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Memories of Dad at Anam Cara
This is Dad’s window at Anam Cara, a writer’s retreat in West Cork, Ireland. I waited until our last day there to go into the room to look at it. It casts a beautiful rainbow on the bathroom wall. The design of palm trees and pampas grass echoes the plantings in the front of the…
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Revisiting Anam Cara
Twelve years ago, Tod & I visited Anam Cara for a poetry workshop given by my sister, Jenny Hill, and Jack McGuigan. (My main memory of that trip is memorialised in this poem.) When I realised that we’d be in the area this year for the European Juggling Convention in Millstreet, of course we had…
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Building a Geiger Counter
Meet bGeigie #2209. We built her yesterday. Tod soldered 179 points. I did the non-soldering bits. The build took us most of the day, but it wasn’t too hard. I think some of the time was taken up awe, making comments like “Wow, we’re adding the smallest disk drive ever” and “This tiny thing is a…
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Filming “Stars” on Niijima
Here is the latest video with the Frolicaholics. We filmed it on Niijima during Guru-Guru Camp and it was such fun that I want to share the behind the scenes bits. The Recording We sat in our campsite early in morning – there were no other campers in residence yet – and tried perhaps ten…
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Me, the Sea, and the Sunrise
One of the quiet delights of camping on Niijima is a morning walk to the beach. This year, I saw several sunrises emerging blood red from the ocean. For some of them I was busy hooping while Rob filmed me for our video project. Sunrise. I am sitting atop a 4 meter high koga stone…
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Niijima before camp
You know I love Niijima, don’t you? We have been there so many times to enjoy living a slow life in nature. I’ve lost count. 10? 12? There is something magical about the island that brings us back again and again. Guru-guru Camp, our annual 2 week camping/hooping trip, is coming up again during Golden Week…
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Spring Sketching
I took my watercolors to the park today and although the output isn’t anything special, it was glorious to be out in the fresh air focussing my attention on the environment for a few minutes. I am reminded how much I enjoy this form of meditation. More drawing…
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Roller Coaster Weather
Almost every day last week, I discussed the weather forecast with Heather. It was making unpleasant predictions for her hanami party on Sunday. It declared High: 11 – too chilly for infants to enjoy a picnic – and each day brought new doomsaying of rain with varying percentages of chance. At one point it told her it…
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Hanami 2014
Rob & I get together for a hanami lunch in the Ayoama Bochi every year. Today was the day. It was beautifully mild and our hilltop picnic spot was eye-level with the blossoms. We were showered with petal snow as the winds blew clouds in. The rains begin tonight, so I think Tokyo’s hanami season…
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The Frolicaholics Play Hoop Lounge
Memorable birthday! Instead of going out to dinner or pigging out on cake, Tod & I played a show at Hoop Lounge. We were in a terrific line-up of acts that included a diablo player, a performance artist, and a Cirque du Soleil dancer/clown. Backstage was warm and chatty as we got to know one…
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