A Bit Of This and A Bit Of That

Books for pirate lovers....

2012-01-31T10:53:00.002+09:00

Obviously, we couldn't do a month on treasure and pirates without reading books too. Last year Ebi-kun got the Dragonology book (review here) which we all love, so I got him the Pirateology book for Christmas and it is equally amazing. Before you even open the book the real compass set in cover gets you captivated!

available on Amazon and The Book Depository

As with the Dragonology book, this one is also beautifully written, there is a lot of information but it is broken down so it is easy to dip in and out. Much of it is fact but there is some fictional element to it and there is a disclaimer at the front of the book telling you which parts are fictional.

There are fold out pieces, map reading tools, knot tying information, pirate customs, glossary of pirate terms, descriptions of the different pirates around the world, types of weapons and ships and much more. At the start of the book you are introduce to Arabella Drummond and her torn map then later in the book there is a secret pocket with the missing map piece. Ebi-kun only found it last week and he was SO excited, his eyes looked like would pop out!

Ebi-kun is six but he has a high reading age, I think the book might be a bit difficult for most kids his age and it is aimed at a slightly older audience. That said, I think he will get a lot out of it and it is one of those books that we will hang onto. We have three of the ology books now and I think they are well worth every penny, books to treasure.

Another pirate themed book we have been reading is Troll. What? you say, a pirate book called The Troll, I know, confusing. It is written by Julia Donaldson (of Gruffalo fame), it is a bit longer than some of her other books but it is fun and the illustrations by David Roberts are lovely.

available on Amazon and The Book Depository

It is sort of two stories which combine at the end, the troll is trying to catch something other than fish to eat and the pirates are trying to find the treasure, it is silly, it is fun and we love it!

Pirates Ahoy.... (giveaway)

2012-01-30T10:48:00.000+09:00

In my effort to get better organised I realised that I often have a collection of sketches that live in my sketch book as half baked ideas or doodles that never come to fruition and I was trying to think of ways of using them, suddenly the penny dropped.... Embroidery patterns!

So, with keeping in with the pirates and treasure theme that we have had going all month, here is my first PDF embroidery pattern. There are 30 images and I have reversed them too so you can use them as you like, I have also included a page on how to transfer the patterns. Available right now, in the shop.

If you would like to get your mitts on a copy of it then leave a comment below telling me what your pirate name would be!

RULES

Ebi-kun will pick his favourite pirate name on Feb 3rd at 8.00am JST

One entry per person

You must include a contact email address, no email - no win.
The pattern is a PDF file which will be emailed to the winner.

Cake, bouncing and stars....

2012-01-30T08:17:00.001+09:00

Catchy title no? We had a fairly mellow weekend, Saturday we did the weekly shop and after reading Joni's information I decided to stock up so we got a couple of cases of water and some more tinned food we also have extra toilet paper, sounds odd but after the March 11th quake there was a lot of panic shopping going on and toilet paper was one of the first things to go! We have had quite a few quakes over the last few days too, not big ones here but big enough to make you think, one of them was under Mount Fuji, like that is all we need, a volcanic eruption - I have no idea how probably that is, probably just my imagination running wild.

In the afternoon the boys went to the football club for supporters day and I got some sewing done. Sunday Ebi-kun asked to go to a planetarium so first we went for a lovely lunch at an Italian restaurant, the chef trained in Italy so the food tastes Italian not 'Japanese Italian' if you know what I mean. It is in a lovely spot, we found it by accident the first time we went.

We also had dessert, something we rarely do when we eat out and it was lovely. Ebi-kun, who is possibly the slowest eater in the world demolish the Mont Blanc cake he was sharing with daddy in a matter of seconds!

We had a couple of hours to kill before the screening at the planetarium so we went for a play in the park, we didn't last too long because it was so bitterly cold. Bouncing up and down is just what you need on a full belly isn't it?

They have added some new equipment in the park and I noticed this little wood sculptures, too cute.

The show at the planetarium was the Milky Way railroad by Kenji Miyazawa, he is from Hanamaki in Iwate and if you are ever up that way I recommend popping into the museum. The show was really nice but the seats were so uncomfortable, Ebi-kun and I spent most of the time wriggling trying to find a comfy position. That was basically it for the weekend, did you get up to anything exciting?

Inspiration Sunday - Joni in Tohoku

2012-01-29T08:00:00.001+09:00

Today I want to introduce you Joni, I only recently learnt about Joni and her situation as her open letter has been doing the rounds in the foreign wives community. I wanted to help Joni get the word out that people in Tohoku still need our help.

Can we start with you sharing a little about yourself and your family?

My name is Joni, I am a tall, blond American who is a country girl from Iowa, married to a Japanese man and we have 4 children ages 4-12. I have lived in Japan for over 20+ years and have lived both in this area and also in Shizuoka. I was a H.S. and elementary school teacher for 12 years until I married. We now live in Sumita-cho, Iwate-ken.

What is the weather like there at the moment?

