xmassy week special #6

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hoping that you are having lots of fun out there.

hoping that all the conflicts among people are over.

but, hoping, wanting and giving are essential.

happy christmas!  

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xmassy week special #5

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i've heard of really good news!

maybe angels and santas prayed for that, too.

so did you?

the news...

just wonderful!

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xmassy week special #3

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my place has no fireplaces or mantelpieces.

still, it's fun to hang my sock on. 

have a peaceful week, everyone!

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xmassy week special #2

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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?

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xmassy week special #1

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hello friends!

are you ready?

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september

on the last day of september, i felt inclined to say hello to the blog world.

this summer was a long and unbearably sultry one.

indeed, the climate change was turning japan into a tropical country!
but “my season” has arrived at last.

i did lots of ironing.

and adorning my place with wild flowers.

i am getting happier to see my environment as you can see here.

enjoy the beautiful autumn days!

xxx

many many thanx for all your lovely comments ;)

 
 
 



a midsummer fedora

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before august started,

my summer (painting) “white” project had been completed.

the new white floors of my living room and bedroom look so cool.

still, japan continues to boil.

i never like sultry days like these.

but i should try to see the positive side of the heat…

let me tell you…ah, i always love straw hats!

i used to have a english fedora and a french canotier that i really loved.

actually,

in early july when i got a paint can, a roller and brushes from a diy shop,

i bought myself a cheap and ubiquitous straw hat,

i want this straw hat to look old-ish,

so i put it on whenever i go out to wear it out fast.

i also have a fedora that looks a bit similar to my old one.

i did impulse-buy when i found it four summers ago.

and it would show up on my hatstand every summer.

it stays new since i’ve never worn it.

sadly because it no longer fits my style… say, age.

but i cherish my fedora.

fedoras have made a worldwide comeback for the past one or two years,

which is great.

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recalling

an

english

cool

summer

i

wore

my

favourite

fedora

wherever

i

went.

have a lovely summer week!

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a nordic dream

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are you on vacation or stay-cation?

there’s no hot news this week either,

but temperature-wise,

it’s just way too hot.

japan is sizzling.

i’m not lying!

when air-conditioners can’t beat the heat,

i always start a home-decorating project.

as a matter of fact,

i am in the thick of it.

i know i sound like a crazy ant.

i’ve been painting my living room floor nordic white.

it’s more like taking a swedish-style sauna than decorating, though.

the living room looks almost done,

so i can make a move on my bed room, then.

my dream will be drifting around the norwegian wood?

looking at summer flowers,
the bog sages, in the park as well as on my balcony, are blooming,

they are as blue as the summer sky.

white geranium is among my all-time favourites, by the way.

their petals resemble white butterfly wings, don’t you think?

enjoy your hot (or cool?) summer weekend, my friends!

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suddenly and briefly

we had a couple of spring days last week. but now, it’s turned cold and wintery days are back. i am loving my new item (a poster) on the sideboard and enjoying the scent of my white hyacinth that came into bloom when spring was here.


my humble life, and painstaking work, seem to go on in this depth of winter.


have a great weekend, my friends!
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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!
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cornwall where colin and joy live

i learned that irving penn passed away on thursday, aged 92. he was one of my favourite photographers. and i am very fond of black and white photos like his and henri cartier-bresson’s, although i don’t take any black and white photos myself any longer. i only rely on digital camera now and my old canon eos has been laid to rest in my closet for years. i’m not good at portraits, but i used to take a few black and white ones, of colin wilson for example. he is an english author who is actually better known in japan and the usa than england.
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cool and fresh air of this glorious autumn morning brought me memories of my october trip to scenic cornwall where colin and joy wilson lived. i sort of befriended them when i made colin fly to tokyo for a special lecture as part of a symposium i organised along with my girl-colleagues. they were kindly saying to me i should visit them home in cornwall some time. so some months later, when i started my ma art course in london, i took a train from paddington. in advance of that, joy reminded me not to forget to bring a raincoat with me because the weather could be whimsical there.

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joy picked me up from the st. austell station. after a heavy shower, the sun appeared on the way to gorran haven. the day turned out to be a beautiful indian summer day, which seemed as if it’d last forever in cornwall. fuchsias were still in full bloom here and there in the village. in their big garden, there were a bungalow and several sheds that all stored some 30, 000 titles of books. i stayed at the bungalow comfortably but in fact i slept being surrounded by their bookshelves. during my stay, between sightseeing, joy took me to various places such as an archaeology workshop and a local library for her research, namely, to help colin out.

colin would work on a book in his basement study from early in the morning to 5pm every day. supper would start around 6pm when colin opened a bottle of wine. they had no dinning table. we gathered in the lounge instead, using a tray on our each lap. colin kept talking (almost nonsense) to rowan, his younger son who lived with them, while joy kept just smiling quietly. although i forgot why, i happened, and sure was certainly honoured, to meet all his family members at the weekend as his daughter came back home from south africa for some reason where she lived at the time and his elder son drove home from london to join.

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as time went by, i lost contact with them. but i am glad to find via some net news they are both well. especially these black and white photographs make me feel appreciative of the precious time in cornwall colin and joy offered me.

pic 1.
his house is built on the hill overlooking the sea, while the parrot perching on a branch overlooking me in his lounge.
pic 2.
small room next to the entrance hall. i found the young colin on an old poster quite cute.
pic 3.
idylic view out of the bungalow window where i stayed. there were flocks of sheep and goats behind the wire fence.
pic 4.
bungalow interior.
pic 5.

lounge with colin’s creative clutter.
pic 6.
their cat fell asleep on joy’s lap while their dog yawning. i often walked the dog down to the nearby shore during the stay.
pic 7.
joy told me that all the animals in the house belonged to her daughter. whenever she came home she left joy and colin her pets one by one.
pic 8.
entrance hall. no cornish country life could exist with no wellingtons!
pic 9.
in the bungalow. i picked nasturtium from the garden and placed on the windowsill.
pic 10.
mr colin wilson, smiling.
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how are you enjoying this sunday?
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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.

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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.

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keep calm and carry on

i got my summer project done. i’ve kept calm and carry on painting for the past week. i have nobody else here for whining, anyway. in the teeth of the summer holiday weekend, even thought hardworking japanese people are enjoying their summer break (only four or five days for the average salaryman? so they should be on their way home now) at home or their parents’ home or somewhere else, i’ve had a busy week doing a swelter. i finished it before lunch time, though. i know i am a full-brown kook. but, it was worth the heat rash (itchy!) since i am much happier and comfortable about my flat than before.

when i moved in, the unattractive wallpaper, which was made of synthetic material with a pattern of blotches and freckles on the white base, was nothing but an eyesore to me. it looked almost white in a distance, so i had to get used to it because my willpower was not strong enough to take lots of work. now that i am smug in my accomplishment, surrounded by the walls i’ve given a fresh coat of white paint – my dinning room, living room, bedroom and the hall. still, this is not a sterile gallery white. in the 100% personal surroundings, white makes me feel calm and even mellow at the same time.

a “keep calm and carry on” poster at last looks fit there. i made a toast the completion of my “home sweet home project 2009” with a glass of campari and soda. 乾杯 kanpai!