Archives

Category: Personal Reflections
  • Vigyan Bhairav Tantra No. 79

    Vigyan Bhairav Tantra No. 79

    I set myself up for the weirdest meditation experience this morning. On Sunday my yoga class practices meditation. We have tried many techniques over the years – everyone has a different way of getting to their inner silence and we don’t know what will trigger an interesting insight. So we try as many as I…

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  • 3 modes of me

    3 modes of me

    I seem to have three mental modes: Hyper GSD; (Anti-)Social Butterfly; and Napping Hermit. Maybe it’s how I am all the time but I notice it more when Tod isn’t here. And this week, he is in Tokyo for work. Hyper GSD Getting Shit Done. I get a lot of big, heavy, or challenging projects…

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  • Moriya Beach

    Moriya Beach

    Today was the last day of a very long and relaxed New Year holiday. Tod & I did just about nothing all week. We puttered around the house, made meals, and played with the cats. We missed midnight. Haven’t been to a temple yet. I didn’t even see friends’ Line greetings until today. This morning…

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  • Project 2025 Bingo – pregame

    Project 2025 Bingo – pregame

    We are just about two weeks from Day 1 of this bingo. I’ve been trying to keep track of the topics on the card and to be honest, it’s already a challenge. It should get easier when the 100 days begin since there will be news about what’s happened, rather than speculation. But using speculation…

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  • Remembering Philo

    Remembering Philo

    I didn’t expect this would hit me so hard. I met Philo Hagen only twice in person. I couldn’t call him a friend, but my life between 2008 and 2018 was shaped his influence and our online collaborations. I left my “hooping era” years ago, and so did he, but now he is gone from…

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  • Welcome 2025

    Welcome 2025

    明けましておめでとうございます!今年も宜しくお願いします。Wishing you a very happy Year of the Snake. This is the final design in the 12 year cycle of Nengazou in the Chinese “zoudiac.” It didn’t start out to be a series. For 2014, I drew the elephant-as-nordic-horse as a cute pastiche of the Chinese zodiac year, traditional Christmas decorations, and our favorite animal.…

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  • 25 words

    25 words

    Another long-running annual tradition, this is my 24th time summing up my year in 25 words exactly. Living my best life teaching crafts and making art. Learning & collaborating with new friends at Oyama Senmaida. Yumbo license, hardscape patios, new shed, clean barn. Here are the others in reverse chronological order: 2023: House-building decisions had…

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  • Mother Trees

    Mother Trees

    Up on the ridge of the mountain behind 555, there are five huge and ancient Shii trees. They are relatives of our Ent but somehow even larger. The mother trees of the forest. Photographs can’t show their majesty. While we were visiting with them, Tod discovered the shrine we knew would be there. We’d looked…

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  • Non-zero Days

    Non-zero Days

    My memory skips right over my successes and accomplishments, so I feel that I have done almost nothing for the year. Fortunately, my calendar, photos ephemera, and this blog prove me wrong. Here are some highlights (and lowlights) of the year. Around 555 We focused on hardscaping & outbuildings: patio, path, and tiles with my…

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  • Zero Days

    Zero Days

    The Appalachian Trail holds great fascination for me. I don’t know why, exactly. The epic 2,185 mile (3,516 km) hike from Maine to Georgia is a 6 month commitment. It passes through my home state, Pennsylvania, but I’ve never hiked a single section of it. However, I have taken on the concept of “zero days.”…

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