Hickory Wind Performance

Last night the Hickory Wind living room held comfortably 15 guests, one mandolin player, one steel guitar player, one acoustic (plus) guitar player, one bass player and one Canadian voice.

I was on such a high after the show and I could 'feel' that people were saying kind things about our performance but I could not completely understand their Japanese messages. This morning I asked my husband to translate some of them to me and give his impressions about the evening. I will share this one with you now:

He said, "Tammy, one woman said that your voice was like crystal". And then...
"It was. Very clear and very soothing".

With such amazing musicians backing me up and knowing that I can sooth others...how can I keep from singing?

I am so grateful for the opportunity to share my voice and sing with Mokoto (Hickory Wind owner and operator, singer, guitar player, nature guide....) and the rest of the band players.

t

Boxing Day Surprise

Yesterday for us would have been "Boxing Day" in Canada. Luckily we did not do the gift thing so nothing needed to be exchanged or returned. Even so, Christmas was over and I was feeling a little sad thinking that I would soon be putting away the many Christmas cards I had received in the mail. That feeling didn't last long because the door bell rang and there stood a delivery man with a gift box in his hand addressed to me! It was from our friend from Nagano Japan.

As this was the one and only box I opened this Christmas season...the anticipation about what was inside was intensely magnified. I pulled off the tape almost ceremoniously and was ecstatic to reveal the contents of numerous boxes of chocolates and candies, special soba noodles and mochi(pounded rice) for the New Year's celebration and even a card that opened up into a Christmas tree and when the button was pushed...played Christmas carols!

The lovely woman who put this package together probably had no idea the impact it would have on me as I received and opened her gift on this Boxing day so far away from home.

Merry belated Chrismtas Everyone. I hope the spirit of Christams is alive and well in all of your hearts.

Singing in Japan

Tonight for the first time ever...I will be singing with a band in Japan!

Our friends own the guesthouse Hickory Wind in Tsurui Mura. This cozy spot is the venue for a night of Dylan, Tina Turner, Tracy Chapman, Elvis Presley and more. The plan is for me to learn a few Japanese songs for our next show in the spring. Holy moly am I ever excited about tonight. You know when you are doing something that is so much fun that you can't wait to share it with your friends....performing with the band is just like that for me. The only way this night could be any better is if ALL of my family and friends could be with me clapping and singing along to the blues, folk, soul and rock 'n roll tunes.

Rolling...rolling...rolling on the river!

Quiet Moment Message

Use your gift and everything comes to you.

Full Moon Rising

Moon Rise

Why no pictures

for you so wise

save your graces for other prize

cloud shadows covered face

behind an orb that cannot replace

the glow I feel tonight

----------------------------------

To read read about ' the Year's Biggest Full Moon'

check out this link

December Welcomes us with a Smile

December 'One' in Hokkaido was extra special. The first snow of the winter season fell on Tsurui the night before and there was still snow on the ground in the morning.

The sun shone all day so we kayaked Shirarutoro Lake (a lake in the Kushiro March area), and watched it set.

Parts of the Lake have started to freeze so the sunny colours reflecting off the ice were amazing. Second by second the colours changed...I didn't want to blink for fear of missing them.


"Tam in Kayak -Photo courtesy of Wild-World Images"

As the sun went down, a sliver of crescent moon started to appear above us. It was getting pretty cold so we headed for shore.

By the time we unloaded our gear and popped the kayak atop our car, it was dark. As we drove home we saw such a wonderful site. There were two very bright stars above the tilted crescent moon. I said, "what does that look like to you, hon?" My husband responded, (as I nodded in agreement), "hey, it looks like a smiling face." Neither of us had ever seen anything like it before and we wondered if the two eyes above the moon were in fact planets.


"Photo from Yahoo Japan"

Today my husband translated some Yahoo Japan news which shed some light on our suspicions. What we saw last night actually was a rare phenomenon. A few hours after sunset Jupiter and Venus were in a position above the moon that made it look like the moon was smiling.

Well what do you know...


Happy December everyone!

Quiet Moment Message

-Celebrate today -

yes there is suffering...

but there is also love.

I Suggest...Go West!

When you enter a public washroom in Japan...you never know what you are going to get.

There are often two options:

You can go 'western' and sit, or, you can try 'traditional Japanese' and squat.

Some 'western' styles in Hokkaido have heated seats! These fancy models often come with many other bells and whistles. When you sit, recorded running water sounds are played so that your neighbours can't hear your ummm 'natural' sounds. Belive it or not...for this high tech private-parts cleaning experience you can choose water spray location, speed, and temperatures. And after your job is done...all you need to do is stand up and the mess is tastefully flushed away...automatically!!!

Or you can choose the painful, nothing to hang onto, squat, pee on your shoes, pray to God you drop in the spot, manual toilet paper and flush model.

And sometimes, like at train stations, you don't get a choice.
It's all squat or get off the pot.

Now isn't that a relief!

Hog Wild!

If you check the map of Hokkaido that I posted in the `Sister` City entry, you will see that Obihiro City is just east of Kushiro. Two weeks ago we visited a very interesting resident of Obihiro - the owner of Rancho El Paso Mexican Restaurant.

