ｿﾞｳさん､ｿﾞｳさん､ﾊｼｺﾞを何故のぼる?

Time for another doctor's visit. Here's something treating in Japanese the Dec.20,'22 post, referring to my love for drawing from when I was little.

母が裏庭の小さい畑にある野菜を料理してくれて、ジューシご飯を美味しく食べたりしたのを、覚えているが、甘いものも時々家にあった。父は牧師だったので、教会の兄弟姉妹からのお菓子がたまには家に来た。だけど、「ケンカのもとになる」ものは、ダディーの（パパの）書斎の机に消えた。

自分は小さい時から絵が描くのが好きだった。ある日、空のお菓子の箱を見つけて、父の絵を中に描いて、誕生プレゼントにあげた。りっぱな図枠に見えたの。

いっぱい絵を描き続けたし、父母は、宣教の仕事の為に私の絵を使ってくれた。アメリカの教会に送っていた報告の手紙のイラストは、多くの場合、自分に絵をお願いしていた。

ある日、ハシゴに登っている象の絵を描いてくれないかと、母にお願いされたとき、自分はすぐ描き始めた。天気予報は、台風と言っているけど、父は離島伝道からまだ帰っていない、家のとたん準備などは一人でしなければならない心細い気持ちを、その絵で伝えたいと、母が言った。え？自分が描いているのは母だった！？

THOSE カラスに色を塗ったけど

Remember I said I'd show you what it looked like when I tried to color drawings of several crows (April 19, 2024)? I'll post the colored pictures along with the Japanese, ok?

ある日、公園に行く途中の放送：「近所のみなさん・・・アレ、どこを向けばいいのかな？」電信柱のてっぺんを見ると、北・南・西・東と、４つの方向に放送するラウドスピーカーの真ん中にカラスが座って、あっちを見たり、こっちを見たりしていた。

自分は、カラスの色を塗る時、鳥一羽だけは、大丈夫だけど、２羽以上だと、見えなくなるの。

ほら、今日のカラスも、左に向く時は青色にしたから見えるけれど、右に向く時は前の鳥で見えないでしょう？

複数のカラスを、上手に描けるようになるのは、何年かかるのかな・・・

"COME HOME"

Here's a condensed excerpt from an e-mail to my sister about an incident at the park Friday:

I noticed on the ground a baby turtle all by himself. I'm sure it was frightened out of its wits, but it was too scared to even know to crawl into its shell and hide. I used a scratch page of my miniature sketch book to lift the hatchling and drop it into the flow at Lower Bridge, where the creek opens up into Deeper Pond.

"C'mon turtles! One of your little ones is coming to you," I cried, hoping the mother turtle heard.

At first, I think the hatchling was scared, seeing the strange pond with carp swimming around in it, because he scrambled around in the flow, looking for rocks to clamber back up on land. But either those other critters told him to stop struggling and come home, or he lost strength to hang onto the rock against the flow of water that pushed him out towards the pond, because the next time I looked, I saw him swimming out into the pond, hopefully, heeding a relieved mother's beckoning.

Come to think of it, maybe it was her voice the baby turtle heard calling.

I DREW CARP TODAY

This looks like a picture of the electric blue Kawasemi bird, doesn't it? Well, see that red lily pad he's looking at? It caught my eye too. It wasn't jiggling of its own accord. There were two carp playing with it. I guess it was their shiny red toy sailboat, and THEY were the tugboats!

Yup. We may not be charismatic, smart or strong; but maybe we can be used of God to move others along to live for Him. Maybe we can be like tugboats.

First Attempt at Biliingual Photo Story

I'm gonna try this, and I won't guarantee anything. I really did see this yesterday. There were two hatchlings basking nearby their mother turtle. One was being really good, and one was being a little bit of a rascal, from watching them over a period of time. It's not just humans that have mild-mannered kids and hard-to-handle kids too. At least human families don't have to think about having ten or thirty children in their homes! Anyway, let's see what we can do with this post...

