Intermission

Well, that was a much longer "intermission" than I planned! But somehow, before you know it a week turns into a month and a month turns into a year... and here I am 18 months after my last blog post!

As you can probably guess, a lot has happened while I've been "away". Far too much to cover in any detail. By far the biggest change has been trying to get used to our new way of being without my "NZ Mum" as an almost daily part of our lives. It's still hard to accept that she has become "history", just a photo on the wall since her sudden death in November 2012. I think of her often, and frequently catch myself wondering "What would 'Nagymama' think?"

Other than that, the major change has been that I resigned from my Speech-Language Therapy job, effective in early February this year. Five days after my last day at work, I started studying Early Childhood Teaching - a "Graduate Diploma" via distance learning at Canterbury University. What a joy it has been to meet the others on my course at our regular "On-site intensives" at the university in Christchurch - such a diverse group of people. I've surprised myself with how easy it has been to slip back into full-time studying and I'm loving the intellectual challenge, even enjoying writing essays! Whilst I was in Christchurch studying in February, I finally delivered the 1000 paper cranes I started folding in 2011 after the fatal Christchurch earthquakes, and so many of you out there helped fold paper cranes for this project too. So I'm proud to say that our 1000 paper cranes formed part of the 3rd anniversary commemorations of the Canterbury earthquakes. Link to my original post re 1000 Paper Cranes.

The completed 1000 paper cranes just before handing over...

Another exciting thing for our family was our incredible round-the-world trip in December 2013/January 2014. We set off from NZ a week before Christmas and spent several days in Washington DC and then caught a train to New York for another few days. We flew from New York to London, arriving on Christmas Eve. After an unpleasant journey in a jam-packed train (standing room only) we made it to our family in Somerset late on Christmas Eve. We had a fantastic family Christmas, including spending time with my lovely 97 year old Grandad, both my parents, brother, nephew and niece. After a few weeks in the UK catching up with family and friends, we took a trip on the EuroStar train to Paris, and spent a wonderful few days exploring Paris from the sanctuary of our historic apartment in Les Chatelets. A couple of days in London, and then we came back home again via Tokyo. On our day trip to Mt Fuji from Tokyo, Sonny Jim finally got the snow he had been longing for all winter.

What a trip!

Anyway, I hope to update the blog again a bit more regularly from now on. I've really missed the pleasure of regular (non-academic!) writing... "Talk" soon :-)

Fold. . . Lettergramme - no envelope necessary

Following on from my Love. . . Snail mail post, I bring you a thrifty (bargainaceous) and fun stationery idea: The Lettergramme. It's a bit like an aerogramme and it saves you from having to find/buy/use an envelope. You write your letter on a rectangle of paper and then fold the letter up to become its own envelope! A4 paper is a really good size, but the only limit is your imagination (and your country's postal regulations on allowable sizes for letters in the mail!) You can use one sheet of paper or more, but above two or three sheets folded as one, it gets too bulky to fold and secure properly. I first saw this idea in an origami book many years ago. I think it was a Nick Robinson book, but am not sure of its title. I just found instructions for a more complicated "3D" envelope here on his website, but the version I am familiar with is much simpler. I have used it countless times over the years, and I hope you find it useful too.

Here's a photo tutorial for you. . .

First write your letter (here using my Lamy Safari fountain pen).

Fold your letter in half, like a book, with the words inside.

Unfold, and then fold two edges to the middle crease as shown.

Fold the top and bottom edges inwards, parallel, to make a (nearly) diamond shape.

Take the bottom right point and tuck it in under the top right diagonal flap.

Repeat the same on the left side.

Although it holds together well on its own, secure with sticker/sticky tape if sending through the mail.

Pop it in the post, and do your bit to keep Snail Mail alive!

Fold. . . Paper crane competition prizes revealed

Both blog prize packages were received long ago, in NZ and England so at long last I can share a few details. I had planned to reveal the prizes here weeks ago, but then life got in the way. . .

Anyway, first up we have the prize awarded to one of Sonny Jim's classmates who made the best guess of the number of cranes in the box (same as in the photo on the blog), after I had spent the afternoon teaching the class how to fold paper cranes. A 9 year old  boy won the prize and I gave him some origami paper and an origami basketball set, whilst I gave the "Paper planes handbook" to the whole class as a thank you for helping me out with the crane project. It even has the instructions for a "flapping bird" at the back (and that is one of the things I taught the class to make!)

