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Hisashiburi, Kimie!
Me, Kimie Yanagi, and Hanako Murakami. A few summers ago, or maybe more than a few, I was part of Hanako Murakami’s exhibition at the Echigo Tsumari Trienniale in Niigata. It was a great summer of making art and helping out with the festival in the tiny village of Matsudai. One of the residents, Kimie…
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In Front of the Camera
Me & Tod “on set” in our living room For a change, I am in front of the camera in character and in costume. I have a small part in a film project being done by Jesse & Will at Ice Block Films. Their shooting schedule spans a full year and mine are the first…
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Ringing in the New Year
At midnight, we joined the parade of neighbours and worshippers at Denzuin temple and payed our respects. It is a beautiful temple, very rich and recently renovated. Outside there were festival booths selling warm foods and drink. One sold a lucky opportunities to ring the giant bell. The bell started ringing at midnight, pulled 108…
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Weekend in Manazuru
Tod, Rob & I took an impromptu trip to Manazuru, a rocky little cape in Kanagawa, this weekend. We hiked, relaxed, ate a lot of fish, took a lot of pictures, dipped in the ocean, hooped on the pier, played music in the forest, chased butterflies, climbed thousands of stairs, and wandered along mysterious paths…
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A Social Weirdo
The other day, I was talking to Tod about how seeing people’s summer festival photos on Facebook makes me sad. There are a lot of interesting little festivals in Japan – creative events combining music, camping, and flow arts. I rarely go to them, even though they seem interesting and many people I know go.…
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Building a Geiger Counter
Meet bGeigie #2209. We built her yesterday. Tod soldered 179 points. I did the non-soldering bits. The build took us most of the day, but it wasn’t too hard. I think some of the time was taken up awe, making comments like “Wow, we’re adding the smallest disk drive ever” and “This tiny thing is a…
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Me, the Sea, and the Sunrise
One of the quiet delights of camping on Niijima is a morning walk to the beach. This year, I saw several sunrises emerging blood red from the ocean. For some of them I was busy hooping while Rob filmed me for our video project. Sunrise. I am sitting atop a 4 meter high koga stone…
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Niijima before camp
You know I love Niijima, don’t you? We have been there so many times to enjoy living a slow life in nature. I’ve lost count. 10? 12? There is something magical about the island that brings us back again and again. Guru-guru Camp, our annual 2 week camping/hooping trip, is coming up again during Golden Week…
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Roller Coaster Weather
Almost every day last week, I discussed the weather forecast with Heather. It was making unpleasant predictions for her hanami party on Sunday. It declared High: 11 – too chilly for infants to enjoy a picnic – and each day brought new doomsaying of rain with varying percentages of chance. At one point it told her it…
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Hanami 2014
Rob & I get together for a hanami lunch in the Ayoama Bochi every year. Today was the day. It was beautifully mild and our hilltop picnic spot was eye-level with the blossoms. We were showered with petal snow as the winds blew clouds in. The rains begin tonight, so I think Tokyo’s hanami season…
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