a visitor...

A little teddy arrived in the post yesterday, he has come all the way from the USA via Katy in Luxembourg, we needed to take a photo to show where she is before sending her one,

 so we popped down to the local shrine.

Going Batty

After going to the cave at the weekend Ebi-kun got interested in bats, so I was straight onto the Book Depository to order a couple of books on bats, I will review them once we get them. I also made a set of 3 part cards. Ebi-kun worked for quite a while with these, he kept muddling the same ones up and wouldn't put the cards away until he had got them all right.

If you would like a set, you can download them here I expect we will have more batty 

activities going on, it is the season for it after all.

Do You Podcast?

A few years back when podcasts first arrived on the scene my husband introduced me to The Geoff Show podcast, after listening to a few I realised it was the same guy I used to listen to back in college and that he is from the next town over from my hometown, so that got me hooked. Then I stumbled across Sister Diana with Crafty Pod and Craft Sanity and subscribed to them too. Once Ebi-kun started yochien I had more listening time and found a few more, almost addictive as blog reading so now I listen to Dave Gorman and his silliness, Women's Hour (I never thought I would hear myself say that!) and Stuff You Should Know. It is a good mix of genre but I find myself running out by the end of the week, so if you listen to podacasts, what do you recommend?
I also get the Storynory one which is great for kids and I plan to fill my husbands ipod shuffle with songs and stories for Ebi-kun for when we travel back to the UK. I don't suppose anyone has earphone suggestions for kids? I could do with getting him some that fit properly.

The Sky Bridge and Cave

Our final afternoon in Gunma we went up to the sky bridge, a large foot bridge that spans the valley, we were hoping to see the bubbles too but they only set the bubble machines going in August!

 The views from the bridge were breath taking, I suspect that it is amazing once the trees change colour.

 Then we went to the cave, it is the biggest cave in Kanto, lots of stalagmites and stalactites and bats! It takes about an hour to walk through the whole cave, again it was virtually empty, makes such a nice change from having to battle the crowds on a national holiday.

The Very Short Long Weekend part 2

In the morning the rain had stopped so we went and had a walk down by the river, the rain had cleared the air, it smelt so fresh and cool and everything looked clean and bright.

 We explored the small streams looking for fish and insects, found some tiny fish, water boatmen, some beetle thing whose name I don't remember and enormous coloured spiders plus lots of delicate, pretty flowers. I remember Maria Montessori writing that for toddlers, a nature walk may only take a few yards because they stop to explore all the wonders around them, it is good to remember that sometimes and just stop and examine a small area, it is often full of tiny wonders. 

 Once we had finished our mini exploration we headed up to the museum because it was actually a work/school day the place was empty which was great. They have a 15 minute show, which I was expecting to be the usual badly-put-together boring film that you often get in museums but Noooooo this was GREAT, and Ebi-kun agrees, just look at his face.....

 There was a animatronic scientist in the corner, who looked freakishly real, he was doing the narrative, when the screens opened there was a small dinosaur, an oviraptor, sitting on a nest, the dino's were animatronics and very realistic looking, I think there were 7 or 8 in all. The back screen changed from factual info to suitable backgrounds as the story progressed, here is ankylosaurus, Ebi-kuns favourite, to give you an idea of size, this was bigger than a large cow.

After seeing the whole of the first building we moved to the 2nd building which houses dino's from a dig in Mongolia, there were the usual dino bones and although it was well laid out it wasn't very interesting (in my opinion) if you can't read the explanations or are 5 years old. The most exciting thing in this part of the museum was the Mongolian outfits they had on display, how much do I want these boots?

 Between the two buildings they have made a replica of the dinosaur that they found, as it was found and the kids are allowed to climb on it. Here is Ebi-kun doing the "it has got me" shot.

Where in the World Postcard Swap

The swap has closed and I have sent out the groups, if you haven't received yours please check your SPAM folder before mailing me. I am looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with.

Guess where I have been featured?