Prize for school

Next up we have the prize awarded to the first prize winner in the blog competition, Laura, who managed to guess only one away from the correct number of paper cranes:

First prize (think I swapped small paper for large at the last minute?)

First prize - crane mobile made by me

In my original first prize I also had two balls of amazingly coloured Japanese Noro yarn and I happened to know that the first prize winner wasn't a yarny kind of gal, hence a runner up prize was awarded to the person who got the second closest guess - "DerailMe". Luckily, my spies told me she is very much a yarny person, so this is the runner-up prize:

2 balls Noro Kureyon sock yarn

I couldn't resist making a paper crane mobile for her as well,  in Canterbury colours this time as she lives in the Christchurch earthquake area. In the photo below you will see that the birds are "flat-packed" ready for sending through the post, but it only takes a few minutes to cajole them into 3D form.

The beads at the bottom of this mobile say "Kia kaha" which is a Māori phrase roughly equating to "Be strong" or "Stay strong".

So that's it - all the prizes handed out or posted and received safely. Now I just need to finish folding the first 1000 cranes. We're almost there folks. . . thanks for all your help :)

Competition results. . . How many paper cranes so far?

Fanfares please. . . we have a winner!

The Wifie and I counted the paper cranes (pictured above) last night and we counted 581 cranes. Looking at the entries in the competition (see this post and this one) we have a clear winner, only one away from the actual number of cranes. Laura guessed 580 cranes, so she wins the top prize! Just because I'm feeling generous, I am also giving away a runner up prize to the next closest guess, and that was "DerailMe" with 586. If you can both get in touch with me and give me your postal addresses, I will get your prizes in the mail later this week. Once you have received your prizes I will put photos of them up here on the blog :-)

Well done both of you, and thank you ALL for entering. Extra special thanks to anyone reading this who has contributed cranes for the cause, and to those I know of who are part way through folding.

By the way, in the last couple of weeks I have folded/accumulated an extra 103 cranes, so we are now up to 683 cranes in total. Reaching the target of the first 1000 seems to be within reach at last. . .

This afternoon, I also handed out a prize to Sonny Jim's class for helping me fold some cranes last week (a book on folding paper planes and other flying things), and a special prize to the child who guessed closest to the actual number of cranes above (some origami paper). So it's prizes all round!

Fold. . . paper cranes at the local school. Plus COMPETITION reminder!

Cranes folded by my son's class, on a table in the classroom.

Yesterday, I went to the local school and showed my son's class how to fold paper cranes. I arranged it with the teacher at the beginning of the week, and am very grateful that he was so receptive to the idea and willing to let the paper cranes project take up a whole afternoon of school. Apparently the children wrote haiku poems in the morning, so they really did have a Japanese kind of day! Before I got there at 2pm, the class teacher had explained to them about the 1000 cranes legend and my project for Christchurch and Japan, even showing my 1000 Cranes blog post on the data projector. The children were all so enthusiastic and keen to help out. Very uplifting.

Yesterday afternoon, the teacher and every child in the class made a paper crane for the "1000 cranes for Christchurch and Japan" project. That's 29 cranes for the cause, and after they had done those I showed them all how to make a "flapping bird" as well. I am so grateful to all the children involved.

When I picked up Sonny Jim today, one of the children gave me another crane she had folded. Fantastic! The class teacher reckons that several more children will probably fold more cranes towards the 1000 over the next wee while. A few of the children showed me very small cranes they had made since yesterday afternoon - lots of them were fascinated by the three tiny cranes (wingspan of 2 cm or less) that I showed them yesterday, and had obviously been practising.

When I visited the classroom yesterday for the origami session, I took all the paper cranes photographed below so the children could have their own little competition to guess how many cranes there are. Each child has recorded their answer in one of their school books, and after I have counted the cranes I will award a prize of some Japanese origami paper to the child who has the closest guess.

How many paper cranes do you think are pictured above?

