Blog Birthday!

Today was this blog's birthday! This will be Here and There Japan's fifth year. The first post was about our pet turtle, Ethel. She lived 19 years. Here is the post about her funeral. She had a quiet life, but she had a few adventures, too.

Ethel's ancestors were probably from the southeastern United States, but she came from Sendai. That's where I bought her 22 years ago. The coastal area of Sendai was hit by the tsunami on March 11, 2011. Please read the post about Sendai below.

Ethel's Funeral

We took Ethel, our turtle, to the pet cemetery at Jindaiji Temple on the 17th. It was a rainy day. It was not a good day to take pictures. Anyway, Papa said we shouldn't take pictures--at a funeral!! I am posting this picture of azaleas because there is an azalea festival at the Jindai Botanical Gardens. There were lanterns and banners advertising it everywhere.

Little Brother and Big Sister were at school. Papa had the day off so we went by car. I held Ethel's coffin on my lap. I couldn't find a box at home, so I had gone to the 100 yen shop and bought a small cardboard box.

We parked the car and had to climb stone stairs to the pet cemetery. We stopped at a small office at the cemetery to pay the fee for the cremation. It was 9000 yen. We filled out a form with her name and age. It will be placed in a book and displayed for two years.

The attendant escorted us to the crematorium. I was asked to put Ethel's box on a table. The attendant there asked me to open the box. He asked about her. We had a nice short conversation about her. I told him she was 19 years old. He was impressed.

He then asked me to place the box on the small altar next to the table. He lit the two small candles there and stepped aside. Papa and I each lit incense in the flame of one of the candles and placed it in a holder. We then prayed for Ethel. The attendant thanked us. We thanked him. As we walked away, I turned to look. The attendant stood before the altar where Ethel lay. He bowed to her and prayed for her. I was impressed.

P.S. Ethel's remains will be placed in a box with other small animals. It is in a room full of shelves of small urns. (It costs a lot more to have an individual urn and shelf.) Ethel's remains will be with Poppy's remains, our golden hamster. Poppy passed away five years ago. She was two years old. Her funeral was similar to Ethel's, but Big Sister and Little Brother were there.

It is sad when a pet dies.

In Memoriam

Ethel, our 19 year old turtle, passed away. We will take her to the temple on Thursday to be cremated.
I will write more about her then, but check the labels below.

Missing Turtle

On my way out to go shopping, I glanced over and saw this. The turtle box was empty and a young stray cat was lounging beside it. Ethel, our 18 year old turtle, was gone! I feared the worst. Aunt, Baba and Little Brother came out to help me search for Ethel in the garden. We couldn't find her. Little Brother announced that he was going to the park to look. The park is a pretty long distance for a turtle to go, but we both thought she could have crawled under the gate and out into the neighborhood. On our way out of the gate and past our neighbor's house, I glanced over and saw this:

There she was! Our neighbor had found her and put her in a flower pot. She didn't know Ethel was ours. Ethel didn't look very comfortable in the pot, but she wasn't very happy to be put back in her box. How do I know? She opened her mouth wide and hissed at me.

Another Spring, Another Year : Happy Blogoversary to Us!

Ethel was my first post last year. Click on the archives to read more about her. She is now eighteen years old. Here and There Japan is now one year old!

Unlike last year, Ethel did not brumate. She did not sleep through the winter. I guess it was just too warm this winter.

Today we noticed our wisteria is blooming for the first time in five years. That's a gift!

Thank you, regular and new readers, for visiting HTJ! There's so much more to show and tell, so come back.

Rose Festa

The Jindaiji Botanical Gardens was having what they called a "Rose Festa". The roses were in full bloom today. Big buses were parked outside with visitors. People came from far and near. It was spectacular even though it was a cloudy day. I took many close-up pictures of roses but thought you would be more interested in these pictures. I included one picture of a rose. It's an unusual bluish lavender color.




Garden workers cut the spent roses and put them in a big plastic bucket. I watched in amazement wanting some of them. They looked pretty good to me. An old woman was standing beside me. I said something like "wow" and the woman looked at me and laughed in agreement. Below is an outdoor sink where you can wash your hands. Most people still carry handkerchiefs.






This last picture is a pond near the temple. It started to rain so you can see the raindrops hit the water. The orange thing underwater is a coi or goldfish. Can you see the duck? It circled the turtles before stopping and taking a gander. Interesting cross-species communication. I wish I had had the zoom lens on the camera to get a close-up!

Another Spring

This is Ethel. She made it through another winter hibernation or, rather, brumation. She is seventeen years old. She is older than Big Sister and Little Brother!

In 1991, I took two baby turtles like her to my niece. I traveled 13 hours on the plane with them under the seat. (I called first to see if I could take them.)

The agricultural customs agent at the airport looked at them and said, "These turtles are coming home, too!" I know I looked puzzled because he continued, "They probably came from over in Louisiana." That's next door to my home state, Texas.

Turtles like Ethel can live more than sixty years. Ethel's sister, Lucy, only made it through four winters. Ethel and I have made it a long time here in a foreign land. We must be doing something right!