tiny happy

So much has happened over the past month.
I haven't felt like writing here, or on my other social media accounts, much since the devastating terrorist attack that took place in Christchurch. But at the same time reading articles, blogs and social media posts online have been comforting and illuminating to me in the past few weeks.

It's just that I haven't found my own words to add. And I still haven't, really. In the last photo above you can see a sign someone left on a concrete wall on our street. It's a simple statement but it does sum things up. I hope it won't be painted over anytime soon.

At the beginning of March, we left Wellington for Japan. It was a trip we had been dreaming of, as a family, for a long time. While our house rather needs painting and many other things should have taken 'priority' we just decided to go for it while we could. I feel so incredibly privileged to have had the opportunity to do this. We had a fabulous time – both as a break from work and just soaking up a different place with all its difference and energy and beauty.

I felt that we had stepped into a kind and calm place that was also very busy and important. I wish I had written a diary while we were there to help me remember all the details. I will have to see if Keira will let me read hers from time to time, as she carefully documented her days and annotated her journal pages with receipts and museum tickets, sweet wrappers and labels.

Photos, from top:

– in the hallway of my textile artist heroine, Naomi Ito (Nani Iro) on my way to visit her studio. More about this in my next post…

– one slice of the view from Tokyo's famous SkyTree tower.

– I took photos of the drain covers in each place we visited. This is the beautiful design on drains in Nara.

– Keira turned 14 while we were in Japan. Her wish was to visit the Tove Jansson Akebono Children's Forest Park in Saitama, so we did. This was one of the little buildings in the park. There was also a beautiful mud-brick house with a spiral wooden staircase and a reading room where you could sit and explore Tove Jansson's books. There will soon be a new Moomin park built nearby, but we missed the opening by a few days.

– we burned some incense alongside people from all over the world at this special communal shrine at Sensoji Temple in Asakusa.

– plum and cherry blossoms were starting to come out in the last few days we were in Japan, like party decorations. They're so pretty. Like nearly everyone else, I took a hundred photos of them.

I was lucky enough to bring a few craft-related purchases home with me. I'll show these in my next post, coming soon! 
I hope you are well and happy, dear reader.