On my drippy walk, “spose bagnate, spose fortunate”—wet brides, lucky brides. On Stone Arch Bridge a wedding party assembled under umbrellas. Later, a different bride leapt out of a car, dashed past me, and disappeared into the Guthrie, presumably abandoning outdoor photography.
Category: Japanese Concepts
Vacation Rentals: Embracing Imperfection
We’re in Tucson, hiking wonderful trails, with trailheads just minutes from where we’re staying. Our legs aren’t quite as supple as they once were, so we’re having a rest day. We’re relaxing in a rental apartment and contemplating a short walk out to lunch. Vacation rentals are great value, especially now, with hotel room prices… Continue reading Vacation Rentals: Embracing Imperfection
The Last Incandescent Bulb
With a high of -4°F, stayed in, continued my home energy review. All our lights are LED… except this holdout in the clothes dryer. Decided to keep the 10 watt incandescent bulb because it’s only on for a few minutes per week. Besides, it lets me healthily embrace imperfection.
Learning in a Time of Covid
In these days of Covid, travel is not an option. Instead, learning new stuff has been fueling our ikigai (getting us out of bed in the morning), and giving us plenty to talk about over dinner. Until one of our dinnertime conversations, I thought grow lights were pretty straightforward. Apparently the cognoscente measure “photosynthetically active… Continue reading Learning in a Time of Covid
Wrong Tom Wilson
Sometimes I receive emails meant for other Tom Wilsons. Today, received a $100 Amazon digital gift from a complete stranger. Thinking it was a scam, pasted the code into my Amazon account: it worked. It took several emails to convince the sender she might want her money back.
A Week in Honolulu
The snow was piling up as we waited to ride the light rail to the airport. At Minneapolis/St. Paul MSP, snow-clearing crews were keeping ahead of the snow: across four departure boards, I saw only two cancellations, probably due to inbound cancellations. The weather delayed our departure. An engineer arrived to deal with a frozen… Continue reading A Week in Honolulu
Change of Plan
Airside at MSP. Learned our connecting flight was delayed, and wouldn’t arrive at our destination until almost midnight Pacific. Changed the flights at no cost via the Delta app to tomorrow morning, then rode the LRT back home.
Imagining Art
Getting rid of stuff before we moved into our present home has given me a new appreciation of uncluttered visual, mental, temporal, and aural space. I’ve gained capacity to think and imagine with fewer distractions; I can prize the space between things rather than the things. The Japanese have a term for this: ma, negative… Continue reading Imagining Art
Impermanent Wind
On my way to pick up meds at Walgreens, dismounted at the Central Library for Taiko drumming. A guy used a calligraphy brush to interpret the piece, “Impermanent Wind.” The drumming and my meds speak to my own impermanence, and that’s OK. Mono no aware.
Living Without Paper Documents
Many of the ideas on Pinterest to organize paperwork would not look terribly out of place 100 years ago. Pinterest often seems dedicated to buying stuff and filling space. This makes me anxious: I’ve come to appreciate the calmness of empty space, absence of stuff, ma, the space between. This is how we organize paper:… Continue reading Living Without Paper Documents