I think I am suffering permanent eye damage from looking at the eclipse yesterday, without those special glasses too...it sure was amazing! In fact, it was the mooch who pointed out the 'moon' in the sky.....I only had my mobile phone so the photos I took are not very good. It was a very overcast day so through the clouds you could get a glimpse of the sun trying to poke its sunny face through and being blocked by the moon....and then again by the clouds....I am off for a little bit, to see and hear and smell and taste and do new things. I will be back soon.........xxx

person

Not someone I saw off the street but a character from the brutal but intriguing series Brotherhood

random

I have many drawings of random peoples I see in Tokyo, because lets face it, Tokyo-ites are the best dressed peoples in the world?!.....if not the best then the most interesting AND precise...so I'm going to show you some of them....

Gandam

This huge robot, Gandam, is been a major figure of Japanese anime history. I think he is like the godfather of transformers, although he is not a transformer......for all of Tokyo to see, for only a short time, is this huge replica...I love how it seems like the disciples are at his feet.....its free....
..and it is pretty impressive.....
...so very Japanese...
...and so it the wait to get into the omiyage shop.....
...this is the LINES and its easily 40 degrees celcius..............we couldnt figure out if this was also the line to get IN to see Gandam...as IF we were going to stand there, in the sun, with a 2.5 year old...so, a bit of investigation revealed a very open gate at the back, inviting those who were curious enough, inside......this kind of line arrangement is so common in Japan. Most people do not complain, at least not openly, and then calmly wait their turn...perhaps the only place that this would happen? Once inside the fence, besides take a photo of the big guy, there wasn't much else to do.....I would have been very bummed if I waited for 90 mins just to take a picture, but that's me......
..no wonder everyone needed to cool off afterwards....

rainy and hot

General mayhem associated with rainy days...I do love a bit of play doh and encouraging the imagination of a 2.5 yr old makes it more enjoyable!.....
when I saw this I really realised he is a 'big boy' now, as he often tells me........I kept waking up last night with terrible thoughts of things that might happen to him while he grows up, all the what if's, things that most parents dread.....my thoughts magnified by the dark and with my loved one away, only my own voice of reason to listen to.....I guess this fear is part of being a parent......and a reminder that everyday together, good day or bad day, is just so precious........loved one is home in an hour or so......
I love this very clever t shirt....I got it here.

Hi there

I've been lurking around these past hot days, fixing, sewing, drawing, sorting, filling up the splash pool, lots of bike riding on warm evenings, making lemon cordial and making that lemon cordial into icy poles, playing with the hose, washing the car......any excuse to be outside in the evenings...........its hot, 37 degrees yesterday......I will send some heat to you in Melbourne!

I made another sack dress using the lovely soft cotton Naomi Ito fabric....I just added some elastic on the waist and some fancy (*_*) binding and some simple stitches...looks good and with some leggins/spats underneath and feels as comfy as tracky dacks!
super fancy!....
and since I believe the cost of pillow cases, nice ones, is totally crazy, I thought I'd try to make my own...so simple.....next!

beach

We found a beach near Tokyo, this one, a big, wide one.....its still rainy season so it was overcast and windy but still hot enough for a swim. The beach itself seems to be the surf spot with literally hundreds of surfers all along the beach...I don't know how everyone gets their chance to catch a wave!!...I'd love to know how the heirachy works.......anyway, there wasn't much more than choppy surf and strong rips....and the sand is mixed with volcanic rocks so its kind of black and looks dirty although it isn't...but there was SPACE!!...and the makeshift carpark reminded me of home, where all the cars pull onto the side of a sandy road and surfers hang their wetsuits to dry from the roof of the cars.... after checking out the cool and crystal clear water, we stayed for a few hours, digging holes and building sand castles, swimming and collecting shells and broken bits of ceramics, jumping over waves, eating onigiri and soaking up the sunshine. The main hassle with this trip was the 2 hour drive to get there (and the numerous traffic jams we sat in) and the 2.5 hour drive home.......the fun of the beach was lost in the agro of the drive...its such a shame and makes me realise how LUCKY we are in Oz, for the coastal dwellers at least, for the proximity to, the lack of traffic and the BEAUTY of the beaches....
..but sand is sand and when its warm (almost too hot) underfoot it feels good no matter what it looks like......
LOOK at this SPACE!!.....how exciting.....and the sound of the ocean, lovely....sounds the same everywhere in the world, quite a comfort to me....I do miss the beach especially in summer and feel quite landlocked in Tokyo on a very hot day......

other pretty things

I made this skirt using more of the beautiful fabric I had been storing away...no pattern, just copied another skirt of my own. I 'recycled' an old skirt slip and sewed it inside......
another 'recycled' slip I wasn't sure what to do with...just added and band of left over fabric to the bottom hemline...and a small ribbon of pink binding along the bottom edge......
and now I can wear it under dresses and skirts to add some length (good for bike riding).....when I say 'recycled' it means I have picked these things out of the PILES of clothes I see every week on the side of the roads....I am in the processes of making another 'sack dress' using some beautiful 'recycled' silk.....it has been most fun! More later......

my first dress....

..which I sewed up without a pattern, just copied another dress I liked of my own....a bit like sack with arms and head holes.....but very satisfying because I can make and wear it in the same day!! I especially love the fabric design!
I thought a belt makes it a little less sack like........it is very comfy, and that you cant beat!.....
so here is the next combo to be made.........
.....and I managed to find some very lovely colouring books, which I'm also addicted to...lucky they are hard to find....
how cute is this?!.....................not for my kid to COLOUR IN of course, just for me to be looking at, breathe on the pages....!!!.....fuel inspiration etc.....

...perfect bed time reading to suit my attention span at the moment.....super dooper!

zoo revisited

We revisited the TAMA zoo and checked this time, about the operating hours. It seems it is closed every Wednesday...I'm over asking why these days ;P it pays to check as THIS time, we got there early and had almost the place to ourselves. As far as zoos go, this one is beautiful, well kept with lots of new enclosures and happy looking animals.....we would love to see all these guys in their natural environments but it seems these days some may be happier and more protected in a zoo!
this peacock was stunning, another nearby, had his tail feathers up, he was such a prancer, I have seen humans act in a similar way......the peacock is far more beautiful, in fact, he really looked artificial as I rarely see such brightly coloured and such pretty things in everyday life.....
to see these animals in their natural environment must be such an incredible sight....I was so mesmerised by how smooth and beautiful they are....
breathtaking!...and waiting for brekky!.....impatiently......we kept well back :)
...this is what all the Aussies were doing...sleeping...all of them, koala, wombat, wallaby, even the cockatoo...the only ones awake were the kookaburra (such a thrill to hear in Japan) and the cutest and very busy sugar gliders (OK some were sleeping)....I want one of those........
eyeballed by not one...
but two African animals.....I was awestruck by how close we could get to the animals (I did shoot these on a zoom though) and that there were no noisy crowds. We acknowledged at the time this is a rare thing indeed. Just 1 hour or so out of Tokyo and very easy driving there and back. A thrill of a day and such a sweet times with my lovely family.

how are you today?

In an attempt to help talk about emotions with my mooch I made some smalls dogs faces so he can tell me how he is feeling...maybe I hope it is practice so in some way, when he is a teenager he can articulate his feelings and feel comfortable about it and hopefully not have such a difficult time passing through it.....anyway....it is an attempt....so we have happy face, grumpy face and cry face. Mostly, at this age, he swings between the three with maybe a couple of others thrown in......it seems like an easy and relaxed activity so I hope we can continue to develop this as we grow up, together!