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Mad for madder
Madder is one of the few botanical sources of deep red. In its various forms it has been used to color military uniforms, fine clothing, and even the red sun at the center of the Japanese flag was once colored with madder. The red color comes from anthraquinone compounds in the roots. Of course I…
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Camera Roll
Spring is in full swing. I have a million photos of flowers and cats. Wanna see a selection of them? Here are the flowers & plants: And the cats never fail to be sweet or sleepy or fierce:
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Planning the Color Garden
Energised by spring’s return, I’m starting to plan the hatake for 2025 and beyond. Having been told that monkeys, boars, and deer are likely to eat any vegetables I might plant, I am pivoting to my interest in botanical color. I will create a color garden that produces plants I can turn into dyes and…
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Camera roll
It’s time for some random photos of things around here over the past little few weeks. None are worthy of posts in themselves, but I’m hoping to keep the memories. First, some cats. Two new strays have been visiting. I think grey tabby is from next door, but “orange fluff” is a complete unknown. He…
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Forest fire?
Yesterday afternoon, I thought I heard the crunch-crunch of a cat eating a mouse downstairs. But nobody had a mouse. The cracking sound was coming from outside. Maybe Kawasaki-san was doing some brushcutting? I opened the door for a better listen. No…this sounded more organic. A fire popping and cracking. Bamboo burning. I trotted down…
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Running a Retreat
After 18 months at 555, I am finally ready to open the space to the public for a Drawing Meditations retreat. Won’t you take this as a great excuse to visit? These times definitely call for some quiet and self-care. With everything going on in the world and in your life specifically, give yourself a…
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The Shed
It’s not exactly a shed. It’s a gatehouse-atelier-kura-shed with a basement. I love how it completes a triangle of buildings to form a compound. As you come up our driveway, the gatehouse stands tall and imposing at the top of the hill. The barn doors open into “B1,” the concrete structure that holds our grass…
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Mother Trees
Up on the ridge of the mountain behind 555, there are five huge and ancient Shii trees. They are relatives of our Ent but somehow even larger. The mother trees of the forest. Photographs can’t show their majesty. While we were visiting with them, Tod discovered the shrine we knew would be there. We’d looked…
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Christmas 2024
I seem to be starting a tradition of taking Maura to the vet on Christmas. Last year he had an abscess that needed surgery; this year I have avoided that with prompt medical care. Mai-kun from Oyama Senmaida came over on Christmas Eve and got in a roiling fight in the storm drain with Maura.…
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Skeleton of Naya
Thanks to Nagai-san’s hard work over the past couple of days, the barn is cleared, the metal siding removed, almost all the trash taken out, and the interesting stuff put aside. Now we can get to work on the next stages – stabilising it and planning its final form as Tod’s space.
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