Our last day in Okinawa was shisa day. We were visiting Yomitan Pottery Village after breakfast to engage ourselves in another art class: the class in making a shisa. As noted above, the Okinawan shisa is a relative of the Chinese lion dog protector spirit. These shisas stand outside of doorways and on the roofs […]
Walking Around Okinawa — I made my 10,000 steps today, but I didn’t go quite as fast as yesterday. Suellen seems to feel we are moving too fast. Possibly we have begun to emulate days of her childhood, when sightseeing would involve going on tremendously ambitious on-foot expeditions, and pushing forward, using public transit, all
It is a perfect day in Naha, Okinawa. We are doing a workshop in Bingata printing. The workshop is at the Shuri Dyeing and Weaving Museum Suikara. The museum is on a hilly street, and we sit in a textile classroom with high ceilings and windows, watching the textiles teacher get out the painting materials
Flying to Japan Over the middle of the Pacific, 32,000 feet in the air, the sea is a blue mat far below, the clouds a dotted carpet of white puffballs. In that moment, not sure whether it is day or night (the windows have gone blue; instead of shades, in this new plane they darken
Leaving on a Japan Trip Now perhaps leaving on a Japan trip is too vague…I actually don’t usually go to Japan so it should be leaving on the Japan trip but I don’t like to say that because to me it sounds scarier. Sitting on my porch in Fort Collins on Sunday morning, I feel
Realistic Morning Routine for Energy My idea of a realistic morning routine for energy may seem absurdly simple but I swear by it and I know a lot of other people who do this too. Much of our energy comes from feeling confident and calm and having appropriate direction. Much is lost through confusion and
Why I started my blog? When I started Susan Taylor Brand I wanted something that would allow me to post about what I was learning these days, these days in which there is so much new and yet so much can be missed. In particular I wanted to talk about changes in life that come
AI is bad because it cuts into human-created existence and experiences with machine made experience. It is the equivalent of a Chips Ahoy in place of actual homemade chocolate chip cookies and even worse…it wastes time. Consider this. When you are not experiencing life fully because you are sorting AI questions and materials, what are
Weekend in Beaumont? Just up the river from the Gulf on the Neches River, this old Texas city is known for seafood, independent business opportunities, ingenuity that led to the oil boom in Texas, and the freewheeling spirit of millionaires and hobos. It’s been called the Cajun Capital of Texas (by Lonely Planet) and Beaumont
A travel dress for women is a challenging purchase. It’s not something you’d forget, but it might be hard to find in your closet. The normal problems of packing, such as you’re going hiking and you didn’t bring hiking boots, swimming and you forgot a swimsuit, are behind us I hope. I remember one time
