Category: Country Life / City Lights

Blood Moon

I am not much of a New Ager, at least not as much as a lot of the folks around me. I have experience with auras (did you hear that we are all surrounded by an ‘aura’ of trillions of bacteria, skin cell parts, and fecal matter? helluva aura!) because I can feel and occasionally… Read more

On the way home

We woke this morning to snow in Takayama. The bed is low to the floor and futon-ish, no shoes in the room as it is all tatami mats.  I had opened the window as I went to sleep – a very welcome catch-up comatose sleep – but this morning the snow was curling in. Breakfast… Read more

Takayama Frigid

The Asian teaching is all done. Ten days straight in China, which were admittedly grueling to live through but culturally fascinating to observe, and then six straight days in Japan, which were easier to handle but crazy busy as usual. The marathon was the result of a change in schedule that squished everything together –… Read more

Dances with Whales

Dances With Whales – July 20, 1999 July 16 was my 50th birthday – and Mother Nature delivered the most wonderful present. Even as Tribe cleared the river, we didn’t know whether we would turn left to our familiar islands or go straight out into the open sea. It was a mere three-day summer cruise,… Read more

Placeholder

Ice

Where I live, water comes in three forms – liquid, solid, and vapor – and water pretty much shapes our lives around here. In summer, we sail and swim in its liquid form, or rain falls into our garden, but in winter the solid form takes over underfoot and in the sky.  Two days ago,… Read more

Placeholder

Cheery Cherry Blossoms: A Letter from Maine

Dear Kaori I’m looking forward to see you in April, hoping that it will match the timing with the cherry blossoms in Tokyo, such a magnificent show of nature’s delicate strength. This is the weekend of the totally American holiday of Thanksgiving. I know there are harvest festivals worldwide, but Thanksgiving evolved in a unique… Read more