Souvenirs for Bob Marstall

I knew Bob Marstall liked nature. The books he illustrates are about nature. We're coming into the summer season when there are many toys and products with nature themes. So, I thought I would take some stuff to give him. I almost hesitated to give it to him until he showed his photo of his "wonder cabinet". He has many treasures in shelves in his studio. I gave him this cricket in a cage. It's all plastic, but when you push a button, it sounds like a real cricket. He liked it!

I gave him this goldfish. I had never seen anything like this before in a toy shop. Lots of bugs but never a goldfish. I got it and the cricket at that small toy shop where we bought tops at New Year's. See pictures of the shop in posts of the first week of January.

I also gave him this money frog. In Japanese, the same word is used for "frog" and "return". So, if you put this frog in your coin purse or pocket, your money will return to you. These are sold at temples all year. I made the card explaining what it is and put it and the frog in the plastic bag. At the temple, there is just a bin full of little frogs.

Old Tops

Recently I posted pictures of other tops. This is an old type of bei goma. It is metal. Little Brother dug it out of his top box for me to take a picture of it.

Little Brother looked up bei goma on the internet. He found some from the past that had been colored with crayons. He used his crayons to color his, but then washed it off. You can see some of the color left in the crevices.

Children used to spin these tops on a piece of cloth tightly placed on the top of a bucket. Little Brother spins them on his BeyBlade stadium. We're going to try using a bucket.

One of these tops did not spin properly because its tip was damaged from spinning on concrete. We went to an old toy shop to look for a new one.

There was a display of tops outside the shop. These metal bei goma were sold in packages of five. They had different designs on top and different tips. The packages were strung together with plastic string.

Inside this toy shop, small items hang from the ceiling on long strings. When you want to buy something here, you ask the clerk to cut it down for you. The tops were probably hanging inside the shop before the new year holidays.

Souvenirs

Big Sister bought a paper parasol for her souvenir. I was surprised (and proud) to see her using it while she walked around the Ainokura village. I thought that was pretty cool for a 14 year old girl.




Little Brother bought one of these for himself and one for a friend. They are mascots. They're about the size of my palm. They're too big to be used as keychains. Kids hang these kinds of things on their randoseru or school bag.




Little Brother also got these. You place the thin stick between your palms, spin it, and let go. They fly up into the sky. We have one that was Papa's. You can find them everywhere, but I had never seen them with dragonfly wings and eyes.

In the Hardware Store

I've always thought these paintbrushes were unusual.





A ball is a ball everywhere you go, but look how these are sold. This netting makes it easy to carry home and to store at home.




This is a cart of cotton gloves. They are used when cleaning up in the garden, but workmen use them, too. I've seen workers wearing them as they carried panelling and wallpaper. It protects what they are carrying from smudges and fingerprints.




I've never seen an umbrella stand like this one. I've never liked putting a wet umbrella in a canister-type stand. This one will allow the umbrellas to dry faster. We have to air out our umbrellas to make sure they don't sour.