In the Rank Sweat of an Enseamed Bed

Did your parents’ bedroom smell? My parents’ bedroom, into which I would wander as a child, always had the  sweaty, foetid odor of the marsh. I think this was because they slept on the same mattress or palliasse, which was stuffed with straw, heather and virgin hair, that had been handed down for about a thousand years and things rank and gross in Nature possessed it merely.

I have owned a bed for the last 13 years that I have never liked. It was bought in California but was too big and too soft from the outset.  Whenever I went into my bedroom I was reminded of my parents bog-like sleeping. Also Western beds take up too much space.  So determined to rid my self of my pestilent bed.

Actually the main motivation was to use my truck for truck stuff.

Gakiya san, my neighbor, dismantle and load the bed onto truck

Gakiya san, my neighbor, helped to dismantle and load the bed onto truck

I love my truck

I love my truck

We set off for the dump but after about 10 meters the load falls over and we have to return to base.

I love it when things go wrong, it is always so much more interesting.

I love it when things go wrong, it is always so much more interesting.

We make it to the dump

We make it to the dump

Get behind me Satan

Get behind me Satan

My current bed

My current bed

I do not think I will ever own a big bed again. Tatami mat +futon is the way to go.

Then the sun went down

Then the sun went down

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Legs 11

I have got to know a young woman who makes cups and lots of other stuff with legs sticking out of them. I suggest that she is influenced by Hieronymus Bosch and she goes, “Say what?”

Okinawa on a quiet day

Okinawa on a quiet day

Anyway she is lots of fun and yesterday she brought some of her cups to my office.

She's got legs, she knows how to use them.

She’s got legs, she knows how to use them.

Very Japanese poem

Very Japanese poem

Unfortunately, drinking from my new cup involves me sticking my nose between clearly female legs. I am on the gender equality task force. Does this send the right message?

Anyway buy stuff from Komiya san – her email is on the photo – she deserves success.

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The Marine Quarterly

So, the longer I live in Okinawa the smaller is the granularity of my observation. All the most noticeable stuff, I have noticed. The result is that my posts become more personal and lacking in drama.

So here is another one that is really only of interest to me. Sorry.

Although lost in the East China Sea, a lot of people pass through. I had a dinner thing on Wednesday. Ken I have known for 30 years, Susan for 10, Tsumoro I met 10 years ago but have really known over the last 3 years, John only 3 years.

Drinks on the beach. Tsumoro, Susan, Ken, John

Drinks on the beach. Tsumoro, Susan, Ken, John

I rush up to Miyazato san and Noda san who live on the hill just above my house. They are the best people. “Help, loads of people coming to eat. I have no food , no time.” I mime. They cook up the best meal ever and bring it down. Each of the, who knows how many, dishes  was either grown in their garden or hoiked out of the sea in front of my house.  This is the real thing. It is what you read about in the Sunday newspapers.

Miyazato san and Noda san in their front room that doubles as a restaurant. The big plastic pails are full of pickles.

Miyazato san and Noda san in their front room that doubles as a restaurant. The big plastic pails are full of pickles.

Anyway the weekend comes and I live my life, which as I tried to get across in the introduction, is pretty much the same as the life I have lived over the last 3 years.

I wander around rock pools.

Endless enjoyment here

Endless enjoyment here

I read The Marine Quarterly as the night falls.

I read The Marine Quarterly as the night falls.

I see a Barred Button Quail on my way to buy fish on Sunday.

Bad photo but very rare bird.

Bad photo but very rare bird.

I buy vegetables at one of the many vegetable stalls which stand near smallholdings. The vegetables are like totally you know organic, in fact from their mother’s womb untimely ripped  the same morning. You just put money into a little box. The idea that anyone would cheat or steal the money is of course unthinkable.

Sweet potatoes, carrots, onions.

Sweet potatoes, carrots, onions.

I cannot launch Dileas as there was a big storm last night and the sea is agitated.

The road out of the harbor. No red port left

The road out of the harbor. No red port left

However I spend a lot of time at Maeda port from whence I will eventually launch. It has to be one of the best little ports.  There huge lumps of rock right in the middle that you have to sail around.

Maeda port- a kilometre from my house.

