Day 5092: I remember! & Leopard & Cow.

"Mia": ballpoint drawing, junk collage on gesso banana skin paper.

 

  

Want music?

    Click: Tracy Chapman, Give Me One Good Reason

2GN2S

It was a Sunday and I remember it clearly.

It was my 8th birthday and 

I was home from boarding school for the weekend.

Sometimes I brought my roommate Dede, but not this time.

My dress was navy with tiny white raised dots ...

I forget what that material was called, but 

I could feel the texture when my arm rubbed against it.
Update: Norma reminded me the material was called 
"dotted swiss", I don't know if it exists anymore?

So today, a many decades later ...

I still remember.

   

A remarkable wildlife story from Gujarat, India, captured widespread attention after a homeowner noticed dogs barking almost every night. Curious about the repeated disturbance, the owner installed security cameras to discover what was happening.

The footage revealed an unexpected visitor—a wild leopard that quietly approached a cow each night and remained peacefully beside it before returning to the nearby forest.

According to local accounts, the leopard had lost its mother as a very young cub and was reportedly cared for by the same cow, which is said to have nursed it until it was old enough to survive in the wild. Although this part of the story has never been scientifically verified, many people believe it explains the leopard's repeated nighttime visits.

Wildlife experts note that the leopard showed no signs of aggression toward the cow, making the relationship highly unusual. While the exact reason for the visits remains unknown, the observations continue to fascinate researchers and animal lovers alike, highlighting one of nature's most intriguing and mysterious interactions.

  

  

A 5 minute video, Inchworm, snail , here. 

 

Just because ...

Black Paradise Flycatcher

Monday's Smiles ... 

 

Hoping you feel all the good things in your day.

  

 

 

Day 5091: Felicia Chiao's Illustrations & Lacrimal puncta.

"The Blues": junk paper collage, ink, digital.

 

  

Want music?

    Click: John Barry, Out of Africa.

2GN2S

Felicia Chiao's Characters in Surreal Scenarios 

Artist Felicia Chiao is known for her warm illustrations that capture emotion and the variances of mental health through surreal, flower-filled scenes. Working in pencil, ink, and watercolor, the artist renders compositions that feel both timeless and indicative of our current age, in which the anxieties and tribulations of life today emerge through curious characters.

“When I was really little, I wanted to be one of those stackable chairs you’d see in like a school auditorium,” Felicia Chiao says. “I thought they looked cozy.” This childhood memory is the basis for a playful drawing in which Chiao’s signature characters mound atop one another. Layering reigns in this imagined world as calendars and clocks emerge from the wall in dense piles, while stacks of books and dishes rest on the floor.

Alongside her largely domestic scenes, Chiao has also been adding to her growing collection of Lunar New Year drawings, which feature the animal of the year set against a gilded and crimson backdrop.

Play and constraint also figure prominently into the artist’s approach. “I did a very cool collaboration with Heath Ceramics last year, and while it was a completely different medium than what I am used to, I think it has influenced my drawing process,” she says. “I’ve been experimenting with more mixed media (watercolor, color pencil, markers, sometimes a little gouache or gel pen).” The mats for frames are similar, as she enjoys the challenge of customizing the otherwise stark white material to complement her works.

This October, Chiao will open a solo show with Harman Projects and has several exhibitions slated for the coming years. She offers a variety of prints through her shop, and you can keep up with her latest works and collaborations on Instagram

   

Most people never notice the tiny openings located near the inner corners of their eyelids, but these small structures perform an important job every day.

Known as lacrimal puncta, these tiny holes are part of the body's tear drainage system. Each eye typically has two puncta, one on the upper eyelid and one on the lower. Every time you blink, excess tears are guided toward these openings instead of remaining on the surface of the eye.

The tears then travel through tiny channels called canaliculi, which carry the fluid into the lacrimal sac, a small reservoir located beside the nose. From there, the tears move down the nasolacrimal duct and eventually drain into the nasal cavity.