Parents.com!

I have to thank Cassie for this, since she put my name forward. 

Go and check out the 100 days of holidays feature, 

there are loads and loads of Halloween ideas over there.

The Shortest Long Weekend Ever....

Last Thursday was a national holiday so hubby booked Friday off so that we would have a nice long 4 day holiday, Wednesday I packed up the car so Thursday we could set off bright and early. Except it wasn't very bright, it was raining! Ahh but a bit of rain has never hurt anyone so off we went... by the time we had left the highway and got to the mountains in Gunma, the rain was coming down in sheets, we were crawling along and cringing with every clap of thunder and I was beginning to think that maybe camping wasn't such a hot idea! There were also road works along this narrow mountain road, I had to grin at the 'men at work' sign.

We got to our destination around lunch time, the rain was still coming down hard. Next to the campsite is a dinosaur museum and restaurant, so we decided to have lunch and come up with a plan B. For those who don't speak Japanese, I need to explain this bit - in Japanese there is a dish called 'don' which basically means a big bowl of rice topped with something, oyakudon is chicken and egg on rice, gyudon is beef on rice. So, at this restaurant they had Iguanodon and Pteranodon, I tried the Pteranodon, for ¥800 you get the dinosaur (chicken) on rice bowl, pickles, potato salad and udon. Ebi-kun and I shared the dish, it was really good!

Since the rain showed no sign of easing and there was news of a typhoon heading towards us we decided to see if there was a cabin free, the cabins are expensive, ¥9000 plus ¥1000 for each person, the same as three nights stay in a tent. We ended up staying in a cabin for one night and coming home the next day but we did manage to pack quite a bit in. After lunch we headed up the road to the fossil dig, we had booked in to do it Saturday but we figured not everyone is as insane as us and they would have had some cancellations, there were a couple of other nutters out there but there was space for us to join. I love this picture of my little dino digging for fossils :o)

We stayed for an hour and found a few fossils, it was hard to tell which stones we should be looking at because everything looked black due to the rain, not sure if you can tell in the picture but this one is a shell.

After the dig we were drenched to the skin so we went back to the cabin and got changed then went out to the onsen (hot spring). I have a love-hate thing going on with onsen, I don't like going when there are other people there, getting butt naked with a load of strangers (who want to check out your foreigners bits) is not my idea of a good time, luckily it was empty, I had the whole place to myself. The outside pool was lovely, I popped the towel on my head and watched the raindrops dance on the water - ahhhh. Once we were all scrubbed and clean we hunted down a shop to buy some bits for dinner and breakfast and headed back to the cabin.

Ebi-kun was still full of beans so he spent a good chunk of times jumping off the futons

and playing with his new light saber (thank you ¥100 shop!). By 8pm he was tucked up in bed, we turned the lights out so he would go to sleep, 10 minutes later I hear really heavy breathing, when I put the light on both Ebi-kun and Daddy-kun are sparked out! Just as well since we had a busy day ahead of us...

Japanese Linen...

The first time I tried to sew with linen it was a disaster, I didn't leave a big enough seam allowance and the treads all unravelled so I was left with hole in my bag! The main problem was that I used a really loose weave, lesson learned! It took me a while to pick up any linen and try again - I don't take failures well, but this time I fell in love. I actually used linen/cotton blend and it is a dream to sew with, linen is notoriously horribly for creasing but the linen blend creases much less and irons much more easily.

Linen and hemp have a long history in Japan, they were the main type of fabric used until the 16th century when the foreign trade ships started bringing in wool and cotton. Over the years linen has had it's ups and downs but it is most definitely back in right now. Every time I go to buy fabric I see more and more linen and linen blends, even double sided linen, how cool is that?

Generally it is a heavier weight than quilting cotton which means it lends itself well to be made into bags, home wears and clothes. The more you wash it, the softer it gets, the colours are don't run and the ironing really isn't that bad! Many Japanese handmade store are packed with linen goods and the Japanese sewing magazines and books that are so popular these days are also heavy on the linen features. Where to buy beautiful Japanese linen, well the first stop should be my shop....

