MINNEAPOLIS SINGALONG

I was in Minneapolis by last Saturday, at my sister Janice's apartment. We had fun in a large Community Room.

She hosted a singalong, and after a piano duet, the Maple Leaf Rag by a piano student, and kids' choruses; seniors joined in the fun. Everyone had been given lyric sheets for old favorites like "Home on the Range"; "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head"; "Side By Side"; and sang them with gusto.

After the hula "Pearly Shells", a short testimony and banjo solo, (since he was sitting relatively still, I decided to sketch him) we went on to hear another vocal special then continued with a hymn sing of "Amazing Grace", "Glory to His Name", "Battle Hymn of the Republic", "Old Rugged Cross", finishing up with "How Great Thou Art".

It seems everyone enjoyed themselves and want a repeat singalong next year.

IT COMES TO AN END

"Caution; the moving walkway is ending." That recording played over and over at the gate where I waited for my next flight. Since the boarding gate was at the far end of the airport, there was a moving walkway there, at the end of which ran this audio warning reminding travelers to lift their feet again.

The world may offer many seemingly exciting, progressive, "moving" ways of living. But it all ends, the Bible reminds us, "in the ways of death". "Jesus--there is no other walkway of unchanging truth or unending life, is there," I mused, as I heard the boarding call for my flight, and got my carry-on things together.

I'M OFF!

My long-awaited trip to the U.S. is finally underway. Here are sketches from the first few days.

It seemed a quiet lull aboard the Tokyo-Detroit flight was the perfect time to sketch the man across the aisle and a row in front who'd crossed his arms and nodded off to sleep for a little bit. With most of the cabin lights off, it was dark but light enough to sketch and of course perfect to do it without not being noticed. 

Altho' domestic flights do not give all passengers blankets, every seat on that long sky voyage received a fuzzy wrap, and I could see that man was lost in Slumberland. I just hoped he wouldn't lose his glasses.

The first place we stayed at was in Raleigh, NC, in the home of Stacy Asato, born and raised in Hawaii, instrumental in the two girls from Okinawa coming to the U.S. this year and fellowshipping in American churches; visiting Christian schools; seeing the Creation Museum. He has visited the Gushikawa Baptist Church before and encouraged one of the young ladies with a gift of an expensive ukulele; I caught them one afternoon at the living room keyboard: Stacey was teaching her how to play some more chords on the baritone ukulele.

I will be here for a few days, go to my sister Janice's about a week and see a friend from college days; then go up to Detroit and catch up with my other sister who is taking the girls with her to her supporting churches and the ark museum. After another week with her, the young ladies will head back to Japan, and Joyce and I will go up to Canada and Hawaii. My return to Japan will be July 15.

CUDDLY & THE 3 BEARS?

I already told you about the soft-bodied doll Cuddly. What I'd forgotten about was the time we fought for her and ended up pulling her apart. My sister was heartbroken, but my mother saved the day, sewing a new body for the doll. Cuddly is probably the only doll with a stylish, checkered body. We never knew what a gifted seamstress God had given us in our mom.

The 1st little bear? When I was growing up, I didn't care for playing with dolls, and nobody could get me interested in Barbie; but I had a teddy bear I named Jolly Olly. He was so named after my first piano teacher's cloth pony, whom I really liked. I doubt that piano teacher would have the slightest idea that anyone would want to name anything after her stuffed animal!

Before my grandson was born, My son-in-law took my daughter on a Tokyo Bay Cruise and bought her a blue teddy bear as a souvenir. She treasured that gift until the next year, when he gave her another gift--a living, breathing baby! I remember thinking how cute that stuffed animal USED TO look, but it was all but forgotten next to the squirming little boy in the crib.

...who was given a little bear too: a pacifier with a detachable brown teddy bear.

Oh--why "Lucy"? The first picture is an illustration drawn for a story written in 2021 about a little girl named Lucy who lost a rag doll.

NO STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION

"Thank you, but I want to get my exercise," Grampa said. Mommy had invited him to live with us, but he'd insisted on sleeping in a one-room apartment at the foot of the hill so he could walk up the hill every day. He would do the gardening; have meals with the family; take a bath and relax; then go "home" for bed every night. We loved Grampa.

But coming out of the shower one evening, he'd seen my sister's soft-bodied doll. Her 2nd-grade mind had felt the doll needed a haircut and had snipped most of it off, and of course, dolls have implants in polka-dot fashion, so this doll ended up with a head of polka-dot fuzz.

