized because it wasn't a REAL Atari, but it did play Pac-Man and Donkey Kong cartridges, so we dealt with it.
What was the best Christmas present you got as an adult? I'm not really sure, but my ex-boyfriend did go brave a yarn store, and then sent me 10 balls of Noro Silk Garden in a heart-shaped box. That one would have to be up there.
What’s your favorite Christmas carol? Traditional: Adeste Fideles (The Latin version of "O Come All Ye Faithful". Everything sounds better in Latin.) Contemporary: Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" Simon Le Bon, Boy George, Bono, George Michael, Bob Geldof--what's not to like? At karaoke though, I'm more apt to do Wham's "Last Christmas." This song is hugely popular in Japan. In fact, the Muzak version of it was playing as I walked through the grocery store last week.
How long can you stand to listen to Christmas music before you break? I won't break. I love it! I start listening to it as soon as it starts to snow, which in Sapporo is October or November.
How many Christmas albums do you own? Several. They range from Alvin and the Chipmunks (on vinyl) to Johnny Cash, from Frank, Bing and Nat to the Korean punk band "PiPi Band".
Did you ever go caroling as a kid? Yep.
Would you willingly eat fruitcake? I'd try it.
Do you own any Christmas sweaters? Please.
Do you own any Christmas jewelry? What? Again, please. My grandma has quite a collection though, and I loved dressing up with it when I was a kid.
Do you wear them? n/a
Did your family have any Christmas traditions? Like what? There's usually a screaming match that devolves into someone leaving and swearing they'll never talk to any of the others again. We're quite dysfunctional.
Do you buy Christmas presents for your pets? I don't have a pet.
What’s your favorite Christmas cookie? Classic cookie-cutter Christmas-shaped sugar cookies, preferably with frosting.
What’s your favorite Christmas candy? I don't have one. I hate candy canes.
What’s your stocking look like? My mom made matching Holly Hobby ones for us sometime in the late 70s or early 80s. Mine's beige with an appliqued Holly Hobby in blue and red calico quilting fabric with ric-rak trim. It's quite ugly. She still puts them out. Filling=Little Debby Christmas-tree shaped cakes and an orange.
How do you feel about the “Steal from Your Neighbor” Christmas present game (the one where people pick gifts from a pile, but others get to steal it)? I love, love, love this type of gift exchange, especially when it's done with White Elephant gifts. I acquired some lovely handknit Ecuadorean socks in one of these swaps.
What is the oldest ornament on your tree? I don't have a Christmas tree. I remember having one in college once--it was 1991 and we stuck a picture of (hot!) Jesus Jones (remember him? "Right Here, Right Now") on top to be "holy". For Christmas, I either travel, or go to my mom's. She always has a tree, but she's an interior designer and will not deign to put our old handmade kiddie ornaments on her tree.
Real or artificial? Real if I had one, which I don't. Artificial trees--what's the point? They don't have that Christmas tree smell. Plus they're tacky.
How do you feel about Christmas letters? Like I would never feel the need to write one. This year I went the nengajo （年賀状）　route, because I'm a Rat.
Do you have Christmas decorations or lights outside your house? What are they? Nope.
How far would you drive to see Christmas lights? I hate Christmas lights. What a waste of energy.
Are you a fan of tasteful or tacky? Tasteful, please. If I were to decorate for Christmas, I would prefer something a la Shimandsons.
Do you have any Christmas collections? Nope.

Seoul-shi

2007-12-18T16:24:00.000+09:00

Seoul is a colorful, noisy, crowded, smelly, vibrant city. I used to live there and while it drove me crazy at the time, I love going back for a few days at a time. The food is outstanding, and there are lots of groovy neighborhoods to be explored. This time though, I had to be a tourist, since I took someone who had never been to Korea before. We stumbled on this traditional procession at Kyongbokkung, one of the palaces downtown.
This guy seems to have been entrusted with guarding the wheelchairs and motorized scooters.

There is a reason I'm standing with the rat and showing my rat-like teeth. I am a Rat, and soon it will be my year.
Madonna and Teletubby
Chicken Art?
These hosiery displays are everywhere.
Look closely. This is a "new style" noraebang (karaoke room) parlor, according to one of my Korean friends. Those are suites, with bunkbeds, so people outside can watch people in each of the rooms singing and dancing. The guys in the left upper corner room were doing a choreographed dance straight out of a boy band video. They drew quite a crowd.