A RASCAL HATCHLING'S SURPRISE ATTACK

1 Lazy Day Naptime...昼寝日より・・・

2 Water snakesゲッ！

3 And assassin carp川ヘビに襲われたのか？

4 Raid Junior's throneすさまじい戦いだ！

5 Caught ya sleeping, Ma!あの声は・・・

6 Oh no you don'tキャッ！

7 Heard - Rats...やっぱりママにはかなわないや

8 See him swimming away？すきありと思ったのに

9 Let's get back up here--ヨイショ

10 How does my dream end？夢のおわりがオシイ・・・

ち、ちがう！

This is from ”Yield to a Lily Pad”, posted Mar. 27, 2023. It was raining all day, so I couldn't go to the park. Instead, here's something short and sweet about a day in 2016.

甲羅干ししている小さいカワイイ亀が橋から見えた。思わず、「あ！あのスイレンの葉！」と、叫びカメラを取り出した。

小亀はキョロキョロして、自分の方を見た。

「撮ってもいい？」ときいてみた。

「イイヨ。ゴメンネ」

え？なんで「ごめん」？

「スイレンの葉」と、聞こえたため、それを撮影したいと勘違いした亀ちゃんは、そこからどいて消えてしまった！

おとなしい亀WALTER

忘れるところだった。この話をすると結構前に約束しておきながら、していなかった。英語ではしたけれど！最初に口にしたのは、日本語なのに、なんで・・・

とにかく、自分が公園に来た時、好きな亀がいた。当時は噴水池からステップ・クリークの島まで川が通じていたので、コイ・カモ・亀・ザリガニ・蛙・たまには鷺も、あの小川を行き来した。一匹の亀Walterは、草の間の虫を探しながら、ゆっくり歩いて行った。

どこに歩いて行くというと、カメ・コブの亀孤児院まで。本当に。亀の親が殺されると、子亀はここで訓練された。おとなの亀２匹が親亀訳を引き受けて、数十匹の小亀の面倒を見ていた。Walterは、そこで訓練されたのか、成長して、そこでお手伝いした。

ところが、ある朝公園に来ると、小川の端っこじゃなく真ん中を、あの優しいWalterがフルスピードで泳いできた。いつもは自分の方を「オハヨウ」と、見てくれるのに、この日は目をくれなかった。

「ちょっと、亀さん、そんなに急いで、どうしたの？」

ウサギにおわれている！という返事がきこえたような気がした。

「うさぎ？この公園にうさぎっていないよ。」と、言って、自分は一瞬キョロキョロし始めた。

ウサギとカメのはなし、わからないの？ということばを、また感じた。

「うさぎと亀？勿論分かる・・・あ・・・コラ！」見たら、あのカメさん、もうスピードでカメ・コブの方に逃げて行った。

今日Walterは、お腹がグーグー鳴るはず。だって、虫いっぴき食べてないもん。

ADDING A LITTLE FISHER BIRD

The Great Glue...I mean, Breat Blue...I mean, the Blue Heron, you know, the great big bird. Anyway, the big bird with the name that gets you all tongue-twisted (maybe that's why people just say "GBH"),...he was fishing at Deeper Pond, and I began sketching him, thinking,

"He's catching a lot of fish today; maybe drawing him in action plus sketching a hint of the pavilion on the bank will make it different from my other heron-pond drawings."

I heard a shrill whistle that sounded like, "Draw me, draw me!" It was Peter the Kawasemi.

One of the largest birds of the park, and one of the smallest birds; but both are fishers. what do you think?

こわくない

May I relate a story in Japanese mentioned in the post in Nov.26, '23?

姉が自分の為に涙を流してくれたこと、妹のために、私を準備してくれたことは、既に話しました。あの当蔵の家の木材の家に住み着いた白蟻を私たちが怖がらないように、掴んで羽をもぎ取って遊ぶことが出来ると、見せてくれました。

これを見た父は、「なんでそんなことするの。」と、聞いたけれど、「おかしなダディー。」と姉は返事した。「勿論、飛べなくするため。」

次の年のクリスマス、黄色い小さい三輪車のトラックが（今はあまり見かけないけれど）家に来て、父が後ろから小包を一杯下ろしていた。米国のクリスチャンからプレゼントが送られて来たみたい。半分笑いながら、もう白蟻と遊ばなくてもいいよと、父は言った。

え？そうか！おもちゃ！あの変な形の小包中身は何だろう？楽しみにしていた。パッケージの外側には、自分の名前がちゃんと書いてあった、クリスマスに開けるようにと。人形かな？でも、結構大きい。自分の身長３分の１ぐらい！

クリスマスの朝はウキウキプレゼントを開けて・・・ええ？ヘビのぬいぐるみ？！でもスゴク可愛かったの（自分の力不足ではとても描けなかったけれど・・・）。あの大きいぬいぐるみ、大好きになっちゃった。

さっき、思ったんだけど、この思い出のためなのかな、今でも蛇が嫌いになれないの。

JUST WANT MAMA

Probably the biggest reason I didn't blog about Tower was when I saw this hatchling. I was crossing Main Bridge when I saw a turtle basking on some lily pads, and near its face, peeking out from under one of those leaves, was another tiny turtle not saying, I WANT OUT, but I WANT MAMA.

