The important part is to enjoy tea {and the tools} +
Bound for the post office forthwith (tomorrow is a holiday in Japan hence closed) with a new batch for (some of) the “postcard as a service” subscribers… Each handmade on washi paper with ink sketches of different elements used in tea ceremony with specific narrative on the back.
Just think: If all these folks got together one day, each with their card in hand, together they would have a (in)complete guide book to tea ceremony ;)
Typhoon Weather and Usual Days
After catching up on the laundry, making tomato soup, washing dishes and tidying up the carport, Dave checks in with a bit of ukulele and gratitude for friends who pick up phones &/or send messages, books and quilts when bit blue from “the illness” which is *a challenge* – and through it all, mixing in a little bit of Ramones and Gordon Lightfoot and the usual stuff about Post offices and making fermented items while trying to be a good papa to a wonderful nursery schooler and hubbo to a delightful arborist and diligent landscaper.
So after medical treatment yesterday, snuck into secret cafe which had 1 patron (me) & offer only 1 kind of curry per day and every time is magnificent (as is the boss’ hair) *and* this time offered coffee and free gelato after cause i’m a big shot here in Okayama.
I shan’t tell you the name :) Unless asked.
After, i wandered (got confused looking for the optometrist) and remembered my pals being here for the wedding and we sat on this bench and drank from this fountain (such luxury). I sat and felt grateful for friends.
Oh dear Okayama.
I hafta remember {times like this} ive come so far, rather fast – so far, so fast! >> after falling down down down so so deep.
5.2013 til now = 3 life epochs (or more).
Recap: alive, creative, loved, tired {+ sometimes the syndrome is so fcking tough}
Grateful to pals for sparking me up with kind words across time zones when i could barely put on trousers and get out the door with wallet, keys & bus card for a wee bit of medical maintenance.
There are many reasons I love to send postcards and letters: the first of course is to just let people know I am thinking about them, followed closely by the meditative enjoyment of assembling paper, image and decoration just exactly right, but also enjoy seeing my creations reflected back across in another medium, weeks – or sometimes months – after I drop it in the box.
In this case, the recipient is a photographer who primarily shoots humming and other birds (and who’s lovely cards are elsewhere in this archive) and also takes wonderful close-up snaps of the details of my artifacts, in this case noticing the stamps – both ornamental and philadelphic – and the fuchsia ink scrawled with a quill.
To continue the recursive cycle, I’ve smashed four of her photos together in a little collage to zoom back from Japan to Vancouver once again, with evidence.
Continue reading Post’d: inky card with details & musingsErgo: A collage of close up details from a postcard sent from provincial Japan to West End Vancouver showing a beautiful franked stamp featuring illustration of a lady in kimono, an ink stamp unofficially commemorating Vancouver international airport established 1970, another ink stamp imitating an Immigration stamp from Narita airport and excerpt of a scribble in fuchsia ink possibly saying “happy birthday“ with a bit of another ink stamp probably saying “Postcard“.
Disguise is basically perfect, inpenetrable, no one will ever recognize me like this… So on I go #WorldsWorstSecretAgent #Postcards
“
somewhere…. Beyond the sea…. thank you my faithful pen pal. 
happy mail today.”
But how did you ever guess that was me :)?
PS the lady at the post office (who are always amused my my dispatches) pointed out that “that’s not your wife?!” ha #truth … but is it even me? #worldsworstsecretagent
Ichiro’s playstation / also piano & ukulele. Who needs teevee?
“running through” some songs – Ichiro loves pulling out the baritone ukulele and then i do my best to make up songs with/for him
Busy around the house, now the construction is “done”, doing some garden, yard, landscape, and kura/naya jobs… the glorious mundanity of the tiny things which make all the difference. Be prepared, nothing *shocking* or excited, just the usual days.
Hemp cloth wrapped on shelves made from wedding dais / under the dust cover is 1982ish Yamaha GT-2000 turntable & analog amp plus TEAC cassette/CD/usb/1/4” deck. Thats not *all the records* but a solid batch.
