Change of seasons

Our cosy winter dining area with kotatsu and uchikake

As I mentioned in a post recently, it's Golden week in Japan. Golden week sees people madly rushing around the country, the roads, planes and trains full to the brim with travellers. For that reason, I don't - travel that is.

Wayne went off to Kyoto for the day to watch people try to kill each other, so I took the opportunity to change the apartment from winter to summer. A lot of it was hard work and I must say, I don't know how we'd cope in this apartment without those bags you store things in then vacuum out the air so they take up less space. Not even considering my large collection of clothes.. we have so many futons, extra blankets, extra sheets and pillows which have been well used for all the visitors we've had in the past year.

Anyway, the fun job of the day was changing our little dining alcove. It's my favourite part of the apartment and I try to keep it free of the clutter that seems to invade the rest of our abode. In the picture at the top, you can see what it looked like this morning. The table is called a kotatsu and is just heaven in the cold weather. It is built with a heater underneath and when you sit under the quilt it is so cosy and warm you never want to get up. I bought the uchikake, wedding kimono, before we did the area up for winter so we tried to co-ordinate everything to match it.

In the picture below, you can see what the area looks like now. The tatami mat has red and blue dragonflies embroidered in the corner, so I hung one of my kakejuku scrolls up that features jizo and some blue dragonflies. I had thought of getting another kimono to hang in the area, but now I like the "zen-ness" of the space, it has a cool feel for the summer.

I was so inspired by the new look that I did something I very rarely do - cook! I made salmon cakes with sweet potato, onion, garlic, negi and dill. If I must say myself - they were really yummy! Pity poor Wayne wasn't around to witness his wife cook, but I have saved him some as I think they'll make a lovely decedent breakfast.

Our dining alcove with its fresh summer look