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Crystal Altar in the Crack
Woo Alert: I am a firm believer in science and also an advocate of talismans and magic. These things coexist comfortably for me. If that’s not the case for you, it’s understandable. I have friends on both sides of science and woo, but few in the middle with me. Anyway, I set up my first…
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Paper sculptures
Allow me to introduce you to three pieces of art that I have worked on recently. “Love Letter” is an assemblage made with hand-formed paper, milled card stock, copper wire, cotton thread, wood beads, cedar board, red iron oxide, watercolor, and ink. I immediately recognised the initial form of the handmade paper as an envelope…
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Band-aiding over minor problems
Sometimes life throws stuff my way that’s not a major issue, but still irritates my mind, aggravates my body, or troubles my soul. I used to let these problems build up until I was overwhelmed but I am learning to take action sooner, in smaller ways. Solutions don’t have to be perfect to be effective.…
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New Crone’s Complete-It Club
[TLDR: I’m starting a club for older women to support one another through completing their projects and dreams.] A lot of my online friends are business women with grand ideas, big ambitions, and lots of energy for their careers and families. They are leaders, entrepreneurs, coaches, and generally amazing people who walk the talk. I…
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Camera Roll
Some snaps capturing the past ten days or so. Summer is heavy upon us now and my energy is flagging, but I’m still trying to enjoy every moment.
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Saving the orchids
Well, the black pine that roasted in the fire in 2021 finally fell over in a storm a couple weeks back. And with it went the lovely orchids, dendrobium moniliforme (in Japanese they are called setsukoku), that one of the Kawasaki ancestors had planted on it. Though the tree’s a goner, I wanted to save…
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Oops, I slid it again
We had a long, hard deluge of rain on Friday night into Saturday morning. Thunder boomed; lightning crackled. Kamogawa announced a Level 4 evacuation and the local school opened up as a shelter for anyone in landslide territory. It was a big deal. It was hard to sleep, so the cats and I were up…
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Celebrating the planting
Last night was the Oyama Senmaida sanaburi – a celebration of the safe and successful spring planting. Since I helped out with the planting, I earned an invitation. I decided to go becasue I spend a lot of time working with everyone, but we only superficially know one another. Maybe I’d get to know people…
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Books I Should Finish
I don’t mean finish reading. I mean finish writing. A couple days back, I was looking for a file that I am sure I started a couple months back. Was it on my computer? In the cloud? I poked around both spaces. First I discovered that I am really bad at filing my work. I…
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Making paper with kids
Today was another fun papermaking workshop at Oyama Senmaida. I have been taking lots of photos across all the sessions I’ve done this spring and I thought I’d write up a bit about how these workshops run. The preparation starts with delaminating milk cartons and boiling them. Then a day before the workshop, we make…
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