Recently I had a chance to read an interesting essay entitled “The Stones of Kyoto”. Okay, I thought, this will be about famous stones in...

(The photograph shows a hall in a Japanese railway station.) When I was living in Australia with my family in the 70s, we lived in a...

(I’d like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Equinox. The subject of this blog may in some way be linked to this period in...

Recently my husband and I have been watching “The Crown” on Netflix。As anyone who has followed the history of Britain in the 20th and...

Recently I have been writing about my early married life in this house, and the differences from the life I now live. I think every woman...

I recently saw an article on this on the Internet, and in preparation for this blog I googled the following Japanese words out of...

How is everyone at the winter solstice? My husband and I no longer “do” Christmas as in past years – without kids, Christmas seems empty....

November 22, 2022 I am reminded that today is ii fufu no hi (Good Spouses’ Day), a pun on the numbers 11.22. I am also reminded that next...

October 18 2022 Today is my 41st wedding anniversary. Those numbers do mount up. Who knows where, when and how we will be celebrating our...

The Autumn equinox is upon us, complete with one typhoon after another and increasing chill, especially at night. Soon it will be...

On September 9, I got up early. To be honest, I had been awake since midnight, as usually happens when I have something to do very early...

In the old Sesame Street cast of characters there was a cowboyish guy called Forgetful Jones, who was, you guessed it, forgetful. These...

(I must add a caveat to this blog – some of the conclusions I have reached may be other than what you yourself think or feel. These are...

Happy Solstice, everyone! We in the Northern Hemisphere are now at the top of the Ferris wheel of the y ear. Midsummer… everything is...

I wish you peace, when the cold winds blow Warmed by the fire’s glow I wish you comfort in the lonely time Arms to hold you when you ache...

While assisting two old ladies from the local work service to weed the garden on a recent cool and cloudy day, one of them looked up and...

(The picture accompanying this blog is of one of my vegetable “cages”. I cultivate vegetables inside a cage in order to discourage animal...

Photo courtesy of Ulena Switucha, circa 2009 (Happy Spring, everyone! Please check out the new photos on the website. I have now been...

Happy Spring Equinox! (for northern hemisphere dwellers) Two years ago this month, my son’s family, with Covid snapping at their heels,...

(The picture is an illustration from my children’s book My Awesome Japan Adventure (Tuttle 2013), showing women in kimono sitting in the...