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Compose 2023
My word for 2023 is Compose. Some years I struggle to find the right word. I spend time with the dictionary and thesaurus. I get close, but it takes some effort to narrow down to the right word. But this year, it just appeared in my head and here we are. Compose will guide me
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Christmas 2022
Although I did a lot of baking with a new cookie press over the course of the month, the rest of Christmas season was pretty indifferent. On the day itself, after opening gifts from family in the morning, we took Christmas lunch over to our friends’ minka and had a feast of steak with sauteed
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1000 days
Today marked 1000 days in a row of Satoyama Yoga’s online class. It has been a pleasure to lead this class every day. Without it, I certainly would not have a regular daily practice for myself. It’s hard to digest everything that’s happened in this time, but these statements are true: Personally, I taught through
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Jotoshiki, the morning
[So much happened on December 9th, that I need to break this into several pieces. Let’s start at the beginning.] I knew I’d start the day early. I was on call for an 8 am speech and toast to launch the work. Loathe to break my yoga streak, I arrived at the genba (site) at
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Desire vs Drama
I want to be a good neighbor. But I really don’t understand the method to do so. And I feel like I have created drama in my ‘hood already. Japan’s neighborhood associations – called kumiai – are based on groups of a dozen (give or take) houses in proximity to one another. Traditionally, these were
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Pansies
Yesterday, I decided to plant some colorful flowers at 555 to welcome visitors and workers. There were some old plant pots sitting around the space and the other day Sakaguchi-san rescued an old concrete pipe that he suggested as a plant stand. With those materials and access to as much dirt as I could want,
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Healing Journey
I do not want to learn about your “healing journey” By observing posts on social media. You reveal self-absorbed, lingering agony When sharing your blessings in the guise of coaching And encouraging others to follow your steps to bliss. I will laugh derisively if you believe anyone else Can ease their despair by tracing your
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The view from 45 cm up
Our foundations are unusually tall for a modern building; they are much more like the vernacular kominka of old when high floors kept the dirt and animals out. At 45 cm (18 in), our floor floats so far above ground level that there will be two steps up into the house from the doma. The
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Airport scent
Last night, we drove a friend to Haneda. It’s the first time I’ve been anywhere near an airport since seeing Jenny and Dan off at Narita in February 2020. I stepped from the Cow to the curb and – bam – the scent of AIRPORT hit me. It’s a distinctive mix of nerves, broken suitcases,
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Crepuscular lessons
Fritter had a brief 9:30 pm walk with me. Another with Tod at 11:30pm. He then made loud requests to go outside every 90 minutes until I capitulated at 4:45 am. His stitches are out and Fritter is ready to get back to normal. But normal is now chaperoned walks in a harness and he
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