Monday, February 27, 2017

Happy Ayyám-i-Há!





Ayyám-i-Há is celebrated during the four days (five in a leap year) before the last month of the Baha'i year.  The days of Ayyám-i-Há are devoted to spiritual preparation for the fast, and are a time of hospitality, charity and gift giving.










It behooveth the people of Baha, throughout these days, to provide good cheer for themselves, their kindred and, beyond them, the poor and needy, and with joy and exultation to hail and glorify their Lord, to sing His praise and magnify His Name..  --Bahá-u-lláh  




Sunday, February 26, 2017

Baha’i House of Worship in Agua Azul, Colombia
















AGUA AZUL, Colombia, 23 February 2017, (BWNS) — Plans for the construction of the local Baha’i House of Worship in Agua Azul, a village in Norte del Cauca, Colombia, have recently reached an important milestone. Construction officially began in January, after building contracts were formalized with a local firm in the region.

Following the groundbreaking ceremony in May 2016, the three-meter high central mound on which the 18-meter tall Temple will stand has been completed, and the foundational work for the surrounding auxiliary structures has been laid. In time, these structures will be painted in the bright colors traditional to buildings in Colombia.

LINK





Saturday, February 25, 2017

DC-3








As a boy, I flew between San Francisco and Los Angeles or Burbank a few times.  It sure beat Greyhound.


















Thursday, February 23, 2017

Towhee



I had a handsome visitor to my backyard today.  He scratched around under the feeder as Towhees are wont to do.







Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Monday, February 20, 2017

CRS-10 | Falcon 9 First Stage Landing





KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – After a six year lull NASA’s historic pad 39A roared back to business this morning with the dramatic maiden blastoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, on a critical cargo delivery mission for NASA to the space station – while simultaneously landing the first stage back on the ground at the Cape on a secondary mission aimed at one day propelling humans to Mars.





Sunday, February 19, 2017

Winter -Van Gogh






















A few of Vincent's pencil drawings with winter motifs.


























Saturday, February 18, 2017

Thursday, February 16, 2017

I Should Have Known Better



One of my duties as a 21 year old laborer for the maintenance department at a resort hotel in the Carmel Highlands in 1969 was the daily disposal of the trash collected by the house- keeping staff.  My partner and I would haul by truck barrels of paper trash  to the upper lot, and burn it a large brick incinerator situated between the small garage and the wood shop at the edge of the Monterey pine forest.


The incinerator looked something like this, although the firebox was larger.




It had a great iron door similar to this.



Since we weren't required to sort through the trash, empty aerosol spray cans were tossed into the firebox along with the rest of the trash and would  explode in the fire.  I got the idea to collect  and lash a number of them together for a big explosion, and that's what I did--fourteen, in fact.  I used wire coat hangers for my bomb, and when the fire was roaring, I tossed it in, swung the door closed and latched it.  My partner Francisco and I stood back and wondered.



It took about 30 seconds, but at last there was a terrific explosion, and a ten-foot flame shot out the top of the 12 foot high chimney right up there with the lower branches of the pines.  Puffs of mortar shaken loose around the firebox from the explosion also gave us pause.


Somehow I didn't lose my job that day, or worse.












Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Лас-Вегас




моя учительница в Лас-Вегас на ее 21-й день рождения.






                                                  удачи!

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Monday, February 13, 2017

Sunday, February 12, 2017

18th at Pebble Beach






18th at Pebble Beach  --LeRoy Neiman