Photos by SATOU-san.

Thai Beauty

Artistic Attempts

This month I have been expanding my activities to include visual arts. What a treat!

I have signed up for a weekly ikebana (flower arranging) class, in the very traditional Ikenobo style. Ikebana isn't like American-style flower-arranging, which my teacher calls "gorgeous" (but means to say, "too much"). It's sparse-looking yet very complex. lIkebana is an art that all Japanese women were required to learn, in the past.

Ikenobo ikebana includes line, movement and color. All three elements must be within the arrangement. For example, in the one above dated 3/3/08, the 'line' is the spiky leaves, the curved 'movement' is the white flowers, and the 'color' is the yellow and pink.

The teacher of the ikebana course (a tiny woman of at least 80) will also teach a Tea Ceremony class later this month, to which I am invited. An honor!

And this week I started embroidering a quilt piece with a group of older ladies. Each week in our town library, a rotating art dislpay is featured. This week featured spectacular quilts from all over the world. They have a table set up for locals to try their hand at the embroidering. Makes me think of Grandma Isabelle!


I have also had numerous opportunities to sing in Furano.
At the favorite watering hole of many Furano English-speakers, Nick and I were asked to lead in singing "Imagine". That song is always inspiring.

And often in classes I sing with the students. Today with elementary students it was "Head Shoulders Knees & Toes" and "If You're Happy and You Know It". With one particularly cool peace-nic teacher at a junior high, we sing songs like "Blowin in the Wind" and "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing". I have also sung Backstreet Boys songs, but let's not mention that. . .


Next weekend some of my vocal recordings will be part of a school ceremony. I sang an old Girl Scout song in both English and Japanese. The words are:

Make new friends but keep the old.
One is sliver and the other gold.

Omaha, somewhere in the middle of America

I'm in Omaha!
Immediately upon arriving Mom drove us from the airport to a nearby wildflower field (sanctuary?) and commenced harvesting a fresh bouquet for our home. She looks innocent, but she's really a conniving thief armed with scissors in her glovebox. Watch out. ;)

(There are beautiful photos but I can't figure out how to upload them from our iBook to Blogger. Have patience with me.)

Some initial observations about Omaha, versus Portland:

1. Things are far apart. Nick and I can walk to places, but it takes a really long time and you have to cross major roads to get places. Omaha is not pedestrian friendly, even in 'Midtown' where we live. And it's even worse in the suburbs, which is most of the city.
2. Omaha is older. Walking around our neighborhood, it's clear that our city was settled 50-100 years before Portland. Lots of lovely old brick houses and amazing trees.
3. People are friendly. Clerks talk to you and people say hello on the sidewalk.
4. Recycling and picking up litter are not priorities. An environmentally-conscious Free-Trade coffee shop served us smoothies in styrofoam cups (which are illegal in Portland.) Ew.
5. My friend's super-cute one-bedroom condo, close-in, built in 1930 with hardwoods, picture molding, crystal doorknobs, etc. . . is selling right now for $63,000. It would go for $250,000 in PDX.
6. BIG SKY! I missed this aspect of the midwest. The Nebraska rainistorms this week have been magnificient. I'm looking forward to a summer of Weather.

Washington: Mt. St. Helen's and a Lilac Garden!

This past Monday my Mom and her partner and I had a great time being tourists in Washington. We visited Mt. St. Helen's, about 3 hours (but only 50 miles) from Portland.

This grand volcano blew in 1980, and although the animals and plants and trees are returning, the devastation is still remarkable. Immediately after the eruption, nearby mountain rivers were choked with ash and pumice, some of which is carried all the way to the ocean. In 2003 the volcano spewed ash and steam again, and continues to smoke today. We hiked the hummocks (piles of ash and rock) at the base of the volcano and spotted a tiny frog on the trail; frogs are always a good indicator of the health of the land!

On the drive home we stopped in Woodland, Washington at Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens for a wonderful springtime treat. Below you can see lilac, monkey tree, camelia, magnolia, lavender and a white flowering tree I can't recall the name of (beginning with V -- does someone know?).

On the Journey

My time, my mind is filled with the possibilities of my journey. This year will be remarkable; whether it will be *good* is yet to be seen. I'm applying for schools in the Netherlands, in order to possibly live with/near my best grrl Amber and her beefy/smartypants husband Adam. We're also applying to multiple programs and schools to teach English: Japan, Thailand, Middle-East, who-knows-where. Nick (my beefy/smartypants boyfriend) and I are busy each day in communication with various schools or teachers in Asia. Some days I feel drunk, my head swimming with the possibilities.

Meanwhile, back on the ranch, I'm busy resigning from my Portland activities: Unitarian Universalist Service Committee http://www.uusc.org/, UU Connections Committee, UU Chamber Choir, my little folk music group 'Mo Mack & the Peacemakers', Hands to Hearts International http://www.handstohearts.org/, TND, and my job http://www.edgelink.com/. Goodbyes are exhausting and sad. Just over 2 months till take-off!

And oh! The trees are glorious this week. Each a goddess, dressed in her pink or white ballgown, her lovely perfume wafting down to those who pause to smell her gift. Spring is such a joy. First come daphne bushes with their unassuming blossoms and their sweet orange-ginger scent. Daphne is my favorite flower to give me Hope in this long grey Pacific winter. Next are crocuses, which in the Midwest can be seen poking through snowdrifts at the end of a long winter. Shortly after are the daffodils, cherry blossoms, green grasses, blue skies, suntans. . .

I've been intending to get on the bandwagon and blog for some time now. Lord knows I have some soapboxing (is that a verb?) to do. My goals for this blog: 1) to be in communication with friends/family while we travel. 2) to reflect what it means to be Woman - Midwestern - American - Western, while I explore other ways of being. 3) to improve my writing voice. Yikes. 4) this one tagged on at the end: to be more tech-savvy. How the hell do I post the photos so they are in the right spot on the page?!