The Answer Is Blowin in the Wind -- My Friends

It's Sort of Bamboozling

 

The news about the 2016 US Presidential Elections confuses people, sometimes.

Because, I was born in the USA, people ask me who the next president will be.

That's a tough one to answer and, I try to simplify things.  I don't really know.

Maybe, I fell asleep back in high school or, wherever they teach political stuff.

Pretty much a two party system, the choices are narrowed down to, two people.

There's a Republican party and a Democratic party.

Most folks consider the Republicans, as leaning towards the right but, they don't always.

Democrats are often called, left leaning people. Some, lean farther to the left than, others.

Well, I don't lean to the left or right.  Occasionally, you'll catch me leaning forward.

And, after the pack, comes off my back, I might sit down and, lean back.

Every now and then, just like with dogs, a left and a right, might mingle.

They would be, sorta like mongrels. Not all of them are bad dogs. Some, better than pedigrees.

They don't get a chance to be president, unless somebody gives them billions of dollars.

Poor bastards. I never vote so, it don't matter, anyway.

Suppose You Were Going to Buy a Bamboo Plant

Looking at those animations, which one do like best ?

One is leaning to the left and, the other leans to the right. Fine and dandy. Pick your favorite.

Before, plunking your money down, to take the tree home, ask yourself a few questions.

Does it have healthy roots and soil, that won't contaminate my garden ?

Has it ever gone through a storm and will it survive if, one comes along ?

What are the plant's origins and, who am I financing, when I buy it ?

Bamboo stems are hollow.  Are any foreign bugs or worms, hiding inside ?

Then say, "Hey Mr. Nurseryman, can you guarantee this will be a satisfactory transaction?"

Bless his soul, Bob Dylan, explained things, better than, I can in this song:

LINKS RELATED THE ELECTION 

Education Dot Com

US Voters Deprived of a Serious Election

Okinawan Folktale: Nuggets of Gold

An Honest Man and Crooked One

 

 

Two men were walking the same road on a business trip.

The first one spotted gold shining under some brush along the way and kept walking.

He hoped that the rightful owner would find it.

The man walking behind him was clever and, wanted to take the gold for himself.

He stopped near the gold and bent over, pretending his stomach was in pain.

The first man stopped and offered to carry the sick man to his home nearby.

The crooked one thanked him but, said he could manage by himself.

When his friend was out of sight, he went to get the gold.

But, the gold was gone and, only a puddle of water remained under the bushes.

Thirsty, as he was, he sipped some of the water and, became violently sick.

With severe stomach cramps, he walked the short distance to his friend's house.

He lay down on a futon, taking advantage of his friend's hospitality.

Suddenly, the cramps became so severe, he pooped all over the futon.

His stomach felt better and, he ran home, leaving the mess in his friend's house.

When the honest man got to the house, there were golden nuggets on the futon.

He was surprised and, went to visit his crooked friend.

He told him, it was unnecessary to pay him for the use of his futon.

The crook figured, the honest one was, just trying to trick him into admitting he pooped.

So, he cleverly, changed the subject and, talked about the weather and business.

There was no more discussion about gold and, he was thankful, poop never came up.

The man with the nuggets got a watch dog to guard the gold.

The crooked man came to visit and the dog barked, chasing him away.

He picked up a rock and threw it, killing the guard dog.

Where the honest man buried the dog, bamboo began to grow and, it grew rapidly.

The tall bamboo, hit the god's goldmine in the sky.

Gold began pouring down the bamboo into the honest man's yard.

The crooked man begged for a sprig of this bamboo, to plant at his home.

The honest man gave him some of his bamboo and, he took it and, planted the cutting.

Within a week, the crooked man's bamboo was reaching into the heavens, too.

But, instead of hitting god's treasury, the bamboo poked a hole in god's toilet !

REFERENCE:

Okinawa Folk Stories ISBN978-4-99009-146-0



MORE FOLKLORE

1st Week of June -- Friday Photos

A Weekend Could Be Spent Doing This

 

 

A relatively mild rainy season, slowed the flower blossoms down a bit this year.

