Lasso

 

Can't blame the Wisteria for trying, but it's time to bring out the shears.

Hidden Message

A girl left a note in a camper for the next owner to find.

 

LINK

Light Rain

 

Light rain today, and boy does the yard need it.

From: Selections From the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

 

O ye loved ones of God! In this, the Bahá'í dispensation, God's Cause is spirit unalloyed. His Cause belongeth not to the material world. It cometh neither for strife nor war, nor for acts of mischief or of shame; it is neither for quarrelling with other Faiths, nor for conflicts with the nations. Its only army is the love of God, its only joy the clear wine of His knowledge, its only battle the expounding of the Truth; its one crusade is against the insistent self, the evil promptings of the human heart. Its victory is to submit and yield, and to be selfless is its everlasting glory.--Abdu'l-Baha

The Salish Sea

 

"In the fall of 2009 and winter of 2010 the Washington State Board on Geographic Names, the Province of British Columbia Geographic Names Office, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names and the Geographical Names Board of Canada each approved the name ‘Salish Sea‘ as an official designation for the inland marine waters of Washington and British Columbia."  LINK

A Broadcaster

 

My father was the sales manager at a radio station on Cannery Row in the early '60s.  He had a small office in the Bear Flag Building, whose infamy was made popular by John Steinbeck.  At the time of his employment, the Row was transitioning from processing seafood to processing tourists. I would often read of fires of undetermined origins burning down abandoned canneries, only to have hotels appear soon after the debris was cleared. 

Interviewing California Governor Earl Warren for KSRO

San Francisco, Fog and Container Ship, 1994

 

San Francisco, Fog and Container Ship, 1994 

Robert Campbell

Randon Yard Pictures

Cotoneaster needs a trim.

Gator is on guard.

Letter to a Jehovah Witness

 

Exploring my documents file, I came across this letter I wrote years ago to a Jehovah's Witness.

Dear Sir,

During your recent visit, I am afraid the answer I gave to your question was not very well presented.  I would like to take this opportunity to clarify.

Your question was simply this:  “Who do you believe has dominion over the world?”  Without hesitation, I answered “God”.  You then said that “God” was a good answer, but you referred me to a passage in the Bible which indicates that Satan has dominion over the world.  As you seemingly put me in the position of believing something that contradicts the Word of God, I was naturally defensive, especially considering how you were standing at my front door at a time you chose, wearing a suit and tie and having prepared yourself to use the Bible to prove to me that I was incorrect in my beliefs, while I, on the other hand stood before you unshaven, wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt and fearing that my cat would dart out the open door into traffic. I believe you had both the mental and physical advantage over me, and so in the interest of fairness I decided to write to you and explain my belief in the realm of ideas, being stripped from physical appearances.

As a Baha’i, I believe that God, the Creator, has dominion over all things visible and invisible, and has no partner or equal nor has He ceded authority of any part of His creation.  

And so what of the Bible passage that says unequivocally that Satan has dominion of the world?

Baha’is believe that we have two natures: spiritual, and physical.  Satan is the personification of our animal, or lesser nature, which prompts us to avarice, greed, jealousy, envy and the like.  Being born into the physical world we each have this physical nature, and as we learn from the Word of God, we are to overcome the promptings of this aspect of our reality on Earth through the spiritual guidance given to us by God’s Manifestations.  When the Bible says that Satan has dominion over the world, it refers to the inescapable physical matrix into which we are born and struggle with every day. 

Baha’is believe the Bible is the Word of God given unto men two thousand years ago.  Passages such as the one you questioned me with were written to convey spiritual truths in a manner appropriate for the times. 

There is a passage that states that in the Last Days, the Books would be opened.  As a Baha’i, I believe these are those days, and Baha’u’llah has opened them.

Thank you for your time—I hope you visit me again some day.  There are many things to talk about!

Sincerely,

/be

What Will Scare a Curious Kid?

My father owned this book (11th printing, 1955), and kept it on a small bookshelf as I do now.  How mysterious and disturbing my curious ten year old mind found it to be.  In it, there's a sketch of a Venusian (Earthling's twin in a jumpsuit),  his odd footprints, and photographs of his flying craft.