Hello dear readers and welcome to the end of the first month of 2018 – already! The good news for me is that this means winter will soon be over here. In fact, it is Setsubun on Saturday (3 February), which is officially the end of winter here and I’m hoping that the weather sees fit to comply. The name basically means seasonal division, so Setsubun is the last day of the season, however it seems to be exclusively used for Spring’s Eve.

It has been very cold here since my last posting, with most days having an expected maximum under 5C and sub-zero night temperatures. One day the expected maximum was 1C!! Now, I don’t know about you but for me, I find it very hard to think of 1C as a maximum. We have also actually had four days running where there was snow falling, on and off.

(Zowie mesmerised by the snow)

At this stage we haven’t had falls anywhere near as heavy as the mid-January fall of last year, which was 15cm. Craig was beginning to think I had made it up, but I pointed out I had a lot of pictorial evidence. The heaviest fall we had last week was around 2cm – not even close. For my part, I think that if it’s going to be really cold surely we can get some snow as visual compensation. Interestingly, it again seems the snow is falling all around us, and fairly heavy falls at that (including Tokyo), just not much here.

As it happens, one of the days we went up to see The Very Nearly Minshuku (name upgrade) was the morning after the 2cm snowfall, so some of the photos below show our back deck post the snowfall. Things are really moving along now, hence the name upgrade. The big surprise on the first day we visited was the installation of the carport had occurred. Our car will soon have it’s very own parking space! Yesterday, when we went up there, preparations were in place for a concrete pour under the carport cover, which is due to happen on Friday, so we were told.

 Carport at left

The next thing we noticed was ‘the monolith’ (to which our letterbox and intercom will be attached) had been coated and was being dried (by means of a hairdryer and an upright blow heater!!!). I call it ‘the monolith’, because it reminds me of the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey, having just sort of appeared there. Finishing off the front of the building is the ramp and verandah, which, as of yesterday, was having the roofing material attached. While we were there watching the two men attaching the roofing material, one slipped and nearly fell down…luckily he didn’t, but you could see it had put the wind up him.

Other new items of interest outside were the side fence between the front of the building and our residence entrance and all the outside lights having been attached. We didn’t get a shot of the fence because the main carpenter was building a cover for the water heaters, etc, just in front of it, however, Craig was able to check that he could walk through the gate without ducking!

Yesterday when we arrived we also found that all the cardboard and plastic sheet coverings had been pulled off the floors, which were being cleaned. The wooden floors and tatami tiles look amazing. The hallways, upstairs and down, have wood edging either side of the tatami tiles which looks really good, while the dining/common room has plain wooden flooring. The wood is truly beautiful and we are going to have to make sure we look after it, given it will be a high traffic area. Yet to come are the tatami mats.

The walls of the commercial kitchen have been lined with metal sheets and it is now awaiting the installation of benches, shelves, worktops and sinks. The sheets are coated white, so with the lights on it is very bright in there. Yes, a good thing in an environment of sharp knives and hot cooking pots, etc. I should also mention that all doors are now installed too. The sliding door into the laundry, which is across the hallway from the dining room, is a vertically slatted sliding door and is soft closing!

In our area we could see more of the kitchen installation and the lights were all uncovered. The bathroom now has a vanity unit and the ceiling heater has been installed and we also now have a toilet (with a heated seat 😊). It’s interesting being in our area and seeing just how neutral the colours are. With the pale cream papered walls, so much bare wood and the neutral tiles, it is quite a change for me. From the start we decided to stick to a more traditional style for the minshuku area, and we also wanted a traditional style bedroom for ourselves, so this has been carried through by our architect and ourselves with the choice of materials.

Of course, the furniture we are bringing across here is mostly mid-century modern, which I think will look really good against these colours and materials. So it will be a blend with a very strong emphasis on timber. It’s going to be very interesting fitting everything in – a challenge I’m looking forward to. Apart from the commercial kitchen fit-out, most of the remaining work is internal cabinetry and landscaping. The fire inspection is on the 5^th February, so we are hoping we may be able to move in before the 15^th.

Recently Craig and I have been saddened as we walked around various areas, to see neglected, lonely single gloves lying around on the sides of roads and footpaths. It really has been heart-rending for us, especially at this time of year when you normally see gloves out together, hand in glove, happily keeping warm and snug. As a result, we have decided to take up the gauntlet and create a Lonely Gloves dating service to help them find a new glove partner. The service will be open to all glove types; wool, cotton, synthetic – even leather. Whether they want a matched opposite or another of the same hand, matching or different colours, we will cater to all who are genuine and not just in it for a one hand gesture. We hope to find suitable glove matches for all those seeking their mate, one they can be smitten with…

Finally, it is a very exciting day today, as a fairly rare event occurs in the skies above tonight. We are to have a  super blue, blood moon tonight. This means that we are having a full lunar eclipse and it is the second full moon in the month, and a supermoon to boot. I hope the skies will be clear so we can see it!!!

Cheers for now

It’s so cold that this display model has had 2 scarves put on her…

Even bikes are made with bamboo here!

How many is too many???

 ??? Do they hurt?