I remember looking at time off as a time to relax and renew and have a bit of down-time.
Could my memory be slipping in my old age?
On the way home from school to the train station, I passed "Blue and White" and took this picture of the "tree" in the window with all the fancy coasters decorating the branches.
Some have really fine sashiko work and you can probably make out a few of my little round ones.
The dust is beginning to settle since the TV crew showed up a week ago. What was to be two hours of filming, turned into three ... and then the crew showed up at the first service on Sunday to film the choir. In all, for a half hour show, including the church and two "old" members, there is going to be a pile of cuttings on the NHK floor. The other "elder" in the equation gave an equal amount of camera time.
They photographed a pile of quilts ... the ones I keep in use, they did interviews about my early days in Tokyo ... interesting questions, not only about quilts, but the things I found surprising about life here ... like men peeing in the bushes along the narrow street and mothers pointing out the strange foreigner to their children. They were really curious about why I came and stayed.
Was it just an adventure? Or from my point of view, to be my real self ... I was expected to be different, being a foreigner, but after an early life of trying to meet other people's expectations and failing miserably, I was given free reign to just be myself, and loved for who I was ... ever rather admired for my unique solutions to daily challenges.
Oh, they wanted a walk with me and Nikko through the neighbourhood ... stopping to talk to the rice store lady (poor friend with no warning of what was going on). Then, as I thought they were done and we were walking home, I passed a few drink cans that had been tossed in the bushes along the street, and as usual I reached down and snatched them up to put in the proper trash. "Wait! wait! we want to film that"! Huh? toss the cans back and let them film me? Good thing I wasn't picking up cigarette butts or green gum!
O am glad to say they did not photograph the messy piles hiding in the corners. I was able to clear enough space and the quilts are slowly returning to their beds and resting spaces.
Norie came to serve tea and snacks to the crew with an agreement she could avoid camera time.
Now I have added the seasonal table runner and brought three blooming Christmas cacti down from my bedroom-greenhouse to be enjoyed during waking hours.
I think the tree-decorating fairy and cookie guru will be coming tomorrow to stir the pot.
She is little concerned with how she appears on TV.
Saturday Morning Norie and Leia and I will turn on the TV at 7:30 am and see "The rest of the story".
Saturday evening and Sunday morning will be filled with song (if I can keep this cold at bay) and good food and friends will fill the spaces between.
Christmas Blessings to you all.
Oh, how I wish I got Japanese TV over here - I would surely tune in to see you!! How exciting!! Christmas Blessings to you, too - ;))
ReplyDeleteIs there any way at all it can be recorded and then we can see it too? Love your words today, I hope you have recovered. Season's Greetings to you dear Julie, have a blessed Christmas, and I hope that 2017 will find your hopes and dreams waiting for that special place in your heart and your life.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a wonderful day with the show and they captured the true essence of your life and good heart.
ReplyDeleteLove how the runner looks on the table. Sounds like you have wonderful plans for the holidays and I hope you are feeling better soon. I am fighting off a cold too, been taking D3, so hopefully it will be gone by Sunday.
Debbie
Maybe they will put it on the internet, so others can see it, too. Enjoy the cookie making time (you usually do). Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeletewhich show on NHK? some episodes are uploaded to their website. I used to watch them here in Texas on cable before we changed providers...I loved their shows of just walking around some town and talking to people. Hope you have a Blessed Christmas and New Year!
ReplyDeleteThe show is "Ohayo Nippon" . I think it is probably something like those walking around interviews and they were looking for some "Old timers" and more likely to find them in an international group ... like a church ... that meets more than once a quarter .
DeleteWhat fun! What is the name of the NHK program? In Hawaii we get a lot of Public TV so maybe I'll see you here! I so enjoy your sharing details of your everyday life. Would you possibly share phone videos; I would enjoy seeing your church and the volunteer rice ball prep and distribution. Much aloha. Li
ReplyDeleteThe program is "Ohayo Nippon". I think it is only shown in the Tokyo area. You must enjoy Tanya's blog because she is very good at showing the life in the Japanese style. I should be better at toting my camera around.
DeleteI can use a lot of aloha as my son's family are spending their holidays on the Big Island.
How very fun to be on tv!! I know a celebrity!
ReplyDeleteThis has turned into quite an adventure. I hope you enjoy the show they put together. It will be interesting to see what you think of it later.
ReplyDeleteWow - what an adventure - right down to throwing trash back on the ground so you could be recorded picking it up LOL. I love the view of the little bit of the inside of your home - wish I could see the whole thing. Now to catch up with the end of this story - I am so far behind in reading blogs.
ReplyDelete