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Warning: Re-launch in 5…. 4… 3…

Hello faithful readers and wayfaring strangers.

In August, I plan to re-launch sarahjoyalbrecht.com with a fresh layout and a monthly themed care-package giveaway. (There’s no way I can keep all this awesome stuff from Japan to myself!) Although the package will arrive free of charge, it will have to be won (along with the bragging rights) through a challenge of some sort. (No whining! It’s my blog and I said so! Besides, it’s more fun with challenge!)

Here’s a hint for the first challenge :
It will have something to do with my 1997 Toyota Lucida

Back to teaching (and learning!) about Ancient Egypt over here…

Oh! Real quick (and yes, I’m this random in person… just ask Tom) —

Speaking of The Wayfaring Stranger, Josh Komorowski sings my favorite rendition of this old spiritual. You can find it on his album, “There is Always Hope”.

To Egypt!

:)

SJA

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Trumpeter Swan? Trying to Solve a Mystery Noise

Every morning at sunrise, a series of eerie horn-like blasts welcome in the day. I’m highly doubtful that it’s a newbie French horn player or an wild elephant trumpeting, but there are definite similarities!

The first time I heard the sound was in April, after the snow storms finally ended. Since then, I have been trying to solve the mystery of it’s origin.

It only occurs at sunrise – much like a rooster. It had never dawned on me before today that a bird could actually be making the noise.

Following that line of thinking, I began to Google for birds that make a trumpeting sound.

The Wikipedia entry on the Trumpeter Swan says that it was, “named for its trumpet-like honk which some compare to the sound of a French horn.” I think that it is a pretty accurate description.

Below is a recording I made this morning. First, the morning chirps of birds in the rice field and trees can be heard, then the trumpeting noise in the distance.

What do you think it is?

(Note: If you are having trouble viewing the movie, try clicking on the title of this post to open it on it’s own page.)

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Rice Planting in Kashiwa, Japan – May 23, 2009

For the first time in my life, I saw rice being planted!

When I went outside early this morning, I noticed the back field, which has been flooded for about a week, had been drained and was full of thick mud.

A little before 9am, a rice planting machine drove up the path from the next farm over. The neighboring farmers work as a co-op and each farmer owns a different machine in for the planting process, and each does their part. The landlord and all the neighboring farmers gathered around and loaded up the planting machine with trays of baby rice plants. Before the last frost, the rice had been planted directly into the trays and grown in plastic-covered tunnels.

The planter rapidly separated the rice in the tray and planted individual springs into the ground. A little wheel on an arm sat on the side of the machine and marked the mud to assist the farmer in aligning the rows.

In movies I have watched of rice being planted, I’ve noticed that there are usually corners left behind that must be hand-planted. However, there were no corners left in our field to be hand-planted! Not only did the machine turn on a dime, it was as if the field was created for the dimensions of the particular machine.

With the gears and the trays of rice on the back of the machine, it was back-heavy. Three farmers had to climb onto the front of the machine as it ascended the small ramp out of the field, in order to counter-balance the weight.

Today’s rice planting was the most amazing, efficient planting of any kind I have ever seen. As an amateur gardener, I was fascinated. The whole planting process took less than 10 minutes.

Kashiwa rice is one of the most delicious varieties of short grain rice in the world.