xmassy week special #5

***

i've heard of really good news!

maybe angels and santas prayed for that, too.

so did you?

the news...

just wonderful!

*

xmassy week special #3

*

my place has no fireplaces or mantelpieces.

still, it's fun to hang my sock on. 

have a peaceful week, everyone!

*

*

xmassy week special #2

*

i am not christian, in my country, neither are most people.

but yet, we do enjoy the (mock) festivity.

i am getting into the mood.

you are already in it, aren't you?

**:

*

feeling flowery

springtime makes me wanting something classic, chic and cute.
like liberty’s floral print.


i don’t really remember if i’ve ever wanted dresses from cacharel.
i adored sarah moon’s commercial work for cacharel, though.
then and now, i am not a floral-dressy kind of girl,
but, i must admit, i always long to be.


i used to have tons of fabrics in my aluminum trunk.
(which belonged to mr. pianoman’s parents, so it’s no longer mine or with me.)
i used to sew sweet little things like un petit sac.
although most of my fabrics and things went missing somehow,
i still use my favourite liberty print bags i made a long long time ago.

looking at these with overwhelming nostalgia,
i just wonder where my mother has her liberty print blouse now.


have a lovely week!


xxx

tokyo midtown

my last week’s tokyo trip had some fun occasions other than attending the wedding: a reunion with my old tokyo friends and an update on what my daughter was up to, thanks to jason, who had offered me and masaco, my girlfriend, his guest room for our new york trip last year. he is now working for the american embassy in tokyo so that i could stay with him and his partner, ivo. the huge compound for american diplomats is located in a quiet residential neighbourhood, 赤坂 akasaka. it’s within walking distance from trendy 六本木 roppongi where narrow streets are crammed with night clubs and various eateries.

my friends and i gathered over “cantonese peking duck” (!!) at a “szechuan restaurant” on monday evening in 六本木 roppongi. actually, 六本木 roppongi had never been my haunt when i lived in tokyo. but this time, i liked it there for the first time ever because of jason’s place and tokyo midtown, a redevelopment area with a new commercial complex and new art museums. i visited there with masaco and jun-chan on tuesday. here are snapshots of shops and architecture in the area.

to begin with, i’d like to show you 21_21 design site designed by 安藤忠雄 tadao ando. it was raining cats and dogs. besides, it was closed. so i went back there the next day with shion, my daughter, and managed to take a pic beneath the fleckless blue sky as above.

i hated the rain, but still loved viewing the superb contrast of concrete and autumn leaves of shrubbery in the rain. i took my hat off to “the wizard of concrete” (i personally call 安藤 ando so) for that. i think the best part of tokyo midtown is lovely gardens laid out in the site.

国立新美術館 nact (the national art centre tokyo) is a stone’s throw from the complex. it was also closed. so i revisited there too the next day. back in tokyo midtown, i enjoyed browsing through the mall with fewer shoppers than other bustling areas like 渋谷 shibuya.

i got jealous of tokyoites, because the displays of muji shop in galleria were far more exquisite than my local muji shops. i’ve been a muji user since its launch in 1980 and written articles about london muji shops for exclusive muji magazines. i could not but feel tempted to buy something.

christmas decorations are seen here and there in tokyo midtown! i found snow flakes made of 美濃和紙 mino-washi (japanese paper) at 虎屋 toraya quite pretty. the confectionery holds at times a small exhibition within the shop, featuring japanese paper crafts this time.

虎屋 toraya is famous for its quality, artisanry and aesthetic. for sure, it doesn’t come cheap, though you can find its branches overseas, like we have a branch of dean & deluca across the aisle from 虎屋 toraya. the white paper decoration in the atrium is also made of 美濃和紙 mino-washi.

lastly, i should not forget about the tokyo tower, the most popular landmark of tokyo. well, it was supposed to be a fantastical cityscape of my tokyo rainy night. unfortunately, it turned out to be a total blur. i didn’t realise something was wrong with my camera. shame.

big thanks especially to jason, ivo and masaco!
*

an anniversary

time flies. today is the 4th anniversary of my "home sweet home." i settled in this run-the-mill suburbia of osaka where my mother lived alone some five years back. i at first didn't know if i could survive the monotonousness when i started living in my mother's home. i now think my present life is not that bad. since i moved in this flat, located in the same town, my mother and i have managed to keep a comfortable distance from each other. i can't complain, or rather, i should be content having my own commodious living space. besides, a huge park lies adjacent to my flat's premises, which is a major factor behind my so-so happiness. i walk there and come home with some wild flowers.

wild flowers? well, in short, they are weeds. but i like them. if you look at weeds closer, you'll see they all have sweet little flowers. and, ones i often pick are white because they go well with my home surroundings. in terms of style, by the way, i'm not really keen on the mid-century. some chairs are just plain elegant, though. for my home, i'd avoid graphic patterns and designs; usually give up quirky or funky stuff no matter how much i get inspired. i've always loved white interiors with classic kind of feel, plus a rustic flavour. although i need to compromise on so many conditions, i try not to lose much of my daintiness.

