Renunciation

 

Corrine Randall

Édith Piaf - Ne me quitte pas

Aztec Stone Joinery

 

AZTEC STONE JOINERY

Liberty

 

"Consider the pettiness of men’s minds. They ask for that which injureth them, and cast away the thing that profiteth them. They are, indeed, of those that are far astray. We find some men desiring liberty, and priding themselves therein. Such men are in the depths of ignorance.

Liberty must, in the end, lead to sedition, whose flames none can quench. Thus warneth you He Who is the Reckoner, the All-Knowing. Know ye that the embodiment of liberty and its symbol is the animal.  That which beseemeth man is submission unto such restraints as will protect him from his own ignorance, and guard him against the harm of the mischief-maker." Baha'u'llah

Clare Daly MEP

 

The Martyrdom of Tahirih

 

"Tahirih was captured in 1852, along with other Babis and was imprisoned in Tehran under house arrest. Still she taught this new religion, which included the principle of the equality of men and women. Many of the women of Tehran came to learn from Tahirih, and the Cause of the Bab continued to spread. The end of her teaching came in the same year ,when she was sentenced to death by the Shah. Her reply to this sentence was, 'You can kill me as soon as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women.'

Dressed in white silk, she had prepared for her death with fasting and prayers. She was strangled with a silk handkerchief and then thrown into a well, later filled with stones and dirt."

The Pure One

Nat king cole, Nature Boy

Golden Gate Bridge from Land's End

 

Golden Gate Bridge from Land's End

Paul Farradas

Carmel River Lagoon

 

Sunrise at Carmel River lagoon.

Lori D'Ambrosio

Лебедь

 

Music: "The Swan" by Camille Saint-Saens. 

Dance:  Maya Plisetskaya 

(1974)

Circumambulation

 

Circumambulating the Shrine of the Báb 

Mt. Carmel, Haifa, Israel  

Photo: BWNS

Spitshine

 

My dear retired dentist, Dr. Tess, once remarked that my Dr. Martens needed to be shined. I pondered her words as she worked and I lay prone under her lamp.

I spent hours achieving my first ever low-grade spit shine this morning, and I thought of Tess, and how I missed her practice and her office on the Sound.

Christmas Light

 

The photo doesn't do justice to this evening's silvery light after the first dusting of snow.  It's beautiful.

 

O Holy Night

A Sea of Light

 

O Lord, glorify his station, shelter him under the pavilion of Thy supreme mercy, cause him to enter Thy glorious paradise, and perpetuate his existence in Thine exalted rose garden, that he may plunge into the sea of light in the world of mysteries. 

-Abdu'l-Baha

Sandstone

 

Sandstone, Point Lobos

The First Duty

 

The Three Magi, Byzantine mosaic 

c.  565, Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy

"The first duty prescribed by God for His servants is the recognition of Him Who is the Dayspring of His Revelation and the Fountain of His laws, Who representeth the Godhead in both the Kingdom of His Cause and the world of creation. Whoso achieveth this duty hath attained unto all good; and whoso is deprived thereof hath gone astray, though he be the author of every righteous deed. It behooveth everyone who reacheth this most sublime station, this summit of transcendent glory, to observe every ordinance of Him Who is the Desire of the world. These twin duties are inseparable. Neither is acceptable without the other. Thus hath it been decreed by Him Who is the Source of Divine inspiration."

Bahá’u’lláh  (The Kitáb-i-Aqdas)

A Broken-Winged Bird

 

Caroline Bertrand:

"Here is my painting, inspired by Abdu'l-Baha’s prayer"

OGod! O God! This is a broken-winged bird and his flight is very slow—assist him so that he may fly toward the apex of prosperity and salvation, wing his way with the utmost joy and happiness throughout the illimitable space, raise his melody in Thy Supreme Name in all the regions, exhilarate the ears with this call, and brighten the eyes by beholding the signs of guidance.

