Flood of Guests to Best Exotic Indigo Hotel

Liz tagged the house,"The Best Exotic Indigo Hotel" last year. Someone referred to her moniker and it stuck through the duration of the workshops. (Thanks Liz.) The amount of guests here at the BEIH past few months has been staggering.

The guests from the first spring workshop left a few days back.  Once again it was all great fun. It was different this time. I didn't push the production as much. I tried to leave breathing room before, during and after the activities.

I get a little teary-eyed seeing people fly from all over the planet to come spend time with me and the indigo and dogs in this little village in Japan. They make humans look good, arriving with their enthusiasm and good-will packed in their suitcases and over-flowing. In the semi-chaos of ten days together, while witnessing beaming smiles and moments of being here/there together I  found some silent spaces to travel by myself. Flashes of wit, tenderness and insight from the workshop members making all the effort worthwhile. Thank you Lesley, Carole, Bee, Kate, Emily and Jennifer sans for sharing those days of your lives with us here in Japan.

A backlog of guests and pictures.

Ako Shimzato's daughter heard the sad stories of Momo and Geiger in Fukushima and sent these dog treats for them with her mother from Washington state. They tried to pull off a Lady and the Tramp spaghetti slurp. So cute.

Anneke's friends from The Netherlands stormed the house for only a single day of intense indigo fun. 

 http://www.tenuedenimes.com/blog/522-tenue-de-nmes-goes-japan-day-1-indigo-dyeing-in-fujino#.UX5-b79B0qY

Ogata san ran straight for the hunky tattoos again. 95 years old I suppose she knows what she likes.

Victoria and Thomas and Anita visited from Argentina and we spent some magical early spring days together.

And the talented and beautiful Keiko from Toronto charmed us with her storytelling.

And Diana and Jo from Vancouver. Dyeing Diana's hair with indigo. 

Time flies by so quickly. I wish I had more time to spend with each guest, get to know them better and have a few more laughs together. 

The past few months have been busy. Spring came several weeks early. It's early arrival cheated us from that extra few weeks of suffering the cold, the cedar pollen and painful kerosene bills and the precious anticipation of the gentle progression of the first thawed earth smells, birds returning and the orderly smiling parade of sprouts and blooms.

Middle spring  hit us like a sucker punch. 

It is cold here in the winter and the number of guests and friends drop with the temperature and hours of daylight. Like the accelerated spring, the number of out-of-towners and sojourners surged presently.

The weeks fly by. Luxuriating in the bright company I can only shake my head and be grateful for these clear and eventful days.

Too many great projects on the go to mention and document. Kawamoto san bought some spectacular crisp antique linen at the local market a few weeks back. Luc models her shibori masterpiece. 

In a few days the first spring workshop members will arrive. Hoping the weather stays like it was these past few days. There is room for one or two more members in the ten-day indigo and textile workshop starting on May 13th. Anyone interested please drop me a line.

Bryan

Ogata san Modeling

Hanna and Yehia and kids were visiting from FInland for a week. They brought some clothes designed by a friend in Helsinki and were looking for models. Ogata san was a natural.

Nels and Marianne were here form Denmark to witness Cathy's katano shibori masterpiece unfold.

Keiko Shintani charmed us today with pictures of her work and great stories of life.

Anneke's mama from the Netherlands was here and shibori shocked us with her masterpiece as well.

A lot of guests and a lot of fun these days.