Skipping Stones

Last year’s cherry leaves still clinging to the branches After seven days of insomnia, the last three of which I got no more than three hours of sleep, I finally put my foot down and forced myself to reset my biological clock. Two nights ago I struggled to keep my mind from spinning out of(…)

A Moth Wing of Devastation

I think I am slowly losing my mind. It has been building that way ever since the awful events of the New York tragedy. Something snipped on that day and as time has given me perspective I realize more and more that the waywardness of my heart and soul centers around an invisible despair, rather(…)

Walking As Prayer

Bamboo grass laden with the first snow of the winter I spent half a sleepless night reading the long-distance walking accounts of Chris Willett. There is a lot of reading, but through so much of it I felt as if I were walking with him, on much the same kinds of walks that I enjoy(…)

Cold Feet

Street leading up to Takao Temple and Mount Takao after the yearend snowfall. At the other end of the year right about now the sultry Japanese summer heat invades homes like a giant, lazy, fat cat, nudging its way through the doors and windows and prostrating itself on the straw mats (tatami ) and linoleum(…)

Walking in the Snow

End of the trail on Mount Takao just outside Tokyo proper. First snowfall of the winter on New Year’s Eve. A delightful good bye to a heavy year. I hadn’t expected to walk in the snow, but already the first flurries batted at the nylon face of my jacket when I stepped out of the(…)