O Lord! I am single, alone and lowly. For me there is no support save Thee, no helper except Thee and no sustainer beside Thee. Confirm me in Thy service, assist me with the cohorts of Thy angels, make me victorious in the promotion of Thy Word and suffer me to speak out Thy wisdom amongst Thy creatures. Verily, Thou art the helper of the weak and the defender of the little ones, and verily Thou art the Powerful, the Mighty and the Unconstrained.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá

Myong

 

I read that Myong, who could no longer bear the unexpected death of her husband a few years before, ended her life in the Narrows in December of 2020.  

May God grant their eternal union in the sanctified world of light.

Garrapata

 

GARRAPATA

Austin Keegan

Lyrics

 

Down the Coast, Heavy Surf

 

DOWN THE COAST, HEAVY SURF

BILL COOKE

 

Mike Bridges' image from Pier 39, San Francisco:

Salesforce Tower, 

Coit Tower, 

Transamerica Pyramid, 

555 California..

The Aspiration of a 10 Year Old

 

On 17th Street near Mission, San Francisco

When my twin bro and I were 10 year old kids living in SF, I wanted to have a shop like these guys--I was thinking washing machine and refrigerator repair and sales.  Maybe water heaters.

The Gravesite of Thornton Chase

 

 Thornton Chase (1847-1912) is recognized as the first American Baha'i.  He was given the Persian name Sabet, or Steadfast, by Abdu'l-Baha,  whom Mr. Chase had visited in Akka, Palestine, in 1907, where Abdu'l-Baha was a prisoner of the Ottoman Empire. 

Apparently there were several others who had professed their belief in the Station of Baha'u'llah prior to Thornton.  They, however, fell away, while Mr. Chase remained steadfast in the Faith. 

His grave is located in the Inglewood Park Cemetery,  Los Angeles, California. 

Pond, Golden Gate Park

 

Pond 

Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

Gloria Judd

Labor Day

"Every person must have an occupation, a trade or a craft, so that he may carry other people's burdens, and not himself be a burden to others." ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

Ford Econoline

 

Ford Econoline

Sand Dollars

 

Sand Dollars in Seaside, Oregon

(Oregonian)

That Great Eschatological Event

 

"The declared purpose of history’s series of prophetic revelations...has been not only to guide the individual seeker on the path of personal salvation, but to prepare the whole of the human family for the great eschatological Event lying ahead, through which the life of the world will itself be entirely transformed. The revelation of Bahá’u’lláh is neither preparatory nor prophetic. It is that Event."  

--Shoghi Effendi, One Common Faith

Dream Car

 

 1950 Plymouth Suburban 

Black River

 

Kanichi Yamamoto

 

Kanichi Yamamoto

Born: 1879, Japan

Death: 1961, Berkeley, California

First Japanese Baha'i

Kanichi Yamamoto was known for his faithfulness and cheer.

Village Life, Gilan, Iran / زندگی در یک روستای بکر در گیلان

(Subtitles)

San Francisco

 

Girl posing in front of her house at the Centennial. 

San Francisco, 1976

The End of the Trail

 

Cement Plant Road

 

Cement Plant Road, Davenport, California

It Happens

 

Even when you're on the right track, there's always the unexpected.

SF Walkabout

 

Bib Black's walk

Roseburg Oregon

 

Broken Air Con Joins JOE (Jazz Object Ensemble)

Jazz Object Ensemble

Tripp

 

Nephew Tripp 💗

Fort Worden

 

With granddaughter at Fort Worden, Port Townsend, Washington

Laurel's Flowers

 

Константин Сомов

 

Konstantin Andreyevich Somov (Russian: Константин Андреевич Сомов, November 30, 1869 – May 6, 1939) was a Russian artist associated with the Mir iskusstva. Born into a family of a major art historian and Hermitage Museum curator Andrey Ivanovich Somov, he became interested in 18th-century art and music at an early age.  WikiArt

Пастораль 1896

 Портрет Луизы Морган

Опушка леса. Лигово 1894 

Вечерний пейзаж

Портрет А.И.Сомова, отца художника

Интерьер на даче Павловых

Пашня  1900