For the past month or so it has been quite cold, with lows about -8 to -10. We had just about 6 inches of snow on the ground until a few weeks ago and now every few days we are getting 2+ feet of snow. There is about 3-4ft of snow on the ground here in Sumita right now. Most of the people in the temp housing here lived in Rikuzen-Takada or on the coast where they didn't get snow during the winters except on rare occasions. So having snow and ice around is new to them, and they are finding it really cold! Japanese houses here are not insulated and even inside our home it is cold. We do have a fan heater but that just heats one roomThat is in our home which is city housing for Sumita. The temp housing units here, are single homes, made of wood, but not nearly as well-built as the one we live in and they have a foot of space under the house just open! We have that same space, but it is partially blocked, whereas they do not have anything blocking the wind or snow from going under their homes. They are living among people that they do not know, and many have trouble meeting new people. When we first delivered the things from the church in Hokkaido, I had them playing games to decide who would get such and such and item and they were laughing and talking to others, which hadn't happened before. During the summer months, I noticed many would go have tea together at 10 am outside and it was so nice to see them getting to know their neighbors, though it was only one area of the temp housing that did that (64 houses in all there). Since it has gotten cold, most stay in their houses all day, and rarely go out. I have noticed many seem very depressed and the weight of their situation is very heavy on their minds. I have been making an effort to try and deliver things on those really cold and snowy days...give them a reason to smile. Somehow it is hard not to smile, at the silliness of us trying to do that.

Where were you when the earthquake hit?

We were in Sumita-cho, in Arisu, in our home at the time of the earthquake. The Magnitude 9.0 one, it was impossible to move, my youngest daughter was sleeping on a futon not 4 ft from me, and during the earthquake I couldn't get to her. Our house was being thrown about, furniture falling, things being torpedoed across the room, the refrigerator that shook open...(it was lovely to have chili, spread all over the broken glass in the kitchen, and to have to try and clean it up in the cold and dark ! No hot water...!!! (though we were lucky that we did have water!) The sound of things crashing around us and the very LONG and violent shaking was hard.I feel very unsettled after small earthquakes so it has been a very, very, long time of feeling very unsettled with the daily doses of earthquakes we have now.
My husband was out of work since at the time but it was a blessing for he was home the day of the earthquake and we were able to go collect the children all huddled outside the school about 4km from here, and preschool waiting in the cold and snow with no coats or shoes on!
It was a very long, dark, cold time afterwards and up here, most people are not prepared for a disaster of that scope. We had a couple of flashlights, and some canned food etc...but it was the cold that was the hardest I think.Our heater is a fan heater which is kerosene, but has to be plugged in so it was useless. I had some canned baked beans which we ate cold out of a can which the kids all thought was a treat and they each had their own can and since I order them from the U.S. I normally ration them a little bit, but after the earthquake, we ate canned baked beans and I let the children eat as much as they wanted, and it was wonderful.

What was the time like after the earthquake and tsunami?

We were without lifelines for many long weeks after the disaster. No gasoline for over a month etc.(No heat though it was still winter here and we had another month of snow) (electric, phones, gas, all down) Though we had many things shaken and fall, our house is ok, though many neighbors had windows and walls fall, and the building across the street from us (jidokan where they children go to play) had to be demolished for it was so badly damaged. The roads were impassable in many places.But there was no gasoline, so people were not going anywhere.The nearest gasoline station is about 8 km from us, and they didn't were closed for a long time, and even those in Tono-shi, the ones that were open, you would have to queue for hours and then only allowed to buy 5 or 6 liters of gasoline, which pretty much just got us back to our home! There are no train lines here, but the nearest Shinkansen stations also were damaged and the train lines were down for a long time.

Since 3/11 we have had so many aftershocks and they continue to this day. Those first months we were getting as many as 60+ aftershocks a day. Aftershocks sound like they are smaller, but they are just regular earthquakes of a different name. So all day every day we were and are reminded of the earthquake. We now get about 4 a day, sometimes small, sometimes big, a couple have shaken things off shelves etc...though after the mag 9.0 they don't seem much.

Do you have an advice to pass on?

I would really encourage all of you to think through an evacuation plan for your family and where to meet if something happens.Make sure that the items that you have in your emergency bag are more than you think you will actually need. High calorie, no cook items, A couple days supplies won't last long and in the case of people here...they escaped with nothing.How to contact your children, loved ones..and what to do in the event that all lifelines are down.Really think about what if there was no electricity for a month. What would you eat? How would you survive, and then go through every other lifeline in your mind and really think about it. It is very frightening to think of all that.Even more important than other things, in Otomo cho and other places it was WATER that was the huge problem. They didn't get their waterlines (or electricity or gas) back for almost 5 months.

I know you have been doing a lot of volunteer work, acting as a translator along with hands on work and donating whatever you could spare. You are looking for some specific items at the moment to donate to the temporary housing nearby, can you share with us what you are trying to get hold of?

For boys size 160cm or mens S and M, I haven't had much to share with them so far.There are a few smaller boys, size 130cm and 2 girls that size too.It is very cold here at the moment so fleece things are greatSportswear in mens X and XL always seem to be needed.
Blankets, warm jackets, ski wear, hats, gloves...it is cold and snowy here, so many of these people are not used to the cold in Sumita for the coast and those areas didn't get much snow.
Womens underwear is needed (new), There are no clothing stores here in Sumita, and so unless they can to travel all the way to Mizusawa or Tono, there just isn't much available.
The majority of people are elderly...all sizes but womens M-XL, and mens L and XL...would fit most of them .Several of the elderly ladies are size XL or larger and they have often said to me that even when there has not been much their size, and they were just thrilled with the larger sized items that I have been able to share with them. One elderly lady was so thrilled yesterday with a robe/pyjama that I gave her that a friend sent. She has not had pjs since 3-11. She is one of the larger ladies, and there just was never anything her size when they were able to get clothing donations.A friend donated a sewing machine so some of the ladies have set up a sewing club and other knit or crochet so supplies for them would be nice too. I have also found that several people have sent little gifts...perhaps ones that they received as gifts but never used or needed, and also other things that were in their home. There are things that may not be a necessity, but would sure be nice to have sort of things, that could really make someones day.

