Fushigi News

Stephen's Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail (aka Mamatouille)) — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 19:58:09 +0000

Happy birthday, dear Stephen!

Marlow Moments

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail (aka Mamatouille)) — Mon, 25 May 2026 13:16:17 +0000

Drive To Survive Teamsport HW Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 09 May 2026 12:43:00 +0000

Joel's passion for motorsport reached another level with his birthday treat of driving an electric kart at the High Wycombe Teamsport location with its twisty circuit split over two floors.

Now, this wasn't Joel's first time driving IRL, because he had already been behind the wheel of an actual road car for a driving experience last year. But since that wasn't exactly the fastest, most competitive scenario, so this time karting really was his first ever time driving at any kind of speed.

And he did very well, topping the timesheets in all three sessions, beating a number of adults who surely already had a number of years of driving experience under their (seat)belts. With a 'good' time being under 45 seconds, Joel's best (although obstructed) lap time of 42.891 really was exceptional. Under 40 seconds next time? Stay tuned.

So does this young man have a future in racing? Should Kimi Antonelli be worried? Watch this video Joel made and you decide:

Happy 18th Birthday, Joel!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 01 May 2026 18:05:00 +0000

Abigail did the hardest work 18 years ago (I know -- unbelievable how time flies, right?) so writing this blog post to celebrate the little guy's milestone is the least I could do.

And what a milestone it is. One day a child. Next day a man. Or, as the man himself would say, "The tutorial's done and now it's time to play the game."

But, before it's time to get into the hard work of adulting (that's tomorrow) we took some time out to celebrate Joel today with a proper cooked breakfast (at the rather improper time of 9:30 AM), card-opening and present unwrapping, a smattering of exam preparation (not really part of the celebration, but as a faithful narrator of events, I have to keep that in), a review of photos from that byegone era of pure babyhood, and a delicious chocolate cake to round off the day (and our bodies, too, with all those calories.)

Here's to another 18 * x happy, healthy years, Joel-bean.

Day Out in Didcot

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail (aka Mamatouille)) — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 18:41:00 +0000

Matthew's belated birthday present was a day out at the Didcot Railway Centre in Oxfordshire!

He picked a great day: not only was the weather delightful, but it was a Steam Day!

An original air raid shelter which was used for railway employees during WWII. Down inside it, I actually started crying, thinking about folks today who still need emergency shelter, like those in Ukraine who have to hide in subways.

We went to and from Didcot...on a train, of course!

Happy birthday (again), Matthew!

Schreibers in Marlow!

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail (aka Mamatouille)) — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 15:35:00 +0000

These are out of order, but yesterday we had visitors from Germany! Yay! We know Robin and Maureen from Japan, and now they also have little Tess! We got to meet her for the first time, and we all fell in love.

Marlow Spring

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail (aka Mamatouille)) — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Easter in Marlow, version 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail (aka Mamatouille)) — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 08:20:00 +0000

What a lovely and chilly day for Easter Sunday at All Saints' in Marlow. As I walked into church and photographed the daffodils and primroses in the churchyard, a couple named Tony and Mary were going in at the same time. Tony was pushing Mary in a wheelchair, and they stopped next to me when I stopped to take pictures. Mary was so happy that I was interested in the daffodils because she said she's the one who planted them years ago with Sue Virgo, another venerable saint in the church whose husband Clem played the organ at our wedding.

Lamb for lunch...

And simnel cake for tea...

Mum did the flowers for Easter...

And there was a man named Mark who got baptized by immersion at the second service--what a fantastic day for a baptism!

En Route

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail (aka Mamatouille)) — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 15:08:00 +0000

We unexpectedly ran into our friends Mami, Jun, and Makoto at the Komatsu airport...

Incheon airport is just so beautiful.

Korean coffee is amazing---they have a really big coffee culture there.

We had time to have a free 3-hour bus tour from the airport to Sinpo market (pronounced Sheen-poh).

Across from the market we climbed a bunch of stairs to the Dapdong Catholic cathedral. That part of northern South Korea is 50% Christian. We didn't have time to go inside but they were just starting a mass. I assume it was for Holy Week (it was Wednesday in Holy Week).

We stayed in the airport hotel and my breakfast the next morning from the Nice to C U convenience store was Pocari Sweat and tuna kimchi gimbap (yum), plus hot black tea from the hotel cafe. I could eat that every morning.

Then it was on to the next plane for the 14-hour leg to Heathrow! Very thankful that everything went so smoothly.