More random images...

And the best part of any visit to Korea...

Finally!

2007-11-15T18:14:00.000+09:00

I've been waiting weeks; hoping many times that I'd wake up and see everything covered in white. It's been snowing hard all day, and now it's actually sticking. This is one of the main reasons I like living in Sapporo.

Even if you don't like the Red Sox...

2007-10-31T13:41:00.000+09:00

With Boston getting all the media coverage that it has been lately (yay Red Sox! Thanks for beating up on a team other than the Cardinals this time round!), I've been nostalgically thinking about the city a lot. I used to live there, and really wanted to stay, but it was just not financially feasible, what with all the debt I had accrued going to grad school just over the river in Cambridge. Even after I graduated and was working full-time, I couldn't afford to move out of the drafty, mouse-infested, run-down apartment that I shared with several others. (One bathroom and one refrigerator for up to seven people=aggravation and snarkiness.)

In spite of all the wonderful things about Boston, it is 1) COLD and 2) EXPENSIVE (particularly housing). So when I read that Pam is collecting handknitted goods for Christmas in the City, an organization that supports homeless families in Boston, I knew I wanted to help. You can read Pam's post about it here. She is offering prizes, and I'm going to do the same. If you see this and decide to participate, please comment or email me with your 1) name, and 2) number of items you're donating. (Since I'm a victim of second-sock-or-whatever syndrome just as much as anyone, pairs of mittens or socks will count as two items.) I'll send a prize package of wacky Japanese stuff to the person that contributes the most items, and to a second person whose name is drawn randomly from a hat. Please contact Pam directly for the address to which to send the donations; there's no need for you to ship them to Japan so that I can ship them back to her! (Unless of course, you're in Japan, in which case I'd be happy to collect all the donations and send them together.)

I emailed her for more info and here is what she said:
The donations should be sized anywhere between infant to teen, warm (but it doesn't have to be wool, anything is fine). Just include a paper with your name, return address (for prize raffle) and what the items are made of (for washing instruction purposes.)

She'd like to have everything by at least 2 weeks before Christmas. I've already made 3 hats, and I'm going to try to do some mittens this weekend. A search on Ravelry led me to the patterns for the Triple Threat Toddler Hat (which is easily adaptable for larger sizes) and Bulky Mittens from Spunky Eclectic. Both seem to be quick, warm, and easy to knit up using things I have on hand.

I'll choose winners on December 7, so if you participate, please let me know before that date. Happy knitting!

If it's good enough for Mario Lemieux...

2007-10-29T16:12:00.000+09:00

Ireland wasn't the only place I visited in September. I was also lucky enough to get to spend a few days in one of my favorite American cities, Pittsburgh. Every time I say how much I like Pittsburgh, I get a really incredulous response. But it's not a joke. Someday I wouldn't even mind living there.

Being a longtime fan of the Penguins doesn't hurt. Property prices are really low, and it's actually a very green city, in spite of its reputation. There's an amazing LYS, Knit One, and some Frank Lloyd Wright properties not far away. Add eclectic restaurants, a great variety of museums and galleries, good universities and some close friends to the mix, and why wouldn't I want to live there?

Plus, it's got a lovely skyline, eh?

Our stay was too short, but we got to hang out with the lovely Ana and her partner Phil (which included a trip to Knit One!), tour Fallingwater (a repeat visit for me, but I could do that over and over), eat great food, and stay in a lovely old mansion. Our room even had a fainting couch.

I love the Japanese + James Dean. Here, he's usually on yarn labels, not priceless works of art.

Ireland

2007-10-13T15:50:00.000+09:00

In September, to console myself about giving up most of my two months' vacation by spending it in Missouri, I went to Ireland for a week. I'd never been there before and didn't really know what to expect and didn't have many ideas about what to do, other than see the Book of Kells,
and buy yarn and Aran sweaters, so I posted an enquiry on the Knittyboard and got lots of good advice, which more or less resulted in the itinerary we followed.

Since we arrived at about 5:30 in the morning, we had a full day at the beginning wandering around Dublin. I thought I'd crash after lunch, but amazingly, I managed to spend all day without falling asleep. We hit the aforementioned Book of Kells, the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin Castle, the National Museum, the Dublin Civic Museum, and this great hand knit shop. It was run by an incredibly friendly woman who told me that they have women all over the country knitting items for them. I bought an amazing baby alpaca aran scarf (from Inis Meanin), which was a splurge, but a needed one since it was freezing. I had gone from 90s in Missouri to cool and windy and I wasn't prepared.

