Sun on the drive way.

Sun sat on our drive way and another Fall day was over.

A taste of my eclectic musical prefrences

I was very pleased to see that my most favorite French singer has this performance.
Singing an eternal song from another one of my favorite Francophone singers. Singing that song, was a triple delight....
I will let you enjoy...

Brussels

"Grand Place"
A cloudy September afternoon.
after some rain ...

Grote Markt

Anvers (Fr) / Antwerp (Dutch)
A must see city North of Belgium, a global centre of the diamond trading.
More to come...

Before Sun Rise

yesterday from our front yard...

San Francisco

San Francisco under the clouds when moon is peeking ...

Anacapa Islands

Thanks to a few very kind friends we had an opportunity to take a day trip to Anacapa islands (a chain of three islands) one of Santa Barbra Channel Islands.
It was the nesting season of sea gals and it was interesting to see their chicks hatch in front of us.

A long overdue and much needed trip...

Cheers

Too long

Sorry it is taking too long for me to put up a new post .I just have not had a chance to take a post worthy photo, hopefully sometimes soon.:0)

Haft-Seen

Here is our New Year Haft-Seen which lasted for one day!
For technical reasons we could not keep it very long. But it looked nice.

More Orchids

So far this has been the smallest Orchid I have ever seen and yet so intricade and beautiful.

another

Another old one ...
I have not even touched my SLR camera for over two years, what a shame!

Newport Beach CA

Dec 30, 2006 sunny 75 F
Felt like a day to read a book, sitting on the grass and watching the sailboats pass by.
Strolling along the bluffs, we saw an Iranian grandma sitting on a bench gazing into the ocean. She noticed us, hoping to find something to say, but had none, I saw in her eyes, and she kept on looking. We kept on walking hoping we had something to tell her, but had none…

Backyard

My backyard does not open to the Pacific. I don't get the morning sun, and I don't have red shingles on my roof.
But I am happy to have flowers on my table all the time ...

Shabeh Yalda

So, one of the most successfully popular, and highly regarded blogers (in my opinion), Shirin invited me to join the “Shebeh Yalda Game” by writing five things about myself that not many people know about.
So here they are in five categories:

1. In regard to Politics… I am not a Nationalist, I am a Globalist who do not agree with, or support nationalism. I believe it leads to radicalism and like all other extreme ideologies, can be destructive to mankind.

2. Health… I hate it that I am an insomniac; I wake up more than 20-30 times during the night; it does take a toll…

3. Jobs… In one of my early collage years when I used to go to school all day and work all nights, one night alone, I had to peal and chop 150 kg of Onions … I hated working for food industry!

4. Childhood… My brother has a naked picture of me from the time I was 4 years old playing on the beach of "Orumieh Salt Lake". He never let me lay my hands on that photo! …I will get yooooou someday!!!

5. Unrealistic dreams… My favorite area and lieu are late 1800s in Paris!

Coral Trees grow well in the central coast of California, they look amazing specially in winter when they are nude, no leave, only dried branches with scattered flam lake flowers. They epitomize passion to me…

Directions...

ERT

Hammock at the beach...

Oacean is tossing the trash back at us...

And more sun ...

Sun is fantastically beautiful these days and is brilliant in the clear winter sky... it also creats interesting light settings.

PS: It was quite a challenge to put this post up , I have technical difficulty posting on the blog site these days. As if my browser is going out of date but I keep trying.

Todays dose of sun.

In case you have not looked into the Sun!
I just did that today, it wasn't that bad!

I am not a narcissist...

They say, "Thanksgiving is time to reflect on our past year and be thankful of what we had and cherish, life etc, which we were given".
I have recently come to believe that: in life "Goes around Comes around", so would that mean: what life gives us, is in fact, what we already put into it?!
Does it mean we should be thanking ourselves then? I am not being a narcissist, just puzzled?!

what do you think?

I say this is a mutant phalaenopsis! What do you think?!

Glassy ocean...

Lian Records...

It has been a few days now...
It feel as if I have been very lazy but it was not the case...
So I am writing a few words tonight.

