Graduation and Wedding Origami Designs

My older son will be graduating from high school next week. I am considering making some origami (folded paper craft) mortarboards to set out as decorations on the tables. Some people like to make these designs out of money to give to the graduates as gifts as seen in the photo below. I have also seen where people will make the mortarboard plus a rolled up bill tied with a small string or ribbon to represent a diploma to go with the graduation cap. I found the directions as posted below the photo here to make the mortarboard at this site. Click on the pictures to enlarge them. There are many other very clever origami designs there, so be sure and visit the site to see what is there.



In addition to being the time for graduations, this is a season when weddings are popular. Many like to create origami flowers to use as table decorations, place mat favors, or as gift package decorations. Below is a photo of a pretty flower design I found here. If you go to this site, you will find the instructions on how to make this design in a PDF format, as well as, numerous other origami designs.



To make a different flower design out of money, you can see a video and photo from an earlier post I had here.

Other origami designs that are sometimes used for weddings, receptions, and/or bridal showers would include hearts, birds, swans, rings, and other types of flowers besides the one pictured here. There is a great search site for origami designs called the Origami database which can help you locate origami designs, patterns, photos, instructions, and directions. Some of these designs are located on websites and others are indexed in various books, magazines, or other print forms.

If you are interested in purchasing a book of instructions on how to fold various origami designs from money, there are several listed for sale from Amazon in the slide show widget in the sidebar at the left side of the page.

For those interested in books on making origami flowers, below is one of several that are offered by Amazon. Click the link to see what is available.

First One!

The first daisy opened up today. What a cheery hello!

From the number of buds on the plants in the flower bed, soon I will have an entire forest of daisies to greet me.

From Junk To Jewels---Dreams My Dad Followed

My Dad could see the potential in many things. For example, he could look at a big plot of dirt and see the potential it had for a large, thriving, vegetable and fruit-producing garden. He looked at us, his children, and could see our potential to become responsible, successful adults. He could also see the potential in things mechanical. He was always tinkering with things, fixing them, repairing them, making them like new again. Much to my mother's dismay, he saw the potential of some things he found in the junk yard that had seen much better days.

Three things that my Dad discovered in junk yards were a 1927 Chevy, a 1931 Chevy, and an old moped. All of these things he bought for next to nothing at the local junk yard and then had them trailered or towed to our home and stored in our garage. We happened to have a very large garage (about the equivalent of a four car garage) that he used as a workshop.

The photo below looks very similar to the 1927 Chevy that he had, that is, AFTER he finished restoring it. When he first brought it home, it looked like a useless wreck. During my younger years, we would go with my Dad to car shows and auto parts fairs on the weekends during the warmer months as he searched for the elusive parts he needed to make the '27 Chevy look like it was new again. Eventually, he had it restored so that it looked like it did when it was first produced.

My brother, sister, and I loved Dad's old car. We got to ride in the back in what was known as the rumble seat in all the area parades during the summers in the late 1960's and early 1970's. It was a seat that folded out and was open to the air. We sat back there and waved at the people along the parade routes and had a great time, while my Dad would blow the car's horn. "Uh-ooo-ga, uh-ooo-ga" was the sound it made.

About the time I graduated from high school, Dad sold the '27 and began working on the '31 Chevy to restore it. He worked on it for several years. I have pictures of my son (who is now 18 years old) sitting in the front seat behind the steering wheel of Grandpa's old car with a big toddler's grin on his face when he was at the age of maybe two or three. Not too long after that, Dad sold the '31 to an antique auto museum. I thought it was great, at the time, that it was going to the museum, because I could go to the museum and still see it there. Unfortunately, the museum has since closed, and I no longer know the whereabouts of Dad's '31 Chevy. It looked much like the car in the picture below except that it was black.
The third "treasure" my Dad brought home from the junk yard was an old moped. It looked something like the photo below except that it was kind of a muddy brown color, and I think it was probably an earlier model year than the one shown. He got it running and liked to ride it around on our one acre of property. He didn't have it licensed to take it on the road.

I was about ten years old when he had it out in the yard one day. I asked him if I could ride on it. Apparently, he had a momentary lapse in good parental judgment, because without giving it much thought, he said "yes." He told me to ride it just like I would a bicycle. Now, for those who don't know, a moped is kind of like a bicycle except that it has a small motor on it. Also, for those who don't know, riding it is not exactly "just like" riding a bicycle.

I had no idea how to use the hand brakes on the thing. On my bicycle, braking was accomplished by pedaling backwards. This was not the case on the moped, which I very quickly discovered. I took off through the yard on it and promptly crashed into a nearby lilac bush. I came out of those lilacs pretty scraped up and bleeding and crying.

Dad realized he had perhaps made a mistake in allowing me to ride the moped. He rushed over to me and got me in the house to my Mom to be bandaged up. After Mom got my injuries tended to, she went outside to ask my Dad, who was already upset about the fact that I had been hurt, that age old question that wives often ask their husbands, "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!"

Since I am now a parent and have been one for several years, I have had a few momentary lapses in good parental judgment of my own. I can understand how mistakes happen, and when I look back on that day when I crashed the moped, it makes me laugh. I wasn't laughing that day, though, and neither was my Mom.


The video below kind of reminds me of my moped memory for two reasons. First of all, it has a moped in it (although it is a much more recent model than my Dad had), so that is an obvious reason why. The second reason is that it is the kind of video that just might give you nightmares because the guys dancing in it remind me a bit of zombies, and just in general, seem a bit bizarre to me. However, watching these guys dance also made me laugh. Because my moped story probably gave me nightmares at the time it happened, but it now makes me laugh, it is similar to this video. I hope this will make you laugh too.

