• Daily Life

    Seeing the Light

    It’s getting darker in the mornings, already much more noticeably than before the equinox, which was still less than a month ago. But there is some sort of light on the horizon, literally and figuratively. Although we haven’t seen much of it this week, the sun shines over the horizon at certain photogenic points along the Tama River, enabling some pretty impressive photo opportunities. For an instant, too, it seemed like the long wait for new hope on the career front had finally arrived, too, but it doesn’t seem to have turned out how I had sought. But the rainy…

  • Daily Life

    Practicing for Hades

    It’s been bloody hot the past few days, but I’ve been mostly stuck inside trying to keep up with the onerous demands being laid on me to try to get me to quit. I managed to slip in a couple of rides along the Tama River today, though, and it was totally worth it. Mrs. Kangaeroo also proved today that not only is she as hot af, which has nothing to do with the temperature, she is also as cool af, even if her choice in men is a little skew-whiff. I need salvation, but at the moment, all that’s…

  • Daily Life

    Breaking The Banksia

    It’s becoming increasingly obvious that we’re finally going to get a banksia flower in the garden. We’ve had a banksia in the garden from the outset, but yet to get a flower some three years down the track. And we’ve had plenty of troubles along the way. In addition to the coastal banksia we started with, we also bought a hairpin banksia last year. It was a ripper and we grew it in a pot. It withstood the blistering heat of the summer of 2023, but I planted it too early into the autumn and it withered and died. We…

  • Daily Life

    Not Getting Cocky

    Some years ago, I got too far ahead of myself and lost my humility with the upshot being daily humiliation now. Over the past 14 years or so, I’ve attended a 12-step group pretty much daily to make myself a better person, and to be more decent to others. As my character improved, I gained a little more self-confidence. But it turns out that I also lost a lot of humility and didn’t show enough respect for others. One of the things I learned in my early days of going to AA was the importance of being respectful to every…

  • Daily Life

    Tea-ing Off for the Hot Stuff

    Yesterday gave me an absolutely delightful surprise that I am now hoping will be a tee off toward better things as our tea tree bloomed as we hit the heat of early summer, long after I had given up hope of it doing so this year. I was thrilled to see the tiny white flowers appear. As I’ve mentioned often previously, this year had a darker than normal winter, which is usually bright and sunny in Tokyo, and even though it has been warmer, it has had an impact on blossoming. But our tea tree has clearly joined the party…

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    Shots for Paws-terity

    It’s an unbelievable joy to be able to go into the garden in the mornings and see the kangaroo paw grown from seed flourishing so well. Today I captured some photos for posterity, which was prompted by the solstice and realization that days are getting shorter from now onward. The flowers are growing unbelievably well. Not all of the plants have flowered, though, which is also OK, but I have been blessed with lots of glorious colors, which has been really pleasing. Some of the flowers in pots are bigger and thicker than the kangaroo paw I’ve been able to…

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    Mates’ Paws

    We had a busy and fruitful weekend, welcoming friends over for a party yesterday, working for a new future and getting to enjoy kangaroo paw that others are growing. As I’ve mentioned repeatedly, I grew kangaroo paw from seeds and got amazing results, which I delighted in “sharing” with friends and neighbors. It wasn’t until I’d given out a dozen plants that I realized I wasn’t presenting people with an exotic decoration of considerable expense was perhaps an unwelcome nuisance. So I didn’t push too hard to hand over plants to people who visited. It was a wonderful weekend for…

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    Pushing the Paws Button

    Even by the generally lousy standard of 2024, this morning was a pretty rotten one in some ways, yet even that couldn’t deter gaining pleasure from our kangaroo paw. The flowers have hit peak bloom. They bring me unbridled delight. I’ve still got hope some of the plants we have that are yet to flower will eventually bloom, too. I’m delighted these flowers have grown from seeds I got in my home town. Having been able to share the plants with friends and neighbors has also been wonderful. Some of my friends have grown plants even more magnificent than ours.…

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    Delivering Delight

    Having not had the remotest interest in gardening until well into old age, it constantly amazes me how much hanging out with plants brings me joy and wonderment, and one of the greatest pleasures is being able to share that. On a visit back to Australia a few years ago I bought a lot of native plant seeds and tried to grow them by myself. Most failed, but a few got through, like the hardenbergia, dwarf wattle and, especially, kangaroo paw. With the blog association and our huge kangaroo statue in the garden I really wanted kangaroo paw to grow…

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    Doxing Paradoxes

    OK, the title is a bit of a lie, because I confused doxing with poxing, but the wordplay was better, so that’s what I went with. The paradoxes I’m dealing with are trying to make a living while blessed with innumerable talents that are all useless and a track record in life where the two most consistent results have been mediocrity and failure, yet still believing I am a highly competent member of the workforce. And, of course, the enormous self-hate. Anyway, it was a great start to the day, especially considering I had feared waking up feeling bleak because…