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Chocolate for breakfast
Today marks the 8th anniversary of my yoga classes in Kamogawa. They started as a twice weekly practice at Satoyama Design Factory and later become a daily class first in person and then via Zoom. I never set out to be a yoga teacher, but I am glad that I did. My practice has created…
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Sunrises
I am an early riser. If am going to get things done, it’s likely to happen before breakfast. Maybe not three impossible things like the White Queen, but things, nonetheless. Morning is my time, though I am less focussed in the morning as I used to be. One of the things I have started doing,…
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There are no Good Guys
The world is on fire with large-scale hate and intolerance right now. Wikipedia lists 57 ongoing armed conflicts ranging from skirmishes to major wars. Here are some of the bigger conflicts: As far as I can tell, these are all complex wars for territory, resources and political power. In most of them, one side is…
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NaNoWriMo 2023
It seems like every few years, I sign up for NaNoWriMo. Write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days? Sure! I “won” in 2010 with my YA novel, 9 Point Plan, and failed in 2004 and 2018. So maybe 2023 will be a winner. UNLABELLED is a hero(ine)’s journey – a coming of age book…
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Inktober 2023
I enjoy an art challenge, and Inktober always draws me in. I can usually find time for at least a quick sketch for the daily prompt and sometimes a little longer playing on the page. I won’t say these are quality drawings, but I had a good time with them and I feel that I’ve…
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Timeline of a rescue
2:30 am. I wake to strange sounds. A bird in distress? A really large cicada? I don’t recognise the noise. I’m half asleep but can tell something’s wrong. Sounds like it’s coming from outside. I get up and pierce the dark with a flashlight. Maura and Beryl come running towards me from the fishtern. Do…
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Unpacking a dream
My sleep is usually broken by cats taking over my space in the bed, or cats coming in from a hunt announcing their triumphs, or cats jumping on my chest and requesting access to the under covers. Let’s face it, cats mess up my nights. Thanks to a lot of cat activity last night, I…
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Carnage
Cats are apex predators and mine are at the top of that apex. I will spare you images of the discoveries I have made in the last couple of days, but let me list them because this is way more than usual: Anyway this morning’s trash had a lot of dead animals and their parts.…
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Light-up delight up
Sounds from Oyama Senmaida carry straight over to 555. So yesterday afternoon, when I heard a muffled welcome speech, loud applause and then shouted instructions, I was intrigued enough to take a break and walk over to see what was going on. Aha! A clue. It wasn’t long before 200 high school students came trooping…
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555: Things I Love
There might be ten things I’d like to change, but there are so many more things that I love about this house. That takes us to ten, matching the number of things I’d change. But there are so many more things that I like. I will continue… I could go on. The house is a…
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