October 30, 2009

• Back from Kagoshima and going to hit the hay.

  What did the hay do to be hit?  I dunno, in particular.  Just the regular regimen of yardwork and MIL.  The yardwork is gradually becoming easier the more we thin stuff down.  I did not need to do too much more with the weedwacker, and the rest of the time was spent sawing the stuff that hubby cut down last time into baggable pieces for disposal.

  We also continue sorting through MILz house.  I opened a little cubby hole to find about eight boxes full of more tea ceremony equipment, this time ceramic insense containers and "futaoki."  Futaoki are small tubular platforms upon which one places the lid of the water cauldron because you can't just put it on the tatami mats.  I sorted out what we might want to keep and put the rest in a "holding area."  Eventually I would like to find a used tea ceremony equipment dealer to take all the stuff off our hands.  We are never going to get back all the money that MIL put into the stuff.  Maybe I should check if anything like this is sold on eBay.  But then again, it is all ceramic and breakable and may be more trouble than it is worth.

  I also threw out some old wallets and purses and found over $1200 in cash in the process.  MIL must have stashed money away and forgotten about it.  Gotta check EVERYTHING carefully before throwing it out.  The funds will be put towards train fare to Kagoshima.

  The local big ash hole volcano was still doing its thing.  When I finished visiting MIL at Hospital A I went out and felt the ashes on my face and could actually see them falling like occasional tiny snowflakes, except these don't melt.  Hubby texted me to see what I was doing, and as I tried to text back I could feel my cell phone getting gritty and could see ash on the screen, so I decided that texting outside was NOT a good idea.  I wonder how computers do with volcanic ash.  I would just not open the windows on those days.  I also found out that volcanic ash scratches plastic lenses, so run water over your glasses first before wiping them.

  

  Tracks in the ashes

  

  Ashes on cars

  

  Seen from hubby's house

  

  Seen from Kagoshima Central Station - Moon over Beeg Ash Hole

  • 21:04
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