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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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Painting and thinking
This morning I was feeling unsettled. American government is transforming into something unrecognisable as the democracy that I am comfortable with. The Constitution is being cherry-picked just like the Bible. Whatever supports the narrative is mentioned and everything else is ignored. Checks and balances of power in Articles I-III are out the door in favor…
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Hobby is a Terrible Word
I despise the word hobby. It raises my hackles every time I hear it. Doubly so when it is applied to me. Unfortunately, thanks to cultural perceptions, I hear it often from my Japanese friends especially when they see inside the shed or my studio in the loft. “Oh, what a great hobby space!” They…
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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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From branches to paint
[Apricot colors, part 2] Yesterday I reached one of my long-standing goals. I made paint from raw ingredients. Artists have been doing this since art started but I have mostly purchased supplies ready made. I love knowing how things are made from start-to-finish and making pigment from apricot branches, then binding the pigment into a…
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Apricot Colors, part 1
A few weeks back, I noticed a big pile of branches trimmed off the trees at Oyama Senmaida. The next day, I coincidentally read about extracting pink colors from cherry trees. So of course, I had to go ask Kaori Ishida, my local botanical color expert and the dye master at Oyama Senmaida, about the…
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