Recently, I read and was a bit unsettled by the emphasis on stretching faith, to have great expectation in God; and I didn't know why I was feeling uneasy. Seeing these two little turtles made me realize the reason for my uneasiness. Sometimes, God doesn't need us to think big change, but to love, desire, be satisfied in Him.

TOWER IN THE DITCH

(This actually happened Tues., I finished the drawing Wed., and I finally got around to blogging about it today...)

I had to sketch a hatchling at the Irrigation Ditch. A large mother turtle was there, but her baby turtle, named Tower because he always wanted to be tall and at the very top (isn't that the way many of us are?), wasn't around. She didn't seem overly concerned about his being out adventuring, feeling he'd be back when he was hungry, as all hatchings do.

I found him moments later, doing what I'd expect Tower to do: trying to get up and out of that Irrigation Ditch. He was too good to stay in a place like that! As soon as he turned his face upward towards the top of the wall tho', he got a mouthful of water.

Gotta hand it to Towers tho'. He may be a lot of things, but a quitter he's not. I watched him try to climb to the top I-don't-know-how-many-times; get toppled down to the bottom by a stream of water; until he FINALLY MADE IT!

When I saw him swim away, I went back to tell the larger turtle, and her response was:

"Not coming back for food? Now there's more for the rest of the family."

I guess that's turtles in the wild.

(cont'd.)

姉の涙 (Japanese of Mar 10 post)

 私が生まれたとき、姉が私のために涙を流してくれたと聞いています。

姉が生まれた数か月後、母はチフスのために入院し、次の年も、また病院に行きました。「心配しなくてもいいの。マミー（ママ）は病気じゃないから。今度帰って来るとき、特別なお土産を持ってくるからね。」

その日、ドアによちよち歩いていくと、ダディー（パパ）とマミーは、玄関に立って、２人ともとっても嬉しそう。だけど、家で楽しく待っていた娘より、マミーの持っている小さいものを見て笑っているのです。あれ・・・

その小さいものを「智子」と呼んでいました。そしてその「智子」をベビーベッドに寝かせたのです。

「これが、おみやげ？」と里子ちゃんは思いました。「この赤ちゃんに、ダディーも、マミーも、ベッドも、うばわれてしまった・・・」親が部屋に帰って来たとき、里子ちゃんのほっぺに涙がポロポロ流れています。

あら、あら、あら。

マミーは、すぐ里子ちゃんに話しかけました。

「ねえ、かわいいでしょう。里子の新しい妹なのよ。まだまだ小さい赤ちゃんだから、う～んと愛してあげないと。里子はいいおねえさんになってあげられるでしょう。」

ベッドに寝ている小さな赤ちゃんが、里子ちゃんの目に、かわいくなってきて、涙は少しずつ笑顔に変わりました。

「智子ちゃん。私の妹。」

里子、泣かせてしまって、ごめんね。そんなつもりは、なかったんだけど。

次の年に、もうひとりの妹が生まれた時、親が私を準備する必要はありませんでした。姉が既に私を訓練してくれたのです。

「愛子ちゃんはね、私たちのかわいい、かわいい妹なのよ。でも、まだ小っちゃいあかちゃんだから、うーんと愛してあげないと。智子、いいお姉ちゃんしてあげてね。」

私は、愛子に泣かされませんでした。（かえって、いじめちゃったかもしれません！）

CONFUSED CROW？

The announcement sounded over the neighborhood loudspeaker: "This is your Crow Host." There was a long pause, followed by, "I'm not sure which way I'm supposed to face." What?

As it turns out, he was perched in the middle of loudspeakers pointing in four different directions.

Gotcha.

