Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Aki Matsuri is here again! - 今年もやって来た秋祭り!

Aki Matsuri poster --
once again designed by my wonderful hubby!

Time flies. It's that time of the year again - Japanese Fall Festival (a.k.a. Aki Matsuri) is coming up this weekend (Sept 6, 7)! I can't believe it's been a year already.

There will be exhibitors, nomi-no-ichi (flea market), martial arts demonstrations, photo ops with Hello Kitty, awesome puppet shows, festival food (yatai), etc., etc.... Fun times.

An astute reader such as yourself probably noticed that this is my first post in a long time -- and that it probably means I hadn't been feeling well.

Ding-ding-ding-ding! You are correct! Sorry, I don't have a prize.

Okay, I'll admit now that taking that trip to Vancouver might have been a bit much. I'm still recovering from it, and that combined with the renewed anti-viral therapy combined with the mercury chelation therapy with DMSA, I've been feeling like I have mono squared.

Then there was a confluence of wonderful family visits -- my parents, Daniel's parents, Daniel's brother Brent and his always wonderful wife Kathy -- all of whom I wanted to spend more time with, but much of my summer was spent in bed, spiced up with few outings. :-/ It was wonderful seeing everyone, though, and I'm so grateful they came to Seattle, we got to be with them, and our parents were all so helpful and easy-going. (Thank you for all the goodies you brought back from the farmers market! Sorry I couldn't go with you -- I'm still enjoying the currant jam and ikura, though!)

So the summer is almost gone, and I'm hoping all the feverish, dizzy, painful days are somehow helping me get over my chronic infections. We'll have to see. It's always dark before the end of the tunnel... right?

I'll take a break from the anti-viral therapy this week, in the hopes that would help me have enough energy to carry out my volunteer duties. I'd be interpreting the lecture to be given by the special guest from Japan, and I'm hoping I'll have some leftover energy to sell the festival T-shirts to raise funds for the organization. This year's T-shirts are really cute! (Daniel did a rockin' job, I think. It features the same cute Darumas seen on the poster above.)

Please come by Bellevue Community College if you're in the area, and say hello.

-A

6 comments:

Unknown said...

ヤホホ~~イ!
すっかりコロラドも涼しくなりましたーというより、わたしゃ、寒いよ。
裏のきゅうりも何本か収穫して、おいしく食べてますが、この気温だと、あとどれくらい取れるやら、、、。

楽しそうだね~秋祭り。
がんばって(?)楽しんでね~!

それにしても、かわいいポスターに書いてある、パペットショーって、、、どんなものなの?

Aya said...

えみこさ~ん、ヤッホーイ。

そうなんだ、コロラドはもう寒いんですね! こちらも、まだちょっと暖かめではあるにしろ、紅いもみじの葉を見つけたりして、はぁもう秋なのね。。。とちょっとため息。 Although I like fall!

パペットショーって、けっこう本格的なんですよ!衣装とか人形の頭とか全部カスタムの手作りで。

写真はこちらでちょっと見られます:
http://www.enma.org/2008/specialevents/children/puppetshow.htm#momotaro

あと、Ellyさんていうもう一つのほうのショーを主宰してるかたの経過ブログ:
http://ellyspuppetblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Momotaro

日本の昔のよろいみたいなのまで、材料を探しまわって一生懸命作ってらっしゃいます。

Unknown said...

ほほーっ
本格的ですね~。
よくがんばっていやっしゃる!

うちの地元、津軽の人形劇“金太豆蔵”というのを想い出してしまいました。。。(読み方:キンタ マメジョ)

も、もちろん、そちらのほうがずっと高級ですよ。

小さい時よく見たのですが、、今考えると、名前からしても、少しきわどい内容だったような、、、あ、もちろん、コメディーです、子供も見れる(笑)。

今はないでしょうね~~。

完璧に自分の記憶から消えていましたが、
なんかほのぼのとした想い出がふっとよみがえりました。
昔の田舎ですから、それが娯楽だったんですね~。

Ruth said...

Glad to hear you're doing okay! I wish we could come to the festival!

mick(^o^)k said...

Aya,

Please post a new page before a 'snow festival' starts.

mick

Aya said...

Working on it... at least to prove I'm alive :P