This is very pleasant to listen to...

An a cappella group from Yeshiva University...they became a "Hannukah YouTube sensation" with "Candlelight", a cover of the popular song "Dynamite"...and if you like that, "The Purim Song" is sure to amuse...Thanks for the heads-up, Taryn!

Lenten lapbooks

On the first Sunday of Lent, we put together Lenten lapbooks. We had ordered A Lenten Calendar for Children from Emmanuel Books for Katie, Joseph, and Matthew.


Matthew wanted to hang his calendar up in the dining room,


but Katie and Joseph thought making a Lenten lapbook to hold the calendar, the path poster, and some devotional items would be a good project to begin the season. Japanese paper size is different from American, but we couldn't find purple file folders (or any file folders, for that matter) at the bookstore on base, so I purchased purple pocket folders there instead.

Then I downloaded a miniature, accordion-fold Stations of the Cross booklet (ht: Homeschool Goodies) and printed one each.


All three children worked meditatively on these for quite some time.

Matthew, at five, needed to come back to the work the next day, but he was enthusiastic about the project. He didn't forget it, but got started again right after breakfast on Monday.

The older children added a page to make room for the poster.

We have several high-quality, Catholic coloring books, from which they colored and cut out pictures for their front covers.


Then they used the pockets to hold the stickers for the pathway. Katie made a pocket to hold her mini Stations of the Cross booklet.


Joseph divided one pocket into two and labeled them with gold glitter.


Nice work everyone!




N.B.:
By the end of the second week of Lent, Joseph decided that he would remember to mark his calendar better if he hung it up next to Matthew's. So that's what he did on Friday.

It's working fine for him now.

Vocabulary lessons

Matthew, telling Joseph about some jack-o-lantern pictures that he colored:

"This pumpkin is astonished. That's why I drew his mouth like a big 'o'."

Pottery

The Arts & Crafts Center on base now offers homeschool art class on Friday mornings. This is great news for us because the class used to be held on Wednesdays, which was too disruptive to our school schedule. By Friday, we are finished (enough) with our work for the week and ready to venture out to activities.

This month, we have spent a joyful hour each week making pinch pots, coil pots, and slab pots (well, sushi plates from slabs). We have learned about kilns (not ovens), firing (not baking), and glazing with brightly-colored glazes.

Matthew, especially, has had a wonderful time. He has needed my direction during the class to keep him on task, but he is able to work with the clay, and results have been very satisfying. He loves that he has made dishes that he can really use.

Matthew's "Breakfast Set" of bowl, cup, and pitcher.

These are pinch pots, which he made and glazed, at least the first coat of each, himself.

Joseph also made a bowl and cup for his breakfast. His design was more considered. From his work, we learned an important lesson about glaze: you have to read the labels before painting it on because before firing, the colors are very different from afterward. Joseph thought he used the same blue glaze on the cup as he had used the week before on the bowl, but it turned out to be a much brighter blue. Still very attractive, but not matching. Thankfully, he's happy with the result anyway.

Joseph's cereal bowl and juice cup

Next week, we'll get our sushi plates and coil pots (pencil holders) out of the kiln. Then on to more pottery adventures in October. :-)

Japanese Contemporary Art

One of the things John and I have enjoyed during our stay here is the opportunity to learn a little about Japanese contemporary art. The high school booster club sponsors two art shows a year as fundraisers for school activities, and several galleries regularly exhibit at semi-annual bazaars held on base.

The spring art show was held this past week. This is an especially nice opportunity because they invite a Japanese artist to come and demonstrate his or her work. On Tuesday evening, we took the whole family to see Hiroto Norikane, a maker of amazing etchings, at work. For her birthday, Katie had received one of his etchings of wild horses that live on the hatchet-shaped peninsula north of us. Tuesday night, she got to observe Norikane-san as he printed that same etching during his demonstration.

His etchings are very well-known in Japan, and John and I have enjoyed them at various art shows and bazaars. We planned to buy one sometime before leaving Japan, and we were looking for that one each time there was an opportunity. On Tuesday, we saw it.

