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June 19, 2009

my week of sunshine, memories and lame excuses

Every year it happens...the Japan Meteorological Agency announces the official start of the rainy season. Then, the next day, it starts to rain....sunshine.

Gloriously hot and partly to mostly sunny weather have been the norm for the past week.
A shortage of rain will lead to a summer with a low water supply. Although this is not such a good thing, I couldn't help but be happy since I finally got to hang out the futon!
I know you may not be interested in my blankets, I just thought I'd show you how Japanese people 'hang out their laundry'. ;^)

As you might be able to tell from the above picture, we live "pretty high up" so it can be freaky to hang things over your veranda, but this is the way it is done, complete with huge futon pins to keep the covers from blowing away. THAT would be dreadful...

Anywhoo...

The great weather also meant I could do a little more digging around in our "still unopened boxes room", ie: the den. What should come out of boxes? More boxes! This is a small portion of the boxes I have accumulated over the past couple of years...

I got to air them out...and then put them back in boxes....lol. I think I need "help"...

...

Then I found an old suitcase, and lo and behold, Tulsa circa 1975!

My passport photo.

I didn't take this picture for posting purposes, it was just a random thing I did since I am practically glued to my camera these days. But when I looked at it later, I realized that I had my picture squeezed in between East and West....My first Japanese fan that I used when I was learning traditional Japanese dancing and my infant dress.

With this first passport I came to Japan with my mother to meet her side of the family for the very first time.

My grandmother's house is in a place that resembles the scenery in the Japanese animated film Totoro, so on that first trip I felt like an Asian version of Alice In Wonderland.
Instead of following a white rabbit, I would follow white butterflies. Instead of meeting a caterpillar I met koi. The Cheshire Cat... well, let's just say...my Aunt was there.

I look at that picture and think, who IS that girl?

That little girl wanted to be a veterinarian. She ended up being a... vegetarian...
She also wanted to be a movie director ended up being a radio show director.
She also wanted to be an author...and well, still does.

I had a great elementary school teacher who taught me the pleasures of reading and story telling.

My mother also played a big part in my love for books. With her "unique" English accent she would read me bedtime stories and I would memorize them. The next day, I would be the story teller.

We come up with so many reasons to let go of our dreams...not enough money, not enough time, too many worries... I've used them all too. But I've also been able to do many things that I dreamed of...
I've met some pretty famous people too... so I wonder why I shy away from the things that I want to do the most. Fear.

Fear of failure.
What a lame excuse...
I think I'll air that out too.

Airing out my fear of failure as we write.

....

Upcoming "i-ro-ha series" will be on the Japanese character "ho".
Coincidentally, a word that starts with "ho" is:
"hosu" = to air, to dry

Hope you have a great weekend, wherever you are!

16 comments:

Man of Roma said...

Does failure really exist? Maybe ... but sometimes, or often, isn't it something just inside our head?

I_am_Tulsa said...

Man of Roma, I think you are right. I often thought that failure could be seen in the eyes of my mother, husband or friends. I have finally realized that their eyes were only reflecting my own image of self-doubt.
Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you have time to read my previous post on the Shinto religion in Japan too!

Eleonora Baldwin said...

I happened here by pure chance. For some reason, my mouse hit the "Next Blog>>" button by mistake and here am. Since I have always been attracted to all things Japanese, I stayed a bit and snooped around. Much to my surprise, I found we have not one but TWO mutual blog friends, and through processing a later reflection, I now remember reading some of your comments on their blogs!

This means blogland is like the world, very small.

Nice to meet you, Tulsa. I will be coming over often.

I am a box fetishist too, btw. Tin mostly, but cardboard ones covered with Japanese floral prints too. As I said, small world.

Ciao, Lola

Jelica said...

I love your boxes! I'm also a fan and I think you just inspired me to go out and get another box (or two...)

Aleks said...

What a beauty in words,photos ideas and most of all good spirith,thank you,you beautyful you.Have a great weekend,hugs Sandra

PS love the boxes too :O)

alaine@éclectique said...

I enjoyed reading this and I love boxes too!! I have a few but the two I cherish are wooden and were given to me by a very old man, who died at nearly 104.

I would be worried about my futon but what else to do when you live so high up?

That dear little girl turned out to be a fascinating lady!

Delwyn said...

Hi Tulsa

This is a lovely mixed post

You look such a sweetie, and I bet you still do...

I have a bit of a box fetish too, that goes with the Japanese draw string bag fetish...that goes with the Japanese fabrics fetish...that goes with the...

Happy Days

I_am_Tulsa said...

Lola, buon giorno!
I am so happy that you have found me! One of my favorite words... serendipity ... comes to mind! Oh good heavens, I love tin and wooden boxes too... What is it with boxes that intrigue us all so much?! lol

I visited your blog and just loved it! I will be visiting you often too!
Grazie!

I_am_Tulsa said...

Jelica! I would love to see your boxes!

Sandra, you are so kind...I give you a great big hug back! Hope you are having a relaxed weekend!

Alaine, thank you...!
I am now daydreaming about your boxes...all the history that they have seen...they must be very dear to you!
The heights and the futon are worrisome sometimes but the pins work really well. I've only dropped my futon once and luckily it dropped on my veranda and not the other side! LOL

I_am_Tulsa said...

Delwyn, thank you...I am always wondering what part of my life would be interesting...I tend to go on rants and was worried about it more than usual this time. I had a busy week (as usual) and couldn't concentrate on anything for long!

Oooh, looks like you have quite a few fetishes too!
I have a collection of lots of things and I think I will take pictures, post and figure out which ones I don't need because there is not enough space for them all!
Thank you again!

Lori ann said...

hi Tulsa!

it is so nice to "meet" you, sweet little girl. i loved reading this post it felt like visiting with you wandering around your home!

i love boxes too, and i know why i do, i am a great putterinerofthings! i have no idea whats in them after i stuff them full but, i have fun doing it!

i see you've met Lola, now you will get very hungry and want to hug people, i'm just warning you! haha.

thank you for your always kind comments to me,
love, lori

Frances said...

Hello Tulsa,

There is so much in this post. I found it very intriguing. Boxes inside boxes. Young version of ourselves inside photos, and still inside ourselves, too.

The picture of those futons catching the breezes on that railing so high above the ground gave me such a different view of Japan.

I will be visiting you again and again, learning something wonderful every time.

Many thanks!

I_am_Tulsa said...

Lori! So nice to see you here! I know you are chilling on your couch, but please do not spend too much time on the internet if you still need to rest! I am very happy to have met Lola too! It's so exciting when we find how small the world can be.

I love your "putterinerofthings"...! I have both full boxes and empty boxes, and I think it is time for me to get things sorted out!

take care Lori, you are in my prayers every single day!

I_am_Tulsa said...

Frances, I am so glad to hear that I have given you a different glimpse of Japan, that is one of my goals for this blog!
Your kind words give me hope that I am doing something right here...

I spend time at your place too, so please feel free to poke around all you want!

all the best!

Polly said...

Great post! I can't believe I missed it because I was at blog camp :-)

It's so nice to see you circa 1975 (which is the year I was born), it's nice to see what looked like and imagine what you may look like now.

And your Totoro experience must have been so great. I love this story and in fact I have the film right here alongside others from my Studio Ghibli collection

I_am_Tulsa said...

Oh Polly, blog camp looked like so much fun!

You really do know your Ghibli! I am so happy that you understand my Totoro experience!