Who Gose Slowly Goes Far

When I was a child (around elementary school), I never thought about knowing anything about myself.

So I just believed what the adults – my parents, my grandparents, my aunts and uncles, my school teachers – said about me, and I didn’t realize what I was feeling.

 

I was not good at creating things quickly, writing quickly, or implementing them immediately. The adults around me called me “NOROMA”(it means SLOW) because I started everything leisurely and couldn’t finish it on time. “Noroma” also means “not attentive” in Japanese, which didn’t sound positive. Therefore, I believed that I was not good at creating or implementing something.

As a result, I can’t count the number of times I’ve given up on creating something or stopped before it was completed.

I learned crochet and embroidery in elementary school between 9 and 12 years old. 

However, I could hardly complete any projects at school.

First, think about what to make, what color to use, and what kind of thread to use.

By the time I finally decided to start, everyone else had already finished about half of it. That’s why I was so behind that I couldn’t complete it at all in the classroom. 

I could have finished it at home, but I didn’t.

Why?

That’s because my parents’ home didn’t have an atmosphere of art or crafts at all. I’ve tried making something at home a few times, but when I did, they would say, “You’re making a lot of trouble. You can’t finish it.” Or, “Why did you take so long to make it?” so I didn’t want to do anything at home.

Of course, I did not know if I could make it or not, but I wanted to try with my best ability. However, I felt that my family did not support me, so I did not want to do anything at home.

But that didn’t mean I completely lost my passion for creating things. It took me many years, but I started to do some simple knitting, do pottery, do stained glass, and do a little gardening.

When I started studying macrobiotics after I got ovarian cancer, I realized that I could take the time to cook according to the five seasons, and I thought I could do this. Carefully wash whole grains, brown rice, etc. and cook them slowly over time in a ceramic or stainless steel pot instead of an electric kettle. It was perfect for me, as I gently washed vegetables, cut them with care, and cooked them. I enjoyed studying and learning a lot.

I like weaving, knitting, crocheting, and sashiko projects, as well as calligraphy, wood carving, natural dyeing (using organic indigo, herbs, and flowers), natural ink making, mosaics, stained glass, woodblock prints, making miso, Japanese umeboshi plums, grow organic plants and more.

I started enjoying my favorite things in my spare time from work, such as watercolor painting and growing my favorite medicinal herbs in my garden after I recovered from ovarian cancer.

As I got older and started to enjoy a slower life, I’ve started working in between doing my favorite things, which is the opposite of what I used to do.

By doing something I like even a little bit every day, I realized that since I was a child, I actually like things that take time to make. I found myself enjoying taking my time and being careful, and carefree about my time.

I found that I felt most comfortable going slowly. 

I do not mind being careful “NOROMA”.

 

I’ve joined Wildfiber Studio‘s sweater club about seven years ago. Slowly over the past five years, have learned and perfected how to knit and crochet many sweaters and cardigans. 

Read More…

24 Hours & Balance

Every day, we have 24 hours.
24 hours is not enough time for my interests, the daily routine of what I must do, what I need to do, and what I should do. 
Especially from spring to summer, seasonal hand-work becomes active, and how to use time becomes an issue and Balance.

How do you all use your day?
How do you balance?

I was writing a diary blog about my spring trip to Japan in May, but I stopped on the 5th day.
Because I use my time for counseling and healing sessions for those who have been coming to seek my help at work has increased, and to balance my physical condition, I needed time to rest.

In addition, the chemotherapy treatment I received for stage IV Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2017 (you can read about it Only Weeks Live!) caused my bone density to decrease, so I started going to the Santa Monica yoga studio (where I became Yoga Teacher – my blog “Yoga for My Life“) again on the doctor’s recommendation to strengthen my muscles and bones.
(During the pandemic, I was doing yoga online, but it’s refreshing to go to the studio and do yoga with the teacher and everyone.)

As I was finishing my spring sweater (California Poppy/orange flowers and Blue Sky images), the weather got warmer.


