New pieces for Powell Street Festival!

The 35th annual Powell Street Festival in Vancouver, BC, this coming week-end, July 30 and 31. Can't wait!

It will be my fifth year selling there and it's definitely my favourite event to participate in. It's so well-organized, well-attended, and I have return customers and friends that I get to see every year. Plus, I get to spend time with two of my brothers and their families as an added bonus; I also have the best sales assistant, my niece Mariko, for the entire week-end, so I cannot go wrong! Oh, and did I mention the amazing entertainment and the more-than-amazing food? Schedule here and programme here Really looking forward to it!

Here are some new earrings I've been working on for the occasion:

I've been having a bit of a hard time getting back on a creative track since my contract ended in May, and just recently (like the last few weeks recently!) started all-out busying myself in my studio. Feels good, and yet I'm also pretty motivated to find me-self a job too, and have been applying here and there. My mornings are for job-hunting and applications, afternoons & eves for making beads and jewellery.

Here's a cane I'm pretty pleased with, my summery goldfish! I saw some initial instructions for a lovely one at Parole de Pate, but being a lazy cane-maker, I could not see myself being patient enough to go through all those steps - so here is my quickie version:

Starting the squishing process, it just looks like a ball of flames at this point...

After reduction, here's my little goldfishie! His body is a little flat, but I like the movement of his tail which I can play with when I'm applying a slice of cane to a surface. My only regret is filling the cane with white instead of translucent clay, since I will now have many white goldfish beads (I think they look great though!). I'll make another with translucent one day!

I've been making lovely earrings and pendants out of this little guy (or gal!). I'll try to post photos soon.

It's a little challenging in my last week of prep for Powell Street Fest, to have a bit of a sore spot on my dominant hand. For the second time in two weeks, I smacked my index finger while playing taiko at a performance a couple days ago and this time the blood spatter was a little more substantial than the first time (that's the scab in the middle of the flap of skin), splattering onto the four drums I was using. It's absolutely true when we say that our blood, sweat and tears are in every one of our group's drums!

It's healing nicely (flap stays closed now), but is a little sore, and I have to stop, and stretch and rest my hands regularly. For the last several years, as a jewellery and cardmaker, my hands have been my livelihood, so I do have to be extra-careful keeping my hands and arms in good working condition. Taiko definitely doesn't help, but it's not like I'll be stopping any time soon! It keeps me sane and grounded and healthy. It's all about balance, I guess.

Ok, time to change my bandage, make a fresh coffee and get back to work...

2009 North American Taiko Conference

After my trip to Vancouver at the beginning of August, I headed down to Los Angeles, for the North American Taiko Conference, held every two years on the American west coast. This is my fifth time attending and although it's great to be with fellow taiko afficionados in any setting, the conference just feels like it's "home" when it's in LA's Little Tokyo. I love it there!

There were a few less participants this year - a sign of the economic times we are in - but as always, it was a lot of fun and luckily for me, people were still interested in bringing home some taiko jewellery with them!

I made a bunch of these okedo taiko, the drums that need holes in the "skins" (that's the two flat circles on both ends of the barrel), that JF so patiently drills. They are then all tied up in traditional katsugi okedo style, which is when the drum is worn and played slung across the body.


I then make the okedo wearable by putting them on leather necklaces.

These are the other kind of mini taiko I make, nagado taiko.

You can't see them so well on lovely Paige who is pictured below, but she is wearing my wee little taiko earrings and the matching necklace. She performed at this year's Taiko Jam concert with Kishin Daiko.

Here is Kishin Daiko with the members of Arashi Daiko who attended this edition of the conference. Kishin member, Darren Endo, did a super job as the coordinator of this conference - woo hoo, way to go Darren!!! He is also a most beautiful persona to behold onstage - a powerful player with true stage presence, expression and tons of heart. He's definitely one of the highlights of this year's conference for me - a very generous and complete performer.

