Izumi Tanaka

Wanted to hug a big tree just to feel the warmth of Mother Earth, just to be assured everything is al’right, just to know I’m taken care of….

Blue and green are my favorite colors.  When I’m in the mountains, I get to be surrounded by both…  It feeds me deeply.

It’s been so busy.  Plus, the demolition of the hospital building on the next block has been annoyingly noisy for the last month or so.  I took a breath and heard the trees and birds in the woods.

Vacation in Yosemite was grand.  I’ve been living in California for 28 years, and I was absolutely stunned it took me this long to get to this place. I’m no world connoisseur of hiking trails, but I’ve hiked in Switzerland, Nepal, and Japan other than of course, various nice trails around Southern California.  As I heard other people say about this magnificent place in our own backyard, this was really one of the most spectacular place I’ve been to.

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We drove up to Mt. Pinos for a short hike.  Everytime we go there, I’m always amazed to see some charred trees.  The lightening must hit them during the storms.  It must be magnificently fierce and mighty to strike these huge trees and leave them standing half charred like this.   Although it would be a very scary thing to witness, it still fascinates me.

On one of the back streets in Venice, I came across the scene.  Interesting contract between a young but almost fully blossomed jacaranda and an old Dodge truck.  I love the eclectic feeling of the neighborhood.

We made a quick trip up to our mountain house last night to move a bed.  As we woke up this morning, we walked through our favorite path in the forest to get to town for a little croissant and tea.  Though the bakery was closed today, we got a taste of the peaceful forest energy before getting back to the hectic city life.  Truly blessed….

I went up to the mountains last Saturday for the weekend and woke up feeling sick on Sunday.  What better place is there to be sick surrounded by pine trees, lots of birds, and blue sky?!  Well, Monday morning I woke up to this snow wonderland!  The drizzle that started Sunday afternoon turned to snow at night and left about 6 inches of the wet white blanket all around.    During the course of the day on Monday, most of the snow melted away, but my flu bug hung around for another three days….  I’m finally back in the city and at my desk on Friday afternoon.  I must say I’m lucky that I got to convalesce in fresh and clean air at 5500 feet high under the piercingly blue sky — yes, I did soak some healing energy of the sun on my deck everyday.

It’s humbling to be under big trees.  It reminds me how tiny my existence is, yet gives me an enormous sense of comfort that I am embraced by Mother Nature.