Category: Nature and Life

‘Cause they don’t have to worry about driving

Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the whole world.  According to WHO, over 6.5 million people died.  Everybody’s lives have been disrupted.  The news in every media is full of tragedy.

Here I dare focus on the silver lining.  How many can I find in my life?

…

Among the 90 some members, probably I’m the second youngest. 

In the last eight years or so I have been in charge of putting together and sending out newsletters to members six times a year.  I have to send it via physical mail to at least 10 of our members, because they don’t have email address.

Members enjoy social gatherings under the theme of Ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement) once a month. Thirty or so core members are involved in some kind of committees, and they have another meeting a month to discuss business.

Ever since the group was founded over 60 years ago, for the members, meetings meant gathering at a church or a community center, bringing cookies and cakes and serving tea during the discussion.  Many have been loyal members for over 30 years, and now they love to show off photos of their grandchildren.

Then COVID hit.

All the meetings scheduled in 2020 were canceled.  The May newsletter that year only had photos of Ikebana arrangements created by some members.  That was the only thing we could feature. 

The summer was over.  Time to get back together, but how? 

Several members came up with the idea of meeting online.  They seemed to have learned how to use Zoom from their grandchildren.  Even those who don’t have email address have a smart phone.   Why not give it a try?  So we did. 

The first online meeting was far from smooth.  The person who had the Zoom account didn’t know how grant another person access to be a host.  Some needed help how to log on.  Some joined unknowingly with two devices, causing terrible howling.

But as time went by everyone became better at the operation.

After over two years, we finally decided to get together in person again.  Masks are required among us.  Considering the average age of the members, that seems prudent.

“We should keep our business meetings online!” was the consensus when we discussed how to conduct our future meetings.  “We don’t have to drive, we don’t have to get dressed fancy. Without stepping out the house at all, we can see old familiar faces.”

Grandmas became quite comfortable using the new technology!

That’s all thanks to the pandemic.

…

What’s your silver lining?

YouTube became my instructor and I’m more fit than ever

Photo by Ksenia Kazak on Unsplash

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the whole world.  According to WHO, over 6.5 million people died.  Everybody’s lives have been disrupted.  The news in every media is full of tragedy.

Here I dare focus on the silver lining.  How many can I find in my life?

…

Unlike my husband, I was never an avid gym goer.  I used to belong to one for years because my husband did, but the return of investment must have been less than a quarter compared to that of my husband’s.  He went six days a week, except for Saturdays.  If I went three days a week that was an accomplishment.  

Squash, bicycling, swimming… None of them lasted long.  Then Yoga.  It became my thing to do there, but I was always a couple of minutes late for the class.

Then COVID hit.  Our gym closed down.  Poor my husband, he lost not only an opportunity to exercise but also to socialize.   From six time a week to zero was far more drastic than 1-3 times a week to zero.

Soon taking a walk in the neighborhood became our thing to do between 5:30pm to 6:30pm.  At first we took a different route every time.    “Should we turn left?  Right? Or straight?”  “Let’s turn  … (alternate one of the three).”  Was our main conversation.  In about a month or so, we must have turned every single corner within one mile radius from our house.

The spring past.  The summer came and gone.  When the fall arrived with more frequent rain and much earlier sunset, we stopped going out for a walk.  Neither my husband nor I are outdoor type.  We didn’t have any appropriate gear that keeps us dry and warm while outside for an hour.

An YouTube channel called “Appearance TV” has saved me from putting on weight during the lockdown.  The title sounds funny?  Maybe that’s because this is not an American but a Japanese channel.

The two, or sometimes three guys in the video look young and cute, and all their programs are short and easy, no more than 10 minutes.  Some are less than 3 minutes. Every two to three days a new video is added.  I first picked 3-4 videos that looked easier, the ones I can do mostly lying on the floor.

Soon It became my daily routine to exercise by following several videos in this channel right before going to bed.  

Every night after I change to my pajamas, I bring my iPad with me upstairs to the bedroom.  All the exercises are so light that I hardly sweat, but my body gets warm enough to fall asleep fast. 

No need to drive to gym.  No need to spread a yoga mat.  No need to change to tight pants.  Thanks to Appearance TV, now I enjoy exercise every night, which never happened before.

That’s all thanks to the pandemic.

…

What’s your silver lining?

And I’m loving it!

Photo by Luke Braswell on Unsplash

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the whole world.  According to WHO, over 6.5 million people died.  Everybody’s lives have been disrupted.  The news in every media is full of tragedy.

Here I dare focus on the silver lining.  How many can I find in my life?

---

All my life (except for my senior year in high school) I always had short hair.  Short hair was a synonym for me.  My ears and my neck had to be exposed.  As soon as my hair touched the top of my ears, I would have my hair cut.  I was so picky about my hairstyle that it took me long time to finally find my favorite hairdresser in Seattle. 