My ongoing taiko inspiration is Molly Kitajima, seen below, jamming on the plaza in Little Tokyo. I blogged a little about her after the 2007 taiko conference in Seattle; you can read all about that here. This time I had a chance to chat with her a little, and found out she was born in Vancouver, BC, where my parents were also born. She is an amazing woman and still going strong.

There is a comfort I find when talking to Japanese Americans, who are just as familiar to me as Japanese Canadians (I'm talking about people of Japanese descent born in the US or Canada); I especially enjoy meeting nisei (second generation JA's and JC's, my parents' generation), maybe because it feels like I'm talking to my family, but there is just an ease there that I cannot describe. Perhaps it's a sense of community and fellowship, shared experiences, and other things that are are simply understood without saying anything, but it's just very comforting.

These are some other women who play in a taiko group with Molly; they claim to be of a "certain age", but I don't believe them. Annie (in black) asked about my tattoo, because she says the members of their group were all thinking of getting tattoos too. Are they cool, or what?

Here's my Molly again, getting down and into her solo... I STILL want to be like her when I grow up.

Back to life as we know it...

I'm back again. No schpiel, no promises from me, because you KNOW how that will go! I will, however, vow to do my best at being a good blogger, which is all anyone can do, right?

This is our post "working-full-time-on-our-taiko-group's-25th-anniversary-concert-we're-so-relieved-it-went-well" look (click for full impact of crazed expressions):

We all let loose on the week-end after the three concerts, and were treated by Arashi Daiko to a two-night stay in Québec's Eastern Townships, around 2 hours from Montreal. Clean country air, fresh snow, and the most amazing buffet you could imagine - we could not have asked for anything more! Ask any taiko player what their group's favourite activity is after playing taiko, and they will all say "EATING!" (duh!). Wonderful salads and great vegetarian selections, and fabulous desserts!
I generally don't eat meat, but on the first morning I ate not one, but two sausages (the other has already been downed in this pic). The second morning I ate two pieces of bacon. I was charged with a misdemeanor by the local vegetarian police.

It's been a couple weeks since the concerts, and now it's back to life as we know it, back to reality and working on new designs and making a living. I've got a craft show on May 9th in Ottawa that I'm looking forward to. More soon!

Countdown to the big show (we're talking taiko again)!

I cannot believe that the dates for our 25th anniversary concert are already right around the corner... Yes, it's another post that has nothing to do with my official work as jewellery and card maker, but about the activity that pretty much takes up the other half of my life, taiko (Japanese drumming).

We were on the news broadcast of one of our local English stations. If you'd like to have a peek (you'll see me a'yakkin'!), please go here:
http://montreal.ctv.ca/ and you’ll see a list of segments under the “CTV video player.” Click on “My Montreal : Taiko drumming group turns 25”. Reporter Debra Arbec is wonderful - thanks so much Debra!!!

(photo by Hunt Hoe, 2002)

My life, like the lives of all of Arashi Daiko's members, has been totally consumed by this show. Our waking hours have been spent on all the aspects of making this the best possible celebration of our group: publicity, from soliciting reporters to submitting articles and press releases to doing interviews on tv and radio (or trying to!), gathering and working with a great technical team of lighting designer, sound engineer, and film crew; a beautiful printed programme with photos; a photo display showing our group's history; we're also having costumes designed and custom made for us, for the first time. Publicity, by far, is the biggest chunk of work, where everyone has been pushing (reeeeally pushing) to fill our concert hall - not an easy task!

Anyway, gotta get some stuff done before heading out for some errands, and then practice tonight. We're heading into our final 14 hours of group rehearsal this weekend - yikes. Jean-François was just saying the other day that we have to remember how lucky we are to have the opportunity to play these drums, that we have to enjoy ourselves. I'm adding that no matter where we are at the end of this week-end's rehearsals, then we have to be proud of that and present ourselves in the best possible way next weekend. Hmmm, easier said than done.

I humbly ask that if you've read this, please send us any positivity, energy, prayers that you can spare. Much appreciated! And there's still tickets available - it's going to be a great show!

(click on the flyer for details!)

Our upcoming show... Arashi Daiko's 25th anniversary!

