Author: ninabogu

Tokyo archive 01

ninaboguLeave a comment

IMG_0719IMG_0718IMG_0717

My first entry for the Tokyo  archive has to be about food, no question. From the moment I had a typical teishoku (定食) put in front of me at a restaurant, I fell in love with the aesthetics of it. The arrangement of different sized bowls and plates for the side dishes, main dish, rice, miso soup and pickles, the beautiful chopsticks on an intricate stand placed neatly at the front of a wooden tray; it is nearly too pretty to touch any of this and start eating. We’ve been trying to recreate a typical teishoku meal many times at home (the pictures are some examples) however, never achieved the beauty of these typical set meals when they are served at a Japanese restaurant. I guess we are just lacking the attention to detail.

 

memory archive — a recap

ninaboguLeave a comment

I’ve been meaning to write a recap of my memory archive project about two moths ago and then the schools closed. Needless to say that the new situation — the kids being home 24/7 — made the free and energy-fuelled time I usually have for writing vanish from one day to the next. What also vanished quickly was my drive to keep the house clutter-free. After just a few days into the new stay-at-home/home-schooling routine, I had lost all energy to keep our place tidy. Our dining table turned into a messy desk space for the kids’ work, toys could be found scattered all over the place and I spent my time divided between a messy kitchen and the living room, thrown into my new role as full-time teacher. That brings me back to this recap of memory archive. Continue reading “memory archive — a recap” →

memory archive — day 100

ninabogu

Finally, I’ve reached day 100 of writing about the things I’ve been letting go off and what could be a better item to celebrate this appropriately than the disposal of a whole house?! No, I am not talking about the bird house in the picture, even though this one was, sadly, left behind (together with the tree it was fixed to and all the other beautiful greenery surrounding it – amongst them two Japanese Maples and four, massive banana plants). In fact, I am talking of our family home of the past four and a bit years. The house has vanished, disappeared within a week. I’d confidently say that getting rid of a whole house can easily be considered the pinnacle of minimalism, can’t it? Continue reading “memory archive — day 100” →

memory archive — day 99

ninabogu

We are on our annual trip to Europe, which gives me more time, and no excuse, (not) to write a little bit. As this will be the second last post before I’ll reach my set goal of 100, I had to chose from many items that I discarded in the past months, which one I wanted to write about. Rather than picking one that I’d see lying around on a daily basis, I decided to write about the items that are, usually, out of side, hidden in drawers or, in this case, stuffed inside bathroom cabinets. Continue reading “memory archive — day 99” →

memory archive — day 98

ninaboguLeave a comment

Our recent move made my decluttering progress accelerate. So much that while sorting out things, there wasn’t any time or energy left to sit down and write about it. Diligent as I am, however, I kept on taking photos of the treasured items that had to go; to write about those at a later time. As you can imagine, there were a lot of items affected (It’s ‘now or never’ when you are in a moving house situation.). As I decided a while back to go up to 100 days for my memory archive, I am left with far more items to write about than I have posts left. In my opinion, all of the photographed items deserve a spot in the archive though, therefor I will consolidate them. This post’s topic is animals. Read on if you’d like to find out each individual, little story. Continue reading “memory archive — day 98” →

memory archive – day 97

ninabogu2 Comments

IMG_9718

Besides lots of general items and items of the other family members that I parted with (I have to admit) easily in the lead up to our move, there were some  items that I felt more strongly connected to. A good  example is this poster. Once – back then in really good shape – it adorned one of the walls in our hallway. That was before it came crashing down (and subsequently) my son jumping onto it. It had clearly seen better days, however, I kept hold of it  (by now, hiding in storage)  until the very last couple of days prior to our move. It is not just the design of the poster that I liked so much but also its story. Continue reading “memory archive – day 97” →

memory archive — day 96

ninabogu

My children are collectors, which doesn’t help when one is trying to achieve a more minimalistic and simplistic home. Thinking about it, I feel that everyone starts off in their childhood with being a collector. Collecting shells at the beach, pebbles in the backyard, colourful leaves in autumn, insects in the summer and lots and lots of sticks all year round at the local park (see picture). Then they like collecting toys, beads, stickers, sweets, pencils, gemstones, more toys; the list goes on and on. I don’t want them to stop collecting though. It clearly plays a role in growing up. What I’d like to show them and guide them to, however, by leading (or at least trying to lead) a more simple lifestyle, is the option of consuming less, owning just what you really need and/or dearly treasure.

memory archive — day 95

ninaboguLeave a comment

We are moving! Not voluntarily, we’ve rather been asked to leave as they will tear down the house. I’m in non-stop decluttering mode; hard work. And, obviously, my method of writing down a sentence or two about the items you find hard to depart with, doesn’t work too well when there is not much time to write. I still aim to write down the memories of some though, such as of those tins. Continue reading “memory archive — day 95” →