-
Winter into Spring
Woke up with a bit of a headache and decided to take a walk before yoga. Mother Nature gave me some lovely scenes on a foggy morning. Spring is on its usual rollercoaster of temperatures and precipitation. We’re finally getting rain so the weeds and grasses are waking up from their dormant rosettes. It won’t
-
New “headshot”
I’ll be leading a couple of workshops at FEW Japan’s FEWture Conference on June 7th. It’s a one-day extravaganza for women executives in Japan and this year’s theme is diversity and inclusivity among women. Today they needed a bio from me and a headshot. The bio was easy; I love writing bios for myself and
-
Figuring out the gardening
Yesterday Tod and I planted potatoes in the hatake. It’s a bit late, but I hope they will still be okay. Once they were in the ground, I started to think about the rest of the field and what I might try planting. The monkeys and boars would enjoy most of what I would prefer
-
Roundup of Little Bits
None of these things is worth a full blog post, but they paint a picture of life here in this winter-into-spring season. Little bits that I want to remember later. Yesterday I hauled out my sewing machines for some play time. The serger is acting up (the lower looper won’t stay threaded, so clearly I
-
Long walk between rains
Kali came to visit this long weekend and though it rained on Friday and poured on Sunday, Saturday was a lovely day. We decided to head up to Futatsuyama from home. It’s about an hour’s walk one way if you aren’t rushing, and we weren’t. Most of the journey is a paved country road, narrow
-
Flea Season
Forget spring, what we really have is flea and tick season. After yesterday’s tick bite on my leg, I went on alert and sure enough, I caught a little tiny tickling wandering on Maura’s fur in the evening. I combed him carefully and found two fleas as well. Great… Flea combing the cats is a
-
Two Mice & a Tick
Here in Japan, spring has several heralds: Here at 555, I have additional metrics based in nature. MOUSE #1I was doing a crossword puzzle after dinner when I heard the cadence of a cat with a mission. There’s a certain pattern to Maura’s movement when he has caught a snack. Fast and steady steps, low
-
Ideas in Dreams
A while back, I had a dream that I was attending an event held by an author. I woke up with the recognition that everything in the dream was my actual creation. I mean, it seems obvious, right? But this dream pushed a lot of my buttons. The main character was a pastiche of successful
-
21 Huron Circle
I learned this week that my childhood home burned down in April 2022. It was a sad moment to take in and I am still feeling moody. Even though my parents moved away in 1989 while I was in college – over 35 years ago – 21 Huron Circle was an anchor of memories and
-
Knowing Foreigners
I read an interesting article last week in the Japan Times reporting on a survey of Japanese people in rural areas regarding their (lack of) interactions with foreigners. I am pasting the whole thing here to be able to reference is again in a decade: A recent survey has shown Japanese people who reside outside
Archives