Well, I've been pretty sloth-like with my resolution to be blogging regulary - and we're only into week 4 of the new year. Sheesh, must be a record, even for me.

I haven't been a total sloth though, since our taiko group, Arashi Daiko, is crazy busy preparing for our 25th anniversary concert on March 13, 14 and 15. I've been working on our flyers that you can see below - these are the designs on postcard ads/flyers that we'll be leaving around the city, one side in French, one in English. If you live in Montreal, and would like some to hand out to friends and family or to leave at your favourite café, please leave me a comment here; we'll also have posters ready very soon :) Please click on it to see it more clearly!

Here's the French:
And here's the English:
One of our group members, Yukari, did the beautiful kanji character of "Zenshin" that you see on the poster. She painted many versions, all of which I though were equally beautiful, but it proved to be quite a challenge for the Japanese members to choose the final version that would appear on our advertising.

We chose the title Zenshin for this show, to represent the journey and evolution the group has undergone over its 25 year existence - we continue to enjoy the process and are grateful to all that have made the group what it is today. Zenshin can also mean one's whole heart, gradual progress, and it can also refer to "ancestors." It just seemed like the ideal word to encapsulate Arashi Daiko, although I'm sure I lose much of the subtlety and nuance to the word since I don't speak the language.

I might be blogging a lot about this show in the next while, since it's taking up a big chunk of my waking hours...

Updates: taiko and sushi...

If you've made a trip or two to my blog before, you probably know I am a member of Arashi Daiko, a taiko or Japanese drumming group here in Montreal. This is a huge part of my life and that of JF (my husband) as well; I've been playing for 10 years now and he's been playing for 13 years, and it's how we met - but that's a whole other story that I'll share another time!

This is when we were in Japan last year, filming a documentary on our taiko group, part of a television series on world music and musicians in Québec; here I'm trying to incorporate Fujimoto's san's (Yoshikazu Fujimoto is Kodo's most senior performer and the most incredible all-around artist/performer) comments and instructions into my playing while trying to calm my nerves and not make a total boob of myself. JF watches and prepares to receive comments on his playing. Photo by Melanie Taylor (thanks for taking all those shots, Melanie!).

Arashi Daiko is also going to be on tv this Saturday evening, LIVE! Yikes!!! The documentary I mentioned was on the air a few months ago, and led to this other tv show finding us, and contacting us to be on their musical variety show called Belle et Bum (kind of a quirky way of saying "Beauty and the Beast"). Very exciting, although going "live" is pretty scary. And if anyone is going to take a tumble off the edge of the stage or have something stuck on their face when a camera zooms in, it'll be me. I'm serious.

On a crafty note, staying within the realm of Japanese inspiration, here is a new sushi platter I started making this summer, but that I didn't show you all yet. It features a temaki, or hand-roll, those cone-shaped sushi packed to the brim with sushi rice and your favourite fillings - this one has fresh sake (salmon) and its loving partner, ripe avocado. A couple of nigiri and maki complete the meal, with the ever-present wasabi (horseradish paste) and shoga (ginger). I just sold the last one in my Etsy shop for this batch, but don't worry, I'll be making more shortly!

Whaddya think?

My tail between my legs...

Hullo.

It's me, yes, it's me!

Thank-you all for letting me know I've been missed! You know how you leave something for sooo long, it's overwhelming to go back to it, and it seems too far gone to make it right again, anyway? I guess that's how I can best describe the shabby treatment of my blog and blog readers. I will no longer make any promises about writing every day or even every week, but will do my best not to let 3 months go by without a peep of news!

I'll just get right to it. The summer has been great, although we've not had ideal summer weather here in Montreal. Lots of rain, and cooler than average, which is fine for me who wilts and gets cranky in the humid heat.

Arashi Daiko, the Japanese drumming group I'm a member of, along with my hubby, JF (you remember him), has done over 20 shows since I last wrote in May; it's been a busy, taiko-filled summer. We're looking forward to settling down to our regular hard training this fall in preparation for the group's 25th anniversary concert next March. The television show that we were featured in aired in July, and it was pretty good. Strange to see us on tv, but fun!