Don't forget, the blog-based "Guess the crane" competition closes in just over 24 hours, at midnight on Saturday 28th May, New Zealand time. Thank you to all those who have entered. So far there aren't many entries though, so if you haven't put your guess in the comments yet, I urge you to do so. Just write your comment in response to the "How many paper cranes so far?" blog post. Or even comment here. Someone has even put their guess on the "Blogger stole my post" post! But as long as you post a comment somewhere on here I will find it and include it, never fear! There are a lot more cranes folded now, two weeks later, but for the competition I just want to know how many paper cranes you reckon are in the photo above. Those particular cranes are all in a sealed box away from the others, and I will count them once entries have closed - at the moment I have little idea of how many there are myself, so am looking forward to doing the head count!

I will announce the winner by Tuesday night, and reveal the prize too. . . But you've got to be "in it to win it" as they say, so go on, just pick a number!
(Please?!)

Fold. . . how many paper cranes so far?! COMPETITION

This is the replacement version of the post I published on Thursday - cos blogger ate that one! Luckily only one person had posted a comment before the post disappeared, despite a large number of people having a look. So come on people, get those guesses in the comments below. . .

All the cranes so far. . . except five.

You remember my plan to fold/collect 1000 paper cranes for Christchurch and 1000 for Japan? (See this blog post if you want more info). A steady stream of paper cranes have flown in over the last few weeks. Some from the UK, many from around New Zealand, and I have kept folding too. All folded with love for the people of Christchurch and Japan.

But, the big question is: 
how many paper cranes do we have so far?

I haven't done a crane head-count yet, but if you would like to post your guess in the comments section below, I will award a mystery prize to the person/people with the closest guess. The prize is a mystery, cos I haven't decided what it is yet! Just a hint, in the photo above you can see all the cranes so far (except 5 which I managed to miss out of the photo - sorry E!) but although I didn't deliberately hide any cranes, I can't guarantee that they are all visible either. . .
To enter the competition, post your guess in a comment below by midnight on Saturday 28th May, New Zealand time. I will announce the winner(s) by midnight Tuesday 31st May.

Huge thanks to the following (in no particular order)who have supplied contributions towards the first 1000 paper cranes:

S-L in Christchurch
S in Waitakere
K in Palmerston North
M in Red Beach
C and helpers in Auckland
L and J in Tasman
C, M, C, K, and A in Nelson
E in the UK

Hopefully I didn't miss anyone off that list - but if I did (oh, the shame), then please let me know and I will fix up the list right away.

Fold. . . 1000 paper cranes update

Cranes folded by work colleagues and me

For the full story, see this blog post. I have been folding these cranes on and off for a few weeks now and above you can see a photo of the paper cranes I have folded, along with some contributed by workmates during lunch breaks. Between us we have folded 44, which might not seem like much, but that's quite a lot of folding! On Wednesday this week when I got to work there were two envelopes waiting for me and they were literally bulging with paper cranes! 28 of them, sent by an exceptionally kind Christchurch resident, "S-L".

Cranes just arrived from "S-L" in CHCH

I have never met this woman, but her kindness in both actions and words is amazing and humbling, particularly given that she lives right in Christchurch, which has been so badly affected by earthquakes since last September. Along with the beautiful little cranes, she sent a note in each envelope that gave me a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat - I was so touched by what she wrote. Here is a little snippet: "The fact you wanted to honour our lost made me want to honour you through giving you what I could. As I have folded, I have put as much blessings, hope, peace and eventually happiness into them, and I hope as you string them together, these blessings flow onto you and your loved ones too."

All the cranes so far. . . 72/1000

We've got a long way to go yet until the 1000 cranes are completed, but with amazing people around like S-L, I am sure we will get there.

If any of you reading this would like to help out, the instructions on how to fold an origami crane are here and you can e-mail me at yarnificationz (at) gmail (dot) com for a postal address. Next school term I am planning to ask my son's class teacher if I can get his class involved in the project too . . . I will offer to go in and show them how to fold the cranes and each child can fold at least two - one for the 1000 Cranes Project and one for themselves. Watch this space :-)

Fold. . . teeny tiny paper cranes

Tiniest crane perched on my little finger

In-between folding loads of full-sized cranes for my 1000 Cranes for Christchurch and Japan effort, I have been having a play with making teeny-tiny paper cranes with the offcuts. Above and below you see my tiniest efforts to date. Their wingspan just reaches 2 cm! No, before you ask, I don't have small hands - in fact I have larger than average ones, I just like a challenge ;-)

I am planning to have a go at making some earrings out of these tiny cranes. If I succeed I will update this post with the results! Meanwhile progress towards the 1000 full-size cranes continues. . . help still welcome. Here's a photo of the first 30 on a big platter. . .

