Beautiful Handmade wallets from Japan!

My Japanese mother-in-law, fondly known as “Mi-chan”, is immensely talented at everything artsy and craftsy, and her sewing skills are second to none. Look at this amazing wallet she has designed/made – completely stitched by hand! And using amazing Japanese fabrics,  mostly fine cotton, traditionally hand-dyed … so great and compact for cards.

Do you want a Mi-chan eco-wallet of our own? Please email me at tammystonetakahashi@gmail.com!

xo

Tammy

 

 

For our Mothers …

for our mothers

who have brought us here,

the mothers whose songs

trail the ocean floor

for miles and centuries

as we ache for the beauty

of genesis, origin, her strength,

for the mothers of our mothers,

the mothers waiting to be mothers,

waiting to be …

and we are all daughters

of this one earth,

and we are all mothers

for plumbing the depths

of knowing where we have been

as we mount the steps

to where we are going,

and the love Great Mother

wraps itself around us

as we go ___

 

– tammy takahashi

Dark and Light

 

Take the time you need
to enter into the shadow;
this brilliantly dark place
is your sculptor of light.

The Heart in My Body

My heart in my chest,

Quivering, alone and unsure

Feeling small in a strange land

 

My heart in my head,

Rationalizing away the fear,

Lost among wayward thoughts

 

My heart in my eyes,

Hesitant, always curious,

Imbibing a world of wonders

 

My heart in my throat,

Stumbling over words not true

Groping for songs in the dark

 

My heart in my belly,

Holding space for the girl inside,

Crying with her until smiles come

 

My heart on my skin,

Exposed too soon, it feels,

Hoping wildly for tenderness

 

My heart in my hands,

Longing, feeling the way

To every fragile connection

 

My heart in my knees,

Falling to earth, breathing relief,

Sinking to a necessary pause

 

My heart in my feet,

Soaking up life, gingerly,

Taking all the steps I need …

 

My heart in my chest,

Back home, nothing looks the same

It is a wiser love, love, it is home.

The History of Feeling

I found, under a star

and the moon’s steadfast gaze,

not only the life I am living,

but all around me, under a rock,

on the far, ghosted end of the forest,

the many lives I’ve lived,

strung like vines

jumbled and obtuse,

hanging like a pearl of leaves

in the midnight dew.

Like flowers peppering a field,

like moss, velvety and complete,

the past in the guise of now,

convinces me utterly

of permeability, shadow in light,

of the density in the history

of what I feel.

The power of the story lives here.

Give me a moment and I’ll find

a reason, a cause, an association

where instead there might be

you, I, things in themselves,

beyond our wildest imaginings,

divested of our hope and fear,

containing everything we need,

containing nothing.

 

– tt

Love For What You Believe In

Let’s not fight! Let’s remove the language of violence from our lives, and move from a place of peace. Love, Tammy

Our Many, Our Whole

My body, my land.

Containing all the stories

all the world in it,

but they are not all my own.

The whole is not simple,

vague or even pure.

We must never stop

listening to how this swirl

this totality morphs into the

particularities of me and

you, as we strive

and struggle to bring ourselves

to the whole with compassion

and understanding.

We are one, yes,

but it doesn’t end here;

we are still so incomplete

in our knowing,

if not our being.

May we always

listen

honour

respect

commit

to the mosaic of our

distinct stories.

Our bodies

Our landscapes,

Our jewels

build something

beautiful together. – TS

Come Undone

undo the knotted breath

loosen the tightened grip

 

unsee the ordinary view

unhear the stained words

 

unmake the false construction

tear down the soiled edifice

 

unlearn the tainted lesson

ungrow the poisonous weed

 

say no to incoherent ideology

stand against the bile of untrue

 

unbelieve what feels wrong

unattempt to fit right in

 

unlove what has condition

unadmire what leads astray

 

unemcumber your beautiful body

unclutter your precious mind

 

but don’t stop here,

don’t stop here!

 

ours is a world to create

ours is a love to discover

 

let us first unravel the mess

so as to learn and build again. – TS

Star and Sun and One

we fly to night

where stars

etch our times

with vibrant light

 

we reach the sun

where we find

where we see

the source is one. – TS

 

The Road Home