Bono and the Blind

Reportedly, in the year 1546, a man named John Heywood proclaimed "There is none so blind as those who will not see."  So obviously Bono of U2 cannot be credited alone as the creator of his lyric "no one is blinder than he who will not see" from the song I Threw a Brick Through a Window, off the October album.  But it was Bono who introduced me (and likely much of the world) to this fantastic quote. So for this reason I pay homage to U2 here, Bono specifically.

There is just nothing like old U2.  Boy, War, October, such great albums ("albums" intended since they are of that era).  I love their oldest recordings on a rainy Fall day.  Or a cold day in winter. And then there's the Joshua Tree CD (probably one of the first CD's I ever purchased).  It came out in 1987, the year I graduated high school.  Oh the memories. <Sigh>

So, a great Bono (with a little help) lyric now in glass on a full-sized window.

Row Houses and Cool New Lights for My City

A new set of row houses on a full-sized window from the 1960's I believe.

 

 

 

And a friend of mine picked up these super cool lights for me.  A long time ago I made a large cityscape mosaic and it hangs in the dining room of my house.  These lights allow for many different settings, and a video of that in action is what you see below.  I admit the video quality is not the best.  But it is so cool at night when the room is dark and the lights fade in and out in the background. 

 

Japan

Just back from a couple weeks in Japan.  We spent most of our time cruising the far north of the country, the area in which my wife was born.  While in that region, we spent some time in the beautiful coastal city of Ofunato.   Along with its beauty, Ofunato is also one of the towns hit very hard by the tsunami of 2011.  And it was the tsunami and an opportunity to volunteer there, with Habitat for Humanity, that took us to Ofunato. 

Before leaving home I made a few of the 4x6 inch Japanese flag mosaics, similar to those I sold as a fundraiser for the Japanese town of Mashiko, Japan back in 2011.  The plan for these Japanese flag mosaics was really just to give them away to people as we visited the region.  And that is what I did.

One of the mosaics was given to the owner of an izakaya (sort of a Japanese pub) by the name of Engawa.  We dined there one night, had an amazing meal and an awesome time. The owner of Engawa lost her previous business, a hair salon, to the Tsunami when the entire building was washed away.  So as not to be kept down for long, she and her 85 year-old mother chose to reopen this fantastic izakaya.  What a great time we had there.  And she seemed really happy to have the mosaic, which in turn made me happy as well.

Another mosaic was placed in what has become an Ofunato tsunami museum of sorts.  A local carpenter in Ofunato has been collecting items found after the Tsunami, with which he then built the museum/play house for local kids to explore (shown below).   I took a couple pictures of my little mosaic from the inside as it now hangs in the structure.

I also gave a mosaic to some friends we made in Ofunato, Ken-san, Ishihara-san, and Yoshiko-san, while working with Habitat.  Thanks to them for contributing to a really rewarding experience.

And a larger version, about 27 x 12 inches, made from wood off our old cedar fence.  I brought this along and it now hangs in the window at the in-laws in Hachinohe, Japan (pictured below).