One of the 170 Species Called Jatropha Plants is on Okinawa (Photos)

This Flower Could Make the Doozies Page

 

 

It's always a pleasure to give readers some interesting facts about plants and flowers.

So, I go to great lengths researching any new ones I capture with the camera.

Here are a few photos of Jatropha hastata found in the 21 Century Forest Park.

That's in Nago City, Okinawa, Japan, and the plants were photographed on Mar 11, 2013.

 Shooting these bright red, star-shaped flowers on a cloudy day was a blast.

It's always a good idea, when you spot a new flower, to shoot plenty of photos for identification.

  Sometimes, the bark of the tree or, the shape of the leaves is more important than the flower.

Getting a positive ID can be a real time-consumer and drive the average guy absolutely nuts!

 This time, once I got my hands on the right book, it was a breeze.

Sub-tropical Flowers in Okinawa ISBN4-9901917-3-0 gave me the answer: Jatropha hastata.

Then, the University of Florida Okeechobee County Extension Service gave me this link.

Do not eat the seeds, they are very toxic!

 Other than that, the plants are great for adding color to your landscape and attract butterflies.

If that Wasn't Enough Information

Along came another interesting article from the University of Florida.

This time from IFAS Research the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station.

The oil that comes from the Jatropha seeds can run a diesel engine.

No wonder ya ain't supposed to eat them!

So, the research had to go on a bit further, to find out more about this mysterious plant.

A person could invest in Jatropha cultivation or make biodiesel and even, jet fuels. 

Here's an official Jatropha Tree Site

 

 

Silly Sunday Photo: Change Your Kitchen Sharply

Nobody Likes Dull Kitchens

 

When I saw this, I just couldn't resist.  I had to have one.

The wife didn't want it in her kitchen so, I took it to the office. Maybe, I should make a kitchen there.

It changes a kitchen sharply.

A CUTTING BOARD !

What's really cool about this one, is the monotone design.

For example, if you had a rainbow-colored cutting board, you'd probably lose stuff.

Colored vegetables could be hard to spot when you start chopping them.

And, on those crazy white cutting boards you lose sight of all the white veges.

Why didn't someone think of making black cutting boards, a long time ago ?

More Sunday Silly Stuff in The Doozies

This Sunday's Silly Sign Could Inspire A Redneck (Photos)

It's been a month of Sundays, I walked by this Silly Sign with my dogs and couldn't decide whether or not to go through all the trouble of taking photos and translating for you.

But, I gotterdun this morning and I'm sure glad that I did because,

IT INSPIRED ME !

What you see in the photo is where some responsible citizen got a can of spray paint and made a sign that says "Gomi Kirei".  Rough translation: "Nice and neat garbage".

This sign is on the east end of a housing project.

Now, turn around in the street and just have a peek at the west end of the same place.

Nobody took the time to make a sign for folks throwing away garbage, there.

So, I figure, that's how things got that way.

WAIT !   There's MORE.  

THIS GAVE SOME INSPIRATION TO THE REDNECK PART OF ME !

SO, I RUN ON HOME WITH THE DOGS.

Most times, I keep a pile of trash in the front yard, just in case those cameramen from

Redneck Yard of the Month come around. But, they never show up.

So, I moved some of the junk out back and straightened things up a bit.

And, I made me a sign, by golly.

THIS SUNDAY'S SILLY SIGN COULD MAKE ME A MILLIONAIRE !

SEE ALL THE SILLY SIGNS IN THE DOOZIES

VISIT MY HOMEPAGE FOR THE PHOTO OF THE DAY

Sunday's Silly Sign (Photo) Aug 28, 2011: Our Project

It certainly feels better sitting through traffic jams under the midday sun in Okinawa, Japan when the construction crews put up silly signs like this: "Thank you for your cooperation and understanding to our project".  By golly, it makes me feel like passing out candy canes to each and every one of them !

For more Sunday's Silly Signs VISIT THE DOOZIES


CHECK MY WEBSITE FOR THE PHOTO OF THE DAY

Japan's Wedding Envelope: An Insider's Tips

In Japan, there are many occassions where a gift of cash is given.  A Japanese wedding is one of them.

Here is a shot of one I scanned this morning while my cameras were sleeping.  I'll probably be doing a series on the money envelopes of Japan, or maybe, an article at POCKET CULTURES
and promise to use the camera instead of scanning, next time around.

The Google Stats Guys keep showing me lots of people are looking at my Japan Insider's Tips so, I decided I'd better hurry up and start putting more stuff in there.  I bought a pile of almost every Japanese envelope you could imagine, just for that purpose and they've been gathering dust waiting for me to shoot them. The Japanese Wedding, first because there's a couple of real doozies I can tell you about these things. 

Like, scanners don't do well copying them.  But, there's more.

The very first wedding I attended in Japan was up in Kyushu.  The bride's father paid my way to spend a week up there so I could help my not-so-much-Japanese-speaking friend translate while he was meeting family and getting hitched.  He was from Ohio, I think, because that's all the Japanese he kept saying.

Being treated like royalty for a whole week, I figured the least I could do was act like I knew what I was doing for the wedding.  Hah!  I was clueless.

I got the bride's sister to take me shopping for a wedding card.  That's when I learned it was an envelope, not a card.  And you're supposed to put money in the envelope.

So, I put the equivalent of 300 US Dollars, as a wedding gift, for my two friends, in the envelope.

There was a table with a guest log at the entrance of the wedding hall.  That was where I scrawled my name in the book and deposited what I thought was my wedding gift.

As it turns out, that wedding gift doesn't go to the bride and groom.  All the money given in the wedding envelopes goes to Papa.  It helps pay the costs of the wedding.

So, when the newlyweds returned to Okinawa, I took them shopping for their wedding gift.

ANOTHER DOOZY:

Glad this didn't happen to me but, I witnessed this one.  Some of the fancy money envelopes you can buy in Japan aren't for weddings.  They could be for "Get Well Soon" wishes or even funerals. 

Another friend of mine married here, in Okinawa and some gal brought a funeral envelope to the wedding.  Damn.  I'd rather watch cats scratching each other's eyes out !

MY INSIDER'S TIP FOR JAPANESE WEDDING ENVELOPES:

Or, any other gift giving envelope in Japan, if you don't have a reliable translator to go along with you, GOOGLE IT .

There are plenty of sites explaining the different envelopes, Flickr photos, even photographers who make their living shooting, framing and selling Japanese Envelopes.

Here's one link, I thought was kinda nice, if you want more on fancy envelopes MAMALISA.COM  She seems to have her act together so, I give her a ThumbsUp !


RELATED POST JAPAN'S FUNERAL ENVELOPE