Along the Philosopher's Path

A month ago I was in Kyoto, walking along The Philosopher's Path, one of the favorite spots in Kyoto in cherry blossom season. Despite the rain -- this picture doesn't accurately reflect either the amount of rain or the beauty of the cherry blossoms -- I enjoyed the peaceful scenery very much.


The Philosopher's Path was also one of my favorite parts of my trip. This was a "free" day for our tour and K, our new friend, Pat, and I set off to see more of Kyoto. We launched ourselves on the wonderful Kyoto bus system -- stops are announced in Japanese and English -- and after one misstep we turned around and found our first destination. We also discovered a small garden and museum, which we enjoyed exploring.

Despite my resolution to buy very little on this trip, I lost my heart to the beautiful post cards for sale. They were the perfect souvenir -- small, light and inexpensive. I resolved to frame them when I got home. I also bought a small package of fabric at a shop along the Philosopher's Path and a vision grew in my mind of how I wanted my cards to look.

I doubt if I'm alone in this, but many of my travel resolutions go undone.  The sarong that looks so cute on a far away beach doesn't look quite right in New York and several pieces of fabric didn't turn into the items I envisioned when I bought them. But I had a good feeling about the beautiful cards I bought. If nothing else I could use them for birthdays and gifts.

I knew I needed to do this project quickly. My rule is two weeks after I'm home I'm moving on. I most enjoy my vacation t-shirt while I'm on vacation and for me, it's the same for photographs. Because I'm not waiting to develop them I am most enthusiastic about pictures as soon as I see them. I got myself to Michael's quickly and took advantage of the Mother's Day frame sale. I bought "floating" frames with two pieces of glass. I put the fabric over one pane of glass, placed the card, and then put the second pane of glass over my arrangement. I clipped it in place and my card was matted and framed. If I grow tired of this card and want to show a different season, it's a quick change.

My first complete vacation project -- a wonderful memory of Kyoto -- next to my front door.

 

I have now been home for three weeks and the trip is definitely fading into memory, a good memory, but still memory. I'm back to grocery shopping, going to the library and catching up on everything I said I would do after the trip. I've got an eye doctor appointment tomorrow, scheduled the dermatologist and am getting excited about BookExpo America, which is only two weeks away. 

 

As ever, thanks for visiting and have a terrific Thursday.