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Tanada Yoga 2025
Today is International Yoga Day and I celebrated by leading two yoga classes. At 7 am, my daily Zoom class practiced “Common Yoga Protocol” which is the Indian government’s programme for the event. And at 9 am, I hosted a yoga session at overlooking the rice fields at Oyama Senmaida. It was glorious to be…
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Okugome Ochre
My friend Mark brought me a pickle jar full of bright orange sludge that he scraped from a tunnel near Okugome Dam. He saw the color and thought I might like it. Yes, indeed! And now I have a new earth pigment. I’m calling it Okugome Ochre. It’s actually a lot more difficult to identify…
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Coreopsis colors
“Hey! Look! Oooh, yay!” I made Tod stop the car so that I could collect armfuls of freshly mown coreopsis from the ditch where they lay. Easy pickings on our way back from running errands. Coreopsis are on the invasive species list in Japan. It is illegal to plant them. They grow heartily along the…
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Project 2025 Bingo – Game Over
It’s been a hundred days. Here’s where we end on this bingo card: Did we win? Or did we lose? The 14 red stamps are things implemented and in progress. The 3 light red stamps indicate places where the card’s wording was a little off. For example, it turned out not to be “Abolish” the…
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Pre-summer calendar
As usual, spring has renewed my energy and I have quite a schedule of activities in the next two months. In fact, I had to draw up a calendar on paper so Tod can keep track of me. Plus there are guests coming, woodworking projects, more botanical color making and my own art, never-ending garden…
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Yoga with Technical Difficulties
This morning I came into the yoga space six minutes before class but instead of starting Zoom at the click of a link, I was presented with a laptop that had suffered a power outage yesterday. It was off. The old thing takes its time booting up, so I quickly thought through the options for…
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Mad for madder
Madder is one of the few botanical sources of deep red. In its various forms it has been used to color military uniforms, fine clothing, and even the red sun at the center of the Japanese flag was once colored with madder. The red color comes from anthraquinone compounds in the roots. Of course I…
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Spring Petal Colors
There are so many flowers blooming right now. Of course I decided to see if I could make color with them. I had some successes and some failures. YAMABUKI (Japanese Kerria) was a success. A bright yellow, as hoped. These are from the Kawasaki’s bush that flowered abundantly this year. BUGLEWEED produced a palid purple-grey.…
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Project 2025 Bingo – No Joke
It’s April 1, but this post is not a joke. I think we have BINGO. Or maybe we don’t. I think it depends on your perspective… There have been 103 Executive Orders signed since January 20th. Not all of them can be acted upon immediately. Congress has power over some of them. For the EOs…
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Color journey with freesia
This did not turn out how I imagined – every step was a revelation. Several weeks ago, I bought a bouquet of freesia to brighten up the house. They were cheerful colors – red, fuchsia, and pink as well as the classic yellow. As the blossoms faded, I decided to see what color I might…
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