At the Yamato Promenade Antique Market I bought Pounce and Mouse this feathery collar. Pounce just lay down and looked sad. Mouse walked around looking like a lion and trying to bite it. Success! At the same time, I decided it was time for the evolution of the flower arrangement. I like when original arrangements…
Blue September in the Tatami Jungle
Festival Chasers—Neighborhood Kabuki Night
Mary called about something else, then mentioned Saturday’s festival. I told her the food stands were up as of Sunday afternoon; there might be more festival in store. A few hours later she and Annika trotted over. “I’m so glad you didn’t mind coming over here,” I said; “Annika makes this far more legitimate.” “Hey,…
Alarm Clock
We have a phone line that—while it’s located in Japan—is actually a US phone number. Telemarketers who call me at 3am find this difficult to understand and keep trying to insist Chris really did drop something in the mail in Florida this week asking for information on local politicians. Anyway, I was whining about this…
Japanese Fan Dance and the Art of Graceful Aging
Japanese dance is captivating. I’m neither super-emotional nor very artsy, but the lanterns, the late summer evening, the dropping temperatures and a sprinkle of rain beneath a fat and growing moon—combined with the haunting lyricism of the music and the tortured beauty of the love-suicide fan dances—both swells my heart and brings me close tears….
Yay! New Camera!
This is the first picture taken with my new camera! For more than two months now I’ve taped my little red camera’s battery door back on every time I needed to charge the battery or take out its memory card. For more than two months now I’ve also been explaining, “Uh…daijoubu, daijoubu…” (it’s ok, no…
Sands of Time
Here’s what I like: seashells, maps, September, consistency. And now, introducing…my sand collection! Regrettably, my sand collection is incomplete. This is all my own fault. For the longest time I made a conscious decision to NOT collect sand. “Then I’ll have to do it everywhere and it will be a ‘thing,’” I thought. “I can’t…
Matcha Green—A Sophisticated 27
Now that I am a Sophisticated 27 all I see is green. I mentioned a couple years ago that I associate my ages with colors. A watery aqua with silver and sailboats for 24 (when we lived in Florida), Chinese red with gold edges for 25 (coincidentally, I went to China for the first time…