Saints and Sinners

It was a beautiful day today. Warm but not to hot, clear blue sky, bright green grass and singing birds.
Kevin and I went for a bike ride this afternoon and ended up by the library. There is this fountain on the campus called the "Saints and Sinners Fountain" that is located right in front of the library. I think it's brilliant and beautiful. At times, the fountain can shoot water up to about 6 feet in multiple areas around the statues, like it was doing today. If you stand close enough to the fountain you can feel the mist spray. The water was a beautiful blue today and I quite enjoyed watching it for awhile.

Here is a picture of the fountain:



Fountain's Background Information:

Ground Breaking: April 19, 1976

Dedication:  September 9, 1976

Cost:  $63,505.39,  $68,000

Funding:  Received $100,000 from Josephine S.Gordon Foundation of   Detroit to commission sculpture. Money for the project was to come from capital outlay funds, the Irene C. Wellock trust, and the University's President Club, a group of individuals supporting the institution and its programs.

Consultant: Johnson, Johnson and Ray, Inc.  303 North Main St., Ann Arbor, MI  48104

Construction: Wyden Construction, Inc. P.O. Box 1111, Southgate, MI  48195

Square Footage: 25 x 50 foot oval, 7 bronze pieces, each 9' 6" high

Sculptor: Marshall Fredericks of Royal Oak

History: Craig Redfern, member of Commuter Council staged a contest for students to nickname the fountain.

More information located on this source page:

Source:

http://library.oakland.edu/information/departments/archives/art/saints.htm

Lumosity

Lumosity is a pretty cool website that my mom came across and sent to me.

"Lumosity is a subscription-based, web-based application that uses a wide range of games and exercises all with the intent to improve cognitive abilities, especially of aging people. Their website claims a membership community of more than one million."en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumosity

They give three free course for you to try. I like it a lot, I could see myself improving while just playing the trial games. The catch is, if you wanna keep going you're gonna have to pay. The prices arn't to bad but I still don't enjoy sending money.

If you're looking to improve your brain functions, this is definitely the place to go!

Check it out:

http://www.lumosity.com/

Horses sing?!

I found this through StumbleUpon and I got a kick out of it.
Singing Horses!

Check it out:
http://svt.se/hogafflahage/hogafflaHage_site/Kor/hestekor.swf

Talk about Tweeting

Radio wire is often used to make bird nests. What station do they listen to?

Bird Song Radio.
It's a station that only plays bird sounds.

Check it out:
http://www.birdsongradio.com/

Most Amazing Time Lapse Video

I found this Video while I was on StumbleUpon ( http://www.stumbleupon.com ). 
This is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. 


"Just sit back and enjoy. It's simply stunning."





The link:
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/9guNPY/shuttersalt.com/blog/most-amazing-time-lapse-video-milky-way-ever-made-seriously

Italian

I'm taking summer classes right now. A Studio Art class and an Italian class. This is the first time I've ever attempted Italian. It has been going really well though and I'm picking it up quite quickly. I'm about to start the second session tomorrow and I'm very excited.

My mom came across this one website not to long ago where you can learn a language for free. I joined to help me with my Italian and it has been awesome. Not only has it been helpful, it's been fun. So if you're attempting to learn a language or just looking for something new, check it out: http://www.busuu.com/

Songs

I woke up from my nap this afternoon to birds singing outside my window. 

Life on a Canvas

I have had this thought in my mind of how to look at life for a while now and I haven't been able to find the right words to explain my thoughts. I was searching the internet one night when I came across this website. I found this article that a guy named Eric wrote and I think it's brilliant. I feel this completely explains my thoughts exactly and I would like to share it with you too.

"Let’s imagine for a moment that your life is like a big canvas, as wide as your imagination can stretch it. 

You have all power to change the picture that is displayed on that canvas. You can splash some brilliant colours, you can refine some area, deepen some shadows to give more depth and contrasted relief to the overall picture.

It is as simple as that.

Well, is it? Not really you would say. My life is not only mine to change and steer, there are so many of these external factors that constantly hinder my movement. 

What if it really were your own? 

Let’s take that canvas. You have yours, and other people have theirs.
The snare you see, is that you tend to believe that everyone paint on the same canvas. 

In a way you do share the same canvas. But you each paint on your own. Your canvas is like a transparent layer overlaid on everyone else’s layer-canvas. 

Now, what appears to you is that you have no power over the overall picture because everyone is projecting their colours onto their whole canvas. Be it their actions, or their emotions and feelings.
And you have the power to do the same, on yours. And it will reflect on everyone’s other canvases. 

And that is where the fun starts.
The superimposition of canvases is the overall picture, and at times can seem messy, dark, overwhelming to change. But each one of you has the power to change it. 

Some would like to erase everything, and coerce others by bidding them their own rules. Yet, they are only painting their own layer. So, some have been very sly, and have convinced others to give away their unruly and expressive and at times erratic artful painting, so that they can achieve a pretense of order that pleases them. 

Now, everything seems temporarily rigidified onto these layers. Artful expressions are denied, for what is acceptable is the continuation of what has been done successfully for years. But careful attention has to be paid, for the painting desires to change constantly. 

One thing that is important to acknowledge is that, there is communication that goes beyond the words and rules decreed, a more powerful and instantaneous way to communicate through the huge pile of transparent colourful layers. It is through example and inspiration. 

Imagine for a moment that you have drawn a house. That house can be dully bland and lost in the middle of a suburban area. But instead of focusing on others’ houses, you decide that you want to add bright fuchsia flowers on the window sill. And you paint them, in these areas where noone has been focusing before. 

And as you paint with all your inner joy and sense of fulfillment, you feel all around you a steering of attention and diffused curiosity. You can only see the overall canvas, and not the other painters. And you are very focused on your delicate flowers. 

And soon, you discover that popping on a neighbour’s windows, someone has painted bright lunar white gardenias. And another blue hyacinths. And another, coral red rhododendrons. And very soon, the overall picture reshapes itself, and butterflies pop in to go with the flowers, and bees spread in your flowers, buzzing all along…
Such is your power. 

Everyone responds to the energy you project outwardly on your layer-canvas. The resulting picture constantly moves and reshapes itself as a living creature. 

You only have to express what’s passionate in yourself, and everything will move and shift. 

We all want to believe that our lives are special.
But are we truly prepared for what it would imply —that our lives are the fruit of a loving intent and have the power to change everything? 

And now, what do you want to paint?"

Written by ÉRIC

Source:
http://elikozoe.net/articles/the_opencanvas_of_life

 Something to think about.