Written on September 6, 1992 [Permalink]

September ~

Let's see if I can do a bit better than the six month gap after last summer's vacation ...

I don't know if 'vacation' is the right word for it. We got home last week pretty much exhausted, and ready for a good long rest. Being away for five weeks, travelling around here and there, working up at the old farm ... And then having our 'clocks' re-adjusted from the dawn to dusk schedule we've been on ...

The Hokkaido trip went very well. Even though we didn't have advance reservations, we got good tickets on night trains both going up (from Ueno, on a 'Blue Train') and down (to Osaka - on the 'Twilight Express' - and then on to Shingu). The weather up there wasn't so good, but we got a good chance to see a lot of Sapporo, and had some good sessions with Grandma and the tape recorder.

After we got down to Mie Prefecture, the weather got even worse, and the rain didn't let up until just at the end of our visit. We spent two full weeks up at Okunono, with me coming down once for shopping in Shingu (I had to! We broke the chimney of the only lamp while cleaning on the first day.) and once for a food pickup from the supply we left in Ozato. It would take a book to describe our summer. My biggest fear, that the four of us would be at each others throats after a few days of being in such close contact, was proven groundless. We had a great time. The kids did almost no complaining about, "Nothing to do ...", and Michiyo and I kept busy with the maintenance work. I had taken a whole box of books with me, but unlike last year, never even got past the first one. I also didn't even get the sumi block finished for Jakuren Hoshi [4-7]. If it hadn't been for the endless rain, it would have been a picture-perfect 'holiday'.

Looking at the old newspapers when we got home, I found that Typhoon #11 had been practically stalled right on top of us for most of the time we were up there. We had known there was a typhoon around, but had expected it to move over in at most, a couple of days, but every morning was just the same - driving rain and wind. I'm not sure which is worse, not having access to weather forecasts like we were, and not knowing what is coming up, or having a forecast, and knowing it's going to rain endlessly ...

The biggest problem with the carving work was the light. The valley is very deep, the hillsides are dark with fir trees, and with the constantly overcast sky, there just wasn't enough light to work without eyestrain. It drives home to me just how important natural light must have been to all kinds of workers before electricity came along ...

We had been expecting to drop in on David Stones on the way home, but when I phoned him to set up the details, I found out that they were still in the middle of building their 'guest' addition, and we had to put it off. He said we should come anyway, but it seemed to us like it would be just too much trouble for his wife ... We did stop off in Kanagawa to spend two days with the Tokimotos, and that was fun. Not exactly relaxed, with five kids around, but a good chance to talk with friends we hadn't seen in two years. They are just about the only people in Japan we would really call close friends, and it's too bad they live just too far away for casual visits ...

We finally got home on Thursday the 27th of August, and by Thursday the 3rd of September, Michiyo was gone. It was easier on everybody this time, as we're all getting quite used to this. There was no crying from the kids, and we simply saw her off at the station, and then headed for the bookstore to pick up the latest issue of their favorite magazine ...

Michiyo is taking a full five courses this year, unlike the light load of two last year. That was just a warm-up, and how she'll make out with a full load remains to be seen ... She's also going to be tighter for money this year, as she only has the 600,000¥ she earned working at the bakery since April, whereas last year she had the million yen her father left her. When she comes back for the Xmas vacation she'll be looking for more money, and I don't know where it's going to come from. January will be very tight for me, with the balance of the gallery payment due (400,000), plus next year's blue cases (300,000), plus January's living expenses (250,000+), and no print income! The next few months are going to be 'neko mama' - soup and rice only. We're already off to a bad start. When we got home, we found the bank account had been empty for a couple of weeks, and all the payments for gas, electricity, etc. had bounced. I emptied the Post Office printmaking account, and paid everything off, but it cleaned us out. This week I got bills for blocks (40,000) and paper (110,000), and won't be able to pay them until the money from Jakuren Hoshi [4-7] starts trickling in. As usual, it's going to be touch and go around the end of the month, when the rent and monthly food Co-op bill come due ...