If you'd like to fold a few cranes for Christchurch and Japan, just get in touch via the comments or email address yarificationz (at) gmail (dot) com

Thanks :-)

Fold. . . a thousand paper cranes for Christchurch and Japan

Paper cranes I folded yesterday, some with flapping action.

My heart goes out to all those suffering in Japan after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake on 11th March. The proportions of the disaster just defy belief, and the tv footage is so disturbing - how on earth can people muster strength to survive an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster, when any single one of those would be a catastrophe in its own right?

I imagine many of you are familiar with the story of 1000 paper cranes, but for those who aren't - here's a brief outline.

There is an ancient Japanese story which says that if anyone manages to fold 1000 origami paper cranes, they will be granted one wish by a crane. Sadaki Sasako was only two years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, near her home by Misasa Bridge in 1945. Over the years she became sick and was eventually diagnosed with leukaemia. She was hospitalised in February 1955 (aged 12) and given a maximum of a year to live. A friend of hers visited her in hospital and gave Sadaki a golden paper crane she had folded. This reminded Sadaki of the ancient Japanese story. Sadaki decided to fold 1000 paper cranes, hoping that then the crane would grant her wish to be well again. Sadly, Sadaki died on 25th October 1955, and stories vary as to whether she finished her 1000 cranes or not. Her story lives on and there are statues of her holding the original golden paper crane in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and Seattle Peace Park. There is a plaque at the base of the statue in Hiroshima Peace Park that reads: "This is our cry. This is our prayer. Peace on Earth."

The picture below is from the Wikipedia Creative Commons.

Statue of Sadaki Sasako in Seattle Peace Park

I have decided I will fold 1000 paper cranes as a wish that people in Japan, Christchurch and disaster zones elsewhere in the world will find peace in their hearts and the strength to carry on and rise up from the ruins and incredible suffering around them. I will be sending positive thoughts to all those affected in Japan and Christchurch as I fold. Once they are finished, I plan to string the 1000 cranes together and give them to the King's Language School in Christchurch (where 68 overseas students, and 9 staff died in the earthquake, in the collapsed and fire-riddled 6 storey CTV building) My aim is to let them know that people elsewhere in the country (and the world) are thinking of them, by using the 1000 cranes as a metaphor for offering hope and a wish for a peaceful future. Many of the lost students at King's Language School were Japanese, but regardless of ethnicity, I hope the thought will be appreciated. Here's a link to the names and nationalities of all those from King's Language School missing/dead in the earthquake. It is so sad to read all those names and think of all those young people so far away from their homes and loved ones when they died. As a mother and as someone who lives a world away from her family of birth, that really gets to me. . .

In fact, of course, the whole situation and ALL the deaths really get to me, and this is just one little thing I want to do to help, to send thoughts, aroha (love) and strength to all those affected. It may be a very small thing, but it's all I can do, having already given what I can monetarily to the earthquake relief funds. I just hope it will be well-received. I have no fixed time limit in mind, just as soon as I can fold/gather 1000 cranes and get them threaded together, I will deliver the cranes to Christchurch. It's approximately 5.5 hours drive away - perfectly do-able with an overnight stop.

If any of you reading this would like to send me some paper cranes to help make up the 1000 I would be delighted. It doesn't have to be fancy paper, anything will do (even junk mail!), but please make sure the squares you start with are at least 15 cm square.


Here's a clickable link to a pdf of illustrated instructions to make an origami paper crane.
For those of you who don't know me personally, please contact me at yarnificationz (at) gmail (dot) com and/or with a comment below and I will let you know where to post those cranes. . .

If by a small miracle I end up with over 1000 cranes thanks to all of your generosity, then I will start folding and collecting the next 1000 cranes to send to a pre-school or school in Japan which has been badly affected.

By the way, I first heard of the story of Sadaki and the 1000 paper cranes back in the early 1990s, by way of a song entitled "Cranes over Hiroshima" from American folk singer Fred Small. The lyrics and guitar chords can be found here.