Part of the televised "live" concert filmed at the end of May. That's me on the far right, arms in the air, with the demented, googly eyes... (click on it, you'll see what I mean)

Craft-wise, the summer has been busy, productive, and very good sales-wise, yaaaaay!

CraftMafiaMontreal's Fringe Bazaar back in June went pretty well, and although there weren't a ton of people, sales were good. I did Vancouver's Powell Street Festival at the beginning of August, which was just as fabulous as it was last year! Sooo many people, sales were great, and the food was delish! What made it even better this year was my sister, Nancy, from Edmonton who met me in Vancouver with her handmade baby slippers, bags and pearl jewellery, and who was my neighbouring seller at the festival - we had so much fun! We visited our brother there (he's already planning for our visit next year) and then went to visit another brother on Vancouver Island. All in all a wonderful trip.

Part of my display at the festival

Wee little hounds in their yukata and happi - too cute!

Fresh, heavenly yaki-manju... waited until the last few hours of the festival to get my mitts on this!

Last week-end was Matsuri Japon, a Japanese festival in the Old Port of Montreal, where I was also selling. The weather was perfect (one of the only good weekends all summer) and the turnout was great. Also great for me sales-wise. Online sales this summer were painfully slow (non-existant), so these good shows helped a lot!

Other exciting news - my things are going to be in a brand new shop, Artistri, opening in a couple of weeks. Can't wait to see what it looks like! I'll keep you up to date on that - I swear!

I think I'll stop there, since I don't to freak anyone out... or bore you with too much stuff. Fall is looking to be busy too, so I'll have lots to write about - back again soon!

Oy, can't wait for next Monday!

Hello neglected blog, and helloooooo blog readers, if you're still out there!

It's been a bit of a wacky time and I'm trying to keep all my grey matter in my noggin - fairly successfully, thank-you very much. Well, sorta.

On the craft side, it's been fine, although I could be in a more disciplined mode. But business is going alright and I've got a show in Montreal next month, part of the city's Fringe Festival. It's the Fringe Bazaar, organized by our very own Craft Mafia Montréal.


On the taiko (Japanese drumming) front, it's been busy with rehearsals and shows, and our extra-crazy week-end is coming up with hour long shows in the daytime both Saturday and Sunday, and rehearsals on Friday and Saturday evenings until 11pm, with a rather big production to be filmed for television on Sunday evening. Here is the series I'm referring to, which features an episode with our taiko group, Arashi Daiko. I blogged about it awhile ago, here and here.

Seriously, I can't wait for next Monday!!!!!!!!!

The week-end

Back to work today, took yesterday off and we took JF's mom out for a Mother's Day Brunch. Had taiko practice last night since we need to work on material for our shows this week-end and next.

We went to Ottawa for the week-end, since I had a craft show on Saturday. That was the saddest turnout I had ever seen for a craft show with actual artisans - it was small, there were only 30 tables showing, but it was a nice variety of stuff, and lovely quality. Their Christmas show apparently does very well, but that's been running for quite a few years now, and this was the first time they decided to try a spring show. Not quite sure what happened. For the number of people who trickled in, I did pretty well, but remember, not a whole lot of people came by. Although it looks pretty realistic, JF is faking here (if I try to fake something like this, I burst out laughing) - no, he didn't actually doze off at the table, but he did go for a little snooze in the car.

Here's most of my jewellery display; still have to work on it, but I'm very happy with the little bulletin board covered in velvet that my pendants are on. Super easy, inexpensive and it has the look I'm looking for - pulled together but not too formal.
So the Ottawa sale was disappointing, but live and learn, right? I met some wonderful artists, learned a bit more about other shows in that area (Ottawa-Hull-Gatineau), and I did get to meet some other Etsy sellers: myjennywren, karinnorstrom, mieldesigns which is always fun!

We also got to see a super taiko show on Sunday, with Ottawa's Otowa Taiko and their guests from Sendai, Japan, Kamo Tsunamura Daiko. Always fun to see our friends from Otowa Taiko perform, and their guests were great! Lots of energy from everyone so we left the concert hall tingly and smiling.