This want-to-be-Latin Japanese man (I will call him El Paso) has been running a Mexican restaurant in Obihiro for 30 years!

El Paso has a lot of pork items on his menu, so five years ago he and his wife decided to start raising their own pigs. We were lucky enough to have a tour of his 500 strong pig farm. The most fascinating part of El Paso's farming style is that the pigs are allowed to roam around. Yes...it is a free-range pig farm! If you look at the photo above, you will see Farmer El Paso walking down a lane. Two pigs are coming up to greet him.

When the pigs are babes they are kept in a warm enclosure and when they get a little bigger they move to a small barn and fenced area. When the swines reach adult age and are able to behave themselves, they move to a larger enclosure where they can frolic in the forest and even swim in the river.

'Charlotte's Web' lovers will be sad to know that after a few years in nirvana...these little piggies move on to the sausage farm.

t

The Sister Cities Compared

Burnaby B.C. Canada
Flag: bird
Coordinates: 49°16'N 122°58'W
Population: 205,261
Granted City Status: 1992
Area: 98.6 square km
Flower: rhododendron

Kushiro Hokkaido Japan
Flag: star
Coordinates: 42°59'N 144°23'E
Population: 189,539
Granted City Status: 1922
Area: 1362.75 square km
Flower: Nasturtium

Other interesting facts:

54% of residents of Burnaby do not speak English or French as a mother tongue.

Kushiro is the only ice-free trading port in Hokkaido. Its exports are coal, fish, and timber.

'Sister' City

Here is a map of Hokkaido.
Our Village of Tsurui is about a 40 minute drive north of Kushiro City.

A few years ago I was visiting family and friends in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia Canada. Both of my brothers were living in Burnaby at the time and one of them took me up to Burnaby Mountain Park.

I had never been up there and was surprised to see totem poles that did not resemble those of the West Coast First Nations people of British Columbia. They were instead totems carved by Inu First Nations people from Hokkaido Japan! What were these totems doing atop Burnaby Mountain?

Turns out Kushiro City and Burnaby City are Sister Cities! How appropriate - the closest city to the place where I was going to live in Hokkaido Japan was the sister city to the very place where my brothers lived!

When we stumbled across this information...my brother and I just looked at one another and said, "weird".

This coincidence made me feel a little better about my move so far away from home.

Never far from you bros.

your sis,
t

That Moonrise

The moon rising over the mountain, Lake Toro, and our beached kayak.

Sunset and Moonrise

Today we did a trial run of a Noah 470 folding kayak. The Fujita Canoe company who builds and sells this amazing kayak allowed us to try it out before we consider making this pricey purchase.

Lake Toro is about a thirty minute drive from our home on the ranch in Tsurui. It was a beautiful sunny day today so we were super excited to get out on the lake and see all of the

gorgeous fall colours.

Kayaking is amazing. You can really get up close and personal with the wildlife on the water and shore as you are so low in the water and you can glide so quietly. We saw deer, ducks, seagulls, crows, eagles, and heron today.

After exploring about a third of the lake, we stopped on a sandy beach to make coffee. About 20 meters away from where we were sitting, about fifty ducks made a landing. The sound of these birds flapping their wings at such high speeds while hovering over the water before touching down made a sound that resembled a jet airplane landing!! We were shocked at how loud they were! These ducks must love taking off and landing again when the combined effort creates such a dramatic sound! Wow!

My husband took this photo of me while we paddled back to our car as the sun was setting. While we packed our gear away, the full moon started rising over the mountains. What luck!

I don't know if it was the sunshine or the moonrise or the wildlife or relaxing on the beach...but we LOVE the Noah 470 and hope to buy one soon.

t

Where is Hokkaido Japan?

Japan has four main Islands and Hokkaido is the northernmost one!

The capitol of Hokkaido is Sapporo.

The G8 Summit took place there in July of this year.
This city is located in Southwest Hokkaido...

above the boot that looks a bit like Italy!

The village where we live (Tsuri Mura) is in Easter Hokkaido.

More later...

I am off to cooking class!

t

golden feast

listening to small birds twitter

as the sun sets on this autumn eve

watching cranes graze on golden

and dark-chocolate corn fields

a melody to celebrate the leftover bounty

before the cold frozen days...

bring silence to this place

Tsurui Mura Hokkaido Japan

Tsurui - A village most commonly known as the place where the cranes (tsuru) reside (i). Over 80 years ago there were only a handful of these amazing birds left in the Kushiro Wetland. A concerned Tsurui farmer decided to feed these cranes corn over the winter months and many other villagers helped too. In part, from their collective efforts, there are over 1000 tancho to date. The beauty of this area of Hokkaido and the community spirit that the village of Tsurui possesses, must be what inspires the cranes to remain and grow in abundance. My husband and I feel that we share some things in common with the tancho. The welcoming and accepting spirit of the people and the beauty of the land have captured our hearts also.

getting started

I must admit I am a little nervous getting started.

Once I open my mouth...

I can`t seem to stop talking.

Maybe it will be the same when I press these keys with my fingers...

b o u n d l e s s

How exciting! I finished my first entry.

t