Maeda port- a kilometre from my house.

The road to Maeda. You should click on all these photos.

The road to Maeda. You should click on all these photos.

There are also lots of you know what.

Pacific Rim Egret fishing

Pacific Rim Egret fishing

Same bird 2 seconds later.

Same bird 2 seconds later.

An Osprey drifts over

An Osprey drifts over

Rock Thrush is blue

Rock Thrush is blue. His woman done gone.

 

 

 

 

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He Who Pays the Piper

Incredible though it may seem, people give me money to pay the flute. Japan is a very strange country. Yesterday we played at a shopping mall.

Irish music at a Japanese shopping mall...... because why not. I stole this caption from Tara.

Irish music at a Japanese shopping mall…… because why not. I stole this caption from Tara.

Anyway there is something very different  having used bills shoved in your hands to the number you see on salary slips. It is like real money and I feel I can spend it on whatever.  I get enough to buy new tires for my truck.   Up early and  I am the first person at the tire shop in Ishikawa. There is some confusion as the guy wants to charge me what I believe to be too much.

The right ones

The right ones

Some discussion reveals that he thought my car was the swanky one with big wheels near my truck. It is rare for non-Okinawans to drive HiJets. I feel like a working class hero. Good thing that we got that sorted out before I strolled off,

New tires! I can go really fast around corners now

New tires! I can go really fast around corners now

otherwise some poor person would have come back to their car to find all the tires had been changed.

I then practice towing the boat. This is a lot of fun.

The rig in front of the house

The rig in front of the house

I really love to have a project and this one is coming close to fulfillment. I have the boat. The boat is registered. I have the truck with tires and a hook to tow the boat. I have a dream island fishing port just a kilometer up the road.  I do not yet have permission to launch from there but things are looking good. This where I head with truck and boat.

I make it to the harbour

I make it to the harbour

I then spend the afternoon trying to reverse my boat around bends and into parking spaces. It is very difficult. I used to drive tractors and trailers in my youth but I appear to have completely lost the ability. I hope to have got enough hours in so there will not be too much humiliation  when I have to do it for real. There is a very expansive open space beside the port that is perfect for jack-knifing a boat and truck. There are also birds.

Blue Rock Thrush mocks me

Blue Rock Thrush mocks me

Golden Plover is indifferent

Golden Plover is indifferent

Kentish Plover thinks home thoughts from abroad.

Kentish Plover thinks home thoughts from abroad.

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The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

Yea,even so. This post is really for me so I will be able to recall the amazing blooms of my Brugmansia trees, so do not feel obliged to read on.

I have 3 Brugmansia in my secret garden, two of which have exploded into a riot of Spring. This makes me feel good.

Spurt

Spurt

Looking into the house

Looking into the house

Secret door into Secret Garden

Secret door into Secret Garden

I love my truck. I am going to change her tires tomorrow and pay with money earned from playing the flute.

I love my truck. I am going to change her tires tomorrow and pay with money earned from playing the flute.

 

 

 

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Jesus and Mary Chain

Yesterday was busy. We had Open Campus at the university. Over 5000 folks came to visit.

Hair-raising

Hair-raising

Worth the wait

Worth the wait

Music, of sorts, while you wait.

Music, of sorts, while you wait.

Spring

Spring- Notice the attractive tree.

I rush out to complete purchase of truck – see previous post.

Truck

Truck

Then down to Naha to celebrate an early St Patricks. We play from 8:00 through 12:00.

A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square

A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square

The Road to Kitanakagusuku

The Road to Kitanakagusuku

 

Okinawans love to have a good time.

Okinawans love to have a good time.

I get to bed at 2:00.

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Louis Pasteur

The best cure for rabies is to buy a truck. I remember seeing this in a TV program in the 1960s about Louis Pasteur. Lo it is true as I took delivery of my Daihatsu HiJet this morning and I have stopped biting people.  I am deeply in love with my truck. She has everything I look for in a partner.

She waits for me.

She waits for me.

She is very reliable, she loves adventures, she is good in the garden. She  does not paint her face an inch thick but relies on her robust health and sturdy frame to gain favor. She is very social, having already struck up a good relationship with Dileas.

I pay the owner.

I pay the owner.