The best part of the week-end was staying with friends, Marc-Yves and Jacinthe, although Jacinthe was actually out of town on business :( We had never met their children, Mathieu and Geneviève who are now almost 6 and 3 years old, and we had so much fun with them.

These kids are so expressive, both verbally and facially, they are a riot! I'm sure they take after their parents, who are funny, down-to-earth people, and ridiculously intelligent to boot.

That was my week-end! Back to work - I have to select some pieces to bring in for a jury panel tomorrow, for a November show. Jewellery sellers are only allotted a small amount of space for the jury's display, so I'll have to make the most of it!

Press conference photos...

Here are a few photos from the press conference we did this past week, to launch the tv series Arashi Daiko (the taiko group JF and I are members of) is featured in, called La Symphonie du Nouveau Monde. Photos are all clickable for detail, taken by Marie-Loic Senamaud (merci beaucoup!).

Welcoming in the journalists... (that's my big mouth)

Jean-François and I on the odaiko, or "big drum". Note JF's "taiko face."

Truly an honour to perform with these amazing musicians (and all wonderful people too!) from Bolivia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Chad and Morocco. I had a lump in my throat every time H'sao, the four siblings from Chad (next to us in the front row), would start to sing. Musical director Luc Boivin is in the middle, right in front (dressed in black) - he's the best!

We're looking forward to a live show we'll be doing on May 25th, with musicians from all 12 episodes of this tv series, which will be filmed and broadcast as the 13 and final episode of the series. La Symphonie du Nouveau Monde, or From the New World, was composed by Antonin Dvorak in 1893, who was greatly inspired by the Native American music and African American gospel music he heard while visiting the U.S. from 1892-1895, as well as the cultural diversity he was witness to.

The very cultural diversity celebrated in this symphony is the theme of this television series, reflected in the musicians and types of music featured. Everyone is so talented! Nervously looking forward to May 25th ☺
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Don't forget to enter my 100th post giveaway! Just add your comment about my Etsy shop (what you like, what needs work etc...) on Friday April 25th's post, and you will be entered to win the Sakura so Bright necklace. Easy-peasy! Winner announced at 7pm on Tuesday, April 29th.

Rehearsal for a press conference

Some of you may know that my husband, JF, and I went to Japan last fall, to film part of a documentary on our taiko (Japanese drum) group, Arashi Daiko. It will be a one-hour episode in a full 13 episode series produced by Mixed Media Productions, to be broadcast on ARTV and Radio Canada. Montreal musicians from around the world were the focus for this series, along with visits to 12 different countries - Madagascar, Morocco, Vietnam, India, Chad, Bolivia to name just a few. Quite an experience for us, and I'm really looking forward to the entire series.

Yesterday we had to rehearse for a press conference this coming Wednesday that will introduce this show to the media - our chance to "pitch" the series and garner as much interest in it as possible, and hopefully lots of coverage in the media.

Musical director and percussionist extraordinaire, Luc Boivin, led 22 musicians in a modified version of an excerpt of Antonin Dvorak's "From the New World" (La Symphonie du Nouveau Monde). In four hours of rehearsal he managed to assemble us all in a piece that allows each group to shine in their own way. I think we'll have to tone the taiko down though, since we were too loud. We're always too loud.

This rehearsal session was also being filmed for the final episode of the series - that's me and JF on the upright taiko. Patrice Massenet, carrying the camera, was filming us in Japan as well. An amazingly talented cinematographer.

Here are some of the other musicians going through their parts while we took a bit of a break. Luc seemed pretty happy at the end of the day. Here's hoping that everything goes well on Wednesday! You probably already know I'll be giving you an update ☺
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Just a little add-on to Friday's post... My sister in Edmonton emailed me after reading that post and then I wrote back to her last night in a veritable weep-fest, pouring out a bunch of stuff that I've been clutching onto for two years. I know now that I've been hanging onto so much pain around my mother's death because it's all tied into the negative feelings I have about myself. Hmm, that sounds worse than it is. I don't hate myself! But I am hard on myself. And this may not sound like a revelation, but it is. I feel better. Another wee step...

