First grade...

Khair Al-nesa Ranjbari had never seen snow or a window, or an almond, running water etc. She was oblivious about many other things in her first grade book.
Her weak little hands would shake when she had to write a few words, and would fall into tears when her pencil would break!
I used to hold her weak hand and help her copy

BUT, She was full of grace with a charming smile…

Village of Ashkan, Bashagard 21/2/1371 10:20 am. (1991)

A poem...

If I were the moon wherever I were,
I would ask my way to you from heavens,

If I were a pebble, wherever I were,
I would sit on your path.

If you were the flirting moon,
One night maybe, you would sit on my roof

If you were a pebble, wherever I were,
You would break me… you would break me.

My translation of a poem I found in diaries I wrote while in military service,
“ I can’t recall the poet's name!”

2 seconds...

...before sun sits on Pacific.

About this Cross

View of Santa Cruz island from Ventura hills.
Public complained about having a religious symbol above their head on the public lands, where it overlooks the city on a prime spot.
So the city of Ventura decided to turn the lights off on this cross... After some disputes, a church stepped in and bought just the little spot where the cross was placed and kept the cross in its place and lights on...

Cloudy day, but not so gray...

Low altitude clouds. A rare occasion of having an overcast day in Santa Barbara.
Bringing the grimes a bit closer?! Or giving more dramatic effect to the city.

Some places are privileged to have “pleasant cloudy days”… That takes the Gray out of the day, does not it?!

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Wonders of Mother Nature...

Red Flowers on the rocks,

Grand Canyon.
The first impression I got from seeing the Canyon was “How bigger than my imagination it was!"
Then "how could these small eyes see such enormous things?!…”
No picture can depict that feeling.

Her Job!

Place de la Riponne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Lausanne, August 1993, It was a round 4:30 pm near Palais de Rumine in place de la Riponne. I was keeping my mind busy taking snapshots of different monuments and buildings. That was my escape from Blue-Gray moods that were hunting me almost every day.
I had my camera on the tripod and looking for a good angle to take shot of Notre-Dame Cathedral. Then, I noticed a middle aged woman “running” toward me!
She stopped and asked while smiling:
“What are you doing?”
“Just taking a picture of this church. I think this is a nice angel” I said, in my heavily accented French.
“I have taken a picture from exact same angel as you are and it turned out very well”, she said.
“By the way what are you doing here in Lausanne?” She asked.
“Studying French”, I replied
“What do you want to study after?”
“Genetics… if I can”, I said
“Nice, you will…”she smiled
“But it is not easy”, I said.
“S'il y a volonté d'a il y a une manière” she said (If there is a will there is a way).
I said, "that is right….but…”
She interrupted me … "No, you need to say it ...Vouloir, c'est pouvoir”.
So I said “Vouloir, c'est pouvoir”.
She said “No! Say it so everyone in the square can hear you….!”
I was shy and thought what the bleep!!!!!….
But, she insisted.
Finally I shouted out “Vouloir, c'est pouvoir”.
She smiled and said “My job is done here, good bye and good luck now …”
Then she ran away and disappeared in the crowd and the place de la Riponne.
The whole thing took 5 minutes or less. I stood there in the state of confusion then took some photos and left.
This memory stayed with me to this day. She did her job well whoever she was!?

I wrote this, to her memory.

Head up...

Santa Barbara Beach.
Calm, and cool in a Saturday evening.
Reminded me of many meditative sunsets I've spent there, soul searching and thinking " why life is important, and what I want from it".

I came to conclusion that, my life would not be about "what I have" and "who I think I am".
It should be about how many lives I have touched and how those lives are going to remember me after my sun had set!
Will I hold my head up high, like those palm trees?
I am still trying ...

Wharf Musician

Boat

Yesterday...

Think...

Think Flower, and your mind will be a flower garden... "Rumi"

A Comment

I wrote this as a comment to a post, and then, I thought I share it with my visitors as well…

There is a theory between some psychoanalysts that human tend to forget the pain; and bad events for that matter. Unpleasant events are often physical rather that mental, therefore we generally have good memories from past events, and that is probably a very good thing… (For example, this forgetfulness may be a reason for women to consider having more that one child! Imagine if they would not forget the pain they endure during the first pregnancy…)
We forget the pain and unpleasant events of the past so we feel nostalgia for the nice things… if we would remember the unpleasants, we would all be depressed about our past, and post-traumatic syndromes would be more prevalent for just about every little thing.
From time to time I need to remind myself of the unpleasant things that I left behind…so I don’t forget why I left them behind…
Then my life comes to a more realistic perspective.