Travels inward, outward bound…
It's 7:30 am and winter-dark outside. I've been awake for awhile due to a random sleep pattern partly attributed to jetlag, partly to a rather annoying viral illness. It's oh so quiet except for the resident cats chomping on their dry food, the other occupants of the Airbnb (my daughter and her boyfriend) are doing [...]
A delay on boarding gives me an opportunity to pen some thoughts on this wonderful adventure we've had. I managed to get more of gist of Tokyo by the end. It probably helped because I walked 15km a few days ago. Not that that would cover much of the surface area of this metropolis but [...]
It's a slow morning here in Nishi-Ogikubo at our small (Tokyo small) Airbnb flat. We had a lovely and rather late night out with two of Marcus' Japanese teachers from the school he attended for a one month intensive back in 2015. Such genuine and delightful women that were both interesting and interested, generously so. [...]
Shinkansen again. This time to Matsumoto via Nagano after our brief but satisfying stay in Kanazawa. Yesterday we were on Thunderbird 9 from Osaka (hence blog name), although not a Shinkansen it was still fast. It was another scenic rail journey following along the edge of Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan and said [...]
Ancient sacred path Unfamiliar birdsong Mother and son walk Oh, how the body aches but hey, no blisters, no injuries just deep muscle soreness, and a full heart as balm. We walked the Kumano Kodo, the 38km ancient pilgrimage in the Kii Mountains from Takijiri-oji to Hongu Taisha. It was up and down and then [...]
I am feeling rising anticipation as our train weaves through Osaka on our way to the beginning of our new pilgrimage walk. It is the third train since we left our accommodation (and most of our luggage) in Kyoto. Marcus is tucking into his bento box and the salarymen (business men in suits) are also [...]
It's just under 48 hours since I have arrived in this enchanting country and it feels like I have ticked so many boxes. Not that I'm really into box-ticking travel but there's a certain kind of cultural norm of "consumerism to the max" that I feel swept up in a type of casual acceptance. [...]
This blog title was my inspirational, aspirational "dad joke" when having a serious meeting that became an all day hang, with my "First Born" (said in a victorious voice with irony a plenty, in view of family story of my grandmother's use of the term). We are off to Japan... today!Marcus loves Japan... Marcus turns [...]
The four weeks of this trip have been filled with all that I hoped for, and more than I expected. And now the time has come to return home. There is always a mixture of feelings at the end of a holiday and this time tinged with added pangs of sadness at saying farewell to [...]
The Welsh sojourn comes to an end. I am in Cardiff and just waved goodbye to David after he spent 3 days with us at the conclusion of the London season of Driftwood with Casus. He is staying on, rehearsing with the two troupes in Cardiff, before further touring in Europe. Rosie will take a side [...]
Presence in Place 