Where Globe-Trotting meets Beach-Combing
Here’s what I like: seashells, maps, September, consistency. And now, introducing…my sand collection! Regrettably, my sand collection is incomplete. This is all my own fault. For the longest time I made a conscious decision to NOT collect sand. “Then I’ll have to do it everywhere and it will be a ‘thing,’” I thought. “I can’t…
Now that I am a Sophisticated 27 all I see is green. I mentioned a couple years ago that I associate my ages with colors. A watery aqua with silver and sailboats for 24 (when we lived in Florida), Chinese red with gold edges for 25 (coincidentally, I went to China for the first time…
With the completion of Awa Odori at hand, we American-Japanese dancers asked Sumie-san if we could continue our Japanese cultural training by taking tea ceremony lessons from her. Tea ceremony is serious business, and Sumie-san is a certified tea ceremony master! Wow! Lucky for us, she said yes. But first she laughed. “Japanese dance? Tea…
I felt a particular freedom on my birthday this year that I haven’t felt the last nine years. In 2001, birthday celebrations and festivities disappeared behind the billowing cloud of black smoke roiling out of New York City’s Twin Towers. I figured I’d never feel like celebrating my birthday again. Or even if I did,…
On occasions when I have Mouse trouble, I set a simple but effective Mousetrap. I get out an empty plastic bag, fluff it open and toss it onto the floor nearby. Mouse will get out of whoever’s purse he’s trying to sneak into, stop licking my elbow, or switch off his laser eye beams—whichever the…
“Otsukaresama deshita!” “Otsukaresama deshita!” “Otsukaresama deshita!” After each Awa Odori performance the words rang through the night as everyone ended the night’s work by calling out, “Job well done!” Tonight we had a Job Well Done Dinner where we stood for a formal toast, everyone said, “Kanpai!” and we all clinked glasses. Boys came running…
I must repeat it: I love zipping around Japan on the Scoop. The wind tearing by, the smell of a bamboo grove or the river for a fraction of a second, the sunshine on my skin, and the amazing visibility of my helmet instead of a windshield…my love affair with the Scoop continues. I can…
