North

Here I see the summer is approaching.

Daylight gets longer, fields becomes greener.

Soon lives are in fully bloom.

But I love winter.

To be honest, I don't like heat and humidity in the next season.

I prefer silence and white snow.

Winter gives me time & space to absorb and wait.

I instantly fall in love with the nature in Northern countries.

It might be because I was born in the north.

I start my own projects inspired my winter experiences and "north".

*

夏はもうすぐ。

日は長くなり、畑の緑はもっと深くなった。

生命があふれんばかりの季節がやってくる。

でも私は冬が好き。

正直、次の季節とともにやってくる暑さも湿度も好きじゃない。

静寂、そして真っ白な雪の方が好だ。

冬は、没入と期待の時間。

北国の自然を好きになるのに、時間はかからなかった。

北方で生まれたから、かな。

最近、冬の経験や「北」そのものにインスパイアされた、新しいプロジェクトを始めた。

In the end of a day

easy lemon ginger

I preserved leftover lemons from the lemon cake into sugar.
I enjoy this as lemon tea and also hot lemon ginger.
It's super simple the second one; add one or two slices of pickled lemon, a few teaspoon of ginger powder and lemon into hot water. It is a nice reward for the end of a day.
It is caffein-free and gently warms your throat and body.
Especially these days, I'm easily tired because of the disappointing politics and sad news so decided to remove news app, twitter or fb messenger apps from my iPhone.
Now I appreciate my time taking time to drink a cup of lemon ginger and writing a diary before going to bed.

レモンケーキの残りで、レモンを砂糖漬けにした。
レモンティーとホットレモンジンジャーにして楽しんでいる。
レモンジンジャーはめちゃくちゃ簡単。漬けたレモンを１、２枚とジンジャーパウダーをスプーンで２、３杯、あとは熱いお湯。
カフェインなし、喉も体も優しく温めてくれる。
ここのところ、政治に失望し、ニュースに悲しくなり、疲れやすい。
だからiPhoneからニュースのアプリ、twitterやFBのメッセンジャーアプリも消した。今は自分の時間、就寝前にレモンジンジャーを飲んで日記を書く、そんな時を大切にしている。

Yesterday afternoon, the fields in my hood.
Farmers prepare to seed and soils are ready to grow potatoes.

Refreshing Yellow

In the early morning, I did yoga soon after waking up. Since I didn't yoga yesterday, my body becomes inflexible again. It was a total disappointment.
I felt as if my heart were in a box.

Then I started to prepare a lemon cake. Yoga is such a good excuse to eat pastries. Take one lemon from the fridge and pour hot water over it to remove the waxes. Once lemon zest is prepared, the fresh smell fulfilled the kitchen.
The morning sunshine was gently penetrating from the small kitchen window.
And I breathed deeply. Now I feel my body and heart connects once again.



***


早朝、起きぬけにヨガを。昨日やらなかったせいか、体が硬くてがっかり。
心まで箱に詰め込まれた気分。

次にレモンケーキの準備。ヨガはお菓子づくりのちょうどいい言い訳。
冷蔵庫からレモンを取り出して、熱湯をかけてワックスを取り除く。レモンゼストが準備できると、キッチンにはレモンの新鮮な香りがいっぱい。キッチンの小さな窓から日光が優しいく入ってくる。そして深呼吸。もう一度、体と心が繋がった気分。

New Normals

my schedule book

Anxiety & depression caused by this pandemic affect me, too. Or a huge disappointment on politics also consumes a lot of energy and make me feel powerless, numb and empty. Sometimes, I almost gave up hoping our future and believing people and society.

However time passes with cruelty.

I got gradually disgusted with staying at home without any plan or ambition. So I determined myself to keep a record of everyday life: daily activities, my health condition and some small works I do.  At first, opening the schedule book is so painful. It's because these pages were almost blank...

youtube yoga practices

Another good thing is to start yoga again.

I had practiced yoga long time ago though my body still remembers some postures, luckily.

I can't do it perfectly however at least I enjoy the inflexibility and imperfectness of my body. 

Now Yoga is my new normal and voila, I can keep it up for nearly 2 months !!

As I wrote in the previous post, I also do daily baking. The texture of the doughs is so comfortable to touch. However the taste is, everything will be in our body and gives us energy to survive. 

As you might notice, I eat too much obviously... :P

Live Through This

Making

Eating

As everybody does, baking has been my new daily routine since last month.

I make a pastry a day. 

Today I made a crumble blueberry cake for afternoon snacks.
I used blueberries picked from my family garden. It was the first time for me to make crumbles though it was easy and tasted good... :) 

Miss miss

new camera & new friend in 2014 ?

Well here comes the spring.

It means it's been already 2 years since I moved out from Tokyo.

 I believe the cherry blossom season is soon arriving there.

I miss those days scrolling around my quarter in Tokyo 

to hunt for the cherry blossoms with bringing my film camera.

I would often take pictures by my Contax or Yashica.

Mostly I take pictures of street cats and my friends...

Probably it might be nice to look back on what I saw through the lens ? 

friend in front of the mirror

Trip to Sendai 03

My grandmother's

Every year, my grandparents had traveled around Japan since 1965, 

one year after Tokyo Olympic.

When they visited Tohoku area, it was always a pleasure for my grandmother to get a Kokeshi, a doll traditionally crafted in this area. 

Until 1990s, she collected as many as 11 Kokeshi, and it is now her small collection. 

I visited Sendai, the biggest city in Tohoku last month 

where I never failed to fall in love with Kokeshi.

Frankly, I was totally indifferent to Kokeshi that my grandmother has.

 And I was even surprised
 when my Norwegian friend returned Tokyo with several vintage Kokeshi from her trip Tohoku ! 

This time, it was my turn.

I was instantly fascinated by the beauty 

when seeing Kokeshi displayed at one of the shop in Sendai. 

Each Kokeshi has different face, patterns and shape according to its craftsman and the area where it was crafted...

At an independent book store in Sendai, I came across one second-hand book ( a small dictionary listing name and address of traditional Kokeshi craftsman. )

 I felt my next duty is

 to look for a craftsman who made old Kokeshi in my grandmother's collection.

Here is the drawing of Kokeshi in her collection.

 My duty is almost done 

but I need to know who crafted this Kokeshi wearing Kimono.

i need to know who crafted this kokeshi !