A visit to the northern hills today turned out to be a good idea.

The mountains are popping with bright colors.

Hydrangea flowers are in full bloom at Yohena's Ajsai Garden.

There must have been a few busloads of these little tots on a field trip.

They added some color saturation to the scenes in case you didn't already have enough.

Plus, I found out what about 100 of them want for Christmas.

A visit to Nago and, Captain Kangaroo's was made at lunchtime.

This is a simple burger and cheese with a side of fries.

Not wanting to get an overdose of vegetables, I just had some ketchup.

Potatoes and tomatoes, right ? 

They have other types of burgers on the menu, in case you were wondering.

Someday, I may have to try this humongous thing.

Maybe, I'll pass on the ketchup.

Touring a rock garden, seemed like a good idea after that big lunch.

Buddha looks a bit weathered but, keeps on smiling.

This is a place we always stop by for photos when in the area.

A stand of bamboo, right next to the Buddha statue begs for photos, as well.

Something tells me, camera clubs will be heading for the hills this weekend.

There's a good possibility, they may run into me, somewhere in their photographic travels.

Now, I'm wondering.  How early does Captain Kangaroo open ? 

Maybe, I'll  be the first customer !

Scroll down the page at:

Hydrangea Garden Yohena Website

To Read in Japanese, English, Chinese or, Korean.

Learning More About Nagashi Somen

A Lot of Work Behind the Scene

 

The cold meal isn't exactly like making a 3 minute cup of noodles.

Somebody has to boil them in a big pot of water.

Once they are strained, cold, running water gets them sliding down the bamboo tube.

Hungry customers, are waiting, to grab the noodles with their chopsticks.

They lined up on both sides of this stand-up-sort of outdoor buffet.

Sitting or squatting on the lower end, is acceptable but, not many noodles, make it that far.

If the strainer basket below, fills up, somebody takes it back to the top of the hill.

And, they slide the noodles back down the pipe again.

More Than You'll Ever Need to Know 

 

 

A gal from Los Angeles calls this, The Table Sport of Japanese Nagashi Somen.


Also see The Complete Guide to The Flowing Somen and, learn how to make your own.


If you can find over 800 bamboo poles this size maybe, you could win.

Ide Town, in Japan holds the Guinness World Record for the Longest Nagashi Somen.

They built the thing over 3,000 meters (10,000 ft) long !

Having a Blast at the Local Mud Festival

2014 Tanbo Festival in Kin Town

 

 

For those who don't already know, a tanbo is a flooded field.

Somebody donates their land for this event during Golden Week.

 Kids love playing games in the mud.

They get to do stuff like slide and splash.

Big people are allowed to have fun in the mud, too.

Sometimes, parents and children participate in relays where they do some crazy stuff in the mud.

There was good, clean fun, away from the flooded fields, too.

Try catching noodles with chopsticks while they are sliding down a bamboo pipe.

This is what's called, Nagashi (flowing) Somen (similar to ramen) but, it's not hot.

Not many noodles make it to the end of the line.

That kid in the red shirt was happy, just catching a few !

Running around, trying to capture all the events at this festival gave me an appetite.

So, while the camera was downloading, I went down the street and grabbed a hamburger.

Trying to Capture the Four Chinese Gentlemen in Okinawa

Here's a Goal for the New Year

 

 

In my never ending search, to learn everything on the internet, I discovered this.

Centuries ago, the Chinese came up with something called the Four Noble Plants.

Nowadays, in the art world, they are called the Four Gentlemen.

Plum Blossoms

Orchids

Bamboo

Chrysanthemums

Well, I got three out of the four, in my photo collection, already.

The first photo is one of some plum blossoms taken a little late in the season.

So, I need to get back out and find some fresh ones and shoot a bit more artistically.

Orchids, they will have plenty of them in Motobu, next week.

February is the month of Okinawa's International Orchid Show.

Bamboo, I can find plenty of places on this island to shoot images of, any day of the week.

Chrysanthemums, are driving me crazy.

Do you know, they have about 150,000 different kinds of Mums ?

After about six hours of looking at them online, I gave up.