"There's no way you can call that cute, not by any stretch of the imagination," we could hear Grampa muttering.

I'd thought the doll lovable until that moment, when I saw it objectively and realized it was nothing to look at.

And the Holy Spirit seemed to whisper to me that we're nothing to look at either, but God thought we were worth His Son dying for.

LOVE WITH ALL YOUR HEART

During that year, in art class, we learned a way to draw a pretty picture by covering a blank sheet of paper with patches of color, covering it with a layer of black crayon, then scratching out an outline with a bobby pin. To me, it was like magic, the way the design--mine was a flower--bloomed in full color.

We were to give our pictures to friends or people to whom we wanted to show our appreciation. I thought mine looked a little lopsided, so I cut off the extra and decided to give my card to the most popular girl in the class.

It seemed a waste to throw away the leftover paper, so I used it to make a little heart and gave it to Daddy. not  spending a lot of time on it.

When I happily handed my card to my classmate, she glanced at it and practically scowled, saying, "That's nice." I forgot she'd be getting so many cards that day. Daddy, however, seemed to really like what I made, returning a note: "That smiling heart saying, 'I love you Daddy' made me happier than you know. Thank you, Junie."

And my 3rd grade heart couldn't figure out why I felt so horrible when I read that. I will NEVER, ever, in the future, I told myself, give something just "good enough" to someone that already loves me and give something much better to someone else to gain that person's attention. That may be wordy, but I knew what I meant, because it hurt too much not to know.

BICYCLE BRAKES AND LOCKS

(The following post resulted in seeing the care someone took to lock his bicycles outside his home near the park.)

The time I learned to ride a bicycle (3rd grade), we lived next to a huge parking lot that was a paradise to ride around in. I remember one afternoon, on my bicycle on the sidewalk about to turn the corner and come home, my "brain computer" jammed. I saw a postman--there was no e-mail; we wrote letters back then--walking in my direction. If I turned the corner, I would run straight into him. I COULDN'T!!! My brain froze. Instead of turning the handle, I let the bicycle plow on straight ahead...into the car parked at the curb!

Bonk. (Good thing my child's bicycle wasn't going very fast anyway.) The bicycle's rubber wheels hit the car's metal fenders, spilling me onto the grass. The mailman came running, questions flying.

"What are you doing? Are you all right? What happened?"

"I...I saw you...I was going to turn the corner...But if I did, I knew I would run into you, and I didn't want to do that, so I didn't know what to do and kept going straight" (like the time I stayed on the bus and went all the way to the terminal!)

"Why didn't you just put on the brakes?"

"I...yeah...uh....I didn't think about it." I didn't know what to say, really.

I think he saw I wasn't hurt (except my silly pride) and sent me back home reminding me to use the brakes next time. I can't remember too clearly. That's a memory I don't often think about, try to forget, actually; don't really know why I'm sharing it with you. Perhaps it's to show God can choose things this unbelievably foolish to serve Him and glorify Himself--all He asks is that we say, okay God, YOU DO YOUR THING, because I've proven I can make a mess doing mine.

My brain seems to put on its brakes at the wrong time then get locked in stupid.

LOOKING ACROSS THE CREEK

"I was looking across the street, just like you're looking across the creek," I explained to the crow, looking at the other bird on the boulder on the other side.

I was telling the crows about the "birthday" when I was 10. I hadn't planned on it, but this is being posted on my 65th birthday. I wore my favorite blue shirt dress, and my sisters, my Mom and I were out for a walk on our hill...and oh look! Wasn't that Dr. Lam, one of my favorite people, waving to us?

My mother habitually stretched out her arms on both sides and bent down slightly at the waist to look both ways for traffic before starting across. My younger sister was on her left, and my older sister was on her right, but she hadn't been able to reach me, who had been a split second too fast and started to dart across without looking.

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH! whump!

When my mother looked up, I stood, half frozen in the middle of the road. I had seen the speeding car at the last instant and jumped back. It had hit my dress as it whizzed by. I can still feel the contact it made, inches away from my skin. The car came to a stop by the side of the road, the person at the steering wheel, sure he had hit the little girl who dashed in front of the car.

"I'm so sorry she scared you like that!" My mother apologized profusely to the driver.

