Sublime

Then she stood and lifted the stool carefully off Benny, who continued to sit there, looking somewhat wobbly and exposed, like Jell-O taken too soon from the mold.

The Makioka Sisters,

be attached to things that were never yours in the first place? Your attitude should be that you are looking after these things only for the time being, like a housekeeper who lives in her employer’s home and devotedly, loyally, faithfully looks after it, but knows that her own home is elsewhere.

have identified a number of ingredients that are core to the creation and continuation of quality friendships. I call them the Seeds of Connection: proximity, frequency, compatibility and commitment.

wood presupposes their impermanence and the need for future generations to rebuild them. Japanese culture accepts the fleeting nature of the human being and everything we create.

We grew up on the third floor of a little apartment building near the ocean. Just two rooms, one more cramped than the other, no wall or anything between them. Izakaya on the ground floor.