Mid-life with no real skills? Teach what you lack!
A childhood of learning Let's take a trip in the way-back machine. All the way back to when you were in school - high school/middle school, whatever. Try to think…
Self-Reliance: an arrogant sin, or a lost art?
https://youtu.be/XFTqMDOtTzo Making a shovel out of a tree branch: self-reliance? Self-reliance, God-reliance, or folly? A story my Dad loves to tell: A very faithful man once had the misfortune to…
The philosophy of ants. And a free vocabulary worksheet for kindergartners!
https://youtu.be/A5UR5Ti_Ons Severe carpenter ant damage on a Japanese timber frame beam If you want to go straight to the free vocabulary worksheet for kindergartners - check out my new resources…
Danshari and Christian minimalism: strong medicine for the chaos of a large family!
We got to be a Danshari Family! Being a large, mixed-race, family in Japan we tend to get noticed. Even my ‘shrinking violet’ wife has gotten used to the curious…
Japanese Carpenter Ants: The creepy-crawly friends beneath your bath!
Japanese carpenter ant, Camponotus japonicus. https://youtu.be/luItX0kfSfs Carpenter ants: a few (thousand) friends closer than you think! As we were demolishing a portion of our Japanese farmhouse here in Northern Japan,…
A Japanese timber-frame kominka renovation: Surprises behind the walls
A timber-frame skeleton https://youtu.be/yNnGkqqrxHM A walk-through of a Japanese timber-frame kominka Continuing our akiya renovation, we take a look behind the walls of an old kominka (古民家 - old folk…
Choosing vocabulary words: Don’t guess! but…. yes its a guess!
Choosing vocabulary words: first step of content building Finally! We get to start making content! Since we already know the objectives from the last session (review here), we can start…
A place beyond decision: difficult decisions are not accidents
A Place beyond decision A colleague and dear friend of mind just announced that his brother made the decision to commit suicide a couple of weeks ago. Before continuing here,…