Creepy Crawly Friends

Look what we found in the garden....

 and just so you can see exactly how big he is, here he is next to my pen. ewwww. He is apparently a type of moth and that big hook on the end doesn't look very nice at all.

bored....

then take a spoonful of inspiration from this fun 

(some may even say a tad crazy) lady and her posse, 

looks like so much fun!

Love....

Treasury Love and lots of it!

click on the images

Starwars...

There is a strange thing happening in our house, Ebi-kun is role playing various scenes for the Star Wars movies, he can name many of the characters, knows all about light sabers and Darth Vader BUT he has never seen any of the films! I did go and see the last Star Wars film just before I gave birth to him but I don't think that counts. He has seen some Star Wars toys in the shops and odd pictures but I am not sure how he knows so much about it, apparently none of the boys in his 'gang' at yochien have seen it either. As I type he is building an X-wing out of lego. Do your kids do the same sort of thing?

image from Mi cielo on Etsy

Going to the zoo, zoo, zoo....

This last weekend was a 3 day holiday. Normally we would have gone camping but hubby was away in China and got back really late Friday night plus Ebi-kun had yochien Saturday morning. (He told his yochien teacher that daddy had gone to North Korea, lol, she was a bit worried but then the next day he said daddy was in Shanghai, phew.) Then in the afternoon the boys went to football practice and I tried to get a couple of projects finished and out of the way. So Sunday we decided to go to Saitama Children's Zoo, I have blogged about this place before, it is one of our favourite spots. When we got there they were doing giraffe enrichment! They were basically telling the public what they do to keep the giraffes happy, they don't have enough tall trees to feed from all the time so they give them pellets, like pony nuts but for giraffes but they scoff them too fast and then get bored because there is not a lot else to do. So the keepers have made feeding boxes which make it more difficult for the giraffes to feed and they have to use their tongue in the same way that they would in the wild. Feeding them like this means they spend much of their day feeding like they do in a natural environment.
One of the things I like about this zoo is all the interactive puzzles and quizzes around the place, this one makes me laugh every time. It is in the petting enclosure where the pigs, sheep and goats wander around freely...

and the finished puzzle shows the different 'cuts' of meat on a pig!

In the petting area there was also a very pregnant goat, I showed Ebi-kun how to feel her belly to see if he could feel the baby move, and it did! We also had to go and pet the guinea pigs, we have just watched the Film G-Force so guinea pigs are a big hit just now.

After went to see the lesser pandas but there was only one out, there was a sign saying that there were new babies in the family and they will be out in the autumn, so we will have to go back, lesser pandas are just soooo cute!

Where In The World Postcard Swap

To answer a few questions...

• If you have joined more than one group, you will be sent more than one email, one for each group you joined, with a new country for you to represent for each group.
• If you are from a country where I think normally gets no representation then I will send you a country to represent and the option to represent your own, you can decide which you want to do.
• How to make the cards? You can do it however you like, I didn't want to specify because it depends on the equipment you have. You can print out and cut and paste the images onto a postcards, you can design the postcard on the computer then print it out, you can attack an old national geographic and do it that way or, if you can get your hands on real postcards from the country you represent then you just need to write on the back. One option is to use software such as bighugelabs, once you have an image you can make the postcard in a matter of minutes, save to you computer then print it out. This is one I made as an example...

If you have already signed up you will get your country to represent soon, if not you can sign up here, I will mail out all the groups when the sign up date has passed.

Tinkering...

I have been updating my website, it always worries me when I start tinkering because you can bet your life that I will manage to break something. This time was no exception, I only changed things on the shop side not the Montessori pages but of course, when I clicked through, just to make sure, all the links were going to the wrong pages aghhh. A couple of hours later I got it sorted, looking much nicer now and I especially like the new gallery. What do you think?

Where in the world postcards swap update....

