Tag Archives: kura

Personal Musings, Post'd (cards + letters), Scrapbooks + Journals

Diary: Catch-up with Mochi, Scrapbooks, Postcards, Framing and usual tasks

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new postcard series, “Global Postboxes (mostly), Red (usually)” for the postcards club members

Quick hits from last week or so – have a load of things *want* to do before end of the year (as always) but trying to prioritize gracefully and accept the days as they roll in.

What follows are reminders of various unrelated to “big creative projects ™” from last lil stretch, here to remind me (and future me) of all wrangled through during the ups and downs.

Father in law checks the steamers as neighbours pound mochi rice behind

Mochi making day in Tsuchida neighbourhood (at the little community center where their late grandfather Ichiro used to perform with his accordion… We still have the accordion but it needs some repairs). Steam rice, pound rice, each eat with sweet beans.

Took some snaps of the community agricultural processing sorta warehouse i’ll maybe curate eventually.

Besides the usual dishes, laundry, and tea… Finished epic Beat hero video & prepped some rather gorgeous “Postcards from Gravelly Beach” for some kindly (and lucky :-)) supporters/customers.

Of course, I’m really the lucky one. PS You can get in on the fun by ordering postcard sets & art dossiers or sign up for my monthly “postcard as a service” for $5+/mo.

Note: On my list for next year is to think about how to step this project up (or not)… do i stay the course? add WP “coffee” button? add woocommerce? (finally) start etsy store? start shop!fy store? i dunno. want easy, low stress all the money is distributed to various charities and causes {+ paper, ink & stamps} – advice?

2021 correspondence scrapbook, cover

Also did a wee bit of scrapbooking… Specifically properly archiving all of this year’s general correspondence.

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Personal Musings

Diary: Archival Cabinets, Dirt, Kissaten & Espresso

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Picked up a mighty cabinet unit from a crazy junk shop down the road apiece. {The old fella and the lady was so surprised to see my adorable wife driving the k-truck and tying cool trucker knots to secure the load. Yeah she’s the coolest}.

Ryoko’s rig – i love being her sidekick, rolling country roads with a tied down load

plan: Gonna replace these open book shelves on the right (photo below). The new cabinet has glass front doors so I can put in de-humidification packets to control the humidity to keep my fancy collectible books safe and sound.

Don’t worry, the air conditioner is positioned well in front of the stereo and records

Then, will get rid of these shtty IKEA shelves (which are about to collapse under the weight of the books & the records anyway).

The trick is going to be getting this unit up the steep kura stairs as it’s quite heavy. The current crappy shelves attached to the wall with L brackets and all the books and artifacts will need to be thoughtfully removed… This takes some thinking and a friend (Hi Ted!)

We had the home center all to ourselves with attentive staff helping us load up the truck

Also picked up buncha soil, manure, etc stuff for Ryoko’s job site tomorrow. #arborist #landscapedesign

Take a spin, I personally am not qualified to operate motor vehicles at this point in my life

Oh & a quirky bric a brac laden kissaten lunch (with a friendly owner and a variety of bikes and scooters around despite his very limited eyesight, all in a giant dog have a breed I have no reference of).

Clearly a lot of love went into this machine. I wish the coffee shop had a seat other than one rustic wooden bench… Like aesthetically I get it but a little bit of cozy is nice

Finally a stop fancy espresso at an almost too hip coffee roaster with a gorgeous machine which must require diligent maintenance and elegant repairs.

Overall come out way way too much for me in one day but sometimes when the opportunities are there, you gotta do *all of the things* even if it means a couple of recovery days. Life goes on, and I want to be part of it.

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Personal Musings

Diary: Tsuchida station grounds projects, various

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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 exciting, 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…)

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Japan Cottage Musings

Pink Phone Generational Flashbacks (& Forwards)

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From the front porch of the kura studio with cicadas chirping on a sunny day in Okayama come riffs and reflections about tatami mats revealing generational touchpoints, thoughts of friends passed on, reminiscences about american road trips with bands in renegade youth, sickness and healing, tree doctor tests, mystery old-timey radio shows, submarine films and evasion tactics from the signal corps.