I cannot imagine having lost everything...so now though there are still needs, the other "Extra" things," just because", are also heartening to these people too. The knitting yarn, needles and material that were sent, brought such smiles, and others have sent little things that they got as little gifts from stores etc, little wrapped boxes of tea...just anything.

Getting ready to delivery the goods, Joni's daughter squashed under the boxes!

This is not necessary, but if you care to, a personal note, perhaps copied a few times that I could give them when I give them the items would be really nice...if it is in English that is fine, I will translate it for them. Sometimes just that personal touch might be nice and to know where the things came from!!!

happy recipients

If you have things to donate please contact Joni at sistermomy 'at' hotmail 'dot' com for her mailing address. Please make sure all clothes are clean and not stained and clearly label the outside of the box with the contents to make life easier for Joni.

What is the situation like now?

Many are quite concerned for in a little over a year they are expected to move out of temp housing, and especially the older people, have nowhere to go. Banks won't lend to people over 50, they are living on Nenkin...(social security) and so it is just hard for many of them.Sumita cho has told the people here though, that they will not have to move out, which is very helpful, but those living in the temp housing in front of jr and sr high schools etc. will have to move. As of yet, they have not been told just where they are to move, or gotten any help in finding ways to build new homes etc.

the temp housing

In Otomo cho, we are helping those that did not move into temp housing and chose to remain in the village. Most had their houses on the first floor, ruined by the tsunami but have been able to rebuild the first floors. The people in the temp housing have been getting aid, though it has tapered off a lot, but those that chose to fix their homes and remain haven't received any aid even from the beginning. They were without water, electricity and gas for almost 5 months...so we often took trips bring supplies from our home, food, water etc...just to let them know they are not forgotten. It is sometimes hard for them to see the people in the temp housing getting new things...and help when they don't get anything.

So, please take a few minutes and look around your home to see if there is anything you can donate, if you are not comfortable donating to an individual then use this as a prompt to donate to one of the many charities. It is bloody freezing up in Tohoku this time of year and will stay so for a few more months so please, share what you can and let the people of Tohoku know that we haven't forgotten about them.

Sorry this post doesn't have many photos but Joni's computer is on it's last legs so she was only able to provide photos from her phone there is a post on Recovering Tohoku about Sumito-cho and pictures of the temp housing.

Going to the doctors....

2012-01-28T09:17:00.003+09:00

The whole health care system in Japan is different to what I grew up with in the UK and it still baffles me somewhat at times.

In the UK, you are registered with a local doctor, a GP who has your full set of medical records. If you are ill no matter what it is your first step is to call your GP and make an appointment, your GP will then decide whether it is something minor, if so he/she will prescribe you meds and off you go. If they suspect it is something more serious they refer you to a specialist. If you need emergency care then you either go straight to the A&E (accident & emergency) which is usually housed in one of the big hospitals or call an ambulance and they usually take you to the nearest A&E. Thanks to the NHS everyone is seen to, you don't need insurance. If you work in the UK you have to make a month contribution to the system, if you need a prescription it costs you £7.40 no matter what it is for and if you are a child, OAP, pregnant or disabled it is free.

Over to Japan, if you get sick the first thing to do is a bit of self diagnosis then you get out google and find your nearest doctor that specialises in that field, so if you think you have an ear infection you look up your local ENT doctor. Usually you don't make an appointment, you just rock up to the doctors then sit in the waiting room for however long it takes. As in the UK the doctor will refer you to a specialist higher up in the chain if they think it is needed. Also, like the UK, the doctors do a special course so that all their handwriting is illegible! Here each doctors office that you visit will have a record of your medical history from that office so there is no nowhere that has all your medical files in one place. This worries me because the doctor has to rely on what the patient tells them, they are unable to see what has been the problem in the past. It is also not the culture to question the doctor in any way, shape or form, some will actually get quite stroppy with you if you do!

You also need insurance in Japan we pay through my husbands company, so you need to have your insurance card and you doctors registration card (kids also have a third card) each time you visit the doctor. You do have to pay for your prescription too but only 30%, kids are basically free, I had to pay ¥100 for Ebi-kuns last prescription.

I dread the day we need to call an ambulance, many think it is better to make your own way to the hospital. Due to the insane address system here often ambulances have a hard time finding the address, most ambulance crew are NOT paramedics and so can only make you comfortable whilst they get you to the hospital. Then there is the decision of which hospital to take you to and there is no guarantee that the hospital will admit you when you get there. When Ebi-kun broke his arm a neighbour took us to the local doctors clinic, I was confused why because I didn't know that they had a x-ray machine and they also do a lot of rehab mainly for older people, thankfully she knew this and decided it was the best place to go.

So, all that said, in my personal experience, I have nothing to complain about and always received great care over here. What started this post is that Ebi-kun has had a bad cough, he usually gets them in winter, it's no biggie. I took him to the local kids doctor, it isn't usually as busy as the other doctors nearby and the younger doctor speaks a smidgin of English (he knows all the words I know in Japanese lol). The doctors usually only give medicine for 3 days, of course Ebi-kun is still coughing so it is back to the doc for him this morning. Above is his prescription, the top three are mixed in one bottle to make the syrup and the bottom is a patch that goes on his chest, like a nicotine patch but it releases medicine instead. I don't remember getting such a details breakdown of the meds when I was in the UK - although it is a long time since I visited a doctor back there.