Arashi Daiko, my drumming family... (and I got tickets to see James Taylor!!!)

I'm trying to catch my breath. Woke up to the radio annoucing that James Taylor would be coming to Montreal as part of the International Jazz Festival this summer and that tickets would be on sale this morning at 10!!! Already scouted the tickets I want. This will be my birthday present from JF ☺ James Taylor was here around 10 years ago and my sister and I went to see the show; he puts on a great show - likes to chat and is sooo good at it. I cried when he sang "Up on the Roof" because that's just the kind of gal I am. Can't wait until July 6th!

These are the folks I spend much of my time with when I'm not in my workshop. We are Arashi Daiko, a Japanese drumming ensemble, and this past Saturday was our first practice this year with all members present (some were travelling). Had a really good practice, everyone was pretty zonked at the end, or at least I was. I'm on the right, second from the back. JF is also on the right, second from the front. You can click on it to see it a little better.


Pretty goofy picture since we were waiting for the camera timer to take the durn picture.

At the beginning of each practice we sit facing each other like this with our drumsticks, or bachi, lined up, to officially open the practice and leave our outside lives behind and focus our energy on our taiko. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!

We end each practice in this position as well, to close the practice session and be thankful for the opportunity to drum. Domo arigato gozaimashita!

(STOPPED BLOGGING FOR A TICKET BUYING BREAK: All set, got our tickets for the James Taylor show, yay! Pretty good seats, although we could've gotten better seats if I hadn't been such a weiner, checking to see other sections of the arena... I'm happy though!)

Now where was I...

This is Calvin, Hisako's son (she's right in front on the right side in the above pic), who could not keep his eyes open after practice. He's got towels around his ears held on by his trusty beaver hat (this is Canada, whaddya expect?) because of the loudness of the taiko. He even sleeps through our playing just like his older sister Kira did!

A couple weeks ago I hit my front tooth while playing; it was these bachi below that made me think I had knocked my tooth loose (turns out all is fine - amazing how hard our teeth are!). The stains on the bottom are actually my blood (we often get blisters or raw patches on our hands which eventually harden and callus over), which I chose to leave on to remind me to play hard. Yes, taiko players are a strange lot who like to suffer.

We have a full roster of performances coming up this summer, and some already on our calendar for spring; you can see that here: http://www.arashidaiko.org/calendar/calendar.htm

Ok, I'm heading to my workshop now, to work on some fresh sushi and other new pieces.

I'll be doing a small show in a month's time, so I've got to get some inventory going for that too...

Tomorrow... I've been tagged, so I'll be tagging others!

Baby bracelet... wedding drums...

I'll start with my weather snippet. Woke up to the clatter of ice pellets hitting the window. And usually with freezing rain like this, it's pretty mild temperature wise. Not today. I opened the balcony door to take a photo of the ice on the snow, but shut it right away since it's so windy and all the ice was blowing in. Freezing out there! What is with this weather!?

I had a really good week-end in online sales, yay! I'm having a sale in my shop this week-end, so I'm prepping, hoping for more good sales!

More custom orders:
Last week, I had the neatest assignment to work on. I was asked to make a bracelet incorporating beads that had been used on a hospital baby bracelet; Franca was born in a smaller city just north of Montreal and apparently at the hospital, newborns all wore these on their wrists instead of the standard plastic nametag. I cannot see today's overworked nurses stringing beaded bracelets for all the babies in their ward. The funny thing is they totally misspelled the family name (not too many Italian families in smaller-town Quebec 50 years ago), and the letters aren't anywhere in the right order on the original bracelet! Isn't this a great keepsake?



She's kept the bracelet for over 50 years, and always wanted to use the beads in another piece she could wear. She was great to work with - it's always nice when a client knows exactly what they want and don't want :) I am so touched that she entrusted me with the honours and I am thrilled to say that she was happy with the finished result.