Overall: home is where the projects are, planes can take you places you forgot (or try to) and phones can call anyone anywhere and the ¥10 is optional. Importantly, do you remember the number?

Brought to you (unofficially) by Sri Lankan cricket team, giant hat for ¥642 and Jevitty who are helping me live well past 100 (note apple watch).

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Collections of Artifacts

Evidence: More records in the Kura (Gord Downie, Big Thief, Bob Dylan &…)

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adding magic to the stacks with Big Thief’s Masterpiece, a masterpiece double vinyl from Gord Downie, and a piece from a master, Bob Dylan’s Planet Waves

Ummmm accidentally on purpose ordered some more records. Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Astrud Gilberto, Suzanne Vega, Big Thief, The Waterboys, Courtney Barnett, … more Tanya Donelly, more Weakerthans, more Hey Rosetta, Bob Dylan, and The Linda Lindas (via band camp).

I *should show you* one of these days (problem is, when I play the  records in video, creates intellectual property conundrums – and music must always be played in the kura barn where internet does not exist for streaming) #rules

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Japan Cottage Musings

Japan Generational farm house and cottage story

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+ Introducing our compound in Tsuchida, Okayama +

I joined a Kominka (trad Japanese country home) renovation, acquisition & enjoyment group and made a video introduction – sharing here in case you are curious.

‘Tis a little intimidating cause a load of people are doing incredible detailed projects in remote locations with all sorts of hand-tools and techniques but hey, i am adding to the generation story of our land – its all about the cycles.

Riff includes parents’ renovated farm house and our “cottage” under construction.

In brief: Both of these homes were empty from the 1990s until about 7 years ago when my (arborist/jazz singer) wife re-opened the cottage, the parents followed and the dilapidated old farm house was reno’d keeping all the beams, much character and details.
Now the cottage (which sits where other buildings did in the past) is getting a big new room plus a load of other upgrades to add to the story. A mix of trad joinery and materials and a few touches from the parent’s reno (genkon doors etc) and also insulation, woodstove, tea ceremony area, and big doors out to the carport as i hope our place becomes the local hangout for our son Ichiro’s pals in years to come.

Also a peek at wife’s Naya toolshed and glance at garden. Oh yeah, i also ramble on about my “origin story” of coming to Japan in early 1990s and working as a mushroom farmer in Tottori before running away and hitchhiking from Shikoku to Nagano where i first experience renegade inaka living.

Very pleased to add to my local community and respect the work of the ancestors.

the “Sistine Chapel” of kura granary barns

PS If curious i have time-lapse video of the roof raising and other artifacts from the kura which is now my arts and crafts studio and music lounge.

panorama of the backyard with garden, kura barn and bamboo grove

 

 

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DaveO Shop, Japan Cottage Musings

Suez Panoramas, Global Postcards & Fungible Shiba Inu stamp

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Arts and crafts update from the Kura barn with  recent dossiers of various mixed media projects including: Suez Canal panoramas, more Kerala India spy photos & sherbet-coloured houses in oil pastels, poetry & travelogues on hotel stationæry, and the circular story of a postcard series from Cascadia, also a fun-gible Shiba Eno stamp. 

Get in on the fun. #hint https://daveostory.com/shop

PS happy to be “at home” at Tsuchida Cottage 

Let’s enjoy global ephemera and postal goodtimes #daveoshop

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Post'd (cards + letters)

Post’d: Pleasing session in the Kura barn

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Love when my desk looks like this: 3 bevvies, stacks of cards, fountain pens & ink, stationery ahoy! Swoon

Wife was at tea ceremony so headed into the barn for a session a few days back with a variety of special handmade postcards, my custom stationæry letterhead, fountain pens, various ink colours, three beverages, and assortment of addresses all combined to send musings, sentiments and artistic ephemera to lovely correspondents in locales close and far with affection.