Thanks to a comment by Child Central Station I have discovered that I can do the sign ups with a form, IF you have already emailed me you DON'T need to sign up again, I will put your info in. It is the first time I have used google docs like this, so please stick with me....

Where In The World Postcard Swap

Rightie, who is up for another swap?

When I organise swaps I always get about 70% of people from the USA sign up and then a mix for the rest, so to try and mix it up a bit and to get some of the more obscure and small countries included I have come up with a plan..... now, I know this isn't authentic and isn't as good as the real thing but it might be the spark that leads to something bigger, plus you can get the kids involved with the research....

Each person will be in a group of five so you will need to prepare 4 cards (and one for yourself if you like).
When you sign up I will mail you with the name of a country, you then have to make your own postcard to represent that country, so some research will possibly be needed and remember to put the name of the country on the front. 'Greetings from ... ' or the such like. The internet is a wonderful resource for images but I do request that you ask permission before using some one's image or at the very least give credit on the card with the web address where you found it.
How you actually make the postcard is up to you.

On the back you need to write 2 facts about the country - anything you like and a short message, remember to sign it so your swap partners know who sent it.
For the stamp you will obviously need to add a stamp from your own country but it you wanted to paste a copy of a stamp from the country you represent that would be cool too.

That is all. I will mail you back with your designated country within a couple of days. You can start making your cards straight away.

When the sign up date is closed I will send you your swap group, keep your designated country a secret but exchange mailing addresses. If, you sign up and you are from a country that doesn't usually get much representation then I will give you the option of making a card from a different country or using the real thing from where you live.

Sign up date closes September 25th. you will get your assigned country by Sept. 30th.

I will send out your swap group the first week of Oct.

Your cards must be mailed by Oct. 15th

This bit is important - if you wish to join a bigger stake swap in the future, such a culture swap, you must sign up and complete this one. The only people who don't have to follow this rule are those who have already done 2 or more swaps that I have organised. Anyone who doesn't stick to their end of the deal doesn't get to participate in bigger swaps.

any questions, pop them in the comments section, don't try and sign up in the comments, it won't work!
and please spread the word!

Chips and Dips

The other day we made chips and dips for dinner. We used the black bean dip and tortilla chip recipes from Ebi-kuns new cookbook Honest Pretzels, the recipes were easy to follow. I also thinly sliced sweet potato and we brushed them with olive oil and baked them along with the tortillas.

We also made guacamole, a tip for those in Japan (where avocado is quite expensive) add a small tub of silken tofu and blend, makes it go much further. The other dip was roasted pumpkin, yum. 

Finger Condoms....

I finished off my first proper quilt on the new machine yesterday, it all came together fairly painlessly and I must say I LOVE free motion quilting. Bunting is obviously a trend at the moment and I have seen a couple of baby quilts like the one at Little Birdie Secrets and a pretty cool life so I decided it would be a nice easy one to start with.

 I know, you are waiting to hear about the finger condoms, well, when you free motion quilt (FMQ) you drop the feed dogs on your machine, they are the bit that usually pulls your fabric through the machine, and because they are not being used you need to move the fabric yourself. When I started I realised that my hands were slipping and there was no way I would be able to do the whole quilt. So I thought I would try a cheap pair of gardening gloves, the ones with the little rubbery dots on the palms and fingers but when I tried some on I thought there is no way I could work with them on, my hands would get too sweaty. Then I brainwave, what about finger condoms? I have no idea what these are really called but they are the little rubber sleeves that people who work in offices and banks wear to help grip paper, and let me tell you something, they are Brilliant. I did get a bit of a case of sweaty finger tips but nothing too disturbing.

 Here is the finished quilt, just realised that you can't really tell in the picture but the binding is pale blue with white polka dots, very cute. It is child sized and I love it! I want to keep it for myself now....

I have another quilt partially pieced that  was making as a second camp quilt but I am not sure if I will get it finished before we go camping later in the month. hmmm.

and after the farm...

