My new house

Posted on 6th October 2011 in The Good Life, Unnan

Last night I settled on my new house, and when I woke this morning, I knew I’d made the right choice.

My new abode gazes down upon Mitoya from halfway up a small mountain.  It is open on every side so that all my guests can come and go as they please.  My guests often play inside my house: the breeze with his autumnal toys, the leaves; dragonflies; butterflies; bumblebees; sunbeams, who hover just on the perimeter because they are so shy; crickets, who with their music, bring me sweet dreams as I sway in my rafter-hung hammock.  The more permanent residents here have spun me fine nets of silver that shimmer in the morning sun and keep out most of the unwanted guests, mosquitoes, which are so few now because they don’t appreciate the invigorating chill of autumn.  Around my house grows green of every hue, interrupted now and then by minute petals of violet and white, globules and clusters of red, puffer fish of brown, and leaflets of rusty orange that display the first vestiges of change.

I am quite content as I sit on the veranda with the sunbeams, who are not at all bashful when I come out to play.

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Into the mountains once more

Posted on 4th October 2011 in The Good Life

My gracious friend Susannah let me stay at her house for the past three weeks while she was back home in the States.  It was nice to have a house to live in for a while and I’m very grateful to her.  She came back today, and although I’m sure she would have let me continue to stay in the guest room, I decided it was time to get out for a while.

So here I am back in the mountains in my hammock.  It’s getting quite chilly as autumn rolls into full swing.  I love this weather—the exuberance that comes with the crisp air, the strains of nostalgic longing for life and warmth and friendship that appear with the first hints of death, the site of my own breath that tells me I live.

It must be about 10 C now.  I’m interested to see if my sleeping bag, wrapped around the hammock will keep me warm enough tonight, or if I’ll need to also throw a sleeping pad and other blankets in with me.  This is a good beginning test for winter camping.  Well, my nose is chilling and the warmth of down is calling, so it’s time to burrow into my bag.  G’night.

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Kindle repair

Posted on 29th June 2011 in The Good Life

This evening I called Amazon to see about getting my Kindle fixed. A stellar guy named Thomas was helping me. He said that they’d send a new one out to me right away… for free… in Japan! What a good guy that Thomas! J I asked him about Costa Rica, where he lived, and had a bit of a chat, then we went our separate ways, me happy in the knowledge that my Kindle would soon be back in working order, him, hopefully, happy at another successful customer service call and contented Amazon customer. Yatta!

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Farmhouse

Posted on 20th June 2011 in The Good Life

This weekend I went to my friends’ friends’ 古民家 (example) in 日野町. We had a party there. About 30 people came. Two awesome (素晴らしい) guys live there. They are farmers (農業家). They are also world travelers. They have lived in Papua New Guinea, Mexico, etc. I really enjoyed talking with everyone there! I also enjoyed the fire dancing. :)

I talked with everyone very late, so today I was tired. In Matsue, I slept in my hammock near the castle for a couple hours. When I woke up, I studied some Japanese. Finally, I had a relaxing dinner in Matsue with my dear friends. We even had some lovely piano music.

 

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