Oh and: In other “not surprising at all“ update, another new record. The Beatles, Abbey Road / Japanese pressing. The original price – back in the day – was ¥2500 (as listed on the “obi” sleeve wrap) >> I paid a little less than that for it by post (along with some other gym. The liner notes have the lyrics in original English with a Japanese translation as well. 

Note: i rock discogs.com {not even close to complete collection} and filter by “ships from Japan” and find all kinds of treasures from dozens of different stores and sellers. Always arrive well packed, cleaned and great condition. Finding some great bargains too!

put on a record, take a snooze, enjoy the cool, dark, quiet – sigh

PS Camping Cot added to kura barn studio/lounge for relaxing times when construction noise and commotion over-stims me. Such luxury!

 Are you in the Daveo postal club? Get on the list… You’re smart, you’ll figure out how to get in on the good times.

Tip: DaveO Shop open for biz with art cards, prints, poems and dossiers.

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Personal Musings, Post'd (cards + letters)

Post’d: Coffee break with fountain pen, Hey Rosetta & Mr Bragg

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Funicular, Funiculaires, Post boxes, Alley ways, scissors and pens… stamps to elsewhere

Construction outside, coffee service delivered for the workers, now giving my ears and brain a bit of a break by hiding out in the barn with a stack of postcards (note: four different series in play today), my mom’s old scissors, my fancy #daveo50 fountain pen, stamps (which have nothing to do with the actual country mailing from or to), & Hey Rosetta’s phenomenal album “Seeds“ on vinyl just delivered (oddly enough) from Italy.

as it goes, turned on to Hey Rosetta on the same extanded wander as when i saw the scene which inspired the painting, which made the postcard…

As always, so much to tell you about and catch you up on but I’d rather do that by postcard if it’s all the same to you…

Love and Justice, thanks for the reminders Braggy

End of bulletin.

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Collections of Artifacts

File Under Portals, vol. 1 (tobacco, kura, photo/coffee/masks)

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Tobacco stands, spotted in the wild. Some are shuttered, some are (vaguely) operational, one is actually a ticket booth maybe. Note: the Japanese federal government is, I think, 27% owner of Japan Tobacco, a publicly traded company. I would fact check this but I’m folding laundry right now.

Machines designed to do dispense items, various – purchased items from 2 out of the 3

Kura barns, de/re-constructed at Nozaki-te salt compound, Kojima, Okayama, Japan
— at 野崎家旧宅

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Japan Cottage Musings

Kura Cultural Curation – Japan Cottage Musings

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Kura Cultural Curation – Japan Cottage Musings

Riffs about home reform with new rooms, woodstove and tea ceremony area (thoughts of Ichiro and pals coming home from school) heat pump for humidity control for responsibly curating and collecting books for a legacy library.

And a rundown of recent new/used records including acknowledgement of Shred Kelly, Nice Horse, and (Buffalo Tom’s) Bill Janovitiz’s community building in times of tumult + musical memories in tangible form with David Bowie Let’s Dance picture disc, Hüsker Dü covers, Dead Kennedys, Sonic Youth’s Dirty (Europe 92), War on Drugs (comfort foods), literary keeners The  Weakerthans from Winnipeg, and importantly pal Pat WOOD on Awesome Death’s “To Be Determined.”

Thanks to postcard club participants and folks mailing stuff my way and Casa Rosa for safe haven for library staging.

Fondly, dvo at Giggling Piglet Atelier and Consulate

PS Investigate Forthwith:

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Japan Cottage Musings

Tsuchida Yard and Garden – Japan Cottage Musings

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With Ichiro strapped on whilst outdoors, Dave and some dodgy camera work walk around the yard and gardens of our home in Okayama, Japan. Stops include: picnic area(s), Ryoko’s tool shed, location of upcoming house addition, various wood piles, bamboo grove, Mother’s vegetable garden, the kura grain barn turned art studio and (of course) a persimmon tree.

Appearances by father Takeshi, Ryoko of course, and the neighbour lady stops by to see the cutest baby.

Tsuchida Yard and Garden: Kei-truck with shelf project

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