Saying "Mata Ne" to Friends

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail (aka Mamatouille)) — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 07:07:00 +0000

Saying "mata ne" (see you later) to friends in Kanazawa!

Hiukei and boys...

Sanae and Linda...

Saori and Nanaka...

Naomi...

Takayuki...

Samuel...

Ishigaki-san...

Ian and Maeva and baby...

Kurkoski family...

Sanae and Linda...

Sally and Gunn...

Krystal...

Selda and Taiki...

Holly...

Matthew's 20th Birthday!

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail (aka Mamatouille)) — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 07:40:00 +0000

In no particular order, here are Matthew's 20th birthday celebration photos!

He and our friend Sally share the same birthday...

Dinner at Aashirwad, which means "blessing" in Hindi, with Sally, Gunn, and Michael.

Homemade vegan mango cheesecake at home after dinner! At Matthew's request...

Suzanne stopped by during the day with homemade chocolate strawberries for the Birthday Bean...

Matthew chose eggy bread for his birthday breakfast!

Happy birthday, dear Matthew! We love you so much and are looking forward to celebrating at the Didcot railway centre with you in April too!

Handy Men

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail (aka Mamatouille)) — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 12:22:00 +0000

Joel recently learned how to change car wheels from our friend Jamie.

Matthew's computer had almost stopped working, but he replaced the thermal paste and it's running great now.

Catching Up After Winter

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail (aka Mamatouille)) — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 11:38:00 +0000

Catching up with friends and fun as spring comes in on cold, softer feet.

Game day at the international salon.

Korean food for the lunar new year.

Last Sunday afternoon at the Kenmin Pool park and beach.

Coffee with Holly before they move to the UK (they left today!).

Lunch at ours with Selda (Philippines) and her husband Taiki.

Sunny afternoon today at Kenrokuen for the plum blossoms as the boys rode freshly-excavated, newly-uncovered, and cleaned-up bicycles around town.

Ferrari Fan

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail (aka Mamatouille)) — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 23:47:00 +0000

Ferrari 296!

You just never know what you'll run into (hopefully not! Can you imagine the repair bills?) in a Family Mart parking lot in Fukui on a warm sunny Saturday.

And a nice Ferrari owner who invites you to sit in his aisha (literally "love car").

The Ferrari was so new that the guy didn't even know how to adjust the seat for our long-legged offspring.

Echizen, Fukui

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail (aka Mamatouille)) — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 13:26:00 +0000

(Almost) the whole Northern Hemisphere must be rejoicing as snow melts and things warm up.

Big sun today!

We sang the spring song by taking a day trip to Echizen in Fukui--the first time for us to this particular bit of coastline. It was gorgeous.

And if you look closely at some of the rocks, you might see a little mountain goat named Joel.

20 km further on was the Echizen Cape Suisen Land (suisen is daffodil). Boy, were they daffodilling today!

And on the way home, a stop at the lovely Watari Glass Studio, where the husband and wife duo were making beautiful glassware in all shapes, sizes, and colors (behind glass, of course). I was so intent on looking at all the pieces that I didn't get any photos there. You can see a sample of their work here.

Waving to Sanseito

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail (aka Mamatouille)) — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 11:55:00 +0000

Tuesday was a snowy day, as all the days lately seem to be.

And it's the day Matthew woke up and decided he wanted it to be his Seijin No Hi (Coming of Age Day). The actual Seijin No Hi was on the 12th of January, but both boys were unwell and it was, of course, a very snowy day that day too.

Matthew chose the route: park in the basement of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, walk through the museum, trundle through a snowy Kenrokuen Garden, walk over to Aashirwad Indian and Nepali Curry for lunch, drive to Coco's for the unlimited drink bar (coffee, tea, soft drinks) and also get a dessert and play Uno together.

It was a fun family time, and delicious too.

And did I mention snowy?

Midway through our adventure, and as we were coming out of Kenrokuen Garden, we heard and saw the unmistakable kei truck of a politician driving our way with a loudspeaker on top.

It was a politician in the Sanseito party.

The virulently anti-immigrant party.

My first thought was to wave at them with my middle finger, which of course I would not do. But tempting.

Just as that idea flitted through my brain and they drove past us, I slipped on ice and fell in a (fortunately) soft pile of snow.

Darn. They probably saw me and delighted in it.

And as my family told me later, just as that little vignette was unfolding and I was flailing, a foreign tourist family joyfully waved at the folks in the truck.

They had no idea.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

And sometimes snow piles are soft and full of grace and help you save face and intrusive thoughts about middle fingers.

