Ceramic pots to melt Nikawa (hide glue), which will be mixed with mineral pigments.
Meditative or inconvenient?
Restful or annoying?

Fun facts: Nikawa is made of discarded animal hide or bone, so you never kill the animal. Very sustainable.

These textures and patterns are lovely. Natural materials add warmer touch to manmade things.

Mules are pretty, but very likely to fall between the train and the platform…

Being as I am, being totally free.

Sometimes we gotta plunge and face the fears head-on, before we can soar in freedom.

Touch a tree if you’re depleted of hope.
Touch a tree if you need comfort.
Trees have seen, heard, smelled, and been here.

So often we tell Jesus, “We don’t hear You…” but then realize that He has been speaking all along.

So often we allow ourselves to be bombarded with information and forget to mark the “lights” (moments when the Holy Spirit affirms to you “there’s something here”). By connecting the dots, you will see which way to go.

Yoga teacher said, “Just follow your natural breathing, and match your movement to it. Not the other way around. Let the air come in... and enjoy the moment when it stops, then let it go out...” It reminded me of ocean waves. There is a natural rhythm to life, and I want to ride it.
{Sketching waves inspired by the 1903 book Hamonshu, an old Japanese book of wave & ripple designs by the artist Mori Yuzan.}

Always lifting each other up.
To reach the highest stars, deepest love, greatest dream, and the truest self.

“Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. [they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.]Are you not worth much more than they?”‭‭Matt‬ ‭6:26‬ ‭

I walked by, and did a double-take on these flowers. Wow!

The most classic type of sakura cherry blossom.

8-layer petal cherry blossoms are super fluffy!

One of the smallest type of cherry blossoms.
The petals are placed apart from each other, as if the light pink petals are floating above the maroon-colored stars.

Hybrid of plum and apricot. It is resilient to the cold and the pastel pink flowers boom either 1-layer or 8-layer.

I like their unique look of “burst” with the budded branches. These bubble-like circles create a dynamic movement!
The contrast between the dark red sepals and the translucent white petals was beautiful. The buds seem to contain as much life energy as the blossoms.

This type of plum blossoms are my favorite!
They come in 3 color variations: White, Pink, and Shibori (mix).
The blossoms are bunched up like popcorns, unlike other types. Flowers have many petals, and almost symmetrical.
Every stage of the bud/flower is gorgeous: Cute round balls, opening up, fully open. They express so much life in a complex yet delicate ways.
Many branches had flowers opening up on both sides with tiny buds in the middle, and they looked like butterflies.
I initially didn’t notice any of these. Only after standing in front of it for a while, I began to see. It felt similar to a theater - it’s magical when the curtains lift and you enter a new world.

This type of ume has uniquely shaped petals with pointy tip. (Compared to more roundshaped petals like 月影 in this sketch.)
I didn’t initially notice this when I passed by the tree. Only when I looked closer and closer… voila!
I especially liked the half-opened blossoms that looked like square-shaped boxes with yellow anther and filament busting out of it. Never thought to use geometric shapes to draw plum blossoms.
Their buds are peach-shaped and adorable.
This tree was the prettiest pink among other types of plum trees.
Their filaments are not the same length. But the one in the center are shorter than the ones on outer circle. It makes them look more evenly distributed and very picturesque.

Fun to watch the hairy filaments rustle wit the wind.

I sat next to an elderly lady with a suitcase on the train. I asked if she was traveling, but she was spending a night at the hospital. “I’m lucky I live so close.” I was thinking “What?! You’re taking a train, though!” but just listened to her share how she broke her wrist on a family vacation, she has a strong bone so the doctor said they can pull out the metal rods later, she is now afraid of falling when she goes out.
A conversation is better than making assumptions. Lovely to hear people’s stories!

A lovely couple gifted me a bonsai during the hardest time of my life. It has a special presence, and it’s heavy!

I’ve been surprised at how restorative yoga is for my body - breathing IN, sending the air into every part that had not taken deep breath for 2 decades, stretching the parts that had been tense, breathing OUT the trauma that had been absorbed in my body, being upside down, centering myself, being grounded and fully present to this moment…

I found these seed pods on the dead vines of our morning glory, which had bloomed out of the seeds from the previous year. So I KNOW they will produce new life next season - we just have to wait while rejoicing in a beautiful cycle of life.

Today I bought a snack at a station kiosk. When the elderly cashier ojisan gave me the change, there was a cough drop in it! I looked up, and he said “Hope your dry cough goes away.” Oh wow, you noticed? Another day, another act of kindness.

Our world is full of unique shapes…

You know it’s autumn when these tiny orange flowers fill the streets with sweet fragrance. They look like little start confettis on the ground.

They are my favorite color combo of yellow+pink! Spotting them in summer helps me survive the sweltering heat.

Have you been to a sports game where all the fans were united with the same sparks of fire? Or on a mission? Or a passion project?

If you struggle with fear of the unknown, or a feeling of lack (“not enough”), or being powerless to fix situations… God’s got you!
God gives just enough for today. Even when it seems like one drop, watch and see how that tiny drop creates wings for you to soar.

I saw this image during the Covid-19 lockdown, and wanted to remember this historical moment.

When I got covid in summer 2020 and lost the sense of taste and smell, it felt as if I was watching the world from inside the spaceman’s helmet. It was harder than the physical pains and symptoms to bear. I couldn’t feel fully alive without tasting and smelling…

Psalm 1-6 : Remember who our King is.

tremble / reverence / rejoice / terrify / worship / salvation / shelter / shield / deliverance / answer / listen / sustain / relieve (4:1 “you have made a spacious place for me”) / let me sleep / heal / light / gladness / safety / favor

These words made me think of the ocean - both majestically beautiful AND frighteningly destructive.

Psalm 4:4-5 An exhortation not to give way to exasperation or anxiety, but to look to the Lord.