(Ooh. I thought about coloring in these pictures, but that turned out worse than these black and white ones (and I don't even like them) so will post the lesser of the two evils. This happened once before and it didn't work then either. I still don't know how to color multiple crows right. One crow by itself, I can manage, but when I get one crow in front of another, it gets all funny. I'll show you later.)

FIRST DAY IN UNIFORM

This drawing of my son was sketched from a photo on his first day in 7th grade.

I remember it was several weeks before a scary accident bashing his head into the corner of a bookcase and rushing into the hospital ER, needing an MRI, CAT Scan, and 8 stitches. The school said it was their fault so paid for all medical/cleaning costs and a new change of uniform.

When the stitches came out, my son was almost as good as new. One Day we're promised we WILL be perfectly good and new--wow!

「テンコ テンコ」

May I share, a little at a time, some of the other Japanese things I've been writing Noriko Yoshida (formerly 石川紀子)?

She was one of the first Bible School graduates in my parents' ministry; helped raise my sisters and me; is the same age as my stepmother. She was married and moved up to northern Japan, to Kumamoto-ken, and recently, we began corresponding. This is the person I remember:

(My stepmother in checkered skirt,石川紀子on right.)

「テンコ、テンコ、」あの音・・・一カ月の沖縄から帰って来たばかりだったので、さみせんだとすぐわかりました。

公園の池の周りに木があって、一つの石に女性がこしかけて唄っている。方言で。よく見ると、あの大きな黒いつめで、弾いている。自分は、なぜか、嬉しくなった。（内地のしゃみせんは平ったい「ばち」というもので弾くし、白くて、もっと四角形なので。）

言葉も、唄も分からないのに、近寄って行く自分に気が付いた。沖縄生まれであること、その音楽を聴いて育ったことを話していた。

彼女は、公園でいっぱい歌っているけれど、どこに行っても、沖縄の人だれかに声をかけてくれると、言っていた。これを聞いた私は、自分が沖縄で生まれたことをほこりに思いたかったと同時に、自分が何も知らないことを（沖縄について）、悲しく、恥ずかしく思って、自分の無知がバレないうちにと思って、他の人が来た時に、そっとにげて行った。

THEY WERE REALLY THERE

I couldn't believe it. I blinked, but the turtle staring at me at the Irrigation Ditch was the soft-shelled variety. Actually, the first thing it did was run, but I'm hoping my voice plus the coaxing of the other living things there prodded it back to view; and it posed for me while I stood there, sketching for over an hour to get a black and white drawing for my final colored drawing. Partway through, I thought I saw a smaller form come nudge it--a baby turtle?

But no--as I looked, wide-eyed, the swimming companion that moved into view was a CATFISH, long whiskers and all. Wha...THIS was the critter that has persuaded the turtle it was all right to come out? Well, in that case, I decided to add the catfish to my sketch too.

And as I worked, I noticed underneath the catfish were shadows of two shy carp sometimes showing themselves, sometimes running away.

When I was getting ready to go home, several mothers with their toddlers stopped at the back of the Irrigation Ditch and were delighted to see a Red Ear Slider (normal turtle) there. I called to them to tell them that at the front there was a rare soft-shelled turtle and catfish too, but I don't think they believed me. How can I blame them? I didn't believe it either, even when I saw it!

バスガール

Can I post a few more Japanese translations? (This one's a short one from Mar. 4, 2024.)

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

バスターミナルまで来ちゃった。どうしよう。１年生の自分に、何ができる？あ～ん！

「大丈夫？どうしたの。」やさしいおねえさんの声がした。あ！バスガール！（1968年まで、沖縄のバスはワンマン式に変わっていなかった。この話は1965年のことです。）

実は、大謝名でスグおりるつもりでしたと、しゃっくりしながら、優しい声のお姉さんに説明しました。子供バス賃は２セントだったけれど、なぜか、財布に1セントしか見つからなかった（当時はアメリカのドルを使用していた）。だから、払えないので困っていた。 

「それでずっと座ったまま、ターミナルまで来たの。」おねえさんは、うなずきました。「分かった。大丈夫。泣くのをやめて、一緒に来なさい。このバス、那覇まで行くから、大謝名に戻れる。どこで降りるか、教えてあげる。」

無事に帰ることが出来ただけでなく、あのおねえさん、自分から乗車賃を1セントも受け取らなかった！

最近は、「経済的」にいいコンピュータ・ロボットが次々使用されているけれど、効率の悪い（？）バスガール等が働いていた時代に生きていて、良かったなと。時々思ったりする。

LOOK! SERPENT'S LOOKING DOWN

I finally colored something I had an idea of in 2022. 

