The latest Mystery Quilt is put together - at least on the design board.  It's not even close to being sewn together. 

These were some of the other options I came up with, all with the same pieces, just moving them around: 

The 2026 calendar is on order!  At least, one of the calendars is.  I want to make one with just photos from Japan as well, but I worry that many of the photos won't translate (pardon the pun) well to a seasonal calendar. 

More random photos - these are from our trip to Hakone.  The trees were just starting to change colors.

 

The tram took us over a geothermal area.  We changed trams at a station here - all I can is that sulfur is the same everywhere.

A pretty cool shot of Mt Fuji and the tram/platform.

Hakone was beautiful, very quiet.  AJ and I walked around a bit, down to the lake and around the hotels. 

The sight-seeing tours of the lake are on a pirate ship.  I think I shared a photo of them already.  Pretty cool!

A shot on the way back through the geothermal area.  The small shadow mid-picture is of our tram.

More random photos - Wakana met us for brunch one day, and we were served by a robot - a cat robot no less.  I wasn't able to get a photo of the cat side of it, so a stole a photo off the interwebs.  

It may not be the exact model, but from what I remember, it's pretty close.

 

I'm going through all my photos from my trip, and have a bunch of random photos, some with a story, some just photos.  Hopefully they aren't repeats, but I have so many photos, and a poor memory, so I may have posted them before.

Some random street scenes - I love seeing construction on the sky scrapers - how do they do that?  How do they get these things off the roof when they are done??

.  

 

A shot of a couple of the trains we rode, and the typical entryway into the stations.  It was amazing how quickly people could move through the system.  We used a prepaid debit card and every time you swiped it, it gave you the fair you were paying and the remaining balance on your card, all so fast!

I mentioned before that while things went smoothly for us in Japan, Cindy had a few issues on the home front.  One day, I heard my Ring camera doorbell go off.  I thought to myself, hmmm, I wonder who's visiting today?? I checked the Ring doorbell camera, and found that I had a whole lot gentlemen in uniform knocking on the door.  Not what I was expecting at all. 

Poor Cindy, she was fixing Alli's dinner, and Alli tripped on something and fell while Cindy had her back to her.  There's no way Cindy can pick Allison up, and Allison doesn't have the strength/ability to get up by herself.  Cindy had to call 911 to get some first-responders out to pick up Allison.

As soon as I saw the first-responders coming in to the house, I switched form the door camera to the camera in the living room, and saw them chat with Cindy for a bit, and then lift Allison up.  Bless Alli's heart, as soon as she was up, she went and sat in her chair and reached for her dinner plate.  Heck with falling, she was hungry!  I knew then that she wasn't hurt.  I tried to give Cindy some time before I checked in with her, but I still probably rushed her.  She felt so bad that Alli fell on her watch.

I finished quilting the Summer Block Party Quilt.  I really like how this one turned out.  One more quilt off my pending list!

 

Since we had a quiet Thanksgiving, I used the morning to sew, and finished up a few of my projects. Margene and Jordan had gifted me a couple of quilt kits for my birthday, and I had pieced one of them up the weekend before, and I got the whole thing put together Thursday morning.  The pattern is Candy Lane, and the quilt kit is a "Half Pack" quilt - 5 pieces of fabric, a half yard of each.   

 

I also got the last "clue" for my mystery quilt done - only four blocks needed.  The big reveal is set for Wednesday, so I'll see how to put it all together then.  

 

And in my stash, I found a baby quilt kit that I bought at Joann's for some ridiculously low price and had started.  I finished it up, got it quilted, and one less Work in Progress!  It even found a home last night.  Cindy M came by to pick up her dogs, and mentioned that she was going to go see her newest nephew (born while I was in Portland in October.)  I sent the baby quilt with her. 

 

 

Hiroshima was on my list of things to see in Japan.  AJ did a great job checking off all the things on my list, as well as adding a few I didn't know I needed to see.  While Hiroshima wasn't what I would consider fun, it was well worth seeing.  We took the shinkansen (bullet train) from Kyoto, again, the way to go!  We only stayed one night, and spent the afternoon wandering around the Peace Memorial Park.  Unbeknownst to us, we picked a three-day weekend to go.  It was more crowded in Hiroshima than it was anywhere else in Japan.  Walking through the museum was like walking in step with a thousand of your closest friends - there was no way to stop and look at anything longer than the crowd was moving.  I was definitely ready to get out of the crowd - about half-way through the museum. I was stuck though, just winding my way through with everyone else.

 

I don't think I can list all the things that I am thankful for.  Even when I'm having a bad day, I am still so thankful for what I have, who I have in my life, what I'm doing in my life, etc.  I have friends in my life that I've know for decades, and friends that I've know for much shorter time.  I have family that, even though we don't live close, are always there for me, a home that I love. I have reliable transportation, extra food in the cupboard, warm clothes, and lord knows I have enough fur babies to keep me entertained.  So much to be thankful for, and here's wishing the same for you - Happy Thanksgiving!

Cindy M is gone for Thanksgiving, and I'm dog-sitting her two dogs.  Cooper, as usual, is not a problem.  He spends a lot of time over here, with or without Cindy, already.  Roo, on the other hand, is still a puppy (an almost two-year old border collie).  She's a chewer, escape artist, cat chaser (though in her defense, my cats stalk her and attack), and all around instigator of problems.  All of this, combined with me being gone for almost three weeks, has pushed Ripley back into a few of her neurosises.  She and Cooper spend a lot of time hanging out "away" from the puppy and the resulting chaos. (She is a good dog, really, but none of the dogs like to be around when someone is being reprimanded),

 She's started rearranging the rocks in the back yard again - big rocks!

And she's hiding with AJ in the guest house.  She even slept out there with him last night!  She's been sleeping with me since Roo came, but last night she abandoned me for the calm of AJ's house.

Poor Luna, no one will play with her..... 

AJ and I had both played with her and she wandered away after a bit of tussling with her toy.  I found her later, acting like no one had ever played with her, poor thing.

 

 

And I'm caught up on my Mystery quilt!  I have 48 of each of these blocks done, just in time for the next block pattern to drop (on Wednesday).  Since the quilt started while I was in Japan, I was technically behind, but, it really is not mandatory to keep to the schedule, or even make the quilt.  I just internalize the project, one way to make sure I finish the quilt.  On my quilting list to do today is to start quilting the finished quilt tops I have.  (And maybe start one of my numerous other quilts that I have fabric for?)