The Melting World

My son and I went to an exhibit last weekend of the illustrator Taniuchi Roku. The event was sandwiched in between two hours of playing outside in the warm sunshine and a thick slice of buttered toast eaten on twistable stools at the museum’s cafe, so perhaps these two conditions helped heighten our appreciation of […]

Believe it or not, this is the first time father and son have teamed up together to sing karaoke in a karaoke room. The chosen hit-song, “Beat It,” by Michael Jackson. Can you feel the magic?

(anonymous outsider art at the local public library) The hawk hovers above the courtyard and knows that the earth is awakening. It is mindful of the movement below the soil, the stretching of limbs and the assembly-line yawns. Rivers rippling past creaking bones. Any animal with a nose knows the same. The wind kisses each […]

When three hawks flew by in straight lines I knew something must be done straightaway to pull the thread taut and flatten the seam of the quilt. Enough unraveling! We have a world here before us of drizzly snow and shiny black branches against white sky. Something is being said in Chinese and it’s time […]

Wanted to post this pic of my son at school, before the landscape put on its winter woolies. It amazes me how nature changes so intensely here…now we have entered into that place of whiteness and serenity for the next four months…

As the only leaves left are the persistent shiny reds of the sugar maple and the canary yellow ginkos, I post this pic of us in the midst of our steamy summer Tokyo holiday, in hopes that the recollection will seep some heat into my freezing feet. Now a walk to the post office and […]

Had to share this picture of my Superman way back in 1976. Watch yourself! Happy Halloween, everyone!

Sarah made this painting based on a story she read about a boy who rode a dragon. She won the All-School Chiba Prefecture Award for this work. I just had to share this because she has such a great eye. Thanks, too, to Sarah’s mom, Frances, for making sure Sarah can be a free bird […]

Here my son gives his best show of separation pangs, perhaps for my benefit? After one week at this new nursery school, he now only begins to cry when I say goodbye at the school door, but then he reportedly quits crying after a few minutes and begins to play with joy. With two gifted […]

Sorry for the long silence. We took a lovely vacation to Tokyo, but more on that later. On Monday night my son and I went to our local sports center to play in the toddler room. An older woman with a soapy left eye came in with her grandson (who turned out to be just […]

Yesterday my son tried to open the freezer door to get at a second popsicle. He tried in earnest (slyly ‘playing’ with his toys near the refrigerator) several times, and each time I told him “no,” which led to the usual but mercifully brief squawks of protest. Then when I entered the shower, I saw […]

I made a very short test film production (a bit over 1 minute) as part of my New Media studies class…check it out: it’s here! Just click on Artest: test production (the bright blue square)… Ciao!

Hi all just wanted to post a pic of my son which I find hilarious. This is about six months ago….

This week, I rented a documentary film about the 1969 Woodstock Festival. I couldn’t imagine being there with 500,000 people on a pig farm, as I am not a fan of mud, porta-potties, or of large crowds, ever since I was made permanently clausterphobic when Tracy Earl sat on top of me in a tree […]

Warning: Do not proceed if you dislike scatological topics! While I was innocently doing my feeble attempt at yoga this early morning, my son rose up from the futon and waddled past me, only giving me a brief side-long look. I noticed he walked gingerly, with his legs wide apart, as if he had just […]

The line between life in the US and life in Japan blurs. I can’t remember if hot canned coffee is common in the States. I don’t think it is, at least I doubt it’s offered in vending machines, and it’s definitely not spat out of the machine piping hot like it is in Japan. Canned […]

My son pecks at food, never has been a three-square-meal child. He has some idiosyncratic preferences as well: he likes to eat ketchup with a spoon, parmesan cheese with nothing under it, uncooked spaghetti noodles, and frozen uncooked french fries. Neither my husband or I crave these foods, however. In his first days of daycare […]

How many entries will be about snow? Even I am beginning to wonder, but really it is the dominant aspect of my life these days. It determines when and where I can go and it determines whether I reach my destination. Thank god for four-wheel drive. I am enjoying the safari (well, the arctic safari?) […]

Both little man (LM) and I have caught colds, so intermittently during the night LM awoke to complain about it…not much I could do but offer him juice (which he refused) and pat his back (which he preferred). He also developed his first real snore around five a.m.. He sounded like the one of those […]