Words, of course, are the most powerful drug used by mankind.
- Rudyard Kipling
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Category Archives: This & That
Too Busy Bathing to Post
In the interval since my last post, my bathroom renovation—a testing journey of fits and starts which began mid-January—finished. Finally. It took six months to swap out the sink, toilet, tub and trim; and install a countertop, a mirror, new … Continue reading
A Corner of Japan in Canada
With Mt. Baker (whom I affectionately call Beka-san) presiding beyond the wall, the view–but for the different smell and absence of muscular pines–is not unlike being in Japan. But no, this is the first experimental sake-grade rice crop growing in … Continue reading
Gather the Gray Day
They say it is the worst spring in the Pacific Northwest since 1955. Sometimes wet, sometimes not but almost every day relentlessly gray: bone gray, slate gray, dirty sheep’s wool gray, elephant gray, battleship gray, leaden gray, silver gray, and … Continue reading
The Last Sakura
The last of the late-blooming sakura have vanished into leaves now. I was asked to contribute reflections of my afternoon as a volunteer during Vancouver Mokuyokai Society‘s Ohanami (cherry blossom viewing) earlier in April. You can read the essay which will … Continue reading
Posted in Essays, Fiction, Poetry, This & That
Tagged Musings of an Ohanami Volunteer, Ohanami, Sakura, Transience
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Dark Humour for Dark Days
I wonder whether it might be heartening if people could count while alive—even if only on one hand—family and friends who might be shattered for a significant period of time by their passing. Continue reading
The Write for Tohoku Project
Though it is difficult to bear witness to destruction and pain of the magnitude caused by the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake Disaster (東日本大震災 Higashi Nihon Daishinsai), the stories of valour and resilience continue to encourage me in spite of the overwhelming … Continue reading
Transience
Transience seems heavier this year—not the least insubstantial or aesthetic or poetic as drifting cherry petals might suggest. Transience wipes towns from maps. Transience waits on the floor of an evacuation centre surrounded by neatly taped cardboard and folded heaps … Continue reading
Sakura Season
Matsuo Basho remembers the bloom of youth from toothless age. Continue reading
Grateful to Vote–Again
Grateful to be called to the polls again, even for less than desirable options. Continue reading
We in the Mad Spring Weather
Robins mate now. Male birds are particularly aggressive at this time. They will fly at each other, bouncing off each other’s breasts—a mating ritual that is not hurtful but mainly for show. The true courtship is conducted by song, the … Continue reading