Taking Care of the Broccoli

Wrapped Tree

This is an old tatami mat wrapped around a tree. Tatami or woven straw mats are used for flooring. The green silk "ribbon" was the border around the mat when it was on the floor. Straw mats are sold for garden purposes, but this farmer is recycling an old tatami mat.

I posted a picture last year of another tree with a garden mat around it. The farmers are trying to catch bugs. They will dispose of or burn the mat.

Repelling Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes are still biting and we're still using repellent incense. I'm not sure what you would call this in English. The green spiral is an incense that is put on a stand, lit, and placed in the pig-shaped decanter to burn. Pigs are a very common design for the decanter. Smoke from the burning incense comes out of the pig's mouth and kills the mosquitoes. It is a common summer scent. Walking through the neighborhood, we can smell it wafting from gardens. The can with the rooster on top is full of these green spiral incense. The blue green device next to it is a lighter. I have recently seen the lighters sold in the U.S. for grills.

The blue electrical device has a bottle of mosquito repellent in it. For the picture, I put a bottle next to the device to show you what it looks like. The repellent vaporizes and kills the mosquitoes.

Aunt has a device that emits a high frequency sound that kills mosquitoes. We use that sometimes, too. There is also a plastic bracelet that is supposed to keep them away. Mosquitoes don't bite Big Sister and me. Papa and Little Brother are the tasty ones. I put the incense in the garden long before the children come home from school. Mosquitoes don't seem to be as bad in wider, more open spaces, so children usually go to the park to play. Besides, there's not much room to play in most gardens. We don't have yards like in the west.

Mosquito Net

The mosquitoes in our garden were really bad again this year. They are still bad. Little Brother saw this in a summer catalog and thought we should get it. Mosquitoes find him tasty.

Funny enough, there are much smaller versions of this at the 100 yen shop. They look just like this. They are supposed to be put over plates to keep flies off. I sent several to my sister because she barbecues outside a lot. She likes them because they fold up.

In our old house that great-grandfather built, we didn't have screens on our windows so we needed such kinds of things. Now, we have screens.

Another Use for PET Bottles

A few years ago, someone on TV suggested to fill PET (plastic) bottles with water and then put them where you don't want cats to go. Some cats use planters as toilets, I guess. These pictures were taken on a busy street next to a small shop. I'm not sure if the PET bottles keep cats away. We don't have any problem with cats coming to our garden. Actually, cats would be welcomed.

Loose Ends from Our Trip

There were a few pictures that weren't included in any posts about our trip. Perhaps someday there will be a gallery, but for now I'll post these as Loose Ends.




I took this picture and the next one near the inn where we stayed. These guys were using this long blue hose to spray water or pesticides on this field. I have a feeling it was pesticide or weed killer.





I have always been advised (by Papa) not to take photographs in a cemetery. The atmosphere here was different. This gravesite was in the wide open spaces of a rice field, behind a home, and next to a kitchen garden. It was part of the scenery and part of daily life.

It may look like a single grave but it is, in fact, a gravesite for a whole family. The long narrow stone bears the family name. Permanent vases and an incense burner are at the base of the headstone. There is a stone slab at the foot of the headstone and small altar. It covers a small hollow space or tomb. Ceramic jars of the bones of the deceased are placed there. There is a stone to the left of the tomb. The names of the deceased family members and the date of their passing are inscribed on the stone. Once, while scrubbing the stones and pruning the shubbery at our gravesite, I asked Jiji, Grandfather, how many jars could be placed there. He said maybe 15.





This is a picture of a "doorknob" at the inn where we stayed. It was on an interior sliding paper door. Our old house had these kinds of "knobs".





These were soybeans drying in the sun. They were near the foundation of one of the thatched roof houses in Ainokura. In the area outside the village, I saw small bundles of soybeans. They were hanging on the eaves of houses. Dried soybeans are eaten as a snack.





I took this picture of an old mouse trap at the thatched house where I lost my shoes (see August 24). Mouse traps haven't changed much over the centuries. Click the picture to enlarge. Compare the one I posted on August 8th.





A country road. This highway had two lanes and it had a view. Note, too, the signs (like in Tokyo) that tell drivers there is a telephone up ahead.

Mouse Trap

Fortunately, we have never had to use one of these. Grandmother said she saw a mouse run across the deck recently, but she didn't seem too worried about it. Mice can be a fire hazard if they chew on the wiring of a house. Some of the wiring is actually on the outside of some houses. Fire is a real concern.

Bug Trap

I sometimes see straw on trees in the winter. A gardener told us a long time ago that bugs crawl up under the straw to keep warm in the winter. Or maybe they lay their eggs there. In the spring, the straw is taken off and burned. This supposedly keeps the bug population low. I was walking to the post office today and took this picture. It seems a little late for this to still be on the tree. It's been a cool, wet spring so maybe the bugs haven't come out yet. It was sunny and quite warm today, though. Garbage fires have been outlawed in our area so maybe people now throw them away on burnable garbage days (the city incinerates garbage). By the way, this is a pine tree or matsu.