So, now your turn, what is the health care system like where you are?

light board fun...

2012-01-27T10:07:00.003+09:00

My Christmas present was a light tray which I use when I am designing patterns but Ebi-kun has been having fun with it too. Yesterday I gave him a pile of gel sheets, I had cut some shapes for him to give him some ideas and then left him to it.....

I am looking forward to be doing some more activities with him using the tray.

All About Japan - pack

2012-01-27T06:00:00.000+09:00

When I joined the last culture swap I made a PDF file to go with it, of course, I got a bit carried away and what started out as a couple of pages ended up at 26 pages of information!

It includes pages about geography, food, traditions, housing, festivals, recipes, language, a quiz and fun facts plus a pile of 3 part cards that you can print out and laminate. The text is written as if Ebi-kun wrote it himself, so it sounds like it is coming from a 6 year old.

If you would like a copy, I have added it to the culture store, just pop over here!

Peanut Peeps...

2012-01-26T07:47:00.001+09:00

More boredom busting...peanut peeps! We made these together and because you can eat as you make it makes all the more fun.

You will need some peanuts in their shells (cooked), toothpick, tweezers, sharp knife, felt pens/markers and something to make a mess on....

I carefully cut the end off each peanut then Ebi-kun used a combination of tweezers and toothpick to remove the peanuts from inside the shell, this is the messy bit and I really wish I had not done the vacuuming before we started so I didn't have to do it twice!

Clean up the mess and you should be left with a selection of funny shaped peanuts...

We picked up each shell and examined it, discussed what it looked like before attacking it with the markers, of course there were several pirates a couple of ninjas and some 'goodies' as Ebi-kun would put it. You can play with them as little people or....

Pop them on your finger as little puppets, and yes, Ebi-kun has been at it again....

Morph...

2012-01-25T10:25:00.001+09:00

Ebi-kun has been off sick with an annoying cough for the last few days, so we got out his Morph kit. It is pretty cool, it comes with instructions and a DVD on how to make Morph plus some props.I didn't want to start faffing around making a stop motion movie so we just took some still shots then Ebi-kun added the text...

The humour of a 6 year old eh? Morph, for those not-in-the-know, was the side-kick of Tony Hart who did a kids art show back in the 70' and 80's and later Morph went on to have his own show...

Stitching....

2012-01-24T08:54:00.000+09:00

I recently stitched up this little picture for my aunt, unfortunately I couldn't join her and my mom and my cousins for a week in the sun and had to make do with the photos instead!

I am pretty sure embroidery was my first step into sewing, my mom used to do it and all the women on my dad's side of the family. My first attempt at 'free-style' embroidery was when I was given my uncles denim jacket which had badges for bands such as AC/DC and Rainbow on it. So off they came and into the bin they went (sorry Simon!) but then I was left with dark patches on the jacket so I chucked the jacket in the bath with some bleach, yes the bleached tie-dye effect! Then I sewed on some fabric and embroidered some swirls on it, how I loved that jacket and what a shame I have no photographic evidence of myself wearing it.

Anyway... I love the fact that embroidery has come back into vogue both on the high street and in the crafting world. I was given Embroidered Effects by Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching fame and I love it!

The book is broken down so there are sections on tools, fabrics, pattern making, stitches and methods of stitching, stitch combinations and special effects and then a load of projects to get your teeth into, finishing the projects and a set of patterns. The peacocks above are one of the designs from the book. I am pretty much OK with many of the stitches, there are a few in the book that I haven't tried before and the diagrams and explanations are easy to follow. I also really like that it is spiral-bound so that it lies flat when you are using it and they have provided a pocket at the front to keep the patterns in, brilliant.

Jenny makes embroidery fun, she uses cheeky designs and ideas and I am pretty sure a total beginner would be able to pick up and stitch using the book as a guide, so if you have been thinking of taking up a new hobby, pick up the book and give it a go!

available on Amazon and The Book Depository

2:46 - Rebuilding a town

2012-01-23T15:00:00.000+09:00

A friend who lives up in Iwate posted this on FB the other day and I felt it was worth sharing. This was filmed in November in one of the tsunami worst hit towns, Ishinomaki. At the time it was filmed 1 in 2 people were unemployed and one person every three days was committing suicide, pretty grim figures. To make matters worse, the unemployment benefit that people were getting at the time has now been stopped. I don't know the current figures but I don't imagine they are much better.

The video isn't all doom and gloom though, it also shows people pulling together, starting to rebuild the community, mostly it shows how much work there is still to do, it shows the reality.

From the video I discovered a new-to-me group, it's not just mud who are doing a great job in the area. Have a look through their website to see how you can help either with volunteer work, donations or maybe you have connections that can help them achieve what they are working on.

a MTD full of treasure.....

2012-01-23T08:15:00.003+09:00

Of course, I had to do some kind of treasure themed MTD!

So from the top....

Gold coin Ritz crackers, silver dice of cream cheese, gold bars of tamago yaki (omlette), nuggets of miso peanuts, ruby rings of mini tomatoes, golden nuggets of corn, chunks of golden pineapple, old coin biscuits and in the middle Ototo crisps which are ebi-kuns favourite. They come in different fishy shapes but if you are lucky you might get a whale or dolphin.

Back to the coin biscuits, these were a lucky find. The biscuits are designed like coins and on the back of the pack it shows you which coin is which and the time that it was in circulation - educational biscuits!

For more MTD fun, pop over to the muffin tin mom.

A quick question...

2012-01-22T09:10:00.000+09:00

If you want to find something that you have seen previously on my blog, how do you go about finding it?