I have been doing more garden maintenance – artichoke flower on my rooftop garden (first photo) and Native Wild Plating sign at my house sidewalk garden,

made Japanese umeboshi pickles and ume plum jam for this year,

harvested wild elderberry flowers in North Fork (Eric took care of all the trees felt in winter and weed whacking there) to infuse them for Autumn to Winter skin toner and oil,

finished the assignments for my watercolor painting class,

celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary and went to Getty Museum and new plant based restaurant “Planta” in Marina del Ray,

started a summer sweater knitting club at Wild Fiber studio in Santa Monica,

went to cheer on Eric at a SUP race with Kai,

made mosaic table with the wood table and tiles that we found in an alley while we were walking dogs.


In addition, my daily routine of making remedy drinks and having homemade macrobiotic meals, going walks, meditation, body scrub, listening to old records music, massaging my feet, and applying moxibustion treatment; plus, my friend’s dog stays for three weeks, take care of the garden and mailbox for two weeks while the neighbors are away, giving a healing session for our eldest dog, Lumi, and cat, Tintin, and making birthday cards for my sister and brother and sending their gifts to Japan, so on, and July came already. There was no time to do Instagram/Facebook and blog.

Writing is one of my favorite things, so I think about it every day.
Writing takes a lot of time, so I feel like writing when I find decent time. Today while I thought of writing, I found time, so here I am.

 

Thinking about Balance.
I read my Nine Star Ki Astrology chart again since the last time I read it was at the beginning of this year.

I am “Nine Fire” in Ninet Star Ki Astrology.
It means I am in a year of relatively quiet time planning “Winter – water, floating, silence” this year.
Lately, in the morning, unless I have to, I wake up slowly and don’t act too rapidly, so I feel like I’m floating.
In winter, everything seems dead (sleeping) on ​​the surface, but much life and activity is underneath.
Similarly, it may feel like it takes time, but it’s important to focus on this time to reflect, review, and plan for the future.

It’s quite different from the traditional fiery Nie Fire character, so I feel a bit uncomfortable.
Still, it’s a time for the opportunity to explore the beauty of the infinite universe and the depth of my inner being.
From my experience, intuition increases as the material aspect loses meaning and becomes secondary.

Although my finances may decline, my spiritual growth will surely gain momentum, so it is an excellent exercise to remember to find a balance.
Remember that all things need contrast in order to find Balance, and quiet moments like this are necessary for me to regroup and dive within to find my next move. 

I have many activities physically and mentally most of time, so my balance method choices are “Take a good Rest” and “Vipassana meditation.”

Through deep engagement with existing spiritual practices and meditation, one can experience tremendous personal growth, a deeper understanding of one’s relationship to the universe, sudden flashes of insight, and heightened intuition.
I believe that if I put in the effort, I will discover the infinite wells of knowledge the universe offers.

So this summer, I teach only the Healthy Happy Holistic Care for Dogs and Cats class at the online Macrobiotic Conference and no other classes.

I will take time to finish writing my blog from the 6th day of my spring Japan trip diary, so I tell myself, “Let’s enjoy the moment to float without rushing.”
Love,
Sanae❤️

Knit Hats for Everyone

It sure has been a gift of nature that brought us here in California a lot of rain.
We imagine that living in Oregon must be like this.

I came up an idea to lift up myself during rainy days to knit hats for all my family.

I enjoy crochet and knit for many years and made many different hats, but never made a hat with earflaps and sweet i-cord on the top.

If you want to make this hat you can purchase this pattern from Spincycle Yarn (not dogs and cats size). They are my favorite beautiful hand spin yarns from Bellingham, Washington.

Here are the photos for you to enjoy!

Hats -Sanae Happy & Lumi 650 Photo: Went to the beach while sun came up

 

Hats -Eric Sanae Happy & Lumi 650

Photo: Tried to get our photo and clouds were coming out…

Happy with hat 650

Photo: Happy loved the hat!

 

Hat Tin Tin 650 Photo: Tin Tin was good wearing the hat!

 

 

 

Hats Mai Mai & Tin Tin 650

Photo: Mai Mai and Tin Tin felt warm with these hats.

Happy hats making!

Love, Sanae💖