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Generations Past
The Hills. (l-r) Roy, Elvis, Lucian, H. B., Bettie, Eupha, and Omer Dean + two memento mori & a dog. This is my great-great grandfather, Henry Berton HIll, my great-great grandmother, Bettie, and five of their eight children. I’ve seen their names in the historical records, but never any photos until today. My great-grandfather, Bert…
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Solstice Breakfast Guest
It’s been way too long since a friend’s called us after missing the last train home – just about everyone’s got kids now and they are far too responsible to be out drinking late into the evening. So what a delight to hear from UltraBob last night. Yay! Midnight greetings and digging into the stash…
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Out of my Closet
(Sorry, not that kind of out.) There is no good reason to have as many clothes as I own. Later this year I will be living out of a backpack while I travel for a month and I’m hoping to repeat the backpack era again at the beginning of next year, so the seasonal wardrobe…
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The Great Outdoors
I love being outside and the longer I am in nature, the better I feel. Camping on Niijima is one of the highlights of my year. Over the Golden Week holidays we hosted Guru-guru Camp and stayed at Habushiura campsite for 13 days. It was blissful. The weather was as predictably unpredictable as always. There…
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Unrelated thoughts
I keep having ideas for blog posts – topics meaty enough to be more than a tweet or status update on Facebook – but for whatever reason I talk myself out of writing up my thoughts. I’ve fallen out of the habit of blogging, and that’s a shame for me (maybe not such a big…
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Equinoctial Thoughts
Today our planet has made another full circle around the sun and our day and night are equal length. It’s a public holiday in Japan. Following the Buddhist tradition, we clean graves and remember the dead today. I have no grave to clean but I honor my father every year on the equinox, the anniversary…
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Skilling Up and Making Connections
Twenty twelve so far has been about engaging new connections and skills. There have been two main threads in the past six weeks. Connection Thread #1: Skating & Hooping Just before the new year, Tod and I went skating at a newly opened skate arena at Tokyo Dome. It was such fun that we made…
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Happy New Year
Best wishes from me and Tod for a bright Year of the Dragon.
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25 Words
Mother Earth trembled and futures fell apart. Uncertainty ruled us for months but in the end I’m still in Japan, married, hooping, and feeling happy. This is the eleventh year I’ve summarised the past 365 days in “25 words exactly”. This year’s had a surprise ending for me that I didn’t see coming until it…
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Engage 2012
For the past few years, I’ve selected a theme to guide my year. It’s been a word or an idea that I can turn to in times of doubt or confusion, a mantra that will move me forward or bind me to the moment, something to help me decide what to do. I write it…
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