a little scattered, but with big plans

recently, i've been quite busy. but this weekend i have plans to do a big shop update...
and share a whole bunch of new items that i haven't had time to photograph during the limited number of daylight hours i've been at home...
and restock my shop with other things that have been flying out of it!
and get ready for next week, when i have a craft-loving friend coming to visit me! we going to take a japanese cooking class here in kyoto, and make thanksgiving dinner (and maybe thanksgiving bento in the unlikely event of leftovers) and visit some pretty places. and maybe have some time to relax at the kotatsu and do some knitting.
and maybe, i'll even get to the craft project i've had rolling around in the back of my head to use these chirstmas masking tapes! ahh, i can dream, can't i?

(christmas tapes and paper clips are in the shop.)

discoveries

i discovered a number of things this week, including new fabric! who doesn't like robots?

there's a lot of cuteness in japan by way of scandinavia, a great trend i fully support.

i found this adorable print from the 'rabbits and racecars' series by heather ross for kokka,

and cotton canvas with baby goats. eeeek, so cute!! oh, and the fabric is finally all in my shop.

i discovered a complete post office inside a department store (kyoto takashimaya, 7th floor, along with other things you expect to find in japanese department stores, like a museum, a whole bunch of restaurants, etc.)

i also discovered that there is a bus from my street directly to one of the main shopping areas of kyoto, very close to my favorite shop (muji, of course!). this is a bit mysterious, because the bus doesn't show up on the tourist bus map i have, but i know it's real, since i've taken it several times (and i missed it this morning). i feel a bit like it's my own cat bus from the movie totoro–which is a bus that goes where you want to go, in my case either towards muji or towards my home, most often.

little by little

i've been slowing recovering from a broken foot, and today the rehabilitation specialist at the hospital gave me my custom made insole, which means i can wear sneakers! and put a little weight on it (along with my crutches). since it's still a bit swollen, i couldn't fit my injured foot into the sneakers i already owned, so i was pretty justified in buying these new ones from muji, where else! i'm looking forward to this week being easier and easier than last.
and, at the shopping mall, there was this display of photovoltaic panels. yes, i realize it's a bit of a jump, but it is design related....apparently now that the japanese law allows people to sell energy back to the grid, solar panels are becoming popular. pretty cool that they are so commonplace that you can see them in the mall on sunday.

sushi sunday

these gocco printed sushi cards are by lisa of gotamago, and available in her etsy shop!

today my fairy godparents took me out for sushi. at a kaiten (conveyer-belt) place that had really really good salmon. i feel so fortunate.

tree pose

this is a tree of wishes by portuguese artist ana of fricdementol.

this week was my first week to go back to my part time job teaching english and to the university after i broke my foot. my students were great; when i am away for awhile, i always forget how inspiring it can be to teach them. the visit to the U was also productive and energizing and reaffirming.

i had some help getting around from the kindest people on earth, my neighbors who i think of as my fairy godparents. and i spent a lot of time on trains, and changing trains. being on crutches often means balancing on one foot, kind of like tree pose in yoga.

while short, my week was exhausting, but i am looking forward to more crafty posting soon!

what happened

first of all, thanks for everyone's kind messages. my foot is in a cast, and i am getting around on crutches. my plans to post more regularly were a little interrupted, but i still have them! and i will get back to posting about crafty things after this post, but i feel like after posting x rays i should tell you more. back to crafty stuff tomorrow.

so here's the story of what happened, and my experience with the japanese medical system (which is great, at least in my case) which was pretty interesting.

on saturday, i stepped backward into a water ditch that i didn't realized that was there. i took one, very hard step directly down about 24 inches. and hit hard. nothing was twisted, so i thought perhaps it wasn't serious. i had my first experience with shippu, which is an amazing japanese product, like a stick-on cold compress that is cooling and also has anti-inflammatory medication that is absorbed into the skin. seriously, this stuff is great. but by evening, even with shippu, i realized that i needed to go to the hospital, since i couldn't put any weight on my right foot, the pain was worse, and i definitely needed crutches which you can only get at the hospital.

the emergency room was really quiet, in fact it's just the regular hospital front desk and waiting area, but some of the lights were off, and just one registration area was open. i was a little worried, since my health insurance wasn't quite in order. in japan, everyone is required to have health insurance, and the national health insurance plan is quite comprehensive and affordable. but i hadn't enrolled yet. in fact, i was planning to enroll on monday, but i had carelessly injured myself 2 days before. oops.

anyway, i saw a doctor, and had some xrays, which showed the 2 hairline fractures in my heel. since this doctor wasn't an orthopedic specialist she told me to come back on monday to see another doctor, at which point i would find out more details, and how serious it was. although she scared my by suggesting that i may need surgery and hospitalization. they gave me a splint and crutches, which took a little bit of time to size correctly, since apparently my western proportions require different crutch adjustments than for japanese arms and torsos.

even without insurance, an ER visit, xrays, doctor consultation, getting my foot in a splint and some pain medication came to $120.

so on monday i came back to the hospital, and realized the normal daytime hospital environment is lots of people in the big waiting room, waiting and waiting. for hours, sometimes. institutional buildings in japan are usually a little old, as many were built in the 60s or 70s when the population was growing, and so now they look a little dated and tatty.

when i saw the dr, he said my fractures were not so serious, and the with a cast my foot will heal quickly. (i learned the work gippusu, which is the japanese word for cast, i assume from the word gypsum for plaster).

so for now, i have this cast for 2 weeks, after which they may replace it with another cast, or i may be healed. and i joined the health insurance program properly, whereby the hospital readjusted my bill to $50 for both the ER visit and the follow up visit, and gave me the rest of my money back. i love japan.

i've been getting around on crutches, and can usually do ok, especially when it's not raining. although anyone who knows me in real life knows that i am neither an athlete nor in possession of exceptional upper body strength. people are very kind, and when it's raining i am often offered umbrella coverage by complete strangers. i've also been taking more taxis than usual (usually, i take 0 taxis), which often leads to conversations with kindly taxi drivers. one of these gentlemanly fellows told me last week that perhaps my injury was the gods telling me to take a break, that i've been being too busy and need a rest. which perhaps is right.

both the photos from this post are from ohara, a lovely little village north of kyoto, with some amazing temples (and natural dye works).

my etsy shop is still open for business, although for now limited to current inventory i have on hand, as special orders will have to wait a few weeks.