AUTUMN IS IN THE AIR

So I think fall has arrived in Ishinomaki.  One major indication is that in Church today I had SEVERAL people ask me why I wasn't wearing long-sleeves.  Wasn't I freezing?  After it all, it was 70 degrees!  You may remember from when the weather was cooler last spring and winter that I was constantly asked why I wore short sleeves when it was cold.  And actually this time I was a little prepared for this barrage of questions.  I did wear a short sleeved sweater over my shirt.  But alas, not good enough.  So maybe this week I will have to drag out my winter clothes and see what I can come up with. . . it may be a long winter!

Other Evidences of Fall

These are some pictures of what we have been seeing on our morning walk lately.  First a pear tree:

Then a persimmon tree.  We actually saw one that was LOADED but I didn't get a picture of that one.  I haven't decided what you do with hundreds of persimmons anyway.

And a fig tree.  Figs have shown up at the grocery stores and I am determined to buy some and fig-ure out what to do with them!  I will probably have to google it but I think you cook them somehow.  They look like little pears: 

And also I found this tree that is covered with these little things.  I picked up a few off the ground and tried tasting them but they didn't seem fruity so I am not sure what they are (besides a mess on the ground once they all fall off!)

 

 

The gardens have been harvested or are still in the process.  The Japanese love onions and it shows:

 



 

And here is an up close and personal view of rice.  These people planted rice in grow boxes (they actually looked really nice all summer):

 

 



And now those stalks are hanging in their carport:

Other Random Things

I found this at the grocery on sale for 50 yen (60 cents):

It is a bottle of diet 7-up!  I was wondering if it was spiked or something what with the "strong and dry" logo.  But alas and to my happiness, no.  Diet drinks in Japan are scarce but I also found a bottle of diet Sprite a while back.  And for the record, Diet Coke is pretty much nonexistent but you can find Coke Zero.  And no Diet Pepsi but something called Pepsi NEX.

And you may recall a LONG time ago that I said that our dryer didn't work or at least didn't dry our clothes.  I heard from several people that their dryers were very effective either.  And really, most people in Japan hang out their clothes so I didn't give it much other thought.  Then Eric and Laura came.  Eric totally took apart our dryer (I think it bugged him that it didn't work) and found out that it was broken!  A belt would not work because another part had broken and it was not fixable!  So guess what?

When we told the people at the mission home, they ordered us a new dryer!  And it works!  This is especially good news since hanging the clothes in the wintertime is not so effective.  And anyone visiting us this next year should be especially appreciative.

This next photo is what we did in English class this past week. We were learning about shapes and colors and so I had the kids (11 of them) make pictures out of the shapes.  They loved it!  I should have gotten photos of their pictures which were really great but here are the examples I gave them (theirs were nothing like these):

I got some stickers at the 100 yen (dollar) store and gave them some colored paper and they really had a good time. 

Also, Marie and the sister missionaries wanted a cooking class this week so this is what we made:

Navajo tacos!  Yum!  They turned out quite easy and were a hit. 

Sunday Activities

I thought I would just mention that Sundays here in Ishinomaki can be rather long.  We came to Church this morning at 9:00 a.m. for branch presidency meeting.  Church began at 10:00.  We had Relief Society, then Sunday School, then sacrament meeting.  After that we had a lesson with out investigator Abe san.  We waited for a RS planning meeting to end (Abe san ended up getting a massage while we waited by our 90-year-old massage-giver) and then we went to Takie's house for some dinner.  And now we are back at the Church doing the blog and other things.  It is 6:10 p.m.  Luckily this is not a Sunday with young adult family home evening because that would start at 7:00!  There were actually others here until 5:30 as well. But really it has been a really nice day.  Pleasant weather, good company, and a spiritual feast!  No one seems to mind the time spent here.