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Oyama Fudoson recognised
Oyama-ji, my favorite local temple, has been officially designated an Important Cultural Property by the Japanese government. It’s been a long time coming! I am very glad it has a federal designation now. This should help with its preservation and upkeep. 1301 years ago, in 724, a traveling monk (possibly Roben) asked one of the…
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Generational blind spot
Katie and I met at the start of the pandemic when she joined my online yoga class. She recently came to visit in person for a few days. We get along great, have a lot in common, and Beryl loves her very much. It’s a delight to spend time with her. But here’s a thing…
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Studio for Happy Experiment and Discovery
It’s taken me a year to get the studio shed under control. A couple weeks ago, Tod helped me cut some shelves which I immediately filled with all of my botanical inks and glass labware. I made a lot of inks this autumn and I want to paint with them but the clutter of bottles…
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Halloween Yokai
Two days before the 31st, I realised I would be teaching papermaking to two classes of 5th graders on Halloween. If there’s a better excuse to create a costume, I don’t know it. Since I’d be teaching, it needed to be something that was easy to move in and could be removed if necessary. And…
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Pettiness of cats
Maura and Beryl are frenemies. Each wants to be top cat and they try to dominate one another in various ways, usually involving food or my attention. Beryl blocks Maura from his food bowl; Maura skippity-paps her as she passes by him. Fur rarely flies, but they behave in the most petty ways. This morning…
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Torch Night 2025
For several years running, Minorigaoka High School in Tokyo has sent 200+ students to Oyama Senmaida as part of an epic field trip. They are with us for two half-days – first lighting fire torches in the rice paddies and then making straw turtles together the next morning. It’s an all-hands-on-deck week as we get…
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Perfect 36?
Happy anniversary to us, again. With a typhoon blowing in, we didn’t make elaborate plans but we had a three-day weekend to fill. We chose quiet, mundane adventures near home. Saturday The day’s cold rain made me want an onsen bath. We headed down to Tateyama for a soak at Satomi no Yu with a…
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Camera Roll
Time for another photo dump of my Instagram Stories. Here are some scenes of daily life from the past month, in reverse chronological order. It’s been a good month of early autumn weather, making color, teaching art, and noticing the small joys of each day. Also, cats. The praying mantis ran up my arm like…
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SOLD: International Marriage
Not the way you think. It’s an artwork. I rarely put my work up for sale. A combination of imposter syndrome, unfair comparisons to other artists, and fear of rejection/judgement put the brakes on my reaching my potential as a capital A artist. Because I didn’t go to art school. I am not cool. I’m…
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Harvesting cotton
Yesterday was the latest installment of the Wata-Ai Trust at Oyama Senmaida. As usual, we did field work in the morning and craft in the afternoon. Our morning activity was harvesting cotton. It was hot work. I figured out some efficient techniques for plucking the bolls and got as much picked as quickly possible while…
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