Coming of Age

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail (aka Mamatouille)) — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 12:51:00 +0000

Every January, Japan has a "Coming of Age Day" when the folks who will be turning 20 in that year have a gathering at the local neighborhood city halls to have a ceremony. Legally now you're an adult at age 18 (as of about 2 or 3 years ago), but traditionally it's been age 20.

Matthew decided he didn't want to take part, so we celebrated yesterday instead. He chose to go to Kenrokuen Garden in the snow, have lunch at Aashirwad, and coffee bar and dessert and Uno at Coco's.

We're so proud of our Matthew-Bean! A lovely young man.

Back to Our Regularly-Scheduled Program

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail (aka Mamatouille)) — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 10:42:00 +0000

Happy Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Back to Our Regularly-Scheduled Program (tomorrow)!

A few snippets of our time off:

Mold Bombs & Safety Nets

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 01:42:00 +0000

It's 2026! Already? Yes, already. And here I am, sitting with an aching back sitting on the sofa while soggy snow slops on the ground outside. But I'm not thinking about the snow. I'm pondering mold bombs and safety nets.

OK, so 'mold bomb' isn't this product's official name, just what we call it, but living in one of the most northerly temperate rain forests that gets around 3 x the annual precipitation of the UK, we often feel like we are in the constant battle against mold in our home. At any given time, there will be at least one of our three dehumidifiers running somewhere in the house -- and none of our clothes would ever get dry without their help.

But these dehumidifiers are not our most potent weapon. That's where the 'mold bombs' come in. There are two types. One type for use in the normal rooms in the house, and the other for use in the bathroom only. They're basically small aerosol cans that shoot out some kind of mold-killing chemical that coats everything in the room. (You have to leave the room for hours to avoid gassing yourself; I'm sure they're very safe.) The result being that it takes a lot longer for the mold to take hold again. This is particularly appreciated in the shower-bath unit that never gets very warm in the winter, which takes all the joy out of cleaning it. And there's not really any cleaning joy to be had in the first place.

Anyway, having scrubbed this bath-shower unit the other day, I was thinking to myself that a well-placed mold bomb could save me from having to do it again for another long while. There was only one problem. I went to the cupboard and we were all out. So I got on Amazon looking for more, but am then interrupted by Abigail, who tells me that our Norwegian friend, Gunn, has something she doesn't want but thinks we might like. And guess what it is? Yes, a mold bomb.

Now, I don't know what it says about us that 'Mundays' and 'mold' get associated in someone's brain, but the way I took it was this: There's a big God out there who's concerned about the tiniest needs in my life. He feeds the birds of the air. He clothes the flowers of the field in their finery. And he sends us a fresh mold bomb just when we need one.

Which leads me on to my Word of The Year (WOTY) 2026. WOTY is more Abigail's domain, but the other day she mentioned that God is our safety net, always ready to catch us so that we don't need to be afraid, and that stuck with me. So I'm going to grab onto that as my WOTY (even though, yes, technically it is made up of 2 words.)

Junai Christ Church's Christmas Party and Service

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail (aka Mamatouille)) — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 13:24:00 +0000

What an interesting evening! We went to the local tea-ceremony pastor's church down the road for their "Christmas Eve" service (on December 22), which included 3 lyres playing such tunes as Moon River, 3 harps (including a song from Venezuela called Moliendo Cafe but that the Japanese cover and call Coffee Rumba--very famous here), a Santa bearing a bag full of boxes of cookies to give all of us, a hymn that the pastor himself wrote (and the paper copies they gave us were in his own handwriting), communion where the men went first (yes, the pastor orchestrated this), Christmas hymns, and finally a tea ceremony together. I didn't get a photo of my tea bowl, but it was decorated in red and green. The pastor has loads of tea bowls for each season! Some of them had Christmas trees or even snowflake designs. And he had hung up a Japanese-style scroll painted with Christmas bells and holly.

It was certainly an eclectic party and service, but one thing the pastor said stuck with Stephen and me: In the tea ceremony room, he told all the Japanese people that he was glad that Stephen and I were there (and our friend Michael) because all around the world all Christians in every country are worshiping Jesus together this season because of Jesus' coming into the world.

More Advent-ing

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail (aka Mamatouille)) — Sun, 21 Dec 2025 08:10:00 +0000

Annual visit to the Yasue family to take some homemade Christmas treats. Through the years, Mr. and Mrs. Yasue have made these Christmas decorations with kids at church and have kept them all this time. A real treasure trove.

At the Hokuriku Gakuin high school's Christmas pageant, Shimin Christmas.

