This boat tour is definitely a must-do when you go to Kyoto. Hozugawa River Cruises (保津川下り, Hozugawa Kudari) are sightseeing boat rides down the Hozugawa River from Kameoka to Arashiyama. The cruises feature traditional style, flat bottomed boats piloted by boatmen who guide the craft with oars and bamboo poles. The boats take about two…
Continue reading ➞ Travel: Arashiyama boat ride, Kyoto
Litha, also known as midsummer, is the longest day of the year in the southern hemisphere.And it's also a great date for planning and transition, a good day to ponder the year ahead. Litha
One can live at a low flame. Most people do. For some, life is an exercise in moderation (best china saved for special occasions), but given something like death, what does it matter if one looks foolish now and then, or tries too hard, or cares too deeply? Diane Ackerman
The Japanese word, “Tsundoku", which literally means "reading pile", dates back all the way to the Meiji era (1868-1912). It's a unique word for which there is no English equivalent. If you're an avid reader though, you will well understand that feeling...it's pure happiness, the feeling of knowing that you have many more books ready…
A flower's fragrance declares to all the world that it is fertile, available, and desirable, its sex organs oozing with nectar. Its smell reminds us in vestigial ways of fertility, vigor, life-force, all the optimism, expectancy, and passionate bloom of youth. We inhale its ardent aroma and, no matter what our ages, we feel young…
Watch my video of the journey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxaRIuTae8U Wellington is unusual and amazing in that you can walk along the beach for 10 km and go from being in the middle of the city to being in a really remote and wind-swept marine sanctuary. There aren't many other places in the world you can do that.…
Continue reading ➞ Travel: Wellington from city to wild coasts
On an old shore, the vulgar ocean rolls Noiselessly, noiselessly, resembling a thin bird, That thinks of settling, yet never settles, on a nest. The wings keep spreading and yet are never wings. The claws keep scratching on the shale, the shallow shale, The sounding shallow, until by water washed away. The generations of the…
I saw this one at this year's NZIFF in Wellington. Directed by Claire Denis, High Life is about a group of prisoners who are used as guinea pigs in sexual experiments by an evil nurse played by Juliette Binoche on board a space mission. I don’t normally speak in such plain terms about the plot…
Do you have any books that everyone else seemed to love and you absolutely hated, or that you found to be a bit mediocre? Do you disagree with my assessment on these books and want to give me a good talking to? Let me know below.
Not least for those who are called foreigners, for they are not foreigners. For while the various segments of the earth give different people a different country, the whole compass of this world gives people all people a single country, the entire Earth, and a single home, the world. Diogenes of Oenoanda Diogenes of Oenoanda,…
Are you someone who blocks your ears when you hear the emergency services drive past? Are you someone who gets freaked out in crowds? Do you seem to intuit and understand other people and all of their problems in a very sophisticated way, without really trying? Do you easily take on the energy of other…
Here's a few cool albums I have been listening to lately. They have a nice beachy vibe, which is the kind of weather we are getting in Australia and New Zealand right now. Great background music for BBQS, on the headphones while sinking a few cold ones on the beach, while reading, and some of…
Continue reading ➞ An effervescent, mellow and energised summer playlist for 2020
Philoxenia comes from Ancient Greek. This literally translates to be "friends with a stranger". Philo - Friend, Xenia - Stranger. In Ancient Greece, hospitality was ranked highly as a personal virtue. Great honour was bestowed upon a guest by a host. If a stranger was to appear on your doorstep in Ancient Greece, you were…
* Contains no plot spoilers Japanese author Yukiko Motoya’s collection of short stories have a definitive style and are matched with substance. It’s obvious that she gets a bit of inspiration from Murakami’s magic realism style, although seen through Yukiko’s lens, the world is from a woman’s perspective. Her stories seem to feature unremarkable everyday…
Continue reading ➞ Book Review- Picnic in the Storm by Yukiko Motoya
Japan has a long history of jisei, or death poems. Jisei is the “farewell poem to life.” These poems were written by literate people, often monks, royalty or courtiers just before their death. A Jisei from Prince Otsu in 686 BC is one of the earliest recorded death poems. Not all death poems are written…
Continue reading ➞ Jisei: Haunting Japanese death poems from history
I saw this tag at the wonderful book blog by Diana Ideas on Papyrus. I simply had to do this book tagging exercise, even though this apparently happened AGES ago. Still, it's a very cool and fun idea. So here are some books that have imprinted themselves onto my soul. Please share the love and do…
Whelm originates from Old English and it means to overturn or capsize a hollow vessel (a boat, a heart); to bury by wave, flood, storm, avalanche. The etymology is from the Old English hwelfan, to 'upheave'. This explains the modern use of "overwhelmed" and "underwhelmed". No voice divine the storm allay'd, No light propitious shone;…
I have a confession to make. I have not one boss but 4, all working in completely different areas of a very large charitable organisation. Three out of the four of my managers are smooth operators who actually grease the way forward for me to glide through with the lofty strategic marketing solutions. However one…
Continue reading ➞ How do you handle a boss who doesn’t believe in you or trust you?
During the World War I era, modern young women in America were seeking new roles of equality and opportunity in education and work. American illustrator and writer Nell Brinkley was iconic for her representations during the period. She redefined femininity, fashion and trends in many ways in era before mass media - when print was…
Continue reading ➞ Exotic Ads of the Past: Golden Eyes and Her Hero Bill Over There
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