There must have been 75,000 images of them, I saw today and I still don't know if I ever shot one.

Maybe, I'm just not a flower type kind of guy.

But, I learned a lot about those flowers while searching. 

The circular symbol, on the tiled roof, behind those cherry blossoms, is a chrysanthemum.

The symbol of a chrysanthemum is popular in Japan.

 I may have to visit a flower shop, because I wouldn't know a mum, in the wild if I tripped over one.

Before 2014 comes to an end, I plan on shooting those Four Gentlemen the right way.

If anybody has a field of mums, growing by their house, give me a holler.

And, if it's a nice sunny day, we'll getterdun.

Friday Travel Photos from Motobu, Okinawa

Trees Must Have Been Today's Theme

 

 

 

Bamboo is what you'll get to see for today. And, maybe one bird photo.

 

While the Map It Okinawa Dude went uphill at some sacred site, I went in here.

Bamboo is an interesting subject so, I experimented with a few different compositions.



Crunching around on dry leaves, I woke up a few hundred mosquitoes.

Hundreds more images of various trees, will wait in my pending files.

This Kingfisher, down by the river, was the only bird photo I took today.

Trees, are great but, birds in the wild, you just can't beat.

If you ever get a chance to visit Motobu Peninsula, don't do what I did today.

Dagnabbit.  I left the bug repellant and 500mm lens at home !

RETRACTION STATEMENT:

 

The photos above were erroneously reported as taken on Motobu Peninsula.

Actually,  they came from the northern area of Okinawa off HWY58.

More About This Error



Bamboo Can Drive You to Drinking !

Almost Scientific Evidence Gathered Today Proves It

 

 

Catching-up on processing photos, taken in February 2013, I made this discovery.

There are over 300 types of this plant.

A person could do their college dissertation with access to all the information I found.

To keep it simple, I'll just provide one link.

Check the Bamboo Garden.

If anybody's looking for me, I went drinking !



Huh? Bamboozled Got Nuthin' to Do with Bamboo?

Learn Something New Everyday

 

There's this awful hangover going around in the office today.

St. Patrick may have something to do with it.  That's what I'm guessing.

There wasn't anybody else in town last night wearing a green tux t-shirt.

So, after two beers or so, I quit counting and maybe, had a few more.  Then, went home.

It turns out today was one of those days where nothing gets done.

So, I figure, just post a photo of some bamboo and throw something interesting about it on the blog.

After all the years I've spent, in my lifetime, running around half-bamboozled, guess what ?

According to the word doctors over at Dictionary Reference (Dot) Com...

NOBODY KNOWS WHERE THE WORD CAME FROM !

Bamboo ain't got nuthin' to do with being bamboozled ?

Maybe beer does.  Hmm...

Travel Photo Thursday: Buddha and Bamboo

This photo of a smiling Buddha in the bamboo was taken February 21, 2013.

Location: Motobu Peninsula of Okinawa, Japan

Pentax KD10 with Pentax 18-250 at 18mm

f/11  1/10sec   ISO 100

New Year 2011 Bamboo, Girls and Fortunes in Okinawa (Photo)

After waiting in a long line at the Buddhist Temple in Kin Village Okinawa, Japan to get their fortunes for 2011 on a slip of paper these girls tied the paper to the bamboo growing on the Temple grounds. That's what lots of people do. They tie the things on anything they can reach.

Not me, though. After I stand in line for an hour and pay my nickle for a fortune, if it's a good one, I take it home with me and hang it on the fridge with a magnet so I can read it every once in awhile. It's not really a nickle; it's five yen. I guess that's a bit more than five cents these days.

Now if the thing says I'm going to have bad luck in the coming year, I'll stick it in a tree. Then, get back in line at the Temple and keep spending nickles until my luck improves. It beats gambling and you don't suppose a Buddhist Temple would be trying to scam folks, right?

When those girls hang their fortune in the bamboo, I'm not so sure they know what they're doing. Either that, or they really know what they're doing. Like, maybe their boyfriends have lots of nickles. Or, maybe, they just don't have a fridge to hang the things on. What do you think?

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