jacki long: acrylics

"Claudine": acrylic on canvas.

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Click here for George Benson, Breezin'

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Update:

Super-hero communications over the weekend is mainly by text.

2GN2S

Family-Owned Osaka Bookseller Designs Playful Book Covers

If you’ve ever purchased a book in Japan you’re undoubtedly familiar with the phrase kaba otsuke shimashouka? “Would you like a cover?”

The book cover is a free service that booksellers in Japan offer, giving your newly purchased book a thin, dust cover that protects the binding and pages. With a little bit of creativity, one bookseller in Osaka has turned the book cover into a method of attracting new customers into their bookstore.

According to a recent article, The 50-year old family-owned Seiwado Book Store had been struggling to attract new, in-store customers when the 34 grandson of the owner hit on an idea.

Utilizing his art-school design experience and his day-job working at a printing shop, he began making playful, whimsical book covers and accompanying bookmarks that would transform newly purchased books into edible delights like baguettes in a paper bag, or a bubbly cream soda.

Sure enough, the brilliant designs were a hit, both on the company’s Instagram account but also in real life, creating a surge in new customers.

“We have more female customers, and we draw in customers from across the country, from Hokkaido to Okinawa Prefecture,” he said.

Seiwado Book Store is located near Imafuku-Tsurumi Station in Osaka. Here is their exact location.

• A stunning 1+minute video, geese, here.

• A fascinating 3+ minute video, Picathartes, here.

• A 6-minute video, a rescue, here.

Straw-necked Ibis

Smiles for Monday ...

Thanks for visiting today.

"Reiko": acrylic on canvas, and digital filters.

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Click here for Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, Heart to Heart.

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2GN2S: AIKI DOJO MESSAGE:

Aiki Dojo Message - Warriors Enjoy Being Sore

昔の剣今の菜刀

Mukashi no tsurugi, ima no nagatana

Once a sword, now a dull knife

Warriors aren’t complacent. Short-term soreness is a sign of growth as the muscle micro-tears and is reborn stronger and healthier. Warriors love to be sore, but this soreness isn’t masochism. This soreness is the soreness that comes after a good training session. Normal people don’t like pain, but martial artists aren’t normal people. Martial artists are people of character and they believe in the power of doing. Soreness is a sign that we cared enough about ourselves and our craft to put in the work. The only people who don’t get sore are those that don’t really apply themselves. When a person gets out of shape, they lose their effectiveness and when that happens, the Japanese say, “Once a sword, now a vegetable knife.” Regardless of who we are, with age, our mind, body and skill are in a steady state of decline. I once read a study that a professional athlete begins to lose conditioning after 10 days of inactivity. The average age of a professional athlete is 33. I wonder how quickly a person who is 50 or 60 begins to lose conditioning or how easy it is to become a vegetable knife. In class, we are supposed to push ourselves to our physical limits so that we can grow. If we are not pushing ourselves, we are not growing. We push ourselves so that we can be effective when the time comes and that comes with a bit of soreness. Furuya Sensei used to refer to this mentality as, “Cry in the dojo, laugh on the battlefield.” Soreness is what a martial artist uses to temper the sword of their character. A regular person can procrastinate, but a warrior doesn’t have the luxury of tomorrow. The only true path is paved with effort and the reward for that work is soreness. Soreness brings us back to the now and reminds us that we are still alive or that we are still a sharp sword. Warriors enjoy being sore because they won’t accept complacency.

Today’s goal: Realize that soreness is a privilege only afforded to the living. Enjoy it, it’s a sign that you are still alive.

Fellow black belt, Jim Eyre, sent me this article and for me, it was terrific and inspiring and what I needed to get perspective. I loved it! I am feeling like a dull vegetable knife. Not rusty but definitely dull.

Since both shoulders are so severely and equally damaged and I have to wait till mid-January for all cortisone to be out of my body, in order to qualify for COMPLETE SHOULDER REPLACEMENT. First the right and as soon as I am recovered enough, the left. I turn 79 next month, so my goal is to be back in the dojo when I am 80. I started late, at 30, so fifty years later, I plan to start again. Hopefully Covid will be a bad memory by then. It's funny when I watch sports, or currently Sumo, my shoulders twitch when I see the impact and I am brought back to my reality of being a dull vegetable knife. But I have hope, and some patience.

• A energized 3-minute video, no complacency, here.

• An adorable 3-minute video, dog & puppy, here.

• An amazing 1-1/2minute video, baby elephant, here.

Just because ...