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Friday, April 29, 2011

Dawn and dusk in the foothills of Mount Fuji

Dawn

... and dusk...

... in the foothills of Mount Fuji.






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Monday, April 18, 2011

A Lesson from a Butterfly


Lately, I've been taking the same walk everyday.

Along the creek

Up the steps

Past the tree where I like to perch
To the shrine
Yesterday I was going through the same motions of walking past these now-familiar landmarks, until suddenly a butterfly fluttered across my path and perched on a blooming flower before me.

And with out saying a word this butterfly shattered my paradigm that anything could stay the same even from one moment to the next. I realized that I this walk was unique from the one I took the day before. Though I had almost overlooked it, my surroundings and I were both different from the day before. With each flap of its paper-thin wings it proclaimed:

Nothing remains constant
From moment
to moment
to moment
Elements collide
You breathe in
You breathe out
The world pulses
When you observe tiny changes
that occur from moment
to moment
within and around you
Then when something dramatic shifts,
your fresh eyes and new heart,
are more prepared to understand and accept
that nothing could have ever remained constant

And then it was gone, to visit another flower, never knowing that it had changed my world.

May many butterflies cross your path. Perhaps one as beautiful as this peacock-patterned butterfly who I came across in Taiwan.


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Saturday, April 9, 2011

The Atsusaka's Garden: Atsusaka No Niwa

I'll take you on a tour of the Atsusaka's garden as I practice my Japanese! (Naoko, I'm counting on you to let me know if I get things wrong :)

What's Growing in the Atsusaka's Garden = Nanika ga Atsusaka no niwa de sodatte imasu

Cherry blossoms are blooming! = Sakura ga saite imasu

The owl watches = Fukurou wa mite imasu

Soon we will eat beans = Mo sugu ni watashi-tachi wa mame o tabemasu

Spring is here! = Haru wa koko ni arimasu



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