Ready to go out with Dileas

Ready to go out with Dileas

Captain Hook

Captain Hook

She has a hell of a hook, together with a most straightforward face.

She  does not jig and amble, and  lisp, nor nickname God’s creatures

She does not jig, amble, and lisp, nor nickname God’s creatures

I know we will be very happy.

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Rabies

Rabies is endemic in the Calder family. In my case, it recurs every 2 or 3 years and I have to chain myself to the radiator until it passes. I have it now and do not feel well. However I drag myself out this morning to attach the engine mount to Dileas’ bottom.  Essentially this is very easy as the nice boat company sent me a template so that I knew where to drill the holes.

I am amazed by wireless drills

I am amazed by wireless drills

There is a lot of spring activity.

Never seen this before. Just passing by on the other side of the road

Never seen this before. Just passing by on the other side of the road

Butterflies are starting to re-appear

Butterflies are starting to re-appear

Anyway the engine mount comes with long, threaded bolts. I do not have a socket set that would allow me to do this quickly so have to use a spanner, which takes forever. Not to worry as I can do what I like to do, which is look at what is happening.

A tiny Okinawan bee

A tiny Okinawan bee

I have a mount

I have a mount

 

Fly away home

Fly away home

Then I go back to the radiator.

 

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Sowing Tares

I cannot adjust to the growing cycle in Okinawa. Now is harvest time for stuff like potatoes and cabbage, also for sugar cane. There seems to be two ways of harvesting sugar cane, the easy way and the hard way. The hard way is to chop it down with  a sugar cane hatchet, strip of foliage with same tool and chop it into lengths. The next fitness craze?

Choose your hatchet

Choose your hatchet

The easy way is to buy a sugar cane combine harvester. It munches the cane in at the front and excretes it bagged through the posterior.

It sort of sits back when it excretes

It sort of sits back when it excretes

Anyway, in my secret garden I had the most beautiful display of Busy Lizzies – huge globes of red, pink, white er, red and white and er pink and white. I have rarely seen such healthy plants. The ground display was matched by a roof of Brugsmansia trumpets. All in all very pleasing but strange because it was February.

Happy days

Happy days

Over the last few days the Busy Lizzies have suddenly fallen sick and withered. I of course thought frost but then reminded myself not to be silly. It does however look very much like frost damage.

I think an enemy came to my garden and sowed tares

I think an enemy came to my garden and sowed tares

Off to the local gardening shop to get new plants. This place is one of my favorites.  I love the strange tools.

The Okinawans do not have scythes but cut hay and undergrowth with tiny hand sickles.

The Okinawans do not have scythes but cut hay and undergrowth with tiny hand sickles.

Now is the time to plant Goya.

Goya is almost the only vegetable that can resist the Summer heat

Goya is almost the only vegetable that can resist the Summer heat

The Peasant's Revolt

The Peasant’s Revolt

 

De rigeur when gardening

De rigeur when gardening

I have a good clean up in the garden and do some replanting. Nothing so becomes a man as horticulture.

Geraniums, petunia, lobelia. Not very exotic.

Geraniums, petunia, lobelia. Not very exotic.

 

 

 

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Crimea River

Monday started well when at 5:11 in the morning an earthquake er blew, arrived, happened, earthquaked about 100 km Northwest of my bed, in which I was sleeping at the time.  The quake was 6.7 on the Burt Richter scale. This meant that things heaved around seriously for quite a long time.

My bed is about 5 meters above sea level and I thought that, given the bigboyedness of the quake, that here would probably  be an accompanying tsunami. So I got up and looked out of the window. I couldn’t see anything so I went back to bed.

“Magnitude 6.7 earthquake strikes off Japanese island of Okinawa!”  Daily Beast

Anyway I went back to sleep. Soon after, a cat jumped on my bed. He was a nice cat, ginger with a white belly, who soon started to purr. I wondered how he had got in but figured that it really did not matter as it was clear he had adopted me. He let me tickle him under the chin and he purred afresh. He laid on his back and I tickled his tummy which resulted in a moment of cat warm human purr everything cosy moment. We both went to sleep.

My cat

My cat

No cat when I woke up, no doors or windows open.

Ham bone

Ham bone

 

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