Day 5145: A Sumo Story. & Czechia birdhouses.

   

"About town": junk papers collage, digital.

 

                                                                       

  

Want music?

   Click: Sean Davis, A Good Day

2GN2S 

Konishki, Musashi Maru, Akebono

As you have surmised if you've read this blog for long, I love Sumo! I have for many years, decades. I actually subscribed to Sumo Digest for many years. So when I found this photo today of the first non-Japanese rikishi , Konishki, Musashi Maru and Akebono, all from Hawaii, and you guessed it, it reminded me of a story. I was always a fan of Akebono, Even before he was a Yokozuna, he had a dignity, what guys often call a righteousness about him. He retired years ago and had since passed.

I was lucky to be in Little Tokyo with a friend many years ago when we heard he was going to be at the Aratani Theater in Little Tokyo, L.A. We went and there he was on stage, gigantic (6'8" & down from his top competition weight of 405#). I think they had a movie of his accomplishments, but what I remember most was the questions and answer period. So many in the audience had questions and he was so gracious and patient answering. Then a young lady in the row in front of us who stood. She said she had been in Japan years ago and was in a town where they had sumo contests, in between the six yearly basho (tournaments). She said she was fascinated and reached out to touch a sumo player as he went in to the ring. Then she said, "My questions is when and how did you decide to seriously do Sumo?" Without a moments hesitation, Akebono said, Well, I was in a town and a pretty girl reached out and touched my robe." 

It was such a perfect moment, everyone enjoyed his humor and that great smile.

 

In Czechia, one artist found harmony between music and nature by transforming broken instruments into birdhouses. What began as a simple art project has grown into a poetic movement—violins, trumpets, cellos, and even tubas, once silenced by damage, now hang from urban trees across parks and plazas, filled not with sound, but with birdsong.

Each piece is carefully reworked into a functional nesting space. Trumpet bells become entryways, violin bodies are hollowed and lined with straw, and guitar sound holes serve as cozy lookout windows. These musical birdhouses preserve the soul of the instrument while giving birds a warm, sheltered home—turning what was once discarded into something that lives on in the treetops.

Passersby are often surprised to spot them. A saxophone suspended in a birch. A drum shell nestled between branches. Some are painted brightly, while others keep their original woodgrain and tarnish, creating a sense of weathered charm. Each one is different, and each tells a story—not just of sound lost, but of life returned.

The project has since inspired schools and musicians to donate old or broken instruments. Some communities have even hosted music-and-nature festivals beneath the trees, celebrating both creativity and conservation.

In Czechia’s cities, these instrument birdhouses now form a quiet symphony—where the music may be gone, but the melody lives on, in fluttering wings and morning song.

  

 

A 4 minute video, Butterfly Nightmare, here.

 

 

Just because ...

Malabar Pied Hornbill

Friday's Smiles ... 

 

  

  

   

Hoping you see all the good things in your day.

  

 

 

 

Day 5144: A Special Story & TBT & Lost Bear Cub.

"Topics": acrylic, junk collage spread in journal.

 

  

Want music?

   Click: Rufus, Stop on By.

2GN2S

 

My daughter starts middle school tomorrow. We've decorated her locker, bought new uniforms, even surprised her with a new backpack. But tonight just before bed, we did another pre-middle school task that is far more important than the others. I gave her a tube of toothpaste and asked her to squirt it out onto a plate. When she finished, I calmly asked her to put all the toothpaste back in the tube. She began exclaiming things like "But I can't!" and "It won't be like it was before!" I quietly waited for her to finish and then said the following: "You will remember this plate of toothpaste for the rest of your life. Your words have the power of life or death. As you go into middle school, you are about to see just how much weight your words carry. You are going to have the opportunity to use your words to hurt, demean, slander and wound others. You are also going to have the opportunity to use your words to heal, encourage, inspire and love others. You will occasionally make the wrong choice; I can think of three times this week I have used my own words carelessly and caused harm. Just like this toothpaste, once the words leave your mouth, you can't take them back. Use your words carefully, Breonna. When others are misusing their words, guard your words. Make the choice every morning that life-giving words will come out of your mouth. Decide tonight that you are going to be a life-giver in middle school. Be known for your gentleness and compassion. Use your life to give life to a world that so desperately needs it. You will never, ever regret choosing kindness."

