Life is flowing along from rainy season into summer. Every day brings beautiful, memorable, and wonderful moments. Here are a few from recent weeks.
There were two notable human interest articles in the local paper – a profile of me now that I’m on the Oyama Senmaida board, and an interview with Iku-chan about her childhood during the war.
A surprising number of people have said they saw me in the paper. I am glad to know the Bonichi has a wide readership! It does mean that (yet again) more people know me than I know them; which is a lifelong struggle. I don’t recognise faces well and putting names to them is even harder. So to the vaguely familiar man who paused his phone conversation in the supermarket to say hello, I must say that I’m sorry I didn’t greet you by name.
The Bonichi profile instigated a weird incident. Someone called up one of the other tanada programs in Kamogawa and expressed concern that an American corporation was taking over Oyama Senmaida. Hmmm, that seems like a leap of logic.
Shortly after that, I read about the rise of Sanseito, an ultraconservative political party with a YouTube presence. Their slogan is “Japanese First.” As a foreigner who is watching America crumble under this sort of sentiment, I have concerns. Fortunately, the movement is more loud than large so far. However, this is one reason I sometimes consider becoming a Japanese citizen. I want to be able to vote.
Okay, that’s getting off track for a camera roll. Let’s move on to photos of flowers and cats!
Cats first, as all three cats had medical attention this week. The house is an infirmary.
Fritter got into a scuffle with Grey Tabby, I think. I woke up on Saturday to find him hiding in the barn, fur askew, struggling to walk, bleeding from his one front leg. We took him down to Tateyama and got him some antibiotics. The injury wasn’t severe and he is healing well.
Beryl had been attacked the day before but I didn’t realise it until I could see and feel an abscess forming on Wednesday. Tod took her to see Dr. Aoyama down the road. Like Fritter, she got an injection of antibiotics. She’s been chilling in a favorite basket in the tractorport and seems to be feeling a bit better.
I thought Beryl’s scuffle had been with Maura. He’s been acting out and while he isn’t vicious, he’s been aggressive recently. Beryl is often his target. His changed behaviour is probably caused by all the injuries and attacks. I asked Dr. Aoyama to prescribe him some supplements that have helped him before. Right now he is napping on the pink wool blanket that we still haven’t returned to the recycle shop that loaned it as padding when we bought a table in 2024. (I should go pay for it; that blanket’s never going back)
The garden and grounds are a wild jungle of plants and my back prevents me from doing the heavy work to maintain it all. I am plucking things here and there and enjoying the color. The kitchen garden is full of weeds but has produced a couple of mini tomatoes, some small peppers, lots of basil, and there are other things lining up for the coming weeks. But mostly weeds.
I’ve been drawing and scribbling, as always. I’m not out to make great artworks. I simply need an outlet. My drawings and paintings are mostly for calming my mind and filling time. Sometime I learn hew things. Sometimes I simply mark the page. Once in a while I gain insight into my soul. Art is like that.
I am thinking about writing a new book for Drawing Meditations. “The Calming Beauty of Rules” would detail how repetition and rules not only create satisfying pieces but also bring you deeply into meditative flow state. It’s all in my head at the moment, but it’s ready to come out.
Finding calm in rules goes beyond art, of course. There are many common activities that combine repetition and rules that get me into flow state: cooking, planting rice, juggling, knitting, housecleaning, and now a new one:
On our trip to the US last month, I discovered that building Lego kits is one of those flow state activities. Tod’s sister, Maureen, brought a kit with her and we all took part in building it. And then she sent us a huge set that will become a working drawbridge. Tod & I have been enjoying putting it together, step by step. Each little bit reveals the engineering of the whole. It’s surprisingly relaxing. I’m going to go put some bricks together now, in fact.
If you want more photos as they happen, check out my Instagram stories.