Do you use the labels or archives in the side bar or the search box or something different?

I want to tidy the sidebars up and just wondering how useful the archives/labels actually are?

All feedback is welcomed, I want it to be easy for you to find and for the page to look less messy, so help me out if you can, cheers

jo

Inspiration Sunday - Interview with Zoe Toft

2012-01-22T08:00:00.000+09:00

Inspiration Sunday a regular post with interviews and guest posts by wonderfully inspiring people.

Today's interview is with Zoe from Playing By The Book, a blog I discovered and fell in love with a while ago now, I think it was the Barbapapa post that led me to the blog in the first place. Zoe takes a book and expands on it doing some great activities with her kids but not only that her blog is filled with interviews, recommendations, and lots of book related advice.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your family?

We are a family of four who...sing together every day, love to cycle (we don't own a car), need more bookshelves, have a penchant for banjo music, and are curious about the world. We also regularly grump, snap at each other, swear at the radio and eat dark chocolate.

What is it about books that find so important?

Can you imagine something that gives knowledge, helps foster understanding, makes you laugh, provides companionship, generates dreams, inspires imagination, provides answers, provokes questions, takes you out of yourself and into yourself, transports you to places you will never see, helps you see where you have been blind before, forms bonds between people, builds safe places and thrilling places and comforting places? What would that something look like? For me it looks like a book. Or better still, a library.

From reading your blog it looks like you manage to cram a lot of things in each day, realistically, how much time to you put into planning and executing each activity?

We do have days when we manage to do lots of things, and those days only go successfully when there has been some planning and preparation in advance. Quite a lot of the activities we do that you see on the blog have taken a while to form as a concrete plan - whilst sometimes I have creative bursts, normally my creative side needs time - time to mull things over and see what emerges. Actual time spent on a preparing a given activity wouldn't be that much - maybe on average 0-30 minutes - but all the background thinking might take place over weeks!

Where do you come up with your ideas, do you have a favourite go to website/blog?

The ideas typically come from the books themselves ie just immersing yourself in the book. If I get stuck for an idea, and if my girls don't have their own ideas then I turn both to the web and to craft books. My first port of call is always The Crafty Crow (for crafts/activities) and Zooglobble (for music).

You are also a bilingual family (Dutch/English), can you tell us about the way you are raising the girls bilingually?

Yes, we're a bilingual family and it's very important to our family identity. Both my husband and I have a background in theoretical linguistics and so we'd read a lot of academic papers about bilingualism before the kids came along and it seemed completely natural to be bilingual in our home, though we didn't speak Dutch at home before the kids arrived. Yes OPOL (one parent one language) is the way we work 98% of the time. My husband speaks Dutch, I speak English. The kids speak a mixture at home, depending on who they are talking to and what the topic is.

You obviously love books, if you were to be cast away on a desert island, which 3 books would you want with you?

Shocking as it may seem I don't get a lot of enjoyment out of rereading novels unless years have gone by between reading, so I'd probably choose...
An atlas - not for practical purposes, but so I could dream. The Times Atlas is the one I'm most familiar with.
The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary - a 2 volume treasure trove
A novel to totally lose myself in - perhaps Middlemarch by George Elliot, as I've not yet read it and it's a good hefty book!

How about the girls, which books would they pick?

I've just asked them and they said:
M (7)
Tonke Dragt De brief voor de koning (The Letter for the King). Unfortunately this has not been translated into English.
although it has won awards and Dragt is considered one of the very best children's authors in Dutch. It has been translated in to Japanese I believe...
Astrid Lindgren Ronia the Robber's Daughter (although M knows the Dutch translation rather than the English one)
Thea Beckman Kruistocht in spijkerbroek (Crusade in Jeans - it has been translated into English, and republished just recently)

But M didn't like choosing just 3 - she said it was impossible "There are so many great books Mum!"

J (3) would probably choose
You Choose by Nick Sharratt and Pippa Goodhart
Liedjes met en hoepeltje erom - a book of songs every child in the Netherlands grows up knowing
There are Cats in this Book by Viviane Schwarz

As a book blogger, what do you enjoy most about the process?

It's very hard to pick just one thing!
I love the writing and editing and playing with words
I love the conversations that posts generate and the ideas that spin off into the universe as a result
I love how (for me) the blog makes it "legitimate" to be silly and creative and try new things.

What I find hardest about the process is reading emails/comments I get where I'm told how I've made someone feel inadequate as a parent, because they think they couldn't do what I do. Those comments always make me terribly sad, and have on occasion made me think twice about continuing with the blog.

Which has been your most popular blog post to date and which has been your favourite (if they are different)?

Month in month out the most highly viewed post is the one I wrote about Barbapapas! I did enjoy everything that went into that post but it's not in my personal top five. My top five might be:

Putting yourself in the shoes of your child learning to read A review that goes against the grain The ability of stories to transport us A love letter to Steve Cole The best show in town this season

You have interviewed several authors and illustrators for the blog, is there any one interview that stands out as a favourite and why?

I was so very honoured when Jan Pienkowski agreed to an interview. He was a gentleman in every sense of the word and I am still amazed he spent so much time talking, via email, with me.

Is there an author past or present that you love to interview?

From the past, I'd particularly love to interview Primo Levi, CS Lewis, Leo Lionni, Astrid Lindgren and Ervin Lazar (a Hungarian author/illustrator). As to authors and illustrators who are alive now... there isn't anyone I wouldn't enjoy interviewing!