The camellias are happy!

Yesterday was unbelievable for December: over 20 degrees Celsius and bright! We had a walk along the Sai River.

Today's Hope House Christmas potluck and service.

Today was the 4th Sunday of Advent.

Advent Continues Apace

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail (aka Mamatouille)) — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 11:45:00 +0000

A little afternoon trip to the station area yesterday to see the few Christmas decorations...tree at the hotel next door...

Shopping center...

Sunday afternoon Christmas party at KIBC (Kanazawa International Baptist Church)...

Christmas market at the Kanazawa cruise terminal on Saturday afternoon...we were keeping a little child entertained...or just entertaining ourselves...

A few new plants for the front step...just in time for snow!

What's Up

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail (aka Mamatouille)) — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 11:12:00 +0000

What have we been up to?

I had to go to the doc to get a new EpiPen that's not expired...

We went to a Christmas market/concert/fair last weekend at the local Christian college up the hill...

Visited our friends the K Family...

Went to our friend Suzanne's lacquerware jewelry exhibit...

Double rainbow on Wednesday in between bouts of hail and rain...

First snow/hail this morning...

Matthew and Joel have now each made Filipino chicken pineapple adobo in the last 2 weeks (the way our Filipina friend Nikka's mom makes it). Very yummy!

Joel Day: December 1

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail (aka Mamatouille)) — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 10:48:00 +0000

For symmetry with his birthday, we decided that December 1 is Joel Day. He chose Coco's and unbeknownst to us, smuggled in the mini Uno cards. A fun time!

Happy Merry Christmas from the Mundays, version 2025

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail (aka Mamatouille)) — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 12:25:00 +0000

(Marlow back garden, April 2025, on Helen and Dennis's 55th anniversary)

Happy Merry Christmas from the Mundays! This happens to be version 2025, but honestly, where did this year go?

For us, it was broken into 5 locational chunks:

winter and early spring in Kanazawa
late spring and part of summer in the UK
HOT HOT HOT 6 weeks of August and September in Kanazawa
early fall in Wisconsin
fall and winter in Kanazawa!

And here we are on the 2nd day of Advent, folks. How are you all doing? Do you have special things you do during Advent? How are you feeling about the end of this year coming up? Was your year good/bad/OK? Send us an email and let us know.

January: A new year and so grateful that there was no big earthquake like on January 1, 2024! It was surreal watching the president of the US take office again for the 2nd time, which felt like a different kind of earthquake. Surreal and scary, to be honest. It's strange to think how closely we need to follow the news now to keep up with all the crazy stuff happening and to be on high alert for prayer. It's affecting not only the US but the entire world. We're glad and relieved that we don't trust in horses or chariots but in the name of the Lord our God.

February: Lots of snow in Kanazawa! I remember Stephen and the boys (and sometimes me) shoveling loads of that stuff.

March: Matthew turned 19!

April: Acclimating to the UK, getting over jet lag, boys studying, Joel prepping for exams.

May: Joel turned 17! And started exams!

June: More exams and finished up. A visit to London to celebrate! Friends and family came to visit us too.

July: A visit to Oxford. I continued helping the Marlow Wombles pick up litter around town and continued with the writing group and prayer group I was part of while there. It was lovely to be involved in the All Saints' church, too, and many of those kind folks keep in touch and want updates, which is so encouraging. Flew back to Japan on the 31st--a 56-hour trip in the end.

August: Got caught up on life in Kanazawa and reconnecting with friends and neighbors. Survived the heat.

Mid-September to mid-October: A visit to Wisconsin! I turned 50! (So my word for the year was JUBILEE.) Was good to get good old American hugs and hang out in Middleton with family and friends. It's a charming little suburb of Madison and very walkable, like Marlow.

November: We won a lottery to have a tour of the bullet-train maintenance depot, which was a treat. And we celebrated a lovely Friendsgiving. Also a couple friends and I celebrated 100 days of working out in a row together (in our separate homes, but doing the same program every day). Go, us!

December: Now we're in the final stretch of 2025 and well into Advent. We're in this liminal space of waiting for Jesus' birth (symbolically, since it already happened) and waiting for his return. As the Son of Man, he really gets us. He knows what this human joy and pain are all about. He felt it and experienced it too. What a good good God.

I'm thankful for life, breath, health, laughter, and God's sustaining power in 2025.

And he already knows what 2026 holds...

So we lift our hands to him, put it into his hands, and let him take care of it all.

Happy Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and lots of love to you all! Keep us updated now, ya hear.