by Amy Beth Gardner: August 14, 2016

Special Advanced Tournament Training

Genbu-Kai Honbu Dojo

February 19, 2023

A lost bear cub wandered into a zoo during a storm, but security cameras captured an orangutan giving up its own blanket to keep the cub warm.

The tiny black bear had apparently become separated from its mother in the nearby woods. Late that night, it followed the covered service corridor beside the orangutan enclosure, looking for somewhere dry.

The cub eventually curled up beside the bars, soaked and trembling from the cold rain.

Inside the enclosure, an orangutan had been watching it. At first, it simply sat near the barrier and stared at the unfamiliar visitor. Then it picked up the fleece blanket it normally slept with.

The orangutan pushed one end between the bars and slowly worked more of the blanket outside until it reached the cub.

The exhausted bear climbed onto it and curled up.

When zoo employees arrived the following morning, they found the cub asleep on the blanket. On the other side of the bars, the orangutan was resting directly beside it, as if it had stayed there through the night.

Staff safely transferred the cub to wildlife officials, who began searching for its mother. But the security footage left everyone with one unforgettable image.

The orangutan couldn’t bring the lonely cub inside—so it gave the cub the one thing it could reach through the bars.

#wholesome #animals #orangutan

  

 

A 4 minute video, The Lost Penguin, here.

 

 

Just because ...

Common Hoopoe

Thursday's Smiles ... 

 

Hoping you see all the good things in your day.

  

 

 

 

Day 5143: "Loving Vincent" full trailer & Alaskan child needed emergency flight to Anchorage.

"Directions": junk paper collage

 

                                                                       

  

Want music?

   Click: Rufus, Car Wash

2GN2S

 

Full Trailer for ‘Loving Vincent,’ a Feature-Length Film Animated by 62,450 Oil Paintings

The full trailer for Loving Vincent (previously here and here), a film examining the life of Vincent van Gogh, has finally been released after nearly six years of creative development. Each of the 62,450 frames for the feature-length film were hand-painted by 115 professional oil painters, and will integrate 94 of Van Gogh’s paintings into the animation. First captured as a live action film, the final oil paintings replicate each shot, recreating the entire film frame-by-frame. Loving Vincent is written and directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, and produced by Poland’s BreakThru Films and UK’s Trademark Films. You look behind-the-scenes of the film in the video below, as well as keep up-to-date with release information on the film’s Twitter and Facebook

     

A child in Igiugig, Alaska needed an emergency flight to Anchorage.

Then the runway went dark.

Late on August 28, 2020, a LifeMed aircraft flew toward the tiny Southwest Alaska village to pick up the patient. But when residents tried to activate the airport's runway lights, nothing happened. The plane circled overhead.

Ida Nelson heard the aircraft and realized something was wrong. She headed to the airstrip on her four-wheeler. A neighbor began calling people and made 32 phone calls, reaching what Nelson described as nearly every household in the village.

People got out of bed. Some were still in pajamas. They drove cars, trucks and ATVs to the airport and staggered them along the runway, using their lights to show the pilot the strip from end to end.

The pilot landed safely.

Residents stayed exactly where they were while the child was loaded onto the aircraft, then kept their makeshift runway glowing while the plane taxied out and took off for Anchorage.

There was no elaborate equipment. Just neighbors, headlights and a community that understood there was no time to wait.

Sources: Alaska Public Media/KTOO; Associated Press; Anchorage Daily News.

  

 

A 4 minute video, Racing Bugs, here.

 

 

Just because ...

Roseate Spoonbill

Wednesday's Smiles ... 

Hoping you see all the good things in your day.