Izumi Tanaka

My husband threw a party for my birthday.  Nothing like a pot luck party when it magically brings all the perfect dishes together without anyone stressing about coordinating who’s bringing what.  Everything was wholesome, healthy and most importantly, YUMMY!

Trying to learn about myself deeper through different spiritual teachings feels like peeling the onion.  There’s layer after layer, always more to discover…..except unlike onions, the spiritual discovery seems to be infinite.  It keeps going… going…. and going….

I’ve been feeling sluggish about my photography, may be because of the sluggish weather.  Muse hasn’t come to me.  My cats are not cooperating.  What’s it all about?  At least the snails are happy in the unseasonal morning rains…

My husband took me out to lunch at this hidden farmer’s market way far back of VA ground today.  The market itself is very small and very, very low key, but the place is quite magical.  There’s a huge area of flower and vegetable gardens as well as a parakeet sanctuary in the back.  There are several stalls serving various food including Japanese “yakisoba (焼きそば）.”  And I came home with a carton of fresh sweet organic strawberries!

Ernest Holmes wrote in “This Thing Called You”  - “You, like all others, are seeking the joy of living.  You wish to be needed, to be loved, to be included in the great drama of life.  This urge is in every individual.  It is in everything.  The rose exists to express beauty.  Root and branch conspire with nature to give birth to blossom.  An artist will starve in his garret that he may chisel an angelic form from a slab of marble, compelling the unyielding substance to accept his breath of creation.  Not only human beings, but everything in nature is endowed with this creative urge.”  A few minutes I heard someone read this passage, I stumbled upon this flower blossoming all by itself between a slab of concrete and a barricade fence around a construction site.  It was there so proudly as if its surrounding was of no importance, only doing its natural thing – expressing the true self regardless if anybody noticed it.

While we were in Chicago last month, my sister-in-law turned me onto this special sandwich she makes.  Mushed avocado, cucumber slices, red pepper, red onion and provolone on wheat bread. I use the multi-grain bread and added alfalfa to make it even more yummy and healthy.  Some day I add tomatoes, someday I use tofu burger, and someday I eat it twice!

Wow, it’s May already!  This last month was a pretty intense and stressful month although I’ve made it through all right.  Now I gotta get back on the saddle to shoot everyday again!  All it takes is one good shot I like!  It’s hopefully getting nice and warm now so I can get back to my favorite flip flops.

We had Easter dinner at my in-laws in Chicago with a friend of theirs, Zelma, who came with Claire, the spitz.  Apparently, Claire and Pablo are “special” friends as Claire is normally very finicky about other dogs but happily shares attention with Pablo. Claire even shared Zelma’s lap with Pablo — of course, they were eyeing on the turkey on the kitchen counter.

I had a nice treat yesterday to visit the Art Institute of Chicago.  While Matisse show was terrific, I had a bonus treat of William Eggleston photography show, who shot “everyday life.”  Inspired, I shot the dining room table where our friend, Chuck, left his airplane kite after our excursion to the city.

We got to visit Angel at her new home.  It was very clear to me Angel was supposed to be there for little Jake to be his “angel.”