The next day we got our rental car and headed west. We had vague notions of wanting to get to the west coast, but not much idea of what was in between. But when we saw an old whiskey distillery in Kilbeggan, we had to stop (well, I didn't...). Going through and learning how whiskey is made was actually pretty interesting, and the whiskey wasn't bad. Much better than Scotch anyway, which I still haven't developed a taste for.

After that, we made it to County Galway. We called around and found a B&B on the Connemara Peninsula, in the little fishing village of Roundstone, that had a room. The next day we drove around the peninsula, which was absolutely lovely. We even saw a double rainbow--can you see the second one at the top?

This sheep was perched up on top of this rock acting very regal. I wish I could have gotten closer to better capture her haughty expression!

Lots of bogs...

The next day we went to the cute little town of Clifden, where I bought the first of three Aran sweaters I'd buy on the trip. It's a green merino zip-up cardigan. And in a store down the street I bought some Kilcarra Aran Tweed yarn, from County Donegal (which unfortunately we didn't make it to). We also made it to Leenane, which had an awesome "Sheep and Wool Center" where I found more cheap Aran yarn, some cute Aran patterns, and great omiyage--a woven scarf for my mom, plus the kitschy tea towels I collect. I now have one with sheep breeds and one with Aran stitch patterns and their meanings. Unfortunately the Museum was closed, but I looked in and it looked so interesting--looms, wheels, carders, fleece and handspun everywhere. Next time I will call ahead! We also stopped at Kylemore Abbey, which was pretty from a distance, but up close it looked like a tourist trap with the tour buses everywhere, so on we went. We didn't make it to the Aran Islands (again, next time), but we did see them from the coast.

We wound up in Galway later that day, but I didn't know that there was a supposedly great yarn store there, so I never made it. Zannen. I did find an excellent shoe store where I picked up three pairs of shoes (since shoes in Japan don't fit me, I tend to buy in bulk when I'm not here!). After another night in Roundstone, we headed south, to County Clare.

These are some random ruins somewhere in County Clare or County Galway. I can't remember, but the tower was pretty cool. It was for the monks to take refuge in if they were under siege. However, there's seemingly no way to get into it at ground level. Tunnels, maybe? We never did figure it out.

I really wanted to see The Burren (maybe because I liked the pub by that name when I lived in Boston?!) so we stopped there. Amazing. It was kind of like I imagined being on the moon might be like, but less dusty.

And then on to the Cliffs of Moher. Check out the helicopter for scale. Watching this scene made me seriously dizzy. 'Course, just being up that high made me seriously dizzy.

We stayed for two nights in Ennis, the county seat of Clare. I loved this little town. We spent one night each in two nice hotels, and had great food (which was, overall, much better than people led us to expect it to be). The highlight was hearing locals play traditional music in an amazing pub, with a fire going in the fireplace, and a lack of smokers everywhere (like you'd have in Japan).

After Ennis we went further south to County Kerry. We bought more sweaters in Killarney (another Aran merino zip-up cardigan, this one in black, and a traditional off-white Aran that was handknit by someone named Mary Murphy. They all had signature cards from the knitters. Of course I was a sucker for that...) We did part of the Ring of Kerry, but not much. It was getting too dark. And frankly, I liked Connemara better. Fewer tourists.

The last day before we had to go back to Dublin for our flight, we visited more castle and abbey ruins. And more. And more. I was with a castle freak. Sometimes I sat in the car and read. It was cold and raining and it was just too many castles for one week. By the way, we went to far more castles than knit shops. I'm just saying.

I wasn't too excited about stopping at yet another boy-choice, the Craggaunowen Project, because in spite of my love for history, I'm not really into prehistoric stuff. But, it was really cool. Yes, there were reconstructed Iron Age dwellings and stuff like that, but there was also a medieval tower with a whole floor of fiber-y demonstrations and fiber art.

There wasn't a soul around. It took a lot of restraint not to cart one of these hanks off as a souvenir. It was probably the softest yarn I found in Ireland!

There was also an exhibit about The Brendan and its voyage in 1976. I knew nothing about the legend of St Brendan the Navigator or this trip, but it was really fascinating. I think I have wanderlust, but very little compares to what these guys did.

