Autumn has arrived

Even though according to the Japanese traditional calendar its is already winter, It looks more like Autumn in Ueda and surrounding area. Trees wear their colours proudly, and if it was not for the rain showers this would be a brilliant weekend for enjoying nature.



On the other hand we did not come for pleasure, but to work on the house. Tomo brought one of his staff, Mori-san, who kindly volunteered to help us.

The straw roof is very beautiful in rain, and this time I even spotted a patch of green vegetation growing on it.



This weekend several constructors were scheduled to visit the house, inspect the situation and prepare quotations. Even though we want to do the repairs as much as possible on our own, some jobs need expert attention. We had an interesting selection of local tradesmen, ranging from a company specialising on repairing temples and shrines, to some who deal with Minka and one who do eco-friendly/natural building. We also had a guy over to check whether we can install a modern wood stove to heat the main room. One of them remains strongly in memory, thanks to his fantastic business card:





It looks exactly like him!