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Lynda Philippsen

@lyndawow

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Author of Tokyo Reverie, a literary travel memoir of my Sogetsu Ikebana studies & other adventures in a world most people will never experience.

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Ilex and Eryngium for a little autumnal serenity.
#sogetsuikebana by @lyndawow

Sensei said: A hanging arrangement for Halloween.
Eryngium painted black on three branches of ilex. The whole arrangement had a spidey-vibe without being ghoulish. I'm too close to the crypt in years myself to go in that direction. Give me slightly creepy elegance instead.
#sogetsuikebana #halloweenikebana by @lyndawow

Victoria readers, mark your calendars. Come on down to the Little Fernwood Book Fair on Sunday, November 8. I and eight others will be reading throughout the afternoon.

Get an early start on holiday shopping. Pick up TOKYO REVERIE for readers who enjoy arm chair adventures in lands abroad, love Japan and Japanese culture, students of ikebana, cultural immersion, post-career self-reinvention.

Other authors writing in various genres will also be there.
#littlefernwoodbookfair
#tokyoreveriebook
#authorlyndagracephilippsen by @lyndawow

It's not too soon to mention: For overseas readers who think they or someone they know would enjoy this book for a holiday gift, please order in November to avoid disappointment. Orders are printed on demand. The best price is through the FriesenPress Bookstore, linked in the buy-o.

In Canada order directly from the author before December 4th. tokyoreveriebook[at]gmail.com

#tokyoreveriebook by @lyndawow

Sensei said: Use three leaves.
Big Leaf Canadian Maple native to the West Coast regions of British Columbia, Canada.
Monstera.
Palm.

#sogetsuikebana by @lyndawow

So fortunate to find these bright crabapple branches alongside a country roadside.

These didn't make it to the compost. They're crabapple jelly now! 💛

#sogetsuikebana by @lyndawow

Sensei asked for art integrated with the arrangement. This bright, folk art bird painted on tin caught my eye in a thrift shop while prowling for containers. (Got one of those, too.) I secured it in an egg-shaped container with sticks and added monstera leaves. Bright and whimsical. I think he likes his new home.

#sogetsu ikebana by @lyndawow

Autumn Moon Viewing. Unknown branch, carnations and baby's breath.

#sogetsuikebana by @lyndawow

Quite unaware of what I had started, I took my first steps on the kado (way of flowers) in 2015. That serendipitous pathway with its twists and turns not only shaped a fledgling ikebana artist, but a decade later, also an author. Tokyo Reverie recounts the amazing trajectory of that journey, alone in Tokyo. The challenges, the confusion, the friendships and rapture of it all with unflinching honesty and wry wit.

That journey to self-publication also demands a new role of me: publicist. That may be the most difficult and even distasteful one yet. I cringe, hold my nose and post. Your ❤️s, comments and shares--much as I dislike asking, help.

#tokyoreverie
#tokyoreveriebook
#FriesenPress
#sogetsuikebana by @lyndawow

Sensei said: All chrysanthemums in different colours. These were the first of Twyla's Flower Farm's field-harvested blooms, a few stems in a bucket with the promise of more to come. The leaves were incredible--unlike the hot-house versions which usually arrive damaged and unusable here. I could use them separately, as individual stems. Also, being field-grown, they bent and curved in was that hot-house blooms do not.

As for "different" colours, though in the same warm range, the ones on the right were more red than captured by the camera. Almost two weeks after, they still look wonderful.
#sogetsuikebana
#twylasflowerfarm by @lyndawow

Not sure it works, but I'm feeling unsure of much of my ikebana work at the moment. That said, I felt compelled to create something to commemorate the soul that was Yayoi Kusuma's incarnation here.

She sat at a table across from mine in an Omotesando restaurant once. Of course I did not approach her. I was simply happy to sit in the presence of greatness.

The arrangement is on a black pizza tray placed on a mirror. The steel balls are a nod to her first protest at not being allowed to exhibit in NY early in her career. The pumpkin is obvious, and the dahlias have smudged dots on the petals. I have also become a smear reflected by the steel balls.

Side note: I ordered the balls from the UK as Canadians are currently boycotting US purchases. There are alternatives to the primary platforms to which we often gravitate by default. by @lyndawow

A recent visit to Shin Mei Spiritual Center on Knapp Island, a short water taxi journey from Canoe Cove Marina, Sidney BC.
#knappisland #shinmeispiritualcentre #matsurifoundationofcanada by @lyndawow