More etegami

Here are my latest etegami. It's a winter series and I wrote in Japanese this time. It's probably not correct Japanese since I'm out of practice but it's my best effort using my dictionary and the internet. I'm sending these to my friend Marie. I sent the first one already and I'll send the last two a few days from now staggered so she gets them at different times.


I just realized my scanner chopped off the bottom of this one but it says "It's getting colder and colder"


"Don't catch a cold!"


"Warm hands and a warm heart."

My latest hobby

Right before I left Japan I got really interested in etegami. It's a kind of Japanese folk art. The word "e" means picture and "tegami" is letter so "etegami" is picture letter. Really they are postcards.

I love postcards. Ever since I was a little girl I have collected post cards. I have hundreds from everywhere I've traveled, some from you here on my flist, and a large selection of old postcards my grandmother gave me when she cleaned out her desk. My favorites are the ones my grandpa sent from Germany when he was stationed there in the 50's. So postcard art is right up my alley.

Etegami has several components. First you ink in the outline. Sumi ink is traditional You hold the brush at the very top. It makes it very hard to draw precisely that way but you end up with what is called a "living line." Second you lay in the color with gansai water colors. Then you add words - a saying or a phrase that goes along with the picture. Then you put your stamp on it. I use the smaller of my two stamps that my calligraphy teacher, Maeda-sensei, made for me.

Finally, and this is the most important part, you give the postcard to someone. A little old lady in Kobe told me "it's not etegami unless you give it away." I love getting mail and I hope the people I send them to like getting mail too. So far it has already prompted a nice long email from my friend still living in Japan.

Below are a few samples of what I've drawn and also ones that Marie painted and sent me before I left Japan this summer. She helped me find a book to bring home and I bought most of the supplies before I left since they are much harder to find here in the States. I did a bunch that were fall and Halloween themed and sent them to friends.





I made this one for the Roommate.


And then I gave her this one the next day.


You and me are like cherries - Marie gave me this one.


Let's go eat delicious sushi - Marie gave me this one.

Larry Travels the World

Many years ago - almost ten now - my sister and I got a Larry the Cucumber for Christmas. I don't remember how soon after we started taking pictures of Larry but it wasn't long before he was all over town. From there it was a very short step to taking him along on vacation and my many trips around the world. Since I've lived in France and then Japan, Larry has had the opportunity to have his picture snapped all over Europe and Asia.

This is the work of nearly 8 years and you can see where at the beginning I didn't have a digital camera (or the ability to get anything focused correctly.) Here are just a sampling. You can see the rest in my Flickr set here.


At the grocery store in town.


In London


In Paris


In Rome


In Sydney


In Beijing


On the Great Wall


In Tokyo


Near Mt. Fuji

The other reason I came home

Painting with my three year old nephew.




Or rather painting on my three year old nephew.

This is why I came home.




Introducing Bob. Not her real name of course but since my dad calls me and my sisters Joe he has decided that the grandkids will all be Bob. This is so he doesn't have to remember anyone's name at any given point in time. They are either Joe or Bob.

This Bob was five weeks early and spent most of last week in the ICU because she couldn't keep her temperature regulated but she's finally home with her older brother Bob who still doesn't know what to make of her. Being two and obsessed with Thomas the Train he has dubbed her Salty. I kind of hope that one sticks because I think it's hilarious.

Yukatta party

Somewhere between paragliding, a trip to Osaka, goodbye parties, and packing to come home, my girlfriends and I had a yukatta and hanabi party. There wasn't a festival going on nearby before I left so we decided to make our own.

We met at my house and then headed to the arcade to take purikura pictures in our summer kimonos (called yukatta) and then we went out by the water where we set off fireworks. It was really windy so we couldn't get them lit without some effort and then we had to be careful that no one caught on fire. (No one did thank goodness.) My friend Sue's goal was to "make a good memory" and get some picture of dressed up. Mission accomplished.

Paragliding

I'm bogged down in cleaning, packing, and going to sayonara parties at the moment. But last week when I was chilling and only thinking of packing/cleaning/sayonara partying I decided to get something off my want-to-do list for here in Tahara and that was go paragliding. I'd caught glimpses of paragliders in Takigashira Park and near Mt. Zao and I've always been intrigued. I finally convinced my friend Sue to go with me and she was very kind to do all the research, scheduling, and translating safety instructions for me.

The first day we tried to go the wind wasn't so good so we had to wait a long time. I didn't really mind because we were in the shade, there was a breeze (even if it wasn't good for flying) and we had a spectacular view of the Pacific. We ended up getting to go finally but it was only for 10 minutes. We paid the guy but he said we could come back another day for free since we really hadn't gotten our money's worth.

So the next day we tried again. This time the only waiting was for Sue to finish her turn. Then I went for over an hour and a half. We flew a total of 22 kilometers - from the launch point in Toyohashi all the way down to Tahara. This was quite the deal since at the rate we paid we were only supposed to be up for 30 minutes. And I think I paid less than advertised because either the guy doesn't know how to make change or he gave me a discount because I'm foreign and/or the wind wasn't good the first day. Either way I was definitely a satisfied customer!

An hour and a half ended up being a little too long actually since my legs were starting to cramp from not being able to move but it was worth it. Great views and it was oddly relaxing. It wasn't jarring at all (even the landing) and I tended to forget that we were 100m in the air until I looked down to see my feet dangling.




Ready to go.









Looking down.


The amazing view.