Then COVID hit.  One month, two months, three months… I started to tuck my hair behind my ears.  Six months, one year… I bought a bunch of hair ties. 

Finally the hair salons were allowed to reopen. But my favorite hairdresser had moved to Hawaii a little before that.  What should I do?

By that time my hair was already touching my shoulder.  Why not grow it even longer?

So now I, the woman once synonymous with short hair, have hair maybe longer than a horse tail.  And I’m kind of liking it. 

When my hair was short, I used to shampoo every morning.  Now I shampoo my long hair only once a week.  I don’t blow-dry.  I just twist the end of my hair with my fingers when still wet.   My hair stays that way even when it gets dry. I have never dyed my hair, nor will I ever do in the future. 

When I wear kimono, I put my hair up.  My mother really likes how I look.  She tells me to keep my hair long whenever I send her my photo in kimono.  Mother, I guess I will follow your words for now, ‘cause I’m loving how I look, too.   

That’s all thanks to the pandemic.

And hopefully I continue this adventure

Photo by Intricate Explorer on Unsplash

First of all, I want to give myself a pat on the back today for completing the 30-Day Writing Challenge. 

I rediscovered my old Medium account, came across this 30-Day Writing Challenge plot list, also found Writers’ Hour, and started spending 8-9 am every morning to write.  I realized that Writer’s Hour doesn’t happen on weekends, but I wrote on Saturday and Sunday anyway.

There were certain days I had to leave home before 8, (like a doctor’s appointment). On such a day I made sure to allocate one hour before or after my normal writing hour.  Only 30 days, but it feels good to accomplish something.

When I write, I change the font color in white, so that I can’t see what I’m writing on the screen.  This is a trick I learned from the Minimalists.  If I can see what I just wrote, I tend to edit each sentence, and that tends to break my train of thought. 

If I change the font color in white, all I see is the cursor moving, and here and there red wave lines (that means Microsoft Word found misspellings) and blue double lines (I’m grammatically incorrect).  I don’t care, I just keep on typing.

Today’s assignment is to write what I feel when I write.  What am I feeling now?

A sense of satisfaction.  A relief, calmness that I have accomplished something, no matter how small it is. This sense of accomplishment must be generating some chemical good for my body.  I feel even my lung is filled with some warm welcoming sensation. 

In the last 30 days, whenever I started writing following the plot, I found myself closing my eyes. 

I see a dark cave there.  And in front of me there is a deep water of my memories and subconciousness.  The surface is pitch dark and utterly calm.  I cast a fishing rod to see what’s beneath the surface and what I can catch. 

It may be a treasure box.  It may be a stinky rotten item I wish I didn’t find.  Good or evil. Right or wrong.  I try not to judge whatever comes up.  I simply see, feel, sense, something percolating in my deep sea of subconsciousness for a long time.

I have a choice not to pay any attention to the black water.  Nobody cares if I don’t.  But I know I will regret when I die if I don’t this.  My susbconsiousness will disappear forever when my body disappears.  I can’t let it happen.

This process of writing every day gives me an opportunity to explore this black sea of my subconsciousness.  I’m adventurous enough to explore this secret water.  This sense of excitement, as if I’ve became Indiana Jones crawling this dark cave.

Thank you very much for reading my 30-Day Writing Challenge.  I hope to continue this exploration, and I hope to see you again.

It’s more like a path

Photo by Bruno /Germany in Pixabay

Day 29 of 30-Day Writing Challenge

Normally I write my assignment first then I look for an image that is fitting for the article. 

But today I reversed the order.  I started browsing the images that came up when I typed “Goal” as a keyword.

The first photo on the list was an image of a dartboard. One arrow is hitting the bullseye.  Nice job!  Well, when much younger, I used to think of a goal like this picture.  But no longer.

Another popular kind was that of a goal of succor or hockey field.  Yeah, that’s also a goal.  But not mine.

Another kind is a summit of a mountain.  A person posting a flag on the top.  Sure, I used to place a flag like this on the summit I conceptually visualized.  Moving to the US to live,  starting my own business, and exiting it.  But no more.

I found one!  A picture that shows my future goals most appropriately: a path in the open field.

In this picture I see mountains far away.  Continuing to walk this path I may be able to reach the mountains.  But, you know, I’m 60 years old.  Not that physically fit, although I try to exercise every night.  I may drop dead before getting to even the foothills of those mountains.

The way of flowers, the way of tea, the way of writing… None of what I practice now has an end.  No matter how fast, how long I stride, I will never be able to reach the summit.  The summit is always far away, and that’s fine. 

On this path, in front of my eyes, I simply move my foot forward one step at a time.  Once in a while I look back the path to see how far or how little I have come.  And I look forward again, make today’s stride.  Till I die.  Yes, my future goals look exactly like this photo.