The result is a simple design that works well in not overwhelming the precious original beads. Franca's sister also dug her baby bracelet out and she would now like a new bracelet too ☺

My friend Yukari, who is a potter (you can see her work here), came over to select all the beads and the pendant for her new choker - she's the only one who I keep the memory wire necklaces in stock for since she has a small neck and likes the close fit of the chokers. We came up with this bright summery look.

Again with the "taiko" ?
Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post, regarding my taiko mishap. It's hard to describe the place taiko has in our lives; I guess "big" would be the best word.

We even played at our wedding; to my mom's horror one of my taiko friends made a sling around my neck with the train of my dress hiked up with a piece chunk of material that I think he tore off a tablecloth; you can kind of see it well in the second shot below.

It was great though, because then I could hop around all I wanted. My mom wasn't so horrified really, as you can see her playing with us later. That's JF's mom on the left.

You know where I'm off to - coffee and work!

My tooth is fine, really...

I think Montrealers, or maybe Canadians like talking about the weather at least some point in the day - in the winter anyway. It drastically changes from one day to the next and you never know what to expect. Friday it was freezing cold (minus 25 with the windchill factor) and today it's zero with ice pellets and freezing rain; went to the post office and it was pretty slippery. Supposed to be getting heavy snow for the rest of the week. Sigh. March here in Montreal doesn't mean Spring is coming; it means we still have another few weeks of serious winter. Oh well.

Some of you may know I play taiko, or Japanese drums. They are rather large drums and we play with rather larger drum sticks, or bachi. At every practice we practice a piece called Yatai Bayashi, where we are sitting on the ground and using chunkier than usual bachi; it's an intense, physically difficult piece and if played with anywhere near the intensity it's supposed to be played, it could look like this photo below. This is the world famous Kodo group from Japan, in rehearsal:

Fujimoto-san, the group's most senior player, plays an amazing Yatai Bayashi, and as you can see, when you're playing all out, and your abs are in pain and your shoulders and pecs think you can't play anymore, it's hard to keep a neutral face.

My face is rarely in neutral when playing this piece, and on Friday night, I smacked my front tooth and bottom lip with my chunky bachi, so hard my head was vibrating. I thought for sure my tooth was cracked or something since it hurt so much, but the next morning my lip was only a little swollen and the tooth looked fine. Today it's pretty much back to normal but I will still make an appointment with the dentist just to be sure. I'll try to keep my mouth closed in the future.

Last night, JF was inspired by his favourite tv cook, Pinard, to make mayonnaise, which worked out perfectly since he had already planned to make salmon and asparagus (hey, that's a sign that Spring is on its way - baby asparagus, the small tasty ones), both yummy with mayo. It turned out wonderfully, nice and creamy with a bite from the dijon in it. Just look at this lovely meal:
Baked salmon, asparagus and fresh mayonnaise and portobello mushrooms. JF is definitely a keeper ☺

Hoarded ideas..

Some ideas you keep in your head - kinda like hoarding them. And I am a professional hoarder, the queen of saving things in case I need them, the reigning champion of even not using things because then there'll be none left... Logical, no, but it's a way of being. I will admit that many in my family have this hoarding gene - definitely a dominant gene.

All that blabla to say that I've been hanging onto this idea for awhile and never took the step to actually make them a reality. Actually, I've been making these same cards in a mini version, as little gift tags, but as full-size greeting cards - this is the debut! The original origami design is by Didier Boursin, and I've added my own little flair to it ☺

Going to add these to my shop right away!

Ding Dong! ... FedEx just came a-knocking ten minutes ago with my latest order of supplies, so I had to stop writing and open my parcel. I received my Lindstrom cutters and pliers and I'm sooo looking forward to trying them out! I was going to make clay pendants this afternoon, but I might have to do some assembly and try these babies. I can already say they feel really good and my hands and forearms are looking forward to relaxing a little and not cramping up all the time. Also got cord that it just perfect for my miniature Japanese drums (okedo and shime) - very happy with my order!

Off to make coffee #2 and get to work ☺