National Children's Day aka Boy's Day

May 5th is Children's day in Japan. Until recent years it was known as "Boy's Day". Tradition was to fly a carp flag for each male in the household. Now I think you fly a carp for each member of the household. I've noticed that most Japanese people on Kyushu (where the boys are from) still do it the old fashioned way (just boys). This beautiful flag set was "blackcatted" (Japanese UPS) from Andrew's baba(birth grandmother). And seeing how she's older and from Kyushu she sent a traditional set....one for each of my boys. We are the talk of the neighborhood. Most of my neighbors have out a little set(pole and carp are about 12 inches long). This set is huge. The largest flag is 2 meters long and the pole extends like 10 feet. Flying this thing the past week has made me feel like one of the "natives".


Tanya the "mystery" green knitted "item" from the last post is this beautiful handmade baby blanket (the picture doesn't do it justice) from Jenny A. She bought the yarn (don't ask I've forgotten)at Yuzawya. And thought it would be perfect for Ethan. She basically followed the dishcloth pattern until it was as wide as she wanted and then she decreased one side while increasing the other until it was the right length. Then she decreased both until the end. It is just perfect and we take it everywhere.