Another string of lights *and* Palau static montage… legit handcrafted speargun etc etc
Wood splitter, borrowed from forester Ukan and parents split up this rack / its loud & ornery but does the job
All hardwood – mostly oak and maple, odd bits of others (arborist wife often bringing home big chunks) This was all F&M-in-law. Epic. I’ll fire it up though (i just encourage)
Breaking rocks in the hot sun… (Ryoko has made a time-lapse of this rather intensive, long project…)
Continue reading Diary: Tsuchida station grounds projects, variousToday’s boots and socks combo for hospital visit. #looksharp / easy on and off is key in Japan / gotta make a simple outing for enjoyable somehow
not only did I wear these sharp boots, I also purchased gum, three packs (1 for back, 1 for car, 1 by door) & a pocari sweat (electrolytes :)) at the embedded 7-11 in hospital
PS Safety ramen before as well #important
Catching up on postcards delivery for my *usual* “postcard as a service subscribers” as well as a few folks who sent extra special birthday wishes.
Yup, just more of the same: scribbling postcard to folks everywhere, dropping in the mailbox, folding laundry and washing dishes. Thank you for the usual days.
More of the recent run from the end of #Dave50 / from both the “global hats“ and “personal archeology“ series. Now that I’m 51, these are highly collectible :-)
Note: talked to the friendly wizard of the mountains of Nagano and he was unsure of who this strange character on the front of his postcard with an incoherent message on the back was from. I asked him “do you have so many people sending you scribbled over photos and inkt blah blah blah messages on postcards?“ “No, just you” he replied (paraphrasing). He asked what the postcard said, I said it was probably Something about a happy birthday.
He then told me a story about hanging out with the Dalai Lama and poet Nanao Sakai and a legendary acupuncturist >> Heard his granddaughter in the background and got the update on his garden. This is wonderful stuff about sparking conversations with postcards and what not. It’s not the message per se, it’s the medium/thoughts/intentions/action. #mcluhanesque
A few more addresses in, a few more friends remembered, few more love notes scribbled with quill and ink (really), and importantly, only the finest postal stamps selected – ranging from kimono ladies to coffee shops to fried fish.
PS you can see a bit of a postcard with the view from my window at Ayurveda Health Home in Pokhara, Nepal, thinking of this place so much with the passing of the dear magical Dr. Rishi.
Aside: Also made Nepal-esque daal and corn/squash chowder to stash in the freezer.
Just wrote a “song” (more of a sprechgesang) – working title: You, Me & the Algorithm (trying to figure out nuclear fission) for the album called “Poste Restante” (or maybe “General Delivery” so dont hafta explain.)
As usual, its Dylan-esque– not in its quality per se but rather because it has like 14 verses, 3 bridges and maybe a chorus, or maybe 13 of those. I’m not sure but either way, I’ve got to figure out how these chord progressions work :) ive got a G C E Am kinda F & D & Gdm (or is it 7th?).
Then i can perform on this lovely “stage” (which is where the now-deprecated pool oasis was before typhoon) for audience of the wild boar living in the bamboo forest and possibly Ichiro, and you if i can track down the tripod. Bring your own lawnchair. Hot water provided for tea.
Then again, might just get lost in the notebook or maybe transcribed and posted in the “old man punk” category of my web archive waiting on someone who knows all the chords to make all song-ish. Who’s to say?
I just write the lines about “Columbus BJ Honeycutt hams” plus something about Plato & Leonard laying it down &/or Zeus & Buddha on a Pan Am flight sharing pack of Salema. Isnt that enough? Whew.
Nice bath, good night lovelies.
Of late, Ichiro comes home from school and wants to put on his shoes and practice walking for a little while.
Also, his appetite is voracious now so he’s catching up in July when he was losing weight and strength. In this example, farmer Mac’s focaccia bread.
