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Relatives, Reminiscing, and Radishes

Sorry for keeping you "stay tuned" for so long!

I have been wanting to report on our visit a few weeks ago to Nagano. Akihiro's uncle, cousin, and his grandparents drove to our house early Sunday morning and we all drove to church. The didn't say much about church, but seemed to enjoy it. After church we had a beautiful drive--about three hours to a mountainous area. On the drive, we could see beautiful fall colors and snow covered mountains on all sides of us. We arrived at our hotel and found that it had snowed a few days before--was so beautiful. We took an onsen and had a nice dinner. It was my first time to eat octopus in this way--we each cooked our own in the little burner at the table. DSCN0238.JPG


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After supper we took a quick look at the traditional Japanese play.
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The next morning we headed for Grandpa's mother's hometown--about 40 minutes away. It was cloudy, but we could still see the beautiful lake--Nojiriko--tucked deep in the beautiful snow covered mountains. Grandpa talked as we drove. He grew up near Tokyo, but when the war started, his mother and the children went back to this area--her hometown. They stayed here until the war was over. Soon Grandpa was called to the war, though. He was only 15
years old when he was trained to fly the zero sen airplane. On a previous post, I told the story of Grandpa's return from the war--please see January 10, 2007 entry. Anyway, this area was where he returned to and landed his airplane. First we stopped to see some of his relatives. One of them led us up a mountain path to where Grandpa's grandmother was buried. Grandpa laid his flowers there and they burnt incense sticks--a Buddhist tradition. He hadn't been back
to this area for over 25 years. Sorry the close up is sideways--I'm too lazy to change it! DSCN0248.JPG


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Then we went back to the relatives' house and ate some delicious homegrown vegetables--daikon radish, carrots, beans, and other vegetables.
DSCN0260.JPG I have never tasted such good Japanese vegetables! The people were so friendly! They spoke of sitting in their home and seeing Grandpa and his plane circling the area waiting for his gas to run out so he could land his plane.

We went on to another relatives' house for more good food and fellowship. This was a cousin who had played with ("fought with") grandpa when they were young. It was fun to see them together. This spunky little lady said it was the first time for her to have a foreigner in her home (me!). She was very kind, though, and even let me help her serve the good bamboo miso soup and other goodies and help with the dishes. It was a very good feeling to all sit
around the little low table and drink tea and have a good time. The table has a heater under it, then a big blanket/quilt is placed over the table and another board is put on top of the quilt. This way your feet and legs are warm and the heat stays in under this quilt.
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These are chrysanthemums that the little lady raised--absolutely huge!

Next we went to see the actual place where Grandpa had landed his plane.
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Now it is a blueberry farm! After that we went to one more relatives house for more good food--at that place the pickled daikon radishes were especially tasty! By the time we left we had received quite a lot of homegrown food--kabocha squash, potatoes, beans, apples, persimons, radishes, pickles, etc. I used some of these goodies to make a traditional Japanese dish--oden--which is lots of different vegetables in a special soup of soy sauce, fish broth, etc. It is really good--even the seaweed! As I ate it, though, I did recall one of my friends commenting while seeing seaweed on a beach, that "I wonder if Akihiro and Carrie are eating that for supper..." Well, I guess the time came--I did eat it and it wasn't all too bad! Here's a picture of our supper!
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Anyway, It was a real blessing to meet these relatives and to feel their love. If Grandpa is still doing well in the summer, we hope to return for a family barbeque. Grandpa, though, was a bit hesitant--as if he sensed he would not be able due to his health. Sure enough, just last week, we got results that his PSA is up and that his cancer is progressing.

We are looking forward to spending time with Ryan and Becky Weiss and their family who are visiting us Saturday through Wednesday. They are staying at the Klaus's, but we look forward to spending time with them! I have also been busy dealing with picking out siding for our house, and other house decisions. I am beginning to see how very much easier it is just to buy a house already built! Oh well, we are trying to have fun and enjoy it!

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