AFTER 6 MONTHS AT LAST ~ HELLO!!!

January 21, 2008
HAPPY NEW YEAR
FROM ALL OF US AT OSHABERI!!!

It has been a long time since I have communicated with all of you ~ and so at last!
We are already half way through January! In 2008 I hope to post regular articles on our blog!

The last couple of weeks in Adelaide we have experienced a long heat wave with it peaking 3 times at 41 degrees! Wow – it has been so hot! But the last week has been a little cooler – you feel so blessed by sunrays, blue skies and warm breezes. And most of you will be reading wearing jumpers with your heaters on!

As I sit here and write this I look outside my kitchen window I have a few visitors – some Australian Wood Ducks! These 2 birds in the photoes are native Wood ducks (although the shape of their heads is similar to that of a goose. The duck with the dark head is the male and slightly behind him with the pale head and speckles on her side is the female.













I live in the Adelaide hills and the back of my house is surrounded by big gum trees, giving me the illusion that I live in a forest. Having wilderness means that I share my home with many species of birds. For the last 15 years I have run a small native wild bird sanctuary in my back yard. I have about 15 different species who visit me either regularly or at different times of the year. The reason I do this is because with many people now living in the hills a lot of the Australian native bushlands are disappearing giving way to homes and English gardens. This means that many species of birds are having a lot more difficulty in getting their food supplies met. There are also more cats and foxes have been introduced to this area and most birds are easy targets for these very clever hunters.
I have a couple of permanent couples living here all year round but in the summer many of them return and I sometimes get 50 of them visiting for daily treats – you can see the bird seed under foot! But their life depends on good rains and my dam is now nearly empty. Last year was also a dry year and when my dam dried up (deleted) most of them had to leave to try and find water. They mate for life and have their nests in hollow logs in the forest (thus wood ducks). When chicks are born they are nudged out of the nest and float to the ground where they live a dangerous life for awhile – why dangerous – as I mentioned there are many cats and foxes that never used to be a part of the natural equation and so they are not well equipped to deal with these modern hunters. Indeed when the chicks are threatened I have seen their parents trying to act as decoys – often meaning that they get eaten!
I love my ducks – they are so much fun to observe. At times they are very vocal establishing and re-establishing there pecking orders and there duck politics – but its all equality out there in duck world – girls pick on boys , on girls and vice versa – nothing about a weaker sex in this mob!
Thanks to your support for being a student at Oshaberi as that means that you help fund all the seeds for these birds – so thank you so much!

So on this very mellow morning I also find myself unraveling memories of last year
I know that many of you too have been on the journey of seeing Oshaberi transform.

The last part of 2007 saw ~ the disillusionment of Dobayashi

Even the ghekkos, mum and then the babe came to say Goodbye

GOOD-BYE DOBAYASHI – thanks for some great years!

And what was a very sad time for me in saying goodbye because I loved Dobayashi – I was very blessed because my old friend Natalie was there with me with her wisdoms, counseling, laughter and her morning prayers! It is at times like these that you need a friend.

Natalie also made the bibs and hats for both our Jizo San's and for the bib for our yamanba!

THANK YOU NATALIE!!!!


To the transformation of Tsukimi classroom - Though no new photoes of Tsukimi - wanted tyo include imagery - next time newer photoes!

While creating our new classroom ~Umegaoka!

It was a huge undertaking but now that it is done, it feels fabulous. I can’t mention everyone who helped as their were so many of you but to mention a few of my wonderful helpers ~~~
· Many thanks to my fabulous staff for all the extra work given – especially Mark who spent hours with rolled up sleeves, cleaning, polishing, fixing and helping shift all our stuff!

And I also need to say a BIG THANK YOU TO BEX, Mark's wife for all the extra hours he wasn't at home with her and Poppy and Mei!
· To Kotoe and Megumi for taking control of moving our office.
· To my friend Natalie – at the sewing machine – who worked hard throughout her visit with us – if you attended our fun Halloween Party you would have tasted her fabulous toffees and honeycomb – that she kept on making for the staff to keep up our energy levels! The top photo of her at Dobayashi is when she was doing her prayers – she has been a Tibetan Buddhist practitioner now for many years and is a meditation teacher amongst doing many other things
in Australia · To my daughter Maya – another fabric woman, fabulous cleaner and gardener who helped transform Umegaoka. She worked for hours away from her little boy, Izumo and without her tireless activity it would have been much harder on me - especially in the garden and all that sewing!
· To Kiyomi who often brought us lunch and treats and as I was so involved with the shifting she took Natalie under her wing and shared a lot of her time with her!

To all my relatives who supported us with all the extra leg work and fed us and my electrician - Norio san who is also my brother in law and was so kind in giving me heaps of his time. Hatsue San who fed us and helped clean and looked after my grandson, Izumo as often needed Maya’s help. And Katsuo san always running and doing anything he could to help
· To Gengaro the gardener for his pruning and digging and transplanting. Also to Kentaro who came for a weekend to help out Gengaro and Maya dig, shift and carry plants and rocks.
And to my wonderful partner – Fumio, of 30 years, who stayed in Australia but shared telephone calls encouraging me to ‘believe’!

And to all our wonderful students who took the shift in their stride and didn’t complain ~ I really appreciated everyone’s positive attitude!

I just feel so privileged that Oshaberi has so much support from all these wonderful people … and then while all this was happening we had a visitor welcoming us to UMEGAOKA ~
Our new classroom ~ what bird I cannot say but it is so good to be working in Umegaoka as all the vegetable gardens in the area support birdlife that can’t live in Tsukimi – I feel very blessed!

I hope to write regularly now that life has settled down. For any of you whose first visit it is to this blog please go back to last years entries as they are a part of my story, thus Oshaberi’s too!!!
And may we all have a fabulous new year!!!
Jayne Ueda