Fences and Cakes

So, me and William (who keeps sneaking in and out of the house with out me reporting it; he got here right before my birthday, and will be leaving the 21st)finally got around to taking down the fence. You know, the one that got completely smashed by the tree branches during that mongo storm May 29th. So, we unscrewed, clipped, and chainsawed our way to victory. And firewood for the winter^^

I also was commissioned to bake this cake for one of Rosie's friends. Three boxes of cake mix, three frosting tubs, two things of fondant, and three hours of decorating...

Summer Vacation 5

Vacation is almost over, and I've seen all sorts of sea critters. I've seen dolphins, man o' wars, a school of sting rays, crabs (hermit, sand, and blue^^)and the noble sea creature; the plastic bag.
What, a plastic bag isn't a sea animal? But it lives in the water, and turtles and other animals eat them! Imagine thinking you have a nice tasty jellyfish, and eating a plastic bag instead. Yuck. I may have looked weird, but I picked them up and put them in the trash. Why they weren't there in the first place boggles my mind.



Sea birds. There was this one pelican who kept soaking himself, and then puffing out is chest and spreading his wings^^ Another was missing a wing, but that didn't keep it from catching the fish!



This is Our Lady, Star of the Sea Catholic Church. When the floods came through Texas the tall towers and sea facing statue of Mary on this church guided people to safety. You can see the statue from the beach, a mile away! Unfortunately the church itself took some water damage in the basement.



Jellyfish^^

DAIKIN Festival.

Every year the DAIKIN company in Huntsville puts on a huge festival. The company makes a variety of plastics, but the festival includes dances, balloons, and free food. Once again, I didn't get a balloon ride; the lines were literally over a hundred yards long for each balloon. I did however, dance some really ridiculous looking dances, and ate way too much yakisoba and ice cream....



I also made this sunflower Kanzashi today. Maggie wore it to the festival, and it was a good thing I sewed it to a hair elastic; she danced really hard^^

http://www.flickr.com/photos/morichansgarden/7284006306/in/photostream/

Nashville Zoo + Boy Scouts =

So, yesterday I drove all the webelo scouts of the local den to the Nashville zoo in the Beast; the twelve passenger van. It rained. People wondered off, whined, and expected me to buy them snacks. Somehow 'boy scout outing' became every one is invited, including kindergarten aged girls. I almost got lost on the way home. But hey, no one died, got kidnapped, or caught pneumonia, so all in all, a successful trip.

Nashville Sakura Matsuri (Cherry Blossom Festival)

Today was the 2012 Nashville Sakura Matsuri. Here is the official website; nashvillecherryblossomfestival.org. The curse continued; rain chased us from the park as the festival came to a close. Always with the soaking!
There are several Sakura matsuri, or cherry blossom festivals, in America this time of year. Washington DC in particular is a big one, but Hanami (flower viewing) parties are scattered all over the US. This year was special because Nashville received three baby cherry trees grown from cuttings from the original cherry trees given to our countries' capitol by the mayor of Tokyo in 1912. This year marks the 100th aniversary of the first Japanese cherry grove in the US. I know that according to Japanese folklore objects sometimes gain spirits after reaching a hundred years. I wonder if cherry trees do as well?

The last of the cherry blossoms. It rained petals as the wind blew.

These guys were adorable little troublemakers. Their mother would dry them off and they'd be right back in the fountain. It was too cold, but they didn't seem to mind.

This was a demonstration of a tea ceramony. The way of the tea is so complicated!

A sakura kusadama.

Yoyo balloons. You had to hook the string with a wire hook attached to a twisted rice paper rope. Tricky like you wouldn't believe.

First Day of Spring

Spring Equinox is here, and with it the Spring. There are bugs, birds, and baby animals everywhere. Is it any wonder almost every culture and religion has a celibration of new life this time of year? Easter, of course, is what I celebrate; a story of rebirth out of what appears dead. Like a pheonix, let's make this new life better than the old one.

With all the warmth all my flowers are seriously confused. The lilac is blooming almost a month before usual.

I took this picture of cherry blossoms last weekend. Good thing too; they're already falling. Looking forward to the cherry blossom festival this weekend, even if the trees are bare.

Not sure what kind of flower this tsumami kanzashi hairstick is, but I made it anyway.

Also, this strawberry kanzashi. It was a fun hair accessory to make. It seems a little early, but the plants are already blooming. The berries will be here before we know it.

3.11 media

Over the last couple days I have read many stories about the Tohoku Earthquake. Some of these stories are about the brave survivors, the amazing clean up work, and the mass prayers and ceremonies for both the living and the deceased. However, many of the ones most pushed, reported, or published were highly offensive. They made me ashamed of some of my country members, who apparently only care that they are/might be affected by this tragedy.
This goes especially for those who only see this as a platform for their personal agendas. Whether they are against the fishing boats, feel the Japan's way of life is wrong, claim Japan is over populated, or anything else does not give them the right to slander our neighbors. The fear mongering and hateful way that this natural disaster has been portrayed, especially by English speaking media, disgusts me.
The main tragedy was the loss of over 20,000 lives; not a nuclear accident. The brave men of Dai-ichi plant are to be commended; and while certain groups could have moved faster or done more, hindsight is always 20/20. Saying things like Japan should be cleaning up the mess in the ocean so we don't have to, destroy all nuclear plants because while we still need electrical power we don't want to deal with the consequences, or that anyone deserved the Tsunami for any reason is selfish. Let us stop accusing each other of things and help one another.

BBC Japanese Tsunami anniversary documentery

This morning I was reading my internet friend Coco's blog, and someone had left this video as a response. Not really sure I would have put it next to a page dedicated to girl's day, but it is very good. This is an hour long documentary about the Tsunami and Fukushima Dai-ichi plant as told by elementary school students on the east coast. Many of these children watched their friends be washed away by the tsunami, or were evacuated from the area near the plant. Warning; definitely cry worthy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_AxnoNrr_8

Since my mother works in a power plant almost just like Dai-ichi she was very interested in what was going on. Brownsferry is a bit different, but all modern plants are built roughly the same way; they have very strict rules on how they are built after Chernobyl.  Nuclear power is very clean and safe if the rules are followed, but no one was planning for such a huge tsunami to hit a power plant. How can you plan for something that has never happened before? After the Tsunami even more rules and procedures were written, some of them by my mother!
She had never really been interested in Japanese culture before the Tsunami, but afterwards she calls the men who stayed to shut down the plant 'my nuclear brothers.' After all, she went through a taste of how scary it must have been for them. A large group of tornadoes ripped through the area about this time last year, and she was stuck in the plant. She had to shut the reactor unit she was watching down, and she couldn't get a hold of any of us siblings. She didn't know we were safe in the basement; she thought I was at college, and that my younger siblings had been sent home with no one there to help them. She had thought we could have been dead, and that our home could've been destroyed. Luckily the tornado missed our house, and I got home safely before the tornadoes came. There were trees down, the power went out, and several houses up the road were damaged, but everyone near us was ok.

Tornadoes

Today is looking rather unpleasant. There are thunderstorms, and there are supposed to be tornadoes this afternoon. Some of my friends have had hail. The fact that it is sunny and warm just makes it worse. Just because I live in tornado alley doesn't make me like them very much. Last year the area where my mother works was almost completely flattened in places. Several people died, and the nuclear power plant she works at had to be shut down. Power was out for over a week in some places. There are still roofs missing and buildings flattened. You can even see telephone poles wrapped up like a pretzel! Anybody in or around Tennessee needs to watch out and find shelter soon.