"Th-then she's okay?" He was too relieved to get angry. "J-just tell her to be more careful." He started the engine and was gone.

Dr. Lam, a missionary, called us together by the side of the road and thanked God for protecting me. He'd witnessed a near tragedy. My father, another missionary, did something else that evening. It wasn't my birthday, but he had bought a cake to celebrate God's saving Junie's life today--and I remember seeing Daddy cry.

PETER AND THE RIPPLES

I need to pick up medicine before heading to the U.S. for my month's trip, and it'll be a cool day today, so I decided to go to the clinic and put up another post about an evening Kinya came with me to the park. I didn't want to be by myself when it got dark (I told you about the atheist who advised I bring my husband with me then in "Some things don't Merit Discussion", Nov.11, 2023).

An unusual number of turtles and carp surfaced that day, and Peter the Kawasemi usually makes his round in the p.m. at 3:30, but altho' it was well past 6, he came too! He surprised me by coming right up to the boulder at the landing on Lower Bridge.

I didn't dare spend time making a good sketch since I'd make Kinya wait the whole time so made a quick initial drawing. Here's what it ended up like: Peter and the ripples created by the four turtles and many carp who came to Lower Bridge! Okay, so I cheated.

PERIDOT POWER・まねっこ

Why are all the turtles looking at the small turtle Peri, I wondered one morning when I came to the pond.

Peri was only as big as a grape, but ohhhhh I get it now. There is an even smaller baby turtle, maybe as big as half a peanut, next to him, staring up at him. Everyone is wondering what he is going to do.

"You all alone, sweetie?" Peri asks.

But the baby turtle thinks Peri looka like Superman to her, so she only giggles and tries to touch him.

Peri sees he needs to get this baby turtle back to her mother. "Where be Mama?" Peri asks, trying to look like mother turtle.

"Ooh!" more giggling.

"I can't even talk to her! Now what?" Peri plops down with a frown.

The baby turtle also plops down next to Peri, wearing a big frown. Peri sees this, then jumps up with, "Got it!"

Peri walks in circles, while the baby turtle follows him. He stops and lifts his hands. The baby turtle copies him.

"Good girl!" Peri laughs. "Now do as I do!" He plops into the water and so does the baby turtle. Peri swims to the nearest shore, and the little one follows him, where the grateful mother turtle waits.

After this day, I say maybe we can call this turtle Peridot.

But he says "Peri" is okay for a while.

*******

甲羅干ししているカメたち、なんで、みんな小亀一匹をじっと見ているのかな。見てみると、小指の大きさの小亀の隣に爪より小さい子亀がいる。あ、おにいちゃん亀のことをスゴイと思っているけれど、お兄ちゃんの方は、親亀の所に、この子を返さなければならないと、考えている。

お兄ちゃんが腕を上げると、あの子も腕を上げた。お兄ちゃんがくるくる回ると、あの子もくるくる回った。おにいちゃんが、「これできる？」と、水に入って近くの岸に泳いだ。あの子もついてきた。もちろん、親亀が待っていた。

お兄ちゃん亀、えらいねと、思った。かんしん、かんしん。

「だれにだってできるよ」と、返事が聞こえたような気がした。

「まねっこぐらい」。

YOU STILL HERE?

I thought I was going to my daughter's today for my grandson's 3rd year birthday celebration. But he got a fever suddenly and had to be taken to the hospital. I got a call from my daughter asking if my husband and I could come next week instead. So, instead of today, it'll be next week. I hope the critters at the park won't be too disappointed to see me today.

"Our disappointments our God's appointments," my Mom used to tell me.

I remember when we were too little to understand, we had to pack up real quick and "go home on furlough". What we didn't know was that the doctor had told my parents was that my Dad had, due to overwork, begun to see double, and it had been up to my Mom to pack up everything, get everything in order, talk to all the church folks, take care of all the loose ends of all our ministries while we were away (we had multiple church and outreach ministries going), make sure she had three daughters' needs taken care of, contact all relatives involved, look to legal/international papers having to do with travel/moving; and whisk us off in several months' time. The doctor had told her there was no time to worry about appearances or to hem and haw about doing things smoothly, just get your husband needed rest NOW!

And she had done so. She hadn't questioned how disappointing it was that we were in such a fruitful part of our ministry or questioned what it would do to our testimony or future support OR ANYTHING.