As a kid I loved Enid Blyton books and things like Malory Towers (stories about girls at boarding school who rode ponies and played lacross) and of course anything by Roald Dahl, how about yourself?

I don't have a great memory, and I certainly don't remember reading masses as a kid. I'm not one of these people that has always been a book worm. Hopefully that will give some people hope! I do remember enjoying Alan Garner, Ursula Le Guin and Penelope Lively though.

When you are net reading books or crafting what else do you like to do?

Cooking, fruit and veg gardening, and teaching myself the piano accordion

Clearly it is easier to engage a child in books and book based activities if the child has a love for books but what about those kids who just don't like books, do you have any advice for parents who want their kids to become more engaged with reading and books?

First I'd ask those parents to take an honest look at their own reading habits. Do they read? Do their kids get to see them reading? If they don't display a love of reading, then it will be much harder to get the kids' enthused about reading. So maybe the parents will have to change their behaviour...
But assuming the parents do love reading and the kids have easy access to reading material (even if this means a regular weekly visit to the library rather than lots of books/comics/newspapers around the home) then I think one single and simple thing that parents can do to enthuse and inspire their kids is to take them to see an author/illustrator live.
Whilst not all authors and illustrators are happy doing live performances, some were born to do so, and their enthusiasm and passion and joy and energy is likely to rub off on the kids in the audience.

All images © Zoe Toft, Playing By The Book.

An afternoon trip to Barbados...

2012-01-21T09:12:00.001+09:00

In my dreams! Due to being super organised this week (see previous post) I managed to get Ebi-kuns first swap pack ready, from the swaps that we did which Melissa from Chasing Cheerios organised and because we have had a treasure themed month so far I picked the pack from the Caribbean which meant a trip to Barbados was in order.

The pack we received had a map, sticker flag, photos, tourist info book a sea turtle pencil, a bag of local sugar and a letter from the children. I added to it a couple of pages printed out from learning pages, a couple of pages prepped to stick the photographs on, some fun facts about the island, a quiz and a holiday itinerary to fill in.

We used the tourist guide book and Ebi-kun picked activities and sight-seeing places to go to plus somewhere to eat every night and then we used the map to find the places we were going to. Next time we will take this a step further and we will work out travel times and the such like too.

Once he has filled in most of the pages and done the quiz etc he found a treasure hunt clue, this led to a mad scramble around the house, I hid 8 clues to find the treasure, eventually he found his treasure - a sea turtle pencil!

He didn't quite finish everything so the last couple of pages he did the next day, the he made a cover and we bound all the pages together. I have decided we will do this for each destination so eventually we will have a file of places that he has 'visited'

Whilst he was working on the project we listened to Calypso music on the National Geographic site, great place to start if you are looking for world music and we use The Blue Planet book for reference about sea turtles, google for info on green monkeys and I put together a pinterest board with some visuals of Barbados. Usually when we go 'visiting' we try and make a dish from that country but I had a real problem finding anything that had easily accessible ingredients, I did read that mac and cheese was popular so we had that, although I am not sure how true that is!

On being organised....

2012-01-20T09:13:00.000+09:00

For the last year and a half I have been working away at the business, but without pushing too hard, with Ebi-kun in yochien I didn't want to get to the point where I was too busy to be spending quality time with him plus there are so many half days and random days off that holding down a full time business would have been a nightmare. But in April, he starts school, his days will be long as will mine and I feel it is time to step up the business. But How?

Well, a couple of months I started looking online for some inspiration/guidance and stumbled upon Mayi Carles cute blog, I liked her funny little videos and her honest approach plus the lack of business mumbo-jumbo vocabulary so when I saw she was going to run a boot camp I was very intrigued.

Anyway, last week I decided to take the plunge and sign up, the actual bootcamp doesn't kick off until Feb 15th but you do get the downloads straight away. I took a deep breath, refilled the printer with new ink and printed everything off. All the sheets are beautifully designed, cute and practical. I'm not really sure what to do with some of them yet so I thought baby steps and started with the daily and weekly planners, and what a difference it has made.

I am a list writer by nature but I have found recently that my lists seem to be getting longer, I never seem to completely finish a list and ~~sometimes~~ often my lists have lists! The way Mayi has set up the planner has made it much easier for me to prioritise and keep to what I am supposed to be doing for the day and not worry about x, y and z because I know they have time allocated later in the week. So far this week, I have managed to get all the house work done and exercise each day and get most of my work related tasks done. At the end of each day I have looked back to see if the time I estimated for each task was accurate, sometimes I am way off so this will help me plan better for next week. I have also jotted down why a task wasn't finished so over the course of a few weeks I will be able to see if a pattern emerges.

The planners are not purely business related so if you just want to be more organised around the home or your personal life they can be used for that too and you can buy just the planners you don't need to go the whole hog with the bootcamp.

So, if you want to join me you can sign up here, let me know if you do, it will be fun to work together.

A Guest post...

2012-01-20T08:00:00.002+09:00

Jo and Lilly from BIG Kids magazine asked me to write a post about our creative process, you can find the post here and a discount code for the shop, whoo-hoo. See you over there!

Using Pinterest as an educational resource...