14,306 days till my 100^th birthday.     

How about Loving Yourself First?

Photo by Kevin Grieve on Unsplash

Loving someone is wonderful…. Until that person is gone.  Left alone, you suddenly feel empty inside.  You feel helpless, hopeless, and valueless… Miserable.  Is that the price you pay for loving someone? 

Loving someone sounds virtuous.  Loving yourself sounds selfish.  But here lies a paradox, in my humble opinion.

Loving someone over yourself simply means that you let that someone dictate your emotional status.  You hand over the control of your emotion to that someone.  It’s like you lean over your entire body and existence to that someone.  What a burden whoever that someone feels!  Even before that someone leaves you, you emptied the love in you and dumped it over that someone.

Loving yourself first means you take full responsibility for your emotion.  You are not dependent on anybody else for controlling your emotion.  You fill yourself with love first.  Only then you let your love overflow to someone and other people around you. 

Even if that someone is gone, you are totally fine, since you are filled with love anyway. you don’t feel any emptiness.

And the very fact that you are filled with your own love, you are standing with your own feet. You are not leaning toward anybody.  That someone is not feeling any burden, therefore thereis less chance that someone leaves you. 

Someone said, “I can’t live without you” and “I can’t walk without a clutch” are the same meaning.  I agree.  Let’s stand firm, let’s fill yourself with love first.  With love overflowing from you, someone and anyone around you will benefit.

Day 24 of 30-Day Writing Challenge

Lessons I learned in ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement):

• Less is more.
• Symmetry is boring.  Make asymmetry, and can you still make it beautiful?
• No two arrangements are the same, even if you use the same materials and the same container.
• Ikebana is to give a new life to flowers, with your own creativity and imagination.
• Three basic elements of ikebana: line, Mass, Color.
• Three basic techniques of ikebana: cut, bend, fix.
• The canvas of ikebana is three dimensional.
• Only one branch can express so many things – direction, movement, and energy flow.
• Ikebana reminds you of geometry class in high school: With two lines you make surface.  With three lines you create depth.
• High contrast of colors, strong statement.   Similar colors, harmony.
• Always consider the surroundings where you place your arrangement.
• All the flowers are beautiful, but not all the ikebana arrangements are beautiful. 
• Always keep the workspace clean.  Not only the final work but the process is also important.
• Always wipe out your scissors to avoid rust.
• Ikebana and calligraphy have similarity.  Ikebana and music have common factors.
• We cut branches from nature and create what didn’t exist in nature before.
• You are not taking out.  You are creating space.
• Space between branches and flowers are not vain, but a very important element.
• Don’t hesitate to use many materials.  Don’t waste any material.
• Look closer.  What do you see?  Look back.  What do you see?
• Every material has the front and back.  Why?  Because they grow under the sun light.
• You can only learn how flexible the branch is by actually touching and trying to bend it.
• You can’t float the branch.  We are living in the world with gravity.
• You can’t take away colors from the materials.  Use them.
• Scissors are a cutting tool, not a tool for putting together.  When in doubt, leave the branch longer.  You can always cut, but once cut short you can never make it longer.
• With only three branches you can create a basic structure of the arrangement.
• You always want a focal point.
• When arranging with many different kinds of flowers, try to place the darkest color in the center to keep the overall harmony.
• Shorter flowers in the back to add depth.
• Always keep in mind from which direction you see the arrangement.  Are you placing it against the wall?  Above the eyesight?  On the floor so that people will look down upon?
• Always cut flower stems under water it will last longer.

Maybe that’s all I’ve learned in ikebana and also that’s all I teach my ikebana students. 

You can read through the list less than three minutes, but it takes more than lifetime to perfect it.  That’s the beauty of learning. 

Day 23 of 30-Day Writing Challenge

Photo by Luma Pimentel on Unsplash

Dear those of you who are to be born in 2022,

When I was born 60 years ago, I was one of 3.15 billion people on the earth.
Now you will be born as one of 7.98 billion. 

Seventy-six percent of the total habitable land was natural (forest and grassland) in 1900.  In 1950 it went down to 58%, and further down to 53% in 2018.

The green leaves of trees in natural forest and grassland are generators of oxygen, something you will need to live. You have to share less oxygen with more people.

In the last three years people in the whole world suffered the COVID-19 pandemic.  More than 6.5 million people died of this virus and the threat continues.  If you are born in the hospital, I bet everybody who helped you come out of your mother’s womb is wearing a mask. 

According to World Health Organization, infectious diseases and biodiversity is closely related:

Human activities are disturbing both the structure and functions of ecosystems and altering native biodiversity. Such disturbances reduce the abundance of some organisms, cause population growth in others, modify the interactions among organisms, and alter the interactions between organisms and their physical and chemical environments. Patterns of infectious diseases are sensitive to these disturbances. Major processes affecting infectious disease reservoirs and transmission include, deforestation; land-use change; water management e.g. through dam construction, irrigation, uncontrolled urbanization or urban sprawl; resistance to pesticide chemicals used to control certain disease vectors; climate variability and change; migration and international travel and trade; and the accidental or intentional human introduction of pathogens.