Last weekend we had the privilege of seeing a mystic concert performed by Lian records in LA. It is an eclectic band that plays traditional Persian and Sufi music...
On their program card, they had this poem from Rumi that sounded familiar to me ...
I thought of sharing parts of it with you:

"I am neither Christian, nor Jew, nor Gabr, nor Moslem.
I am not of the East, nor of the West, nor of the land, nor of the sea;
I am not of Nature's mint, nor of the circling' heaven.
I am not of earth, nor of water, nor of air, nor of fire;
I am not of the empyrean, nor of the dust, nor of existence, nor of entity.
I am not of India, nor of China, nor of Bulgaria, nor of Saqsin
I am not of the kingdom of 'Iraqian, nor of the country of Khorasan
I am not of the this world, nor of the next, nor of Paradise, nor of Hell
I am not of Adam, nor of Eve, nor of Eden and Rizwan. My place is the Placeless, my trace is the Traceless ..."

LA'ers...

LA is an interesting city and when it comes to Halloween parties, LA'ers can are really fun and wacky.
Here is one of the coolest costumes I have seen in a party so far.

What were their dreams?! ...

To my dear blogger

Dreams
We live for them...
and when they are lost, we keep looking,
sometimes they never exist but we keep looking,
sometimes they are in front of us yet we keep looking .... and looking and looking and our hands search for them, for that we don't know what,
and we keep looking in dispair so we judge and we blame and we keep envying and looking and looking , pondering why our life is gone and we have not found them?
and it sits there in front of us, and smiles.
Then leaves, and we keep looking...
we keep looking ...
A.

wind

A small canvas and a palette of confused colors … not knowing where to go
Aimless storks of brush.
In my solitude,
“Sittin my chair, sitting and stare”
Memories and dreams …
Hoping for this day
“I sit in my chair”.
Dim lights and damp heavy air,
Thinking of the forks on the road and how many they were.
Forks on the road and yet another one. Every day every day repeating.
Thinking and not knowing where to go
Then comes
“wild is the wind”
...
“Let me fly away with you”
“For my love is like the wind”
Then the wind blows to the heart and takes them all away again …
And Nina Simone keeps singing …

another view

Another view from Hearst

Artifacts from the sea...

Into the ocean...

It looked as if she was sinking into the ocean.

Rose petals....

Tao at Sin City...

Golden Cross

Greek orthodox church , Santa Barbara CA.

Daily dose of Clouds..

San Ynez, wine country.

This is where some of the best Californian Pino Noirs come from.
I am sure that golden eagle had a better view than I. But oh well, I didn't have wings...

One night...

The Osterreichische Galerie Belvedere

If you enjoy works of art by Gustav Klimt and Renior like me, you should plan to see this museum/ palace, it is fantastic...

Pain of migration…

Sometimes I do feel nostalgia when I think about what I have missed in life… like:
Never seeing the wedding of the only brother nor any of the cousins nor all the best friends in Iran. And those are the people we shared our dreams and young hood with.
Never being there for their first baby, never attending their birth days and never seeing their first day of the schools!
When calling them, their kids don’t recognize me, and pass the phone to their dads.
Never seeing the passing of grand parents or dad… and that’s painful.

Sometimes I wonder if pursuit of my dream… was worth it!? Or was it just a mirage that mesmerized me away from what was real around me.
These days, as I drift in the sea of life events, in my wrecked boat. I wonder some times, if I were more content and not a dreamer, I would not miss all those events!

I often ask myself. What would be better? Living for our dreams or for our memories and heritage?! If I had stayed, for sure, I would not have experience the world and reach my dreams …
They say “every one to reach his own”…Mine changes all the time like a schizophrenic mania I don’t know what is it and where is it anymore?…
What if we want both?

Unfortunately, life does not give the chance of having both to just about everyone, particularly to those who happen to be part of the “Lost generations”. (Ex: in current Iranian history consists of those who are between 25-55 years of age)

Then I keep telling myself, at least let’s conquer one of them in life… and give our children the opportunity to have both…

I wonder...

I keep wondering;
How many sunny summer days this face had seen?! How many winter storms it has survived. How much sand and dust brushed off this face?
In that moment when his creator was pounding the hammer on that cold stone; what was he thinking about?! Did he think that some day two and half millennia ahead thousand and thousands of people will come to seen this face? And someday I would take a picture of it to post on the web?!

Whose face was that anyway? Was it depiction of someone real, like you and me, in his own time?
How many faces have seen this face, then passed on and were forgotten? How many more will have the same fate, while he will still be there…
I wonder and I wonder...

Perspeolis, 2002

And there was a moon

SanDiego CA.

Golden Roof

Innsbruck, Austria built in 1500.

It was decorated with almost 3000 gold -plated copper tiles for Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.
October 2003

fascination,

Seaport Village San Diego, CA
And my usual fascination with the clouds...

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.