Day 5119: Happy Birthday Aunt Vonda! & German Shepherd Hero.

"5 kid on the farm pony": (Aunt Vonda, Aunt Fern, Uncle Pete, Aunt Martha & Aunt Pauline) old photo, collage  & digital

  

Want music?

    Click: Cynthia Erivos, Somewhere.

2GN2S

 Happy Birthday, Aunt Vonda! 

Aunt Vonda's heavenly birthday is today. She, and her older sister, my AuntMartha are the angels and heroes of my life. They are both the true example of goodness, and in my opinion. God's best work. Together they changed my life forever. My gratitude is boundless.

A special lady to so many of us. We loved her so, and you would have loved her too.

Her Dad & Mom, my Grandpa and Grandma

Back row: Aunt Vonda, Uncle Pete, Aunt Martha, Uncle Les, Aunt Pauline, front: Aunt Fern, Grandpa, Grandma & Mom

She was fifth born one of ten children born at home. Seven children survived, four were teachers.

 Uncle Pete, big sis, Aunt Vonda

my Mom, Aunt Vonda, Uncle Pete

   

Grandma, Aunt Vonda, Kate Richardson, Aunt Pauline, Aunt Fern

As a young teacher, she met & married Uncle Kenneth ...

Uncle Kenneth

Who went to war ... and she followed. 

Aunt Vonda ,WW2

When she lost her one true love, MIA, she never remarried. Choosing to give her love to family, friends and students.

Aunt Vonda, like her sisters, was a great teacher.

From a one room school house to modern classrooms. A teacher who played ball with the kids at recess. I am lucky to have all of her school photos from over the years.

She saved them & the names of every student she ever taught. Later, after retiring, she would visit her nieces. The kind of Aunt who knew where you kept your silverware. Not just at my house, but at all the sisters and cousins.

Aunt Vonda & Aunt Martha on the way to the Rose Parade , Pasadena, CA. 1971

WonderWoman, Aunt Vonda 1992

Aunt Vonda and Aunt Martha

     

 

A German Shepherd survived roughly 11 hours alone in the water, and finding her would eventually help rescuers realize her owner was still missing at sea.

On February 20, 2020, a fisherman in Queensland, Australia, spotted a German Shepherd named Heidi treading water in Moreton Bay. Floating nearby were a fuel tank, tackle box and wetsuit, signs that immediately suggested something had gone badly wrong.

Heidi was exhausted, but alive. Brisbane Water Police soon launched a search, fearing the debris belonged to a boat in trouble. What rescuers did not yet know was that Heidi's 63-year-old owner had been stranded since the previous evening, after his 4.1-meter boat lost power and began taking on water.

At around 10:25 that morning, rescuers finally located the man near the Brisbane boat passage, clinging to his partially sunken vessel after spending about 15 hours adrift.

Both Heidi and her owner were taken for medical checks and escaped without serious injuries. Police later gave Heidi food while she waited for her owner and even named her an honorary police dog for the day.

Heidi did not physically lead rescuers to him, as some retellings suggest. Her discovery was the crucial warning that helped launch the search.

Sometimes, simply surviving long enough to be found can help save someone else.

#fblifestyle #germanshepherd #dogrescue #animalstories #survivalstory

  

  

 

A 6 minute video, kitten & Retriever, here.

 

 

Just because ...

Mauritius fody

Sunday's Smiles ... 

Hoping you see all the good things in your day.

  

 

 

 

Day 5118: Artist, Yayoi Kusama & JAL Dress Code.

"Directions": junk paper collage.

Want music?

    Click: Corine Bailey Rae, Trouble Sleeping.

2GN2S

 Artist, Yayoi Kusama 1924 - 2026

2013

Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, best known for her polka dot sculptures in eye-popping colors and shimmering "Infinity Rooms," has died. She was 97 years old. In a statement issued on Wednesday, her representative David Zwirner said Kusama passed away from "multiple organ failure" at a Tokyo hospital on Aug. 14.

The wildly imaginative Kusama used her art to express her obsessions: Repetitive brushstrokes on dotted canvases she called infinity net paintings; giant orange and black, polka dotted pumpkins; enclosed rooms with mirrored walls and twinkling lights that seem to go on forever; fluorescent paintings and sculptures. She often described her artwork as a means of survival. For the viewer, it was a reflection of one's place in the vast universe. "Our earth is only one polka dot among a million stars in the cosmos," she wrote.

Kusama grew up in Matsumoto, at the foot of mountains in Central Japan. Her family owned a seed nursery. During World War II, she and other children worked long hours in a parachute factory.

Throughout her life she suffered from hallucinations. She wrote in her autobiography that, as a little girl, she would draw the visions in sketchbooks to "help ease the shock and fear" of the episodes. But her mother objected to her art-making and would take away her art supplies.

After discovering a book of paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe in a secondhand bookstore, Kusama wrote to the famous artist, asking for advice. O'Keeffe wrote back, telling her it was tough to make a living as an artist in the U.S. but encouraged Kusama to make the trip and to show her art to anyone who might be interested. 

In the late 1950s, Kusama moved to New York and thrived within the city's avant-garde scene. During the Vietnam War, she staged public "happenings" where she would paint polka dots on the naked bodies of fellow protestors. They handed out copies of an open letter Kusama wrote to President Richard Nixon proposing they have sex if he end the war. "As we soar through the heavens, we'll paint each other with polka dots, lose our egos in timeless eternity, and finally discover the naked truth: You can't eradicate violence by using more violence," she wrote.

But gaining respect as a female artist wasn't easy. Curator Mika Yoshitake told NPR, "It was tough to get the attention in a very male-dominated art world at the time. She also was exoticised — and she didn't hide it, either. She was wearing kimonos and presented this kind of exotic, oriental figure."

In 2023, responding to criticism, Kusama apologized for her depictions of Black people in her autobiography Infinity Net.Despite her successes, Kusama was barely making ends meet, and she continued to hallucinate and have panic attacks. In the early 1970s, she moved back to Japan and checked herself into a psychiatric institution where she lived for the rest of her life.

With major exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe, Yayoi Kusama's popularity soared. The Smithsonian's Hirshhorn and the Tate in London are among the many museums that have shown her work. In 2017, the Yayoi Kusama Museum opened in Tokyo.

 Kusama continued to make art well into the 2000s in a studio across the street from the mental hospital. Her designs are on cellphone cases, Lancôme lipsticks and Louis Vuitton products. Throughout her life, Kusama was adamant that, for her, creating art was a necessity.

   

Japan Airlines allows flight attendants to wear sneakers, prioritizing comfort while maintaining a professional uniform.

Japan Airlines introduced sneakers as an official footwear option for cabin crew and airport staff on November 13, 2025. Employees can now choose solid black sneakers alongside traditional leather shoes, heels, and pumps. JAL said the change aims to reduce physical strain from long hours standing and walking while creating a safer and more comfortable working environment.

#JapanAirlines #FlightAttendants #photography

  

  

 

A 4+ minute video, Homeless, here.

 

Just because ...

black francolin (Francolinus francolinus)

Saturday's Smiles ...

Hoping you see all the good things in your day.