After all this, we drove back to Dublin, where we spent a night in an overpriced hotel with a very loud nightclub under our room. Consequently, we were not exactly chipper for our flights back to St. Louis.

And can you believe it, we spent a week in Ireland and neither of us had a Guinness. This is as close as we got.

This is for my fellow Duranies. Unfortunately, its namesake was not there.

Knitted gifts, and a ride on the bandwagon

2007-10-05T12:48:00.000+09:00

Lately I've been the lucky recipient of some knitted gifts. One of my awesome-est friends moved away and left Hokkaido for a new job in the armpit of Japan, but before she left, she whipped me up a pair of Fetchings. It's already cold enough here in the evenings to use them when I bike home. It's hard to tell in the picture (I hate the crappy non-existent natural light in our ground floor apartment) but it's a lovely purplish-grey Anny Blatt merino yarn that she used. And Else made me some socks for the Sock it to Me swap. They fit perfectly! I really like this pattern. Else, if you're out there, can you tell me what it is? These socks were made for me by someone whom I taught to knit. It was only his third project. Pretty impressive, eh? Well, at least if you don't look too closely at the first one. The ribbing thing threw him for a while. But they also fit well, and I actually wore them yesterday. And while I've never made a Clapotis or a One Skein Wonder, I did make some Monkeys. I see why they're so popular. They don't look so great in this Koigu, but they're fun to make. My attempt at Jaywalkers didn't work out. I love my Dyebolical Neopolitan yarn, but it's going to be half a white sock and half a brown/pink sock at the tension I'm knitting. So, I'm looking for a different pattern with a different gauge.

And finally, on a totally unrelated topic, why do people keep mistaking my niece for a boy?

Tadaima

2007-10-02T11:32:00.000+09:00

I'm home. Finally. Back to my moldy apartment and asbestos-filled office, but still, happy to be here. I was getting sick of living out of a suitcase and driving, driving, driving (the midwest really needs to do something about public transportation) and flying even more than I was driving.

All of that time off, and what knitting do I have to show for it? A sock and a half and a deformed Saartje's Bootie. I am lame.

But, I got to see family and friends, visit two of my favorite cities (Pittsburgh and Vancouver), go to a country I'd never been to before (Ireland), read Persepolis and Persepolis II, plus eat barbecue, Guberburgers, fresh sweet corn and green beans, and both my mother's and grandmother's pumpkin pies.

Now I am looking forward to not getting on a plane for the next month or two, getting around on my bike, reading my 2000+ unread Bloglines posts, knitting up the amazing yarn I found on my travels, and reading some of the books I bought.

Next up: travel posts about my trips, once the photos are off my camera.

Where have I been?

2007-09-09T01:20:00.000+09:00

--Travelling around the midwest. I've been to Arrow Rock, Hermann, Bonnots Mill, and Westphalia. I love these quaint old small towns. In Blackwater, I stayed at this great old railway hotel.

I've also visited the art museum and have eaten my last Wheel-Inn Guberburgers (yes, I ordered two) in Sedalia. (But, the Guberburger lives on! It's been added to the menu at Eddie's, another old old old drive in, whose burgers are just as good, if not better. Plus, they have real malts!)

I also visited the Churchill Memorial museum in Fulton and had Cuban food there. In St. Louis we went to a Greek festival, but it was a mob scene and the food wasn't very good. Fortunately Ted Drewes has their pumpkin pie custard on the menu now, so I didn't go hungry.

--Listening to blues (but not eating barbecue) at the Roots Blues & Barbecue festival in Columbia. Way too many people for way too little barbecue, so I had Sub Shop. That's okay, I've had barbecue a few times since I've been in the States, but I was really craving a half-vegetarian on rye. The music at the festival was great; I just wish it weren't so humid and that I had a lawn chair. I saw part of the Tab Benoit and North Mississippi All Stars shows, but my favorite was Noah Earle.

Because I can't knit in the car without getting carsick, I haven't accomplished much. I've finished a Monkey sock but I haven't gotten very far on its mate. Now I'm making baby booties for yet another set of friends. I thought I was running out of friends to get pregnant, but now some of them are starting on round #2. And so the baby knitting continues.

Next week, I'm leaving Missouri and going to Pittsburgh for a few days, and then to Ireland. I am so unprepared for Ireland; I need to read up on it and try to figure out which areas I can make it to. Unfortunately I only have a week so much of it will be left unseen. If you've been or you're there, let me know what you think I can't miss.