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Osaka Expo
After months of negative reports on the nightly news and in online forums, my expectations were low for the Expo. But the World’s Fair romantic in me was still excited to go see what was there. Osaka 2025 did not disappoint. Yes, there were crowds but they were manageable. Yes, the food was too expensive
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Gankoyama
Our hilly neighborhood has a lot of named peaks: Futatsuyama, Tomisan, Iyogatake, Hitoboneyama. The peaks are low, but the list is long. Tod has spent years researching them and getting to the top of as many as possible. One of them, Gankoyama, is within walking distance of home but finding the trailhead has been elusive.
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Pre-summer calendar
As usual, spring has renewed my energy and I have quite a schedule of activities in the next two months. In fact, I had to draw up a calendar on paper so Tod can keep track of me. Plus there are guests coming, woodworking projects, more botanical color making and my own art, never-ending garden
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Spring Petal Colors
There are so many flowers blooming right now. Of course I decided to see if I could make color with them. I had some successes and some failures. YAMABUKI (Japanese Kerria) was a success. A bright yellow, as hoped. These are from the Kawasaki’s bush that flowered abundantly this year. BUGLEWEED produced a palid purple-grey.
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56 and 59
It’s right between my birthday and Tod’s so we celebrated by hosting a small dinner with neighborhood friends. We ate, drank, and were merry. We enjoyed a special wine from Naomi on the patio in the absolutely perfect weather. Hitomi and Kengo attempted to set up the fancy telescope. Tod roasted a lamb shoulder that
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Silence is Complicity, but…
This is a weird time to be an American. My homeland is in turmoil. There’s a constitutional crisis going on as the Executive branch (the president) wrests power away from the Judicial and Legislative branches. It all stinks of authoritarianism, dictatorship, oligarchy, and greedy narcissism. The past 90 days have turned the USA inside out.
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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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Birthday notes
This year, I celebrated my birthday at least five times over the week. On my last day of 58, Naomi and I went to Otaki for an amazing lunch at YamaNeko. They were having a special strawberry crepe event and I have never had such a delicious crepe – it was sugar crispy on the
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Cormorants & Commemoration
Today is the 20th anniversary of my father’s death. It is mind-bending to realise that so much time has passed. Dad’s energy, wisdom, and memory is always with me. He was a sailor who loved the sea, so we scattered his ashes in oceans around the world. When I want to visit with him, I
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It’s Fluffernutter
It seems that the Cat Distribution System has selected a new resident for us. On February 11th, I spied a fluffy orange and white cat over by the old shed. A new face. He returned a few times in the next week. He was skittish, meowing loudly for attention, then running away to a safe
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