It now graces the "art corner" of our living room. This is almost the only area in our home that had blank wall space, and we have hung several pieces there. It's a very eclectic collection, we have to admit--there is a Chinese paper cutting, a Turkish silk carpet sample, an Ottoman-style Turkish painting on the page of an old book, a copy of Renior's "Little G irl with a Watering Can" in an antique frame that belonged to my great grandmother, and now, a Norikane.

Even though the etching is already numbered and signed on the front, the artist most graciously signed and dated the back for us. Joseph and Matthew were excited to go up to the front of the room and get close to his work table and watch him sign the etching.

Wells, England

On the way from Bude to Cheltenham, I stopped in Wells to see the cathedral and the old town. It was good to take a break from the driving as I tended to make at least two wrong turns every time I went somewhere.


Construction on the cathedral was begun in the 12th century and lasted for about 200 hundred years. There are many sarcophagi inside containing the remains of bishops from those early years in the building's history.

Our Anglican brothers and sisters are now caring for the cathedral and associated buildings. They are in the midst of a 6 million pound effort to restore the cloisters and make the buildings more accessible. May their work help to bring about a restoration of the unity in the Church for which we all pray.

A gate leading to the Bishop's Palace and the Cathedral

The moat around the Bishop's Palace

Well's Cathedral

Statues on the front of the cathedral

Inside the cathedral (notice the unusual inverted arch)

Madonna and Child

Stained glass windows

More stained glass

Unusual stained glass window

A street near the cathedral

One of the houses on the "Chimney Street"

Art Appreciation

Yesterday afternoon, I found three children happily working with our art appreciation materials. Hooray!!

For Matthew, who can't yet be trusted with the art postcards in folders, I borrowed some pairs of tiles from our "Art Memo" game and put them in a small, square box, then found a two sectioned tray and a work mat. Voila! Art appreciation for toddlers. We looked through the tiles and I introduced the activity the other day. (I have realized that I need a third work rug now--there must be something in the pile of Turkish kilims in the storage loft.)

Yesterday, he worked independently. He put one copy of each painting on each side of the tray to make matches. In the end he had two little piles of (mostly) matched paintings. He is beginning to be obsessed with interested in order and wanted the edges of his piles to line up perfectly, but couldn't do so by himself. This led to some frustration. So I will need to think about that in choosing materials for him. The storage box was satisfying for him because the tiles fit very neatly inside, but in the tray, there was more room for tiles to slide around and become uneven. As his fine motor skills improve, this will be less of an issue, but I will need to pay attention to this with him for awhile.

He still enjoyed the activity, and he especially enjoyed working alongside his big brother and sister.

Sponsors

Welcome to Japan!

We are sponsoring a family that arrives today from the States. This is a wonderful program for new arrivals in which a family that already lives here helps the new family figure out the basics of life on our base and in Misawa.

The sponsors (that's us) usually help with reservations in the Misawa Inn, a temporary living facility on base. We stock their fridge with necessities to get them through the first few days of jet lag and help them in-process on base. We also will invite them to tag along with us to cultural events, work activities, and other stuff until they feel comfortable enough to go about on their own.

Katie and Joseph are very excited about their arrival because their children are ages 10, 9 (girls), and 6 (a boy). They decorated fans to give them as welcome gifts. It was a great idea since the Misawa Inn has no air conditioning, and our high temperature today will be a very humid 90 F.



"Our" family arrives at nine a.m. We plan to help them (carry all their luggage) check in at the Misawa Inn, take a quick base tour, have lunch, attend a housing meeting, take dad to driving class, take mom and kids to new parent/student orientation at the school, and have everyone over for dinner at our house. If they are still awake after that, I will be extremely surprised!

Tomorrow, I will babysit while John takes them to look at houses with a local, Japanese realtor.

Between sponsoring and Tommy's departure on Friday, I probably won't have time to post much in the next several days.

Please keep Tommy in your prayers for safe travel back to the U.S. on Friday.