Hurray For Hamburgers! It's National Hamburger Month!

Here it is May 21 already! Did you know that May is National Hamburger Month? If you haven't yet had a chance to celebrate, here are a few ideas to get you started.


Are you hungry? You could probably satisfy your appetite with this GIANT hamburger. You might want to eat it close to your local hospital, though, just in case you need to make a quick trip to the emergency room for the heart attack it is likely to give you.


Even an individual serving (?!) of this giant burger looks big enough to give your cholesterol levels an instant elevation.



For the slightly smaller appetite, here is another BIG burger---still pretty impressive in size!


Maybe you'd rather celebrate with a really TALL Dagwood Bumstead style burger with tons of toppings.


Not very hungry? Or perhaps, on a special diet. Maybe this little burger is for you.


If you have a sweet tooth, here's a fun way to celebrate this special month---would you like a piece of hamburger cake?


Hamburger cookies will satisfy that craving for something sweet too!


After you have had your fill of eating hamburgers, perhaps you'd like to celebrate with some hamburger fashion. This crocheted hamburger dress will be certain to showcase your "buns."


Wear it with this stylish hamburger hat!


This little guy proves you're never too young to celebrate National Hamburger Month!


School students can celebrate this month by writing a hamburger book report.


Around the house you can celebrate by adding a few new furnishings, like this comfy hamburger pillow.

And the kids will love these hamburger footstools to sit on while watching TV and eating Happy Meals.

Some hamburger coasters for your coffee table will cheer up the living room.


Talk to your friends on the original hamburger phone.



Take your computer data with you on the road with this usb hamburger flash drive.Speaking of being on the road, you could drive around in this hamburger car,


or on this hamburger three-wheeler. Either one is sure to get you noticed!


Since I don't like to miss an opportunity to dance, here's one final way to celebrate. You can dance with the Burger King Whopperettes! Happy National Hamburger Month!

Musical Musings---Quotes From Musicians On Music

To me, music is one of the necessities of life. I simply can't and don't wish to imagine my life without music in it. The following quotations are a glimpse of how some musicians view music--- their thoughts and philosophies on the part it plays in our world.

"The best music... is essentially there to provide you something to face the world with."

-- Bruce Springsteen

"Music is spiritual. The music business is not. "

-- Van Morrison

"It's the music that kept us all intact, kept us from going crazy. "

-- Lou Reed

"Music helps you find the truths you must bring into the rest of your life. "

-- Alanis Morissette

"Music at its essence is what gives us memories."

-- Stevie Wonder

"Music is nothing separate from me. It is me... You'd have to remove the music surgically. "

-- Ray Charles

"Music has to breathe and sweat. You have to play it live. "

-- James Brown

"Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art."

-- Charlie Parker

We need magic, and bliss, and power, myth, and celebration and religion in our lives, and music is a good way to encapsulate a lot of it. "

-- Jerry Garcia

"All music comes from God."

-- Johnny Cash

"All music is important if it comes from the heart. "

-- Carlos Santana

"Music should be something that makes you gotta move, inside or outside. "

-- Elvis Presley

"Music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable."

-- Leonard Bernstein

"Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life."

-- Ludwig van Beethoven

"Music is either good or bad, and it's got to be learned. You got to have balance."

-- Louis Armstrong

Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks examines the extreme effects of music on the human brain and how lives can be utterly transformed by the simplest of harmonies. Sacks provides an erudite look at the notion that humans are truly a musical species. Readers of this book will find much to enjoy from the observations of the author on music and its relationship to the brain. You will come away from this book a little more attuned to the remarkable complexity of human beings, and a bit more conscious of the role of music in our lives. If you'd like to learn more about this topic, this book can be purchased through Amazon.com from the link below.

On The Front Porch With You

I planted my morning glory seeds in the planters on our front porch yesterday. It has been very windy today, and the maple tree has been launching whirlygig helicopter seeds all over the place. As a result, my morning glory planters now have maple tree seeds covering the soil. I'll have to pluck those back out of there, so they don't start sprouting.

I guess I better get a broom and get these things swept off the porch too.


I call it a porch, but it isn't really. It is really just a stoop, I suppose. I sometimes wish we had a big front porch, a shady one with a swing. It would be nice to have a place to sit and relax outside in the early evening and watch the day wind down. The house where I grew up had a big porch with a swing, and I have fond memories of evenings sitting there with my family; talking, or reading, or petting my cat who liked to settle on my lap whenever I sat on the swing. Thinking of porches reminds me of a song (what a surprise!). The following video is a clip from a movie that was one of my favorites as a child. The movie is called Summer Magic, a Disney classic. The song, sung by Burl Ives, is called "On The Front Porch With You."

Pole Vaulting Poetry (Truly Grateful Series)

My older son has been busy with pole vaulting on the track team lately. Here he is on the right with one of his teammates waiting their turn to vault. That purplish-pink tube they are sitting on is the case that is used to hold their pole vaulting poles for the trip on the school bus to the meet. This particular meet was away and was a big invitational, meaning there were numerous schools represented and participating.

Here is my younger son watching from the sidelines.
He's ready for the approach,


off and running,

up and over.
This is my son's teammate making his successful vault as well. When executed properly, the vaults are like poetry in motion. His teammate in the photo below almost looks like he is doing ballet in mid-air.
My son with a vault of 11 feet took fourth place, his teammate vaulted 11 feet 6 inches and placed third, the second and first place finishers vaulted 12 feet, and 12 feet 6 inches respectively. It was a good day. My son did his best and was pleased and satisfied that things had gone well. By placing, he also earned points for his team which finished second over all in the meet.

Lord, for allowing me the pleasure of watching my son do something he loves, let me be truly grateful.