World Health Organization

Since the 1950s, the wild animal populations have more than halved.   The loss of biodiversity is no joke. 

In 2019, suicide is a leading cause of death, especially in young people.  There seems to have gotten more difficult to find joy of living than when I was a kid. 

I had never seen a TV until I was 4 or 5.  The screen didn’t have any color until 10 or 11 years old.  Now you will see vivid color videos the moment you are born.  Your parents will likely keep showing it to you with a tablet while they do their errands.  You may have seen every animal and creature on earth on the 2-D screen before you even touch a real dog for the first time.     

With a helmet on your head when you start learning how to ride a bicycle, and with adults’ watching you when you climb up the jungle gym, you are much safer than when I used to play outside.  But who was having more fun?  I don’t know. 

Should I be proud of the convenience and comfort you enjoy?  Maybe.  Should I be sorry for the mess we have created? Definitely.  But please don’t complain about the situation you are in.  Just like you didn’t, I didn’t have a choice of when to be born. 

No time was perfect.  There have always been problems.  Depending upon the time we were born, we face different challenges.  Please look around you with your own eyes, find problems you can tackle, and take action with your own capability.  I will try to do the same with my time still remaining on the earth.    

Day 22 of 30-Day Writing Challenge

This morning I missed joining The Writer’s Hour: Daily Writing Sessions.  I couldn’t get out of bed at 8am.  Now it’s noon, but I’m still in bed.

Normally I would sit in my den downstairs, looking out the window. 

I would see a pine tree.  The little sapling I got from Arboretum 20 years ago is now taller than my height. The branches are stylishly trimmed by my pruner friend. 

In the center of the tiny front yard is a maple tree with variegated leaves. When I bought it was labeled as Japanese maple, but it doesn’t have the graceful drooping silhouette. The trunk is rather straight.  My pruner always struggles with this one. 

On the boarder I planted 11 Buddha’s yew about 7 years ago.  Finally they are tall and thick enough to almost hide the yard from the side walk, giving me more privacy.

I covered the majority of the front yard with light gray gravel, imitating the sea.  The area where the maple tree is planted is considered to be an island.  I placed a stone-carved carp on the gravel.  Karesansui 枯山水 is the official term for this type of Japanese garden.  Instead of creating a real pond, the gravel represents water. 

I created it with my own sweat equity.  Without my continuous care, this space will be full of weeds.

Today I can’t see my own creation from my bedroom upstairs.  Rather, I see four chairs and a wooden table on the small balcony outside the window.  How many times did I sit in the chair this summer?  How many more summers will I sit there? 

The half of the of the view from the window is the gray sky.  Clouds with darker shade of gray are sliding from left to right.  The Olympic Mountains are completely hidden. I can only see the shoreline of Bainbridge Island beyond the Puget Sound. 

The two Douglas fir trees on the left are now more than twice the height of our neighbor’s house.  When we moved in here I could barely see the top above their roofline.  The branches on the top of the trees are swaying.  If an eagle were resting on the branch, would it get motion sickness? 

The window is now getting diagonal marks.  It has started to rain.  The rain that should help contain the wildfire.  The rain that would quench the thirst of my trees.  Today I welcome the rain. 

The island covered with green trees, sound water, mountains, the cloud, and the sky… A hundred years from now they all will still be here. But not me.  I will be gone by then. Compared to their existence, what a pity, short life I have. 

The fifth COVID vaccine shot has knocked me for a day.  Tomorrow I will be well again.  Tomorrow I will glance at these trees and the sky only for seconds before rushing downstairs, occupied by my daily chores.   Today, however, I will keep on staring out the windows, facing the truth of my brief life. 

Day 20 of 30-Day Writing Challenge

I knew that he changed his name from Akihiro Maruyama to Akihiro Miwa, but that was about all I knew about him.  He is older than my father, why would I be interested in him?

When I watched his documentary program on TV, and when I saw a photo of him about the time he had started singing in Tokyo right after World War II, I had a crash on him!

Not only his beauty, his life is full of color.

• He is a survivor of the atomic bomb in Nagasaki.
• He is the first singer song writer in Japan. 
• He never hid his LGBTQ identity.
• One of his most famous song “Yoitomake no Uta” had been banned from commercial broadcasting for a long time.
• He was a close friend of Yukio Mishima, a famous Japanese author who committed seppuku in 1970.
• His recital is always sold out.

An amazing human being.  I’m a big fan of his books, too.  Too bad his work (his music as well as books) is not well known by the world.