FWD : Planting Rice

(I found this simply amazing.) This looks like ordinary Japanese people, planting ordinary rice in an ordinary rice paddy. But as you scroll down, a picture emerges as the rice grows. Farmers creating the huge displays use no ink or dye. Instead, different color rice plants have been precisely and strategically arranged and grown in the paddy fields. As summer progresses and the plants shoot up, the detailed artwork begins to emerge. A Sengoku warrior on horseback has been created from hundreds of thousands of rice plants. The colors are created by using different varieties. This photo was taken in Inakadate, Japan. Napoleon on horseback can be seen from the skies. This was created by precision planting and months of planning by villagers and farmers located in Inkadate, Japan. Fictional warrior Naoe Kanetsugu and his wife, Osen, whose lives are featured on the television series Tenchijin, appear in fields in the town of Yonezawa in the Yamagata prefecture of Japan. This year, various artwork has popped up in other rice-farming areas of Japan, including designs of deer dancers. Smaller works of crop art can be seen in other rice-farming areas of Japan such as this image of Doraemon and deer dancers The farmers create the murals by planting little purple and yellow-leafed Kodaimai rice along with their local green-leafed Tsugaru, a Roman variety, to create the colored patterns in the time between planting and harvesting in September. The murals in Inakadate cover 15,000 square meters of paddy fields. From ground level, the designs are invisible, and viewers have to climb the mock castle tower of the village office to get a glimpse of the work. Closer to the image, the careful placement of the thousands of rice plants in the paddy fields can be seen. Rice-paddy art was started there in 1993 as a local revitalization project, an idea that grew from meetings of the village committees. The different varieties of rice plants grow alongside each other to create the masterpieces. In the first nine years, the village office workers and local farmers grew a simple design of Mount Iwaki every year. But their ideas grew more complicated and attracted more attention. In 2005, agreements between landowners allowed the creation of enormous rice paddy art. A year later, organizers used computers to precisely plot planting of the four differently colored rice varieties that bring the images to life.

Old Habits Die Hard

The priest at mass today told an interesting story as part of his homily.

Essentially, he relayed the story of an old priest who walked through the forest with some young seminarians.

The old priest asked one of them to pull out a young oak sapling. Easily the seminarian was able to pull the sapling with one hand. Then the old priest pointed to another oak sapling and asked him to pull that one out. The second one was a little bigger than the first. The seminarian was able to extract the tree but he needed two hands to do so. The old priest then asked the seminarian to pull out a third tree, one which was much bigger than the first two. The seminarian could not pull it out on his own however with the help of some of his fellow seminarians, he was able to extract the oak. Finally, the old priest pointed to a huge oak tree. He asked the seminarian to extract the tree. This time, even with the help of his fellow seminarians, he was unable to make the tree budge.

The old priest then said that it was the same with bad habits. It is easier to get rid of bad habits if we nip them in the bud. Once bad habits have been with us for a long time and have taken root, it is harder to change.

Penguin Movement

For his Music assessment, RD had to compose a short melody that represents an animal (choices were monkey, mouse, hippopotamus or penguin). He had to consider note values, pitch and tone colour/instrument. It had to be at least 4 bars long and it was to be notated correctly.

RD chose a penguin.

When he'd finished entering his composition in NoteWorthy, he passed on the headphones to me and let me listen to it. It was cute.

Right after he played it, he said, "Wait, wait."

He proceeded to highlight the notes in the middle and changed them from eighth notes to quarter notes. Then he let me listen to the revised composition.

"Which is better? This one or the first one?" he asked.

Arrggghhh, I thought. This reminds me of the part in my visits to the ophthalmologist that I dislike, the part where I have to choose where the letters are clearer -- green one or red one, this one ... flip... or this one... flip. I don't mind it when the difference is clear but sometimes I honestly can't tell. The image is clearer but the letters are smaller. Arrggghhh!!!

Thankfully, it was easy to decide between the two penguin compositions. The quarter note version had more character. "I like the second one better, RD."

Video coming soon

Not Your Ordinary Music Box

I didn't realize that music boxes could have these many notes. It's simply amazing!

Music boxes have always fascinated me.

I have collected a number over the years.

The first music box I remember was a brown jewelry box with a ballerina inside. To wind the music box, one had to use the key located in the back of the box. When wound, the music would play when the jewelry box was opened. The ballerina would stand up and turn as the music played. We lost the key to the music box at a certain point in time and had to use a bobby pin to wind the movement. Over the years, the music box got over-wound, the ballerina got lost and only the jewelry box remained.

Then someone gave me two music box movements, my first Hurdy Gurdy pieces. I would take them out of the box and put them on my brown table. (The music resonates better when the Hurdy Gurdy is played over a wood surface.) I would turn the crank and listen to the music play. I would watch as the teeth of the steel comb would make a sound as they hit one or more of the pins found in the rotating cylinder. I could choose the speed at which the music played by controlling the crank.

Mother would sometimes get me music boxes or music box movements from the San Francisco Music Box Company whenever they find themselves in that side of the States. My siblings have also kept a look out for music boxes and music box movements for me over the years.

Though I love my music box collection, I am partial to the ones that play Pachelbel's Canon in D and the theme from Somewhere in Time (Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini).

However, I must admit that the music box I wish I could listen to more often is the one that plays Silent Night. Check it out here.

Symphony of Bells

It is the first day of September. If we were in Manila, I am sure there would have been Christmas carols playing on the radio or possibly Christmas decor out on display some place.

As for me, I am reminded of my perpetual desire to own a Mr. Christmas Symphony of Bells music box.

I remember that blasted BPI ATM at the Greenhills Shopping mall that wouldn't dispense P1,200 so that I could buy the Disney Christmas bells which played Christmas carols. Not only did it not dispense my cash, it debited my account and it took two weeks for me to retrieve the money. (You know how long it takes to do recon.) Then by the time I got the cash, the Christmas bells were gone.

I figure if I can't have the Symphony of Bells, I could still enjoy its music.