Summer Etegami

No more summer breaks for this working girl but I like to take a coffee break every day at 2:30. We have beautiful purple hyacinths outside the windows I pass by on my way to the cafeteria and there are lots of busy bees hovering around this time of year. Those bees inspired this etegami that says I look forward to summer.

Jaa ne

I've been trying to introduce some Japanese words to my 3 year old nephew's vocabulary. Supposedly this is the best time to learn a second language because his baby brain is still developing but he gets pretty upset when I tell him something is a different word so that we have some version of this conversation over and over.

Me: *points at a tree* Ki. Sore wa ki.

Nephew: Noooooo, that's a tree!

Me: Ki.

Nephew: Treeee!

Having two words for the same thing just isn't jiving right now so I decided to just stick with a few phrases. He already knew oishii (delicious) and the next phrase I tried to teach him was jaa ne (see you later). For the longest time I would say jaa ne when they would leave and wave. He always answered back with his name. We couldn't figure it out. It finally dawned on us that he thought I was saying Jenny (I am Aunt Jenny after all) so he said his name.

He's just stopped doing that and was finally saying jaa ne back. Well, really it still sounded like Jenny but it was progress. Until yesterday when Mom said jaa ne as they were leaving and he responded with a confused look, "No you're Nana."

Maybe Japanese lessons need to be put on hold until he gets a better handle on English.

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.