I have a cold. So yesterday morning on the beach, while everyone else was doing yoga and t’ai chi, I sat in the sand and made doodles.
I had the hardest time picking the orientation to show this in.
After that, Kyle and I continued a lengthy argument concerning my lack of blog posts in the queue, which is the reason I scanned this in to post it.
A Pirahã man participates in a new experiment that, researchers say, indicates that his language contains no number words, even for the number one.
Talk about living in the moment! The Piraha people, a tribe in the Amazon, give insight into how innate a ‘taoist’ approach to life may actually be, and that the human mind has just gotten a little sidetracked of late. Of late meaning the last 10,000 years or so. For an overview, read: Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle.
Saturday, July 19th, 2008. Cordova, Alaska. My second year at the Cordova 4-H Music Camp was over, and it was bittersweet. On one hand, it was the end of a tough week of teaching, with three challenging, unpredictable banjo classes a day. Still, I really connected with some of the kids I met at the camp. We had a lot of fun together. I was missing them already.
(That picture was from a hike we took on Day 4 of the camp.)
So it was a pleasant surprise when… Continue reading ‘(This was even cuter in person)’
Here’s what happened last time, in case you missed it – I heard that Masahiro Nitta was coming here from Japan. I heard this *just* after I took the skins off my shamisen (so I could lacquer the wood). Talk about timing. Never the less, I was optomistic. Lacquering went so flawlessly. I stretched the backside first. That went on very easy. So, after letting the back side dry for a day, I stretched the other side much tighter. The next day, the glue didn’t hold the skin down! Augh! No worries I thought, I had two chances/days left to get the skin on before the troupe arrived. Well, I put it on another time, same tension. While I was waiting for the skin to dry, rather than being hopeful, I was already expecting that the skin would pop off again. The next day, I was doing construction work next door, still thinking about the skin, and what I was going to do to stretch it before tomorrow. Mama then called out, saying that Kevin called saying that today will be their only day they can come before their tour. Right then, my spirit and aspirations sank down into my intestines… Now for the exciting conclusion!… Continue reading ‘Shamisen Extravanganza! Part 2’
I heard that Masahiro Nitta was coming here from Japan. Note, this came to my attention roughly a week before the day he’d come. Mind you, I heard this *just* after I took the skins off my shamisen (so I could lacquer the wood). Talk about timing. Never the less, I was optomistic. I figured, lacquering would only take about 3 days, skinning would take two. Lacquering went so flawlessly (well, I had to redo it once, but that’s beside the point) that I had an extra day to skin. I stretched the… Continue reading ‘Shamisen Extravaganza! Part 1’
Kiwi on trellis over compost bin
Kiwi is king of all the fruits. Over the years I’ve compared all the fruits with each other and the kiwi always comes out supreme. Even so, fruit has no where near the overall nutritional value of veggies. Mostly, I see fruit as a healthy candy. Although, it’s true that each variety usually wins high honors in a few nutrient categories. The amazing thing about kiwi is how it even surpasses many a veggie on this score(1).