One, two, and here and there,
In the Belgian summer find everywhere this sweet little jewelry
In the gardens, in the fields, in the forests, at the river banks
And at the street corner near your house

From ancient times, Japanese people have been enjoying the seasonal beauty and following the rythm of nature through a cup of tea. This little series of Toridori's seasonal letter was born to bring — a little spoonful of — seasonal beauty and nature's rythm into our life.  

My long, two-month journey to Japan for my (re-)discovery of the world of Japanese tea finally came to an end. It was full of inspirations and learnings (and of course new tea harvests too!). That stories I will write later in my another blog series (so stay tuned!), but anyway, it was a quite an intense, dense experience in this two months.

So I was a bit "empty" for a few weeks, but while I was "recharging" this period I was always thinking of what to draw for my next seasonal letter for you. Here I am finally back, and I'm really happy to "send" this letter today.

Blackberries, or Braambessen in Dutch, have long been in my mind as the next summer motief to draw one day. If you live in Belgium, you may not specially give attention to this tiny black fruits in the super vigorous, massively overgrown spiny vines; because this is literally everywhere. But for me, this plant was something I wasn't familiar from my childhood in a small town in the east Japan. Probably that's why, these berries (and even flowers in early summer) always catch my eyes every time I pass. And this berry is not just cute, but also edible — and even very tasty.

Until last weekend we had a super sunny and crazy hot & dry summer in all over Belgium! Back in my hometown in Japan, (of course, unfortunately) it was again a super hot & humid summer. But now in my little base in Mechelen, I am writing confortably with nice cool breeze. 

After some more rains, I hope that the nature will gradually recover from heat wave :)

Erina