illustration friday (shadows)

I was trying to show a butterfly (a Monarch butterfly, actually) just coming out of its chrysalis, its wings still wrinkled and wet. But what does this have to do with our topic? Well, the Japanese words say Okage-sama-de, which is a common response we make when someone asks after our health or expresses gladness for our good fortune. We often use the term simply as a polite, all-purpose, "Thank You."

Kage means shadow or shade. And what the whole phrase literally means is "I owe it to your honorable shadow (or the shadow of God or various un-specified people) that things are well with me." I like this phrase a lot, and I think about its original meaning every time I use it. Because I mean it. The good things in my life, from start to finish-- they are all okage-sama-de.

illustration friday (dusty)

This week's IF topic made me think of the "dust" from a butterfly wing, and then I found a poem by Robert Frost called My Butterfly that I'd never heard of before. It's actually just a little bit sad, but I loved the part I quoted on this etegami. I looked at lots of butterfly photos and found one that looked like it was patterned with little hearts. Really! Except that they were black, not red.