Aside From Coins, Do You Have Any Other Hobbies?

My daughter and I went down to the riverside one afternoon poking around the rocks. We picked a few snails off, took them home and put them in the tank. A few weeks later there were maybe a hundred of them in there! A single tiger barb ate them all. They were small though, maybe 5mm on average.

 

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I'll see if I can get a few tiger barbs this weekend - I found a pic from 2014 that shows a few tiger barbs and two platies - and no snails - so maybe they were more under control then! The water wasn't really green, it's a case of strange lighting.

 

Gold prospecting.

 

yes...photography!

 

Not spectacular like the photos above, but thought we needed some snow to offset the warmth.
From my cabin porch.

 

Even if the water has been green or brown, that's no sign of the quality of the water. You can have clear water in an aquarium that's full of ammonia and heavy metals that will kill any living thing in the aquarium, and you can have brown or green water with zero ammonia, no heavy metals, low nitrates and nitrites, good pH, etc.

My water went all green on me a few weeks ago, yet all the tests showed the chemical balance of the water was good, and the fish were just fine for the two weeks or took to clear the algae from the water. About 4 years ago when I added the driftwood the water was brown for 6 months, and I didn't lose a single fish during that time. Some fish naturally thrive in nature in murky water that's brown or green, or red (due to silt, wood or leaves in the water, or algae) and they do just fine. There are far more rivers with murky water than with clear water in the wild. As long as the chemicals are in balance the fish don't care.

 

Photo has been my 'thing' for life. I rarely shoot landscapes and dislike shooting people. Other than coins, I shoot small things like flowers and critters.
Pink Ladyslipper


Newly emerged parasitic wasp on hornworm


Piliated woodpecker, male

 

Wow! Nice work!

 

Missed the sunset yesterday, but the time shortly afterwards was nice as well.

 

The French call that time of day l'heure bleue or the blue hour.

Beautiful pic.

 

Nice photographs.

 

That "blue hour" term is apparently common in several languages. May come from French, but in German we also say Blaue Stunde, in Spanish they have a hora azul, and so on. This was taken pretty much at the end of that hour.

Christian

 

For some reasons, I started collecting cat figurines and a few clowns. I can count the clowns, but the cats, I forget the last tally.

 

Play golf and love fishing, just not enough hours in the day!

 

I collect and research Nihontô (Japanese Samurai Sword) Edo Period (early 1600s to early 1800s) fittings (koshirae)

I have included both English and equivalent romanized Japanese (rômaji) sword related terminology which I hope will be of assistance to those who are unfamiliar with Nihontô.

• Koshirae: Nihon Tôen Gaisô -- The Mountings of Japanese Swords by C.U. Guido Schiller and S. Alexander Takeuchi, Ph.D., University of North Alabama.

Long sword (Katana) uchigatana mounting (koshire) featuring carved winding plant (karakusa) decoration.



For display and storage, koshirae is assembled using an exact copy wooden substitute blade (hon-tsunagi).


Short sword (Wakizashi) in classic Katana style uchigatana koshirae.


Above sword koshirae assembled using wooden substitute blade (tsunagi).


The scabbard (saya) has a highly polished black laquered finish (urushi).




The hilt (tsuka) binding (ito) is dark blue silk. The hilt ornament (menuki) depicts a garden insect.





The upper pommel (fuchi) and base pommel (kashira) are nicely decorated with finely carved chrysanthemum flowers (kiku) and stem motifs.

 

High quality short sword (Wakizashi) in classic Katana style uchigatana koshirae





The scabbard (saya), has a high gloss vermilion lacquer finish (shu-urushi).



A utility knife - kozuka (handle) kogatana (blade) - is in the slot on the (omote) side of the saya.



The kozuka bears a depiction on both sides of a full Autumn Moon (aki no tsuki) with a deer (Sika) lying down in marsh grass.



The omote of the kogatana is finished by filing in the traditional way and is boldly inscribed (signed) Tango No Kami Kanemichi - a new sword period (shintô ) Mishina province smith (kaji) active in the early to late 1600s.



The hilt (tsuka) binding (ito) is black silk over ray skin (same). The upper pommel (fuchi) and the en-suite Tachi style (handachi) helmet shaped (kabuto-gane) lower pommel (kashira) are made of shakudô - an alloy of copper and gold.

The surfaces of the shakudô upper pommel (fuchi) and lower pommel (kashira) are textured with a fish roe pattern (nanakô) and patinated to a dark violet/black color





The upper pommel (fuchi) is decorated with gilded high relief temple guard lion dogs (shishi) and peonies (botan).



The Bushû school pierced iron guard (tsuba) has finely carved Japanese cherry blossom (sakura) buds, leaves, stems and flowers with gilded highlights.

 

Examples of the magnificent metalwork (all done by hand) produced by the Japanese artistic craftsmen.

The following metal fittings were disassembled as a set from an Edo period Wakizashi.

tsuba



Made of iron and engraved with depictions of Wisteria (sagari fuji).

fuchi
(upper pommel)



kashira
(lower pommel)



Made of partially refined copper (suaka) that has attained a lovely chocolate patina with depictions of mythical lion-dog temple/shrine guards (shishi).

menuki
(hilt ornaments)



Made of copper with gilded foliage and are depictions of Daikon radishes.

 

Yes, I have an old bronze AA recovery chip that my mother gave to me many years ago. I carried it for a long time but it went missing a while back. I suspect it may have fallen out of my pocket and swallowed up by one of the overstuffed chairs in my downstairs area. I'll definitely look into that.

 

James, Your swords & sword furniture are a sight to behold ! The swords are way out of my price range but I've had some fine tsuba in the past. The artists who catered to the men of the Bushido were very gifted .

 

Thank you Al. Yes the prices for first tier authentic Nihontô fitting are now extremely high. I haven’t kept up with the market nor have I bought any fittings for a while, but checking online venues I believe that complete ensembles of signed (by famous artisans) top tier Edo period koshirae can run more than ten thousand dollars these days - that is why I can only afford second and third tier items (but which I still think are great works of art). Of course really fine old sword period (kotô) blades by renowned smiths of the major traditions (gokaden) in perfect polish are out of sight for all but the wealthiest collectors - as far as I know they are only transacted personally by appointment - they can sell in the hundreds of thousands of dollars price range. Even second and third tier kotô blades by lesser smiths in old polish and without flaws are very expensive - I do not own any of those.