Day 5116: Thoughts about age & TBT & Denmark has Outdoor Learning.

" random smile": ink

                                                                       

  

Want music?

    Click: Lou Rawls, You'll Never Find

2GN2S

Funny thoughts about age, just sayin' ...

Dolly Parton passed recently, and I think we lost some much needed light and joy. I paid attention when they said she was 80. I find that I have more interest in peoples ages now. A few months ago I was speaking with a parent of a former student, and I mentioned that my Dad passed at 86, so I thought I'd be good to make 86. The parent is a very smart, reveered professor who I admire, and he stopped and I could see him thinking. Then he said, "No, I think you can add ten years. You are not allowing for the advances in medicine and care." I responded 96 didn't seem too appealing to me, and we both smiled.

It's not that I am afraid of dying, I know it happens. I think I am ready. Like my Dad said, I would have to say that I have had a wonderful life. Some parts not of my choosing, but they worked out okay. I guess it's the unknowing? You see I am a bonafide procrastinator, yet capable of getting a lot done at the last minute. You should see how I can straighten my little house when you call that you're on your way! But there is an invisible long list floating around in my head of things I would like to get done before I can't. Yet I don't? I watched a wonderful show on PBS last night, Mary Oliver, just one of my heroes.

"Truly I try to be good but sometimes a person just has to break out and act like the wild and springy thing one used to be." 

- Mary Oliver

Front: Brett Tolmie, Brandon Nomura, Josh Taylor, Colin Morris, Brian Center
Back: Kristie Koch, Nanette Taylor, Jeff Walker, David Walter, Jim Koch, me.

Demura Sensei's Costa Mesa Dojo Jr. Competition Team.

1984

(*After taking group pictures, always as unwanted task, I always let them make any goofy face they wanted, this most enjoyed.)

   

Denmark has formalized outdoor learning as a core component of its national elementary school curriculum, requiring students to spend one full day every week learning outside, including in forests, parks, and natural environments. The initiative builds on Denmark's longstanding "friluftsliv" philosophy, a cultural commitment to outdoor life that has shaped Scandinavian education for generations. Teachers across participating schools report measurable improvements in physical activity levels, classroom focus, and emotional regulation in the days following outdoor sessions.

The Danish model goes beyond nature walks. Students conduct mathematics, language, and science lessons in outdoor settings, using the natural environment as a learning tool rather than simply a recreational break. Research from Aarhus University supports the approach, finding that children who regularly learn outdoors show reduced cortisol levels, stronger peer relationships, and improved attention spans compared to those in conventional classroom settings. Finland and Sweden have adopted similar frameworks, and education researchers in the UK, US, and Australia are increasingly citing Scandinavian outdoor learning as a model worth replicating.

Sources: Aarhus University, Danish Ministry of Education, The Guardian, World Economic Forum,

  

  

 

A 5 minute video, moving sculpture, here.

 

 

Just because ...

Páramo Tapaculo (Scytalopus opacus)

Thursday's Smiles ... 

 

 

Hoping you see all the good things in your day.

  

Day 5115: Happy 31st Anniversary WW & SM! & France's Wallabies!

   

"Secrets": junk papers collage, ink brush, digital.

                                                                       

  

Want music?

    Click: Teddy Pendergrass, When Somebody Loves

2GN2S

8.26.1995

31 years ago today, two young, fresh kids were married. It was a wonderful day. They dated for three years before that, so 34 years together. As I watch them even today, I always hope that all couples love each other that much. They are more in love now than before, and it melts my heart to watch. But then again, they are superheroes.

Happy 31st Anniversary, Bassel & Erin!

   

  

  

 

A -1 minute video, Robot play table tennis, here.

 

 

Just because ...

Yellow-crowned Bishop

Wednesday's Smiles ... 

 

Hoping you feel all the good things in your day.

  

 

 

 

Day 5114: Artist, Estefania Ajcip’s & Dutch Engineers Collect Ocean Plastic.

"Sporadic": junk paper collage, ink, digital.

   

                                                                       

  

Want music?

    Click: Jacksons, Got To Be There.

2GN2S

“Four paths/Two paths?”birch plywood sheet, foam board, acrylic sheets, paper mache, lights, acrylic on panel

Estefania Ajcip’s Sculptural Paintings Unite the Memories of a Separated Family

Through vivid sculptural paintings, Los Angeles-based artist Estefania Ajcip peers in on the fractures families face when split apart. Ajcip spent much of her childhood in Guatemala, while her father worked in L.A. and missed pivotal moments of her youth. In a new body of work titled Folded Memories, the artist contends with this adolescent experience, extrapolating her recollections into poignant compositions filled with a longing for connection.

“Telephone game”  birch plywood sheet, foam board, thread, matte gel, acrylic on pane

From birch plywood, papier mache, small LED lights, and acrylic, Ajcip constructs a surreal world in which childhood grief and dreams converge. She often works from family photos, pulling scenes and objects from her home and pushing them into a fantastical realm. “Momo 2012,” for example, depicts two adults grasping hands, while an opening in the wood reveals a forlorn girl and her paper train set.

“Momo 2012”  birch plywood sheet, plywood, lights, acrylic on panel,

Separations and fissures recur throughout the pieces, evoking the distance between Acjip and her father, while new details are revealed or concealed depending on the viewer’s perspective. In “Telephone game,” the artist appears with a paper phone and string held up to her ear, while her father stands at a public payphone that juts out from the two-dimensional canvas.

Detail of “Do I pray for what is lost?” (2026), birch plywood sheet, foam board, light, acrylic on panel

A similar perspective shift occurs in “Four paths/Two paths?” as a sculptural bus shuttling between L.A. and Guatemala. The latter’s national bird flutters at the vehicle’s front window, leading the way as a symbol of togetherness and hope. A statement adds that the piece most directly confronts “the familial unity that Ajcip so longed for throughout her childhood. Across the exhibition, Ajcip makes clear again and again how the longing that defined her youth now fuels her art, a powerful reminder that strength often grows in adversity.”

Detail of “Telephone game” (above)

 Folded Memories was on view through August 22 at Charlie James Gallery in Los Angeles. You also might be interested in the architectural portraits of Arghavan Khosravi.

   

A huge patch of plastic waste floats in the Pacific Ocean — bigger than some countries. Dutch engineers built a long floating barrier that uses ocean currents to collect plastic and bring it to shore. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch shows how badly humans have hurt marine life, but this cleanup system proves we can fight back. Still, removing plastic isn’t enough — we must stop new waste, cut production, and handle plastic smarter. Big cleanups show hope, but real change means fixing the system that causes the problem.

  

  

 

A 2+ minute video, Knifepoint, here.

 

 

Just because ...

Gurney's Pitta

Tuesday's Smiles ... 

    

   

  

  

Hoping you feel all the good things in your day.