2012-01-20T07:00:00.000+09:00

I think Pinterest in the bees knees, I can finally bookmark all the great things around the web in a visual way, I started off with arty/crafty/design sort of boards but it wasn't long before I started pinning things for Ebi-kun with the Fun For A 6 Year Old Board and a more general For The Kids Board. Then when I was researching ideas for the Picasso project I started an Art Ideas board which was a great way to keep everything in one place so I could go back and print out things at a later date.

tiny bow and arrow by The Booding Hen

Sometimes I will see a cool experiment or or some Montessori type project that I would like to use in the future so I ended up with a general Montessori Board plus ones for Science, Maths and Geography. If I have one request for Pinterest (just in case someone from over there happens to read this), I would love to be able to organise boards with sub categories like Flickr uses collections and sets, now I have so many boards it sometimes takes me a while to find the right board!

Constellation Key Chain by Nature Watch

My latest board was for a trip to Barbados, a virtual trip that is. Ebi-kun got his first continent swap package this week (I will write it all up when he has finished it off today) and the destination was Barbados, I collected some suitable pictures so they were all in one place. Google is amazing but Google search results, even with the filters on sometimes turn up rather 'unexpected' results on seemingly honest search term, using Pinterest I can control the content that Ebi-kun is subjected to.

Barbados via Flickr

As much as I love Pinterest it can sometimes become a bit over whelming, information overload, so it is good to stay realistic, I might have pinned 20 fantastic ideas onto a board but in reality we might only ever get round to doing one or two. What with yochien, his book addiction and new obsession with Ninjago it is difficult enough to squeeze anything else into the day nevermind 20 cool projects!

The same goes for creativity, sometimes a blast of inspiration is what I need to get going on a new project but other times it feels like the creativity is being sucked out of me and is seeping into the computer, time to turn off the computer and head outdoors and escape to My Secret Garden, I'll see you there.

Secret garden via garden-artistry.tumblr.com

Looking for a pixie friend?

2012-01-19T12:02:00.001+09:00

A friend asked make a pixie for her friends new baby and well, long story short, I ended up with twins! So one has gone off to live in New York and the other is looking to be adopted, would you like her to come and live with you? You will need to pop over to my Etsy store sort out her 'adoption' if you prefer to make your own pixie, I have a pattern available too.

Is the internet broken?

2012-01-18T18:17:00.001+09:00

If you are having problems settling an argument and wikipedia is broken or you can't send your tweets as usual it is because some of the net big players are doing a 24 hour blackout to raise awareness the SOPA and PIPA acts of legislation that the US Government are pushing for. Don't know what I am talking abou or you don't think this affects you? Think again and watch this...

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

Want to have your say, if you are in the US there is a petition here, not in the US try here.

The Treasure Boat.....

2012-01-18T08:46:00.000+09:00

We have finished the treasure boat for the BIG Kids magazine and Lilla a collaboration, there is still time to enter if you are quick. It has been a lot of fun and a lot of discussion and delving into books has taken place. We started off brainstorming our ideas about treasure and from that we thought about how we could put these things or things to represent everything on the list.

Next job was to make the ship, originally we thought of using a milk carton but after a rummage through the recycling box we found a card egg carton and decided to use that instead. We cut it in two and stuck the lid to the bottom then Ebi-kun got to work with the paint, first brown and then he dabbed on some gold using the technique he used when making the spell book.

And then it was time to fill the boat. We found a mini cactus which was just the right size to fit in the hole and for fish we made them out of shrinky dinks, we haven't done shrinky dinks for a while so it was fun to get them out again.

Next we went on a treasure hunt looking for some mini books that I had made a while ago and some money (he wanted to look in my purse for that, not his money box!)

We found a Lego ninja with a hoard of treasure and some 'real' gold pieces, this are actually some scatter stones that I have had for years and never really had a use for, they look great in Ebi-kuns treasure chest.

The exploration took us to the bedroom closet to find the box of animals and a rather big bug.

And then it was outside to collect some soil, water and air - yes they are bento soy sauce bottles! When we made the fish Ebi-kun also made 'giraffe' who is his favourite cuddly toy.

We put everything in the holes and got to work on the masts and sails. More exploring led us to finding some chopsticks that fit in the pre-made holes just so.

Then using some paper we had left over from when we being marbling with ink, Ebi-kun drew on the last four pieces of treasure, himself, me and daddy and a crown. The crown is a felt spotty one that he wears all the time.

Now, all the treasure is loaded and ready to set sail, I wonder where the first port of call will be?

Make A Face - activity by Ebi-kun

2012-01-18T07:00:00.000+09:00

I can take no credit for this activity, Ebi-kun bought it home from yochien. He did explain to me how to make it....

First you get a big piece of paper, his is B4 and colour a big head on it but don't put on eyes or anything like that, hair is OK.

Then get a smaller piece of paper and draw on eyes, nose, cheeks that sort of thing and then cut them out.

To play, close your eyes and pick up a face part (if you like a friend can tell you what it is) then try and put it in the right place on the head, sometimes you get it really wrong and it is really funny! It is like Picasso pictures, everything in the wrong place or wonky.

Book Bargain...

2012-01-17T07:00:00.000+09:00

In Japan there is a chain of stores called Book Off, sister company to Hard Off (don't ask me why they went for that name!) Years ago all the books were ¥105 except for big publications such as encyclopedias but in recent times the prices have gone up. Our local store usually has a few English books but they are quite often the most expensive on the shelf so imagine my delight when we went in and found all the books were on sale at ¥105 whoo-hoo.

This one is bilingual, 'Not Mines But Flowers' it is about the landmines in Cambodia, bit hard hitting in places and I haven't read it with Ebi-kun yet, I think I will wait a while, although the illustrations are not graphic in nature the English translation packs a punch. It is one I will keep out of sight until I think he is ready for it.

available on Amazon

Little Albert about a boy who lives in the Swiss Alps, perfect for our Europe continent box, I think this has been translated from German.