while my home is far from my dream house, i can be happy as long as there are some white flowers on my bedside table or the chest of drawers as well as plenty of natural sunlight getting into my flat. today is, however, cloudy and turning chilly. believe me, i'd gone walking outside in a half-sleeved tee until yesterday. it is time to put on slippers? oh, i've got favourite ones i bought in ho chi minh city. now that it's november already. time flies, indeed. meanwhile, my new "white project" is making progress, but i don't reckon this quilt will be able to adorn my bedroom wall before the new year arrives. anyway, life goes on.

have a great week, my dear friends!
*

calendrier des fleurs

september. what flowers can you see in your garden? i picked a few leftover lavenders from a pruned hedge in the park (don’t tell it anyone, please) and placed them on my bedside table. the fragrant is soothing. then i thought of my personal flower calendar -- scabiosa should be for september. i took this picture as above in my london flat exactly 20 years ago! i’m still very fond of this sweet flower and my daughter still snuggles down into this scabiosa colour blanket in winter in tokyo. but in london, people actually start grabbing a blanket this month. over here, my kind of summer -- like a mediterranean summer -- has just begun.

*

i enjoy the coolness of bed sheets at night and the sun during the day. still, the sunlight is different now: the days have become shorter and shorter, while the rays of sunlight have become longer and longer. what i love this season best is everything seems to glint in a ray of sunlight and it reminds me of my ancient september trip to scotland. if someone asked me what the most beautiful scenery i’d ever seen in my life was, my answer would be the divine landscape of the moors with rabbits leaping and heathers blowing that i saw from the train window on my way from inverness to glasgow.

those views of the scottish highlands were absolutely heavenly. i’m sure my mind will be milling about with rabbits in the scottish heath whenever i look up at the clear blue september sky. in the meantime, as the humidity level got lower, a diligent part of me was looking for something productive. i’ve just started my new “white” project: this time, an all white patch-work quilt for my bed. there seem no headboards that match to my image of my newly painted white bedroom better, so i am making this not as a cover but as a headboard, like a tapestry? i hope to show you the complete hand-sawn white quilt in next several months.

*

june whites

today is the last sunday of june. i suppose many couples tied the knot yesterday. any girl, once, now and probably forever, wants to be a june bride. i don’t know where this superstition came from, though. white wedding gowns look gorgeous and really stand out against the background of fresh green in june. “white” remains quite special as the colour of bride, while black is no longer the colour of wearing mourning. many women do attend weddings even in little black dresses these days. when i saw a host of articles about june bridals on the net, my elegant white elephants came back to my mind out of the blue.

*

i thought: although i haven’t seen them for ages now, yes, somewhere, i still have those white things that make me feel romantic. Indeed, they were vacuum-packed in a plastic bag and kept in a box in my closet. so i opened the bag and let them out -- just exquisite. i sighed with deep admiration. my admiration obviously was for french women in mid 19th century who had done incredible needlework like these. i found white nightgowns at les puces in paris in the 80’s. flea market was one of my must-visits whenever i made a paris trip back then. i remember how i negotiated the price with the lady antique dealer when i bought the first one.

*

dawn work, embroidery, pin-tucked pleats, trimming, scallop and ruffle are genuine vintage and all hand-sewn (a few seams in some parts were reinforced by machine). so, when did i wear these french white cotton chemise ancienne? well, one of them was cropped off to wear as a blouse; i wore it back in the new romanticism era. also, i’ve worn some with simple needlework as nightgowns. but, as i was scared to wear out, i was saving the complicated rest for special occasions, which have never happened so far. meanwhile, my other romantic whites: a lingerie bag bought from vietnam and a swatow hankie from china are new, so that i can use them without fears.
*

blue and white

in kansai area where i live, the rainy season officially began on tuesday and june is a sullen month in japan usually. we’ve been having little rain so far, however. today, it looks even sunnier than yesterday, which makes me feel great. i, along with some two hundred workmates, completed a big translation project on friday, which means i’ll be staying home during daytime and weekdays from this week again. hooray!
*

*

i really should go back to my own unfinished project right away. but my alter ego keeps telling me to take it easy; there’s no point in wasting a sunny day of a rainy month for the project with no definite deadline. ok. one more day, just one more day i should forget the fact that i made a vow to become a flagellant and remain an epicurean? i thought so. so, i’ve been lying on my sofa thinking what i would associate with june since this morning. i am imaging something refreshing – like blue hydrangeas in the rain for instance?

*

and then refreshing colours – blue and white, perhaps? like my tea towels i bought myself in different global cities. also like my old china. i used to visit antique fairs in tokyo to buy 伊万里　imari (porcelain wares): sometimes a bit pricy 染付 sometsuke (hand painted with blue and other colours) and mainly inexpensive blue-and-white 印判　inban (blue-pattern printed), some of which i had to give up at some time or other when i changed the direction of my life.

luckily, my favourite blue-and-white café-au-lait bowls and plates are still kept in my cupboard. i bought one by one whenever i visited paris in my twenties. i was kind of obsessed about blue-and-white crockery when i was young. i had various english blue-and-white porcelain wares, too. then i got a little bit bored with them as i got old. therefore, i didn’t really care whenever i left many of them behind (i now regret that). at any rate, blue and white will forever be my favourite colour combination. and, what’s yours?

*

*