What is in your cup?

[pdurrant]

Just finished Coke Zero #3.

The commute would be about 90 minutes door-to-door, either by car or by foot(30min)+train(40min)+bus(20min).

Yes, BT as in British Telecom, but not a part particularly interested in telephones.

Thanks for all the good wishes. I hope I get it, but it would be really good luck to get the first job I interview for.

[VydorScope]

Good Luck Betty and pdurrant!

[Stitchawl]

I've built walls,
A fortress deep and mighty,
That none may penetrate.
I have no need of friendship; friendship causes pain.
It's laughter and it's loving I disdain.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIxz5uOGB2k )


Good morning, all. Today's the day to build walls... or re-build them. Off to the home center to buy paper to cover the inside shoji. We're going to re-cover six interior walls today... I have these visions of Lucy and Ethel hanging wallpaper... Not a pretty sight...

Oh well... It's gotta get done. So first things first, 'Prince of Wales' tea and some bacon and eggs. Then some computer play, then maybe a little reading, then... ANYTHING that I can think of to put off doing the shoji!!!!!!


Stitchawl

[desertblues]

Originally Posted by bjones6416

Black coffee (hazelnut). I've been in a whirlwind of activity here trying to settle Mom's affairs and figure out my own life. I've got a contract on a cozy little brick house about 20 miles west of here, near my middle sister. If all goes well, I'll close somewhere around March 15 and move (along with the elderly dog and noisy bird I inherited from Mom.) Ah well, they're lots of company anyway.

Good for you, Betty. I wish you lots of happiness in your new house. Elderly dog, noisy bird.............?cats? Are you going to find yourself some new furry friends?

In my cup: cold coffee

( gathering courage to go outside, -3C, and bike to get my shopping done)

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by desertblues

gathering courage to go outside, -3C, and bike to get my shopping done

You should try my trick to stay warm... Using a motorcycle instead of a bike, I figure I can go 'faster' than the 'cold molecules' so they can't catch me...

Late afternoon cup of East India Company's 'Keemun Downey Bud.' And trying to not think of what we did to the poor shoji...
(remembering the scene from 'Oklahoma' 'Poor Judd is Dead...' )



Stitchawl

[maianhvk]

I picked up a few words from Shogun and for once didn't have to google a Japanese word in Stitchawl's post

Tell us when you get the job, Paul. Then we'll celebrate with virtual beer (or Coke Zero if you want).

Seems like everyone has new things! New condo for cromag's parents, land for Iri and her bf, Stitchawl's about to move to new place too. I'm sure you'll find some funny things while packing, Betty

[orlok]

Originally Posted by desertblues

In my cup: cold coffee

( gathering courage to go outside, -3C, and bike to get my shopping done)

In those conditions, it needs to be "hot coffee", surely? I bet Rudolf has nothing on you after a cold bike ride like that . I'll stay in the car myself - even beats Stitchy's motorcycle plan.

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

And trying to not think of what we did to the poor shoji...
(remembering the scene from 'Oklahoma' 'Poor Judd is Dead...' )

Is it harder or easier than wallpapering (which I hate doing)? I'm assuming you stretch the shoji paper over frames and glue round the edges, not all over like wallpaper?

Hot Rooibos in my cup. And staying indoors.

[amward]

Elderflower cordial in my glass mmm..

good luck to PDurrant and Betty.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by maianhvk

I picked up a few words from Shogun and for once didn't have to google a Japanese word in Stitchawl's post

Well done!

Is it harder or easier than wallpapering (which I hate doing)? I'm assuming you stretch the shoji paper over frames and glue round the edges, not all over like wallpaper?

No stretching involved. Lay the shoji flat, remove old paper, lightly scrape off any residue, apply glue to all the cross members, roll the paper down, trim with a razor blade. With old-style rice paper, you can then spray with water and the paper will shrink into a smooth 'skin.' Pretty easy, actually. But...
Today we were really papering the 'fusuma.' These are used for the interior sliding walls between rooms and as doors to the cabinet where one is 'supposed' to store bedding during the day (unless one is as lazy as we are, and just close off the bedroom during the day...) Fusuma are solid panels, and it's a bit more difficult to get the paper to lay smoothly. And because of the patterns, more difficult to get it all straight and lined up correctly. We have three fusuma between the living room and the dinning room, two between the living room and the bed room, two between the bed room and the hall, and three covering the bed room bedding closet. Fortunately, only six of them need recovering, three of them on both sides. If I was smart, I'd hire someone to do it. If my wife was smart, she'd let me hire someone to do it. LUCY!!!!!!!