This hidden connection explains a familiar experience: when people cry, their noses often start running. The tears produced by the eyes do not simply fall down the cheeks. Many of them are routed through this drainage system directly into the nose.

The process works continuously throughout the day, helping keep the eyes comfortable, clean, and properly lubricated.

It's a remarkable example of how the human body contains small but highly efficient systems that most people rarely notice, despite using them every time they blink.

 

  

 

A 5 minute video, Life, here.

 

 

Just because ...

Grey-cowled wood rail

Sunday's Smiles ... 

 

Hoping you feel all the good things in your day.

  

 

 

Day 5090: European Bank Notes & Shorebird flies 8K+ miles.

"Shadows": junk paper collage, digital.

  

Want music?

    Click: Pharrell Williams, Happy.

2GN2S

Europeans Vote on the Banknote Design

What best represents European life? The eternal dichotomy of nature vs. culture structures the Central Bank’s quest for a new banknote design, and now, the public can vote and offer feedback on ten proposals. 

A panel of jurors selected the designs, which follow one of two themes: European places and ideas or birds and rivers, the latter of which is meant to symbolize freedom and unity. While the basic elements are the same—all collections devoted to culture feature the same six figures, including Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, composer Ludwig van Beethoven, scientist Marie Curie, opera singer Maria Callas, and authors Bertha von Suttner and Miguel de Cervantes, for example—individual approaches appear in the layout, aesthetic, and composition.

Voting is open through mid-September, when jurors will select one design that will go through an additional vetting process before the organization adopts it entirely. View all ten on the bank’s website

   

For eleven straight days, this bird never touched the ground. It did not stop to eat. It did not stop to drink. It never paused to rest in the way we normally think of sleep. It simply kept flying across an entire ocean, wingbeat after wingbeat, until it reached the other side.

The bird is a*bar-tailed godwit, and an individual known as B6 set the record for the longest non-stop flight ever documented by any animal, traveling from Alaska to Tasmania in a single uninterrupted journey. To appreciate the scale of that achievement, imagine completing marathon after marathon for eleven days without a break. Now imagine doing it while continuously flapping your wings.

Its preparation begins long before takeoff. In the weeks leading up to migration, the godwit eats almost constantly, building enormous fat reserves until it nearly doubles its body weight. Then its body undergoes one of the most extraordinary transformations in the animal kingdom. Because it will not need to digest food during the journey, parts of its digestive system, along with organs such as the liver and kidneys, temporarily shrink. The bird trades unnecessary weight for additional fuel, turning itself into an exceptionally efficient long-distance aircraft.

The journey itself is equally remarkable. With no visible landmarks across thousands of kilometers of open ocean, the godwit still arrives with astonishing accuracy. Scientists believe it combines information from the Sun, stars, Earth's magnetic field, weather patterns, and internal biological cues that are still not completely understood. It also waits for favorable winds before departure, using them to help carry it across the Pacific.

Researchers also believe birds like the bar-tailed godwit may be capable of sleeping while flying by allowing one half of the brain to rest while the other remains awake. This adaptation would let the bird remain airborne and responsive throughout one of the longest migrations on Earth.

There is almost no margin for error. Much of the route offers nowhere to land. A poorly timed departure, unexpected headwinds, or exhausted fuel reserves could mean the journey ends over open water. Every migration is an extraordinary test of endurance undertaken by a bird weighing little more than a soft drink can.

Humans rely on aircraft, engines, and navigation systems to cross oceans. The bar-tailed godwit accomplishes the same feat with nothing more than feathers, stored fat, and instincts refined over millions of years. Knowing that, it becomes much harder to look at an ordinary shorebird and see it as ordinary at all.

 

  

 

A -1 minute video, Monkey likes trick , here.

 

 

Just because ...

Rhinoceros Hornbill 

Saturday's Smiles ... 

 

1959 Bowden Spacelander.

Hoping you feel all the good things in your day.