Native America - Ainu

Not many people know about the Ainu of Japan. They are a minority race, the indigenous people of Northern Japan. They are similar, in their genetics and culture, to the Siberian and Northern American peoples.

"the Portland Japanese Garden hosted a special exhibition in honor of the 50th anniversary of the sister city relationship between Portland and Sapporo, Japan. Entitled Parallel Worlds, the exhibition featured exquisitely designed traditional ceremonial robes created by Ainu artists from the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido and Native American artists of the Pacific Northwest. This groundbreaking exhibition became the first to juxtapose the textile arts of indigenous cultures on both sides of the north Pacific."

Some mesmerising Ainu music...

Breath

Two friends recently suggested Qijong (or Chi Kung) might help my health.

The dictionary describes it as:

"an ancient Chinese healing art involving meditation, controlled breathing, and movement exercises."

I went looking for the real easy for lazy slobs version of Qijong (lol) and found this below. I've been doing it every morning, probably in hilariously wrong positions, but I am feeling more relaxed and just.. nice. :-) So I thoughts I'd share it here:

I Write...

Today I read a wonderful post about writing by a very talented writer. His name is Eddie Ombagi and his words are very much worth the effort of reading. Go take a browse of his blog.

In his latest post he said:

I asked myself why I write when I want to. It is the fire within, I realized. The fire within that makes me write, write and write. And the same fire within on some days burn so strong that it burns me into cinders and render me inadequate. On such days all thoughts simply burn into flames and do not come out of the pen or the keyboard.

Wow Eddie... that is so beautifully said, I love it. You got me thinking! Why do we write... all of us here blogging? I suspect there are as many reasons as there are bloggers.

Why do I write?

I asked that of myself a while back, when I was trying to explain it to some friends and family. I said, "I write because this is how I breath."

Later I thought how crazy that sounded, but this past year I've realised how true it is. My hands hurt as I write this. The more I use them, the more they burn.

I'm supposed to rest my wrists. Do I? Yes... and no. I rest my wrists. I have given up hobbies, cooking, housework (that one wasn't hard!). I have not raged at struggling to dress. I laugh when I drop spoons and teapot lids. I stop when my wrists crackle with electric shocks and I stop when my fingers hurt... except when I write.

When I write I go on even when I'm down to typing with one finger. When I write the thoughts come so fast my fingers burn like fire trying to keep up and lately when I write and it really does make my hands burn like fire, but there really is no choice.

I write to breathe.


glitter-graphics.com

The Household Meme

I'm taking up this one from Mimi. :-)

The Household Meme

1. How many gravy boats do you have in your kitchen?

None. My family's love of gravy borders on addiction. I moved on to a gravy galleon years ago.


glitter-graphics.com

2. Do the clothes in your laundry basket need ironing?

You iron them BEFORE you wash them? Wow... that is dedication to housework! :-o

3. What is the last thing you wallpapered?

The last thing I wallpapered? Honestly? I have no idea!
But I can tell you a true story. The weirdest thing I've ever seen wallpapered was a flat we looked at to rent. No.. not the way you think, or I think.. or how most of the sane world thinks! This flat was a portion of an old house and the entire place was covered with wallpaper from floor boards to ceiling. Even the window ledges, skirting boards and fireplace were covered up and some of those walls were... lumpy. What was under all those faded flower prints? Very very strange...

glitter-graphics.com

4. Wooden floors or carpet?

I've found that floors are always useful, regardless of type.

5. Why do we put out guest towels if no one is supposed to use them?

To impress the kind of guests we really don't want to invite into our homes in the first place.

6. If your spatula could talk, what would it say about your duvet?

I'm more interested in how you made this connection! Time for your medication again, Mimi???


glitter-graphics.com


7. Have you replaced the batteries in your smoke alarms this year?

Funny you should ask this! We have a smoke alarm outside our bedroom door. When the battery dies it starts up an alarm sound that's like a weird bird chirp. It died on Sunday night, leading to a looong night of constant pitiful tweeting that led to chirp insomnia...

We fed it a new battery yesterday.

Mothering Sunday

Throwing Away the Glass

Recently there's been a whole theme going round in my journey. It's about looking closer at things. It started with me losing my sense of touch this past year. I've been forced to look at everything carefully, because otherwise I drop things or hurt myself. I have to look at cups I pick up, look at teaspoons, toothbrushes, look at knives (eek), look and LOOK...

...and the more I look the more I realise how much we overlook:

textures, colours, shapes - the colours in onion skin, the grace of human hands and birds in bushes, the way sunlight and shadows change on a wall... the list of wonders is truly endless.

Then came the unbearable sadness of walking with a friend towards her death and yet experiencing at the same time the beauty of seeing her growing brighter and bolder with every step she takes away from this weird crazy muddle we call 'being alive.' I wrote a letter about that and shared it here on my blog. You don't have to read it, but you do need to understand that the same day I wrote that letter I saw a picture on the internet that just leapt out at me. It said:

Dear Optimist, Pessimist and Realist,

While you guys were busy arguing about the glass of water,
I drank it.

Sincerely,
The opportunist.

I read that and I realised that I'm tired of that glass of water; I'm tired of measuring Life. Maybe I'd just like to drink the water. Maybe I'd just like to look deeper, feel more... be alive while I'm living.

Today I'm throwing away the glass!

The artwork above is made by me and you are free to use it. :-)
The photo was taken by 'Jade' of design1online.com,
a place that makes lovely games for little girls.

New Banner - Older Quote

I've made a new banner for my blog. All the photos on the right are real photos I've used on this blog in the past, but the middle quote is new, because it's older. ;-)

Yep, the quote I thought was the original actually wasn't! I always thought the saying was:

"The journey of a thousand miles start with a single step."

but that's a modern interpretation. Lao-Tze's actual words translates closer as:

"The journey of a thousand miles starts beneath one's feet."

It makes more sense actually. Lao-Tze was the founder of Taoism, the concept that gives us Tai-Chi and the Yin-Yang idea of perfect balance.

He also created the concept of Wu Wei - which kind of translates as "Without effort". What he was meaning was the way of Nature and the Universe. Planets turn, seasons come and go, plants grow and water flows... all in a natural unforced way - Wu Wei.

It makes more sense that he'd see a journey starting beneath feet than in a step forward. Stepping forward is an action of force... starting with a contemplative standing position is completely different. To me "beneath our feet" is where all our our dreams and hopes lie. It's who we are, our central core, and the best possible place to start any journey. :-)