Declined Cards, Postcard Letters, & Photo (Patreon)

Hey hey, Lovely Critters,

I wanted to give an update about a couple things.

1. Over the past couple months I've had probably 6~7 patrons contact me about their credit cards being denied. They powered through despite repeated failed attempts and were finally able to get the card (or another card) to work again. I went over to the Patreon Discord and it seems we're not the only one with this trouble. I contacted Support (as did many others) and they said it's a bug that they're working on asap. I'm so sorry for the trouble. Thank you for letting me know. I'll keep an eye on how things are on their end. 

2. A couple weeks ago, I sent two month's worth of postcards plus any that had been returned for that person along with some stickers, and then I prayed to the Mail Gods that they'd all go through this time. Fingers are still crossed, but so far you all have been letting me know when they arrive and they seem to be getting to their destinations this time. ヾ(＠⌒ー⌒＠)ノ But I guess I'll really know in a week or so when/if any come back this way. I'll keep you updated.  💡IDEA💡　

So that made me think. Would Kappa, Oni, and Tengu patrons be okay if I sent out this way from now on (or until mail settles down)? 

If it's okay, it might be a safer bet. And I can stick in various stickers, too, because that's fun and easy and who doesn't need an adorable Japanese sticker on there...phone? computer? calendar? journal? forehead?

If everyone is okay with it, I'd send November and December's out in mid December and they should arrive before the end of the year. 

3. I'm going to do a post here about a temple I spent the day at recently and some neat stuff I learned. I'll post a couple photos here, too, now. But I need to look up more of the history of the place and go through and pick the best pictures, because there are so many. So that is coming soon. 

Richard even took a short video of the drive, because those mountain roads are always so invigorating and pretty and really give you a feeling of a Japanese temple visit. 

4. I'm giving a speech at a local university (the one I attended, actually), Shizuoka University, on November 19th, along with two other writers here in Japan. There will be a Zoom link, it'll be in the afternoon though, which might be a terrible time to be awake depending on where you are in the world. I will put up the information here for anyone interested. I'm hoping it's recorded and put up on Youtube though. That would be more convenient. 

5. I was asked to do another 12-week serialized story for the Asahi Newspaper. I said yes. A little nervous about time and all that. But I always enjoy the challenge. That runs from January through March. I'm pretty sure it's available online...at least the audio version is. I'll check. 

Okay, I think that's it. Thank you all so much ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡ XOXOs!

A couple photos from the other day.

I found the above fellow on a walk behind the temple. There were hundreds upon hundreds of statues. I love when visitors/monks? get playful and add these little touches. I'm sure someone lost a pair of sunglasses and they were presented to this cool dude.

A photo of the main temple. It's called Okuyama Hansōbō. But I've also seen other names attributed to it. Need to read some more. It was founded in the 1300s by one of the Emperor's sons. It's Rinzai, Zen.

This bridge was named Kihaikyo/亀背橋, Turtle's Back Bridge. It was beautifully red and wonderfully old. There was a Murder Hornet's/suzume bachi's nest, but they buzzed, followed, but left us alone. 

And this, if you can see it, was another statue that someone had outfitted with a plastic face shield. I LOVE the weird lens flare and rainbow effect that I didn't see when I took the photo. 

Okay, I'll put up more with all the neat information I find in a week or so. I really need to figure out what I'm going to write about for the newspaper. The deadline is the end of this month. Love to you all, XO!

terrie