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Rain, Observed
I took a moment today to sit on the floor in the dining room and look out the window at the rain. It was meditative to observe without any expectation or need to act. I watched the water drip off the channels of our tin roof. Each had a different timing, creating a pattern that…
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Tanada Go-nin Otoko
Kabuki debut! It’s been years since I’ve been on a stage for any sort of performance and this one was special – a Kabuki skit in Japanese, and I was in drag. Since I was in makeup at 9:30 and in costume from 11 am for our 2 pm performance, I made sure to add…
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Early Morning
My favorite days start with a dawn walk around 555. I join the bees and butterflies in their first explorations. Birds sing and squawk. The morning unfolds itself with a sensory overload. Today, the scent in the mist was heavenly. The huge osmanthus along our driveway is starting to bloom. Its tiny orange flowers are…
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Bucket List
For the last couple of months, New Crone’s Complete It Club has focused on prioritising life’s work and legacy goals – and moving them towards completion. Important stuff, but heavy. Let’s take a break this month for some of the dreamy, frivolous, and indulgent things you want to do. Wishes like that go on a…
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Martial Traditions
Today we went to Mishima Jinja in Kimitsu to watch the festival there. It’s a special demonstration of traditional martial arts based on swords and farm implements. Five hundred years ago, the area didn’t have a daimyo overlord to provide protection from warring neighbors, so the peasants had to defend themselves as best they could.…
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Equinox vs Equilux
I am not sure how I lived this long without really understanding the equinox. I have been marking equinox and solstice days for decades. It’s one of the few planet-wide things to be celebrated. I thought the equinox was when the day and night were equal lengths. That’s what I learned in school. Also that…
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Now, Autumn
Hooray, the weather has changed! For the first time since June 22, the overnight low was under 20C. I slept with all the windows open last night and enjoyed the light chill of 18.2 degrees and low humidity. For the next ten days, daytime highs are forecast to be 30 or under. A welcome change…
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Alcohol Color Extraction
A couple weeks ago I took an online course, Creating Liquid Watercolors and Botanical Inks, that demonstrated a range of color extraction methods. Up until now, I had only worked with simmering and hot-steeping (the tea method) to get color. I got a beautiful dye from globe amaranth using my mortar and pestle. It was…
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Yumbo!
One of my goals for 2024 is to get my excavator certification. It’s not a typical goal for a middle-aged lady, but read on for the why. Thanks to a lucky chain of events, I am helping to organise an English-friendly certification course in Kamogawa in November. We are currently hustling to get enough students…
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Moon Madness
Might as well blame the minor incidents of the last couple of days on something. It was the FULL MOON that gave me a migraine, caused me to search the house for a missing spoon at 2 am, and made Beryl play with a snake. There’s not much else to say about the “Respect for…
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