I Would Love to Wear a Kimono... and

 An “Obi”  (not to be confused with the lovely Obi Wan Kinobi, picture thanks to videogamesblogger.com)

is a word that refers to various Japanese belts and sashes used for formal kimonos to martial arts uniforms.
Obi’s worn with kimonos; their function is to secure the robe as well as to decorate.

An obi for a mans kimono is often rectangular and darkly coloured whereas an obi for a woman’s kimono is much wider and longer and is tied under the bust and wrapped around the waist more times. The Yellow butterfly above is from  http://www.jlifeinternational.com/




Obis are also worn with hakama, a type of skirt worn by men with kimonos, and yukata robes, a light summer kimono worn by men and women alike.

The term kimono refers to a form of traditional dress for Japanese men, women and children. Dating back to the 17th century, a kimono is a floor-length garment with square-cut sleeves.
Whether you are attending a Japanese-themed party or want to learn more about Japanese culture, be sure to familiarize yourself with the proper technique for wearing a kimono and the accessories that go with it.

For example never drape the right side of the kimono over the left. This way of wearing a kimono is used only when preparing a corpse for burial. Pictures from www.wikipedia.org/

Read more: How to Wear a Japanese Kimono

http://www.ehow.com/

· Dōura upper lining on a woman's kimono

· Eri collar
· Fuki hem guard
· Furi sleeve below the armhole
· Maemigoro front main panel:excluding sleeves.

Covering portion of the other side of the back maemigoro is divided into "right maemigoro" and "left maemigoro"

· Miyatsukuchi opening under the sleeve
· Okumi front inside panel situated on the front edge of the left and right, excluding the sleeve of a kimono,Until the collar, down to the bottom of the dress goes, up and down part of the strip of cloth.Have sewn the front body.it is also called
· Sode sleeve
· Sodeguchi sleeve opening
· Sodetsuke kimono armhole
· Susomawashi lower lining
· Tamoto sleeve pouch
· Tomoeri over-collar (collar protector)
· Uraeri inner collar
· Ushiromigoro back main panel:excluding sleeves,

I was having a browse on etsy and found these lovely items, a kimono a beautiful flower and an obi belt by the following sellers here on etsy

http://www.etsy.com/shop/flowersun
http://www.etsy.com/shop/PetalMix

http://www.etsy.com/shop/gogovintage

Other  sites to see more examples

http://www.thekimonocompany.co.uk/

http://www.jlifeinternational.com/

And sorry but I could not resist this!  here is a picture of my son and what I think his expression would be like if I wore e a kimono around the house.  I really don't know how he took this shot!, but there seems to be a wire attached to his head! Hard to believe that he is actually quite a  handsome lad: ) Although I can't quite see me mastering the art of carrying lumps of wood to keep the fire going if I were dressed in a kimono but perhaps just for lounging would be great. Think I might go and have a look at a few and treat myself and if I do I will let you see it........later.

Misumena Vatica

Well I certainly Misssed-U-Mena   last year when the Lily beetles attacked and stripped most of my lilies almost overnight. So there I was strolling around my garden looking at my labours of love last night, and the madonna lillies are out and looking fabulous, and then I looked at a few others and saw a small white thing on the end of one of the flower heads. I thought it was a deformed flower head on the plant, on looking closer to my horror I saw this white crab looking spider with a red dash on it.

I ran into the house and grabbed my camera and took a shot, light was against me but gave me enough to search the web and find out that she is a very useful little spider to have around. Here she is happily protecting my lilies, bless her little socks, so if you see this little lady just say hi and leave her in peace, as for me I hope she stays around for awhile. I have no idea if this is a male or female really!

I found this information on wikipedia along with  the fabulous photo below, and which tells you more about this spider and how it can even change from white to yellow, found it quite fascinating as I have never seen one here before. Also discovered that it's hunting and not really protecting my plants at all. So everything I just said above is not entirely true.Oh well

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misumena_vatia