In fact, wasn't there an Old Testament character--Gideon, wasn't it, that, got up and moved THAT NIGHT when God told him to? Ooh; that was my favorite Old Testament Bible story because Gideon was a timid one to begin with but decided to move when God called him. It's made me want to go read it again--Judges 6? 7?

FIRST, THE NAME PERIDOT

Wait. I never posted "Peridot Power", did I? I wrote it so long ago and have shown it to friends, I assumed I put it on the blog, but I don't think I did.

I'd begun going to the park and become familiar with some of the turtles in the front pond I now call Duck Pond. Because one turtle came out by herself basking and gleaming in the early morning light before the others, I thought she looked like--and asked if I could call her "Gemstone" because she looked like a pretty green stone.

Another day, she came with a little one by her side. Since humans sometimes speak of children as a chip off the old block, I asked Gemstone if I could name her hatchling "Chip" because he seemed to come out and pose just like her. I think she nodded. But the next day, she came with a smaller turtle next to Chip.

"You'd have to light a fire there to see him; he's so small!" I searched my mind for a rock name for this one, since the other two were rock names too. "Flint! That's it! They're rocks, but not any ol' rock will do--only this special rock can make flames! Maybe Flint can be like that too!" Again, Gemstone seemed pleased. So turtles Gemstone, tiny Chip, and even smaller Flint basked on that rock.

But a few days later, I realized what I thought was a tiny leaf next to Flint was another teeny tiny terto! Gemstone seemed to almost apologize when she looked at me, but at the same time was proud to show me another child. Then she seemed to ask if I might find another "rock name" for it too?

Find a name for a turtle not even as big as a dragonfly, like a little dot on a pebble? Something clicked in my mind. Yes! There was a green gemstone called PeriDOT! "Can we call him 'Peri' for now, and 'Peridot' when he grows up?" I asked Gemstone. I think all the turtles listening nodded approval.

You can read later the story of how our beetle-sized hero, Peri, managed to get a ladybug-sized newborn back to its mother. I've heard truth is stranger than fiction, but it's more awesome when you see it in nature!

JUMPY HATCHLING

When I went to the park today, I realized two adult turtles were swimming near the edge of Duck Pond. No doubt, they were asking if I'd finished the drawing I started of them.

Well, if they meant of the one climbing onto the basking boulder and the dragonflies coming after the drawing was finished, yes, I'd finished coloring it quite a while ago--hadn't I told them? But if they meant the one last weekend--I just finished it day before yesterday.

I'd looked for a little rock at Corner Cove where cute little hatchlings basked regularly. It's too small for adult turtles, but small hatchlings climb onto it, often two at a time, and I was going to attempt to draw it last week. But when I looked, I saw there was only one large female turtle on the large boulder--vacancy--so the two little fellers had climbed up onto it next to her. I decided to draw them instead. When people walking by neared to look, the turtles got scared and swam away. But I'd drawn enough to finish it.

I've taken quite a few pictures of those turtles at Duck Pond. One shows a picture of a basker with his front leg out feeling a raindrop...could he be saying to himself, "A little rain never hurt anybody"? I don't know about those Duck Pond turtles. Those baby turtles seemed to think nothing could go wrong as long as Mama was there...until some scary park visitors came walking near. Then they plopped into the water.

That's kinda like me, isn't it? I say I trust God implicitly but at the same time will tell you I am terrified about something that comes along. Hm.

GOD WANTED TO "DRAW" TOO

I kept thinking about the Golden Ringed Emperor dragonfly that stopped on my Buddhist friend, how I was right next to her but unable to take a picture in time.

I ended up looking up photos on the web of the specific dragonfly, of women in visors, of a hand holding a compact camera. Then I asked her to send me an image of the visor she wore that day--I wanted to sketch that moment.  With those references in hand, I made the drawing, but of course, since it is from memory, it is nowhere near accurate as sketching from the real thing. But that's not what God really wanted anyway--a good picture--I mean.

I'd given Takako several of the last few drawings because she was there when they were made so understood them. This last sketch actually pictured her--of course I'd give it to her again? Takako has heard me say God is my life. She feels God is an illusion. But when the artist--who claims an illusion to be her all--composes pictures that interest her, she keeps seeing her, and maybe one day will find Him her all as well.

Yes, God wanted that giant dragonfly to stop on Takako, not to prove the d-fly's agility; nor me to sketch it to prove my artistic ability; but so that HE could continue "drawing" her to Himself to give her His love.