We all went round to Megumi's house, the lads all played street hockey, it is the first time Ebi-kun has played and he loved it. I used to play field hockey, it was the only team sport I was any good at, at school it was always netball which I hated and rounders which I wasn't particularly good at either. When I got to high school and I discovered hockey, I was hooked. Anyway, that is by the by, the kids and dads played outside whilst the moms kicked back and relaxed a bit.

 We also had a BBQ and quite possibly the best chicken I have even eaten, it was sooo good. The kids all had a great time but by 7.00pm we had a lot of very tired little people on our hands. Ebi-kun fell asleep in the car so we just dumped him in bed then I had to give him a shower in the morning before yochien. A long but extremely fun day!

Montessori Farm - trial day 2

Yesterday we had another trail lesson day at the farm. This time there were 7 kids including Ebi-kun and all but two have had Montessori experience before. It was predicted to be another hot day so we started off in the farm, due to the ridiculously hot summer there wasn't anything to harvest for lunch so the kids planted some seeds, picked chestnuts and caught bugs. Once it started to get hot we moved to the classroom.

 The dynamics of this class was really good, all three of these boys are 5, A-kun and K1-kun and almost 6, they enjoyed working together in a group.

 k2-kun is almost 5, he hasn't done any Montessori before so I asked what he liked to work with and he picked the metal insets. He worked with them for a really long time (to the point where I thought, he thought, he HAD to sit there!) He just asked for more paper and different coloured pencils, he had a big pile of finished papers to take home with him.

 M2-chan is K2-kuns's little sister, she loved doing the puzzles. I showed he how to do the pink tower and in the process I said something along the lines of 'hmm which is the biggest one?' Once she had built it by herself I showed her how to put it away (rebuilding it on the stand) by this time M1-chan had come to the mat so M2-chan had taken the role of the teacher and was asking M1-chan, 'hmm which is the biggest one?' M1-chan was pointing to a block and M2-chan would say 'that's right' and put the block away - so funny.

 L-kun is 3 and really tall so it is easy to forget that he isn't able to do everything the five year old do yet. He really wanted to work with the spindles but couldn't count them out properly and didn't have much interest in doing so, all he wanted to do was tie the ribbons.

 The 3 boys got the map of Europe out, it took them quite a while to do and there was a fair bit of giggling going on. All the kids bar Ebi-kun have just come back from long holidays overseas and so English is still strong in their minds, the whole time all the kids only used English, which was great.

 M1-chan working on the brown stair, I think she has used this before, she seemed to know what to do, she is a bit of a monkey and deliberately put the wrong piece on and then looked at me grinning, I pretended not to pay any attention because she didn't get a reaction she took the pieces off and corrected it straight away. 

 Here the boys are helping to prepare lunch, meat balls and veg soup, the meat ball mix started off well but then turned into a bit of a sensory bowl and they were squishing the mixture and doing all sorts to it. I am glad they were eating it and not me!

 Due to it being so hot, Yasuyo planned some art activities after lunch instead of going back out to the farm. We set up two tables and Yasuyo and I manned one each. On my table they did marble painting and making butterflies (except the paper didn't dry in time so it was actually just painting on coffee filters)

 and Yasuyo did salad spinner art and colour mixing. The kids got stuck in and all seemed to enjoy it.

 M1-chan was totally engrossed with the marble painting, they all got into doing it but M1-chan spent a lot of time doing hers, she seemed to entranced by the marble covered in paint and how long it would take for it to roll, at one point she had about 8 marbles in the box!

All in all it was a fun day, I think everyone enjoyed it (well maybe not Gen who got lumbered with all the washing up! Thank you Gen!)

For me, it was interesting to see the kids interacting in a different environment, usually they see each other at the park or at some one's house. With the boys there is often a lot of rough and tumble and silliness going on but only once did I have to remind them that the classroom wasn't the place for it. Hopefully next time, the weather will be cooler and we can spend more time out on the farm.