Available on Amazon

Ebi-kun picked this, he read it in the shop and said it was really funny, something about a boy eating dango.

Another Ebi-kun pick this is about a dragon and a magic ball.

We made some great 'knight' finds and as you know anything to do with knights gets the big thumbs up in this house. The illustrations are great and the text is well written, I think some of the finer nuances go over Ebi-kuns head but as he gets older and re-reads it I think he will get even more out of the book.

available on Amazon

This is a pop up book and was sealed so we couldn't see what kind of condition it was in, it was marked for sale at ¥950, I wouldn't have paid that for it without being able to look inside, just as well we only paid ¥105 since in needs a bit of love and attention, nothing a bit of glue won't fix.

available on Amazon and the Book Depository

This is one of the pages, Ebi-kun and I had fun making the knights do the okey-cokey.

A daddy find, the Japanese version of Arrow To The Sun: A Pueblo Indian Tale by Gerald McDermott and it is beautiful. I have my eye on a couple of his other books too.

available on the book depository and amazon

And finally, The Field Mouse and a Dinosaur Named Sue, this is a really cute story about a little mouse and the journey of how she ended up at the museum along with Sue (the biggest T-rex ever discovered), it is a gentle introduction to the world of dinosaurs and fossils.

available via amazon

One thing I miss in Japan are the charity shops, a great place to take unwanted goods and even better for a good rummage to find some treasure or a good bargain. Over here the 'recycle' shops have taken off in recent years but I hate taking stuff there and getting paid a pittance, I would prefer to take them to a charity shop and receive nothing but the knowledge that money made from my donation goes to a good cause.

First MTD of the year...

2012-01-16T06:00:00.000+09:00

What is a MTD (muffin tin dinner/meal)? well, it is a meal served up in a muffin tin or in muffin silicon liners, we have been doing these for years now and Ebi-kun never gets bored of them. Recently though he has started eating dinner a bit later, we have been eating together so I haven't been making them as often.

This is the first one I made this year....

Top left to right...

red and yellow pepper hearts
parma ham sandwich roll
strawberries
parma ham sandwich roll
coleslaw
ototo crisps
string cheese
ototo crisps
more ototo crisps
strawberries
parma ham sandwich roll
coleslaw

Why I like MTD's....

it is a great way to use up leftovers or little bits and bobs in the fridge and it doesn't matter if it is foods that you wouldn't normally put together.
it is a good excuse to play with all the bento making things I own
even better excuse to use the gazillion cute picks I own
a great way to slip in some new foods (although I don't have that problem with ebi-kun)
it is a super easy way to produce a balanced meal.
it gives the child the freedom to eat their meal in any order they wish
it is quick and easy (usually) and perfect if you have guests or children that all like different things.

I just asked Ebi-kun why he likes them and he said...

because you put funny things
because it is a mix of foods
because it is a surprise, I never know what you will put in it
I can do food experiments like trying different foods together to see if they taste good or bad.
I like guessing what the theme is when you make a cool MTD.

I don't make a themed tine every time but I do like the challenge of themed tins and they do take a bit longer to put together but they have been worth the effort, ebi-kun has loved every single one I have made. Looking through these has made me quite sad that we haven't been having them so often recently. Ebi-kun had a half day on a Wednesday and eats lunch at home, I think this would be a perfect time to reintroduce the MTD on a regular basis. To finish up, I thought I would share some of our favourite themed tins from the past...

this years Halloween MTD

the ninja MTD

the completely over the top Willy Wonker MTD

The Antarctica MTD

the Mr Men MTD

Christmas version

Inspired yet or have I put you off? If you want to see what others do with their MTD's then pop over to the Muffin Tin Mom, she has a linky every Monday.

My Treasure...

2012-01-14T09:36:00.001+09:00

With all the talk about treasure maps and treasure ships recently, it got me thinking about my treasure and my own treasure box, it is not a very fancy box and what is inside doesn't hold much in the way of monetary value but I thought I would share some of my treasure....

a collection of letters, postcards, photos and cards

These are all wedding related, the cuff links my husband wore, they are pints

of Guinness! The red string was tied around our wrists in the ceremony in

Cambodia, the little bottle was a personalised wedding favour, in the

red and gold box are candles the priest gave us, we should light them in

times of trouble apparently. The bracelets were given to me by a little girl

as we went for the elephant ride she told me I looked like a princess

and the cards were messages collected my best friend from all our friends

and family.

These are the Ebi-kun items, the first usually holds the lock of hair, Ebi-kun

has a curl right in the middle of his forehead and this is that curl! The next

thing is rather gross! In Japan they keep the bit of the umbilical cord that

falls off, I have no idea why and I'm not sure why I still have it!

First shoes/slippers, first socks, he was a skinny little thing and these were the

only socks that would stay on and his first favourite toy, it uses to light up

but the battery died.

The top is the box that contains my 'jewels' my gran who has passed

away now gave these to my when I was 21, there is a note inside

the box saying that they were purchased in 1958. I was supposed to have

received the rest of her jewellery when she died but this is all I have.

The bottom was a discovery yesterday, I forgot I had put it in this box for

safe keeping when we moved, it is an Icelandic rune carved into a blue/grey

stone and a gift from Di.

So, what do you treasure? Do you have some of your families body parts and random gifts from people you don't know? I thought it would be fun to share so why not do a blog post and add it to the linky below, if you don't have a blog then leave a comment about your special treasure, come on, don't be shy!