  

2 years ago, I had an image of Moses hoisting up the bronze serpent on a cross in the wilderness and encouraging his viper-afflicted people to gaze on it for healing. A youth is seen pulling on the arm of an elderly man, wanting him to avail himself of its curative powers.

"Just a metal snake? I'm dying here;" the man objects. "Get me real help, not superstition!" And in a smaller voice: "Besides, it was a snake that bit me..."

FISH STORIES AND CARP TAILS

You could call it drawing from real life, you could call it drawing from imagination. (I could never do it from photographs though, because things in water don't photograph very well.)

When I went to the park today, it seemed there was nothing inside the stream...but wait; there was an erratic ripple there by the rock. Sure enough, it was my friend Softi. After a while, she began swimming around actively, no longer caring that she was noticeably moving around the sakura petals on top as she did so.

"How did you know I was here?" she seemed to ask, "I made a ripple on the surface, didn't I?" I nodded. Why was she trying to be like turtles?

 

I've spent so much time with carp, when I needed an image of my "Cowboy Rascal Carp" Mai Mai (Dec 1, '23 post), I pictured him swimming in real life; and even Sara Fin, years after I no longer had my "Guardian Angel", I merely pictured what it looked like to see the carp swimming nearby in real life, and that gave me what I needed (April 13, '23 post EXACTLY ONE YEAR AGO!).

But I've gotta say, the influence of the first carp I met at the park can be seen in all three drawings: the tail is much too long. Goldie, that first carp, had an exquisitely long one!

SUNNING

Why were the mallards sticking their beaks in their backs?

The lemon-colored butterfly asked, "What're you doing?"

"Sunning;" was the reply. "Why? You want to join us?"

"No thanks." The flustered little friend fluttered away.

I've heard all you do is stay in the sun to get a tan. You don't have to push buttons or pull levers or anything. For some reason, I get the idea if I "push buttons" and "pull levers" of religion, I can become spiritual--you know, doing things like attend church, make donations to God's work, offer time for church service.

If I'd "work" to keep myself exposed to God's mercy and love, He's promised to do the rest Himself.

EYEFUL OR EARFUL?

When I saw the photographers behind their tripods poised around Lower Bridge, I knew they'd sighted the Kawasemi bird nearby and all wanted to get the prize shot. After all, the winner of those photo contests gets his name and entry on nation-wide calendar covers, doesn't he? Who wouldn't want that?

I walked onto the larger Main Bridge and faced Far End, the part of the pond away from Lower Bridge, where all the cameramen were. I said in a low voice,

"Peter, there are no cameras HERE! They're all looking for you around Lower Bridge; you can come here!" I was only half expecting the bird to understand so was surprised to see the Kawasemi dart over the water and do just that--he came! Then he perched on a branch in a shady place no one would be able to see him.

But as I stood on the bridge, I realized there were others, not interested in the sight of an award-winning bird, but basking in the song of the Uguisu. They weren't even trying to see it, just enjoying its pretty "ho-hokekyo". I don't know if you've heard it. It sounds like spring somehow.

I ended up sitting for hours sketching someone sitting and listening to it.

子供の時に覚えた踊は、聖書にある？

日本の小学校では、ほとんどみんな「マイム・マイム」というおどりを覚えると聞いています。由来は、分りますか？イスラエル民謡として紹介されています。

「マイム」はヘブライ語で水を表す言葉です。という説明までは、大体される。イスラエルに戻って来た人たちが掘り当てた、井戸の水が出たことを喜んでいると、よく聞く。だけど、この歌のストーリーは、それ以上説明されない。喜びの歌詞は、どこからきたのか、分りますか。

ヘブライ語は：「ウシャプテム　マイムベッサソン　ミマイエネハイエシュア」日本語で読んだことがあるかもしれません。イザヤ１２：３にあります。「あなたがたは喜びの内に救いの泉の水をくむ。」です！

どんな砂漠のような乾いた状況のなかでも、神の子は、救いの水が与えられるという望みをしっかり握りしめて、喜びのうちに踊り続けましょう。「マイムマイム・・・」