Stitchawl

[red_phoenix]

Good luck Grand Mouse, Betty and Stitchawl in your various endeavors.

[ProfCrash]

Yikes! So much happening. Good luck everyone!

Blue Springs Oolong in my cup

[dreams]

Hot coffee in my cup.

Stitchawl - what is the reason for paper still being used? Especially, when it is so cold in winter?

[cromag]

A mug of hot tea on a wet, chilly day.

[Iridal]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

What is RPM session?

Originally Posted by dreams

I would like to know also.

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Sounds like a spin class, stationary bike workout on steroids.

I wanna go to the gym. I wanna work out. Stupid uncontrolled asthma.

Lucas dozing on my shoulder.

It's a spinning class, but a well thought-out one by Les Mills.

Originally Posted by VydorScope

Hmm... I guess maybe but I was thinking it was (R)odent (P)owered (M)assage

Hehe, that would be nice Actually it's Raw Power in Motion

Originally Posted by bjones6416

Black coffee (hazelnut). I've been in a whirlwind of activity here trying to settle Mom's affairs and figure out my own life. I've got a contract on a cozy little brick house about 20 miles west of here, near my middle sister. If all goes well, I'll close somewhere around March 15 and move (along with the elderly dog and noisy bird I inherited from Mom.) Ah well, they're lots of company anyway.

Good luck!

Whew, the past couple of days have been crazy! I spend two days baking non stop, to get everything ready for a friend's baby shower! Everything worked out, and it's all out the door. So now it's time to relax! Finally!

Nothing in my cup right now, but I'm having spaghetti (also finally, it's 22:45 )

[Stitchawl]

Tra-la-la, twiddly-dee-dee
It gives me a thrill
To wake up in the morning to the mockingbird's trill
Tra-la-la, twiddly-dee-dee
There's peace and goodwill
You're welcome as the flowers on Mockin' Bird Hill

When the sun in the morning
Peeps over the hill,
And kisses the roses 'round my windowsill
Then my heart fills with gladness
When I hear the trill
Of the birds in the treetops on Mockin' Bird Hill

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekjFjTBSGNw )

Good morning, everyone! A pleasant Sunday morning with Twinings "English Breakfast" tea in my cup. I haven't had this company's EB tea in a while so I picked up a tin on sale the other day. Not bad... but only half the flavor of Taylors or Ahmad. Just not a 'robust' cup of tea!

Back to work on the fusuma today. We'd like to get everything done in the house so the estate agent can begin bringing buyers around. I guess this is going to mean that I have to pick up my toys every day... bummer... Right now my computer desk/workbench is covered with bits of leather lacing, colored string, clay, little bottle of paint, electronic parts, wooden beads, two pocket knives, etc., etc., etc.

Originally Posted by dreams

Stitchawl - what is the reason for paper still being used? Especially, when it is so cold in winter?

These days paper is used 'inside' outer walls of regular building materials; wood, glass, stone, etc., and used only for decorative purposes. Even in olden days, there were two layers of walls with a walkway between insulating the living quarters. Like THIS. Cold, but better than a single layer. Except in the northern regions north of Tokyo, the walls of houses were never insulated. (This is changing now, but very slowly...) Houses were very cold in winter, with people just about living under blankets. Folks lived in the kitchen, sitting around a kotatsu, a table with a heater underneath. Often that was the ONLY heat in the house, even in snow regions, so people would even sleep under the kotatsu! It was my sister-in-law's responsibility to get up earlier than the rest of the family to light the charcoal in the family kotatsu in the kitchen. Today's kotatsu use an electric heat lamp instead of charcoal, but you will find kotatsu in 'almost' every Japanese home today.

These days people are using kerosene or electric room heaters or 'electric rugs' (like electric blankets except you sit on top of them.) So paper walls aren't there to keep the heat in, only for traditional decorative reasons. And they really ARE pretty!

But INDOOR sliding walls are more often solid doors with a paper covering for decoration. Like wallpaper but with individual designs. It's much too easy to put your fingers through a paper door that is used often, especially if you are between 3 yrs and 9 yrs old and running around! The 'fusuma' is a solid sliding door that doesn't get finger holes in it! But it does get a bit grubby after a few years, so the paper covering needs to be re-newed.

So I guess you could say that the use of paper walls today is more for tradition and aesthetics than necessity. Electric heat is replacing kerosene and charcoal, but those two are still in wide spread use.

The 'real' question should be; 'why do the Japanese favor 'sliding doors' rather than what we are more used to in the west?'


Stitchawl